Author Graham Hancock on the War on Drugs (Video)

Graham Hancock
Reality Sandwich

I do not believe that is our race, or our religion, our gender, our height, our looks, our job, our sexual orientation, or any other superficial characteristics that define us as human beings. Trumping all these by a country mile, it is our consciousness – the most intimate, precious, sapient, unique and individual part of ourselves – that is really the essence of who and what we are. Indeed, at the deepest level it is what we are – to the extent that if we are not sovereign over our own consciousness then we cannot in any meaningful sense be sovereign over anything else either. For these and many other reasons I strongly oppose the “war on drugs” which, in my view, has created an engine of oppression and control in society by which the State claims the right, purportedly in our own interests, to regulate our very thoughts and inner experiences, and to trespass the sanctum of our consciousness.

I was recently interviewed by Cara Lavan of Knowdrugs.net on the subject of drugs, the drug war, personal freedom and cognitive liberty. The interview, which is embedded here, captures some of the key points that I feel have been neglected, and must be taken into account, if we are ever to get to grips with these issues in society.



Evolve your consciousness, bite by bite, at Reality Sandwich.

RELATED ARTICLE:
Does Ayahuasca Offer Natural Healing for Us and the World?

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9 Ways to Focus on What You Love and Nothing Else

Aimee
Evolver

Over the last 3 years I have completely (well, not completely, but a pretty major overhaul) changed my life. I have been digging deep & uprooting old ways of being. I have been gradually changing the way I work & changing the overall feel of my life & what it looks like day to day.

I was reading a book about simplifying ones life (& work) last month by Ev Bogue. The book was Minimalist Business & it had a good proposal in it. The proposal was; 9 Ways to Focus on the Important. Earlier in the book Ev Bogue quoted Leo Babauta & talked about designing your life completely around what you love.

"Focus on what you love, and nothing else." - Leo Bauta

I made a list of what I love & a list of my top priorities after reading that book. I feel very happy about getting clarity on what makes me happy, what lights me up & what I am really devoted to. Of course there is so much more to that story. But the few Loves & Priorities that I focused on are just pointers. They are there to keep my life (& my time) pointed in the right direction.My four priorities are: blogging, exercising, meditating, & studying
My four loves are: creating, dancing, being, & reading
& a few more Loves: juicy fruits, learning french, helping others, being outdoors


If you notice, the Priorities are very similar to the Loves. This is ideal! And if I get even more clear, my priorities/loves are more like this: Sharing (blogging/creating), Moving (exercising/dancing), Being (meditating/presence), & Seeing (studying/reading) [Seeing, as in; seeing the unseen or seeing the bigger picture]

Having this target list makes it so easy to have an ideal day or an ideal year. All I have to do is base all if my decisions around my top loves or top priorities. It makes choosing how to spend my time quite simple & effortless. If what I have as an option doesn't align with what I love, then it's a "No" for me. I pass on it & choose something that speaks to what I am about & what I truly enjoy the most.

The whole idea of this takes practice. I still have old responsibilities in my life that need some weeding, pruning & removing. These are past choices that I am still responsible for, so they are still an active part of my life. But having the target (as well as the list I will share below) is wonderful way to slowly transition yourself & your life. You will gradually become a more authentic you. Every aspect of your life will become what you truly wanted to create for yourself. This is a life created with awareness & the power of choice. It's really easy to fall into what you should do, or to keep building on top of decisions you made in the past (when you where someone else, a you from 10 or 15 years ago!) But now we can build & create from an empowered place. We can be an Aware & Responsible us; a This Moment us; an I Know Who I Am & What I Want -& I Am Living It us!
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9 Ways You Can Focus On The Important:
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1. IDENTIFY THE FOUR AREAS OF YOUR LIFE THAT ARE MOST IMPORTANT TO YOU. It can be powerful to know what is most important to you, because then you can begin to focus on only the essential.

2. LEARN TO SAY NO TO REQUESTS. Once you’ve identified the essential, you have to start saying no to things that come your way which don’t coincide with your interests.

3. START TO ELIMINATE THINGS YOU DON’T CARE ABOUT. Stop doing things you’re doing just out of obligation. Abandon the busy work.

4. GIVE YOURSELF HUGE BLOCKS OF TIME TO WORK ON ONE PROJECT. Give yourself five hours to work on one project, and do nothing else.

5. TURN OFF DISTRACTIONS. Turn off your phone, power down social networks, destroy your TV, and eat your lunch before you sit down to focus on the important.

 

6. DON’T COMMENT ON THINGS THAT YOU DON’T WANT TO BE INVOLVED IN. The next time you’re tempted to tell someone that what they’re doing is wrong, maybe consider first: are you willing to help them do it right?

7. MAKE TIME FOR IMPORTANT THINGS. If you want to be a good at something, you have to do it every single day for at least a few hours (if not more).

