“You can observe a lot by just watching.”

Narcissism: Denial of the True Self

by Alexander Lowen 

NARCISSISM Are you a narcissist? Do you interact with someone who is? Contrary to popular belief, narcissists do not love themselves or anyone else. They cannot accept their true selves, constructing instead fixed masks that hide emotional numbness. Influenced by forces in culture and predisposed by factors in the human personality, narcissists tend to be

• More concerned with how they appear than what they feel
• Seductive and manipulative, striving for power and control
• Egotists, focused on their own interests but lacking the true values of the self — self-expression, self-possession, dignity, and integrity
• Without a solid sense of self, which leads them to experience life as empty and meaningless

In this groundbreaking study, Dr. Alexander Lowen uses his extensive clinical experience to demonstrate how narcissists can recover their suppressed feelings and regain their lost humanity. By the use of Bioenergetic Analysis, the psychotherapy created by Dr. Lowen, a new possibility of a fulfilling and authentic life is presented for people with narcissistic characteristics and for those who interact with them.

(Goodreads.com)

November 17, 2020 • TheOnion.com

KANSAS CITY, MO—Acknowledging that she had seen all the warnings about holiday travel on the news, local mom Mary Simpson announced Tuesday that she completely understood that coming to Thanksgiving would be risky for all involved and that you didn’t love her anymore. “No, no, don’t apologize, honey—if it isn’t safe and you don’t care enough about me to make the trip, you should probably just stay home this year,” Simpson said in between audibly heavy sighs, adding that if anyone understood it was her, what with her migraines and your father’s bad knee making their last trip to visit you so difficult, though they obviously wouldn’t have missed it for the world. “I’m quite aware of the public health situation, so there’s no need to explain why you think it might be too tricky to navigate travel when you clearly have a life of your own with no room in it for a boring old lady like me. After all, we’re living in difficult times, and I’m sure the last thing you want to do right now is come see the person who gave you life and loves you more than anything in the world. I’ll just be here in this big, quiet house with your dad and no one else, if you’re saying that’s the safest way to celebrate.” Simpson went on to remark that she might as well not bother cooking a Thanksgiving meal this year, seeing as there would be far too many leftovers to deal with if you weren’t coming.

November 17, 2020 • TheOnion.com

Aries | March 21 to April 19

Unfortunately for your personal philosophy, it turns out the free market has yet to come up with a truly effective way to just go up to women and start talking to them.

Taurus | April 20 to May 20

At this very moment, hundreds of miles from where you are, some of the world’s greatest intellects are attempting to change the way you think about sugar-free chewing gum.

Gemini | May 21 to June 20

Your actions have not gone unnoticed. Prepare to receive a summons to appear before the House Subcommittee on Talking About Work While People Are Trying to Watch Football.

Cancer | June 21 to July 22

Efficiency is all well and good, but the FBI agents are right to point out that from now on, kidnap the kid before you send the ransom note.

Leo | July 23 to Aug. 22

You’ll undergo a crisis of conscience when you realize that, despite being a faithful American, you don’t really want to watch anything that’s on TV right now.

Virgo | Aug. 23 to Sept. 22

The good news is that traveling will be somewhat easier for you after next week, as you’ll never again need to complain about legroom or not having a decent view.

Libra | Sept. 23 to Oct. 22

The stars are happy to announce that starting next week you will pay your zodiac bill on time, if you know what’s good for you.

Scorpio | Oct. 23 to Nov. 21

The pretty lady’s boyfriend will actually be a lot more polite than he absolutely has to be when explaining to you that who dates her is not determined by an essay contest.

Sagittarius | Nov. 22 to Dec. 21

You’re not getting any younger, which means that a certain so-called “wizard” has a lot to explain concerning certain “reverse-aging potions.”

Capricorn | Dec. 22 to Jan. 19

It turns out that whomever you have to sleep with to get a drink around here, it’s not the bartenders, the owner, the waitresses, or the bouncer.

Aquarius | Jan. 20 to Feb. 18

You’ll continue to inspire those closest to you to try and move away as quickly and quietly as possible.

