Our Daily Dead

Mystic mushrooms spawn magic event!

“If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite.”
~~ William Blake

“But the man who comes back through the Door in the Wall will never be quite the same as the man who went out. He will be wiser but less cocksure, happier but less self-satisfied, humbler in acknowledging his ignorance yet better equipped to understand the relationship of words to things, of systematic reasoning to the unfathomable Mystery which it tries, forever vainly, to comprehend.”
~~ Aldous Huxley, “The Doors of Perception”

“Abandoning his body by the gate of dreams, the Spirit beholds in awaking his senses sleeping. Then he takes his own light and returns to his home, this Spirit of golden radiance, the wandering swan everlasting.
Leaving his nest below in charge of the breath of life, the immortals Spirit soars afar from his nest. He moves in all regions whereever he loves, this Spirit of golden radiance, the wandering swan everlasting.
And in the region of dreams, wandering above and below, the Spirit makes for himself innumerable subtle creations. Sometimes he seems to regjoice in the love of fairy beauties, sometimes he laughs or beholds awe-inspiring terrible visions.
People see his field of pleasure; but he can never be seen.
~~The Upanishads

We chased our pleasures here
Dug our treasures there
But can you still recall
The time we cried
Break on through to the other side
Break on through to the other side
~~Jim Morrison and The Doors, “Break On Through (To The Other Side)”

And perhaps fitting to all this is word that the Piper at the Gates of Dawn - Syd Barrett - has died. Diehard Pink Floyd fans still insist that the band was never the same without Syd. Now what do we do with our advance tickets for the reunion tour?

from the NY Times
KINGSTON, Jamaica, March 9 (AP) — Mortimo Planno, a philosopher regarded as a key figure in the development of the Rastafarian religion, died Monday at the University of the West Indies in Kingston. He was 85. His death followed complications from a thyroid condition, said Barry Chevannes, a longtime friend and anthropology professor at the university.

Mr. Planno was one of the most influential people in the development of Rastafarianism, a sect whose members mostly regard Africa as the promised land and Haile Selassie as a divine figure.

Though rejected by mainstream Jamaican society, the movement grew into a structured religion, in large part under Mr. Planno’s influence.

Some Rastafarians smoke marijuana as a sacrament, but others object to its use. Most Rastafarians preach a oneness with nature and grow their hair long and wear it in dreadlocks.

Mr. Planno taught the principles of Rastafarianism at his home in the Kingston ghetto of Trench Town to students that included the singer Bob Marley, perhaps the best-known adherent of the movement.

Technorati Tags: Mortimo Planno, Rastafarian, Haile Selassie, marijuana, dreadlocks, Trench Town, Bob Marley

The good doctor of something or other landed here in the ODD On Deck list because of this wee bit of news from last year:

The Rev. Jerry Falwell was in critical condition Tuesday March 29, 2005 at Lynchburg General Hospital in Lynchburg, Va., suffering from respiratory arrest brought about by viral pneumonia.

Rather serious that. One hopes that Tinky Winky was not on call during Dr. Jerry’s visit, but perhaps the whole episode was due to his paralysis over his TeleTubbie decision.

Technorati Tags: Jerry Falwell, Lynchburg, respiratory arrest, viral pneumonia, Tinky Winky, TeleTubbie