8. TELL PEOPLE ABOUT YOUR PRIORITIES. By telling people, you can hold yourself responsible. Live and breathe your priorities, and they will become what you are.

9. LEARN AS MUCH AS YOU CAN. You have to study the subject of your priorities regularly. I promise you, it is the most important element.
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And here are a few more notes from that chapter...

Focus Your Use of Time on the Important MANIFESTO:
• I will value my time to the highest potential.
• I will not engage in activities that do not contribute value to my life.
• I will focus my attention on creating great work that changes the world.

Focus on what you love, and nothing else. This often means restructuring things so that you can eliminate most of your emails, calls, meetings, paperwork, financial work, and so on. That takes some careful thought, some planning, and groundwork.

One of the easiest ways to avoid finishing is to complicate the process so much that you can never finish. If you’re writing an e-book, give it a title and start writing it. If you’re recording a podcast, turn on the recorder and start talking. Set a date to publish, and don’t miss that date.

And one last thought (in a link) to a chapter from another book that is on the same topic...

It's an e-book called Focus, by Leo Babauta. Chapter 1: Getting Amazing Things Done <--Link

What are your top four loves in life? What are your top priorities everyday?
For everyone it's different. That's what makes life so rich. It is most beautiful & most interesting when everyone feels empowered to be their most authentic self. When everyone feels content because they are living a life they love.

See more inspiring and informative posts by Aimee at Evolver

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Top 5 Ways to Find Sanity in a Shifting World

Samantha
Evolver 

Every sensitive person I know right now is getting rocked, like punched in the face left-right down-for-the-count rocked. I’m even meeting people, who don’t consider themselves to be ‘sensitive,’ who look back on the past couple of weeks or months and say, “Hm, yes, it’s been rough, come to think of it I’ve felt pretty smacked around.” If you feel alone in this, know that you are not. If you are caught up thinking that this is all your energy to shoulder and process, consider that it is not.

We all know: our beloved Earth is re-balancing in awe-inspiring and disastrous ways, governments are being toppled and reformed, countries attacked and occupied. Everywhere we look we experience destruction and rebirth: we witness devastation and hope in alternate breaths.

As we walk our path, we hum along with our palette of introspective work and off-the-mat yoga. We’ve all got the stresses, challenges, and thrills of our work in the world, our relationships, our bills. Dammit, we are always looking at ourselves, and happy to be doing so! Recently, however, life has just felt harder to live, maybe less hopeful, more toxic. Less easy, more smackdown.Take comfort in the knowledge that you are not alone. And more importantly, if you think all of this is yours, consider that it is not. Everyone and everything is connected, and if you are sensitive, you are feeling the strain of that connection when emotions like grief, fear, anxiety, and loss are amplified in the world. If you are introspective, you might take this on as some discomfort of yours, some ‘issue’ or ‘problem’ that is arising from within you to be worked through or healed as part of your personal process. This pain, discomfort, depression, toxicity – it’s not all yours. When we are empathic and tapped in, it’s easy to get swept up in powerful energies; it’s okay to feel them, and important to know how to let them go.

Steps to Sanity

Below are some tools that have been most helpful to me, my colleagues and friends, and clients. They may seem rote or obvious, but they key is 1) to do them, 2) to do them often, and 3) to do them with pleasure. For the sake of brevity, I listed powerful solutions in a few words without expounding upon them: I could talk for days about what a well-timed shower does for me. Finally, as a resident of the concrete jungle of New York City: I promise, these tools work.

#1 – Get Clean and Clear
Earth energies are dense, and we need all the help we can get down here. Make it a constant practice to clear your field and your space. Seriously, all the time. Use sage, use bells, use water. Essential oils work magic to lift your vibration. Immerse yourself in Nature. Take salt into the shower and do a gentle dry rub before you get wet, let the ions do the work of clearing any gunk from your field. Do any of this often – daily, multiple times a day. Let it go, let it go.

#2 – Support Your Body
The physical body is the gateway to the energetic body. Support both by moving your body in ways that bring you pleasure. Find something that feels good, that helps you wring out stagnant energy. Bounce around, twist and stretch, feel your muscles, let your jaw and shoulders release, breathe. I love yogaglo.com – $18/month and yoga at your fingertips.

#3 – Be with Your People
Where are your friends? Where is your community? Find them, hug them, sink into them, let them rub your shoulders. Dance with them, scream with them, laugh with them. See that you are not alone.

#4 – Trust Yourself
Start to become aware of the difference between the energy that is yours and the energy that is not. Be mindful of staying out of the latter. Do this by grounding your field: connect your tan tien to the core of the Earth and notice what it feels like to be centered within yourself, connected to the home we all share, be present in the here and now. If you don’t know how to do this or want to practice in community, join my monthly meditation group (April is all about pleasure, oh yeah!).