Pisces | Feb. 19 to March 20

Although your roommate thought it was crazy of you to buy all that plastic sheeting, you’ll come home to find it applied to the walls and floors soon enough.

11.18.20 (Wired.com)

Pfizer releases more promising news, the FDA approves the first at-home test, and Larry Brilliant offers his pandemic forecast. Here’s what you should know: Pfizer and BioNTech release more promising vaccine news and prepare to apply for FDA authorization Pfizer and BioNTech announced today that new results show their coronavirus vaccine is 95 percent effective. Last week the companies said their vaccine was more than 90 percent effective after 94 of the trial’s participants were infected. Now more than 170 volunteers have the disease, but only eight of them got the actual vaccine rather than the placebo. Only one of those eight developed a severe case. No detailed data has been released, and results haven’t been independently reviewed. The companies say they now have the required data to apply for FDA authorization, which they plan to do in the coming days. FDA approves the first at-home coronavirus test kit The FDA has authorized the first at-home coronavirus test. Developed by Lucira Health, it involves swabbing the insides of the nose, then placing the swab in a vial, which is then placed in a “test unit” that gives results in half an hour. It’s available with a prescription to anyone at least 14 years old, and can be used on younger people as well, if a health care provider takes care of the sample. While it’s still unclear how fast Lucira will increase production, the test is made in the US and should cost under $50. Epidemiologist Larry Brilliant forecasts that we will beat Covid—after we go through hell Epidemiologist Larry Brilliant warns that this pandemic is fated to get worse before it gets better, with cases across the US on the rise and the holidays all but certain to accelerate spread further. Still, he tells WIRED, the advent of likely viable mRNA vaccines is “a circle-this-event in science,” and will shave months, if not years, off the amount of time that this virus will seriously impact society.

Tony Stratford Oct 5, 2019 · Medium.com

Today we have a smorgasbord of spiritual teachings and psychedelic experiences for us to choose from. We have Burning Man and similar festivals all over the planet. Celebrities like Joe Rogan and Graham Hancock promote participating in ayahuasca ceremonies. Terence McKenna was an exponent of ingesting mushrooms and smoking marijuana to achieve his insights. Microdosing LSD is becoming trendy to help with performance enhancement and creativity. Opinion is polarised on reality perception altering drugs due to all types of personal beliefs. The legal system in the western world is draconian at best when dealing with this issue.

What we call normal reality, working, paying bills, traffic, etc. etc. can seem so mundane that it seems logical that we should seek something more supernatural from life. Personally I have nothing against taking substances to expand and alter our perceptions of reality. But is there a better and more empowering way to have these experiences? Without traveling for miles to an event or buying substances that you really have no idea how they are made. I eventually stumbled across how our own bodies can create chemical changes naturally that open you up to amazing insights.

Ladies and gentlemen I present to you: The Darkroom Retreat!

This has been a practice done by humans for thousands of years across all cultures and geographies. It is one of the reasons hermits lived in caves. Unlike the temporary spiritual adventures listed above this experience will stay with you for a lifetime and alter you view of reality forever.

The science : absence of light and how it affects the body

By immersing yourself in a totally dark environment your body undergoes chemical changes naturally. Basically your normal melatonin production regulated by the pineal gland is altered. This gland creates melatonin in the dark while you sleep at night then stops producing melatonin as the natural light of day wakes you up in the morning. However if you stay constantly in a dark environment over a few days your bloodstream is already adequately supplied with melatonin. The pineal gland recognises this feedback and switches its production process from melatonin to DMT (N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT or N,N-DMT) is a chemical substance that occurs in many plants and animals and which is both a derivative and a structural analog of tryptamine).

DMT was made popular by author Rick Strassman and is also the reason people flock to South America to participate in ayahuasca ceremonies.

Why Darkroom retreat is superior to directly ingesting DMT

Strassman’s subjects were injected with pharmaceutical grade dmt and experienced rapid changes in their reality often causing a shock to the subject. Ayahuasca participants often feel very ill, resulting in vomiting and sudden bowel movements. Strassman himself was counselled by spiritually adept Buddhist monks who told him subjecting people to these altered states was not a good idea. With a darkroom retreat your body naturally already knows what to do so there is no sudden shock to the system.

