The fact that a life lived in material comfort can be unsatisfying does not mean that the comfort is what makes it unsatisfying. Life can be every bit as barren of meaning to someone who is starving to death in a burned-out basement, or scratching out a bare living from a few acres of mud [...]
My first true contact with shamanism and its values came through a print version of the trialogues between Terrence McKenna, Ralph Abraham and Rupert Sheldrake that I picked up four years ago (when I was 18). Fascinated by similarities between the validity of the experiences these ancient practices revealed and what I experienced while meditating [...]