Archive for the 'Lite' Category

I am NOT a genius

August 23, 2010

The following exchange happened on my Facebook page in response my writing, “If you think you’re doing something, you’ll never be happy. If you don’t do something, you’ll never be happy.”

Mike Himelstein Did you write that? You are a genius and I’m not kidding.
Friday at 6:12pm

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Jerry Katz Mike, I wouldn’t say I’m a genius, but thanks.
Friday at 9:51pm

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Mike Himelstein You don’t have to SAY you’re a genius, because you ARE a genius.
Saturday at 12:22pm

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Jerry Katz I’m not. No way. I’m just doing my thing, okay? But, again, thank you for your thoughts.
Saturday at 12:51pm

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Mike Himelstein Your “thing” is being a genius. Everybody knows it. You are a humble person and that is to be respected. But you are truly one of the world’s greatest geniuses. I know that word is tossed around a little too easily these days, but you are certainly one.
Saturday at 1:05pm

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Jerry Katz Dear Mike, There is absolutely no way that is true, I am absolutely and unequivocally NOT one of the great geniuses in the world today. It is NOT true. I am NOT what you say. However, again, thanks just for being here. Take care. -Jerry Katz
Saturday at 1:19pm

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Mike Himelstein All right look. There was Socrates, there was Plato, there was Aristotle (Alav Shalom) There was Newton, there was Einstein, there was Elvis. And now there is Jerry Katz. I think you are a greater genius than all of those bastards. And I’m not kidding.
4 hours ago

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Jerry Katz I am?
54 minutes ago

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Mike Himelstein How the hell would I know?
15 minutes ago

What are you watching tonight: American Idol or The Buddha?

April 7, 2010

Choose your entertainment:

9PM EST on FOX: American Idol

8PM EST on PBS: The Buddha

Spiritual Dimension Found Missing: Report

April 1, 2010

Nondual Metaphysics Laboratories Press Release
CERN Switzerland April 1, 2010

Since its first activation, the Large Hardon
Particle Collider has been the reason for
much speculation, and even fear, as several
prominent Particle Physicists have proposed
serious ‘side effects’ resulting in unwanted
consequences, such as the instantaneous
disintegration of planet Earth, swarms of
tiny black holes, or even the opening of gateways
to other dimensions, releasing malevolent
entities such as robo-skeletons or invisible
nano-zombies.

Dr Gene Poole
, director of metaphysical
investigations, has ruled out the above
doomsday scenarios as at least highly
unlikely, if not impossible. Based upon
his meticulously collected and compiled
data, and simulations performed using
ranks of ultimate supercomputers, he has
instead found a rather unexpected
consequence to the operation of the LHC;
the mysterious vanishing of the entire
dimension of ‘spirituality’.

In this excerpted interview with Dr Poole,
we attempt to discover the implications of
this puzzling disappearance:

NML: Dr Poole, we have read your latest
report, but we fail to understand how this
will impact our lives. Can you explain?

GP: Certainly. I have discovered the utter
obliteration of all things spiritual. What
follows from that, will eventually cascade
into what will be major life-changes for
everyone who exists. And for the first time,
everyone will actually, in fact, exist.

NML: Are you saying that unlike before,
our existence is not a mere factor of
memory-in-consciousness, but has
become (pardon the expression) mere
meat and blood and so-on?

GP: Exactly so. Somehow, by means of
these experimentations into base
cosmology, we have inadvertently erased
or deleted the very dimension of spirit,
leaving only mortality. We suddenly have
become ‘meat cars colliding in the night’,
to paraphrase the great Dr Robert Crumb.

NML: And this is different than before… how?

GP: Well, advanced spiritual adepts have
always reported by means of their highly
developed awareness, various and sundry
dimensions which the ordinary person is
not aware of, even if directly informed.

But now, my communication channels
are flooded with reports that even the
most-high swamis and channelers have
found absolutely nothing remaining of
those glorious realms of spirit. They are
getting basically a ‘blank screen’ when
they attempt to make contact with
previously known factors of consciousness.

NML: That does sound alarming! And try
as I may, I can find no difference for myself
in those regards, never having made such
contact as those adepts, in spite of having
attended numerous workshops, and so on.

GP: Exactly. It is in fact, as though such
hidden dimensions have never even existed
at all.

NML: This would seem to put the ordinary
person on-par with even the most exalted
gurus and teachers.

GP: And so it is. Even the Pope is now just
an ordinary guy. Thousands of years worth
of recorded spiritual stories, lessons and
scriptures have become irrelevant. In our
new mortal incarnation, such things are best
used as fuel to heat our homes, rather than
as metaphorical carrots dangled inches from
the hungry mind of the seeker.

NML: Wait, I think I am feeling something. Or
that something is missing. Some difference,
anyway. How do you account for this change?

GP: All I know, is that this change occurred
during the last run of the LHC. Many of the
scientists on the scene at the time, those
close to the machine itself, reported a sort
of disappearance of previously sensed but
vague, ‘background hallucinations’, and then
realization of a new level of untrammeled
rationality. One woman reported a sensation
akin to the sudden absence of an itch she
was unaware of having.

