“In 1977, 34 years ago as to the writing of this dissertation, Dr. Timothy Leary posited his circuit model of consciousness. This posited that the human mind is made up of 8 ‘circuits’, or subprocessors, that develop and become active over time. 4 of them, the ‘larval circuits’, active in most everyone, the (1) Bio-Survival Circuit, which has been around for about 3 Billion years, give or take, the purpose of which is to distinguish nurturing things from dangerous things. I find that, akin to L. Ron Hubbard’s of ‘engrams’, (‘a mental image picture which is a recording of an experience concerning pain, unconsciousness, (or*) fancied threat to survival… a recording of the reactive mind.’) The Bio-Survival circuit acts in the self-preservative animal manner consistent with MOST animals, like man. Fear, avoidance, and anxiety are direct products of the Bio-Survival Circuit.  the second circuit, (2), The Emotional Circuit, a type of bio-computer in the man (and most animals), that appeared when vertebrates began fighting for food, around 500,000,000 BC. According to Robert Anton Wilson’s “Cosmic Trigger”, The Emotional circuit is activated when a hild goes from crawling to walking. As the child does this, he becomes more affrontageous, and demanding. The ego comes from this circuit, and it takes the most mud-slinging. But when inebriated, your brain exceeds your innate modes. More on that later. The third circuit, (3), is the Dexterity-Symbolism Circuit. As far as I can tell, the DS circuit adds our more mind-forward actions, things like logical thinking, symbolism, ‘connecting the dots’, so to speak. In this, it seems, we also imprint our basic processes, primitive they may be. The fourth circuit, (4), as well as the last one housed in the left lobe, is the the Domestic or ‘Social Intelligence’ circuit. This circuit, sometimes called the Social-Sexual circuit) is concerned with communication, tribalization, community, These are biochemical, innate, and almost entirely instinctual. This is the ‘family’ chemical, which, in one form or another, is in all creature societies. The Social Network gene, which thrives on grouping, is almost entirely nonexistent in people with mental disorders. On the right lobe, the ‘stellar circuits’, according to Leary, are the (5) Neurosomatic circuit, which in my experience relates to the neuro-glands in the right lobe, which accept changes in consciousness. This receptor recognizes ‘high’ feelings in people experiencing any alteration in consciousness. The sixth, or Neuro-electric Circuit, is the circuit which senses the other circuits, so to speak. The brain transmits changes in habits, brainwaves, and is the next step in altering consciousness. The 7th Circuit is the Metaphysical Circuit. Heightened sensory perception to a level of what some call ‘religious’ fervor. Feeling at one with the universe. The 8th Circuit, the Quantum Psychoatomic circuit, is a sensor of relation with your own life force. In my theory, the 7th and 8th circuits are combined, because the 8th is supplantory and simply restates the 7th, albeit more aesthetially.The goal of the drug experience is to attain the use of the right lobe, and attain a higher sense of being. To supersede the herd, to activate the brain, and to, more than anything else, feel good. Though Leary stated that only peyote and LSD can do this, I find comfortable over-activation in the intake of cannabis. Paraphrasing a research text, the goal is to mutate past the standard or “Simple” psychoactive workings of the mind. I have found, in experiences with marijuana, and even common tobacco cigarettes, we an experience superior creativity and thinking. In combination, one can reasonably re-structure the common Simple Brain. Though moralists have a vendetta with these unconventional modes of transcendence, I can personally verify that, whether you just want to feel good, or your just want to experience creativity unbounded by the compulsive psychological limits of the non-transcendent brain, you can do this. I am here, in the name of psychoanalysis, science, peace and freedom, to tell you that a new mode of thinking is waiting for you. Alcohol, cigarettes, marijuana, whatever your vehicle, you are a guide in your own life’s journey. With a new brain, we can go to space. We an extend humanity. Increase our intelligence. Life Extension (LE) + Increased Intelligence (I2) + Space Migration (SM = Infinity. With a new brain process, we as a race never have to die. – Thomas Tortoise, xoxoxo.”

I have shared this story with students which inspired them to read this same book.  One story about Wilson’s daughter “stopping the wheel of karma” by letting go of the bad energy which would eat her alive, drew me into reading more of Wilson’s mishaps, coincidental adventures, and bizarre phenomena encased in his other writings.  I came away writing, I believe, one of the most provocative, if not, mind triggering poems I have written thanks to Wilson’s Cosmic Trigger.

The Wheel

By C. L. Burdett

I write of our brother

Who hammers on flesh and bone, who

Is waiting for money and mother’s death

Living in the future, past, and present….

Giving me stories to save me from death

If you think you are out of it; it’s an illusion

And if you happen once, you will happen again

In a break you saw a circle made by a little man

Who created life for himself

He danced in darkness as a wheel

With the music of a flute coming

Out of his mouth

He would sing a cell into existence

A beautiful song he would sing

And every time he’d sing

Some thing came into being.

He created all of this for pleasure

To pour into, all this, his pain

He created all this to torture

I’d take terrestrial pancakes, over this, any day…

From one story to another you gave them

And the one I liked the most

When agreed to not wanting a

Cosmic babysitter; if one person was burning in hell

It was then I saw your compassion for

Those who were not spoken for; for those

Who were misunderstood

For those to whom absolute judgment fell

You tip-toed down alien-demon-made sidewalks

While the alien creatures were in bed but awake

Like Kuhn’s paradigm of the sinking ship

With no feet and only your heart, you ran

To the gates where the gateman of eternity wept

When he discovered the ones who sullied heaven

The ones that he reluctantly wanted to keep and let in

Were the ones who were actually God

If I stop the wheel of karma

I will stop the wheel of self righteous hate

If I stop the wheel of karma

I will stop the cup that measures faith

I will stop the Law of Attraction

Then we fall back on the theory of accidents

This means as I write to you

The Theorist rests at mishap

In all of this, I know love exists

It’s the expression of many beliefs that have died

It’s proven, disproved, and picked up again

Disproving love, keeps love alive

Even when truth cannot hold or feed

Or give or keep sane the world around us

Even when truth is not truth

I know love exists

Maybe not because, but, because I

Have to believe in the last words you said

If we happened once we’ll happen and happen

Happen

Again….

I had the honor and privilege to spend a day skiing with Wayne Wong, Anton Wilson, and a friend at Alpine Meadows the day before my interview with Wayne. I grabbed my camera for our last two runs and practiced a few exposure settings. While he might not be throwing in many WongBangers these days, Wayne is still an amazing skier and one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet on the hill.