,

Baraka (1992) is a Todd-AO (70 mm) purely cinematic visual film directed by Ron Fricke, cinematographer for Koyaanisqatsi, the first of the Qatsi films by Godfrey Reggio. Often compared to Koyaanisqatsi, Baraka's subject matter has some similarities ? including footage of various landscapes, churches, ruins, religious ceremonies, and cities thrumming with life, filmed using time-lapse photography in order to capture the great pulse of humanity as it flocks and swarms in daily activity.



The film also features a number of long tracking shots through various settings, including one through former concentration camps at Auschwitz (in Nazi-occupied Poland) and Tuol Sleng (in Cambodia) turned into museums honoring their victims: over photos of the people involved, past skulls stacked in a room, to a spread of bones. In addition to making comparisons between natural and technological phenomena, such as in Koyaanisqatsi, Baraka searches for a universal cultural perspective: for instance, following a shot of an elaborate tattoo on a bathing Japanese yakuza mobster with one of Native Australian tribal paint.

The movie was filmed at 152 locations of 24 countries: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Cambodia, China, Ecuador, Egypt, France, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Kuwait, Nepal, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey, and the United States.

It contains no dialogue. Instead of a story or plot, the film uses themes to present new perspectives and evoke emotion purely through cinema. The film was the first in over twenty years to be photographed in the 70mm Todd-AO format.



The title Baraka is a word that means blessing in many different languages.

The music score is provided by Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard (from Dead Can Dance) and Michael Stearns is noticeably different from the minimalist one provided by Philip Glass for Koyaanisqatsi. Notable music was also contributed by the band Brother.

The film was produced by Mark Magidson, who also produced and directed the film Toward the Within, a live concert performance by Dead Can Dance.


Directed by Ron Fricke
Produced by Mark Magidson
Written by Constantine Nicholas
Genevieve Nicholas
Music by Michael Stearns, Dead Can Dance
Release date(s) 1992
Running time 96 min
Language None ( Non-Verbal )

,


President Barack Obama's response to the question of UFOs and Extraterrestrials is interesting as it suggests Obama is in the know of things, hence adopted an extremely cautious stance on the greatest story of our times. He remains focussed on serving humanity however not ignoring the extraterrestrial phenomena which has been misconstrued to a great extent by the mainstream media and disinformation propaganda black ops.



Jeff Peckman, who came to national attention earlier this year when he launched a ballot initiative to create an Extraterrestrial Affairs Commission in Denver and later announced that he possessed actual footage of a live ET, continues his campaign to thrust alien life into the political limelight. This week, he invited Barack Obama to hear a briefing on UFOs and extraterrestrial life from a private citizen's perspective. Adjust your tin foil hat and find out what Peckman has to say to the presidential candidate and why he wants to say it before the election.

Peckman hopes to chat with Obama before he’s elected, when the CIA - gatekeeper of all shadowy information - hands the senator its own version of the extraterrestrial truth. At least one former president did get the full Facts of Intergalactic Life, according to Peckman:

President Reagan’s UFO/ET briefing at Camp David March 6-8, 1981 is described in a twenty-one page alleged transcript that was declassified from “Top Secret” last October 2007. The document suggests that CIA Director William Casey and several other unnamed advisors revealed facts about UFOs and ETs that clearly astonished Reagan.

But Democrats have apparently not have been afforded the same courtesy:

The day after his inauguration, President Jimmy Carter requested information on the UFO/ET issue but was denied the material by CIA Director George Bush Sr. Key Republicans like Bush Sr. are reported to have a big role in keeping information about UFOs from the public.

President Clinton was also not allowed a briefing from high level government officials. Instead he had to rely in large part on credible witness testimony from former high-ranking military, intelligence agency, and government contractor personnel organized by Dr. Steven Greer of the Disclosure Project.

So does Peckman think he’ll actually win Obama's ear? Probably not. He says the offer “is just a courtesy.” But ultimately, he wants the Democratic Party to force the issue on extraterrestrial disclosure by adding four objectives to its platform:

· To hold open, secrecy-free hearings on the UFO/Extraterrestrial presence on and around Earth.
· To hold open hearings on advanced energy and propulsion systems that, when publicly released, will provide solutions to global environmental challenges.
· To enact legislation which will ban all space-based weapons.
· To enact comprehensive legislation to research, develop and explore space peacefully and cooperatively with all cultures on Earth and in space.