NML: How can we confirm this absence?

GP: Well, it is obviously too late to confirm
the presence of the spiritual, for it is now
gone, and maybe for good. So without that
sample, we cannot prove the absence of it,
either. I think it is safe to conclude that the
rank-and-file will notice very little change
internally, but we have still to observe the
outward manifestations of this deletion.

NML: What could that look like?

GP: There are several areas to watch. Take
televangelists, for example. They will
notice nothing different, and they will
thus continue pushing their financial
agendas. But their target audience will
suddenly feel no compulsion to watch
or listen, and least of all to send money.

We already have received several reports
of individuals who during prayer, suddenly
break out in raucous laughter and begin
crying in great relief, stating the irony that
‘my prayers have finally been answered’.

NML: I see. I guess we could say that now,
we can get on with our materialistic,
selfish lives, unburdened by superstitious
hopes and fears.

GP: Indeed, it seems so. But we must
remember that as social humans, we still
live under structures of civil laws, and
so now, lacking spiritual guidance, we
must regulate ourselves by means of
prudence and rationality. Fortunately,
we are no longer prey to the millions
of lies which have claimed our minds for
untold thousands of years.

NML: Would you say that the sudden absence
of the spiritual, may actually have a liberating
effect?

GP: I think so, but it may take a while for
this to sink in. Most of us have been in the
habit of giving over our self-regulation to
extrinsic rules as stated by spiritual authority.
And now, there is no such authority. This is
the change, in part. And we have to ask;
of the millions who were harnessed by such
now-nonexistent authority, how many will
be desperately seeking some sort of substitute
authority? Now that divine control is no longer
a factor, will people be able to take up their
own reins?

NML: That is a stunning question, now that I
think about it. If we take the spiritual out of the
equation, will the questions of ‘free will’ and
volition be re-explored?

GP: I can only hope so, but nothing is certain,
but the utter lack of any factor of spirituality.

NML: I hesitate to ask, but what does this say
or do, about our concepts of ‘God’?

GP: Obviously, most of that is ‘down the tubes’,
as they say. There is no evidence to support
the concept of ‘God’ now, but was there ever?
Or was it simply made-up, a fantasy, from the
beginning?

NML: Yes. Will ‘faith’ now be seen as a form
of insanity?

GP: Probably so, but in the meantime, we can
start planning to convert all churches, mosques,
and other ‘houses of worship’ into confinement
institutions for the faith-afflicted, well before
they begin to run amok in even greater numbers
than today.

I think I can predict a great wave of suicides, as
the faith-afflicted are confronted with the sudden
lack of ‘afterlife’. This will be lamented, but at least
there will be no fear of hell, nor the temptation
to get to heaven by killing people. Entire armies
of those loyal to faith can simply lay down their
weapons, and start life anew.

NML: Do you foresee economic consequences to
this sudden shift?

GP: Yes, especially in the trinket-and-doodad
industries, as well as in the market for scripture,
be it in print, airwaves, or DVD-ROM. And we
can expect benefits also, as churches and even
the entire Vatican are converted into grand hotels,
public markets for garden produce, public
health clinics, and so on.

NML: This may seem ridiculous, but what about
the devil? I am sure that a lot of faith-afflicted
will pronounce this event as ‘his satanic work’.

GP: They may work themselves into a frothing
fury of frenzied fear, but they will soon see that
there is nothing supernatural happening at all,
for good or evil. I can hope that they will eventually
see that all good or evil come from humans, not
some supernatural agency, which by the way,
have all recently expired, if they ever even existed.

It looks like now and forever, we can safely ignore
everything and anything ‘spiritual’, and walk away
not fearing any ‘smiting’ by gods, demons or
spirits. There will be no more cases of ‘possession’,
nor spiritual healings, no more shrines or alters,
except to the nature of the human, and the actual
universe.

NML: So, we are born, we live a life, and then
we die. End of story. Is that it?

GP: In a nutshell, yes. I want to remind that there is
potentially much pleasure, and love, and enjoyment
during that life before death. Maybe the idea of
limited life will be a good thing, no? I mean, if people
finally realize that ‘this is it’, they may begin cooperating
to bring about heaven on Earth, at last. This has always
been within our power, but the ‘religious authorities’
would run their concept of ‘sin’ and ‘afterlife’ and then
we were just too scared to act in our own behalf. But
as of yesterday, nobody has to be scared any more.

NML: You sound as though you are an authority
on pleasure itself. Is that so?

GP: Yes, I am. I hold 3 Doctorates of Hedonic Engineering.

NML: Are you now conducting researches in that area?

GP: Indeed we are. So far, there is no documentation
regarding the upper limits, if any, of the experience
of pleasure, joy and bliss. Our experiments are designed
to bring a volunteer to the highest possible state of pleasure,
by application of various stimulation, relaxation, drugs,
and so on. I cannot reveal much of this now, but eventually
our institute will publish many papers and Youtube videos
of such ecstatic states.

