Wow, I know I was away for awhile, but I feel like I missed something. Either that or was had/pirated by a charlatan:

On February 11, 2010, I replied to a PM from Acolyte that I had received a day or two earlier. Here is what his original PM said:



Reviewing that text carefully, I am reminded that from the start he presented himself as a representative of the larger Nexus, that this was for a Nexus eBook, and that this project "an effort of the "ELF" project to establish a voice within the public about the ACTUAL beliefs and experiences of the Ethnobotanical community. This is an effort to defend ourselves against oppressive laws and mindsets, and to create a bold statement that says look: we are here to EXPLORE REALITY, NOT "dropout" of it; make this nonsense STOP!"

I felt honored. We spent a couple of months going back and forth about a kind of contract to protect whatever original interest I might have in the material (none - it was on the Nexus, THOUGH what I did submit to him was a sort of revised, edited version with some additional material). Then I get a PM from him around February 11, 2010 saying



In mid-April Ms. Manic Minxx and I exchange a couple PM's regarding timeline and formatting.

I made my submission in early May, 2010. May 7, 2010, I receive this:



Gads, endless compliments by the guy who still claims to represent Nexus as a whole, "us," etc. Anyway, I look at the draft and am not thrilled. I feel the changes have been significant and have even changed my meaning.

But hell, I figure, it is an Nexus eBook, who am I to complain. I tell him I am not oppossed to the changes but that I want him to reference the title of my book with my material. He agrees.

November 2, 2010, out of the blue I get a lengthy email from him basically gushingly saying he's been spending months working on a side project, that the spirit of CEL lives but in a radically different form, that he would be submitting a draft for perusal, etc. He then goes on in a lengthy manner to say public education is the most important thing, admits to controversy, says some work may have accidentally been "poached", that the DMT Nexus is not actually named, requests we keep mention of it off the Forum and how excited he is and how it makes him feel.

I'm confused at this point. I had just returned to Nexus and the past 6 months hadn't been a high point in mental functioning for me. Regardless, I've already given up any interest in this material, so I figure, whatever, . . . . but am starting to get a weird vibe . . . he's no longer representing the Nexus?!?!?!???!?

Not really knowing what is going on I send him a PM that equates to whatever, this is one of the reasons I currently do not post. He sends an apology and to his credit does say he would like to collaborate with me to make it more to my liking.

November 19, 2010, I get this from him:


Well, this leaves no ambiguity in my mind. Though he's still saying something about a Nexus best practices section, this is a solo adventure of his now and with a price tag no less.

So now due to bad circumstances, bad timing on my part, and what feels like a shady deal beginning with the handshake as representative from Nexus ELF/CEl and ending with I'm publishing and here's the cost, part of my work has been subsumed into something I would NEVER endorse that has nothing to do with my interpretation of my trips/visions or the content of my own book.

I compare what was presented to me as the original premise: "This eBook is an effort of the "ELF" project to establish a voice within the public about the ACTUAL beliefs and experiences of the Ethnobotanical community. This is an effort to defend ourselves against oppressive laws and mindsets, and to create a bold statement that says look: we are here to EXPLORE REALITY, NOT "dropout" of it; make this nonsense STOP!" to some of the earlier conversation in this thread about the REAL content and topic of this book and I just sigh.

Oh well, live and learn I guess.

Yeah, so uh, fuck that.

Who would like to start a new project?

A REAL DMT-Nexus project.

What's all this shit about talking to aliens.

He he, needless to say, I'll pass this time around. Thanks.

how did i miss this post before , this is the best post ever
i have not yet read the book , just downloaded it , but reading the rest of the post was enlightining
pls accept my humble apology as i say this , IS IT A JOKE ?



is this how the community is going to be representated - marginalized and covert
illeagal spice what are you talking about ????

i always thought this community was a community of experienced navigators of hyperspace , psychonauts and explorers of vast realms , dream runners and sorcerrers
i always thought spice was technology
THAT IS HOW I SEE THE COMMUNITY AND SPICE , could you please represent the community a little better that than make it seem like dark ages



right , that is all we need the US government seeing us as a national security threat , how can i thank you for this ? is there something i can do to express my gratitude for making this community a national threat:evil: (sarcassam)
, r u trying to put us on the governments hitlist ?? if so you seem to be heading in the right direction



this seems reasonable , but could you please get illeagal shit and jail out of your book and try to represent spice as technology or a spiritual tool , if you keep using terms like jail and illegal with spice than you are treating it quite like a drug , pls use advanced language



