Nhobdy

Lost my glasses in a river. Went almost a whole year without vision correction. Being quite near-sighted, it was tough. You get used to it. Eventually the world being a blurry smear of colors that blend into each other becomes normal. One day I found myself sitting on a bed, contemplating. I didn't want to go outside. I didn't want to people. They treated me different because they knew I couldn't see. I didn't want to be treated any different. Maybe I couldn't see perfectly but I could see, in a way. Because I had seen it all before. I knew what everything and everyone looked like. I could see it all in my head. As the last thought sunk in... it happened so fast. It is utterly mind bending how many thoughts a person can think in the space of about half a second. It was like a thousand piece puzzle being done by clicking all the pieces into place at once. "I could see it all in my head" became the realization that everything is just in my head. Not in a vague conceptual way but in all-too-real all-encompassing way. I almost wasn't ready for the depth of this realization. The other half of that second was spent wrestling with the urge to run screaming out the front door while ripping handfuls of hair from my head like a damn cartoon character. I came so very close to actually doing it. That was the moment I realized that reality is just my imagination.

@Windappreciator Couldn't we all?

What exactly do you mean by legit? If you are asking whether or not it is real, it is definitely real. I lived in a city that was practically built up around an old Masonic temple. This thing was enormous, rivaling many of the churches in a place where churches were the largest buildings around. What's interesting is this thing looked a lot like the Mormon temples you can find across Utah. I am not an expert on stone or architecture, but to my untrained eye they look like the same type of both. Made me wonder if there was some kind of connection. The Masons in that city/area are assholes. They kind of flout it... people are afraid of them. They call the shots. You don't cross a Mason. It's all a little corrupt if you ask me. Having recently moved to a different part of the country, I have the opportunity to actually become a Mason. They are different around here. Still the close knit brotherhood I have come to know but they aren't feared. They are respected. They like to help people. They aren't a bunch of power-tripping assholes high on the fact they are Masons. While I haven't been exposed to their deepest darkest secrets or anything, I am honestly a little disappointed. Turns out the Freemason's are just an offshoot of Christianity. As a matter of fact, they are what became of the Knights Templar. They even have their own version of The Holy Bible... sadly it is just an annotated version of the KJV. So... yeah, they are legit.

We sure have come a long way as a species for us to even be having this debate, don't you all think? It wasn't too long ago that all of us - excepting the highest echelons of society - were grateful for every crumb and scrap of food which came our way. There weren't supermarkets. There were no corner stores. There was what you could grow and what you could hunt. No one counted calories. No one cared if it was an animal or a vegetable. Only that they were able to put food in their belly on that day. Isn't it interesting that throughout most of the world, even the impoverished among us have access to food and drink the likes of which only kings and emperors once did? Seems to me that in reality, the entire subject of Vegan vs Carnivore vs Everything Between is complete foolish nonsense. It is nothing but a display of just how much modern man takes for granted. Seriously... eat what works for you. At the end of the day that's all we have. Someone mentioned dogs and cows. We aren't dogs and cows. Every single one of us has a different biome. This is why drugs affect us all differently. If drugs affect us all differently then so does the food that we eat. Every argument here can be rendered null and void anyhow. For instance, yes it is true that animal farming is quite disruptive to the ecosystem. Untold swathes of forest are cut and burned to make room for those animals. Their flatulence and waste pollute the environment... what a travesty this is. Ah.... but do farmers not also cut and burn forest to make room for crops? Take a look at what the soybean farmers in the Amazon have done. All in the name of vegetables. What of the pesticides used on these crops? What of the fact that any given crop, with the exception of hemp, per acre, doesn't even come close to the oxygenating capabilities of even a single tree? What are these crops fertilized with? If not synthetic chemicals, then manure. Manure from the animals being farmed. Ah! Look at that! There is a Leo lesson on dualities, right here. You look at either side long enough and it loops right back around to the other. Thank God there is some sort of balance to all of it... otherwise the entire world would be either one big soybean farm or one big cow farm. How fucked would we be then? Are we all aware of the prevailing theory pertaining to the expanded cerebral cortexes mentioned earlier in this thread? Supposedly we got them because we started eating cooked meat. Also, anyone touting the whole animal suffering thing... that doesn't really fly. Fruits and vegetables are living things, too. Just because we can't perceive their languages the same way we can animals, doesn't mean they are not suffering when we murder them. Yes, it is murder. Just like the squirrel murders the oak tree. Furthermore, since psychopathy and domination has been brought up. What makes you think that your sneaky little ego doesn't get some sort of thrill from dominating a plant? After all, you are bigger than most of them. Far stronger. Did it give you permission to take it's fruit? No, it didn't. What does that make you? Maybe a psychopath who just takes what they want from any plant they want and murders them as you please. Anyways, when I am on psychedelics I crave fruit above all else. I will go to the store tripping balls and buy fruit. I am like Goldmember with this shit. The smell of it... the taste of it... the texture of it... the visuals!! Every single piece is like the most masterful painting. So many details. SO many intricate patterns and vibrant colors. There are so many different kinds of fruit... and yet, each fruit is as diverse within it's own type as each type is from itself. Using just grapes for example, no two taste the same. Nor do they look the same or have the same mouth-feel. AND THEY JUST GROW THAT WAY. Most of them do, at least. I mean... you gotta do something to your average meat or vegetable it before it's eatable. Not so for the average fruit.