Values

Love is a Full Spectrum, ranging like Ice to Magma. It can produce the most intense Pleasure, or bring on the most intense Pain. It can make you feel Weakest, or feel Strongest.

Love allows people and things to come and go. 

Love is Faith.

Love is Resistance, which produces Growth. 

Love is Confusion, which brings produces Clarity. 

Love is Death, the Source for Life.

Love can never be taken from you because it is determined by the Individual. You either practice and hold on to Love, or you give up on it. 

Each action of Love is like a ripple in the sea of life, which if made by many, will consume all in its path, like a Tsunami. 

We embody Love. 

So, Love one another. For after all is said and done, we are all Brothers and Sisters. 

Love is a Frequency.

Love is Universal.

Love is Infinite.

All is Love.

You will find that Love is woven thru each of the other 10 Sound Lobotomy Values.

Albert Camus uses the Greek legend of Sisyphus, to display what Grit is as a metaphor for the individual’s persistent struggle against the essential absurdity of life. Sisyphus was condemned by the gods for eternity to repeatedly roll a boulder up a hill only to have it roll down again once he got it to the top. According to Camus, the first step an individual must take is to accept the fact of this absurdity. If, as for Sisyphus, suicide is not a possible response, the only alternative is to rebel by rejoicing in the act of rolling the boulder up the hill. Camus further argues that with the joyful acceptance of the struggle against defeat, the individual gains definition and identity.

Best said by Angela Duckworth, “Grit is passion and perseverance towards long-term goals.”

Grit makes up the difference in areas you lack.

Grit sets you apart, gives you an advantage, despite other variables.

Grit is treating life like marathon, not a sprint.

Grit is sticking with the future you envision, making reasoned adjustments along the way.

Grit is following through with something to the end.

Grit doesn’t allow you to give into pain, it doesn’t allow you to quit what is true.

Grit is willing to fail, learn from the mistakes, get back up, and try again.

Grit is acquired through adversity.

Grit is putting in the time and work.

Grit is having patience amidst the absurd.

Grit is like the story of Job. Everything is taken, yet despite it all, you praise the Universe and press on, knowing there is a bigger plan out there.

The art piece above is by Goerge Grie. It is a take on Goya’s art piece from 1799 called the Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters.

Goya wanted to depict the value of reason, and that if reason is asleep, evil and corruption prevail. 

Reason, if applied correctly gives true understanding of oneself, and how to effectively navigate through life.

Those who defy how nature has fixed them to exist, are damaging their ability to Reason by living inauthentically. If one’s ability to Reason is impure, it follows that one will blame all others except oneself for one’s mistakes.

All things in Life are fleeting, therefore one may conclude that Reason and rationality are impermanent or pointless. But, Reason reflects a higher order and separates us from all other living things. 

Reason is Humanities greatest Gift.

In the eyes of Epictetus, though rationality is not everlasting, it is peoples most intimate quality. Since it is the bedrock of their identity or self-awareness, it follows that contentment and tranquility are easier to achieve when one’s Reason is intact.

According to Aurelius, to live with Reason is to live authentically. Authentic living is living for the sake of cultivating their true selves, without blindly following the desires and opinions of others.

The capacity to engage in conceptualization is a piece of the Divine expressed through humanity.

Exercise Reason: NOESIS.

Questioning is the key to examining life, and as Socrates stated, “the unexamined life is not worth living”. The ability to Question knowledge gives way to understanding, leading to wisdom.

Questioning is an art, varying in use which will give false understanding if used incorrectly. In order to know if you finding Truth, you must test your understanding constantly. This takes sacrificing the comfortable state of understanding by searching for new ways to question. Leading to new perspectives, expanding and evolving yourself. 

Questioning wasn’t always something commonly practiced, and is still suppressed in some places today. Without it, we have confusion, destruction, and death. Questioning authority is looked down on as well, yet it is the responsibility and duty of the authority in question to practice patience and teach, with Socratic questioning, leading to true understanding and wisdom.

Practice Questioning Everyday.

The Art piece above is called St. Albert: The LSD Revelation Revolution, created by Alex Grey.

Here is a link to his writing that went along with it: https://maps.org/news-letters/v16n2/st_albert.pdf

Dr. Albert Hofmann discovered what LSD is capable of in the early 1940’s during a bicycle ride on his way back from a lab where he accidentally came in contact with LSD. He claims, “I didn find LSD, it found me.” 

In Experimentation, you must allow yourself to let the process reveal itself to you. It is a balance, a tug and release. 

Experimentation leads to innovation, discovery, and development. This entire platform was built on experimentation with sound and the elements in the music culture, including LSD. The experimentation with LSD gave me a connection and perspective that I never had before, which led me to a deeper, stronger desire to experiment with sound that, with a delicate tug and release of pressing the boundaries and finding the patterns, has spiraled into what is now Sound Lobotomy. It will continue to evolve as long as pressure through experimentation is applied.

Experimenting doesn’t always have to have a clear destination, just a thriving curiosity to venture the unknown and learn how to react to the findings.

