The Mystical Man

The dictionary definition of a dream is "a series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in a person's mind during sleep". That's all you ever have. Even when you're "awake", your life is a series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in your mind. The only difference between the dream at night and the dream you're having now is that this dream seems to be more stable and linear.

McKenna inspires me to smoke DMT, specifically this quote: "Under the influence of DMT, the world becomes an Arabian labyrinth, a palace, a more than possible Martian jewel, vast with motifs that flood the gaping mind with complex and wordless awe. Color and the sense of a reality-unlocking secret nearby pervade the experience. There is a sense of other times, and of one’s own infancy, and of wonder, wonder and more wonder." - Terence Mckenna That sounds beautiful.

You can't recommend DMT? Why not?

That doesn't surprise me. When a story is truly entertaining and profound, people will respond to it. I wouldn't underestimate the masses; they're not stupid, they just want to be entertained. Showmanship is important. If a movie, series, or novel is boring, and yet it claims that you're too stupid to understand it, well, that's snobbish and condescending. Make something that's fun to consume and meaningful. George Lucas learned that the hard way. He made a movie like THX and it tanked. So he had to learn how to entertain an audience. He made American Graffiti, which inspired young people, and that inspired him to make a movie for kids: Star Wars, which was very, very fun to consume, but it also had a meaningful subtext. There's nothing great about being intelligent but boring.

I'm halfway through season two, and I get that sense, too. The writing isn't that profound, but the performances are great. If you guys want to watch an intelligent series that isn't boring, I recommend The Sopranos and Six Feet Under. Those two series are HBO's true masterworks.

I watched the pilot. It didn't really hook me, but it could be a good show, if you have the patience and the time to watch it. It might have inspired Midnight Mass. The problem is that there are so many other great shows that I still have to watch: Better Call Saul, Mad Men, The Leftovers, The Wire, Dexter, and many more. Carnivàle isn't rated highly; it doesn't show up on any of the lists. I first want to watch the shows that are considered to be the best written shows of all time. Another problem with Carnivàle is that it doesn't have a proper ending, because it got canceled.

I know we have seen this concept before, but I thought this one in particular is cool.

N,N-DMT. Can't get 5-MeO yet. Yeah, it's probably a good idea to start with a low dose.

Jed McKenna was more entertainment for me. He's a great writer, and I love his books, but I think he cares more about being entertaining than enlightening. His distinctions between Human Childhood, Human Adulthood, and Truth-Realization were useful, though. Castaneda was also more about entertainment. Discovering his books was one of the most magical times in my life. Dr Hawkins's writings were very powerful. Just reading his books put me into a higher state. His descriptions of the presence of God and what he called "The Final Doorway" silenced my mind. I read certain passages over and over again, because it was so stimulating. One of my favorite books is Story by Robert McKee. It's the best book on the craft of storytelling, and it's not just about the craft; it's also very philosophical, psychological, and beautifully written. “A fine work of art - music, dance, painting, story - has the power to silence the chatter in the mind and lift us to another place.” - Robert McKee

I think the Life Purpose Course is a valuable resource. You need to give it two to three years. During the first three years, whenever I felt lost, I returned to my course notes, and that gave me support. I also watched the core concepts section a second time after three years. The LPC is good enough, and it's affordable. If you want a more spiritual Life Purpose Course, then maybe check out Jonathan Gustin's course. I haven't taken it; it's quite expensive, but it looks interesting because it has a spiritual foundation.

It's a very entertaining movie, but I wouldn't call it a masterpiece.

Dr. Hawkins said that music takes you out of the linear and puts you into the non-linear.

I don't know if languages can be objectively beautiful, but they can definitely be objectively difficult. For example, the German language is much more difficult than the English language. German can be beautiful, but you need to be extremely good at it to express the potential beauty of the German language. For example, Süskind's Perfume has some of the best German prose I've ever read. And the German translation of Huxley's Heaven and Hell was a joy to read. However, if you can't reach that extremely high standard, German isn't going to sound particularly beautiful. The English language, on the other hand, almost always sounds like music to me; I love its simplicity, flexibility, and elegance. But that's just my opinion. A lot of people say that French is a beautiful language, but I can't agree with that. Maybe if I studied French more, I'd recognize its beauty. Maybe that's what it comes down to: how much you've studied a language.

That's really good. Thanks for sharing.

I just wanted to ask how many people on this forum are interested in doing 3D-Art? Share your portfolio and resources for learning. I'll start: Artstation has free learning. Gnomon is great. FlippedNormals is good. Also share your favorite art piece.

Do you think you're exempt from those traps because you're doing spirituality? If anything, spiritual people tend to be more susceptible to those traps.

