The First Church of David Bowie, Phonomancer

  For many people, religion is a poison word. To them, "religion" is synonymous with Christianity, and given the sex scandals, pedophiliac criminal conspiracies, hypocritical teachings of a "prosperity gospel," and fascistic nationalism that have tainted Christianity in the United States, it's not hard to understand why. But that antipathy doesn't squelch the longing for something transcendent, some framework of meaning that helps make sense out of life. So, looking outside the church, people identify as "spiritual but not religious" (SBNR) and graze at a buffet table of belief systems--a ladle of Buddhism, a heaping helping of Law of Attraction, a side of quantum theory, etc.  Which is fine! But also a missed opportunity. Your enjoyment of almost any experience can be amplified by doing it alongside other people. Whether it's rock climbing, enjoying a comedy show, dancing, or eating dinner, when the right people-- your people--gather to engage...

Dad-- Our phone conversation was interrupted, and I wanted to finish explaining that video you asked me about, because I think it's important. The ceremony I've developed is in three parts: a rite of transformation, a rite of purification, and a rite of atonement. Each prepares you for the rigors of the next. Working with the song "Oh Comely" is the first and hardest part of that atonement rite. What you're witnessing in that video is me paying penance. Penance for what? For the godawful genocides of the last five centuries. Why am I doing that? Because my visions indicate that it's our failure to come to grips with the evils we've collectively committed that has brought us to the brink of civilizational destruction and perhaps human extinction.  It's more complicated than that, of course, but that'll do for now. And so, to face up to what's been done and try to make things right, to buy us a future, I've devised what you ...

I want to tell you about my approach to working with psychedelics, because I think I'm breaking new ground. If you or someone you know is working along similar lines, get in touch. I want to talk with you. For now, at least, I'm calling this approach "phonomancy," meaning "divination via sound." If you're a recreational user, it likely won't appeal to you. If you're someone who's dipping your toe in the psychedelic water via microdosing, or someone who is primarily interested in using psychedelics to treat trauma, depression, or addiction issues, you might find the practice I'm going to describe off-putting or even alarming. That's because phonomancy is not therapeutic--it's augmentative. It's a program for developing supranormal emotional and spiritual capacities via psychological hormesis. Some risk, pain, and fear are part of the process. But that's the price of transformation. THE ORIGINAL TWO "S...

What should a religion actually *do*? If a belief system provides only a mythological cosmology, moral proscriptions, and/or a social environment, is it actually a religion, or just a means of control?