THIS I LIKE VERY MUCH , THIS IS KOOL ,
please write cool things like this atleast




what the FFFFFFF , first of all please don't represent your book in such a shitty way , here is the way i would say it and i am not a writer and have still not read the book

THIS BOOK IS A WORK OF EXTRA-TERRASTRIAL INTELLIGENCES DIRECT CONTACT WITH HUMAN KIND , THROUGH A SACRED TECHNOLOGY , A GIFT OF THE ANCIENTS SEERS AND SEEKERS , ENCOMPASSING THE HISTORY OF THIS PLANET FROM ANCIENT TIMES OF THE MAGIC TRIBES TO THE UTOPIAN GENERATION OF NEXIANS ,
TECHNOLOGY ,SCIENCE , SPIRITUALITY AND THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE HUMAN SOUL AND ITS PLACE IN THE UNIVERSE WITH IT EXTRA-TERRASTRIAL FRIENDS , this is a work of science fiction "18 pages for reference"

that is it no more , dont write shit like this is not a bullshit book , what is up with that??

---

I REALLY APPRECIATE YOU HAVING TAKEN THE TIME OUT OF YOUR LIFE TO DO THIS , I AM DEFINETLY GOING TO READ THE BOOK , HOWEVER I DONT WANT THE BOOK TO COME OUT LIKE SOME KINDA COMEDY FOR I WAS LAUGHING FOR 30 MINS STRAIGHT JUST AFTER READING THE POST AND THESE QUOTES FROM YOUR BOOK WHICH I READ ON THE POST
PLEASE REPRESENT THIS COMMUNITY WELL IF YOU INTEND TO PUBLISH THE BOOK , DON'T MAKE US LOOK LIKE A BUNCH OF RETARDS , PLS YOU NEED TO DO SOME MAJOR CORRECTIONS OTHERWISE THIS BOOK IS SOME KIND OF WEIRD COMEDY

I AM GOING TO READ THE BOOK NOW , WILL LET YOU KNOW IF I CHANGED MY MIND , I AM HOPING IT WILL BE HILARIOUS AND MAKE ME LAUGH FOR THESE FEW WEEKS STRAIGHT , THANK YOU ANYWAYS AS LAUGHTER ALSO HELPS
i know i must have contributed nothing to the book , and i thank GOD for that

i am on page 91 now , reading the book start to finish page by page ,

brother Acolyte , i seriously think you have potential to become a good author
the whole campside story when sancho and you hike up the mountain to the hole in the wall and back to the campsite and the trees covered with posts - NOW THAT IS SOME CREATIVE IMAGINATION and a amazing representation of the nexus and the posts and everything

however still there are some major flaws in the book , specially all the above quotes that i've mentioned in the above posts , some parts of the book really need a lot of work , a lot of good ideas and important things are written in the book which i belive should reach the reader , but if major corrections are not made then this book will not reach its right potential



i too had a langford moment after reading some of the book and seriously am asking brother that you make serious changes , i don't want to see the good work go down because of some sillyness , mentioning jail , authorities and other shit is not necessary , things should be presented more imaginatively like the hiking story to the camping ground ,

i will read the total book as i am free this week , i will be contacting you for sure and sending you the parts of the book that seem very inappropriate to me and also some humble suggestions as to how they can be made more magnificient

reading your book also reminds me of castaneda's work , but you have to work really more hard to reach that level , i believe you can if some things change

also can i re - edit the book , i'll submit the re - edited book to you only, pls understand i am not going to publish the book - this is your work and i understand that, the rest is up to you , if you like the re - edited version pls let me know , you'll recieve the redited version in 10-15 days

i apologise for harsh comments in the above posts , however some things in the book must be changed for the book to reach a greater potential

I suppose it’s time for a helpful update. Please remember, this book was a DRAFT. It’s allowed to be clunky and awkward. It is NOT supposed to be perfect. Furthermore, it is not a non-fiction “Nexus eBook”, but a science fiction.

First, some much needed responses:

Jin: We’ll talk more in person. Thank you for your strange form of constructivism.


Pandora:

You have been given many opportunities to refine the work that was edited together in the book. No one can know what your experience was like but you. Please don’t set the tone that your experience is being intentionally manipulated when that was never the case. And I have no idea what changes have “changed your meaning” unless I am told what has changed.

