'Television' is intrinsically tacky.

'Carlos Castaneda' was a writer who inspired the hippies ( and others) with tales of mysticism, via his character 'Don Juan,' a Mexican Indian shaman. We know now that much of Castaneda's work is fabricated, yet this does not mean that Castaneda was entirely wrong ( even a broken clock is correct twice a day).

He borrowed a concept from Gurdjeiff, the great rascal sage from Armenia during the early half of the 20th century....We are deprived of spiritual wisdom due to the malign influence of the Moon...unseen entities 'eat' our' soul', bit by bit...depriving us of insight into ultimate truths.

This is true, in a way that will one day astound the world. Soviet probes left mirrors on the Moon's surface- the way radio and light rays bounce off these mirrors indicate that the mass of the Moon is far less than what it should be, considering it's size. Our astronauts were puzzled as to why the Moon seemed to ring loudly when objects were dropped on it's surface...

According to Einsteinian theory, the effect of 'gravity' is merely the result of an object moving through the warping or curvature of 'space...' If this is so, then what causes my dropped pen to fall to the floor, and not travel up to the ceiling? The alleged curvature of space?

I think gravity is a particle-wave...

The following are notes for another essay-please be patient with the possible disjointedness ...this post really belongs in another location.


Sinclair Lewis wrote book in 1935-6 called "It can't happen here"...the book dealt with a fascist takeover of America that was disguised as a mom and apple pie answer to our problems...

It is happening here...

The founding fathers gave the country a Bill of Rights (itself a compromise)...George Washington and Alexander Hamilton fought against including the Bill of Rights in the Constitution.

The Bill of Rights was not formed within a vacuum- Mason, Jefferson, et al drew upon English Common Law, which guaranteed the individual citizen certain rights ( The charter of 1688, Magna Carta, etc.)...As far back as 560 BC in Persia, Cyrus the Great offered a list of God(s) given rights that Monarchs had to honor...

Gradually, most of our rights ( and some privileges)have been jettisoned.

What as happened? In a sense, there has been a time-release coup, from November 22, 1963, up to September 11, 2001, and beyond.

Three corporations own or control about 80% of all the voting machines-go to Blackboxvoting.org for details. Vote tallies are fixed.

The Military-Industrial complex has actually mutated...

Key events in our legal decline: 1913, Federal Reserve System and income tax's begin...
1949- several intelligence agencies formed...

Almost every Supreme Court decision on the Fourth Amendment has strengthened police powers (examples: the running law, the weaving law, etc.)

President Nixon ordered the IRS to audit political opponents, a practice that continues today.

AT&T et al plan to meter the internet, the way cable TV is metered...You will soon have to pay a fee to get basic internet...the extra sites will cost you an arm and a leg...the under-capitalized websites will eventually vanish, leaving the average citizen with a mediocre, sanitized internet selection. This will happen by 2013...unless you get off your butt and loudly protest.

Bible quotes from Isaiah , Amos, Jesus...

Quotes from the Founding Fathers...

Quotes from various Thinkers

section on sedition laws, the Japanese internment...

Cointelpro...MK-ultra...

How Reagan changed due process...Clinton...

Patriot Act...Military Commissions act...other laws...entrapment expansions...

end with political action page...what you can do...contact info for Congress..

NWO quotes...

Hate speech and crime legislation...

economic tyranny- GATT, WTO, NAFTA...

Security and prosperity partnership of North America pact

Sherman anti-trust act of 1890

Findlaw, fourth amendment

Janet Reno's sneak and peak law

Rep. Goode's HCR 40 NAFTA superhighway and NAU ban

Insurrection act

Executive orders

John Warner defense authorization act,2006

The direct line from Oliver North/Ed Meese to Bush cabal

Habeas corpus writ, how Clinton damaged

FEMA and Rex 84, the false drug war,

'Decency' act

FISA court

concentration camps USA

outsourcing: from Church committee to pharmaceuticals-ritalin, prozac,etc.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the free speech, or the press; or the right of the people peacefully to assemble, and petition the Government for a redress of grievances"

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the person or things to be seized"





( this essay is embryonic...this post will be deleted soon)

Burn, baby, burn

President Jimmy Carter installed Solar panels on top of the White House... One of incoming President Reagan's first actions was to take these panels down.

