Consciousness

There is a part of you that is conscious of more than what you perceive via your senses. We'll call it your higher self. This "you" is not defined by your physical body, nor does it consist of your thoughts and beliefs. Although everything in the universe is connected and at some point in one's journey it can be beneficial to ponder the concepts of "one" and "universal consciousness," this higher awareness to which I refer comprises a discrete aspect of your individual personality.

Have you ever wondered, what's the benefit of karma if it manifests itself across many different lifetimes? What is the point of causal relationship if we cannot perceive the effects? For example, if a child suffering from abuse at the hands of his parents is actually Hitler reincarnated, what does the child gain from all this? Does the entity that used to be Hitler have any awareness that it's now a child, receiving just punishment for killing millions of Jews?

The answer lies in the way we're conditioned to define ourselves. "Who am I?" is a question asked by seekers probably since humans began to seek. Do you know who you are?

Essential Greens Juice Recipe

Put this in your juicing thingie and juice it.

Celery
Spinach
Parsley
Cucumber
Kale
Wheatgrass
Sunflower greens
Dandelion greens
Clover sprouts
Romaine lettuce

Remember when juicing: stems, leafy parts, and unsightly but-still-tasty bits of the vegetables that you might otherwise throw away can still be used! Plant parts that may be unsuitable for cooking are often totally fine for juicing! Obviously though, don't use anything past its prime.

I was gifted with a juicer about five years ago, and I absolutely love it. Here's a crap iPhone photo from a few years back.

One thing about juicing that nobody ever told me. If you have a sensitive stomach, you have to be careful. Drinking raw juice in the morning before I eat solid foods is hurlsville for me.

In other words, I absolutely believe in the health benefits of juicing when combined with a balanced, organic whole foods diet. Do I believe exclusive juice fasts should be done without professional supervision? No.

You are what you eat.

Namaste

Scolécite

Bought some crystals in Long Beach last week from the knowledgable folks at spiritoftheom.com. They had quite an impressive collection of specimens. It's not often I find stones I haven't heard of before and they had an opaque white stone streaked with translucent crystal that I was drawn to: scolecite.

One of the primary metaphysical properties of scolecite is that it “can gently enhance meditative and dream states.” I put it on my nightstand and had some interesting results right away. The most vivid was a dream about Burning Man, which I have never attended (at least not in this dimension, haha). In the dream there were a bunch of people dancing in the beds of art trucks, and they were all dressed in white and pistachio green. I was running around in the dream feeling like one would expect to feel at Burning Man, as if you'd found a whole other planet full of people who think just like you.

The key to understanding to any dream is to pinpoint the emotion(s) you felt in it. All my “scolecite-enhanced” dreams have been positive emotionally. Even my recurring apocalypse dreams feel different - more hopeful, if that's possible. I am not attributing that solely to the scolecite as I've also been doing a ton more exercise and yoga than usual, but the crystals seem to be helping, in the subtle ways in which crystals work.

Remember the amazing ice castle that Superman took Lois Lane to in “Superman 2”? Where he had to make a choice between having sex with her or losing his powers? (Probably the most underrated misogynistic plot twist in movie history.) That's what untumbled scolecite looks like.

Namaste