http://ranprieur.com/#9a417fe513f58988c3b5b1e84cfc57397194a79b 2023-07-05T17:10:37Z Ran Prieur http://ranprieur.com/ ranprieur@gmail.com http://ranprieur.com/#48334a53237797dbad9bdd6ba876fe41a7fa4ae0 2023-07-05T17:10:37Z July 5. Last night was the annual blow shit up holiday, and I wonder, what is it about humans that they can never get enough stimulus? If there's reincarnation, in my next life I'd like to be a tuft of bunchgrass in an obscure canyon, just to get a rest.

Related, from the New Yorker, The Case Against Travel

And a good Reddit thread, What is something that has massively improved your mental health?

]]> http://ranprieur.com/#789eb8a7fb99e3d342f2013555c942a335555d85 2023-07-03T15:50:38Z July 3. This blog has not been a high priority for me lately. I've been putting more mental energy into writing fiction, making music playlists, making custom spirits for Spirit Island, and what I'm going to call "altered state of consciousness exercises".

The other day I picked up the classic 1969 book Altered States of Consciousness, and opened to a section on meditation. Everyone knows that you're supposed to "be here now". But be here now with what? A suggestion was to be here now with whatever you turn your attention to, when someone asks "How are you?"

If you succeed in being present, you can ask yourself this question: What's more troubling? That this moment will be completely forgotten? Or that it will never be forgotten? I'm sure people will answer both ways. The point is that it has to be one or the other, and neither one is something we go around thinking. And either one, if taken as true, will bring your mind into the present moment, whether to appreciate it before it slips away, or because you don't want to look bad in the Akashic records.

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