New advancements in solar cell technology make solar energy a viable alternative to fossil fuels.

At Colorado State University, researchers have devised new production methods for solar panels...the new panels are about 10% the cost of the previous ones... production is much faster than prior solar cell production capabilities.

The use of new materials to coat solar cells can increase efficiency up to 60% ( in 1954, 4% efficiency was deemed state-of-the-art). Massey University in New Zealand coats photo-voltaic cells with synthetic dyes to achieve the new result.

New designs for reflectors, plus the new coating materials and new nanotech spray- on plastic solar cell coatings... enable solar cells to collect radiation from the invisible infrared spectrum ( before, they could only collect energy for the visible light emitted by the sun). This means that collection can occur from dawn to dust, and on cloudy days.

We have entered a new era in solar energy use potential- a fivefold increase in the energy we could collect and use has happened- just in the last two or three years. What once cost $3 a watt to produce now costs about 27 cents. Solar energy is now (much?) cheaper than using coal or oil.

( Boeing-Spectrolab, funded by the Department of Energy, is one company leading the way. Part of what I have just talked about can be found in a article in the the Jan. 14, 2005 'National Geographic News'...Slashdot magazine has several good stories too- punch in anything about solar energy on their site...)

Images from the 1893 Chicago World's Fair/Columbian Expo. The 600 acre improvised park opened May1 and closed October 30, 1893. 26 million visitors came...the public saw the very first Ferris wheel... Quaker oats, shredded wheat, and cream of wheat were first tasted here...a main attraction was a huge 'electrical house', showcasing the new technology (Tesla was there).

Scenes from Yosemite.

Happy Fourth of July.

America works

Hoover Dam, in Arizona. Built from 1931-1936. About 112 men lost their lives toiling for this New Deal project. Contrary to rumor, nobody fell in the wet cement and became buried and part of the final structure- the cement was poured about six inches each layer, so the rumor seems highly unlikely to be true

Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He lifted himself out of his wheelchair and lifted a nation out of despair.

FDR was President from 1933-1945. He was struck down in the prime of life with polio, and never walked again, needing help just to stand. The public never knew this until years after his death-the White House press corp, wisely, kept this knowledge out of the news.

FDR's dynamism and confidence inspired Americans to beat the Great Depression, even if the recovery policies were somewhat flawed... and beat the Axis powers in WW2.

Sabotoge?

Fire and crash of the Hindenburg Zeppelin. This ended passenger flight in rigid airships. Amazingly,of the 97 people on board, only 35 died. Herbert Morrison was the radio reporter that gave the world the historic exclamation "Oh, the humanity"

Josephine Baker, African-American singer and dancer (1906-1975) ...she lived much of her life in France. The first black movie star. She was so highly regarded the Nazi's refused to interfere with her when they captured France.

Jupiter's moon, Europa. My home.

Europa is about 3,000 KM in diameter, just a bit smaller than our Moon. Sensors indicate that there might be an liquid warm sea beneath the surface ice and rock. Life 'might' exist here.

Pando, in Utah. One tree root system.

There have been occasions in my life when my self-confidence was merely a bluff...I hoped to turn the idea into a durable reality. Sometimes I have come close...

Find what scares you, and do it.

Every four years, our hidden masters conduct a massive public opinion poll, and call it "a presidential election."

We do not pick our leaders. The upcoming vote in November is merely a way for our masters to gauge our mood.

" A handful of us determine what will be on the evening news broadcasts, or for that matter, in the New York Times or the Washington Post or Wall Street Journal...indeed, it is a handful of us with this awesome power...and those [news stories] available to us already have been culled and re-culled by persons far outside our control"

- Walter Cronkite, CBS evening news host circa late 1950's up to 1981...and the "most trusted man in America..." His 1968 on- air pronouncement of doubt over our involvement in Vietnam helped mobilize support for peace and was instrumental in ending the war.



