Close encounters with the remarkable Buckminster Fuller (repost)

[Adapted from a letter to Thomas Schöllhammer, dated 28 February 1986. Mr Schöllhammer, then a student of ‘American Culture’ at Munich University, was writing a dissertation on Buckminster Fuller and had requested a full account of my personal contact with ‘Grandpa’ Bucky.]

I’m not sure how I first heard of R. Buckminster Fuller.

But the first time I saw him was in Kuala Lumpur in 1973 when he gave a talk at the University of Malaya. He was extolling the virtues of non-specialization, which was to me an interesting change from the conventional Jack-of-all-trades doctrine that you can achieve nothing unless you concentrate on a very tiny area. In later life Bucky (as he liked being called) would describe himself as a Comprehensivist.

I was impressed by his awareness of 4-dimensional processes – the only way apparent contradictions can be reconciled and appreciated. It was the first time I had heard the word SYNERGY. He also expressed his belief in “syntropy” – the opposite of entropy. Whereas most scientists speak of “negative entropy” Bucky used the more pro-active term, syntropy: the antidote to pessimism (“things fall apart,” “the heat death of the universe,” “Murphy’s Law,” and so on).

SYNTROPY he defined as Scenario Universe’s counter-tendency towards greater coherence and integrity: the centripetal (returning to Source) counterforce to centrifugal “expanding Universe” theories. Bucky was a visionary who could sense transcendental Meaning and Higher Order beyond the apparent disorder and randomness of physical phenomena. I had no chance to talk with him, as he was hurried off to some official tea party immediately after the lecture.

Fuller poses with his Dymaxion car, circa 1933

In 1975 Bucky was invited to an international conference on “Malaysia in the Year 2000” organized by the Syed Kechik Foundation. Herman Kahn of the Hudson Institute (a research team entrusted with developing futurist ‘scenarios’ for the Pentagon, among other corporate interests in the U.S.) was also there; and so was Prof. Robert Jungk, the famous German sociologist-historian. I managed to get myself invited to the conference and that’s how I finally got to meet Bucky.

U.S. Pavilion at Expo 1967 designed by Buckminster Fuller

He was very approachable, very warm and saintly, radiating a very loving aura – in sharp contrast to Herman Kahn who was hugely aloof and sneering, radiating little warmth. In the two men you could see the polarities of intellectual vision. Kahn was convinced that the planet was in deep trouble and that Malthusian economics dictated Darwinian survival strategies (e.g., he advocated and defended America’s policy of exporting pollution to Third World countries). Fuller, on the other hand, was convinced that Universe is sentient, that Cosmic Intelligence always prevails, and that cooperation, not competition, was the key to real progress. Mentally I called Herman “Fat Hope” and Bucky “Slim Chance.”

Within hours I had decided Bucky would make the ideal grandfather. So when I found him sitting one row behind me at one of the talks, I scribbled my request on a sheaf of conference notes and handed it to him: “Do I have your permission to adopt you as my grandfather?”

Bucky scrawled an unhesitating response: “Indeed you do! It gives me great joy and an increase of responsibility.”

This simple act proved to me that Bucky represented the noblest spirit of humanity, the archetypal Community Elder who has grown beyond tribal concerns and was in effect one of the True Sages of Planet Earth. Such beings are not universally recognized under the military-industrial power structure – but I’m sure that as the Aquarian Age proceeds, they will come into their own.

The general atmosphere at the 1975 conference was pretty much a triumph of Optimism over Pessimism, of human over technocratic values.

Herman Kahn (pictured left) was loudly and repeatedly booed during his address in which he defended the hard-line “realist” approach to problem-solving (that whole pragmatic worldview founded on Original Sin, the contrariness and imperfectibility of Human Nature, and the overall untrustworthiness of the Cosmos; the scientific-materialist paradigm wherein “God” is essentially an abstraction to which political expediency demands payment of lip service, but in private nobody really gives a hoot about “moral authority” or any sense of ethics governing human existence; the Bottom Line being, of course, Economics).

In contrast, Bucky’s talk was very warmly received. Though a fair portion of the audience seemed to have difficulty following his non-linear, multidimensional way of thinking and speaking, Bucky was able to transmit a clear and direct feeling of genuine goodwill and high intelligence. He didn’t refer to notes and could have gone on for hours if there hadn’t been a time limit. I can recall only fragments of what he said, but those few fragments remain vividly imprinted in my mind:


Bucky speculated on the ascendancy of Muscle Power during a particular phase of our prehistory when kings and chiefs were chosen from the warrior caste and Power was equated with the weight of a man’s weapon. Cerebral individuals were given subordinate rôles as consultants, magicians, healers, and comedians. (“Put this little guy on the payroll, he tells funny jokes.”) These thoughts were neither new nor radical to me as I had covered the same contemplative ground in the course of my personal musings – but it was the first public utterance of these ideas I had encountered, and it served to reaffirm the validity of my own views on social hierarchies and power elites.

Buckminster Fuller's trademark geodesic dome

Bucky came up with another important analogy: that of the honey bee colony which serves a greater design (the propagation of plant species) without actually being aware of its nature-ordained function. To the bee, the whole purpose of existence is simply the gathering of nectar and the defence of its own hive until the next generation is ready to take over the endless cycle.

Dymaxion House (prototype revealed in 1929; redesigned in 1945)

This metaphor (perfectly illustrating precessional effects) was very mind-opening and allowed me to view even the multinational corporations in a more generous light: like the honey bees, most of them haven’t attained the 4-dimensional awareness of their higher function within the planet’s ecology. But, as Bucky pointed out, these Great Pirates (his name for the fortune-hunting, empire-building colonizers who have shaped the course of recent centuries) produced global navigation maps and introduced the concept of a continent- and culture-bridging spherical world through purely selfish, greedy motives. Bucky’s graphic thought processes approach a workable solution for all conflicting tendencies in human and animal behavior. For me, Bucky had successfully performed the alchemical marriage of Heaven and Hell, extending his mentations beyond simplistic “good” and “evil” to an enlightened state of dynamic equilibrium, of reintegration and reciprocity.

