Furthur

By Señor © 2002

Further. One simple word yet a complete ideology of life. Further. Made famous by Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters. As they hopped onto their day-glow bus one day long ago, they had only one destination: to go further. I was formally introduced to this concept back in the early's 90's through Thomas Wolfe's The Electric Cool Aid Acid Test. But even before then I had wanted to go further. Go beyond the norm. I needed to find out what else was out there. What was I missing and more importantly how did I get there?

Back then the answer appeared to be easy. I began to broaden my horizons and expand the limits of my mind through drug use. Marijuana became mushrooms, mushrooms became LSD and before long, peyote, mescaline, ecstasy and many others came across my path to enlightenment. Some people would call me a druggie. Others would say I was a lost soul, and still others would just blow me off as looking for a good time. Maybe it was a little of all the above, but of course there was more. You see, I was a sociologist and I was my own guinea pig. I'd read about feeling at one with the earth, nature and mankind. I'd heard about hallucinations but I needed to experience that for myself. The majority of my drug experiences were positive, and LSD was my drug of choice, hands down. LSD, more than any other drug, took me further. On acid I understood the world. I knew why I was put here and what I was meant to do. Unfortunately when the drug faded so did my visions of grandeur. I realized I didn't know shit!

I've read about people "getting it." I've met people incredibly in touch with themselves, people well grounded and always happy. People at peace with mother earth and one in the same with the universe. How did they get there? They went further. Further than one can go who does not seek and further than one can go to through drugs. Even my beloved LSD had a limit and still I needed to go further.

I honestly didn't think I'd ever get further. When I left my job, my friends and my entire life behind in March I wasn't quite sure what I was doing. I was off to South East Asia. That’s all I knew. Like many of life’s adventures, my journey took on a life of its own. Yes, this adventure took me further.

After ten weeks of travel through the exotic lands of Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar and Singapore, I arrived in Thailand. A place I had been before and fondly remembered as one of the greatest in the world in which to party hard. What I once would have called a "series of coincidences" brought me to a little commune on the Island of Samui, Thailand. I now realized, just as the Rabbis taught me many years ago, that there is no such thing as a coincidence. The events that brought me to this commune were certainly extraordinary, but not coincidental. I was here for a reason!

During this time I went through a week-long fast. I discovered yoga and for the first time in my life I made my health a top priority. All this was nice but I didn't get further until I met Annie. Annie is the last in a line of Hawaiian Shamans. Annie brought to me the magic of the ancient Hawaiian Shaman massage. This three hour massage took me further than I had ever gone before. Yes, I saw the metaphorical light and I have not looked back. I am still me at the core, but my life’s path has been changed forever and for the better. I am healthier, I am happier, I am full of love, I know why I am here and what I must do. Unlike when I had these same delusions while on LSD, the effects of a sober man do not wear off!

Here I am three months later back on Koh Samui, Thailand. I am home. I am happy. I still have that same destination that the Merry Pranksters had, but in the last few months I have gone so much further than I ever dreamed possible. God bless the pioneers like Ken Kesey and Jerry Garcia! We have often heard the immortal words of New York Yankees great Lou Gehrig, "Today I feel like the luckiest man on the face of this earth…"

I am sorry Mr. Gehrig, you never met Annie and you never stepped foot on Koh Samui. My friends, I am a very lucky man!

Señor is a pants dropper from Samui, Thailand.