You Better Believe it

"True enlightenment is dispensed by a pharmacist, not a guru."
One of the things The Chemical Buddha didn't like about the guru's path to enlightenment was how vague it was. They couldn't tell you when your consciousness would be altered. All they could say was how it would happen. And that usually meant practice over a long period of time. A pharmacist, on the other hand, had a very specific prescription measured out to achieve the desired effect. If it didn't work, he could always make tweaks to get you to where you wanted to be. TCB saw it as the classic religion/spirituality versus science debate. He laughed until tears rolled down his face thinking about how two different paths (that oftentimes fought with each other) could end up in the same place. To him, this spoke to the limited range of the human experience and the craziness of anyone saying this was all there was based on their own limited range.
Do you follow the rules or fly by the seat of your pants? Which way do you think works better?
Do you think only you understand your experiences? Or do you think other people can relate to what you're going through?

Fortune

“… in bed with a cop isn't as much fun as it sounds.”
The Chemical Buddha was a fan of Chinese food and, more importantly, fortune cookies. He would always add. "in bed with a cop" to whatever he got. Like, "You will find happiness on a road less traveled in bed with a cop." Shit like that made him laugh his ass off. (Or maybe it was the pot). That was, until the day he actually got a chance to be in bed with a cop. Although it wasn’t as much fun as he thought it would be (but then, what is) he did think it was something everyone should experience once in their lives. Beside, cops always had the best drugs.
Do you build up a situation before you experience it? If so, are you happy once you experience it or are you disappointed?
What do you get out of trying to figure everything out before it happens? What would it take for you to be in the moment and just let it unfold?

Experienced

“I slept my way to the top of the enlightenment ladder.”
There were those gurus who thought The Chemical Buddha didn’t deserve to be called enlightened. They thought he had taken short cuts to get to where he was. By the way, TCB never denied those claims. In fact, he said enlightenment was easy to attain because feelings of oneness were all around us and all of us could partake in them whenever we choose. The Chemical Buddha believed we were the only ones who could separate ourselves from oneness. Oneness was always open and available to being experienced. In the words of the immortal Jimi Hendrix, ‘Have you ever been experienced?’ TCB saw the gateways of drugs, food and sex as just some of the ways to experience the peak that could give you a taste of being all of everything that is.
How do you keep yourself a part from others? What is the cost to you? What is the benefit?
If you see life as a choice, how did your choices get you to where you are now?

Believe This

“You can find a book to support whatever you believe.”
The Chemical Buddha didn’t believe much outside of his own experience. He thought just because someone else shared your opinion or beliefs didn’t make them (or you) right. Of course, it doesn’t make you (or them) wrong either. This was the crossroads TCB found himself at on a fairly regular basis. Because his experiences were so unlike anything he saw, read or heard about he didn’t know how to interpret what was going on in his life. And though he found himself to be unique in a lot of ways. He also found he was very similar to those around him too. For instance, he found people often asked the same questions about life and their place in the world, but the answers they came up with were often times pretty fucked up. They wanted to control other people’s lives but they didn’t want anyone controlling theirs. They wanted to exclude certain people, but they wanted to be included. The Chemical Buddha decided the questions were true, but there were no right answers.
Who do agree with? Why?
Who do you want to agree with you? Why?

Are You Experienced?

“The only people who truly know about death are dead.”
Since the beginning of time people have always wanted to know what it was like to do something. But The Chemical Buddha quickly realized that the only ones who know what’s it like to say, walk on the moon, are the ones who’ve done it. So no amount of metaphor or virtual reality could take the place of actually doing it. For instance, sex with a blow-up doll doesn’t mean you’ve actually had sex. It’s still just masturbation. The Chemical Buddha also learned there were some things he’d rather not experience. Because although TCB used the above insight to explain a lot of things, it was based off the ‘experience’ of working, and he twisted it to fit a lot of other meanings.
What do you what to know about without actually experiencing it?
What about the actual experience intrigues you enough to want to learn about it, but scares you so much you don’t actually want to do it?