#5 – Get Support
Sometimes we’re in too deep. Sometimes we can’t see what we don’t know. Helpers, healers, therapists – the good ones are trained to gently bring these things to light and help you clear them. Go to one, and let them help you.

I send you love, blessings, and grace in these trying and inspiring times.

Visit Samantha's blog at Evolver for more inspiring posts.

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Does Ayahuasca Offer a Natural Gateway to Healing Ourselves and the World?

Ayahuasca is a indigenous plant medicine that is said to teach a holistic understanding of the true nature of ourselves and the universe.

Amazon Shaman at Rainforest Plant Medicine gathering
at Guaria de Osa EcoLodge, Costa Rica

Human World Order
Activist Post

As the material world rushes around us at a blistering pace, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find truth and meaning in all the chaos.  The rat-race economy occupies most of our time and energy, and what's left is typically drowned out by perpetually empty distractions.

We may feel utterly disconnected from nature and each other, almost as if we've been deliberately torn from our natural state to conform to a manufactured reality.

When we become conscious of this illusory fabric of our society, it's a somewhat liberating experience.  On one hand, understanding that the matrix is following a predetermined track helps to bring clarity to previously incomprehensible world events, as we can now begin to see the forest through the strategically placed trees. By contrast, it can be quite frightening to realize that the engineers of this matrix seem to prefer war and fear to peace and love.

Perhaps recognizing the genuine structure of the fabricated system makes it easier to succeed or survive in the matrix, as one will likely better understand that the primary trait required is ruthlessness.  The rub is that if one learns the truth that perpetuating this "system" is fatally destructive, then ruthlessness becomes nearly impossible for the enlightened.  As it only feeds what you've grown to despise.

So then, how do we function in this mad society when we begin to awaken?  Shall we keep taking the soma fed to us by the controllers to keep our level of contentment just a notch above catatonic? Or shall we strive to step out of the grid to use our awakening to better ourselves in order to affect the world around us?

It can be difficult to find the willpower to heal ourselves in such a poisoned world.  Some use meditation, prayer, exercise, diet, or friends to seek clarity amidst the storm of daily life. Indeed, many have proven to find great success and happiness in the active pursuit for a better world using these methods.  And each new accomplishment moves them closer to a holistic understanding of the truth by passionately living the solution.

It seems that many have the intellectual knowledge of why we must make personal changes to effect the greater good, yet what is lacking is the profound understanding that can only come from direct experience.

Ayahuasca is now being used by many for such an experience.  Said to be a "great teacher," ayahuasca is a psychotropic plant brew that has been used by South American shaman for thousands of years to better "see" the world.  It has inspired the work of many great philosophers of the recent awakening like John Perkins, David Icke, and Daniel Pinchbeck.  Below is David Icke speaking about his ayahuasca experience:



It had such an illuminating effect on Perkins and Pinchbeck that they both, individually, help organize bringing others to the great healing teacher.  Pinchbeck, author of three terrific books, filmmaker and a contributor to RealitySandwich.com regularly attends authentic shamanic sessions held in Costa Rica. These all-inclusive Experiential Gatherings are open to the publicon a limited basis for a cost of $2000 for 10 nights and 11 days.

The intentions of these gatherings, referred to as "vacations with a purpose," are the following:

• To experientially learn from ancient rainforest plant medicine traditions stemming from the time-tested, traditional healing and wellness practices of Indigenous Peoples of the Amazon.
• To welcome an alchemical transformation, healing, and re-integration of body, mind, heart and spirit.
• To receive insight and guidance from these ancient and profound worldviews and thus strengthen one's essence and improve one's health.
• To enjoy and be nurtured by the pristine Pacific Ocean and mighty rainforest ecosystems on the Osa Peninsula and her natural wonders.
• Expand one's guts and grace. (Source: The Rainforest Plant Medicine Council)

It is unlikely ayahuasca will ever be considered a "party" drug as some other psychotropics like mushrooms or LCD have been labeled.  Ayahuasca is overwhelmingly taken for the purpose of learning and healing where authentic gatherings run by trained shaman offer the most powerful experience.  Below is a trailer to a new documentary following three successful people on their journey to ayahuasca:



So does ayahuasca allow you to "connect to the umbilical cord of the universe" to experience the "infinite" understanding?  Is it the natural gateway to healing ourselves so we can help heal the world?  There's only one way to find out . . . .

For more information on taking the journey to experience the Rainforest Plant Medicine Gatherings visit HERE

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The WaySeer Manifesto (Video)

Youtube


RELATED ARTICLE:
10 Ideas for Non-violent Rebellion

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You're a F-cking Human Being: Joe Rogan

Joe Rogan
Graphic language

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