And without the imaginary boogyman of spiritual
retribution, anyone is now completely free to experience
pleasure, with no limits. In our labs, such freedom has
resulted in spectacular changes in outlook and the vision
of a much better future.

NML: I for one, look forward to viewing your research
data, Dr Poole! But have you noted any side-effects?

GP: Well, if you consider deep sleep and good appetite
as ‘side effects’, then yes. But no, so far, pleasure is not
found to be dangerous, except for the routines devised
years ago by ‘behaviourists’ such as BF Skinner and his
ilk. The ‘suicide by pleasure’ brain-wired monkey idea
has been tried and found to be ridiculous. We use only
natural methods and substances in our research, not
holes drilled into the skull.

NML: Thank you, Dr Poole, for a most enlightening
interview.

==GP==

Gorilla Learns to Communicate about His Upcoming Death

March 31, 2010

I could afford it, but when you add in $40 a month for cable, I dunno…

March 16, 2010

I Don’t Get GMail, Facebook, or Yoga Exercises

February 20, 2010

I spent about an hour at the Coalescence Day activities in Halifax, Nova Scotia today. James Traverse and Maryse Thuot are leading it. You can’t say too many good things about those people. I love them.

James conducted a teaching on Yoga and nonduality that was crystal clear and impeccable. He got 60 people in Halifax to easily understand nonduality.

I love the teaching of Yoga, especially how James and Maryse and Mandee Moon present it: each one differently!

But what I don’t get about Yoga is the exercises. I either can’t do them or they make me lightheaded. I don’t get the exercises.

I also don’t get G-Mail or Facebook.

Twitter I sort of get.

A blog I get.

I also get an email forum and a website and eating pastrami once in a while.

What don’t you get? And what do you get? (Please don’t list everything, because I wouldn’t get that.)

Zach Galifianakis and Nonduality

February 5, 2010

Pavel Somov writes:

Pattern Interruption Hall of Fame: people that wake us up from the monotony of mindlessness. These are iconoclasts, straight-shooters, rascal sages, and eccentric oddballs of all walks of mind — i.e. the denizens of the brave new world of self-aware unorthodoxy.

Watch an episode of “Between Two Ferns” to see Zach Galifianakis at his pattern-interruption best. Galifianakis seems to have an intuitive grasp on paradox and nonduality.

Pattern interruption leverages mindfulness by way of new information and confusion. How new information changes our minds is clear. Here’s how confusion comes into the picture. Confusion means loss of certainty. Loss of certainty means open-mindedness to what is. As such, a pattern break is a pre-requisite for mindful presence (and the stuff of comedy). Pattern break confuses the conditioned mind and in so doing gets it out of its own way, opening up new vistas of clarity. In other words, when mind is closed off to new information, confusion helps kick that door wide open. In sum, mind is a closed-system pattern, interrupt it to open it! Expose yourself to new information. Update your understanding of the world to prevent dogmatic stagnation. Remember: reality updates with every now!

-Pavel Somov

Adventures in Consciousness, with Yogini Moon

January 26, 2010

12:34:56 7/8/9 You Haven’t Missed It!

July 8, 2009

… if you live in Canada.

Day Month Year

The Stale Buzzwords of Nonduality, Like “Understanding.”

September 21, 2008

Whatever happened to “understanding”? Remember when that was a buzzword a few years ago? People were divided between those who had understanding and those who didn’t. I don’t think I had it because I talked about donuts a lot.

When I used to hang around the Muktananda ashram in Santa Monica in 1980, there were people who were “receiving the light” and those who weren’t. I know I wasn’t receiving the light because … because I wasn’t receiving a damn light, that’s why.

Another buzzword: “Are you free?” Someone asked me the other day whether I was free. I said, you mean do I have the time to go get a beer or something? He said, “No, are you FREE.”

“Oh, I got you,” I said. “I don’t know if I’m free or not. I don’t know if I have understanding. I don’t know if I’m receiving the light. I don’t know if I have clarity. But if you want to hang out for a few minutes, fine, If not, fine.”

Another popular thing is the ability to see what’s obvious and to recognize it as “this.” There’s some kind of connection between “obvious” and “this.” Like you’re walking with a fellow nondualist and one of you goes, “Yeah, like it’s all just ‘this’.” Yeah, I get that. I don’t get the other buzzwords, but I get that one.

In a few years we’ll be all nostalgic about the days when “this” was such a cool buzzword. And it’s the only one I get.

I don’t think I had understanding, I was never in the Be Here Now, I definitely didn’t receive the light, and I’m not Free especially if it means I have go around asking people if they’re Free. I’d rather have a cell in San Quentin, thank you.

What I do have is my finger on the pulse of all the buzzwords. I can tell you that they go stale as quickly as a half eaten donut underneath the seat of your car. But when they’re hot and fresh we sink our teeth into them, one after another. Mmmm, the good greasy sugar of carnival food.