The first of many:

So I have been known, on occasion, to enjoy the fine aroma, and relaxing activity known as pipe-smoking. Apart from being somewhat of a hipster (admitting that makes me not really a hipster....I hope), I was drawn to the pipe because ever since I was young, I had a fascination with smoke rings.

Smoke rings?!

Yes, smoke rings. They are actually a pretty bizarre phenomenon, which owe their existence to the complexity of fluids, and how they flow. But, I'm not here to talk at yo face about the physics, that's for another day.

Smoke rings are very wonderful to watch, and even though I have blown hundreds, possibly thousands, I have not grown tired of watching them roll through the air. In fact, my appreciation for them has deepened as time has gone on.

The universe is much like a smoke ring, and smoke rings are much like the universe (possibly because smoke rings are comprised of the universe? yup, that sounds good. )
Well, that's an odd thing to say, smoke rings are like the universe, isn't it? Well, they share a similar life, as well as a nearly transcendental property.

The universe began, so they say, as a point of infinite density and nearly infinite energy. It's entropy state was zero, meaning the universe was a ordered as it could possibly be. Think about it, your house would be super organized if everything was in one location. There would be no more, "Where's my keys?" Your keys would be located in the same place as everything else, and would thus be un-lose-able! (TM)

So the big bang happened, for what ever reason, possibly someone was talking too loudly in the theater full of other points of infinite density and energy, and our universe was a hot head. Who knows? It happened. From that point onward, the total entropy in the universe has been increasing ever since, and as a result, everything has been getting less and less organized. We can now lose our keys, damn it!

The high state of organization of the early universe shares a parallel with the organized state of a smoke ring. Smoke rings start life as tight little loops of gas that, because of their organized nature, can travel great distances. Much like the universe, over time they are prone to losing their organization, and if undisturbed by other air currents, will do so in a pretty predictable mathematical fashion.

I realized a little bit ago, the real beauty in a smoke ring, is not the ring itself, when it is young and tight, but rather when it falls apart. When it begins loosening up, becoming fluffy, losing its round shape, and casting off pieces here and there. The way they fall apart is dependent on the laws that govern their motion, and to a degree is very dependent on how they are formed. Because of the original order of the ring, the proceeding death of the ring creates marvelously graceful, and intricate forms, that still posses echoes of the original underlying order.

The universe is much the same. Ever since the big bang happened, the universe has been falling apart, and does so according to certain laws of nature. The real beauty of the universe was never in its formation, or its early state, but rather in the long, magnificent ride to its demise. As it falls apart, things like suns, and planets, and galaxies, and most importantly life, form. We are a product of a cosmic smoke ring, and we get to witness a slice of time in the wonderful demise of it all. As we have broadened our understanding, it has become apparent that the universe is a fantastic cosmic ballet, graceful, intricate, and wildly complex. So many natural phenomena share a similar pattern to the life of the universe. Just look around, and you'll see.

Thanks for reading!

Hyperspace holograms exhibit similar behavior as well. There have been many times where as the intense part of the experience is wrapping up, I'll open my eyes, looking up at the ceiling. A tight, well-formed hologram appears at the top of the ceiling where my focus is and it eventually starts descending. Well part of it stays on the ceiling at all times while other parts descend. The layers descend in "stops" and with each stop they descend (leaving behind other parts of the hologram at the previous stop) it becomes more and more subtle with the interactions and the depth of field refining to become more and more intricate. I too have noticed how smoke rings will do similar things when unperturbed.

That's so cool! I haven't had OEV's like that before. I have often seen CEV's which looked like colorful smoke, sometimes a blend of geometry and smooth fluidity. I'll have to keep my eyes open longer next time I have some DMT.