Essay Library

My essays seem to get buried deeper and deeper and blended in with my blog posts. Hopefully this page makes it a little easier to find them. Descriptions of my categories are at the very bottom of this page.

Options ▼

Category: Delusions of Religion
- Be a Good Christian: Kill Your Children?
  An article on the inherent hypocrisy within the most violent religion in the history of humankind.
- Christianity's Shaky Heretical Beginnings
  One True Christianity: Please Stand Up Is the New Testament a compendium of the only 27 books of Gospels, Acts, Epistles, and Revelation that was written in…
- Did Darwin Kill God?
  Where humans are from and why we're here is perhaps the question that has most fascinated and perplexed me for many years. While researching, I looked to…
- Did Jesus Have a Wife?
  Was Jesus married? Perhaps. Did the Jesus of the Bible revolutionize the role of women? Without question. The question to me isn't whether or not Jesus was…
- Early Christian Crimes Against Mayans
  It's a hefty charge, but there is no argument that the Roman Catholic Church has killed more people and consciously destroyed more cultures than any of the…
- Gilgamesh - A Noah Flood Story
  Introductory Thoughts Gilgamesh is one of the oldest known myths, circa 2700 BC, which pre-dates that Christian Bible by as much as 1,000 years. Yet, when…
- How Christianity Demonized Itself
  The Bottom Line The Catholic Church has done its best to eradicate any connection to its own mysticism-based roots for reasons still not entirely agreed-upon.�…
- If Only I Knew the Love of God
  The comment I've received more often than any other on my blog is that if I only "knew the love of God," that I wouldn't be "so lost" or "spending so much…
- My Quantum God
  In simple terms; quantum physics states that we cannot predict the outcome of any single quantum event. A favorite example is the photon that bounces off a…
- Paleolithic Passages to the Gods
  "What is now needed is not yet more data (though more data are always welcomed), but rather a radical re-thinking of what we already know. That is not to…
- Religion Breeds Irrational Beliefs
  "Whenever we read the cruel and tortuous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness with which more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent…
- Religion Sprang from Divine Fertility?
  A discussion on how the earliest religious beliefs and the origin of religion lies in fertility rites as religion sprang from Divine Semen.
- Revelation: A Psychedelic Vision?
  Was John of Patmos on drugs when he wrote the psychedelic vision called Revelations in the Christian Bible?
- Shamans & Mayan Culture
  Shaman were held in extremely high esteem by the Ancient Mayans and for good reason; not only were they healers who utilized the vast storehouse of plant life…
- Strange Bedfellows: Hitler, Jesus, & Darwin
  A clergyperson's defense for the existence of objective truth in relation to the Bible.
- The "Morality from Religion" Myth
  Rarely have I felt as though I'm banging my head against a wall more than when engaging in discussion with Christians in relation to Bible as a source of…
- The Broken Promises of the Bible
  Titus 1:2: "In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;" The Breaker of Promises This post is in response to the…
- The Fundamentalists' Red Herring
  Definition: red herring: any diversion intended to distract attention from the main issue There are two main arguments that armchair philosophers or moderate…
- The True Christian Job Description
  "Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword." - Jesus, "Prince of Peace" (Matthew 10:34) Something…
- USA: Hijacked by Extremist Christians?
  Despite the ongoing rhetoric by religious and present-day political leaders, the United States was not, in any sense of the word, founded as a Christian…
- Were Christians Originally Pagans?
  Paganism, in its truest definition was really a derogatory term that the Catholic Church gave to the religion that they hijacked and claimed as their own. It…
- What Religion Do You Ascribe To?
  Like many others, I grew increasingly dissatisfied with all organized religions (I was brought up Roman Catholic), especially after my extensive research into…
Category: Dreams of Flight
- Building My Dream Plane (Sportsman)
  My Dreams of Flight When I was a boy, I didn't dream of what I wanted to be someday, I dreamt of flying. Ever since that time, I've been deeply interested…
- Building My Dream Plane - Day 01
  The first day of me building the plane I didn't think existed; the Glasair Sportsman 2+2 high wing aircraft.
- Flight of the R-22 at French Valley
  The above video is solid evidence of my new addiction, as well as the guilty party who got me addicted; one TODD BOHLMAN, airplane and helicopter pilot at…
- Glass Cockpit Certified Pilot?
  I rarely post what I call "what I did on my summer vacation" entries, but today, one of my greatest joys; piloting airplanes, just got more exciting and…
- My Cessna Skycatcher
  I was presented with a rare chance to own an airplane, and not just ANY airplane, but a Cessna Skycatcher in early 2011. The Skycatcher is the result of…
- Quick Helicopter Clip
