An interactive interview with Hippie3. The man behind topia.

[Zen]

Wow, talk about digging up old threads...

Good find dial.

[Hippie3]

i still need to add the next installment of my 'life story'
i've led a pretty unusual life, esp. in my 20's

Aight, I'll bite.
What happened in your 20's? Can you sum it up?...lol

[insight]

I remember reading through this thread a few times early last year. Good to see its been reopened.
I have one.
Hip, what got you turned on to mycology?

[Hippie3]

gee, i already answered that way back on page 1...

[insight]

Doh!

[lucysmiling]

Really like your story hip made me kinda teary eyed, Don't know ya very well but I have always been curious about you. Anyway got a question when in your opinion do you think this play will come to that grand finale? I am gettting really caught up in that mayan date, so am curious to what you think.

thanks, enjoyed all you mycotopians here you have helped me in so many ways. I hope all of you go to that burning man, hopefully I will be able to make it. I'm thinking of buying a mycotopian shirt so my fellows can identify me.

[Hippie3]

good question but i don't really have a firm opinion.
i know my own personal 'end of days' is not all that far off.
i do have deep concern for our species over the next century
but i can't say as i really believe that
god is ready to bring the curtain down on our show just yet.
that to me seems like a wasteful act
and i don't see god as wasteful.

[golly]

kinda curious what u did for a living b4 mycrotopia...and do u spend alot of time making up substrate jars..any little elves helping out....????

[dead_diver]

i'm old, grey headed and toothless.
i can't hear or see very well,
can barely walk.
hemorroids, dry flaky skin, arthritis
are my daily companions.
let's just say
old enough.

Damn, that just killed my fantasy of you being a sexy black biker chick. Why did you have to ruin it for me LOL

[lucysmiling]

lol!!

[lucysmiling]

hip one more question. How come you dont like talking about rcs in this forum? That's really not important the main question is have you tried some of Alexanders shulgins inventions?

[Hippie3]

rc threads inevitably turn to prices and sources
and i prefer to keep 'topia clean of such.

[maynardsdick]

i have a couple of questions. one, how do you envision yourself dying and what kind of ritual would you partake for that final leap.

second, i've seen your love/hate relationship with professor fanaticus over these last few years. what do you think about him?

[waylitjim]

Are there any species of psilocybes you'd love to try, but haven't had the chance?

Would you consider going to Burning Man?

[omnibot]

What's are your current thoughts about Jesus?

[Hippie3]

Originally Posted by maynardsdick

how do you envision yourself dying and what kind of ritual would you partake for that final leap.

i'm hoping to go in my sleep.
2nd choice would be in a shoot-out with authority figures.


if you mean like suicide, say i'm dying from cancer-
i have a stockpile of pills to ease my way out.
i'd proly need to get drunk first, does that count as a ritual ?

[Hippie3]

Originally Posted by maynardsdick

i've seen your love/hate relationship with professor fanaticus over these last few years. what do you think about him?

can't say as i know him very well.
his internet persona often leaves a bad taste
but honestly i think his early experiences here
[not here at 'topia but here online]
kinda soured him, twisting his outlook.
he sees everyone as his adversary,
and often engages in ego-driven pissing contests.
but i think i'd like to
just cut thru the bullshit,
sit down with him and some herb and some drink
and talk.

[Hippie3]

Originally Posted by waylitjim

Are there any species of psilocybes you'd love to try, but haven't had the chance?

yeah,
azures.

[Hippie3]

Originally Posted by waylitjim

Would you consider going to Burning Man?

i'm not sure. i don't much care for crowds and chaos.
i'd like to see what is there though.

[Hippie3]

Originally Posted by omnibot

What's are your current thoughts about Jesus?

i don't give him much thought. just never worked for me.

hippie
I find a lot of us here at topia have a past with the HARD Drugs , and a lot of us while looking for a safer less selfdestructive allternitive to these came across the wonders of mushies and other true hulcnigenic drugs . And in finding the mushies found areself and god . that inturn helped stop the selfdestructive BS that comes with the hard drugs. was this the same for you ? if so was it the trip you described above when you found god ?
oh yeah thanks for starting up the coolest websight on mushrooms that there is on the net .
later VII

[phalanx]

Hippie3 , are there any drugs out there that you would still like to try or have you taken everything? What are your favourites ?

Dunno if that was answered already.

[Hippie3]

yeah, i pretty much went thru the normal progression,
did tons of drugs of all kinds from age 14 to about 36
then i began calming down a bit.
never cared much for 'downers' of any kind,
but i confess a weakness for speed.
nowadays i pretty much just smoke my smoke
and take the occasional trip but my pills are medicinal
and i haven't done any powders in quite awhile.
i cannot say that 'finding god' had much to do
with tapering off my drug use.
i just sorta out-grew the desire,
and my body was telling me the same thing.
but i like to keep a little bit of everything on hand,
i see drugs as tools and each has its' use.
a little dab of almost anything is harmless
as long as the use is infrequent.
if i need extra energy,
10-15 mg of dextroamphetamine helps.
if i can't sleep then a couple valiums or zanax.
if i'm in pain, a few vicodins and some whiskey and i'm good.
better living thru chemistry.