Bucky with his wife Anne Hewlitt and their daughter Allegra, circa 1927

Yes, Bucky was indeed a 20th-century Buddha with access to the harmonic overtones of Higher Consciousness. No wonder some "experts" are of the opinion that Fuller went “kind of nuts in his later life.” Bucky’s concepts had transformed into metaconcepts: to comprehend Whole Systems you need to exercise your mind in ever increasing spheres of interest. No way any die-hard academic specialist could ever publicly endorse Bucky’s work. It’s so much easier to protect our own petty interests by playing down or not noticing other people’s greatness.

Allegra Fuller Snyder, Bucky and Anne's only surviving child, visits the Eden Project 
in September 2009

Another very important thing Bucky pointed out was that no true scientist will ever describe anything as a “mistake.” In experimental procedure, all results lead to deeper understanding, whether “positive,” “negative,” or “ambivalent.” I view Bucky as a philosopher-guru using mathematical and technological terminology to express his mystical insights. In this respect he was often misunderstood and dismissed (and, to a certain extent, still is) by mainstream scholars. He was fond of describing himself as a “maverick” – the ox that refuses to run with the herd. In problem-solving it’s often the maverick idea that proves most valuable.

Buckminsterfullerene aka Buckyball - the C60 carbon molecule discovered in 1985

Most important to me was the fact that Bucky Fuller had devoted his life to developing a syntax and a geometrically achievable model of Utopia: a vision I have explored in mystical terms, but which I've found difficult to articulate “objectively.”

Bucky’s work with the miraculous behavior of Whole Systems, Synergetics, Syntropy, Reciprocity, Regenerative Intertransformations, Integrity, and Omnidimensionality put everything mystics had always spoken of in poetic code into clear, technical focus – the same way G.I. Gurdjieff and John C. Lilly made epistemology accessible to empirical investigation. However, don’t take my word for it – read Bucky’s Utopia or Oblivion (Pelican Books, 1968)!

The conference on “Malaysia in the Year 2000” lasted only five days – but I had the chance to have more contact with Bucky between sessions and at meals. The remarkable thing is that there was never much casual talk at these encounters: it was more like a reunion of intimate friends. He would perform childlike exercises on paper napkins, demonstrating how EVOLution derives from EVE and how EVOL is really LOVE spelt backwards.

I wrote a long letter elaborating my ideas on transport systems (from solar buggies to antimatter propulsion to mantra-powered lightships) and handed it to Bucky on the second day of the conference. When we met the next day he gave me a radiant smile and a warm handshake, saying: “It was the best letter I’ve ever received, I was absolutely delighted!”

He asked if I was interested in reading a new poem he’d drafted, something called Complexion 1975. He had only the original copy, so I was required to read it all at one sitting in his hotel room while he very kindly ordered me a glass of milk (perhaps I still looked like a baby to him). Since then I’ve read the published version of Complexion, but it didn’t read like the same document I saw in Bucky’s room. My memory informs me that the original draft was more science-fictionish – written from an extraterrestrial viewpoint. I had the feeling that Bucky was eager to communicate some earthshaking secret – but he apparently changed his mind and all he said to me before we left the room was: “Don’t worry about anything. It’s 99.9 per cent metaphysical!”

I did feel a pervasive sense of “unreality” – as though the view outside his hotel room was a holographic projection. I looked at him for further clarification and he kept smiling beatifically and insisting that the physical reality around us was such a minute section of the electromagnetic spectrum as to be actually quite insignificant.

Around this time, a half-mile or so away, the Japanese Red Army (a leftwing terrorist group) was getting ready to take over the AIA building on Ampang Road and hold 50 people hostage for several days. Mercifully, it all ended without bloodshed soon after the conference. A mere background detail to this account.

I wrote Bucky a few times after that. He would reply personally or get his secretary to send me his latest itinerary. Which is how I got wind of his brief visit to Kuala Lumpur in 1976. I met him at the airport with a gift of his favorite oolong tea and he suggested that I accompany his small entourage to the Hotel Equatorial for dinner.

Our conversation was mainly about John C. Lilly (right) - the multidisciplinary scientist best known for pioneering dolphin intelligence research and the sensory-deprivation tank. Bucky mentioned that he once saved Lilly’s life; he felt that Lilly was far too reckless, doing dangerous things to himself; but he agreed that the man was truly brilliant, if somewhat erratic. Then Bucky handed me some advice that has served me well over the decades:

“Just do what you feel you must do. Do it the best you can and trust that you’ll be looked after. Believe me, it’s true. I’m an old man, and I’m not in the habit of giving irresponsible advice.”

Six months later I quit my job in an advertising agency and have been gainfully unemployed since.

On October 12th 1979, I saw R. Buckminster Fuller for the last time. I’d written to his secretary earlier, saying I’d be passing through Philadelphia and asking if I could visit. The response was swift and warm. I found Bucky in his Market Street office, older and feebler but still as sensitive as ever.

Bucky's 1946 Dymaxion Map showing the relationship of land and ocean areas

The moment he laid eyes on me he said: “I hope you don’t succumb to disappointment. These things take time. Right now we can only try to cushion the impact.” I believe he was referring to my hopes (and his) that Utopian values would spread universally and rapidly, rendering the apocalyptic option unnecessary. This revealed Bucky’s more human dimensions, I felt. He seemed to be expressing his own sense of frustration that the world wasn’t listening to him; that his ideas were still being dismissed as “over-idealistic” or even “crank.” But he was visibly pleased that two groups of students had produced comprehensive reports on energy and food (Energy – Earth and Everyone, edited by Medard Gabel, published by Doubleday; and Ho-Ping: FOOD, also edited by Medard Gabel on behalf of the World Game Group, and published by Doubleday).

