Shotgun & Me

These are some of the more salient points from my conversation last night w/ Shotgun one of my best friends from high school.

We are more than just a set of genes trying to propagate itself

Looking at life and realizing the sheer improbability of the simplest of life's phenomena reveals the fact that there is a conscious design to it. There has to be an architect. Life is the mathmatical equivalent to winning the lottery everyday. Everything about life is a miracle.

This conscious design IS life, It is the source of life. (read: God)

Human beings have this same "thing" in them as life itself (i.e. the ability to create, and choose)

If you took a slice of apple pie and put it next to a whole apple pie and ask that slice what it is? Upon looking at the whole it could only say I am apple pie. Likewise, we are a slice of God.

Am I same the person I was 5, 10, 15 years ago? Yes, what's changed is the set of beliefs with which I process/manage/deal with reality (read ego) but I am the same. I've always sought the same answer (truth&love) but have used different belief systems to try and get this answer.

What most people call life is actually just the evolution of their egos or the evolution of how they perceive reality. Mathematically speaking most people go from f(x)=x to f'(x)=(x) to f"(x)=x to f"'(x)=x etc... ad infinitum. Going on and on trying to find different formulas to get to God/Love/Happiness/whateveryouwannacallit.

The ONLY thing that seperates us from god/life/this conscious design is our ego or approximations of life through our belief systems. There is the "I" that seeks God/Love/Happiness and there is the reality of that. What screens us from seeing that is our egos (how we decide to label, interpret, categorize and manage reality).

Hence EGO standing for Edging God Out.

Mathematically speaking if what we truly seek is x (which stands for god/love/the infinite/all there is/I am the great I am) then any f(x) we choose seperates us from god because x=x. (except for identity operators but all it shows is the oneness of god)

We are nerds

Simply put, our egos are the screens that keep us from experiencing our oneness with God

This is the error of modern Cartesian thought (i.e. everything can be logically deduced) Our attempts to model/interpret life keep us from fully experiencing it.

Through quantum physics we know that there is one conscious infinite source that creates all matter/life. So even when you apply Cartesian thought to the questions of life you come back to the same answers that The Great Teachers said thousands of years ago.

(Every knee shall bow, every tongue confess)

This can be summed up as "Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name." God is the source of life.

Just as if you try and describe infinity with numbers you'll always come up short. I.e 1+1 isn't infinity, neither is 1+1+1, neither is 1+1+1+1+1+1+........... (get the picture) Any attempt to describe God with words will ALWAYS come up short.

A realization of these facts may seem sublime or unreal.

The truth of it is, it is the ONLY thing that is real and that our ego constructs of life are what's unreal.

Hence, Minus the Bullshit, Life's Great!!!

Ultimately, then since we are beings of consciousness it is up to us to choose how we experience reality. You're the director of your own film and it's called your life.

The practical implications of this to living are thus:

We are completely responsible for our lives.

Any situation in our life comes about because consciously or unconsciously we chose it to be that way

That our job is to get control of our thoughts/minds.

From a engineering standpoint our emotions serve to tell us how well we're functioning. Happiness = great. Sadness,anger, etc.. = bad

What you focus on is what you feel. So if you're sad, it's because you perceive something that makes you sad. If you want to stop being sad choose to perceive something else.

This is much easier said than done but it is completely possible. It's like driving stick. Just because you don't know how to get into first gear doesn't mean the car won't go into 1st gear. It takes practice. But once you learn how to experience the freedom and control you from being able to shift gears at will you'll never want to go back to driving automatic.

Hence, the saying "my mind is a perfect servant but a lousy master."

Happiness is a choice and our job is to choose happiness. When Buddha was asked what is the way to happiness, he responded "There is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way"

The future and pass are illusions. There is only one moment and that is NOW. You can't be back in 1968 or 1996 or 2001 or yesterday or an hour ago.

You can only be HERE, NOW.

Whenever you wake up where are you? HERE!!! When you wake up, it's NOW!!! I'm typing this in Shotgun's room and I'm HERE and it's happening NOW. You cannot escape from the eternal moment that is HERE & NOW.

YOU ARE ALWAYS IN THE HERE AND NOW!!!

THERE IS ONLY ONE TIME AND ONE PLACE, HERE AND NOW

Christ said "Seek ye FIRST, the "Kingdom of God" and all these things will be added to you."

Where is the "Kingdom of God"?

The Kingdom of God isn't in Bangladesh in the year 1243 or in Brooklyn in
1957 or coming to Sharon Pa. in the year 2008.

The "Kingdom of God" can only be HERE, NOW BECAUSE THERE'S ONLY HERE, RIGHT NOW!!!

So If it's already HERE, NOW then how do you know that you've found it?

Well, what does it feel like to be in The Kingdom of God? I imagine it feels good and you'd be happy to be there.

Well that means when you're happy, you must be in the "kingdom of god" So choose to be happy and the rest will take care of itself.

Be in the present moment.

When athletes, great musicians and artists get in the "zone" all that is happening is that there are fully being in the HERE & NOW. They're are one with God and create realities that seem unachievable to the rest of us.

The fact is though we could all do things that would amaze us if we would just be fully PRESENT in the HERE & NOW.

You cant "do" anything to get into that space of being fully PRESENT. The only way there can be described as letting go. It's a place of of complete flow. I'll get there from time to time freestyling. I never know what I'm gonna say until I say it but it always a) better than my written b) on time and c) rhymes & fits perfectly d) is ultra creative. I get there sometimes while writing prose too.

When you're fully in that state EVERYTHING is available to you.

The question is how do you "let go" for good? Complete surrender to the present moment.

It's our expectations and desires that pull us away from being PRESENT

The pharmaceutical industry is built off of supplying us with pills that come about because we aren't fully PRESENT.

Sex on Viagra makes for a fun night

I haven't fucked a chick yet in the ass because I just cant see my dick goin in that itty bitty hole.

Apparently, although it IS difficult to get it in, the payoff is well worth it.

Ladies, Shotgun is currently single and will be in Atlanta until the 7th of April.