[chill]

Hip,

In the resist and rebel forums we've gone back and forth a lot. You've come down on the side of supporting what went on at abu ghraib, invading other countries for their oil and other stuff like that.

Do you really believe that or are you just looking for a good intellectual fight?

[Hippie3]

the question is too vague,
and does not accurately describe my actual position
so not much i can say.
for example
i never said that i supported the sexual abuse of prisoners that occurred nearly 3 years ago at abu graib.
neither have i stated that i believe that we invaded iraq for oil.
that's your belief, not mine.

[chill]

I'd have to go through the posts and pull out the quotes which I'm reluctant to do for time reasons.

I guess the real question would be:

Do you stand 100% behind every position you've taken here or do you sometimes make statements in order to stir up controversy?

In Ireland they do this. It's called taking the piss. When they see someone they believe they can get a rise out of they will intentionally say things to egg that person on.

[DJTetsu]

I realize that this is more picking at you more than anything, but I'm hoping your answers will be interesting...

Shouldn't the name Hippie incline more toward an anti-war approach, or do think we are doing what is right in the middle east, and that actions is wise enough to include what we have learned from vietname, etc?

Should our forums Resist and Rebel incline more toward questioning our current administration instead of agreeing with agression with foreign countries and against invasion of privacy? Or are your views simply, "fuck the police?", which... im my opinion goes without sayig?

I already have an idea where you stand on these points and I totally respect them. I am no way trying to stir up debate or create or maintain any judgement. I just thought an interview is boring without stirring up controvesry. It just would be interesting to hear your angles summed up.

Hope that didn't stir up the Irish blood.

With those questions aside, I would like to express my highest regard with creating this community. You and most will never know how much topia has changed my life. It's just the group of people that I've longed to share thoughts with, seriously. For this and many other things, I would like to say sincerly, thank you!

Happy tripping!

[Hippie3]

Do you stand 100% behind every position you've taken here or do you sometimes make statements in order to stir up controversy?

i've made a lot of statements over the last 5 years here,
i'm confident there must be at least some bullshit mixed in.
plus like everyone else
my views evolve and change over time
as new developments occur and new info is assimilated.

i do sometimes push views to the extreme to make folks
challenge their assumptions
and to correct their errors
even when i agree with their general position.
but
if the bottom question you are asking about is my view of the war
then i view it as a regrettable yet inevitable development
in the struggle to unite this planet under the rule of secular law.

[Hippie3]

Shouldn't the name Hippie incline more toward an anti-war approach

that would mean
conforming to a stereotype,
which is the very antithesis of
what being a hippie is really about.

by breaking with the cultural preconceptions
of what they think a 'hippy' should be
i am being true to the hippie credo, to wit-
be your self, do your own thing
no matter what others' think.

[Hippie3]

Should our forums Resist and Rebel incline more toward questioning our current administration

not necessarily nor automatically,
our positions should be based on
knowledge of the facts,
not just a knee-jerk instinctual response
based on who said it.

if bush is right then bush is right,
regardless of my personal feelings.
and if he's wrong then he's wrong.

the matter should be debated and resolved
thru intelligence, insight, discernment and wisdom,
not adjudicated on the basis of political affiliation.

if i took the simplistic view that bush was always wrong
then i too would be wrong on some of the issues.

the ideas should be able to stand on their own merits
under close scrutiny to be considered 'truth'
and the real reason why our Resist & Rebel forum
is not the sole preserve of anti-bush anti-war leftists
is because
they have not proved their points.

[Lefty]

I have noticed you occasionally take the unpopular or less expected side of debates in R & R. It also seems you take a contrary side just because someone was snide in the way they stated their case and whether you side with them or not proceed to chew on them. You have also found drama other places & times in the OMC, and more than usually win. My question is where you did hone your debating skills? Your info is usually excellent, obviously that helps, but your extremely good at debate and seem to enjoy it just for the sake of debate itself. How did that come to be?

[Hippie3]

seems you take a contrary side just because someone was snide in the way they stated their case and whether you side with them or not proceed to chew on them.

guilty as charged.
when it comes to logic and argument
i'm a bit of a perfectionist.
a case made, even if correct, by building
upon flawed assumptions is still 'wrong'.
i just slice thru the BS and expose the weakness of the argument,
and i'll also confess to enjoying debate for its' own sake.
i took debate in school, my entire family enjoys a good verbal scuffle,
my brother is a lawyer, the other is a teacher
and my mother unfortunately wasn't allowed to go to college,
in her day college was considered to be a 'waste' on women
who should stay home instead and make babies.
but she went back, in her 40s, and got her degree.
so i reckon at least some of my temperament is inherited.
i love to champion the underdog,
even when it's bush.

