High Times and the Timeless

With A Bow to Stephen Gaskin

 

"There is a plane of experience, other than the three dimensional plane, which can be felt by a human being...If people never get above the merely signal level of communication, and don't become telepathic, they haven't explored their full human birthright."

-- Stephen Gaskin

"We are all parts of God.  Each one of us has an electrical body field that surrounds us, and a mind field that goes on to infinity."

--Stephen Gaskin

Stephen Gaskin (February 16, 1935 - July 1, 2014) and his wife, Ina May

In meditation, the subjective nature of Time passing becomes obvious. 

Sometimes, an hour zips by.  At other times, I've felt like a dazed prizefighter hanging onto the ropes of a painful existence waiting forever for the bell to ring.

Although modern science creates a "benchmark" for one second of objective time tied to the decay of a cesium atom, Einstein's theory of relativity already pointed out that it "ain't that simple."  

No shit, Sherlock. 

As I get older, it becomes increasingly impossible to grasp the nature of concepts like a second, a day, a decade.  In fact, at this stage of the journey, it's easier, at times, to directly sense the mysterious nature of the Timeless glowing in the boundless expanse of each moment.  I blame that on jumping heart first into Bodhisattva Practice years ago.  

I first came across the Bodhisattva Vow as it was expressed by Stephen Gaskin in Hey Beatnik!  The words resonated with something in my heart of hearts.  I was hooked. At that moment the vow took me. 

So, did Stephen Gaskin and the Farm.

Although I only had three conversations with him -- spread over a dozen years -- Stephen was a major influence my life.  I'm not surprised that he came to mind for the first time in a long time during a conversation with an old friend a couple of days ago.  It was that time of year.  Gaskin passed away twelve years ago on July 1. 

In some traditions, the anniversary of a guru's passing is a high holy day.  I don't usually put a lot of weight on the "spooky" stuff.  Yet, Gaskin's "Mahasamadhi" brought about his mysterious "appearance" in my life twelve years ago -- a few days after he died.

As was my practice in those days, I would compose a post each week and send out an email "tickler" announcement.  (I'll do that for this post as well.)   As I sat at my laptop, struggling to write a commemorative post for a man that I revered, the iPhone dinged. 

When I opened the phone, I was amazed to find an announcement for Your MMM Courtesy Call: "Lighten Up!" -- with a quote from Stephen Gaskin staring me in the face! For some inexplicable reason, Google re-delivered the email announcement I'd sent six months before! (I'd only quoted Gaskin twice before in the epigram of a Your MMM Courtesy Wake Up Call post in hundreds of posts to that point.)  Google had never re-delivered an old email I sent before.  It hasn't done so since.

Wierd!?  Synchronicity? Coincidence?  All I know is that I lightened up.  I  found myself grinning from ear to ear.  I just wrote a brief intro about the experience -- and re-posted "Lighten Up."

Stephen Gaskin and the Farm

Stephen Gaskin always maintained he was more of a beatnik than a hippie.  Yet, wearing tie-dyes til the end, Gaskin was at the epicenter of the burst of spiritual energy that encircled the globe during the 1960's and 70's. A Marine Corp veteran of the Korean War, he was teaching in the English department at San Francisco State College when the hippies of Haight-Ashbury mushroomed into a worldwide counter-cultural phenomenon.  

What Gaskin started as an experimental evening discussion class with six students in 1968 grew into Monday Night Class which drew as many as 1500 people each week at a local rock venue.  They meditated together in silence.  Then Gaskin would deliver and extemporaneous talk on psychedelic spirituality before answering questions.  Within three years, Gaskin and those who considered him to be their spiritual teacher had established an intentional community called the Farm in rural Tennessee.  At it's peak it had about 1600 residents.  They met together for meditation and a talk by Stephen weekly at Sunday Morning Service.

This, of course, gathered a lot of public attention.   It sure caught mine.  I devoured the books the Farm's publishing company distributed.  I visited it three times during its first 5 years, staying a month at a time twice. (When push came to shove though, I couldn't make the choice to live 700 miles away from my ex's and children.)