There is no indication that Peckman plans to make a similar offer to Senator McCain. Perhaps McCain is one of those “key Republicans” keeping aliens and their technology under wraps.


Source

The Extra Campaign


Related Articles :

,



If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.It’s the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen; by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the very first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different; that their voice could be that difference. It’s the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled – Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been a collection of Red States and Blue States: we are, and always will be, the United States of America. It’s the answer that led those who have been told for so long by so many to be cynical, and fearful, and doubtful of what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.It’s been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America.I just received a very gracious call from Senator McCain.

He fought long and hard in this campaign, and he’s fought even longer and harder for the country he loves. He has endured sacrifices for America that most of us cannot begin to imagine, and we are better off for the service rendered by this brave and selfless leader. I congratulate him and Governor Palin for all they have achieved, and I look forward to working with them to renew this nation’s promise in the months ahead.I want to thank my partner in this journey, a man who campaigned from his heart and spoke for the men and women he grew up with on the streets of Scranton and rode with on that train home to Delaware, the Vice President-elect of the United States, Joe Biden. I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last sixteen years, the rock of our family and the love of my life, our nation’s next First Lady, Michelle Obama. Sasha and Malia, I love you both so much, and you have earned the new puppy that’s coming with us to the White House. And while she’s no longer with us, I know my grandmother is watching, along with the family that made me who I am. I miss them tonight, and know that my debt to them is beyond measure.To my campaign manager David Plouffe, my chief strategist David Axelrod, and the best campaign team ever assembled in the history of politics – you made this happen, and I am forever grateful for what you’ve sacrificed to get it done. But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to – it belongs to you.I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didn’t start with much money or many endorsements. Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington – it began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston. It was built by working men and women who dug into what little savings they had to give five dollars and ten dollars and twenty dollars to this cause. It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation’s apathy; who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep; from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter cold and scorching heat to knock on the doors of perfect strangers; from the millions of Americans who volunteered, and organized, and proved that more than two centuries later, a government of the people, by the people and for the people has not perished from this Earth. This is your victory. I know you didn’t do this just to win an election and I know you didn’t do it for me. You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime – two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century. Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives for us. There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after their children fall asleep and wonder how they’ll make the mortgage, or pay their doctor’s bills, or save enough for college. There is new energy to harness and new jobs to be created; new schools to build and threats to meet and alliances to repair.The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America – I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you – we as a people will get there. There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won’t agree with every decision or policy I make as President, and we know that government can’t solve every problem. But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And above all, I will ask you join in the work of remaking this nation the only way it’s been done in America for two-hundred and twenty-one years – block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand. What began twenty-one months ago in the depths of winter must not end on this autumn night. This victory alone is not the change we seek – it is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were. It cannot happen without you. So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism; of service and responsibility where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves, but each other. Let us remember that if this financial crisis taught us anything, it’s that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers – in this country, we rise or fall as one nation; as one people.Let us resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long. Let us remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House – a party founded on the values of self-reliance, individual liberty, and national unity. Those are values we all share, and while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress. As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, “We are not enemies, but friends…though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection.” And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn – I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your President too. And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of our world – our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand. To those who would tear this world down – we will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security – we support you. And to all those who have wondered if America’s beacon still burns as bright – tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from our the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope. For that is the true genius of America – that America can change. Our union can be perfected. And what we have already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow. This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that’s on my mind tonight is about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She’s a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing – Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old. She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn’t vote for two reasons – because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin. And tonight, I think about all that she’s seen throughout her century in America – the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can’t, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can. At a time when women’s voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can. When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs and a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can. When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can. She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that “We Shall Overcome.” Yes we can. A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination. And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change. Yes we can. America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves – if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made? This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment. This is our time – to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth – that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can’t, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes We Can. Thank you, God bless you, and may God Bless the United States of America.

Source




Time to wake up and be the Change !

Each one of us has the potential to change the world and this has to happen collectively ! Even a thought, a simple prayer for peace counts ... Barack Obama may you always be with the Divine Light and may the light always guide you through .... walk the righteous path of Truth & Honesty ... Let the world know the truth, the truth will set the world free !




