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Ben Lee - Ayahuasca

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I just read that the title for Ben Lee's new crowdsourced album is Ayahuasca: Welcome to the Work.

Apparently it is about his experience with Aya and all royalties go to MAPS!

Yes. I am a Ben Lee fan. Flame suit on.

News In Brief: Ben Lee, UMO, ‘The Key Of Sea’, Dear Time’s Waste

When interviewed at the start of this year by M+N, Ben Leemused about reaching listeners in a post-music-industry landscape. “If you don’t have multi-national corporations behind you shoving you down people’s throats and you don’t fit into a predetermined demographic, how do you get music to people? That’s an interesting question.”

It looks like he's found an answer: he’s crowd-funding his new album Ayahuasca: Welcome to the Workand is now at the 99% mark of his fundraising goal. Lee calls the album “somewhat of a sonic diary of my experiences with the South American healing medicine Ayahuasca … [it’s] designed to reflect the inner journey – dynamic and joyful, meditative and tender, playful and experimental.” All artist royalties from the album will go to MAPS (Multi-Disciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies) and the Amazon Conservation Team.

 

http://www.messandnoise.com/news/4524944

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as a ben lee fan, do you have an enlarged clit? or just an undersized dick?

do you still need to gamble everything for love if your trying to make love to yourself?

do you gamble everything for love or do you just go fuck yourself?

is it true that listening to ben lee when your smoking will kill you?

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haha^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

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as a ben lee fan, do you have an enlarged clit? or just an undersized dick?

do you still need to gamble everything for love if your trying to make love to yourself?

do you gamble everything for love or do you just go fuck yourself?

is it true that listening to ben lee when your smoking will kill you?

 

The best thing about this post is that it really delves into the heart of the matter at hand. No time wasted with irrelevant comments about ayahuasca, celebrity psychonauts, or MAPS funding. Just straight to the most salient point of genital size. In addition to this, you managed to include poetically worded allusions to the works of your favourite artist in your post, while maintaining the clever facade of derision. So impressive was this post, that it garnered a "haha" a mere 2 hours and 8 minutes after posting, while the original post remains devoid of interest to the community here at the SAB forums. Bravo.

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I considered trying ayahuasca while hanging out with Ben, sharing a cup, but I was concerned about catching his disease, so I passed on the experience.

Nice bloke though.

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One of the interesting things about the ethnobotany community is that people often claim thing like that the world would be better if everyone knew about ayahuasca (or whatever plant/drug is under discussion), but then are often very quick to be judgmental or dismissive when a popular figure does something to actually improve spread information about, or improve the image of, these plants/substances. I think a part of it is that psychedelics are quite an underground thing. Even though LSD made it into the popular vernacular pretty quickly, and most people have heard of mescaline and "magic mushrooms", DMT in particular has remained something that mostly only the enthusiasts have heard of. This makes it like a special little club, and having knowledge of that topic can be a big ego boost for a lot of people. I'm not criticising, as I'm no more immune to this as anyone else. The more it becomes known about, the less impressive any of us can feel when we talk to 'normal' people about it, because all of a sudden, they might already know something about it. While we ignore the fact that spreading positive information about it will make it harder for the authorities and the media to lie about it and get away with it, and the best way to spread information is to have celebrities on our side.

I don't know much about Ben Lee's take on ayahuasca (maybe I should buy the album), but good on him for doing something positive.

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I don't like Ben Lee.. However I wasn't aware there was a correlation between music taste and penis size.

I also didn't know being a female or otherwise lacking male genitalia was a bad thing.

I'm happy to deride taste in music, but making it misogynistic is just plain wrong.

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I'm happy to deride taste in music, but making it misogynistic is just plain wrong.

 

The term misogyny gets thrown around a fair bit. While I agree with your basic sentiment, I don't see anything inherently misogynistic about the post. He made precisely symmetrical comments about both sexes. i.e. a male organ looking more like a female organ or a female organ looking more like a male organ. You could just as easily see misandry in this statement. I think it's a problem in today's society that is so influenced by feminist ideology that people see misogyny everywhere and misandry nowhere. You say a man is acting like a woman, and it's misogynistic because you are saying it's worse to be a woman than a man, but you say a woman is acting like a man, and it's misogynistic because you are confining the woman to a gender stereotype defined by the patriarchy.