Bucky chuckled over the fact that the UN had finally endorsed his work by adopting these encyclopedic studies as standard references. “As to be expected, they don’t seem to be leaping into action,” he lamented. “The merchants are still calling the shots.” He wanted me to have these books – but the advance copies weren’t in yet.

Bucky autographing books for me in his Market Street office in Philadelphia. 
This photo, which I printed myself, has survived three decades of floods, termite invasions,
and several changes of address.

So he wrote the titles for me on the back of an envelope and decided he couldn’t let me leave without a small stack of autographed books. While he was putting his shaky signature on the books, I took a couple of photographs of him – one of which keeps reappearing at the oddest of times from within the pages of my favorite collection of Bucky poems: And It Came To Pass – Not To Stay.

[Bucky was recalled from Spaceship Earth on 1 July 1983, just 36 hours before his wife Anne also made the transition. Herman Kahn, oddly enough, died about a week later. Let's hope being free of all that mass has given him a Fuller perspective on everything.]

SELECTED BUCKYQUOTES

ETHICS by R. Buckminster Fuller

THE FULLER PERSPECTIVE

[First posted 12 July 2013, reposted 19 June 2021]

The FULLER Perspective (by Antares Maitreya)

Architect, mathematician, inventor, poet, lecturer and whole-systems thinker, R. Buckminster Fuller was above all a planetary visionary who passionately believed that the human race was on the brink of Utopia or Oblivion.

Best known for his geodesic domes, Dymaxion car, and his concept of synergetics, Bucky (as he preferred to be called) would have celebrated his centennial on July 12, 1995 – but, alas, he was recalled by Mission Headquarters in 1983. Meanwhile, the rest of us on Spaceship Earth continue to waver between warfare and welfare, between “killingry” and “livingry” – when we could so easily focus our attention on regaining for ourselves and for posterity a perfectly functional paradise...

WE HAVE THE WHEREWITHAL to ensure that every single human life on Spaceship Earth is a total success.

That was Buckminster Fuller’s credo and he devoted his adult life to demonstrating how integrity and intelligence must eventually triumph over fear (ignorance/insularity) and greed (scarcity conditioning).

While established “experts” with vested interests dismissed him as a maverick and a crank, Bucky focused on the Big Picture. Aided by legions of bright, earnest university students, Bucky inaugurated the World Game, wherein players unlearn their built-in prejudices, develop trust in reciprocity, and cooperatively design win-win scenarios that will give everyone access to the glorious options awaiting us.

“Forget about Us and Them,” Bucky advised. “Remember it’s all us. Universe is a plural unity.”

At the age of 32 in 1927, Bucky saw himself as a dismal failure. His building business had collapsed, he couldn’t pay the rent, and his domestic reality was in serious crisis. He decided to take his own life. Since he was such a good-for-nothing he would go jump in a lake. But first he would meditate for a few minutes and see if any viable alternative to tragedy would present itself.

Standing in silent despair at the edge of the icy lake, Bucky suddenly heard the voice of his “phantom captain” or Higher Self: “Disengage your thoughts from petty personal problems. Remember your true work on this beautiful planet.”

And so Buckminster Fuller awoke to the cosmic dimensions of his being and his real mission on Earth: to restore a Fuller Perspective (pun fully intended) to a humanity blinded by primordial fears, force of habit, and sloppy thinking.

If we now agree that the Earth isn’t flat, why do we still say the sun rises and sets? We spin in and out of the sun’s sight. The world is spherical, and the surface of all spheres is at the same time concave and convex. Nothing is a fixed asset: everything is in dynamic flux. Reality cannot be grasped: it simply slips through the spaces between your atoms, the vast dimensions within your sub-atomic consciousness. Let go of it and you become Real: for in reality you are a perfect hologram of the One and the All.

These aren’t Bucky’s words (he had a unique syntax and vocabulary which was a miracle of economy and precision, but also made his writings less than transparent to the uninitiated). However, they do provide a glimpse into his essential work in epistemology and teleology. (Pardon me? Well, er… let’s just say “epistemology” and “teleology” are analytical and synthetical approaches to understanding the general principles and patterns underlying all phenomena.)

Bucky was a practitioner of mental weight-lifting. Every day he would raise a larger and larger question for private inspection. By the time he went public with his newfound insights, Bucky was prepared to tackle issues of any apparent size and gravity, including age-old questions like: “So what do we do about human nature?”

The human being is a marvelous, self-teaching, self-correcting, self-regenerating organism, perfectly equipped for survival in any physical and/or metaphysical context. No need to “reform” humans. Instead, let’s re-design our everyday reality so that it brings out the noblest in all of us. [This is a paraphrase, not a quote!]

Having made direct contact with his “phantom captain” (a mystic might call it “Atman” or “Buddha Self” or “Christ” or “Solar Angel”), Bucky soon evolved into a latter-day Pythagoras. (I was going to say Pythagorean but - time being not quite as linear as we’re in the habit of thinking – we might well find Pythagoras on some other sphere describing his philosophy as Buckyan!) Both minds were effective “crossover zones” open to inputs from all directions and disciplines; and each found his spiritual ground in the study of “energetic-synergetic” or “sacred” geometry. Born 25 centuries apart, each arrived at the same realization that provoked Pythagoras to exclaim: “Astonishing! Everything is intelligent!”

Bucky was constantly reminding his lecture audiences that Reality (or the Electromagnetic Spectrum) was 99.99% undetectable to our senses and our measuring instruments. In other words, the world defined by our physical senses occupies less than 0.1% of our full range of options. Yet the Great Unknown is not necessarily unknowable – so long as we’re anchored in the awareness of the interactive, interconnected integrity and unity of the Whole – of which we are each an integral and intimate part, as well as a microcosmic wholeness with an incredible degree of autonomy (Free Will?)

This neo-hermetic perspective was certainly a foreshadowing of the current hologram theory, which is an essential conceptual tool for thinking beyond the third dimension.