[phalanx]

Do you have any character flaws or bad habits you would like to be rid of?

[Soliver1]

As a fellow mycotopiate who shares your interest
in opiates and stimulants, I wonder if you've ever
dabbled with Kratom?

curious,

soliver

[Hippie3]

Originally Posted by phalanx

Do you have any character flaws or bad habits you would like to be rid of?

sure,
but i won't be posting my confession here.

[Hippie3]

Originally Posted by Soliver

As a fellow mycotopiate who shares your interest
in opiates and stimulants, I wonder if you've ever
dabbled with Kratom?

curious,

soliver

nope,
haven't had the opportunity yet,
understand it's best very fresh.

[BuckarooBanzai]

What do you feel your involvement with Mycotopia has done to your personal Karma? Do you think your position here is in line with your Dharma/destiny? With the advantage of hind sight, can you see things "leading" to this or did it just kind of happen? Do you see any predestination at work here?

By the way, I love it when you poke holes in my arguments by dissecting them logically for content AND mechanics. It keeps me on my toes when posting opinion stuff. I think you would do WELL as a professional debate moderator.

[Hippie3]

thx.
it's good to do work that we love.

i do feel that destiny has played a determining role
in the history of 'topia,
and that i was called into service.
there were 'events' that lead me to believe that,
but hey, might have been coincidence.
it's so hard to be sure,
the older i get
the less i know.

[Bromius]

Two Related Questions:
1) If you could debate any famous person, dead or living, who would it be?
2) What is the most heated debate you've had in your (real world) life? What was the subject?

[Hippie3]

1] hard question, but i think i'd like to try on abraham lincoln
over the issue of the war of northern aggression aka the 'civil war'

2] eh, had quite a few, and most times
it's religion and/or politics.

[Stenciler]

switching gears: how old is that avatar? It took until now when I looked REEEEEEL close to see it's the caterpillar from Alice. What with the Hatta up at the top left and our "mature" Alice on the right, is there any weird explanation behind all the Alice references?

[Hippie3]

sinthetic made my avatar about what, 6 months ago ?
the one before had the same image, sorta.
but sinth tweaked it, then i did a bit too.
'topia's 'connections' with the alice-theme date all the way back
to its' earliest days online some 5 years ago.
i see it as an emblem of a psychedelic experience,
remembering what the doormouse said-
feed your head.

[Hippie3]

new avatar, too.
this thread is a copy from our board history forum,
re-opened for comments
by request.

ok, hip.. your trip report on post #7 of this thread is simply amazing.. very inspiring.. the best trip report i have read or heard or know of ever.. now i understand what you mean by 'i want you to trip like i do'

you truly are something.. i am honored to have been able to know you, the mods, and the people here in mycotopia..

[Hippie3]

Originally Posted by hippie3

You mentioned that one time you met God , face to face , during an intense trip . Could you share the details with us ?

