Terrance McKenna - Reclaim your mind

If you cannot swim you have two choices, learn or avoid water. I agree with the sentiment towards reclaiming focus on self if that is a problem for someone, but for me I decided to contemplate his structure of selfhood; draw, paint, sing, sculpt, dance and act. He lists those at the beginning of the vid. It's a bit artsy for my purposes, but I was able to look at for my 'Jedi' purposes as:

Form 1. Draw -> hand (static) -> perspective, simple math
Form 2. Paint -> hand (dynamic) -> colors, emotions, fields math

Form 3. Sing -> voice, speech -> pattern recognition, programming
Form 4. Sculpt -> body (static) -> anatomy, physiology, chemistry

Form 5. Dance -> body (dynamic) -> rigid body motion
Form 6. Act -> integration of above -> transformations

If I cross reference that with my other interests I think he got 3 and 4, and 5 and 6 mixed up, as acting should be training for dancing, rather then dancing being training for acting. Such that life should be a dance, not an act!!!??
:lol:

Leading to this;

Form 1. Draw -> hand (static) -> perspective, simple math
Form 2. Paint -> hand (dynamic) -> colors, emotions, fields math

Form 3. Sculpt -> body (static) -> anatomy, physiology, chemistry
Form 4. Sing -> voice, speech -> pattern recognition, programming

Form 5. Act -> body (dynamic) -> rigid body motion
Form 6. Dance -> integration of above -> transformations

Which also nicely makes 2 groups of 3. :blink:

I see it less as mechanical and more as artistic endeavor.

The greatest lives are works of art. Some are minimalist. Some are extravagant.

That's kind of how I see it. if you travel the chakral path up the body, think of it this way:
Root: Grounding (Foundations, food, shelter, etc.)
Sacral: Fulfillment (Sexual and/or the gut feeling of being satisfied)
Solar Plexus: Focus (Defining a path, forging, exploring)
Heart: Compassion (Learning to relate and make the exploration useful)
Throat: Communication (Service, sharing with the world)
Third Eye: Art (creating your life like an artist paints a canvas)
Crown: Spiritual Fulfillment

Connor L. wrote: I see it less as mechanical and more as artistic endeavor.

I don't see a difference between the two :ohmy:

Artistic is anything that is ACTIVELY creative.
Mechanical is something you do. Whether or not it is active/intentional.

Yes his point is creativity. The mechanism to achieve it though, does that need to be a creative iteration of mechanism for the result to be creative? Some structure is required for growth generally speaking, else we'd have no complexity and no art. I guess I tend to feel like all perception is a construct of phenomenal appearances which could be boiled through or seen as from various levels of detail such as math, physics, chemistry, life, living etc, but that does not mean a bunch of trees isn't a forest. Perhaps the foundation of creativity is the point where structure is allowed to become unstructured, but without a basis I feel like it's less art and more noise.

I think you're definitely right. That's why I listed out my Hierarchy of Creative Achievement above.

We have to have foundations, fulfillment, a sense of purpose, a compassionate mind (toward the self and others), a connective spirit and attitude of service, and then be able to have a feeling of Artistic Achievement. Without foundations, we are lost in our inability to stay alive. Without fulfillment, we are forever searching for something we don't have. Without a sense of purpose (notice: I didn't say actually having a purpose), we continue to try and fill a void which does not exist. Without compassion, we only seek to fulfill the self, therefore the art is not reaching out... only pulling in. Without a spirit of service, the art is cold and unfeeling. But, with all those in place, the art is magical.

We can be an artistic Engineer. An artistic Blacksmith. An artistic Janitor. Or, even, yes, an artistic Painter, poet, writer, etc.

Art must be supported by the rest of the foundational material. Which, I think, must come from having a good relationship with our mind and spirit. Which, is the point I think McKenna is trying to make.