On a pragmatic level, Bucky applied his dynamic imagination and Yankee know-how to designing alternative transport, shelter, and socioeconomic systems. Ironically, the only faction that took his work seriously was the military. All their remote installations and bases are today housed in Fuller domes – from the Antarctica to the dark side of the moon.

With the help of a growing network of dedicated young thinkers and doers, Bucky compiled comprehensive inventories of the planet’s food and energy resources and proposed workable alternatives that would make hunger and scarcity merely a bad dream of an infant humanity. With our priorities set right, poverty and injustice will quickly become subjects of purely historical interest. Each free citizen of the planet must be regarded as an invaluable crewmember of Spaceship Earth and given unlimited access to the infinite abundance and wealth which is everyone’s divine inheritance.

What Bucky foresaw was that once the basic needs of individuals have been fulfilled, they will automatically move on to the next level of needs. Therefore, by fulfilling the material needs of all humanity (and Bucky insisted that we do have the technical wherewithal to achieve this; only the ethical and political will to bring it about are lacking), we shall as a species swiftly evolve into spiritual consciousness (though Bucky generally preferred to use the term “metaphysical”).

“I was born far-sighted,” Bucky was fond of quipping, “that’s why I find it easier to think universe rather than me.”

Perhaps some of us were born near-sighted. Not to worry, if you’re one of them, you can take a vacation from Myopia (and the present Dystopia) into Buckminster Fuller’s vision of Utopia simply by following up on the selected bibliography:

 

RECOMMENDED BUCKYBOOKS

Nine Chains to the Moon (J.B. Lippincott, 1938; Doubleday, 1982)

Untitled Epic Poem on the History of Industrialization

Ideas and lntegrities

No More Secondhand God (Southern Illinois University Press, 1963)

Education Automation

Utopia or Oblivion (Pelican, 1968)

Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth (Southern Illinois University Press, 1969)

And It Came To Pass - Not To Stay (Macmillan, 1976)

Synergetics: Explorations in the Geometry of Thinking

Critical Path (St. Martin's Press, 1981)

[First published in JOURNAL ONE, April 1996. Uploaded here 19 June 2021]

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The Merry Month of May That Was (Part 2)

Blue Buddha (photo: Jaap Buys)

Lumbar puncture or spinal tap

During his first night in the Hospital Putrajaya ICU a lumbar puncture had been conducted on Ahau to get a sample of his cerebrospinal fluid, so they could test for meningitis. I was glad my boy was still under heavy sedation.

Early the next morning, I looked in on Ahau to see that he was awake but groggy and confused. His hands and feet had been strapped to the bed to stop him from pulling out his intravenous drip and ventilation tube. The doctors reported that his respiration pattern was swiftly normalizing and that the tube could soon be removed. They kept him on oxygen to ease his breathing as there was a slight swelling of his throat lining caused by abrasions the previous day when he was being intubated.

Heiko & Selina Niedermeyer, master healers

By midday when Mary returned with Anoora, Ahau was strong enough to struggle against his bonds. He only calmed down if Mary kept well out of sight. 

In the afternoon four friends visited – Heiko and Selina, accompanied by Robin and Michelle. As it was past visiting hours, only two were allowed into the ICU. Robin and Michelle opted to wait in the lobby while I accompanied Heiko and Selina to the ICU where they immediately began working on him by softly singing the medicine Buddha mantra, followed by one mala of the Dorje Gotrab (composed by the great guru Padmasambhava himself).

Ahau responded positively to the soft melodious chanting. I noticed he instantly calmed down and at one point touched Selina’s hand with his head, as if to thank her. This is what I shared on facebook:

Last night, Mary Maguire had trouble sleeping (understandably) so she did the Blue Buddha meditation to calm & center herself. Suddenly she felt reconnected through the heart with Ahau, who had been adrift in the astral while his physical form lay inert under massive sedation. She visualized placing a Blue Buddha upon his head, then finally fell asleep. And this afternoon Heiko & Selina, our beloved healer friends, showed up at the hospital and chanted (more like sang) a Blue Buddha mantra by Ahau's bedside for 20 minutes. He at first struggled to get up, then he focused clear, penetrating looks at each of us (I sensed an inscrutable smile twinkling at me as tiny teardrops welled up in the corners of his intense eyes). 

We were undisturbed the whole time the soft singing/chanting went on. I closed my eyes momentarily & saw Ahau at the center of a lotus unfolding its petals in infinitely expanding ripples, spreading from the room to infinity. Later as we left the ICU, Selina told me she saw Ahau sitting totally naked with eyes closed in lotus position while a Blue Buddha in his heart emanated healing blue light in every direction & dimension. I was delighted to note that both Mary & Selina had independently conjured the Blue Buddha in their mind's eye.

Facebook played a major rôle in Ahau’s rapid recovery. While he was being attended to by medics at the KKB emergency room, I posted this status update:

A surreal & terrifying day. Ahau had fits & is now under sedation. Not your typical Sunday. Will accompany him to whichever hospital in KL he's taken. Please help visualize him back in fine form soon, thanks.

Within minutes my timeline was flooded with supportive responses from friends and strangers near and far. Indeed, facebook was the crucial link between Ahau, Mary and me - and the rest of the world. Friends immediately included Ahau in their thoughts and prayers - and many happen to be human angels and powerful healers connected to healing circles around the planet. By updating them via facebook, I was keeping them energetically linked to Ahau. 

An intubated & heavily sedated Ahau being transferred by ambulance to Selayang Hospital

This note was posted on May 27th:

On the mundane plane it has been distressing to watch helplessly as Ahau assumes the role of a trapped bird in the medical Matrix. The horror of hospitals has been magnificently mitigated by the compassion, helpfulness, competence, dedication to duty & humanity we have encountered every step of the long road from Kg Pertak to Putrajaya Hospital. He cannot comprehend why he has awoken to being strapped to a strange bed, surrounded by electronic blips, with tubes sticking out of his wrists. Whenever he senses the presence or sees a familiar being his impulse is to sit up & escape from this weird nightmare where he is utterly powerless. When he finds himself bound like a contemporary Prometheus, his heartbeat triples & he becomes enraged, Any free, unformatted spirit would react likewise to waking up on a Prison Planet!