  It will take a minute or two to load, but it WILL play...
- Southern Cali Airspace Challenges
  In an around Chicago, Illinois is flush with farmland. Within minutes of takeoff, I can leave the world behind, put on my favorite songs, and disappear into…
Category: On Being Human
- A Definition of True Love
  I have experienced emotions with my Beloved that makes language meaningless and impotent in its ability to describe even a fraction of what I feel. Before I…
- A Most Joyous Moment
  Moments transform in dazzling arrays, as music liquefies and pours its deliciousness into me and through me. Cascading sheets of giggles wash over me like…
- Did Darwin Kill God?
  Where humans are from and why we're here is perhaps the question that has most fascinated and perplexed me for many years. While researching, I looked to…
- Easy to Be a Holy Man on the Mountain
  I could feel each pore pop like microscopic air bubbles breaking the surface as I eased into the ancient mineral spring used by the Arapahoe Indians. I am…
- Entheogens are NOT Drugs
  Truth in Numbers Before we can begin, a few critical details need to be heard as honestly and with as open a mind as possible, so we can engage in a fruitful…
- Entheogens: More Than Chemical Reactions
  While it seems clear that the modalities of the psychedelic state must be rooted in neuronal pharmacodynamics, explanatory paradigms couched in terms of…
- Floating in the Sea Sky
  The moment I sink below the ocean's surface for the first time, the liquid sea sky, an embarrassment of riches, melts my body into its depths, and I feel…
- If Only I Knew the Love of God
  The comment I've received more often than any other on my blog is that if I only "knew the love of God," that I wouldn't be "so lost" or "spending so much…
- Keith Cleversley's Point
  I became the center of a consciousness that no longer had anything to do with Keith Cleversley or my body except for my breathing.
- Life's Strange Propensity Towards Life
  After way too much obsessing on possible reasons as to why life has such a propensity for life, I've come up empty. I looked to Darwin, but all he can say is…
- Living This Double Life
  After several years of intense contemplation, I felt it was time to merge my spiritual-self known in the community as Bodhi with the self that everyone else…
- My Darkest Moments
  We all have our dark moments, and as Artuad says; "Someone who doesn't know depression, who has never felt the soul encroached upon the body, invaded by its…
- My Quantum God
  In simple terms; quantum physics states that we cannot predict the outcome of any single quantum event. A favorite example is the photon that bounces off a…
- Paleolithic Passages to the Gods
  "What is now needed is not yet more data (though more data are always welcomed), but rather a radical re-thinking of what we already know. That is not to…
- PIERCING THE VEIL
  Impotence sneaks it gangly teeth into my mouth whenever I try to describe how my adoration for this life has transformed an occasional dull aching into a…
- Prisoner 11 - A Defining Moment
  In the summer of 1991, I was in my final week of recording what would become 'Hit to Death in the Future Head' by the Flaming Lips. It was a dream come…
- Shamanism: Spirituality's True Roots?
  Introduction Sophisticated transformational art suddenly and inexplicably appeared in caves of south-west Europe and Southern Africa somewhere between 50,000…
- Soaking In This Life
  So deeply aware that I've been given a rare opportunity to feel life at its deepest, to feel the soul encroached upon the body, to sometimes be awash with…
- The Outcropping
  Along an outcropping of rocks along the ocean's edge, an unfamiliar clattering fills my ears. From the corner of my vision, there's a mad dash of crabs headed…
- What Is Shamanism?
  Keith Cleversley defines shamanism and takes a brief look at it throughout history, relating it to entheogens and religion.
Category: The Gnosis of Myth
- GNOSIS OF MYTH: Noah's Ark
  Introduction There are numerous debates surrounding the story of Noah's Ark. Many are working feverishly to prove that it could have actually been a…
- The Gnosis of Myth
  Introduction The Western world has done a fantastic job of masking our disconnection to god, to each other and to this sacred planet of ours. As has often…
Category: Travelog Blog
- Barcelona on the Brain
  Barcelona is one of those places that exudes a vibe I haven't felt so vividly since the first time I stepped off the tour bus in New Orleans almost 20…
- Burning Man in Thailand?
  When we careened over the last crest just as the sun was setting, the glow of distant fires, strings of lanterns, and music glistening alongside a lazy river…
- Joy in a Monk Bowl
  After traveling to many places throughout this wondrous world of ours, I can't help feeling that the romantic days of "untouched cultures" are quickly…
- The Amazonian Market
  Belching people from every orifice, this interface between the jungle and the modern world spreads its filthy fingers from the waterfront; its banks sickly-swee…
- The Train to Machu Picchu
  5:00AM rolls around far too quickly as we peel our bodies out of bed, straining to open our lead-laden eyelids, as we make our way to the only train to Machu…

