Mind States VI & States of Mind

Sorry for the delay in posting. As many of you know I was at Minds 6 this year. My primary reason for going was to meet people I've come to know online. I made a point this year of working the event the opening day. I was lucky enough to find myself working the reception desk, which meant that I stamped every persons hand who came in. This turned out to be a rather intimate experience, as this was most people’s first impression as they came in. With years of customer service behind my belt, I made a point of being very friendly, and making a variety of jokes as people came in. The stamp was a large copyright symbol. I told many people that now they have been stamped, they have also been copyrighted, scanned, cataloged and assimilated. It made for some good laughs. Before people could get stamped, they had to pass through the opening door with ticket in hand. This was worked by a lady who worked for the Palace of Fine Arts - so she knew nothing about who we are, and the people and celebrities of our community. Since I know a lot of people in the community, including many of the speakers this year, I was able to smooth this process. It was quite funny when she tried to stop Sasha Shulgin. I don't think he had a ticket, but with Sasha this event would probably not even exist! Sasha is like royalty, and so we made sure he got the red carpet treatment.

Another celebrity was John Gilmore. A lot of people don't know who he is, but for me he is also a celebrity. I told the lady to let him in without checking his ticket, and then stamped him right away. He tried to tell me who he was, and I said, "Hi John, yep, I know you who are. How's that lawsuit coming along?” John turns out to be a really nice guy. Later, seeing how tired I was, he offered me some chocolate beans from Peru that kick started me again.

There were lots of great presentations. Mark Pesce managed to record his entire presentation using his Ipod around his neck. Mark's presentation was smooth, brilliant and hilarious. Definitely the best he has ever given. Here is the torrent.

Mark Pesce - Hyperpeople.torrent

On Saturday night, a whole bunch of us including Mark, Earth and Fire Erowid and myself went out to dinner. I ended up leaving my cell phone there. I didn't realize it until I was already back at the conference. This ended up becoming a kind of epic search. I went back to the restaurant, and the waitress told me that a guy with silver hair had picked it up. There were about 15 people in our group. When I got back to the conference, I was able to figure out who that was; unfortunately a new round of talks had begun and would not end until 10pm. So I waited until those were over. I finally spotted him coming out, and he told me that "The Finish Guy" had it. Then I had to remember what he looked like. Fortunately others in our group remembered his face. Also being Finish he was quite tall, so we were able to spot him. Sure enough he had the phone. I was hugely relieved and we all laughed about it. Mark ended up taking a picture with his camera phone of the Finish guy and myself, and then we got a picture of Mark and myself here:

The next morning was Sunday, and it turned out to be a picture perfect day. The temperatures were in the high 70's. I could not have asked for a more beautiful day - it was glorious. If you have ever been to San Francisco, you might understand the rarity of such days. Mark Twain once said, "The coldest winter I ever knew was a summer in San Francisco." I ended up taking tons of pictures. Here is a classic post-card shot I took that day.

I wanted to hear Alex Grey talk, so we rushed back just in time to hear it. Afterwards I was walking around the vendor’s area when LVX23 called my name. It was delightful to finally meet him. We ended up getting caught up in conversation with several others. I was pretty tired by then, so I stepped out of the conversation to grab some tea. I was walking around when I came across this guy doing some yoga in the chill space. I can't tell you how I knew, but I just knew I had to meet this guy. When I sat down next to him, he said he had just begun to explain Kundalini yoga. However, I quickly discovered that he wasn't explaining it so much as actually getting me to do it! Within 3 or 4 minutes I was getting very relaxed and centered. As we worked through the charkas, I could feel my kundalini actually move up my spine. I have been doing various forms of mediation and yoga for 20 years. I like to think I have a really great and powerful system to work through powerful energies and resolved any kind of negative emotion or pain. However, with what was happening with me here was beyond description. This young buddha-teacher, who goes by name of Anson Vogt, was articulating all these things that I had been waiting to hear for years. I really can't explain it much better than that, only to say he said all the things I have needed to hear for a very long time. As the energy moved through my heart chakra, and up past my throat chakra towards my crown, I went into this profound state of love and bliss like I had never felt before. The whole world become unified in my consciousness. I could feel my head become the sky. I could no longer remain sitting, and I laid on my back as I wept tears of joy. As this happened, my whole life took on new meaning. Many of the "issues" I had been struggling with resolved immediately. I had multiple epiphanies simultaneously. It suddenly became clear precisely where my life is heading next, what I need to do. There is way too much to tell here, and much of it is intensely personal. Needless to say I am a changed person, and I have never felt so good before. I'm still high today, a week after this experience. I have a new found respect for the power of kundalini yoga, and plan on integrating it more profoundly into my work going forward.

Who would have thought that at Mind States, a conference largely devoted to the drug experience, would find myself having one of the most sublimely transformative experiences without drugs. I am very grateful I went.

Posted by paul at June 4, 2005 10:18 AM