And Correct. Due to an absolute lack of participation by Nexus members, the Author went on to write his own experience of the Nexus. The work is indeed radically different than the original proposal. Sorry if you or anyone else felt “had.” That was not the intention. EFL/CEL collapsed a year ago and I thought this was obvious to everyone. There was no conspiracy Pandora. Merely everyone decided to stop helping or communicating. This book only wanted to approach and continue the goals of CEL in another way. (What a stupid idea, eh?) The old language of a “community effort” has been removed, because obviously this is not the case.
(Seriously? Directly posting PM’s?)


bransondude: “If I am not impressed by the first page or two I may never buy that book. If the author has a very strong point to make, I usually won't read it.…readers tend to read what makes them feel good. Harry Potter didn't sell like it did because it cleansed our world of ignorance. Reading about a new spiritual technology that some internet nerds developed and talked about online, while interesting to the interested, sounds a tad spooky to the uninitiated… Changing the tone a bit and adding an air of impartiality would help a lot. Perhaps asking someone with a different or even opposing view to co-write could provide the needed balance.”

Your points are excellent. If the everyone had J.K. Rowling’s touch, that would be splendid; but that’s not always the case. And I don’t know if there can be an impartial fiction book? IMO, their whole point is to offer a narrative. Yes, a co-writer would be excellent, I wish that could happen. Many people were asked, and once there were several, but writers kept disappearing and because of this, the book changed as well.



Regardless, sorry for being a no show the past several months. Many fine excuses you surely won’t give a fuck about: finished a Master’s thesis and graduate school, found an awesome girlfriend (then lost that girlfriend), suffered the death of a beloved pet, and the fact that accommodating a fair complaint raised on the Nexus takes many hours of rewriting.

Also, there is a need for a balanced review... as the book cannot follow every whim and need of every vocal Nexus member. Therefore, a review in a few other areas (legal, editorial, military intelligence, and Entheogens travelers outside this site) was needed before further responding to the comments here.


Here are some of the general results of this review for anyone who is interested, so you know where the work is currently coming from:


Legal Review by an IP Attorney (according to U.S. law):
[Note that these are only recommendations, a court of law would need to rule on any specific instance]

+ A webmaster cannot passively collect the copyrights to every comment posted on their site

+ Illegal activities have no intellectual protection. No one may patent a Tek, or copyright a trip report

+ The comments of an Avatar may technically count as heresy, as anyone anywhere in the world could have access to your logon information and make a comment. And if the authorities were to track a poster’s IP address, they would have to prove that an exact person made the comment, versus anyone else who had access to the cpu.

+ On an enforcement level, and considering budget cuts, few Authorities will give a fuck about tracking and following up on the illegal activities of web posters who aren’t trafficking massive levels of controlled substances.

+ Furthermore, Entheogens users who genuinely believe the Sprits and Entities they encounter are real may establish constitutional religious protection.


Editorial Review (in progress):

+ New ideas often require a story. And no single story will satisfy everyone. Some people will just be left off to the side and that’s always a bummer, but also a reality.

+ With a fictional story, the reader does not necessarily have interest in exploring every possible point, counter-point, and detail about an issue. They are looking for an entertaining narrative. If they have more questions, they will seek out other references.

+ Furthermore, how many pro-drug book fairs do you see versus science-fiction book fairs? SciFi is the perfect home to explore some of the ideas Entheogens present, as I believe very few people have even a basic exposure to Entheogens…


Military Intelligence Review:

+ So it turns out the old conservative guy—with a big American flag for his laptop background—who volunteers at work, is a retired U.S. spy who speaks Russian, Chinese, Spanish, Vietnamese, Arabic, and Farsi. The uncanny synchronicity of this connection was immense.

+ After reading the book, the retired spy said, “I really liked it” and had his wife read it despite the fact she didn’t like the cover.


Other Entheogenic travelers who read the book have some rather harsh things to say, not entirely about the flawed content of the book, but of the attitudes of this web community.

Where else is it possible for a marginalized people from all over the world to come together and organize to make a difference, but on the web? You fucked it up Nexus. Big time. Social change won’t happen with this petty, selfish, and lazy behavior. Get some sense. You’ve lost someone who spent thousands of hours of his own time and money to support your cause.