ESSAYS ON RELIGION: This section was my own exploration into my own Roman Catholic roots. What I discovered what treachery and genocide beyond what I had ever imagined humans capable of. Part of my goal with the essays (not unlike Bishop Spong), is to empower Christians to take back their religion from the most powerful and wealthiest corporation in the world; the Vatican and the Roman Catholic Church. My intent is never “Bible bashing” or demeaning Christians or Christianity. It’s pointing out how astray those in power have led most of its followers through indoctrination and misrepresentation of the text of the book they know most of their followers haven’t read.

ESSAYS ON BEING HUMAN: This section is typically focused on Shamanism. Follow where I went after I researched as much about my Christian roots, as I worked to discover where spirituality first arose in humans. Little did I know where it would lead me. Coupled with a mystical experience I had with an entheogen called Salvia divinorum in early 2000′s, my life changed forever. I had personal, direct contact with the Divine; I knew beyond any shadow of a doubt that we are all connected, that we are FAR FAR FAR more than we’ve ever been led to believe. What I then discovered is that ancient religions such as Shamanism, which utilize altered states of consciousness as a means of connecting with our True Nature, have been systematically eradicated by the Roman Catholic Church, leading to a genocide of entire cultures and mystical traditions that are at the root of Christianity itself. My experience with entheogens are impossible to differentiate from classic mystical experiences and religious rapture. There’s a VAST difference between what drugs are and what entheogens are (Read Entheogens are NOT Drugs), and part of my intent is to help others discover this difference, as well as the mystical traditions that have been trampled by mainstream religions around the world.

ENTHEOLOGY.COM: This is a website I started in the early 2000′s as a way to document all I was learning about Shamanism and Teacher Plants (entheogens). The website grew into much more that I imagined, and it truly remains a labor of love for me. I dream of doing my small part to help preserve ancient, sacred knowledge of teaching plants; entheogens that have helped Shamans throughout history to have direct contact with the Divine. Entheology.com is the updated website, and as of this writing, I still have the original site up; Entheology.org.

BODHI BLOG: This blog focuses on my IAmShaman Shop and Shaman’s Garden. I discuss some of my favorite plants, and answer some questions personally that customers have posed. Again, all of my blogs and posts and articles are really intended to help me remember all the bits and pieces I’m so passionate about and fascinated by, but I hope to help raise consciousness on the importance of ethnobotanicals, entheogens, and Shamanism in relation to our mutual human evolution.

———- ———- ———-

IMPORTANT NOTE: I’ve authored hundreds of articles and essays on entheogens over the past 10 years, I’ve written just about every product description we have on all my e-commerce websites, but have been forced to write them anonymously or under a pen name in order to keep myself safe. In “LIVING THIS DOUBLE LIFE” I discuss some aspects of that struggle, but it’s my goal to marry those disparate parts of my world together into a cohesive whole that paints a clear picture of who I am, what I believe my mission is on this planet, and what I constantly fight for. I learned a long time ago that we’re far more than we’ve been taught we are, we’re capable of much more than we’re led to believe we are, and I spend a great deal of time and energy documenting and trying to prove those simple facts. – Keith Cleversley (Bodhi)