Let's Move

"If you want to move the world, drink until you have bed spins."
People join various philanthropic organizations because they want to effect the world in some way. The Chemical Buddha himself started his movement to bring people into the consciousness of being unconscious. When his followers would ask him about his impact (and their's) they could have on the world, he responded with today's insight. Like Gandhi, he believed change started with the individual. But because it was hard to literally move the world by yourself, he suggested bed spins because that was a hell of a lot easier. The next step was to fill your bed with other people who have the spins and so on and so on. That was the way to move the world.
What impact do you have on your friends and family? Is it positive or negative?
What one thing would you like to see the world embrace/move toward?
What one thing could you do to help see that come about?

Full of Life

"Life is a drinking game."
The Chemical Buddha said a lot of things that he thought were clever. However, this might be one of the very few things he said that other people actually thought was clever too. (It also worked as a good excuse to be drunk all of the time.) TCB used this insight to remind himself not to take life too seriously. He thought life was a game where you figured out how to win as you went along. (By win, TCB meant getting what you wanted out of life.) He noticed that everyone operated under a different set of rules. But, for whatever reason, drinking seemed to help people forget the rules they learned and just go for what they wanted to do.
Do you think life has 'rules'?
If so, what 'rules' do you follow?
What 'rules' do you want others to follow?
Do you think there are 'rules' that apply only to you? And ones that apply only to others?
If so, what are they?

Opinions

“Why do controlled substances lead to uncontrollable behavior?”
As demonstrated by today’s insight, The Chemical Buddha had an appreciation for irony and word play. He was said to have mumbled this in the drunk tank at his local jail. The cops and his fellow inmates didn’t share TCB’s ironic appreciation. He also tried this insight when trying to get his fellow citizens to sign his petition seeking to take controlled substances off their leash and make them uncontrolled. And while all of the street people were totally in favor of it, no one else was. And without a valid address (rather than ‘under the 6th street viaduct’) the signatures he did get, didn’t count.
Whose opinion do you value and why?
What sway does their opinion have over you?
What things to you do or don't do because of their opinion? What’s the impact on you?

The Future is Never Now

“Today is the compost of tomorrow.”
The Chemical Buddha believed in recycling and composting. And, as a Buddhist, he did believe in Karma, as long as it fit his needs. So based on those two lines of thought, if everything he did the day before was the compost/fertilizer of today, then the more shit that happened in the past, the more the current day had to grow out of. Although TCB never gardened, he did know enough from pot cultivation that you had to till the ground, fertilize it, plant seeds and give it water and light or you wouldn’t have anything to smoke. He also knew that a little bit of foreplay was required (or lube) or he’d get friction burns. To his thinking, everything had an order it needed to happen in. You can’t get to tomorrow without going through today. As much as The Chemical Buddha wanted to get to the future, he still had to drink the beer to get drunk. He couldn’t just be drunk.
How much of your life do you spend planning for the future? How much of the now do you miss with your planning?
Do you believe in a natural order of things or do you try to jump ahead? What's the impact on you?

Technicolor Yawn

“Waking up in your own puke gives you a different perspective.”
After one night of historically heavy drinking, The Chemical Buddha spent the rest of the night throwing up all over everything and everyone. (Not that he remembered any of it.) When he awoke, his mouth tasted like a zoo full of monkeys took a shit in it. And it smelled like it too. The Chemical Buddha claimed waking up in his own puke was a necessary step on his path. First, he realized eating was a waste of time. It killed his buzz and he’d just end up puking it up. So he stopped eating. Second, smoking pot didn’t make him puke but gave him the same feeling. From this point forward, he decided to only drink alcohol when he ran out of pot or couldn’t afford it.
What are some life changing events you’ve gone through?
How and why did it change how you lived?

Hope in a Bottle

“I drink to make other people interesting.”
One of the things The Chemical Buddha didn’t like about going to bars was all the lame people there. People who complained about their jobs. Their relationships. Their lives. If you'd asked TCB why he drank, he would say it was to have fun, not to be bummed out. However, he found drinking helped make these people more tolerable (and more interesting). He also found drinking made them a lot more attractive and oftentimes elevated his own opinion of himself. But those were just happy byproducts of his being really drunk. TCB found this theory applied outside of bars too. Work was more tolerable; the messiness of his house was easier to deal with. Life was better when he had his glow on.
How do you deal with people and situations you don’t like?
How do you think people who don’t like you, deal with you?

Meet Mr. Happy

“We're all fundamentally unhappy.”
The Chemical Buddha couldn’t quite figure people out. Most seemed to focus on what was wrong, rather than what was right. Others seemed to worry more about when the good times would end, rather than enjoying them while they were going on. TCB figured unhappiness was man’s natural state and happiness, therefore, must be the unnatural state. He surmised that we must be fundamentally unhappy. But he couldn’t quite reconcile that with the fact that he spent his waking hours feeling happy. Of course, maybe that was because he was either drunk or stoned most of the time. When he first starting promoting his alternative lifestyle/religion, he made this one of its pillars. But, no matter how unhappy it seemed to make them, most people choose to cling to their current lifestyle.
What do you cling too? Does it make you happy or unhappy?
Would letting go of it free you up for something else or have you convinced yourself it won’t make a difference?

Drink in the Enligtenment

"I thought I was enlightened. Then I sobered up."
The Chemical Buddha thought he was a lot of things while he was drunk: smart, funny, attractive, bulletproof and enlightened. (A crude definition of enlightenment is to know.) Once he reached enlightenment he knew he was none of these things. But he also became aware that other drunk people thought he was all of these things. Especially right before they passed out. So he turned his attention to learning how to keep people drunk enough to think he was awesome, but sober enough to keep them from blacking out. It was then that he turned his studies away from alcohol and more towards the hallucinogenic and cannabis realms. These seemed to offer the best combination for him and his followers.
Does who you think you are and who other people think you are match?
What would have to change for those to match?

Brew Mastur-Bater

"The only bad thing about going to work drunk is that when you sober up, you're at work."
On the few occasions The Chemical Buddha was gainfully employed, he would often have a little sip or toke to make the job easier to put up with. And it was fun for a little while. Except when he'd sober up. Then it was excruciating. Not only was he now sober but he was at work too. Quite possibly the worse combination imaginable. The reason TCB was only occasionally employed is because his work performance would go right in the toilet when he sobered up. Of course, he did love the job he had at the brewery. However, he got fired from that job because he was caught taking 5 cases of beer home. They didn't believe his story of taking some work home with him. But that aside, it was the only time he combined what he loved with making money. That and the time he launched his website: Watch TCB Masturbate.
Do you do things you don't like to do? If so, how do you motivate yourself?
What do you love to do? Could you earn a living doing what you love?