⚡️ Enlightening Bolts

❓Book of Questions: Pablo Neruda’s Poetic Reckonings with the Magic and Mystery of Life.  Read more here. 

🍄 The Wild Psychedelic Origins of Indigenous Mystical Rites: Psychedelics appear to be inseparable from the universal religious heritage of humankind.  Read it here. 

🐰 Uncle Rabbit: The first holographic conversational AI being powered by ChatGPT.  See it here. 

🎇 Image of The Week

"Elliðaey (our Elliðaey, that is) is located off Iceland’s rural southern coast, part of the Vestmannaejyar (or Westman) Islands. The history of the island is somewhat murky, due in part to misattributions like the one described above. However, at some point, a small hut was built on the island, which stands today and is used for storage and as a workshop. In 1953, the larger white structure seen in the images was built by the Elliðaey Hunting Association."  Read more. 

🪦 The Unnamed Legacy

We can keep climbing our entire lives trying to "make something of ourselves" to "make our lives matter."

To create a “legacy” which often means no more than seeking the applause you’ll never hear from people you’ve never met, all clapping for a caricature of who you are and not the real thing.

Do not worry if your name is remembered.

Instead, be concerned with acting as a force of love so strong that your children's children's children will still swim in that same reservoir of nourishment.

Because your time on earth will have left an impression on those you leave behind.

And they will carry with them your subtle ways of being that invite kindness, compassion, and care.

As the years pass, the origin of such warmth will be lost on them, but love will still permeate the room.

And that is what matters.

🌊 Flowing With The River

Enjoy this morsel of wisdom from the legendary spiritual trickster Alan Watts:

“We are all floating in a tremendous river and the river carries you along.

Some of the people in the river are swimming against the current, but they are still being carried along.

Others have learned that the art of the thing is to swim with it. You have to flow with the river.

There is no other way. You can swim against it, and pretend not to be flowing with it. But you still flow with the river.”

🤓 Learn This Word

Ramé: An Indonesian word that describes something that is both chaotic and joyful at the same time

⏳ From The Archives

A hand-picked classic HighExistence article.

 Learning How To Human Effectively 

You’re likely here because you’ve spent some time, or are currently spending some time, working on yourself.

Trying to improve, refine, update, evolve.

Why?

Why do you put all of this effort into yourself? To what end?

In some way or another, the answer is likely this: “I want to learn how to do the human thing better.”

What does it mean to be human?

Some of us laugh at this question. How trivial, how silly — isn’t it obvious? If it is, then answer the question. What does it mean to be human?

This doesn’t even introduce the idea of how to do it well, once we understand what it is.

Is the accumulation of wealth the meaning of being human? Is the pursuit of reckless hedonism the purpose of your human existence? What is it? How do you know that’s the point?

It’s not such an easy question.

 [Continue Reading] 

🎬 Endnote

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