Goodbye and good luck. And much thanks to the few of you who cared...

i am on page 292

AND MANY THINGS HAVE CHANGED

the book no doubt has some disturbing words like jail , authorities and national threat - which i seriously think should be thrown out the window

but the book itself is CREATIVE , PLAYFUL AND OCCUPY A READERS IMAGINATION

i agree the book needs some polishing and that too only in the first part of the first book , the second one is really fine

i am tumbling somewhere in between me , brother acolyte and sancho right now but in a very good way
the book is INSPIRING TO NEW EXPLORES OF HYPERSPACE , and a pleasant reminder of memories to those who have been there before many times

I SERIOUSLY THINK THE BOOK DESERVES A SECOND SHOT
brother acyolyte is also a very creative author , and only some polishing is required , what i find most intersting is the AUTHORS ABILITY TO KEEP THE READER ENGROSSED IN THE BOOK

the trip reports to me seem to be in the right context
the book can be made a lot more magnificient

also brother acoylyte i think dmt is introduced too early in the book with words like natinal security threats , jail , illegal ,
i believe there should be no mention of dmt until the part where trip reports start
the nature of spice being illegal/legal should be left for the reader to find out on his own , rather than being mentioned in the book

we need to add artwork to the book , omit very little and add few words
this book should not be discarded just like that
I HAVE GIVEN UP THE IDEA OF EDITING THE BOOK UPON READING IT , I WILL ONLY OFFER MY EDITING AS SUGGESTIONS AS I BELIEVE THE AUTHOR IS QUITE CAPABLE OF EDITING AND IS A BRILLIANT WRITER WHO NEEDS TO POLISH HIS SKILLS A BIT AND WRITE MORE BOOKS , THE AUTHOR IS VERY CANDID AND WE NEED SOME SOPHISTICATION FOR SURE BUT HE IS TALENTED TOO , AND VERY MUCH IN ENGROSSING THE READER WITH IMAGINATION AND MYSTERY

THIS IS A WONDERFUL WORK IN NEED OF A LITTLE POLISHING , AND DEFINETLY DESERVES A SECOND SHOT AND A LOT OF ARTWORK FOR IT TO REACH IT TRUE POTENTIAL

i can connect with what you have written in the book brother , its like talking to you in a very personal and yet so distant way , thank you for working on it , i will read it completely and contact you with suggestions

PLS UNDERSTAND NEXIANS MY VIEWS ARE NOT BIASED ATALL AS YOU CAN SEE THE HARSH COMMENTS I'VE POSTED ABOVE TO BROTHER ACYOLYTE , BUT UPON READING THE BOOK A LITTLE MORE IN DEPTH I CAN SEE THAT THE BOOK HAS A LOT OF POTENTIAL AND DESERVES TO BE WORKED ON

Jin - To my mind, it's not about the book being good or bad...it's about what the author told the community (his informants) what he planned to do with their personal stories/experiences and then what he actually did with them. Any anthropologist worth his salt would tell you this is both unethical and immoral.


Now hold on...even if we accept this as true, it was your obligation as the author (who chose to use vast quantities of Nexus-based "stuff" ) to inform people when your intentions changed. Not everyone has the same perceptions as you. Not everyone believes/feels CEL is "dead". I think it was clear the initial push following BBB died down, but we have a solid framework in which to discuss legal issues and from which to launch further efforts. Your "thoughts" are irrelevant, the only thing that matters is what you told the community...nothing.

We had several pm's throughout your writing of this book. At no point did you ever even remotely hint at such a drastic change in the nature of the book. What you did was two-faced and sheisty. Don't try to pawn this off on us because you failed to inform us of what you were doing and then presented this mutilated project as though it was precisely what was discussed from the beginning. That's absurd.

Perhaps I'm overly dense, but would you mind explaining how this book "continue[s] the goals of CEL in another way?" To my mind it doesn't come anywhere close to the goals of CEL.

As to your "legal" points...your assertions are far from coherent, full of holes and are outright wrong in some cases.

PS - congrats on the MA...sorry for your losses.

Many apologies, but you lost me the minute you started charging for a draft version on a community paper. Regardless, good luck in your efforts going forward.

CEL lives on, it's just on the back-burner awaiting its time.

Cheers and congrats on the MA!

Before this gets into a big fight, shall we establish a few things and then look for a combined future?