A thoughtful Ahau contemplates life from Bed 17, Ward 4A, Hospital Putrajaya

And yet, on the transcendental planes, everything is unfolding as it should & must, The shock of witnessing the sudden & unexpected system crash of our beloved Bunyip Ahau Ben has only magnified a millionfold our love for this exasperating yet utterly adorable being & our gratitude for being his closest buddies. Within a minute of my posting word of Ahau being unwell, pure heart love began funneling in from all directions through digital portals. It was overwhelming & uplifting at the same time. Regardless of friend or stranger, humans somehow always rise to the occasion, we were poignantly reminded.

Mei Watson, wounded healer

On the afternoon of May 27th, more friends arrived at Putrajaya Hospital offering help. Mei Watson, my wounded healer buddy, came with a whole set of essential oils which she proceeded to apply on Ahau, who responded very well to her tender ministrations. Shortly afterwards, two more soul-buddies showed up: Gerald Wee and Joel Low, both regular visitors at Magick River, had come to my rescue in January 2010 while I was tied to my bed in Sungai Buloh Hospital and freed me from my bonds, thereby breaking the spell and facilitating my discharge a few days later.

Gerald Wee, master of dragon chi

Gerald Wee comes from a shamanic lineage and works with dragon energy. He simply stood near Ahau and immersed him in a pristine and primordial energy field, supporting Mei Watson’s work with essential oils. While they were there, word came that Ahau was to be transferred to a normal ward. It was heartening to see Ahau out of the Intensive Care Unit and in a more relaxed room with a view.

Mary and Anoora arrived later with Ahau’s laptop and a magazine, which considerably perked him up. But he still had no desire to eat solids and was even refusing water. At least he no longer required oxygen and his hands and feet were free, so he could be helped to the toilet, a big step towards full recovery.

My beloved rinpoche, Ahau Ben, exploring the astral while fast asleep

PART 3

The Merry Month of May That Was (Part 1)

Star Commander Lee Ahau Ben Anoor-Antares in 2004

It was Bob Dylan’s 73rd birthday. My artist-astrologer friend Melissa Lin had invited me to dinner at Rimbun Dahan where she was on a 4-month residency. Met up with a few dear friends and renewed my acquaintance with the hospitable Hijjas family. Decided to continue to Bandar Utama where some young friends were hosting an open mic session at Paradox Café. We had a jolly jam session; met up with two old friends and made a few new ones. Got home around 3:30am and, as usual, didn’t get to bed till around 6:00. Heard my Vandalusian songbird Ahau Ben chirping merrily away. The sun wasn’t even up but my only begotten son was already at his laptop, doing his YouTube routine. It was a cheerful sound to fall asleep to.

Ahau asleep on 12 October 2012

Sunday, May 25th, 2014, around 11am: rudely awoken by Mary Maguire screaming at the top of her lungs, I grabbed my sarong and rushed over next door to find Ahau on the floor, having just puked on the mat. He looked wild-eyed and frightened and his hands were like claws. Mary said she had popped in from the kitchen a minute ago to find Ahau’s eyes unfocused and his fingers rigid. Thinking it might be an epileptic fit (though he has no previous history of that) she put him into recovery position on the floor so he wouldn’t swallow his tongue and suffocate.

As I knelt down and immersed him in my energy field, Ahau vomited again and his body went into spasms. While I whispered star language in his ears, Mary picked up the phone and called 999, hands trembling. She managed to keep calm as the police operator began interrogating her with absolutely no sense of urgency instead of passing her call to the nearest ambulance service. Finally, she got through to the KKB District Hospital and they said an ambulance would be despatched. Bonzo Dog came running in and sniffed Ahau all over, nudging him with his canine nose. He seemed as concerned as both Mary and me.

Anoora just looked dazed. I got her to take my place beside Ahau and ran back to put on some clothes. There’s nothing more nerve wracking than for a parent to contemplate the possibility of losing a child. True, I view life and death differently than most people and have never been inclined to wallow in grief and misery - always opting for the most inclusive, most all-embracing, and the most uplifting perspective.

Jolly joy boy Ahau Ben

Indeed, when Ahau was only 7 a psychic friend had warned me that Ahau may not survive long past puberty; that he had come on a specific mission and when he was done he would simply leave. I deeply resented hearing that but nonetheless took on it board.

In December 2010 when my beloved canine son Roger Reginald Putra was brutally murdered by a demonically possessed Orang Asli, probably for chasing after his motorbike, I was utterly grief-stricken. Imagine how much worse it would be to lose a human offspring.

Seeing Ahau in that scary state, not knowing the cause or outcome, I was prepared for any eventuality - but decided unequivocally that I would opt for our darling son to stick around, no matter what difficulties may arise around his “disabilities” and his almost complete dependency on others. It was a pivotal moment that brought into clear focus the totality and unconditionality of my love for that very special boy.

The ambulance arrived and we had to carry the unconscious Ahau down two flight of steps in his duvet because they had no stretchers with body straps. It’s a 12-minute drive to the KKB District Hospital but that ambulance was so horribly bumpy I was compelled to mention it to the attendant who said the problem was that the Health Ministry bought goods vans and converted them - instead of ordering customized ambulances with high-grade suspensions. “We are the ones who use these vehicles every day but nobody bothered to ask our opinion,” he confided.

Mary and Anoora arrived at the Emergency Room shortly afterwards while Ahau was being stabilized by the hospital assistants. Knowing the situation was no longer in our hands, I calmed down and held the beam for those attending to Ahau who appeared on the verge of another fit. They sedated him but his body resisted it and they increased the dosage. Finally the doctor had to switch to ketamine to knock him out so they could intubate him.