Sorry for continuing the OT stuff, but calling everything misogyny really bugs me when we live in a society that is so misandric.

Edited by ballzac
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Ballzacs cage is so rattled its falling apart :P

lol

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I always find it funny that nobody knows what misandry is...haha, spell check is actually telling me right now that it's not even a word.

It's ridiculous how much more prevalent it is than misogyny (which spellcheck informs me is a word) in society at large simply because it hasn't been made politically incorrect and stigmatized in the same way that misogyny has through the feminist movement. The pendulum seems to have swung a little too far the other way since feminism came along.

Edited by gtarman
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He made precisely symmetrical comments about both sexes. i.e. a male organ looking more like a female organ or a female organ looking more like a male organ. You could just as easily see misandry in this statement. I think it's a problem in today's society that is so influenced by feminist ideology that people see misogyny everywhere and misandry nowhere. You say a man is acting like a woman, and it's misogynistic because you are saying it's worse to be a woman than a man, but you say a woman is acting like a man, and it's misogynistic because you are confining the woman to a gender stereotype defined by the patriarchy.

Sorry for continuing the OT stuff, but calling everything misogyny really bugs me when we live in a society that is so misandric.

 

Bundy's post was really an attack on men (who listen to Ben Lee), since it implies that a male who listens to Ben Lee must have either a dimished penis, or none at all. The broader implication, though, is that a clitoris approximates not-quite-male genitals. In Bundy's view then, females are not-quite-males. Whereas males are males, but have less worth if they are less masculine (symbolised by the small penis). So the insult is aimed at men, and has women as the index of male worthlessness. I think women come off worse in that one.

It is true that society is misandric, and frustrating that feminism (which is a struggle for equal rights regardless of sex) hasn't been more successful in curbing misandry (though it has certainly made headway in doing so (esp. culturally), but capitalism isn't the ideal matrix for successful equal rights struggles). But let's face facts, there's still a lot more oppression of women, by men, than vice versa.

It's ridiculous how much more prevalent it is than misogyny (which spellcheck informs me is a word) in society at large simply because it hasn't been made politically incorrect and stigmatized in the same way that misogyny has through the feminist movement. The pendulum seems to have swung a little too far the other way since feminism came along.

 

To me, this is a crazy statement. Are you talking about misandry being more prevalent than misogyny in Australia? Globally? Personally? Have you thought about the way institutions of power are still heavily male-dominated? We only just got a first female prime minister, the breakdown of men to women in parliament speaks for itself, as does it in pretty much any powerful/influential institution.

On Benji: Good on him. Not a fan myself, and I probably won't listen to his record, but it seems like a pretty top thing to do, to donate any profits to MAPS as well as the Amazon Conservation Team. I think ballzac makes a good point about the reluctance within some communities to have stuff like DMT becoming more a part of popular culture, or at least known about. There are good reasons for this, and good arguments on both sides of it (legal status, safe use etc etc). The reality is that generally anything with a significant underground culture will eventually rise to the surface and become more widely acknowledged. The challenge is to adapt to the changes that media coverage, public discussion, etc. will bring.

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Yeah sorry to to take part in de-railing your thread BF...I think it's great that Ben Lee has got on board and that there are more people spreading the word about aya as a medicine and a tool rather than a "powerful and dangerous hallucinogenic drug" (assuming responsible use here of course).

I have friends from highschool who nobody would ever have picked for this kinda thing...(call them "normal people" haha) who, having come back from South America and tried aya - had NOTHING but glowingly positive things to say about it, and about how it had made a real positive difference in their lives.

And FWIW I do also like some of his music, and I thought "The Rage at Placid Lake" was a good movie, although he does seem to have been a bit lf a twat at times in the past...but I guess we all have.

Edited by gtarman

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I can't say I've heard a whole lot of Ben Lee, but I really enjoy the songs I have heard.

I'd be quite interested to see what this album will be like!

