Welcome and greetings...

Well friends, I have decided to bring in the new year with a bang (no that isn't the sound of my liver exploding after last night's NYE festive beverages) and start a blog.

Let's face it, it was inevitable.

With all of the madness, stupidity and amusing lunacy swirling around us incessantly in this crazy world, it was only a matter of time before yours truly took the progenitors of conceptual fallacies to task, asked the questions many are afraid to ask, and cut through the crap to get at the truth - no matter how queer, warped, disturbing or twisted it may be.

I do not believe in letting my own beliefs get in the way of grasping an unpleasant or inconvenient truth, and believe me, there are plenty out there. On the other hand, of course, there are some beautiful truths that cry out for recognition and expression on this little blue ball of ours three rocks removed from the sun, and these too shall find a home here, under the nurturing wing of your humble *cough* host of The Grand Illusion (TGI).

Here I plan to give voice to some informal rantings on various topics, all of which (with perhaps the odd exception) will have one critical thing in common: they are designed to be awareness/consciousness raising. A more conscious and informed humanity is a more evolved and enlightened one which will make this planet one all humans can be proud to inhabit.

In order to most rapidly raise our consciousness, there is something each seeker of higher evolution must do...

...discard belief. Ditch the dogma. Abandon (thought) addiction.

Let no belief be sacred except for this: condemnation without investigation is the height of ignorance. (Einstein)

This I believe. This and little else. Why?

Maybe author and free thinker, Robert Anton Wilson, said it best: "Belief is the death of intelligence." As a Dyscordian, Wilson held to the credo that convictions cause convicts. While this is a noble sentiment - to aspire to such righteous agnosticism - it is important not to merely use this as a crutch so that we can cop-out and sit on the fence or refuse to call things as we see them - especially if they are provably true. There is also nothing wrong with a little healthy speculation either.

I warn you in advance: much of what you will find here will contradict long-conditioned beliefs that have ingrained themselves in your psyche and taken up residence as seemingly immutable truth. But given that the one constant in this temporal realm is change, is it not unnatural to possess a rigidly fixed psyche with immovable opinions and assumptions? Is it not entirely natural ('of or pertaining to nature') to be cognitively flexible and open to the changing of one's mind?

Now that you are (hopefully) sufficiently prepared my friends, I bid you a happy new year in this 2010th year after the alleged death of "Christ". May this year bring all that you desire, but better yet, everything you intend. Intention is a powerful thing, after all.

Personally, I intend to garner some extra attention for certain truths. This blog is merely one such way that I (with your help) can do this.

Let the fun begin!

Murph