"Those who manipulate the organized habits and opinions of the masses constitute an invisible government which is the ruling power in our country"
-Edward Bernays, assistant to William Paley, founder of CBS

Evil is sweet in the beginning but bitter in the end
- the Talmud

"Evil is done without effort, naturally, it is the work of Fate; good is always the product of an art"
- 19th century Fr. Symbolist poet Baudelaire


" No one becomes depraved all at once" It takes practice.
- ancient Roman writer Juvenal (Satires)


" America is great because Americans are good, and if Americans ever cease to be good, America will c ease to be great" - Alexis de Tocqueville, the first objective chronicler of our new nation.

"A ruler should govern a country the way one fries a small fish. Don't overdo it." Lao-tze

Good can triumph over evil. The triumph of anything over anything involves better organization.

George Estabrooks (1885-1973), Canadian -American psychologist. Harvard grad, Rhodes scholar. Chairman of the psych department at Colgate University. He worked with the military throughout WW2 and the Cold War.

" I can hypnotize a man- without his knowlege or consent-into committing treason against the United States."

" The key to creating an effective spy or assassin rests in splitting a man's personality, or creating multipersonality, with the aid of hypnosis...this is not science fiction...I have done it."

Who will be the next Prez? It won't be who you think.

Food tastes better at night.

Everyone on the planet can fit and live comfortably within a geographic zone smaller than the state of Texas.

These are depictions of UFOs on state-issued stamps. If national governments and the media ridicule the UFO phenomenon, why would governments give credence to the phenomenon with official documents?

Deliverance

In 1992, I took off in my Lynx to explore the deserts of the American southwest. I wandered around and around, for weeks, or maybe months. I slept in the car... beside it, under it. I cooked food on the hot engine ...I saw the Golden gate bridge, Big Sur, and Death valley. Eventually, I ended up somewhere in the wilderness of dry Arizona, hanging out with the road runners, cacti, and gila monsters. I never found the Lost Dutchman's gold.

So there I was, flat broke, in my parked car sitting behind some desert gas station in the middle of nowhere. The gas tank was empty.

A stranger approached. He was a scrawny, older, rustic country-boy lookin hick. "You from --------?' (he had apparently noticed my car tags).

After talking a few minutes, it was agreed. We were going in the same direction, so he would help out with gas money. He gave me about $10 dollars, I put gas in the car, and we took off.

He was from West Virginia. He had been living in the LA area for a few years- now he wanted to visit his home, and then go to Florida. He was pleasant enough, even if he was a little dumb. Across New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma we went. It was winter, and freezing, until we got to Arkansas. Once, my shampoo froze.The entire time, he slept upright, sitting in the front passenger seat ( that would have driven anyone crazy). At times, we would go to small town police stations, to get some food and fuel vouchers (called 'get-out-of-town-money'...You walk into a police station and ask for cash, because you are indigent...after checking you out, they send you on your way with the vouchers; you leave the area,to become somebody else's problem.I doubt very many places do that anymore).

We entered West Virginia. Spooky. Steep hillsides, mist and cold fog everywhere; winding roads surrounded by skeletal, sick trees. The Indians never lived there, avoiding the place as much as possible.

Logan. A very strange place. Shacks scaffolded upon the mountain, streets that don't have room for two-way traffic....Moon-faced people... serious inbreeding. Their faces actually shined in the dark. Their twisted frames spoke of a degeneracy derived from a misbegotten lineage- they did not walk- they shuffled and slinked. The sides of the valley were so steep, it must have been dark 20 hours a day, and darker in the winter.

We wound our way up some twisting streets, past dilapidated hovels. I parked the car about 25 feet from the 'house'...since I was on a steep incline, I shoved some large rocks behind several of my tires, to make sure that the car would not roll away. Putting the rocks in place up against the tires was a fateful move that in just a few short hours would almost result in my murder.