Related Articles :

,
'UFOs : The Secret Evidence' is a 2 hour television programme set out to solve some of the great UFO mysteries, perhaps even provide a catch-all explanation for the whole field of Ufology. 'UFOs: The Secret Evidence' was written and presented by journalist Nick Cook, who has been an aviation editor and aerospace consultant for the world-renowned trade publication "Jane's Defence Weekly". His impeccable credentials might suggest a rather stuffy approach to the subject, but Nick Cook actually brings with him a down-to-earth, common sense approach which is refreshing. His stance on UFOs seems open-minded and objective. He also manages to gain interviews with some very intriguing individuals from the aerospace and intelligence fields.




The programme started by asserting that UFO reports began during the Second World War. This is an incorrect assertion, unfortunately, ignoring a wealth of historical evidence dating back centuries. Still, it's probably fair to say that the first official military reports on the subject were generated in the 1940s, and that is the focus of Nick's investigation. He tackled the phenomenon of the 'Foo Fighters' reported by airmen during WWII and, with John Dering (a senior scientist at SARA), considered the possibility that the Nazis were sending up prototype Unmanned Aerial Vehicles which were "reusable"!

A bizarre technological artefact known as 'the Fly Trap' was visited, and the theory that it was a test-rig for Nazi flying saucers was discussed. This was in the context of a secret Nazi underground base where derro-like scientists played with glowing bell-shaped devices which seemed to defy gravity. This was research which led to the death of several scientists, allegedly.

Brigadier General Roger Ramey and Colonel Thomas J. BuBose with the Roswell 'wreakage' Then we moved onto the Roswell incident, via the infamous U.S. defence programme to incorporate Nazi scientists into sensitive research areas (like White Sands Missile Range), known as Operation Paperclip. The Roswell incident resulted, it was alleged, from a top secret defence programme known as 'Sky Hook', which sent up advanced surveillance balloons. Its flight path took it over Roswell, and when one crashed the UFO story was sprung to hide the truth about 'Sky Hook' from the Soviets.

This is a running theme throughout Nick Cook's thesis. Whatever the truth behind the wider phenomenon, the subject was used mercilessly by intelligence agencies in the psychological war with the Soviet Union. This occurred to such an extent that UFOs became part of American culture for a long while; as a propaganda instrument UFOs were unrivalled in their success, it was claimed. Not only that, but the U.S. then used UFO flaps as a means to track the progress of their experimental craft.

It all sounds like those clever military intelligence people had their finger on the pulse all along! This rose-tinted view of UFO history, US of A-style, was backed up by various characters from the Intelligence field interviewed by Nick Cook, who all smiled knowingly as they openly revealed the deepest secrets of military intelligence to the public. "We suckered you all, you fools!" they arrogantly insinuated. But this version of history runs against the grain of the U.S. Government's public panic over the subject at the time, as revealed in various memos that have come to light.

After the death of the brutal Soviet premier Joseph Stalin, the CIA upped the ante, using UFOs as a propaganda tool to cover up the top secret flights of the U2 spy-plane over the Soviet Union. It didn't work, of course, because the Soviets shot one down. One would have expected the UFO phenomenon to stop dead in its tracks at that point. But, no, on it went, cruelly ignoring the whole CIA/Propaganda theory.

So various other aerospace oddities are wheeled out of their hangers to shock and amaze us. Like the 'Avro Car', and the 'Silver Bug'. There is something to be said for the idea that sightings of UFOs at or near sensitive aerospace research establishments might just have something to do with what's going on there. Policeman Lonnie Zamora might have seen a 'Silver Bug', or a downed prototype Sampler destined for the Moon, next to White Sands, for instance.

The Russians certainly seemed to be well and truly hooked on UFOs, with Andropov ordering the Red Army to watch the skies, which they did dutifully for 13 years. But the canny Russians would have known that the Americans liked to regularly risk their young pilots on surveillance missions across Soviet territory, despite already having spy satellite technology quite sufficient for the task. There's more to all this than meets the eye. Yes, Stealth aircraft undoubtedly contributed to UFO sightings. But that's not the whole story.