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wow! you smartypants, intellectual types really like to argue.....I love you all :)

props to anyone raising awareness of sacred plants, including even the poor diseased miscreants like this ben lee chappy who as I ascertain from this thread has developed some sort of auditorilly contagious penis diminishing /clitoral engorging condition which he wishes to spread upon the general populous :scratchhead: ....sounds like quite a devious individual indeed..If this is true i for one believe this raises doubts in regards to the true motivations of any of his actions

on a personal side note, someone told me once that sonic youth were the reason the ben lee music career started, i really like sonic youth and i hope this is not true for i care nowt for this benlee chappy and the ridiculousness he continues to pass off as music...perhaps the plants will have shown him the errors of his ways

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wow! you smartypants, intellectual types really like to argue.....I love you all :)

props to anyone raising awareness of sacred plants, including even the poor diseased miscreants like this ben lee chappy who as I ascertain from this thread has developed some sort of auditorilly contagious penis diminishing /clitoral engorging condition which he wishes to spread upon the general populous :scratchhead: ....sounds like quite a devious individual indeed..If this is true i for one believe this raises doubts in regards to the true motivations of any of his actions

on a personal side note, someone told me once that sonic youth were the reason the ben lee music career started, i really like sonic youth and i hope this is not true for i care nowt for this benlee chappy and the ridiculousness he continues to pass off as music...perhaps the plants will have shown him the errors of his ways

 

Ben Lee got his big break because he is/was a major fan of my favourite artist Evan Dando from the Lemonheads. He wrote a song called "I wish I was him" about Evan and Mr Dando loved it and took him under his wing. Evan also helped Ben Kweller get discovered as well.

I remember listening to triple J one night years ago when the DJ made an announcement that someone had just thrown a bottle at Ben Lee on stage somewhere in Australia and knocked him out. Pretty weird reporting. You could tell that the DJ didn't like him.

I like Ben Lee's music. He has some awesome make out tunes IMO.

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I like Ben Lee's music. He has some awesome make out tunes IMO.

 

I like that you like benlees err....music, diversity being the spice of life and making the world go round and whatnot etc.etc.

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I see this as a very positive thing.

(I don't like his music - why do I feel the need to state that outright??? Probably becuase I dont understand him, yet. There's always the possibility that his musical output will be modified by these expereiences as well :P)

Like him and/or his music - or not - this is only going to shine even more light on AYA, in the mainstream, in a bigger way than before.

'She' can and will look after herself with regards to the extra attention she will receive, I'm sure.

The donation to MAPS and the Amazon Conservation cause, as well as being fan-funded will only add further exposure to the cause. The album will reach a certain 'large' number of people. The album promo on radio, tv, magazines etc will reach others. Interviews in the media will mention it.. other stories and discussions will be generated from these. Other artists will likely follow suit.

I can't help it feel atm that the 'good word' is getting out via more and more channels - and not just the psychedelically-related 'good word'. The birth pangs of a science/spirituality marriage are tangibly being felt IMO.

For example, 2 different neoroscientist's recent-ish accounts of NDE's, acknowledging deeper insights to the human-realty-consciousness experience:

(Jill Bolte Taylor) http://blog.ted.com/2008/03/12/jill_bolte_tayl/

(Dr Eben Alexander)

 

Then you've got others like Graham Hancock, Robert Buval, Michael Tsarion, David Wilcock, Santos Bonacci and many, many others doing awesome work to shine light on various parts of our lost history and spiritual heritage (and often with very positive things to say about the psychedelic experience).

Local groups are forming in major cities to bring like-mided people together and provide exchange of ideas on these matters with international guest speakers - I've gratefully seen 4 of the above here in melbourne in the last 10 months alone!. I'm discovering that I live near centres that offer discussion groups and opportunities for further study in these concepts :)

There are literally thousands and thousands of youtube docos, podcasts and discussion forums - presenting fascinating information on once-uncommon esoteric concepts such as: sacred geometry, the golden mean/ratio, fibonacci, cymatics, flower of life, quantum physics, forbidden archeology, psychedelics, religious/sacred knowledge etc - stuff that expands your understanding, appreciation and intuition of reality the more you open up to it (with it).

Up until recently we had to go out of our way to find information on this stuff ourselves in fringe areas and communities - like this one (wonderful as it is) - it is coming out of the shadows of it's own accord now, to a much wider audience. I see reason to be optomistic about our future as this enlightening information re-surges from the ground up.

Edited by ayjay101

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while i dont particularly like ben lee, you must consider the credibility of that statement, take a look at bernie... that dude was probably looking in the mirror when he said it.

i am interested in hearing how aya influenced lee's music though.

Edited by chnt

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i am interested in hearing how aya influencing lee's music though.

 

I hadn't even considered that.

At least a whole new bunch of people will know how to pronounce Ayahuasca properly.

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you just pointed out a spelling mistake, thanks

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