A bit of an overgrown baby

I kept popping into the emergency room to see if they had finished but the procedure took a long time. Dr Sashi explained that he had problems inserting the tube down Ahau’s throat. “I’ve never seen anyone with vocal cords like his,” the young doctor said. “One in a million!”

No wonder Ahau has had difficulty with human speech and opts to emit an incredible range of birdlike or dolphinlike sounds when he isn’t speaking his own take on human languages, Gobbledygook.

The KKB District Hospital isn’t equipped to handle any but the most routine of medical situations. Dr Sashi began phoning around to see which big hospital would admit Ahau. Incredibly, every ICU bed in hospitals within 2 hours of KKB was occupied, but Ahau was sent to Selayang Hospital anyway, in the hope that a bed in the ICU would become available when he arrived.

Ahau at 2: a very cheerful baby who loved water

Another bumpy ambulance ride, though minimally better than the first, and we were at the Selayang Hospital emergency and trauma ward, where the heavily sedated Ahau was wheeled off for a CT scan. The doctors at Selayang were young and reassuringly professional. They reported that the scan showed there was a slight edema (swelling) and there were symptoms of viral infection. Three doctors in particular had friendly, helpful auras – Drs Zetti, Haris and Amar. It was the latter who accompanied Ahau and me in the ambulance along with a nurse when Putrajaya Hospital agreed to take him. By the time we arrived at the southernmost part of Selangor state it was close to 11pm.

After 48 hours in the Hospital Putrajaya ICU Ahau was transferred to Ward 4A

Mary arrived at Putrajaya Hospital with Anoora and our dear friend Soon within minutes of Ahau being wheeled into emergency prior to being sent directly to the ICU. As I was taking the first watch Anoora had packed a small knapsack for me. Amazingly she had seen fit to include my Peruvian poncho and a book I had just started reading. I must have cut a surreal figure at 3 in the morning walking about the hospital grounds in my rainbow poncho. Dr Radha who was in charge of the ICU that night had taken my phone number and assured me that no news was good news as far as Ahau was concerned. I knew he was in excellent, dedicated hands. Dr Radha herself had the sweetest face and an angelic aura. It was hard to reconcile the cold-blooded colossal bureaucratic monstrosity called Putrajaya with the warmth and humanity of everyone I had met at the hospital.

PART 2

DEBUNKING DE LIGHT (repost)

I've been a debunker myself, especially around the age of 15 or 16 when I took great pleasure in debunking religion (particularly churchianity) and later civilization itself. But I soon realized the urge to debunk was merely part of growing up.

I've seen a lot of debunking in my time. In fact, it seems that every time someone writes a book or announces a new paradigm or introduces a sharp new terminology into the system, it doesn't take long before a detractor or two will arrive on the scene and proceed to debunk my latest pet belief. Indeed, everytime I get swept up on the crest of a peak experience and remember my own divinity - I soon get debunked by those who want me to retain a recognizable form and function within a "safe" frequency range.

Tuesday Lobsang Rampa (1910-1981)

Debunking happened with Tuesday Lobsang Rampa. He declared that he was a walk-in; his Englishman's body was inhabited and operated by a reincarnated Tibetan lama. I recall there was a vicious campaign mounted against Rampa, and it promoted the idea that he was just an imaginative writer of fiction. But the damage had been done: millions of impressionable teenagers and middle-aged housewives had been informed about astral traveling and third eyes. There was no holding back the floodtide of mystical whimsy.

After that it was Erich von Däniken and his "Chariots of the Gods" series. His was a timely message about astronaut gods but he overused the exclamation mark and annoyed many with his dogmatism. Needless to say, he was quickly debunked.

Carlos Castaneda (1925-1998)

Carlos Castaneda, L. Ron Hubbard, Aleister Crowley, The Holy Blood & The Holy Grail researchers, Crop Circles, Bhagwan Rajneesh aka Osho, Drunvalo Melchizedek, Dan Winter, José Argüelles,Whitley Strieber, Zecharia Sitchin, Deepak Chopra, Photon Belt proponents, Barbara Hand Clow, Merkabah activations, UFO contactees, the Ashtar Command, Y2K doomsdayers, John Lamb Lash, even Buckminster Fuller... LOTS of gurus, ascended masters and their ideas have been debunked and reality models dismissed by professional debunkers.

Hugo Weaving as Agent Smith
(the ultimate debunker) 

Of course, it's always a bit dampening to have a pet theory laid bare by cold logic or jaundiced perspectives. Parts of myself remain cynical - but my cynicism is reserved for those that would maintain and reinforce the corrupt and degenerate Status Quo - not for those whose efforts are directed towards transforming our intellectual materialism and opening our collective third eye to multidimensional options.

What I feel these days is a certain numbness of the intellect - but my heart is open to embracing all beliefs, no matter how infantile and ignorant; and viewing them as a moving gestalt of fragmented truths, a kaleidoscope of everchanging notions and revelations that ultimately culminate in a crystalline epiphany of Meaning and a soaring symphony of extended octave harmonies.

Debunking teaches us not to cling too tenaciously to anything or anyone or any idea. The only indivisible and indestructible Truth is that we are perfect holograms of the One, fractals of beauty beyond definition or description. And we are gathered here to witness and co-create the magickal manifestation of a New Heaven on a New Earth in the only way it can be accomplished: through synergetic cooperation and loving coherence as an infinitely extendable family of souls.

In lak’ech … A lak’en 

("I am you ... and you are me" in Mayan)

Antares

12 April 2000

[First posted 14 June 2017]

HIGHly Educational Videos on YouTube (revisited)

AWAKENING, ESCHATOLOGY & ENTHEOGENS 2012 
An interview with Neil Kramer, the man behind the blog "the Cleaver." Neil joins us to discuss his articles, his Awakening, Consciousness, Self-Actualization, Spirituality, Entheogens, Eschatology and much more. Topics Discussed: 9/11, The Matrix, Recognizing the Conspiracy, the Unveiling, 2012, Rebooting The Planet, The Mayan Calendar, Ian Lungold & Carl Johan Calleman, Terence McKenna's "Timewave Zero," Disappearance, The Rapture, from 3D to 4D, Media and Imprinting, Jeremy Narby's The Cosmic Serpent, Ayahuasca, Fractal Geometry, Structure of the Universe and much more.