And Nick Cook seems to realise that too. The first hint of that came when watching the uncomfortable reaction of British sceptics Andy Roberts and Dave Clarke to his gentle questioning. They were not amongst friends, one could judge. Then his appraisal of the eye-witness account of pilot Tom Hanley, who described the incredible manoeuvring capability of an unidentified flying object darting around his reconnaissance aircraft, seemed to open up greater potentials than the US military dangerously interfering with its own advanced aircraft.

The 1952 flap over Washington D.C. also brought about a pause for thought. Nick Cook is not a dyed-in-the-wool sceptic by any means.

He then tackled subsidiary subjects, like cattle mutilations across stretches of the continental USA. He concluded that these were covert missions carried out by military agents using helicopters and field-based surgical equipment, to monitor contamination levels of some kind. It would have been easier to just buy some cattle and then take body parts to the lab for analysis, I'd have thought. But ten out of ten for style, that's for sure.



Then there was the alien abduction phenomenon, which is a massive subject in its own right. Nick Cook looked at the Travis Walton case, including an excellent interview with the man himself. No explanation was forthcoming, except for a generalised gloss over the experiences of the Contactees some years before. Perhaps to try to indict the U.S. Government in human experiments against the will, or knowledge, of the victims involved, was a step too far for Cook. The U.S. Government's dismissive contempt for the great, impoverished mass of its own people has been clear to see for many years, most recently noted during the Hurricane Katrina debacle. So it's possible, surely?

'UFOs: The Secret Evidence" wound up with a look at satellite photographs showing contrails from an unidentified craft which flew halfway across the globe at 8000mph. 'Aurora' was the modern UFO par excellence, it seems. But however fast these things get, the fact remains that the difficulty with identifying many UFOs lies in their bizarre patterns of manoeuvrability. If the Nazis created the Foo Fighters back in the 1940s, then why the heck are we still flying around in fixed wing aircraft 60 years later? It all seems so unlikely. Yes, UFOs were a wonderful cover story to hide black projects behind, but the black projects in themselves do not completely solve the UFO problem. Not by a long chalk. In the end, Nick Cook seemed to agree.

Download : Link 1 Link 2


Related Posts:



,

In 1938, Albert Hofmann (January 11, 1906 – April 29, 2008) was working as a research chemist at the laboratory of the Sandoz company in Basel, Switzerland, where he began studying the medicinal properties of plants. He was studying the alkaloid compounds of ergot, a fungus which forms on rye.

This poisonous fungus that grows on rye had been used for centuries as a folk remedy to bring on childbirth and ease headaches. The doctor believed that ergot could be a storehouse of new medicines, and he set about synthesizing new chemicals from it. In 1938, Hofmann had synthesized the 25th chemical: lysergic acid diethylamide. It showed little effect in test animals, bar restlessness, and it was shelved.




Five years later, on a hunch - or a "peculiar presentiment", as Hofmann puts it - he brewed up a fresh batch. In the process, he was overcome by dizziness. Sent home, he "sank into a not unpleasant intoxicated-like condition, characterised by an extremely stimulated imagination".

The next day, Hofmann concluded that the sensations could only have been caused by accidental exposure to something in his lab, perhaps the LSD. To be sure, the cautious doctor gave himself an extremely conservative amount of the chemical - 250 millionths of a gram. It was, in fact, the equivalent of a megadose of the mind-agent, still one of the most powerful known to man.
Albert Hofmann began his historic 'Bicycle Ride' back home when he realized the world had changed dramatically. The smallest of dozes began to show in the vivid patterns and colors he saw in the changing landscapes as he made his way home.

"Everything in my field of vision wavered and was distorted as if seen in a curved mirror," said Albert Hofmann." I had the feeling that I could not move from the spot. I was cycling, cycling, but the time seemed to stand still." It was 1943, and Hofmann was experiencing the world's first LSD trip.

By the time the frightened 37-year-old research chemist reached home, he was terrified. The room spun. The walls rippled. His worried neighbour who offered him a glass of milk had horrifically transformed as well. He felt like he was dying. After a few hours, the intensity of the experimental drug he'd dosed himself with fell and he was able to enjoy the "fantastic and impressive" effects. Next day, he felt wonderful as he took a walk in the wilderness ... feeling oneness with everything around him ... "A sensation of wellbeing and renewed life flowed through me. The world was as if newly created." LSD's effects did not come as much of a revelation to science. Such psyche-manifesting agents, or "psychedelics", were already well known. Mescaline had been discovered in the late 1800s and made famous in 1954 as the subject of Aldous Huxley's book The Doors of Perception. What was extraordinary about LSD was its power. It was about 10,000 times more powerful than mescaline, and a tiny amount was enough to trigger profound alterations in consciousness.

