Tales of the Torn Sock

[astral_surfer]

I have been writing a journal since 2001 when I first started with astral projections. I was never really good at it because I could only rarely control my out-of-body-experiences. Once separated from the physical body, fear and the overwhelming WOW factor was a problem. After 10 years or so trying I started to realize I would probably never master this on my own. So I started to research other venues. I wanted something that would facilitate this for me like a device or even some kind of herb tea. I looked up about neurochemistry and stuff. Soon I found about the DMT molecule endogenous in our brain and oddly enough in some plants that indigenous people were using to have astral projection-like experiences (I interpreted it so at that time).

I had a Catholic upbringing with conservative education, so almost any kind of drugs I viewed as a moral degradation. Personally, I had this struggle, to overcome the moral dilemma of the possibility for myself to take a drug, in this case DMT, just because I was so influenced by the culture of own merits and morals.

So out of the blue, around that time I met a Brazilian girl that told me about ayahuasca which I knew was the brew that contained the molecule DMT. I said to her I knew about that and was willing to try, so she invited me to a ceremony of syncretic religion which uses indigenous practice with Christian symbolism. I went there for 4 years. Made good friends and all in all a really nice place to trip, as the set and setting is ideal, especially for first-timers. That's why I'm eternally grateful for having learned so much about rituals and setting intentions before a session and why this is so important for a successful and meaningful psychedelic or entheogenic experience. I also learned that I had to do my own path and soon after that I exit the group to pursue this venue on my own. 

So now after 6 years since I left, I have been practicing various meditation techniques in conjunction with or without psychedelics. I enjoy immensely both forms of practice. 

Having a lot of written material I one day thought, well why not make a book out of this. But then again I thought that being still quite young, a profound book won't have many readers if the author is young. People only read profound books from old folks with a proven curriculum. And of course, because they are wise and have a white beard.  So the next best thing I came about was, OK let's use the modern way to publish something with videos on youtube.

Why would I want to expose all my personal stuff? To entertain myself I concluded, certainly not to help people. How would I go about with the video and its content? Well, this took more time to think about. My worldview is based on the Infinity and the Paradox. I wouldn't want to preach ideas, but more letting people interpret what I'm saying in their own way. Even if it is completely opposite to what I was trying to convey. The best way to do this is to tell a story based on insights. And why would I want to have a content so lose in terms of possible interpretations? Because I myself as a human can't express Infinity alone. I need the different expression and opinions of other humans and of everything else for that, and I'm all about Infinity. OK cool, let's make a youtube channel then, where I tell stories with insights I had on meditation and psychedelia in cartoon shorts.

What I would like to do at this great forum (a big shout out to Leo!) is to post some videos as I'm making them and also explain the background were the story is based on, making references to my journal. 

Edited December 11, 2018 by astral_surfer

[astral_surfer]

Ant, the Ant

Two years ago I had a relationship with a girlfriend which wasn't going well although I made certain arrangements in my life to meet her expectations. I had moved home to be closer to where she was living. I had moved from a downtown tourist area where my home was small and had no access to the sky, to a satellite city residential area into a regular apartment to the highest floor with a nice view. At that time I was studying the type of clouds and meteorological phenomena. 

Although the relationship didn't work out, something good flourished anyway. "Ant, the ant" is a short story about a certain Zen attitude towards life and the realization of the plenitude in each one of the living and non-living things.

[astral_surfer]

The story of my Demon from my Dream

This cartoon short is about acceptance. It is about the good and evil inside of us and the emergence of demons that come from the fear of what we think demons are. 

The story is based on one of my first psychedelic breakthrus with ayahuasca with the above-mentioned syncretic group where I had a clear understanding of our dualistic perception of nature and the contemplation of non-dualism and what that implies. I learned about what sin is. That it is created when people naturally diverge in terms of desires and preferences. If I don't aim at someone's expectations then that person having his or her own personal agenda, will justify his or her identity/ego by mistreating others preferences and so, ultimately create a moral dilemma that is sin. 

