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It’s easy to lose track of what is important, to seek what we don’t need in hopes of finding happiness. As the philospher/psychologist Eric Fromm is noted to have said:

“You can never get  enough of what you don’t need to make you  happy.”

Its easy to forget our dependence upon water….and yet, it is all around us, in the air, in the soil, in our bodies…..as the saying goes, ‘by water, all things have life.’

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…”And so, from hour to hour, we ripe and ripe, And then, from hour to hour, we rot and rot; And thereby hangs a tale…” – William Shakespeare

And yet, the human kingdom, the consciousness which animates all kingdoms, remains and remains giving rise to myriad forms through arechetypal developmental stages through the eons…..

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You may have been taught about the five senses, at least to the degree that you recognize their are five senses. You may not yet be as cognizant about the other two senses, one of which is the most basic, and the other the most advanced. The most basic sense is that of motion. The most advanced sense is that of sequence.

Sequence is the awareness of procession…that one thing leads to another to another to another….it’s a sense of possible and probable outcomes  A sense of consequences, both positive and/or negative — and 256 shades of gray.

Motion is referred to as the “kinaesthetic” sense. It is movement, subtle movement, gross movement, movement of any kind. It’s prevalaent, ubiquitious, ever present, on many levels…You are aware of motion, of movement….movement of your legs, arms, eyes and tongue; movement of your toes and your beliefs…..change, adjustments….the world revolving, and evolving….

The collection of our 7 Senses, operating organically as a whole system, is referred to as “the sensorium.” Our sense of who we are as a person, as a neighbor, as a friend, as a citizen,  as a spouse, child, parent…..is constructed with the sensorium.

Aesthetics, as in “kinaesthetics,” is about beauty….;and kin…well, kin, as in “the next of kin,”  is about relationship ….and relationships are not static, they move….in a sequence of events.

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Few people know this place…..the west end of Big Beach in Makena, Maui. A trail over the cliffs leads to Little Beach, the clothing optional cove with waters equally if not more appealing than those in this image.

The tan wet sand like a million mini gemstones enlivens the bare feet. The warm azure mineral water welcomes sea bathers and clouds filter sunlight making soft shadows while the wind is gentle and the waves asleep.

Big Beach can be a wildly agitated heavy pounding display of nature.  Huge waves rolling into a crashing explosion of salty whitewater rushing up the sand bank in a frothy frenzy and then, spent, roll back into the source.

Little Beach hides away behind the lava rock away from parking lots. Old molten now frozen fire, sharp cutting stone cold and unforgiving opens a rugged stairway up above the big beach and over down into paradise.

Light, earth, air and, of course, the holy water of the whole world. In a corner of the globe shaped by natural forces and brain chemistry the elements come together and present to all senses the natural world.

You’ve heard it said, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” Beauty is subjective.  Beauty is discovered within ourselves, and then projected outward.

And, if beauty is in the eye of the beholder, then so is ugly. Ugly is the antithesis, the opposite, of beauty.  Ugly and beauty are conjoined like two sides of one coin just as are all opposites, such as hot and cold, up and down, in and out.  One gives contrast and definition to the other. And ugly too, like beauty, is subjective, and  projected outward.

“Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it within us or we find it not.”

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

You’d think the word psychedelic was entirely modern; but,  “delic” comes from Greek (delein) and means “to make manifest.” So, psychedelic is about making the psyche manifest…well, at least aspects of Psyche which had hitherto been unmanifest. Psychedelic experience is referred to as mind altering.

Mind altering substances are part of just about every culture going way way back in time. The body, the “bio” as an organic chemical factory, produces substances which alter the mind naturally. And, of course,  some plants naturally produce mind altering chemicals.  The mere act of sensing the world is mind altering; eating food is mind altering, sports is mind altering, sex is mind altering, education is mind altering…..It is as if mind altering activities are necessary…..

Where would we be if our minds had not been altered? Where will we be if we don’t alter our minds?

“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

- Albert Einstein

One of the most delightful affirmations, or perhaps a prayer, I have ever heard is this excerpt from the Navajo Beauty Way Ceremony…

To dream. The mind free from conventional realities roaming amidst it’s own fabrications.  To stop and smell the roses is all well and fine; but, to sit back, close the eyes, relax and imagine…..

What if…all that I see before me….is me;  my sensations, my brain,  my consciousness. It’s all happening inside, not outside.

What if…I am the air, the water, the soil, the light.

What if I sit upon the crescent moon, or recline within a cloud, drink a rainbow colored mist or sip upon a waterfall.

What if…..I am.

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