High Times -- With or Without Drugs

If the truth be told, I was a lightweight when it came to psychedelics.  Introduced to marijuana in the Spring of 1968, I went on to experience a number of trips on mushrooms, and on what was presented at the time as  "synthetic mescaline." (who knows what it was...)   Yet, as I began to explore Yoga and Meditation, I soon sensed that the drugs weren't the only means to accessing extraordinary qualities of consciousness.  Intrigued by these experiences, I read extensively about spirituality, religion, and mysticism.  I also met regularly with a small group of friends who were actively exploring spirituality in their lives.  (Two of them were being trained as peer support facilitators at a cutting edge psychiatric hospital.) 

Although I continued to pass a joint around once in awhile during those years, I actually avoided LSD out of concern that I wasn't "ready."

It didn't matter!!  

The Collective Consciousness was so energized as the 60's became the 70's, that I was swept up in a set of "paranormal" experiences.  I had a number of compelling out-of-body experiences, saw aura's, encountered ghosts and other "astral beings." I also experienced moments of synchronicity and telepathy that were absolutely mind-boggling -- without drugs in my system at the time!   

Then, in the spring of 1972, I had a direct experience of Perfect Oneness that fulfilled my deepest aspirations for Spiritual Connection at the time -- and dispelled a fear of death.  In those moments, I tasted the Real Deal.  The elements of the Perennial Philosophy were no longer merely conceptual.  I knew, in my bones: There is Sacred Oneness.  We are, individually and collectively, emanations of infinitude.  And as Saint John of Liverpool (and mystics through the ages) proclaimed, we all shine on!
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And Yet...

Over the years, it became more and more obvious to me why most the teachers I respected downplayed the value of such peak experiences and special powers.  The human ego has a way of grasping for, and clinging to, these experiences in a way that distorts their meaning -- and causes additional suffering.  I have seen how that plays out in my own life and the life of others.  The Practice isn't really about the big flash's and psychic powers.  It's not about incredibly complex philosophical or theological or scientific systems.  (Although my conceptual mind loves to play with that stuff.) 

It's simpler than that.

The Practice is about being Present. When I'm not lost in my thoughts, or swept away in self-referenced, afflictive emotions (most often emerging from identifying strongly with what I want and didn't get), there is a shift in Awareness.  The Heart becomes an organ of perception. There, Reality asserts itself.  The gracious spaciousness, clarity, and warmth of what Eckhart Tolle has called "the Eternal Now" becomes a palpable Presence.  In those precious moments, we come to know that who we are is not separate from the One Love that is the source of all that is and could ever possibly be.  

So, then what?
 
It gets pretty obvious:  When I'm not absorbed in my own scramble to acquire stuff (things, status, fame, power, etc.) and/or wallowing in my own fears and aversions, I notice that a whole lot of folks are suffering.  When I expand my gaze, I realize countless millions of people are experiencing situations that are much more difficult than my own.  

At that point, my perspective shifts.  My head clears and my heart aches to do more.  Sitting on my butt, -- although crucial -- isn't enough.  I want to be a helpful presence in the world.  It's that simple.  Yet simple doesn't mean easy.  Loving your neighbor as yourself isn't for sissies.  As Stephen once characterized it, it is"an exacting discipline."   It takes commitment, effort and patience.  Lot's of patience.

On and off the meditation cushion, the Practice becomes figuring out how to open my heart and mind enough to engage life directly in a kind and helpful way.  This calls for honesty and deep self-honesty.  It calls for stepping away from the myriad distractions of this hyper-active society, and getting out of my head enough to stay in touch with the feelings, energies, and "vibes" of each situation.  Again and again, an embodied effort is needed.  

Stephen Gaskin and the Caravan toured the US in 1970

As legend has it, Stephen sat with Suzuki-Roshi at the San Francisco Zen Center.  Suzuki's photos and quotes begin both Gaskin's This Season's People: a book of spiritual teachings and Hey Beatnik! 

Yet, Gaskin said that although he honored all the "old religions," the religion that he and his fellow hippies were practicing had no name.  He continued,"It lives in the hearts of the people... It is the practice of real love, impeccable correctness and politeness and care among each other."

Thank you, Stephen.

I can't think of any better way to see it, say it -- and try to be it.  As I wend my way through the last laps of this most amazing run called "my life,"  I can't think of anything better to do.  As another master of Timeless Wisdom once said, "If not now, when?"

How about you?  What are you up to these days?