that was my eye-opening,
my first real vision.
i ran into a friend
who knew a friend with some hash.
i wanred some so my friend took me
to see his friend.
as we set there bullshitting,
checking out the hash
[which was good, btw]
he pulled out a big fat bag of shrooms.
so i said
'hey man, i'd like some of those, too.'
so i ended up buying an ounce of each,
dried cubensis and blond lebanese.
i hadn't seen either in quite a long time
so i was naturally pleased
and went home to celebrate.
i ate about 14 dry grams [1/2 ounce] of the shrooms
and also injested about 3 grams of the hash
[ate it too.]
i had this old audio cassette tape of some hindu chants and another cassette called 'planet drum'
by mickey hart.
i set up my double tape deck to play one after the other and then repeat,
so the music would last all night.
i turned on some mood lighting,
lit some incense
turned off the phone,
bared the doors, closed the curtains
and laid down on my couch,
just listening to the chants and the drums.
at some point in time
my soul left my body and began to travel thru
time and space,
there was an 'angellic' [for lack of a better word] being that acted as my 'guide',
and it showed me many things and revealed many secret truths to me.
much of what i learned
the 'angel' told me to never reveal,
and told me no one would believe me anyway,
that i'd only hurt myself if i tried to tell.
so it locked away a large portion of my memory from my conscious access to protect me.
but i still remember many things
that it said were ok to talk about
although still no one would believe me.
it showed me the entire history of the human race,
it took me back to when life began as some slime on a rock, and for a million years i lived the life of that slimy rock.
then it began to take me thru a series of incarnations as various lifeforms as life evolved.
to borrow a phrase, it showed me a brief history of time.
i saw all my ancestors stretched out like a railroad into the past,
and i saw their abject misery and heard the cries of a billion lost souls who had suffered in life.
it showed me that we were living in slavery,
but one day we would be free.
as time continued to unfold before my eyes
it began showing me the future,
my own personal destiny as well as that of the universe itself.
i discovered that before i was even born
the things that would eventually kill me
had already been set in motion,
that my death had always been part of my destiny and there was nothing to fear.
i saw that life and the universe as we know it is an illusion, just patterns of energy dancing before the eye of god.
i saw that the purpose of the universe
was to become The Greatest Story Ever Told
that life was drama
and we are actors playing a part,
with each of us having our unique thing to do.
i saw that some people play bit parts,
making a brief appearance and die young
or remain a part of the faceless masses,
the audience that watches this drama
being acted out across the time-space matrix.
i saw that some people had leading roles,
and i saw that each of got to take turns
playing out each and every role over time,
re-living life in the same vessel so that
each of us knew what it felt like to be a king,
a beggarman, a thief, a cripple, a woman, a child, good, evil, wise, foolish, a proud father, a grieving mother, a widow, a slave, etc.
we played each role so we could understand that part of the drama fully.
so we could see for ourselves what was right
and what was wrong,
life was an education,
it teaches us.
the bibles have it all wrong,
god doesn't make up rules and shove them down our throats, he lets each of us live and learn so can can discover why it is better to be good than to be evil, why one should not murder, why one should not chase after false gods, etc.
i saw that some religions had come close to the truth but not one was really right,
the truth was much greater than they though
for we are actually what they claim jesus was,
we are god become flesh,
a splinter of the universal conciousness that will soon return from whence it came,
to be reunited as one but yet many.
i could not stand to look directly into the light that surrounded god,
it was far too bright
but i saw from a distance what looked like a halo
around a star but as i got closer i realized that the halo was actually billions of 'angels' dancing around the light of god
and they were singing to him their love and admiration.
and i could see the world
and its' problems and so could the 'angels'.
and i saw angel after angel coming before god and pleading for him to send them back so they could help the people of the world.
even though they knew that to become flesh
was to endure agony and death
but their love was so great that they leaped at the chance to suffer for others.
and so they threw themselves into the world and became flesh, entering the world as a baby
to help work out the plan of god here.
i saw pure love,
it radiated from god like
sunshine, i could feel its' soothing warmth
and knew then how utterly safe i was.
and then my guide told me that i had to go back, just as i saw the angels doing,
and that i had some work to do.
that god would always be at my side.
and so
i came back
and here i am.

(Message edited by admin on December 06, 2004)

this one ?

[seymorebunz]

Originally Posted by Hippie3

yeah, i pretty much went thru the normal progression,
did tons of drugs of all kinds from age 14 to about 36
then i began calming down a bit.
never cared much for 'downers' of any kind,
but i confess a weakness for speed.
nowadays i pretty much just smoke my smoke
and take the occasional trip but my pills are medicinal
and i haven't done any powders in quite awhile.
i cannot say that 'finding god' had much to do
with tapering off my drug use.
i just sorta out-grew the desire,
and my body was telling me the same thing.
but i like to keep a little bit of everything on hand,
i see drugs as tools and each has its' use.
a little dab of almost anything is harmless
as long as the use is infrequent.
if i need extra energy,
10-15 mg of dextroamphetamine helps.
if i can't sleep then a couple valiums or zanax.
if i'm in pain, a few vicodins and some whiskey and i'm good.
better living thru chemistry.

Right on....dead on! I've been reading through this as time permits, this is one of posts I have to comment on.

I've known lots of people who do not know the meaning of "moderation". I strongly believe that all drugs can be used as tools, not vices.

[camMyco]

What an incredible read. Your story about your meeting with god is inspiring to me, as I have found my belief system differs from what in my life is the "norm" for those close to me. Thank you for sharing a piece of you with us.

[Sunstar]

Indeed very interesting thread. Junked brought this very same thread to my attention one friday night saturday morning and it captivated my attention for some time. I always like to hear someone talking of their road and the honesty always touches me. Funny thing is Hippie Im one of the few that would believe you. This road we are on is quiet interesting. The road of life takes many different trails. I have had a similar experience but i wasnt on anything. So when it comes to things of unexplainable nature I am very open. I think we had made this trip
or journey so we could help others. like road builders in a way. I know
after that day I looked at everyone and everything in a different light so to speak. So my question to you is do you think your journey or meeting intensified your faith? But in all honesty thanks for sharing a part of yourself with us

[Hippie3]

intensified ?
perhaps, for a little while.
but intensity is hard to maintain,
i'd describe it now more as
secured my 'faith', laid to rest my doubts.
but i don't spend my days fasting, praying
and playing 'devout'.
i do remember to love my life with regularity,
and i do give thx quite often
for the simple pleasures i enjoy.