The downside of a Darkroom retreat: Time

In todays fast paced beta brainwave world we have become accustomed to a quick results feedback world. The people of ancient times had the opposite type of lifestyle. To achieve natural DMT production in the body takes around 5 days to fully take affect and to really benefit from the process you need about 12 days of immersion in darkness. To our over stimulated chattering brains this is a nightmare.

My personal Darkroom Retreat:

Now some scientists may dispute the chemical changes caused by the pineal gland so there really is only one way to know if its all true — do it yourself!

Due to my spiritual immaturity and history of quick fix weekend workshops my conscious awareness had absolutely no idea on what it was in for. I booked 3 weeks off from work, card-boarded the windows out in a room of my house and informed my wife and 2 daughters of my plans for the next 2 weeks. Off course my family thought I was crazy and rightly so, they had seen me heading off to various retreats for years and this was just another one of those events. Only this time it was happening at home.

Days 1–3 Blindfolded in a Dark room

Being blindfolded meant I had to adjust to eating, washing and going to the bathroom. Boredom is the first hurdle to overcome. For my family it was like living with a blind person. When the kids went off to school and my wife to work I just sat in silence all day.

Days 4–6 Body detox and the loss of time

The concept of time disappeared other than the noises my family made. This was also when the detox started and I was totally unprepared for this. It felt like I had a fever and I lay in bed shivering with hot and cold sweats. Intuitively it felt like part of the initiation into the process my body and mind were entering. We use our eyes constantly whilst awake and out bodies become so rhythmically attuned to day/night cycles. When this process is interrupted your whole state of awareness changes. My appetite dropped and I only felt like having vegetable soup most of the time.

Days 7–10

The fever passed and I felt wonderful. This is when the magic truly began to happen! Lucid dreaming is off the charts and I don’t just mean dream recall and lucidity. Its the colours and vibrancy that truly amaze you. The statement ‘the kingdom is within’ is spot on here. You do a lot of traveling ‘out of body’ but it occurs within yourself so it more of inner world traveling whilst still connected to the body. Almost like being on a water slide only you are in a wormhole within yourself. While awake your inner vision seems to be streaming geometric shapes constantly.

Days 11–17 The deep dive

Now I had only planned to do this very weird experiment for 12 days. I had already told close friends and family I would ‘see them’ within 2 weeks before starting this journey. Well that all changed when my inner awareness became my primary focus. Now I understand why the Daoist monks would undergo this process for 30–40 days. Once you ‘switch over’ from outer awareness to inner awareness you realise that your previous view of reality was so limited. It’s very difficult to describe unless you experience it yourself and also why it’s so superior to the short term experience of dmt via ayahuasca or other methods.

The Unified Field

Once your awareness is primarily an inner perspective your viewpoint changes. During the latter stages of my retreat I became acutely aware every time somebody thought about me, even people I did not deal with much in everyday life. For example, a person in my town wanted me to help fix their laptop which I saw in a dream days before I finished my retreat. Sure enough they phoned me asking for help a few days later. We truly are all connected in a unified field.

Increased connection from your spirit guides

Your guides are really higher conscious aspects of yourself, not separate beings, its all you. My ‘guides’ would often communicate with me via music or songs. The one song that impacted me the most was a few lines from Elton John’s ‘Yellow brick Road’ it goes:

‘When are you gonna come down?
When are you going to land?
I should have stayed on the farm
I should have listened to my old man

You know you can’t hold me forever
I didn’t sign up with you
I’m not a present for your friends to open
This boy’s too young to be singing the blues

In short, I was becoming too detached from reality, once again using spirituality as escapism. I was also so mentally enamoured with the experiences I was having that I was not heart centered. I was like a kid at an amusement park. The very issues that the Buddhist monks tried to warn Rick Strassman about when doing his experiments. It was time for me to finish this experiment and get back to my daily responsibilities.