Soon, LSD caused a revolution in psychiatry. Therapists and doctors used it to treat forms of mental illness, including neurosis, psychosis and depression. More than 40,000 people underwent psychedelic therapy. Respected figures considered it a wonder drug and gave their careers over to LSD research. By 1965, more than 2,000 papers had been published, many reporting extremely positive outcomes in treating anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder and alcoholism. Hofmann's vision of LSD as a "medicine for the soul" seemed to be coming to fruition. LSD began to leak out into élite society. Artists, painters, performers and musicians began to experiment with it in looser, less formal contexts. Anaïs Nin, Ken Kesey, Allen Ginsberg and Huxley all explored its creative potential. Huxley believed such drugs gave normal people the gift of the spontaneous visionary experience usually reserved for mystics and saints.


The public grew more and more curious about this "miracle drug". Self-experimentation began to increase. In a society facing growing industrialisation and urbanisation, alienation and boredom, everyone wanted to be reborn. Already, a counterculture had sprung up to oppose the wealth-driven homogeneity of capitalist America. LSD was rapidly adopted as the sacrament for this bohemian "hippie" movement. In the age of the moon landings and the exploration of space, here was a tool that allowed a similar, metaphorical journey, a short cut to enlightenment. By the mid-1960s, the drug was booming. Hofmann remembers the time distinctly. "I had not expected that LSD, with its unfathomable, uncanny, profound effects, so unlike the character of a recreational drug, would ever find worldwide use as an inebriant. People had the mistaken opinion that it would be sufficient simply to take LSD in order to have such miraculous effects." Rampant use led inevitably to "bad trips" among recreational users, and Hofmann could only watch with a mixture of astonishment and dismay. "They did not use it in the right way, and they did not have the right conditions.



So they were not adequately prepared for it," he says. "It is such a delicate and deep experience, if used the right way." He was stricken by doubt and concern that misuse and fear of the drug would lead to it being taken out of the hands of responsible investigators and psychiatrists. Would LSD - the drug which, on that spring day in 1943, reconnected Hofmann with the "deeply euphoric" visionary encounters he'd experienced in nature as a boy - become a blessing for humanity, or a curse? A curse, the authorities concluded. In 1966, the drug was outlawed around the world. Psychiatric treatment continued but was steadily throttled by red tape and LSD's reputation as an "insanity drug". By the 1970s, research had stopped altogether. Today, it languishes in near obscurity, banished to the fringes of science and society. " Wrong and inappropriate use has caused LSD to become my problem child," he says. "The history of LSD to date amply demonstrates the catastrophic consequences that can ensue when its profound effect is misjudged and the substance is mistaken for a pleasure drug." He took the drug many times. He believed it to be just another means to attain extraordinary states of consciousness. " Breathing techniques, yoga, fasting, dance, art " , he said were equally good. He took pleasure in recalling his boyhood experiences in nature that he linked with psychedelics. " LSD brings about a reduction of intellectual powers in favour of an emotional experiencing of the world. It can help to refill our consciousness with this feeling of wholeness and being one with nature."


Related Articles :
,


This literary and metaphysical epic unifies the cosmological phenomena of our time - from crop circles to quantum mechanics to the worldwide resurgence of shamanism - in support of the Mayan prophecy that the year 2012 portends an unprecedented global shift.

Cross Umberto Eco, Aldous Huxley, and Carlos Castaneda and you get the voice of Daniel Pinchbeck. And yet nothing quite prepares you for the lucidity, rationality, and informed audacity of this seeker, skeptic, and cartographer of hidden realms.

In tracing the meaning of the end of the Mayan Calendar in 2012, and the imminent transition from one world to another prophesied by the Hopi Indians of Arizona, Pinchbeck synthesizes indigenous cosmology, alien abductions, shamanic revivalism, crop circles, psychedelic visions, the current ecological crisis and the Judeo-Christian Apocalypse into a new vision for our time. The result is an unprecedented and riveting inquiry into where humanity is immediately headed - and its strange and startling congruence with the ideas of the mysterious civilization of the Classical Maya.