Room (2015)

Thinking that because "life is a dream" anything goes Committing suicide (because "it leads to God", or for whatever reason) Not taking responsibility for your thoughts, emotions, and actions because "there is no self" Not going to school or work Avoiding the harsh reality of your life situation Not building skills (because "nothing matters", or for whatever reason) Becoming lazy, complacent, and self-satisfied Becoming arrogant and disrespectful Thinking that every problem in life needs to be solved by meditating more or reading more books (maybe you need to work out, do chelation therapy, or some other non-spiritual form of self-help, because awakening is not the answer to everything) Relying only on intuition and dismissing the power of reason and logic Turning the ego against itself, thereby becoming dysfunctional and immobilized, instead of building a mature and healthy ego Thinking you're above everything when you can't even get laid or make money Thinking that success and money won't make you happy, thus becoming unproductive Confusing non-doing with not-doing Becoming too isolated for too long, thus getting lost in the vastness of the psyche, and not asking for help because "no one can understand me" Feeling special: an unwillingness to die into the ordinary Thinking that social skills aren't important (as long as you live in society, your social skills, communication skills, and EQ are very important) Getting overwhelmed by the content that's out there, and thinking that you have to consume it all (90% of self-help material is cheap and generic; find the best of the best and focus on that) Not accepting your humanity Losing your dignity Losing your integrity Becoming a degenerate devil

There is no such thing as "god survival". The flow of life is the spontaneous expression of God's creativity which is not inhibited by the ego's attempt to survive as something that is not worth surviving as. The problem isn't the ego's capacity for survival; the problem is the ego's capacity to survive in destructive and unnecessary ways. Ego doesn't need survival; ego is survival. Dr. Hawkins taught: survival established the main core of the ego. Survival and expansion are two different things. Things tend to expand; that doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the ego's survival. In fact, the ego is often in the way of expansion, leading to the obstruction of the flow of life and the destruction of life. Animals and plants are also an expression of God's creativity, but their behavior is pure survival. Dr. Hawkins taught: the ego originates from the animal world. We can enjoy the spontaneous flow of life because the mechanical nature of the ego got us through the early stages of evolution. When evolution or life first begins, consciousness goes to sleep. God becomes unconscious. What are we going to do while God sleeps? We have to rely on the ego. But when we rely on the ego for too long, that becomes problematic. Now we have to learn to rely on consciousness rather than the ego. It's time for God to wake up.

The ego's capacity for survival is something to marvel at; it has survived for eons. The ego's attempt to survive is a burden, but if the ego wasn't so good at survival, you wouldn't be here right now.

It's not true that you don't have free will at all. It's just that your will is limited. Ouspensky wrote about how man is a machine and how much work is required to become free. Part of spiritual work is to open up choice. Observation is the key technique. You observe your body, thoughts, and emotions, but that doesn't mean that you are not your body, thoughts, and emotions.

There's more on Artstation. It's bizarre. But it's also really good.

The principles outlined in that book are solid. My favorite successful people (Lucas and Rowling) followed (consciously and unconsciously) every single principle mentioned in that book. “The principles always work if you work the principles.” - Jack Canfield

Every ego has traits of the ten personality disorders. Every ego is narcissistic and histrionic. We just don't label people as such unless it's a severe case of narcissism. When someone does get labeled as a narcissist, is he a lost cause? If it's a really severe case, probably yes. Transfiguration is possible, but difficult and unlikely. It's very difficult to make even the simplest of changes. And sometimes people go too far to the dark side to change. Look at Vader. In a sense, he redeems himself, but he still dies as a broken man. Narcissism is the pathway to tragedy.

I can relate to this. I think it's important to learn about spirituality from older and wiser people. I always recommend Adyashanti and Dr. Hawkins. They will bring you sanity and healing rather than confusion and damage. I also think that it's important to understand what selflessness really is. You can take care of all the survival stuff and still be committed to upholding the self-transcending values of truth, honesty, and integrity. That's simply a wise way of being in the world, and it can be adopted sooner rather than later. The idea that you first have to be selfish is false, because selfishness leads to problems; it's an unwise way of being, and it's not necessary to be that way to get a job. You can get a job from a place of wholeness. You don't have to be a fractured self to get a job. This is from the "Taking the One Seat" course by Adyashanti: "Get your mode of being in the world oriented around the self-transcending love and wisdom of being, and you will experience life to be a rich, meaningful, creative and inspiring adventure. This does not mean that life will necessarily be easy; it means that it will fundamentally be experienced as rich, meaningful, creative, and inspiring. Excessive psychological suffering is a clear indication that one's mode of being in the world is in conflict with being and life as it is. Suffering is the feedback loop between you and life that tells you that your mode of being is misaligned, meaning that your values (literally what you value) and your beliefs are out of harmony with being, the underlying nature of both you and all of existence." You can turn your contact with spiritual teachings into a liberating experience rather than an entangling experience. What is ego anyway? Here is a definition from the "No-Self" course: "Ego is to be identified with one's inner psychology: self-referencing ideas, thoughts, opinions, judgments, storylines." Do we need any of that garbage to survive? No. So we can drop it with relief and move on with our lives. "It is important to continue moving in positive, productive ways in your life, even in the light of resistance." You said that you had success jumping over your fears. That was actually the beginning of true spirituality, because ego is fear. All the higher values of love, peace, and joy rest on the foundational value of courage. I hope you find the courage to trust life again. I wish you all the best.