Fractal Nature of Reality

The other day while I was a bit "out there", I noticed something that I've not paid attention to in years. First, I remember years ago getting my hair cut there would be mirrors on either side of the place I was getting my hair cut at. Staring into one of the mirrors produces a vision of infinity as the mirrors reflect off of one another, an endless depth of reflection, copies of reality represented by the light bouncing back and forth. It's a remarkable thing to view, though eventually you're bound to see limits in the mirror. There's another thing you can buy at Spencer's that produces the same kind of effect, using mirrors it produces an endless tunnel that appears to have strings of lights running down the sides. Of course, these are mere optical illusions. Obviously the tunnel isn't stretching into eternity and neither are the mirrors depicting some hidden world we've left untapped. But, it raises an important question regarding the fractal nature of reality.

So, the other day I was staring into the mirror, and as I got closer I could see a reflection of the room around me and myself in the pupil of my eye. And it left me thinking, that inside that reflection, if one's senses were accute enough one could see a reflection inside the reflection, and so on. Does reality possess some sort of inherent fractal aspect to itself, is this reality just a mirror of a larger fractal object, and is our reality a basis for further iterations into the fractal pattern of existence?

It seems that this idea of the fractal representation of reality is common among many occult systems of thought. For example, in Jewish Mysticism (Kabbalah), the world is believed to be composed of ten sephirot, and this pattern is repeated over and over. That is, each of these ten sephirot is composed of ten sephirot, each of those ten are composed of ten, and so on. Even in modern physics, we find that as we peer deeper and deeper on the subatomic scale we find particles that are even smaller. Originally we thought atoms were the smallest, but with atoms there are electrons, protons, and neutrons. Even smaller are the quarks. What other mysteries does the world of quantum mechanics hold for us, and what do these particles truly represent? On the larger scale, we have solar systems, galaxies, and the universe. But, what is beyond the universe? Is this just one of many universes that compose some sort of multiverse, is the dimension of spatial orientation just one of many dimensions? What of the dimension of thought, the dimension of being, or the dimension of time?

Science has answered many questions, it has peered deep into the world around us. However, many more questions about the nature of reality remain unanswered. Is there some higher aspect to reality that is casting a shadow over what we believe is the extent of existence? Many questions I find arising in my head about the nature of reality. Believing that our world is the absolute representation of all that is seems to be rather arrogant, to suspect that we are the pinnicle of this existence denies these valid questions. We can only perceive what we've been taught to perceive, but we are missing out on so much more.

As a stronger support of entheogenic plants and substances, I believe that these tools offer us glimpses into the true nature of reality. However, incursions into this realm of uncertainty often brings about fears in the established institutions that we're all so accustomed too. Western society and the Christian religion has a hard time accepting this fact because it demonstrates an existence far beyond what they are capable of explaining. What is the relationship between the mind and the power of thought and these unexplored realms? Hopefully, over time, as I pursue this subject with more zeal I'll find ways of trying to answer these questions. Until then, explore the seas of mental space and open up the doors of transcendence for yourself.

Ibogaine

Recently I read Breaking Open The Head by Daniel Pinchbeck. First of all, let me say this was an amazing book if you are at all interested in psychedelics. While some of what Pinchbeck has to say seems really out there for those outside of the psychedelic community (and probably for some of you who are part of the psychedelic community), it really has a lot to say about the potential for these substances as means for spiritual exploration and psychoanalysis.

He mentions a natural psychedelic used in African tribes called ibogaine. Considering myself pretty well-versed in most of the major psychedelics, I was rather intriguied by this as I've not heard about it before. This plant greatly demonstrates the medicinal and beneficial uses of these psychedelics. It has been shown to have tremendous use for treating addiction to cocaine, heroin, and other opiates. The drug does produce hallucinations and the actual session can take upwards of 18 to 36 hours. The substance is often used as part of a ritual for coming of age, however, since westerners have started investigating these tribal societies the use of the drug has reached much more wide-spread use. While the drug does seem to have strong potential for treating addictions and withdrawl symptoms, the drug remains illegal and very ltitel research is currently being conducted on it. It has been attributed as the cause to several deaths, but in the context of the whole I believe the benefits outway the risks. It has even been said that ibogaine "[condenses] 10 years of therapy into one night."

If you're interested in reading more about ibogaine, I've provided several links. I might expand on this entry in the future.

Wikipedia's Entry on Ibogaine

Introduction to Ibogaine

Ibogaine.co.uk

American Culture: Threat to The World?

I've been asking myself a question lately regarding American culture. It seems today that we as Americans have this tendency to have an elitist attitude towards our culture. That is to say, we see our culture as vastly superior to that of other cultures. The world is slowly becoming Americanized, American pop-culture is spreading to other countries, the English language is the second-mostly widely spoken language (Mandarin is first), and the various ideals of American society are being instituted around the world. It appears that we're reaching out to these other countries and smothering them with our cultural beliefs

Now, I'm sure there are people out there who will disagree with me. However, I've spoken with several of my friends who were born outside the USA (one of the many advantages at going to a school with a rather larger international population). They all agree that American culture is slowly infiltrating into other cultures and taking over (This may only reflect the opinion of a few people, I acknowledge this is not many people). While I'm not saying American culture is inherently bad, I do believe we need to examine American culture as a potential threat to the cultural heritage of other peoples. The world is still a vast and diverse place, filled with many ideas and varied beliefs. Yet, so many Americans are ignorant to this diversity. They exclude themselves from experiencing these varied lifestyles and in doing so ignore some of our roots.

Quite a bit of knowledge and belief has come out of these countries with whom we regard today as "inferior" to us. The best example I can think of is the enormous amount of prejudice that seems to exist today towards Middle Eastern countries. The Middle East was a storehouse of knowledge, preserving much of the ancient literature of the Greeks and other cultures when the fanatical Christians were wiping it out in the name of God. If it weren't for the Arabs we may not have known who Aristotle was or be where we are at today in terms of sophistication.

The point I'm trying to make is, Americans need to stop viewing their world as the only one that matters. The elitist attitude of "America is the best" needs to stop in order for us to move forward. As long as we remain arrogant about who we are and ignorant to the beliefs and cultures of other people, we'll never have many friends in the world.