Throughout the 1990s, Pinchbeck had been a member of New York's literary select. He wrote for publications like ArtForum, Esquire, and The New York Times Magazine. Critics acclaimed his first book, Breaking Open the Head, as the most significant contribution to psychedelic literature since the work of Terence McKenna.

But the unexpected occurred: Pinchbeck found himself increasingly pulled into the shamanic and metaphysical realms he was reporting on as a journalist. As his mind opened to new and sometimes threatening experiences, disparate threads and synchronicities made new sense: Humanity, every sign suggested, faces an imminent decision between greater self-potential and environmental ruin. The Mayan "birth date" of 2012 could herald the close of one way of existence and the beginning of another, symbolized by the prophesied return of the Mesoamerican deity Quetzalcoatl, the mysterious "Plumed Serpent" of ancient myth. In just the nick of time, the skeptical modern mind can reclaim the suppressed psychic, intuitive, and mystical dimensions of being, and institute a new planetary culture. But it is only - and by no means assuredly - possible if we confront the environmental catastrophe staring us in the face.

Something is in the air: many, if not most, of us feel that real change - for good or ill - is afoot. Pinchbeck's journey - a metaphysical opus that takes the reader from the endangered rain forests of the Amazon, to the stone megaliths of the English plains, to the Burning Man festival in the Black Rock desert of Nevada - tells the tale of a single man in whose trials we ultimately recognize our own secret thoughts and unease over modern life. And a redemptive vision of where we are heading.

Reviews :

"Daniel Pinchbeck's 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl is a dazzling kaleidoscopic journey through the quixotic hinterlands of consciousness, crop circles, and ancient prophecy, as well as an intriguing and deeply personal odyssey of transformation. 2012 presents a compelling and complex teleological argument, weaving together the twilit realms of the human imagination and the harsh realities of accelerated global catastrophe. Its conclusions are surprisingly robust, original, and thankfully optimistic."
- Sting

"A daring and intriguing, sometimes deeply disturbing, very well researched and extremely readable book that puts an entirely new slant on 2012. From quantum physics to aliens, from crop circles to reincarnation, from shamanic hallucinogens to Rudolf Steiner, from the Amazon jungle to Stonehenge, from fragments of jaundiced autobiography to the ending of worlds, Pinchbeck takes us on a mind-bending, paradigm-rattling ride."
- Graham Hancock

"Few things are more difficult to convey in writing than the epiphanic drug experience or the mystical vision, and it is to Pinchbeck's credit as a writer that he is able to articulate these visions so clearly and memorably."
_ Geoff Dyer, Los Angeles Times

"Pinchbeck's reporting is fascinating and entertaining." - Brian Doherty, Washington Post Book World (front page)

"The author is not some hippy-dippy hedonist staggering down the road of excess but rather a skeptical philosopher of consciousness seeking the enlightened path." - Troy Patterson, Entertainment Weekly

Daniel Pinchbeck has also received some typical media sensationalized reviews as well particularly from the Rolling Stone to which Daniel responds ...

I was delighted that Rolling Stone found my work significant enough to deserve feature coverage. Unfortunately, the piece [RS 1008] was full of inaccuracies and outright abrications on a factual level, as well as sensationalist distortions of my ideas. To take a few examples, the first and last scenes never actually happened. We did not visit “a bunch of people on dimethyltryptamine,” I had not seen a “downtown rock show with Moby” the night before, and there was no woman groaning on a futon. I do not have “buck teeth.” Similarly, the scene described at the end never occurred-I don’t even own a copy of The Lion King.

I found the writer’ loose relationship to truth particularly depressing when she attempted to define my ideas. I am not “actively bidding to become [my] generation’s Timothy Leary”-in fact I critique Leary quite harshly in my first book. In my work, I don’t advocate mass use of psychedelics as Leary did, and certainly do not consider them to be “the answer.”

In 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl, I do not argue that “the world as we know it is about to end-on December 21, 2012.” My hypothesis is that we are already in an accelerated process of consciousness evolution, and I explore the possibility that the Mayan Calendar is, as Carl Johan Calleman describes in The Mayan Calendar and the Transformation of Consciousness, a “timetable” for understanding this process.

