Today was not a very eventful day; I worked on campus with my coworker who is the King of Dad Jokes. He told me this one: "What's the best thing about Switzerland? I'm not sure, but the flag is a big plus!" So I told him this one: "I hate elevator music. It's bad on so many levels." Then I went and wrote some puns on the speech bubble where all our puns used to be until another coworker erased them. I suppose she will erase them on Monday, when she comes to work in person.
Today I was in a weirdly Beatles sort of mood; first I listened to "#9 Dream" by John Lennon, and then I listened to the three sitar songs George did with the Beatles: "Within You, Without You," "The Inner Light," and "Love You To." That last one I listened to five times - it just sounded so good today. I had my Union meeting after work, then when Travalon came to pick me up, we listened to Revolver, because "Love You To" is on there. Tiffy's favorite Beatles song is "Tomorrow Never Knows," which is really a strange song but oddly compelling. I was reading about it, and the sounds like seagulls are actually a sped-up recording of Paul McCartney laughing. There's also sitar and mellotron, but the mellotron doesn't bug me like it does in the beginning of "Strawberry Fields Forever." And the lyrics are sort of from the Tibetan Book of the Dead, by way of Timothy Leary. The original book is supposed to guide people through the bardo, which is the state between incarnations. (During my bardo, I argued with God, and Rich and Kathbert said that sounded just like me: arguing with God.) In the case of Timothy Leary (and the Beatles), I think they were less interested in the state immediately after death and were more interested in inducing a similar state through using psychedelic drugs like LSD. As I have discussed recently on this blog, that is not something to be undertaken lightly, because it does seem like it opens people up to spiritual realities they might not be ready for. Maybe it is an actual glimpse of the afterlife, but if you aren't right with God so that you wouldn't want to meet Him tomorrow, maybe don't go looking for Him on an acid trip, is all I'm saying.
I remember being a toddler, and being confused when my parents tried to describe where my departed great-grandmother had gone. I pictured her being stuck in a cloud from their description, which was nothing like what I remembered of my own bardo. My parents might not share my belief in reincarnation, but they taught me from my earliest days that there is something after this life, which is so important. So many people never think about the fact that eventually they will have to meet God. Not sure I'll ever be ready myself, but at least I've given it some thought, thanks to Ma and Pa Hat.
Famous Hat
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