(more on) Terrence McKeena (and Mark Pesce)

here

digging into G.'s stash of books...

William's Barrett: Irrational Man (A study of Existential Philosophy)

we had an hour wait to get into the restaurant for dinner so we ended-up back in the car, reclined the seats, got comfortable and I started reading out loud... (G.'s read this book a number of times -- his copy is quite worn -- but not recently, so we are going over it together).

Delia

P.S. had to ignore some startled looks... some passers by must have thought we were on a pretty odd date... (my bare feet were resting against the windshield -- I can't get really comfortable in a car without doing that...) D.

looking into "secular meditation" (just reading for now)

MORE: done with Herbet Benson's "The Relaxation Technique"; used Transcendental Meditation for his research... I see that as a weakness (not exactly secular), he claims you'd get the same response if you did it from a secular stand point... maybe, maybe not...I give him credit for mentioning possible side effects (such as hallucinations for those who meditate for hours for a period of weeks --> seems to be consistant with this TM horror story) D.

I think there may be something to it... (although the idea of repeating things over and over seems unhealthy to me even when outside of a religious context) D.

would physical immortality be desirable?

it seems to depend a lot on what a particular individual thinks of life and of death: what they *are*...

those who believe they would go on anyways, may actually regard the attempt to prelong life as a bad idea...

those who believe this is it and when you die it's all gone, are likely to try to at least extend their physical life (unless they are unhappy with it in some way or they don't see the point of living very long even in excelent condition -- some people appear to think it would be boring... --> compared to what? it seems to beat being dead if death means nothingness for the individual)

Delia

key question: the possibility of immortality

in the sens of figuring out how to make yourself go on, potentially forever... (in an earthly -- not necessarily this earth -- , non-religious way) D.

unless you could somehow prepare yourself for what was to come...

... but how could you possibly know ahead of time? yeah, there are plenty of people who would shamelessly (or delusionally) tell you they KNOW -- they just KNOW... (Run....) D.

it seems to make a lot more sense to *stay* with this world...

(stay with the "calm waters of the mind")

... for the duration that you will be alive and if there IS something that transcends, there should be plenty of time for that later on... D.