planet of the apes

i overheard a couple of men discussing what seemed an intense taoist retreat - though i'd consider that perhaps it was only the kind of spiritual retreat that a privileged mystical bent of wholistic gay guys, present company included, fall into, i did find it interesting.

a little later i asked another similarly-typed guy what hit tattoo was, thinking it was some mystical arabic inscribed in a circle but he said it was the first letter of the tibetan alphabet. upon commenting about that mandala he asked if i had meditative interests. it didn't take long for me to express distrust of lots that parades as "esoteric," including my relating that i had just overheard interesting details about an intense taoist retreat but questioned not only the trustworthiness of that program (mostly who purports to direct such a retreat) but what could be the purpose. he expressed a sentiment which surprised me, that one has to already have attained a certain maturity to know what one wants, to choose a path. as opposed to the usual "all paths lead to the same place."

i'm reading B'sTs, the apes chapter. B descends from mars because he and very learned essence friend wonder about the ape question, a matter which from time to time excites the interests of three-brained earthlings; from there B outlines different "results." the misbegotten ape species resulted from the combination of uncurbed passion along with the passive taking the role of active in relation to a lower force, which product is likewise given to titillation, and that result is even to this day misperceived by some earthlings as sacred. another result, though sterile, is much better than uncurbed passion, and that's the charting of the galaxy through what has devolved into astronomy. an alternative result is the relatively unchanging thought forms created by the beings of atlantis ...

i found the ape discussion remarkably meaningful for reasons i am not including here. but reflecting that, with regard to the relative unknowability of the prospects of any particular path, at least here G seemingly outlines that in some instances "by their fruit (result) you will (can) know (recognize) them."