* The book of Acolyte is a book of fiction with a touch of the entheogen realms.

* Real trip reports were used as inspiration. We can discuss long about this but is it really THAT important for the people who's trip reports were used? Isn't spreading awareness one way or the other a more important goal to look after in this era?

* As long as there are possible legal consequences I cannot ever give authorization to Acolyte with my real name.

* Acolyte spend a lot of time for what he (we!) thinks is a cause worth fighting for.


I think instead of getting to arms and fighting each other it is better to construct something together where we all can life with. Of course we have the anger of the community about the use and change of trip reports which are very personal, and the bitterness of Acolyte with our cool response to something he worked his bottom off. But I'm afraid we have to let that behind us.

As it seems now the book will go through regardless of what we at the DMT-Nexus think, and I think that we as a community should on this moment stand for about anything that can spread awareness about entheogens, even if that means you have to swallow a bitter pill!


I would also like to make it clear to Acolyte that we are both using different paths to reach the same: more awareness about entheogens! Your's is one way and with our survey, among other, we hope to find another parallel to that much sought after public awareness and recognition road. I hope you are able to swallow the bitter pill too and return to this place to discuss with us in a respectful and constructive way anything that we all think is so important: entheogens.


Really people, this is not a time to bicker about these things, we don't have that luxury! We have to do this together!


Kind regards,


The Traveler

thank you Traveler ,
for a very comforting and enlightening post

i am sure brother acolyte will be more than happy to work with everyone here , specially with people whose posts are in the book ,
acolyte has been very polite in my communication with him , and from the posts i understand he's also looking for participation from the community

i feel brother acolyte is open to suggestion and not saying that it is so and so ,

from now on we should replace words with more evolved words
illeagal=forbidden
authorities=dumb monsters
dmt=spice
dmt should not even be mentioned in the book , those who are evolved will know what spice is or will do some homework

i believe some polishing of the language in the book and making it a little less candid will help a lot , i am contacting acolyte as he seems very polite and open to suggestions and also criticism

pls lets work together on this nexians , we have artists , authors , alchemists , researchers , sorcerers here , we are not marginalised or covert , WE ARE JUST EVOLVED

This is something I had not given much consideration...and I think it is quite significant.

I would like to voice that I feel that there was perhaps poor communication over the intent/purpose of this book in between its conception and release. I have no real issue with the book itself. My issue is the jarring change of direction that presented itself when the book was made available to the community. I accept that this is a work of fiction into which acolyte put tons of effort, but it bothers me that so many people had no clue of how their own stories/experiences were being used.

I agree that it's a positive thing to spread knowledge about entheogens as much as possible and that the realm of fiction is a powerful way to disseminate the spark of a question into many people's minds.

Acolyte, I apologize for my harsh words. You have always been very polite when interacting with me.

All i care about is, that not my real forum name is used if the fictionalized version of my report stays included. I have no problem if people rap off my thoughts and experiences, on the contrary...i just don't want to be quoted wrongly.

I think this, and presenting this as a community effort are the only two legit points to criticize. For the rest, the author is responsible.

nexian names should not be included unless direct permission is granted (each and every revision) this is for personal protection and comfort/concern for the creator of the text being borrowed by this compilation/book

things like dmt should not be revealed in the book if it is going to be science fiction and not a compilation of REAL experiences with REAL compounds, should you inlcude dmt or in a finally explain dmt is spice then please make the rest of the written work reflect the sincerity and individuality of each contributor as they intended, not to fuel your position... perhaps include quotes in thier owners entirety and highlight the sections you feel relevant to your own position, then everyone is appeased

national security threat..... that definitely fosters a battle cry, not cosmic love.... i object to that idea. we cannot hope to change a system from outside without destroying it entirely, which would require a more massive force than the system we are objecting to... we must be within the system to diffuse the aspects we dont desire to leave as a legacy, bashing heads together.. well... no body wins with a head-butt

aliens could be described as non local vessels of consciousness, but nothing is alien when everything is related and connected in the super reality we know as hyper space. it is offputting to those who you might try to influence to open their mind and quit subscribing to a broken system of ignorant incarceration when they simply retract from potentially understanding more due to thier senses screaming GTFO/ WHERES MY CRUCIFIX?!

i appreciate your efforts tremendously and hope you can redirect some of the questionable aspects of this book
additionally, have you considered using some art to illustrate the experience?