Finishing the Darkroom Retreat

I removed my blindfold in the morning after waking up. As my eyes had not been used for 17 days I nearly walked into the bedroom door, not ‘seeing’ it until I was inches from it. My daughters thought I actually looked younger, my eyes had just had a nice holiday too. Then I went outside into the nature park across the road and was just in awe of what nature expresses for us to enjoy. It was truly humbling. It took me a few days to adjust to normal life again but the experiences altered me forever. I highly recommend this for everyone to try, you can attend professional retreat centers that will cater to your every need or, with a little help, do it yourself at home. All mind altering substances produced by your own body and no laws broken in the process!

After Skool Life does NOT happen to you, it happens FOR you. Many things in life are outside of our control, but the way we respond to events can shape our reality. Viewing challenges as opportunities, not misfortunes, will help you lead a productive, successful life. We all know Jim Carrey for his comedy, but he is now spreading joy through his inspiring words. This voiceover was taken from Jim’s speech at MUM Graduation in 2014. Full talk can be seen here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V80-g… These animations take a tremendous amount of time and effort. If you’d like to help keep this channel running, then please support After Skool on Patreon. Your generosity means the world! Thank you https://www.patreon.com/AfterSkool Animation by: https://www.kramgallery.com/ For more insightful animations please subscribe.

by Astro Butterfly (astrobutterfly.com)

Genesis, Tower of Babel: “A united human race speaking a single language comes to the land of Shinar. There they agree to build a tower tall enough to reach heaven. God, observing their plans, confounds their speech so that they can no longer understand each other, and scatters them around the world”.

The much-awaited Jupiter-Saturn conjunction on December 21st, 2020 may well bring us a modern interpretation of the Tower of Babel.

We may not see it yet, but a new order is just around the corner.

And no, that’s not the New World Order carefully crafted in the last decade by Capricorn, top-down hierarchical structures. 

Since the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction occurs exactly at 0° Aquarius, this new order is nothing like we expect it to be. It is truly “Aquarius”: innovative, people-oriented, bottom-up, and YES, different. 

There is a reason why in the Tower of Babel, God interrupted peoples’ plan to reach the heavens: that reason is hubris. 

No one and nothing can be God (or the Universe, or however you prefer to call this Divine Design). When we want to be as powerful as God (or the Universe) we collapse just like the Tower of Babel did. 

There is a limit to how far a top-down structure can go. Just like any big empire or organization collapses sooner or later, top-down structures eventually outlive their purpose and become corrupted. 

The truth is, nature is simply too complex to be governed by a one-size-fits-all type of structure. 

Of course, there are times in the development of consciousness when we need Capricorn’s rules and order. Capricorn follows Sagittarius. Sagittarius sets the vision, but lacks the resources and discipline to turn this vision into a reality. 

And here is where we need Capricorn. Capricorn, through planning, structure and a good understanding of the natural laws, has the power to transform Sagittarius’ vision into reality. 

However, it comes at a time when this Capricorn structure has become too rigid, too outdated, and stops serving its initial purpose.

When this happens, we need to re-think it, re-engineer it, and if it is rotten beyond repair, to start things all over again.   

It’s interesting that Jupiter has been chasing Saturn all year, but has not managed to catch up with it. Jupiter and Saturn’s Capricorn agenda will not get the chance to materialize. While in Capricorn, both Jupiter and Saturn met Pluto instead. Talk about a change of plans! 

When a planet – any planet – has a randez-vous with Pluto, you can bet that they will not have any chance of influencing Pluto. 

It is exactly the other way around. Pluto influences them – and Pluto is known for stripping down anything that is weak, corrupted, and can no longer sustain life. 

Set free from Pluto’s purgatory, Jupiter and Saturn are now ready to build something that is a reflection of their best qualities – something that is truly sustainable.

If you’ve looked in the night sky in the last months, you may have seen Jupiter and Saturn, getting closer and closer together. In December, they are less than 1° away from each other. 

And just when Jupiter is about to catch Saturn, Saturn leaves Capricorn and slips into Aquarius, on December 17th, 2020. Jupiter follows suit 2 days later, and finally on December 21st, 2020, the two meet in an epochal conjunction at 0° Aquarius. 

Will Jupiter conjunct Pluto bring a reorganization of existing structures, or a complete reset of the system?