Experimenting is full of risk, and is not for the thin skinned. Prepare yourself.

The most important discoveries of mankind are found through experimentation, active curiosity of the unknown. It is essential to our species; it is essential to evolve.

Learn how to experiment on yourself. Find the boundaries, but don’t settle, press them continuously and you will find that the boundaries adjust to pressure; illuminating new perspectives and patterns. 

Artwork by Fabian Jimenez

Awareness is perception of fact through process of reflection and questioning. 

With Awareness you can cut through: self delusion, misinformation, corruption, distraction, hate, confusion, and destruction. You can find and understand your strengths and weaknesses, diving into the flow-state of consciousness and mastering your path. 

Awareness is never fully grasped; it is a constant practice through life. To practice awareness, ask questions. The moment you stop asking questions, you stop expanding your awareness.

Awareness changes your reaction, and it is our reaction that causes darkness, not anything else.

Gain Awareness. 

Change your reaction for better.

Reflect light into the world with an understanding of this fact:

All is to the benefit of the Whole. 

 “A flower that blooms in adversity is the rarest and most beautiful of them all”

-Walt Disney, Mulan

I say “Be Comfortable Being Uncomfortable”, because it speaks louder than the word “Adversity”. It means exactly what it says. It’s easy to notice when we are uncomfortable, and when we do, we have a reaction to change our situation to a more comfortable one. Yet, the longer we stay in that uncomfortable zone; the harder we become, the thicker our skin grows, the more we are able to bare, the more we are able to give, the more we are able to learn, the more we are able to teach. 

Don’t get stuck in the rut of mediocrity, becoming a person of quiet desperation. Constantly challenge yourself and become friends with the discomfort, knowing that it progresses us as individuals, and as a Whole.

Take incentive to put yourself in uncomfortable positions and situations. That way, inevitably when things out of control come your way, you are already sharpened like a Swiss army knife, with all the tools at your disposal; because you put yourself through uncomfortableness which armed you with the tools necessary to deal with anything that comes your way. It is preparation for the unknown. One of those tools is part of the SL Values, GRIT. 

The only way to change ourselves is through pressure and struggle. Take command and apply it to yourself, or life will throw its own pressure to you and you will either stand firm and evolve, or crumble and die.

Every day, we all have to face out inner bitch. The voice that says, “naaaaah, stay in bed” or “I can’t” or “I don’t have to”. 

DEFEAT YOUR INNER BITCH.

Get Up, Dress Up, Show Up.

Be Comfortable Being Uncomfortable.

Become a Warrior.

STAY HARD.

“The Human doesn’t see things as they are, but as he is.” 

          - Racter

Racter is an artificial intelligence simulator from 1984, developed by William Chamberlain and Thomas Etter.

With an understanding of infinite perspectives, you are able to let things be. You understand the possibilities are endless, and that all have their own truth and reason. 

All beliefs are a perspective. If we give it reality in our minds, it will be as real as the dirt of the Earth. Our perspectives are our reality. So, what is real?  

Each person has to capability of being the worst of humans, or the best; Hitler or Jesus (pick your version). It doesn’t matter who you pick. You have the capability of being just as bad, or good. 

What is your perspective? What is real to you? 

I held very narrow perspectives of life growing up, and with the help of LSD and challenging my beliefs, I was able to learn new perspectives that gave me a deeper connection to life and understanding which allows me to truly Love. 

I widened acceptance and understanding for people’s perspectives will allow you to love the most extreme, because you understand it is a product of that person’s environment, mentality, and genotype. You could have just as easily been in those same shoes. 

In history, we can see how a perspective that is held throughout entire cultures as truth. Yet, later discovered to be complete nonsense according to science and evolution. 

Like for instance and in short, that different races are beneath others. An extreme belief, that through the expansion of our intellect, has shown to be complete nonsense. It was a perspective that was held as reality, that has now become non-reality. 

So, again I ask: what is real?

Adventure and discover new perspectives. Deepen your understanding. 

EVOLVE.

We are by nature social creatures. Our interactions with each other help us develop and see other individual’s perspectives and knowledge, giving deeper understanding and wisdom. 

Communities have a spectrum. There is the community of humans on Earth, there is the community of family, there is the community of your workplace. If there is another person involved, you have communion, you have community. Now, that community can help us evolve or devolve, but the pace and direction of that growth will be determined by the spectrum of your community and your perception of it. 

A community can have a foundation of Love, or a foundation of Hate. 

A community can create, or destroy.

A community can make the biggest of tasks possible. The biggest dreams and goals become possible because (with balance of individual effort) the collective effort is what gives us our power. And with Collective Effervescence within a community, you will have some of the most beautiful experiences life has to offer. Seeing a sea of individuals in harmony is magical.

Like a box of crayons; if you have red, blue, yellow, and green your picture will have shallow detail. But, if you have the Ultimate 120 crayon collection your picture will have much more depth. Because instead of just having one green you now have 10 different shades of green, giving your picture an accurate depiction of life. The forests aren’t one color green, why would you paint your picture with one green. 

