You're standing on a bridger watching yourself go by
December 12, 2011 6:49 AM   Subscribe

Be Here Now
posted by horsemuth (38 comments total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: A little problem with lack of context; OP please repost tomorrow! -- taz



 
The context closes your heart to the reality of the post. View the context, and watch your heart close.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 6:54 AM on December 12, 2011 [4 favorites]


also, I can't read that phrase without hearing it in George Harrison's voice: Be hurr now.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 6:54 AM on December 12, 2011 [1 favorite]


Clicked. Learned nothing. Sadness.
posted by Shutter at 6:57 AM on December 12, 2011 [1 favorite]


What if I don't like here?

I rather be over there.
posted by stormpooper at 6:58 AM on December 12, 2011


@ shutter. Totally
posted by stormpooper at 7:00 AM on December 12, 2011


HAIL THE GOER.
posted by pracowity at 7:05 AM on December 12, 2011


It's a 1971 book written by Ram Dass, formerly Dr. Richard Alpert, Timothy Leary's partner in the psychedelic experiments at Harvard, after he dove wholeheartedly into various Eastern mystic traditions.
posted by mediareport at 7:05 AM on December 12, 2011 [1 favorite]


Oh, for Christ's sake. First of all, I made a typo at the top. Secondly, I've struggled with writer's block about post here in the past, specifically about the length and amount of context to add. So, "fuck it", I thought. I'll just put a link to one of the most famous (non-literature) books to come out of the 60's & early 70's hippie scene (besides the Whole Earth Catalog) and figured that it would be fine. Context Here for anyone who needs it. As the book says "THIS TRIP REQUIRES TOTAL SUFFERING" so for me, this post is a completely meta experience.
posted by horsemuth at 7:06 AM on December 12, 2011 [3 favorites]


There was only one set of footprints because you were standing on a bridger. Tat tvam asi!
posted by steef at 7:08 AM on December 12, 2011


THE BOOK HAS 4 CORNERS AND TWO SIDES. And so forth.
posted by davebush at 7:09 AM on December 12, 2011


My enjoyment of this was diminished by the use of reasonable HTML. I thought all of these sort of websites had a requirement to use blink tags, non-intuitive colors, lots of links. Yes, they did throw in some variation in the fonts, but the rest of it was just too normal to take seriously.
posted by Runes at 7:09 AM on December 12, 2011 [2 favorites]


the color hurts my eyes.
posted by diazchris1 at 7:10 AM on December 12, 2011


As much as everyone thinks their experience is everyone's experience, sadly, it isn't.

a link to one of the most famous (non-literature) books to come out of the 60's & early 70's hippie scene

That is almost entirely outside of my experience. I think we think everyone grew up like we did, so we can just say things. But I have relatives who don't know who Justin Timberlake is, and worked with people who said "Who is Beyonce?"

Half the time when things get posted here, people are quick to say "OH I'm so surprised" or "Well duh" when there are lots and lots of people of varying ages and backgrounds that need context. You're not showing the post to your friends in your backyard, this is a community of all ages from all over the world. So it would behoove everyone to add some context if asked to.
posted by cashman at 7:11 AM on December 12, 2011 [2 favorites]


There was only one set of footprints because you were standing on a bridger.

I read that as badger. Which made it entertaining if not relevant.
posted by scalefree at 7:14 AM on December 12, 2011 [3 favorites]


You're not showing the post to your friends in your backyard, this is a community of all ages from all over the world. So it would behoove everyone to add some context if asked to.

Sorry to hear your Google is broken. You'll get over it.

Also: what is "backyard"?

</zen_moment>
posted by victors at 7:20 AM on December 12, 2011 [1 favorite]


The book is better. Lots of wild drawings.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 7:21 AM on December 12, 2011


Ed Gruberman, Tae Kwon Leap is the wine of purity, not the vinegar of hostility.
posted by phong3d at 7:21 AM on December 12, 2011 [2 favorites]


Contex would have been nice, but you don't have to jump down the poster's throat.