Inside the shack, his family greeted me- we ate baloney sandwiches, and watched some TV- one of the 'Superman' movies was on. The place was populated with about five hillbilly men, one youth, and a matron. In my chair, I closed my eyes to doze a minute. From around the corner, in the kitchen, I heard the youth talk to the guy I rode in with- "Thats a real nice car he has- I can't wait to drive it" They mentioned several other things. Uh-oh. I decided I had better leave- right away. It was almost midnight, and snowing. I got up from my chair, and announced that I wanted to take a brief walk around, to stretch my legs. The idea was met with instant hostility, scowls crept across their collective creepy faces. "Tomorrows another day" I was told- You can walk around town in the morning"
I got up and halfway ran toward the door. They made a meager attempt to block my exit- I guess they did not want to totally give the game away, just yet. I left, and walked fast past my car- it was too close to the house, and with the rocks under the wheels, I did not have time to just get in and crank the engine and go- I felt that they would really attempt to prevent my exit if I took the time to escape in the Lynx. I walked down the road, yelling to them that I would return in fifteen minutes.

I ended up along some railroad tracks, wandering around in the snow, wondering what to do next. About one hour went by.

I found a firehouse. I approached a police officer that happened to be visiting the two or three firemen on duty. He was fat- he looked like he could not chase any criminals down. I guess they had a all-night donut shop out here in the coal-mining boonies. He listened to my concerns- I told him the basic story, and that I wanted him to oversee the situation while I got me and my car outa there. He ran my social, and drove me back to the shack. I removed the rocks from behind the car tires, as the inhabitants of the hovel streamed outside, yelling and shouting. I started the engine and roared away, while the the mutant hillbillies screamed for me to stop and come back.

About a mile later, the same cop that helped me out put his flashing lights on and pulled me over. He spent the next 15 minutes examining my papers, making sure that I was the owner of the vehicle. I prayed that he wasn't related to the house of freaks.

He let me go. I drove away, leaving the state about an two hours later. You cannot pay me to return to Logan West Virginia.

Examples of Mughal art, circa 1550?

It's not unusual for bank safe deposit boxes to be raided by bank managers (and other persons). Often, customers show up at their bank and discover all their uninsured items missing from their box; and there is very little that you can do about it afterwards...

New laws give the Office of Homeland Security complete control over everyones safe deposit box, in the event of a national emergency. They will decide what can be removed- not your bank (it seems only paperwork will allowed out of the deposit box, if a national crisis erupts. Cash, jewelry, specious metals and coins, etc., will become frozen assets).

Aleph

Georg Cantor was a brilliant mathematician who devised 'transfinite set theory,' working from the 1870's to 1884... Cantor also proved that real numbers were more numerous than natural numbers...Set theory is now foundational to mathematics, providing proofs for algebra, analysis, and topology. In 1904,the British Royal society gave Cantor their Sylvester award, the highest honor it could bestow. Cantor died in 1918.

Cantor's ideas attracted hostility from his academic peers; the area of math that Cantor mostly worked with dealt with infinity, and the result could be interpreted as proofs for God's existence. This was a time when most scientists were moving away from any notion of deity; reductionism, materialism, and determinism, were the norm ( and these ideas still are, partly).

"Cantor's theorem" implies the existence of an "infinity of infinities." Set theory was thought to be represent reality better than any other sense object or concept...From set theory, Cantor discovered or proved the existence of Infinity and human free will. These ideas so stirred Cantor that he once wrote to the Pope, in an attempt to change official church doctrine- Cantor thought God had chosen him to reveal to the world the ultimate truth of about actual infinity...a pantheistic theology could be viewed as a logical result of Set theory.

Cantor's struggles with authority contributed to his mental erosion- he suffered from a bi-polar type condition, eventually ending up in a padded cell.

" The fear of infinity is a form of myopia that destroys the possibility of seeing the actual infinite, even though it in it's highest form has created and sustains us, and in its secondary transfinite forms occurs all around us and even inhabits our minds." (Cantor)

David Hilbert was the mathematical successor to Cantor. After Cantors death, Hilbert said...

"No one shall expel us from the Paradise that Cantor has created."

The expression "caught red-handed" originally referred to an individual who stole someone's pig and was caught in the act of slaughtering it; their hands were red with blood.