So it is also in Community. The wider the spectrum of people you commune with, the deeper is your understanding of life. 

The wiser you become.

And like King Solomon becoming part of a huge community with access to all the riches of the Earth; choose Wisdom, the greatest of riches, and you will have the ability to truly Love and lead.

A Community is a reflection of the whole, so what is our Community reflecting now? What are your Communities reflecting? 

The Individual has the power to change the Community, but the Community has more leverage to change the Individual. 

Be aware who you surround yourself with.

 “An artist cannot fail; it is success to be one.”

     - Charles Horton Cooley

 
All of us dream of success and of reaching great heights. But have any of us dreamt of failure? Or how failure shapes us in a way to achieve success? A majority of us would answer with a “NO”. No one in their right minds would want to fail. It is something that none of us is equipped to deal with although it is an inevitable part of life. The problem lies in how most people feel unworthy after they don’t succeed.

At some point in life, all of us have failed. It could be something as simple as not getting through a driving license test or something as big as losing in an international competition. It is very easy to give up when things don’t work out. But if everything was easy to achieve in life, we would fail to notice its importance. Failure doesn’t mean that you haven’t worked hard; it simply means that you need to take another approach to achieve what you want. Let’s have a look at why failure is good in achieving success:

#1: Failure Strengthens You

Failure can tear you down but it also builds you to be a stronger person. If you read the stories of all the great personalities we look up to, they all reached where they are because of failure. Names like Steve Jobs, Walt Disney and Albert Einstein are amongst the most successful people and even they had to battle great failures. If you have been knocked to the ground by failure, get back on your feet and push harder to show that nothing can break you down.

#2: Failure Gives You a Sense of Direction

Most of us keep second guessing all the decisions that we take. It’s not wrong, it happens because we don’t realize if the decisions we take are right for the moment. Failure gives you a path for redirection. You get a sense of clarity on everywhere you have gone wrong and how to take a better path to reach where you want to be.

#3: Failure Teaches You Value

Our values keep changing over time. With every small or big change in our lives, our values are reshaped. Value is one of the greatest lessons that failure could teach us in our lives. While success could easily get to our heads, failure keeps us grounded. Failure teaches us to value all the right things in order to succeed.

#4: Failure Gets Rid of Fear

Somehow most of the things that we fear in our lives are interlinked with failure. It is the fear of failing that holds us back from exploring our options and getting out of our comfort zones. Once you are accustomed to failing you have nothing left to fear anymore. You become unafraid to take risks and get out of your comfort zone to achieve everything you want.

#5: Failure is an Opportunity

Instead of focusing on the negative things that come with failure, focus your energy on all the positives. It teaches you to be resilient and face all odds. Achieving success after failures shows you how mentally strong and capable you are. Failure shows us everywhere we might have gone wrong and gives us the opportunity to correct it. You become a confident and a compassionate person overall.

#6: Failure is an Experience

It’s true that everything that we go through in life is an experience and so is failure. Success is not everything. Having an understanding of life is what counts. And nothing apart from failure could give us a deeper understanding of life and alter the way we look at everything that happens around us. It changes us to be better humans and teaches us the importance of our lives.

Conclusion:

Accept failures gracefully as a part of our lives and let it teach you to become a stronger person on your road to success. The journey from failure to success is not an easy one, but it is totally worth all your efforts. So, even if you fail often get up and look failure in the eye and never stop trying. Hiding away from failure will also keep you away from success. Brave the storm and walk the path, you will never regret it. 

- BY RUTURA JKOHOK

  Art by Sharon Cummings

“Your hand opens and closes, opens and closes. If it were always a fist or always stretched open, you would be paralyzed. Your deepest presence is in every small contracting and expanding, the two as beautifully balanced and coordinated as birds' wings.”

-Rumi

The 11 SL Values: Love, Grit, Reason, Question, Experiment, Awareness, Be Comfortable Being Uncomfortable, Infinite Perspectives, Community, Fail, and Balance thru them all and in all things. 

The interesting thing about balance is, once you have it, you start to lose it. Balance is the never ending dance of life we all are apart of. 

Nature keeps balance. Anything and everything that happens is to the better of the whole to balance it out. Sometimes the process to balance is beyond comprehension, and because we are emotional creatures, we fall short in seeing the reasoning. 

Balance is learning to know what you can control, and knowing what you cannot. It is a tug and pull of effort and surrender.

Balance is stability found at the center of acceptance.

If you put focus on one thing, you loose sight and balance in others. Don’t shoot for leaps and bounds, shoot for consistent “baby-steps” when trying to improve. Because when you do that, you will be able to keep other areas in check, while expanding yourself. 

Be kind, but don’t let people abuse you.

Trust, but do not be deceived, verify.

Be content, but never stop improving.

Make awareness of balance in life your focal point. You will see where to ebb and flow.

Trust your instinct once tried and tested to be accurate.