It is easy to hear people say we have to accept our positive part but disregard the negative. This is useful for most people I guess, but the deeper I went on my soulsearching the more I get to accept everything, from myself and outside me. There is no absolute bad or absolute good in the human perspective. Even talking about God intellectually is a human perspective. We are just identities having preferences. Fear makes a big part in the creation of sin. Fear of what? Mainly fear of the ego death experience, fear of not knowing our own true identity. Accepting our inner demons makes us whole and happy. But wouldn't that be like saying, the Devil is just as powerful as God? Well, this all depends on each person's belief system. For me, good and bad is relative when comparing to each other's references. For the individual, it all sums up on converging with his or her ego, which I'm not criticizing. For me, God and the Devil are the same. We just pretend they aren't because they (which are us) are playing. 

[astral_surfer]

The Legend of the Heart

Why do we associate the heart with love? Where does this association begin first? Going way back to our ancestors or even earlier. We associate the heart with love because sometime in prehistory a female got pregnant and her male felt the first signs of life in her belly, the beating of a heart. Thus the concept of love must have risen when thought process got more complex. 

This idea came to me on mescaline some months ago, so this entry is based on a fairly recent event. It was an all-night session, in a silent and dark room. This hypothesis intrigued me, not to be the truth but more as a beautiful love story. That night, poetry I felt was way more important than scientific facts. Anyways, mescaline is no doubt heart medicine! After that session, I was curious and investigated the reason why we associate the heart with love. There are different hypothesis but all vague too.

Being all vague, I prefer mine. The heart is a symbol of love that everyone identifies and connects to. It's the true descendant of the first love story.

[astral_surfer]

I lost my axe (never give up!)

In 2002 I used to take long walks in the countryside of my hometown. Around that time I brought a digital camera that wasn't very good in today's standards, but back then it was the thing to covet. I remember it needed some 4 AA batteries and had the shape of a dildo. 

A fire has spread across the landscape in the summer. By autumn some of the wood was rotten besides being burned. I used to do lots of chi kung exercises and imagined ki balls and stuff like that... Had a pretty active imagination, so dragon ball-esque adventures were fun for me to imagine.

I encountered a half-burned log and imagined it to be some kind of foe. Put my digital camera on film mode to capture my kicks. Some weeks ago I rediscovered this video and decided to make an animation of what I was thinking that day. Hope you find it funny

[astral_surfer]

On being eclectic

Once I had a conversation with a work colleague. And it turned out to be an inspiration to make this cartoon animation. This is a short animation of a casual conversation between two friends where both get a moment of rapture. Contemplation of Infinity, Eclecticism and Self-realization.

I wanted to make a scene similar to one that appears in the first 20 minutes of the movie Waking Life (Love it!). And also the animation style is inspired in that movie. 

Hope you like this.

[astral_surfer]

How are y'all doing?  

I've been working on a new cartoon that I will share here. 
It is a 3 part story with 2 alternative endings that you can choose from.

Another true story of Adam and Eve PART 1 - The Plant Teacher

Another true story of Adam and Eve PART 2 - The Journey

Part 3 is available at the end of part 2, as alternative endings.

 

It is a new take on the Adam and Eve creation story, but with some (a lot?!) of twists here and there to speculate what "really" happened after they ate the forbidden fruit. Of course, it is based loosely on my personal experience with the teacher plants. 

What you can expect in this episode is some cursing, and some adult theme but nothing explicit, obviously. 

For the cartoon style, I found inspiration in one of the segments of the animation feature movie, The Prophet (2014). 

Hope you enjoy!

[astral_surfer]

To get her. Apart.

Hello everyone!

Today I will post a cartoon short story fiction about the funeral of a shaman woman and related insights shared between the attendees.
Narrated this time by a female voice. Not really an animation like the other episodes, more like an experimental pseudo-3d perspective thing.
 

Edited September 20, 2019 by astral_surfer