America has the highest per capita number of prisoners (?)...about 10% of whom are innocent, and about 70% are incarcerated for petty offenses ( drug possession, DUI, failure to pay child support,etc.)

Mass murder

'Holodomor' is the term for the famine and deaths that occurred in the Soviet Ukraine during the winter of 1932-33. At least 2.5 million died, and maybe as many as 4 million perished. Stalins policy of collectivization is often blamed; some historians think Stalin deliberately withheld grain supplies, to break the spirit of nationalistic resistance to communism in Ukraine. Soviet authorities afterwards denied the Holodomor ever happened.

Concerning literature and writing: a reader will forgive bad writing, if the plot or idea presented is interesting. But no amount of excellent writing can overcome a boring plot.

Human timeline: about six million years ago, human ancestors, and what eventually became chimpanzees, branched off from a common ancestor (the missing link).

Hominids did not evolve that much until something dramatic happened about 40,000 years ago.
Cro-Magnon man became culturally complex, making elaborate art and funeral rites. A series of mutations caused this- the brain developed more neural connections, whith-in a short time frame. Speech, symbolic logic, arose.

Up to now, the struggle has been about the shuffling of genes, to ensure the survival of the species. Biologic evolution is currently being replaced with the advancement of cultural memes. Memes are customs and ideas that are passed from person to person. The rise of the internet represents a profound shift- memes are about to become more important than the biologic struggle. We have become slaves to the meme, via the computer. The meme might take over, as artificial intelligence expands...silicon based meme growth is the future, and will leave genetic viariation and competition behind. Whither Mankind?

2/3 of all human speech is devoted to gossip.

In England during World War One, it became illegal to give breadcrumbs to pigeons, or to throw rice at weddings.

Montana and North Dakota has a oil shale formation called "Bakken."

We have known about it for decades, but the USGS just released a new estimate of the potential of this field- at least 3.5 billion barrels of oil. We have only just begun to exploit this resource - this is more oil than what we have in Alaska.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch- there is an area in the North Pacific ocean gyre where humanity's refuse collects. This area is about the size of the US state of Texas, but it could be much larger. Due to ocean currents (the Horse latitudes, or 'doldrums') this garbage collects in a more or less stationary zone. The patch is mostly flotsam from land sources- plastics, etc. The patch descends about 300 feet beneath the waves, and the individual pieces of trash are usually so small that taking a dramatic photograph of the mass cannot be done. Animals eat the plastics, which becomes a false synthetic estrogen; so now the Ocean creatures are deformed and unhealthy, the poisons are in the food chain.

Yehweh failed to scrutinize his omniscience, and thus allowed Job to suffer. Yet Job was the one who gained in the end- the bet between God and the devil had an unforeseen consequence: Job, by standing his ground, gained a special insight into God's being. Job demanded to know why the bad things were happening to him- God claimed a divine right or authority to withhold the information. God never needs to reveal his ways to Man.
Here, we encounter the non-rational aspect- ultimate truth comes through an emotional knowing, or intuition. The 'numinous' terrifying mystery and awe is felt; not rationally explained.
God exercised his divine prerogative, and Job 'saw' the reason why.

The heathen rage

Anger is..."A short madness" (Horace, 65-8 BC)...that "carries the mind away" (Virgil, 70 BC- 19 AD)...

and is "Many times more harmful than the injury that caused it" ( Thomas Fuller, 1654-1734).

A girl once told me that (her) anger was "a tool"

Pit Bottomless

Jung termed the proper journey of life 'individuation'...

The alchemists sought total transformation, not of lead into gold, but of the gross beast called 'Man' into deity...a theosis, mystical union. The thoughts of one man merging with the intellect of the All, the One, or God.

The transformation is a process...a climbing of Jacobs Ladder, via study of the World Tree. Cabala is the West's yoga. One must learn the traditions in their entirety, then study the next one. Do not jump around too much; expectant belief is the key.
Plotinus instructs us thus: from The One emanated Nous, then the Logos or World-Soul, from which the spirits issued, or fell, as God sought to know himself through 'earthly experience.