ENTHEOGENIC DNA: invisible landscapes are all around us, we are multidimensional beings. Perception is a frequency, a bandwidth, and so is Being. Tune in... Enjoy!

[Inspired by a timely forward from Ilona Anna Maj, first posted 7 June 2008, reposted 4 June 2018]

A Wishbone Ash retrospective (repost)

Thanks to Razak Yusoff (and YouTube) whose video link on Facebook restimulated some fond memories of my early infatuation with this classic rock band which has inspired at least two generations of air guitarists. Here's a selection of what I consider the best of Wishbone Ash.  Note that I've kept my favorite song for the last...

Wishbone Ash are considered to be one of the major innovators of the harmony twin lead guitar format. Formed in Devon, United Kingdom (in 1969) by Martin Turner (bass/vocals) the original Wishbone Ash line-up was completed by guitarists/vocalists Andy Powell and Ted Turner, and Steve Upton (drums and percussion). In 1974, Ted Turner left the band, and was replaced by Laurie Wisefield. The band continued on with strong critical and commercial success until 1980.



After revolving line-ups featuring former members from King Crimson, Trapeze, and Uriah Heep, Laurie Wisefield quit in 1985. In 1987, however, the original line-up reunited for several albums - Nouveau Calls, Here to Hear, and Strange Affair - until 1990, when Steve Upton quit the band. After Martin Turner was replaced in 1991, the band recorded Live In Chicago, before Ted Turner quit in 1993. Since 1995, the band have continued with mixed critical and commercial success, changing members on several albums. In 2004, Martin Turner formed his own version of Wishbone Ash, and tours frequently.

[Source: Wikipedia]



My first exposure to Wishbone Ash was in 1972 when I bought their outstanding Argus album (which features many of the songs included in this post). I was immediately drawn to their clean, precise, beautifully constructed guitar harmonies, conjuring long-buried memories of ancient battlefields and bravery - while evoking an uplifting sense of soulful lyricism and spiritual warriorship.



The cover of the Argus album showed a helmeted sentinel standing atop a misty hill, clutching a spear and gazing at the sky. At first sight it was like a scene right out of 9th century Britain - but a closer look reveals a flying saucer approaching from a distance. This unexpected blend of Sword and Saucery proved to be a heady concoction and Wishbone Ash became an immensely popular touring band, especially in the US.



Commercial success brought along its own problems and Wishbone Ash suffered numerous changes of personnel, with a couple of original members walking out. In 1998 lead guitarist Andy Powell formally registered "Wishbone Ash" as a trademark, effectively assuming leadership and management of the band. Prior to that, founding member Martin Turner had favored a more democratic approach to business whereby everyone had an equal share of the royalties.



With Andy Powell in charge, the others in the band became hired sessionists.



In 2004 Martin Turner decided to form a splinter group called Martin Turner's Wishbone Ash and performed a series of concerts which yielded a few live albums, as well as a new version of the 1972 Argus album.







Despite personality differences and frequent lineup changes Wishbone Ash has somehow managed to keep going as a musical entity for more than 40 years. The latest album, Power of Eternity, was released in 2007.

[First posted 16 August 2010]

THE EUNUCH WHO BECAME A GOD (repost)

Odds are, this blog entry would be in Chinese – were it not for a twist of fate that made the mighty Ming dynasty turn isolationist after the death of Admiral Zheng He in 1433.

I remember reading about the exploits of China’s legendary eunuch admiral, Zheng He (sometimes rendered Cheng Ho), as almost a casual footnote in the history books. All the big names in navigation were, of course, European: Ferdinand Magellan, Bartolomeu Dias, Vasco da Gama, Christopher Columbus. Occasionally I’d come across a reference to Leif Eriksson’s discovery of North America in 1001; or an apocryphal tale of some intrepid (or gloriously intoxicated) Irish monk crossing the Atlantic in a coracle centuries before Columbus stumbled upon the West Indies.

It wasn’t till fairly recently that the world has seen a resurgence of scholarly interest in the geopolitical significance of Zheng He’s Seven Voyages between 1405 and 1433. Gavin Menzies published in 2002 a best-seller called 1421 in which he postulates that Zheng He had despatched a few ships from his gigantic Treasure Fleet to explore the oceans west of Africa, and that the Chinese had successfully circumnavigated the world a full century before Magellan (more on this at www.1421.tv). Menzies suggests, furthermore, that Zheng He’s scoutships may have visited North America (where Ming pottery shards were recently unearthed), sailed as far south as Australia, and perhaps even the Antarctic. The eunuch admiral’s navigators produced detailed maps which found their way to Europe, initiating a fever of maritime exploration at the beginning of the 16th century that saw Portugal, Spain, Holland, and England competing for supremacy at sea as a means to world domination.

In any case there can be no doubt whatsoever that the absolute master of the global seaways in the 15th century was Admiral Zheng He - loyal emissary of the Ming Court, supreme commander of the imperial Treasure Fleet, fearless explorer, and diplomat extraordinaire. Eunuch jokes aside, Zheng He was a ballsy larger-than-life hero who towered above his peers at a standing height of nine Chinese feet (approximately six-foot-eight by modern measure).

Zheng He’s name at birth was Ma Sanpao. He belonged to a Central Asian tribe known as the Semur which converted to Islam before migrating to Yunnan Province. When the Chinese army invaded Yunnan in 1382, the 11-year-old Ma Sanpao was taken captive, castrated, and given as a personal slave to Prince Zhu Di, who seized the Ming throne from his elder brother Zhu Yunwen in 1402, proclaiming himself Emperor Yong Le (“Everlasting Joy”). During Zhu Di’s military campaign against his sibling, Ma Sanpao distinguished himself as a cunning and fearless fighter. Yong Le was determined to extend tne glory of the Ming Dynasty to the far ends of the earth. Having rebuilt the Great Wall so that China’s rear end was covered, he conferred on Ma Sanpao, his brave and trusted eunuch warrior, the nom de guerre “Zheng He” and offered him the title, “Admiral of the Western Seas.”