I've never heard of this book (and have actively protected my ignorance of Beyonce, Justin Timberlake, Justin Beiber, etc.) but it didn't take too much effort to figure it out. Sometimes it's nice to have a post that lets the link live or die on its own merit.
posted by double block and bleed at 7:21 AM on December 12, 2011 [2 favorites]


I thought all of these sort of websites had a requirement to use blink tags, non-intuitive colors, lots of links. Yes, they did throw in some variation in the fonts, but the rest of it was just too normal to take seriously.

This website is actually a pretty reasonable facsimile of what the book looks like rendered in HTML.

The center of the book itself is actually printed on light brown paper and is printed so you turn the book sideways to read it.

It's a great book, gets pretty far into eastern philosophy, and is wrapped with the strange story of Ram Das' life and conversion experience.

It's actually still in print. Which pleases me immensely.
posted by hippybear at 7:22 AM on December 12, 2011


I had an English teacher in Jr. High who would read excerpts from the book to our class.
Wasn't until college that I really appreciated it. Also, kind of blew my mind that a middle school teacher could do that and get away with it (1980s).
posted by evilelf at 7:31 AM on December 12, 2011


At the risk of moderating my post, I will say this: If you take 3 of the most commonly used words in the english language, and put them into Google (in any order, no less) and the first result is the thing that you are looking for, it's not that obscure...
posted by horsemuth at 7:31 AM on December 12, 2011 [1 favorite]


I thought it was going to be about the album that ruined Oasis forever.
posted by afx237vi at 7:35 AM on December 12, 2011 [2 favorites]


Oh... THAT book! I've seen it in bookstores... printed sideways, and on a weird vellumy parchment that reminds me of my uncles' friends Zig Zag wrappers (at least in my own distant memories). I loved finding it randomly at a big box bookstore and, though I'd never seen it before, it immediately tied into my mind with books from my childhood house - things like the above-mentioned Whole Earth Catalog, Pyramid Power, Psychic Discoveries Behind The Iron Curtain, and many other books with "occult" in the title somehow.

Man, it was great to grow up with cautiously skeptical but inquisitive experimenters as parents in the 70s. I wish I knew what it was like to be a cautiously skeptical but inquisitive experimenter in the 70s.
posted by scrowdid at 7:37 AM on December 12, 2011 [1 favorite]


tune!
posted by obscurator at 7:40 AM on December 12, 2011


the length and amount of context to add.

How much context? Enough context to let me know if I want to click on the link. I shouldn't have to research your link in order to know whether I want to know more about it.
posted by zamboni at 7:40 AM on December 12, 2011


My best friend got this book when we were about 14. It was kind of a totem for us of the life we thought we should rightfully be living, instead of our prosaic suburban surroundings. It went very well with sandalwood incense and handmade friendship bracelets. The only thing I'm sorry to see is that the original book design/art doesn't seem to have translated to the web presentation. The pen and ink work was, to me, the best thing about the book. I had a big pen and ink thing then.
posted by Miko at 7:43 AM on December 12, 2011


For more context, it was one of the books that Steve Jobs told Walter Isaacson that he thought had shaped his life:

Jobs found himself deeply influenced by a variety of books on spirituality and enlightenment, most notably Be Here Now, a guide to meditation and the wonders of psychedelic drugs by Baba Ram Dass, born Richard Alpert.

"It was profound," Jobs said. "It transformed me and many of my friends."

posted by blucevalo at 7:44 AM on December 12, 2011


I shouldn't have to research your link in order to know whether I want to know more about it.

No, you shouldn't have to do anything, really. That's very true.
posted by blucevalo at 7:45 AM on December 12, 2011


Do you remember years ago when somebody made a subgenius post and some people were all, like, what the hell is this stuff? And we all ranted - in the proper tradition - at them for not being friends of Bob? And then somebody like cortex came in and said, you are being mean? And we felt guilty?

