As I write this I’m tripping balls.
Suffice it to say, I don't expect this to be my best work, but I feel a real need to "strike while the iron is hot" so to speak.
There is, quite literally, the entire spectrum of colors and possibilities on
the blank page before me. I took a
couple of stems on purpose on this sunny Sunday afternoon in Phoenix, but for
not as slight a reason as others take psychedelics. I did it to clear my mind's palette - to clear out the dust accumulated in life's day-to-day grind.
I did it because I’m in a much better place
than I was the last time I shroomed and I can enjoy them again. The last time I took them I was in a dark
place I desperately wanted out of and shrooms always help me do that. Johns Hopkins University researchers did an
intensive study of Psilocybin and they found that severely depressed people who
took shrooms had long lasting positive psychological effects. Truer words were never spoken. For me anyway, they afford me a small window
of time to see myself and my situation from the third person perspective. And for that reason (among others) it is a gift from God.
This time I’m in a good place – better than I’ve ever
been, thank you very much. But I don't think there's enough Psilocybin in the world to explain away why people think torturing, maiming and hurting each other (or
ourselves for that matter) is the thing to do.
Fuck that.
You see, the reason I felt a sense of urgency to wipe away life's detritus and start anew is because I’m going to hear Eva
Mozes tell her story tomorrow evening. She and her twin sister
Miriam were subjected to medical experimentation at the hands of Dr. Josef
Mengele, the “Angel of
Death” himself in Auschwitz (yes, the “Work Makes You
Free” Concentration Camp).
As I
struggle with the difficulty of semi-coherently typing these words on a page, I’m
imagining what Eva and Miriam were subjected to, as children for God’s sake, at
the hands of a highly educated person who took the Hippocratic Oath – which
is, in esscence, “Do no harm.”
However there is a bright side to this; there always is if
one is open to it. Ultimately, it doesn’t
matter that Josef Mengele never paid for his crimes on this plane of existence
(he fled to South America after World War II and died in 1977) – what’s
important is that Eva Mozes is living proof of the veracity of my very favorite axiom – that “Living
well is the best revenge.” A
universal truth of life on earth is that each and every one of us will be
wronged by our fellow man – what we do with it is up to
us.
The cornerstone of living well involves finding and accentuating what you love about yourself. Loving ourselves individually is the only way we can love
our fellow man, and having love and understanding for our fellow human being is
the only way out of the nightmare we’ve allowed to unfold around us. “Movements” and “issues” and “campaigns” are merely distractions. As I said in my last article, a
fool’s errand.
If you really want to change the world, the first step
is to actually be someone you love today.
You’re worth it.
You’ve earned it.
Just do it.
Right now.
No excuses.
“Intertwined Lives: Dr. Mengele, Eugenics, and the Mozes Twins” Opening Gala 
2 Comments in Response to Life is a Gift - What You Do With It Is Up To You
Thanks for the reminder... to live well, and to try psilocybin sometime.
I'm Starting With The Man In
The Mirror
I'm Asking Him To Change
His Ways
And No Message Could Have
Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World
A Better Place
(If You Wanna Make The
World A Better Place)
Take A Look At Yourself, And
Then Make A Change