Atmospheric cutaway of a Chinese Treasure Ship from the voyage of Zheng He in 1405 (Stephen Biesty 2011)

Between 1405 and 1433 Zheng He embarked on seven voyages that established Chinese naval and diplomatic supremacy in 36 countries - including Taiwan, Vietnam, Cambodia, The Philippines, Brunei, Java, Aceh, Temasek, the Melaka Sultanate, Siam, India, Ceylon, the Maldives, Persia, Arabia, the Swahili Coast of Africa, North America, and the Pacific Islands. Zheng He’s fleet was truly massive. One biographer writes: “No other nation on earth had ever sent such a fleet onto the ocean. It included sixty-two large ships, some 600 feet long, larger than any other on the seas. Hundreds of smaller vessels accompanied them.” On certain voyages Zheng He’s Grand Fleet carried as many as 28,000 crew and the decks were lined with huge tubs of earth for planting vegetables and fruit trees. Fresh bean sprouts - and tofu in every imaginable form - were a staple diet at sea, providing the crew sufficient nutrients to minimize scurvy on long voyages.

Emperor Zhu Di was succeeded in 1424 by his son Zhu Gaozhi, whose 9-month reign was fraught with palace intrigue and financial anxiety. He ordered an abrupt halt to all treasure ship expeditions and concentrated on internal affairs, believing that China’s security lay in a robust policy of agrarian reform. Some researchers speculate that, during the 8-year hiatus between his sixth and seventh voyages, Zheng He was charged with the establishment of an Imperial Intelligence Agency, a prototype CIA, in effect.

The next Ming emperor, Zhu Zhanji, ascended the throne in 1425 and was somewhat more outward-looking, reinstating the practice of receiving tributes from far-flung vassal states – but it wasn’t till January 1432 that Zheng He embarked on his last and largest voyage with 317 ships. Sensing it might be his final journey, the Admiral erected a stone pillar - inscribed with a detailed account of his previous voyages - at a temple in Chang Le on the Fujian Coast dedicated to the Celestial Spouse (a Taoist goddess). In the 1930s this important artefact was rediscovered, leading to a revival of academic interest in Zheng He’s remarkable accomplishments.

According to most accounts Zheng He (already ailing before he set sail) died on the return voyage in 1433 and was buried with full honors at sea; but we shall never know if he was reunited with his “missing parts” as was customary for imperial eunuchs. The Chinese believed that the deceased could otherwise never reincarnate as a man. Emperor Zhu Zhanji survived Admiral Zheng He by only two years and his passing marked the end of China’s seafaring era. Confucian court advisors advocating national introversion overruled the imperial eunuchs who sought to build upon Zheng He’s maritime achievements. The great shipyards at Longjiang were shut down, Zheng He’s voluminous journals were removed from the imperial archives (and destroyed or stolen), and in 1500 it was decreed that anyone building seaworthy vessels with more than two masts would be sentenced to death. In 1575 the emperor ordered the arrest of all merchants trading with foreigners and the destruction of all oceangoing ships. And thus the torch of naval exploration and systematic colonization passed into European hands.

Cheng Ho Cultural Museum, 51 Lorong Hang Jebat, Melaka

Melaka’s central location on the sea route between the South China Sea and the Bay of Bengal made it Zheng He’s main port-of-call on all seven of his voyages. In 2005, to mark the 600th anniversary of Zheng He’s first naval expedition, the multimillion-ringgit Cheng Ho Cultural Museum was officially inaugurated in Melaka, on the riverbank site of the Admiral’s original godown.

This massive project was funded by private capital largely raised by well-known Zheng He authority, Professor Tan Ta Sen, and the Gwei family (who contributed hundreds of priceless porcelain pieces to the excellent Ming exhibit on the second floor).

According to Gwei Tze Co, who took me on a tour of the museum, part of the godown also served as living quarters for one of Zheng He’s captains, whose descendants can still be found in various parts of Malaysia. He showed me a couple of wells dug during Zheng He’s stopovers, a source of potable water after all these centuries. Admiring a gilded bust of the Eunuch Admiral in the foyer, I sensed that this wasn’t so much a museum as a shrine to a great hero of antiquity who has attained cult status in certain quarters. Indeed, Zheng He devotees in various parts of Central Java continue to revere him as a deity every year in a ritual procession from Semarang’s Tay Kak Sie temple to a mysterious cave temple called Gedung Batu, said to have been built by Zheng He’s master pilot.

The Cheng Ho Museum also features a life-sized tableau commemorating Parameswara’s visit in 1411 to the Ming Court, where he was formally recognized by China as the King of Melaka. A Sumatran prince-in-exile, Parameswara sought refuge from his enemies in a sleepy fishing village on the western coast of the Malay Peninsula in the late 1390s and transformed it into the great Kingdom of Melaka.

Parameswara is recognized as King of Melaka by the Ming Emperor

Other exhibits include maps, paintings, a scale model of the Treasure Fleet, maritime artefacts from the Ming era, and dioramas offering a vivid glimpse of life amongst the Chinese community in Melaka after Zheng He’s arrival. If you happen to be in the vicinity, a visit to the thoughtfully appointed Cheng Ho Cultural Museum at 51 Lorong Hang Jebat, Melaka, will prove stimulating and thought-provoking. View an audiovisual introduction to Zheng He, or purchase books and DVDs on his remarkable transformation from eunuch to deity. Call 606-2831135 for more information.

[This article first appeared in The Hilt, December 2006. Uploaded 27 February 2007, reposted 14 November 2014 & 9 June 2016]