This is kind of like that.

However, in those passing years there's been a lot more mystery meat posts than this. And, honestly, the OP has a point, it takes two clicks to discover what this in fact is, although perhaps it just seems so to me since Be Here Now is so well known in my life as to have its own nickname (Beer Here Now on the theory that you need a beer or two after a chapter or two.) I read it for the first time when I was 16 or 17 and it blew my teenage mind almost as much as the Illuminatus trilogy and the Book of the Subgenius.

Really though whether it's obscure or not is not the point of the post. The point of the post is - click the links. Read the book or excerpts thereof. Perhaps it will also blow your mind as well. I doubt it will hurt you. At worst it's sweet hippie bullshit and at best, well, advice to be right where you are in the moment and notice all that is around you has never seemed like bad advice to me.
posted by mygothlaundry at 7:45 AM on December 12, 2011


Oh, for Christ's sake.

Remember:

1. All FPPs are inherently unsatisfactory.
2. It is the nature of the internet commenter to snark.

For the rest of you, 30 seconds of searching would have cleared this up. Is that so hard?
posted by GenjiandProust at 7:50 AM on December 12, 2011 [1 favorite]


Its hosted on a site for whom the only meaning of that I can find is Natural Search Engine Optimization? qu'est que c'est? (that's what the 30 seconds of searching uncovered for me)
posted by infini at 7:51 AM on December 12, 2011


cashman:

But I have relatives who don't know who Justin Timberlake is, and worked with people who said "Who is Beyonce?"

Do these people never go grocery shopping? JT & B have literally been in my face for over five hours through the years standing there waiting for my turn to pay for my bacon and my beer. I thought the checkout stand tabloid rags were the one place no hermit can escape that crap. I guess you could have your groceries delivered but then somebody else picks out your apples and your bananas for you which I could never go for unless I was paralyzed or something.
posted by bukvich at 7:52 AM on December 12, 2011


Having said that, Be Here Now and Ram Dass in general impressed me a bit when I was an undergraduate and reading a lot of Robert Anton Wilson. These days, as philosophy goes, it strikes me as either a) obvious or b) muddled. Or, possibly, both.

On the other hand, I probably got something out of it all those years ago, and this site does a good job of catching the feel of the paper, which is a bit of a trick. So I can nostalgically re-experience the sensation of being impressed and then annoyed by the late-60s attempt to "do" "Eastern Religion." Which is, oddly -- a win.
posted by GenjiandProust at 7:56 AM on December 12, 2011


I was just saying if someone asks for context, I don't think think that's an awful thing. I'm fine with the post. I just see it happen a lot where people think "well I know it, so everybody does". But whatever, moderators, please delete my comment(s) if it is causing problems. Wasn't trying to jump all over the OP.
posted by cashman at 7:59 AM on December 12, 2011


I'm a buddhist, so this is pretty standard stuff, but I'm not sure why the presentation bothers me. I don't see how it would make much sense to someone who hasn't read more cogent buddhist texts (I recommend Three Pillars of Zen for beginners). It just seems drug-fueled and trippy and probably shallow to the casual reader, although I understand the depth required to write it.
posted by desjardins at 8:05 AM on December 12, 2011


Okay, look, you guys need to drop the stuff about context, or we can delete with the suggestion to post tomorrow... But now that it's out of everyone's system maybe people can talk about the book now?
posted by taz at 8:08 AM on December 12, 2011


GenjiandProust: These days, as philosophy goes, it strikes me as either a) obvious or b) muddled. Or, possibly, both.

He was good on Lost though (presumably before the name change)....
posted by titus-g at 8:13 AM on December 12, 2011


Never mind; OP would rather delete and start fresh.
posted by taz at 8:13 AM on December 12, 2011 [1 favorite]


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