The alchemist begins with 'black'...(salt)

This is the intellectual study of everything under the Sun.

The separation of subtle essence, the pneumia (soul), from matter.

The liberated spirit then must be reunited with the body...the "Chemical Marriage"...

This is 'white'...(mercury). It is here that the gift of the Holy Ghost is 'given'

and symbolized by the creation of a sky-blue liquid or stone, 'Caelum'...which is 'heaven.'

The third and final stage is... universal return to the primordial or prime matter...this is objective existence and meaning, which modern 'Man' has lost. By returning to the 'Abyss' we return to the One or All, the source of the Forms.

This third stage is 'Red' (Sulfur)

'Red' represents completion, yet is is also the most potentially dangerous- dis-carnate spirits become jealous, and seek to destroy the effort. The Master Magician threatens the Gods...this is why the current political junta seeks to weaponize individual spirituality.

Through solution, evaporation, precipitation, distillation...the conscious self confronts the unconscious. Here, our 'bad habits,' our corruption, falls away. We can remain at the level of transcendence for awhile...or move toward, and into, deity. God spends 'eternity' thinking about his thoughts, and we can too.

Remember- inside the 'Dark Night of the Soul' we catch a glimpse of our mission. In the dark, everything becomes indistinguishable from everything else- all is one.

Gas Prices Explode as the Dollar Falls -- So Why is this Happening?

This link goes to Whitley's Journal. This is a must read for anyone who wants to learn about what is going on in the economic sphere.

I believe Whitley is generally correct, although I dispute the dates- our de-industrialization probably began in the late 1970's, when President Carter started the deregulation trend, and the then Chairman of the Fed, Paul Volcker, spiked the interest rates up to about 22%. I remember well the talk on the news shows after Reagan came in- we were going to transition to a 'service-sector' economy.

The American flag is so lacking in symmetry (that) it cannot be considered attractive.

The blue field needs to be centered, with the stripes branching out from the new center field. In the middle, put an image of Ronald McDonald surrounded by obese citizens with dollar signs on their shirts.

Mirth cannot move a soul in agony

-Shakespeare, Love's Labor Lost.

All of our leaders ought to be tared and feathered.

Below, you see some of my paintings. I did these a few years ago... a group of them will go on display soon in a local art-gallery venue.

My style is a melange of expressionism, abstract expressionism, and the Fauves. Some white canvas is popping out on the sides, which I know is a absolute no-no.

Can you see the distressed clown? The serpent? Or the creature holding the fruit?

The hardest one took me almost three hours to make- the others were finished in two.

Belmont blues

Well, I was half right. I predicted some unexpected drama, but I didn't expect Big Dud to trot across the finish line in last place. This is the first time in Triple Crown history that the favorite finished dead last. Nobody knows what went wrong.

I predicted that Denis of Cork would come in second, which he did. Most of my money was on Denis of Cork, to place and to show, so I still won.

I said Casino Drive would fade; he faded alright- he never made it into the race, being scratched ten hours before the race.

The race was funny- the math said that certain horses couldnt win, because they were just too slow ( Beyer speed ratings are assigned to each horse after each race- these usually range from between 85- 105. The winner, Da'Tara, shouldn't have won, as his Beyer speed rating has never been high. He raced his best race, while several others-not just Big Dud- put in one of their worst performances).

Big Dud's other wins are now suspect, due to the use of steroids, which Big Dud's braggart trainer Dutrow admitted to using on BD. The drugs were not used this time. Did Big Dud win the other races only because he was hopped up on synthetic performance enhancing chemicals?

I noticed that the crowd at Belmont park were not very gracious toward the winner, Da'Tara. There was almost no applause or cheering, or even congratulations. Most people lost money, and America is so desperate for a hero, almost everyone wanted Big Dud to win.

Last night's dream:

I saw President Kennedy and his Attorney General, his brother, Robert, huddled together, as if in deep discussion. There were some odd green potted plants all around...it looked dark, shadows were gathering. I approached the Kennedy brothers. Suddenly, the President pulled a derringer out of his coat pocket, and shot me in the chest.