I most emphatically do not argue or think that “only the psychedelic elite and those who have reached a kind of supramental consciousness” will “be saved in 2012.” I do think that a deep transformation in the mindset of those who hold power in the modern West is necessary if we are going to avert disaster in the next few years, as we approach resource depletion and biospheric collapse.

In the future, it would be wonderful to see a magazine with the rich legacy of Rolling Stone approach the living currents of the intellectual counterculture of the 1950s and 60s with far more grace, integrity, and sophistication.

Quetzalcoatl


Related Articles :



,

! am another yourself


In Mayan tradition, there is a greeting that many people working with Mayan wisdom know of. It is the law of In Lak'ech Ala K'in, which means I am another yourself (A modern day interpretation). It also means I am you, and you are me (A traditional Mayan interpretation). We have come to understand that this Mayan greeting is an honoring for each other. It is a statement of unity and oneness. In Lak'ech Ala K'in mirrors the same sediment of other beautiful greetings such as Namaste for East India, Wiracocha for the Inca, and Mitakuye Oyasin for the Lakota. It doesn't matter which culture you come from. But when one of these sacred greetings is given, there is always an action of placing the hands over the heart.

The more I walk the Mayan path, the more I understand the depth that In Lak'ech Ala K'in teaches. This greeting has become more than a simple, honorable Maya greeting. It has evolved into a moral code, and a way to create a positive reality for all life. As we near 2012 with all its doom and gloom prophecies, we have a moral obligation to Spirit to live the code of In Lak'ech Ala K'in.



It is common knowledge these days that every action we take in our lives affects all living things. We understand that if we act negatively, our actions impact all life negatively. When we act positively, we affect all life in a positive manner. When we live the Mayan code of In Lak'ech Ala K'in, we know that every action we take is out of respect for all life, and we are living and giving from our hearts.

We can give our hearts in a positive manner every day by saying In Lak'ech Ala K'in to each other, to the trees, to the sky, to the birds, and to the stars. You can greet each sunrise by saying In Lak'ech Ala K'in. Each and every day we have together is sacred, so acknowledge this day by giving it your heart. Remember when you give in this way, you are also giving to yourself ! You are not giving your energy away to something separate from yourself. You are giving to another part of yourself !

I understand the challenges in staying positive in these days where the energy is so compressed that we can hardly breathe, but there is one simple exercise that can turn it all around for us. Each day, simply walk in gratefulness. We can say In Lak'ech Ala K'in to that which gives us life everyday, and that is the heart of the Great Spirit. Instead of solely taking from the Great Spirit by asking for insight and direction, give back your heart, love, and appreciation. You will be amazed at the results. If we open our hearts and send gratitude, it opens all doors that were previously closed to us. Remember you are a part of Great Spirit ! When you give to Great Spirit you are giving to yourself.

We can practice In Lak'ech Ala K'in tirelessly, because when and what we give to others is giving energy to ourselves. When we give, we receive. So how do we know if we giving right ? It is really simple. When we are energized by our giving, we know we are giving from our hearts and from the code of In Lak'ech Ala K'in. If we feel drained or exhausted, it is possible that we gave out of fear, lack, obligation, ego, or a need to be accepted or liked. The more one practices In Lak'ech Ala K'in, the clearer we will become about our motivations regarding our actions, and the more we will receive. Remember . . . what goes around comes around exactly the way it was sent out. If you don't like what life is sending to you, look at what you are sending out to life.

When we begin to live and practice In Lak'ech Ala K'in, a lot of our old ways of doing things will no longer work for us. For instance, we cannot act like victims anymore, and we cannot live out of fear either. We find ourselves no longer preparing for disaster; instead we anticipate a glorious future. It is time for us to rewrite the prophecies. They have become obsolete. The past will become just a bad dream, and the future will become a beautiful vision of which we will create right now.

When we practice In Lak'ech Ala K'in, we quit being neutral in our world, because we understand that Spirit works with those that take action. We begin to take action by adding to the positive experience of this dimension. So what kind of world do you want ? Don't just stand there waiting for the world to appear in front of you. Spirit helps those who help themselves. It is up to us.