Time will tell.

Don’t expect everything to change in a blink of an eye on December 21st, 2020. Jupiter and Saturn are not Uranus or Pluto. They will not turn our lives upside down (Uranus) nor will mercilessly wipe everything out (Pluto). 

Jupiter And Saturn – The Architects Of Our Solar System

Jupiter and Saturn are pretty much ‘in your face’, ‘what you see is what you get’, type of influence.

Jupiter comes with the vision. Saturn with the implementation. Together, they are the architects of our solar system.

When they join forces, they create a structure that has coherence (Jupiter) and that is built to last (Saturn). 

And while Jupiter and Saturn are great architects… in Aquarius, they will build a different type of structure.  

Capricorn is a Cardinal, Earth sign. Capricorn is associated with the Midheaven, the highest point in the sky. What kind of structure would Jupiter and Saturn build together in Capricorn? A Tower of Babel-like structure. 

And what kind of structure would Jupiter and Saturn build in Aquarius? To answer this question, let’s remember what Aquarius stands for. 

Aquarius – World Wide Web

The Aquarius glyph is two electromagnetic waves, a symbol for information that comes not from within ourselves (Gemini), nor from other people (Libra), but from the higher mind of the Universe. 

If the previous sign, Capricorn, is concerned with bringing a concrete, material plan to execution, Aquarius is about coming with a new vision, with a new architecture – something that is not based on Capricorn’s material realities, but inspired by the Universe itself. 

Aquarius is ruled by both Saturn and Uranus. Saturn and Uranus couldn’t be more different, and we find this paradox in the underlying nature of Aquarius. Aquarius is a Fixed sign that loves structure. 

However, Aquarius is also an Air sign that loves to connect people and ideas. When we combine “Fixed” with “Air” we get invisible ties, which are a metaphor for friendship and strong, yet flexible connections and structures.

The internet itself or the world wide web is nothing but an invisible network of information. Both the internet and Social Media are linked to Aquarius. Social (Air) + Media (Uranus). 

Saturn is the Earth. Uranus is the sky. Uranus’ impulse comes from the sky, and while it may seem sudden, while it may feel like it’s the workings of fate, it makes just as much sense as Saturn’s insight, which is rooted in the intelligence of nature. 

However, to tap into Uranus’ intelligence, we need to tap into our intuition. Sometimes, the essential is indeed invisible to the eye. 

If you want to understand how Aquarius builds structures look at spiders. Unlike top-down, pyramidal structures that serve a predetermined goal, a spider’s web develops organically and takes into account its environment. 

The spider starts with small spreads, it seeks opportunities, and finds the most natural way to move forward. The result? An organic, flexible, yet durable structure.

Jupiter Conjunct Saturn In Aquarius – Co-Creation With The Universe

In the Age of Aquarius, top-down systems cannot succeed because this is not how Aquarius works.

Aquarius recognizes the uniqueness of the individual (Leo, the opposite sign) and brings together these unique talents and gifts to create something that is greater than the sum of its parts. 

The Aquarius agenda that eventually emerges is not the result of one individual, but the sum of individuals.

With Aquarius, we cannot have predetermined goals or top-down agendas; with Aquarius, the outcome emerges from the inside out. The Aquarius agenda is ever-evolving, because we people are ever-evolving. 

With Aquarius, we don’t know what the future will bring, and that is a good thing. Knowing what the future will bring means stagnation. 

Just like a house of cards or the Tower of Babel, anything that is manipulated from the top and not built on the principles of co-creation, has weak structures and will eventually collapse. 

The Jupiter-Saturn conjunction on December 21st, 2020 is our opportunity, but also our obligation to get involved and create a better future for ourselves – as well as the generations that are to come. Take this opportunity seriously – this may be one of the most important moments of our lives. 

Astro Butterfly 

“People can never get better without knowing what they know and feeling what they feel.”

–Dr. Elvin Semrad was a much-loved psychiatrist and psychotherapy supervisor who had a profound influence on hundreds of psychotherapists and psychoanalysts in the Boston area. One of his unique qualities was his ability to connect empathically with even the most psychotic patients.