Images near Tena. The river is the Napo- if you travel down the Napo a few hundred miles, you will enter the Amazon river.

Tena

Downtown Tena.


Napo River near Tena.

My capybara friends. Capybara's are the world's largest rodents, about the size of a hedgehog or beaver.


In December of 2003, I suddenly got the notion to go to south or central America- I wanted to see the jungle.

Just before I was suppose to go, I came down with a horrible flu. I continued to busy myself with preparations, which made the illness worse. I made it through the remnants of a recent snowstorm to the airport...in a daze,I boarded.
The plane went to Houston, for a layover. That night, I heard the news that US troops had captured Saddam Hussein.I felt like I was dying.The next day I was on my way to Ecuador.

The flight went well, but my sickness got worse. And worse. I dragged myself off the plane at the Quito airport...I was surrounded by a sea of curious brown faces. I could barely stand, or even see. It was late- almost midnight. Luckily, at the exit I instantly got a ride from a nice man who gave tours to foreigners,his manner was almost 'Americanized'... he spoke perfect English.
Finally I reached my hostel. Up inside I went... the room was quite modest, without any TV. I collapsed on the bed, about as sick as I had ever been in my life. For three and a half days, I lay there, virtually motionless, except for the once a day walk to get a sandwich...This was a serious illness, a bad flu made much worse by my frantic activities getting ready for the trip- all my friends tried to dissuade me from the journey. I wanted a doctor, but knew that was out of the question.

On the fifth day, I felt better.

I was in Quito- right on the equator, yet so high up that the temperatures were bearable. This was December, and it was a comfortable 67 degrees. Ecuadorans are mainly mestizo-a mix of Indians and white Spanish. On the north west coast are blacks. A lot of the people-about 40%- are pure Indian.There is a small minority of pure white Latin Spanish, and they control the country- they won't even allow Indians to be seen on TV commercials.

Quito has a lot of people living in stucco -adobe looking two room dwellings terraced on hillsides. Some parts of the city are kinda modern, yet most of the city is older and somewhat dilapidated.

I took a cab to catch a bus- the cab fares were cheap- about a buck to go seven miles (Ecuador used American money for its currency back then...I don't know if they still do or not). My cabbie got on the main highway and outran a bus, he actually made the bus pull over into the dirt, just so I could get on. Amazing.The bus was packed, I barely found anywhere to sit.Part of the trip I had to stand. Every ten or-fifteen miles the bus would let off a few passengers, and take on new riders. Every time this happened, two or three musicians/beggars would board, and sing or tell a story or something, and then pass the hat, then get off at the next stop.

We hit a military-police checkpoint. All the males had to get off the bus- except the geezers and infants-there was an inspection of papers and person. The army captain automatically excluded me from this inconvenience.

Gradually, the bus entered the jungle zone. The change in vegetation was striking-we went from barren rock to lush forest, in about four hours.
I got to my destination- a place called Tena.

Tena is a wild place- on the edge of Amazonia, a small town,full of very beautiful young women and very bad food. There were no paved roads- just a few rows of shacks. I trudged up and down a dirt road about five blocks, lugging my bag and my recuperating self. Then I saw it- almost like a miniature palace- a very nice looking modern villa...up the stairs I strode, onto a porch (I noticed the steps were carved for much smaller humans.The tiling must have been quite expensive too)...A door was open- I stepped across the threshold, into a living room or den- a big screen TV was on, there was air conditioning. Everything was brightly lit and sunny. Suddenly, a Caucasian man with a slight beard came from around the corner. In English, with a German accent, he spoke. "Mr David -------------? Glad you made it.You are only a few hours late. Welcome to Tena." A Indian woman emerged from a hallway, and gave me some liquid refreshment- ice was in the cup "these people are very wealthy" I thought. In Spanish, she asked me what I wanted for dinner...

(to be continued)

Ouroboros and Saturn. Both are inextricably linked in occult theory. Ouroboros symbolizes unity, the cyclic, eternity, gnosis.