When we practice the moral code of In Lak'ech Ala K'in, we are producing and sending positive and vital energy that can literally transform our troubled world into Paradise. When we live from In Lak'ech Ala K'in, we are putting to use our natural ability to create our reality. We are affecting the collective consciousness of humanity in a positive way. The Cosmic Maya, also known as the "Star Elders" or "Invisible Council", understood this natural power to create their reality. Their sacred calendars mapped the natural laws of the universe. Now it is our turn to come to this understanding. It is time for us to walk as the Star Elders did so many years ago. The time has come for us to change the world.

The more humanity begins to live In Lak'ech Ala K'in, the less we will think in terms of our separateness. There can be no competition, jealousy or envy between us, because we are pieces of each other. We can share and help each other with our connections, ideas and resources without fear that there will not be enough to go around. When we live the reality of unity, abundance and wholeness, there will be unity, abundance and wholeness! The more of us that participate in the creation of a better world, the quicker it will arrive. We will have peace, love, harmony and unity, and will finally have arrived home.

,
For many years mankind has been bewildered over these intricate geometric formations that have formed in crop fields across the world and the phenomena has only increased coupled with unexplained aerial phenomena hinting at some form of a higher intelligence communicating with us in subtle ways.

Many researchers and followers of the phenomena have witnessed and also recorded some rare video footage of Orbs or Balls of Light (BOLs) hovering over the formations in the fields, moving consciously ruling out the possibility of any known atmospheric occurrence.

Based on certain meditation experiments involving the power of the human mind there is good reason to believe that it is possible to influence the formation of these patterns psychically making it an interactive phenomena.

The genuine crop circles have the stalks bent at the nodes without damaging the crop. They also show biological changes to the crop at a cellular level, malfunctioning of electronic equipment because of the presence of a strong electromagnetic field around the crop circle and positive health effects of people visiting the sacred sites. There have been many instances of people walking into the formation with a headache or an ailment of sorts and walking out completely healed. There is a well known incident of a lady who entered one of these formations and walked out healed of a malignant brain tumor. Clearly the crop circles represent something more than just impressive fractals.



Crop Circles, Quest for Truth ! In this 115 minute intensely detailed documentary on Crop Circles, William Gazeck, the Director explores the science and spirituality surrounding these fascinating geometric patterns governed by principles of sacred geometry and which possess the same golden ration present in the anatomy of all biological life and celestial alignments.



"Of the 100-180 or so formations that have appeared in southern England every summer for the past 12 years, it is highly doubtful that more than a few were surreptitiously and secretly manmade - the facts don't add up for anything more than a handful of convincing fakes in any given year. That leaves a huge, unexplained and authentic phenomenon. My assertion, which is absolutely 100% certain and unabashed, is that in fact there are hundreds if not thousands of authentic Crop Circles that have appeared in the past somewhere in the world."

They are real ! - William Gazecki



Related Articles :


,

After the release of Zeitgeist The Movie, Peter Joseph returns with Zeitgeist 2 Addendum, yet again awakening a long asleep populace caught in the illusion most know as reality. Our World Today thrives on separation ! Separation within our species, separation from all other life and separation from the divine source of all creation, God ! As the truth comes to dawn on human consciousness we begin to realize all is one and God is not an entity outside of us. To find God within is to find one's true self ... true empowerment of the self / soul which shatters the old paradigm of a God entity outside of us.



The second film, Zeitgeist: Addendum, attempts to locate the root causes of pervasive social corruption, while offering a solution. This solution is not based on politics, morality, laws, or any other "establishment" notions of human affairs, but rather on a modern, non-superstitious based understanding of what we are and how we align with nature, to which we are a part. The work advocates a new social system which is updated to present day knowledge, highly influenced by the life long work of Jacque Fresco and The Venus Project !


,

" It's the realm of mystical experience. And those who've been there describe the visit as the most significant event of their lifes. Until recent times that was a world known only to holy men, to saints, or perhaps to the insane. Then a generation ago this drug, LSD, escaped from the laboratory. It was consumed by millions of young people. To some it's a doorway to the mystical universe, enlightenment in a bottle. To others it could open the darker side of their own selves hidden beneath the sub-conscious. "



Related Posts:

Follow Us @psychedelicadventure