Consilience

Agree with the general consensus of yes. Having a rock solid daily meditation practice allows the changes to take root and produce lasting change. Using psychedelics without serious meditation is a huge waste of potential.

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Im not 100% certain, but insulin requirements have slowly been rising since I got diagnosed I believe because the remaining beta cells have been dying off. Requirements have been stable for around 5 months which makes me feel that the rest of the cells have gone the way of the dodo. The hourly testing is a really good idea. Kind of a pain but also hypoglycemia can be deadly so thank you for the recommendation.

@Leo Gura @Arcangelo Thank you both. It’ll also probably just take a lot of trial and error... Ill have to go slowly and be very careful with how Im doing it. Unfortunately there isn’t much on the internet around this topic, however Ive read a reddit post of a diabetic doing a 7 day water fast so it seems possible. As far as insulin adjustment guidelines, guides, resources, information, and whatnot, there’s nothing. We are definitely in the stone age of health.

Agreed!

This is your problem. Understanding the 3 characteristics cannot be accomplished through the intellect, only through hardcore practice. When your concentration becomes so stabilized onto the present moment that you start seeing underneath the fabrication of perception, you'll understand impermanence. Perhaps "nothing" is permanent like you say, but honestly, who knows? What is nothingness? What is the present moment? Why would some very reputable dharma teachers claim that even the present moment is empty? I don't have any answers. No one will through a forum. The only way to find out is through the radical responsibility of a rigorous meditation practice.

My take on this topic is that eventually states stop mattering. I've traveled to some wicked and ecstatic realms on psychedelics, realms that to this day leave me speechless as there is literally 0 context for communication through symbolic language. I've had some of the most indescribably beautiful states of consciousness possible through jhanas. I've felt elated, ecstatic, unified and whole through sexual union. I've felt miserable, cut off, trapped and confused because of my particular life circumstances, wondering why I have to struggle so much while others float by unaware of their privilege. Yet what is that which has watched, witnessed, been conscious of these ginormous ebbs and flows of states? What is even the thing that wants states at all? There's a grand paradox at play here. The paradox that unless we are in a very specific type of state, truth will never reveal itself. The millions who march through the maze of capitalism, constantly chasing happiness through distractions of every kind prove to us that states matter. If we are caught in such a trance state, a state attached to the stories of separation, externalized happiness, addictions to the pursuit of pleasure and avoidance of pain, truth will not show up. Yet as we move through the various realms of consciousness, we start to encounter increasingly profound states. We start to see that these increasingly powerful, beautiful states dwarf these egoic driven pursuits. How could a night out drinking with friends compare to the full-blown union with source? Well... It doesn't. Until it does. In my own experience, the deeper down the rabbit hole I go, the deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper the natural, sober, boring state becomes. I no longer feel an insistent pull at the next big psychedelic breakthrough. I no longer feel a need for constant bliss during meditation through jhanas. Simply breathing, simply being in this neutral existence is revealed to be ineffably beautiful. We could call it a state, yet this "state" is the same state I've had throughout my life. There's not particularly more joy, happiness, or any kind of elevation of emotion. Yet the elevation of emotion is much more available! No doubt. As we expand and raise our consciousness, we can see that happiness, joy, and peace are literally on demand and available to tap into in any moment. But a more accurate way to describe what's changed is that states have been entirely re-contextualized, not pushed towards the positive. And this is the heart of spirituality, the re-contextualization of all states, the intuitive and absolute recognition that all of the striving for higher states, connecting with god, happiness, and bliss are just more ego. Ironically, as we let go of our spiritual ego's, the attachment to these expanded states gives room for this deep re-contextualization of all states of breathe. Such that no longer do we need happiness to experience happiness, or joy to experience joy; through this insight into the nature of all states, there is an underlying, palpable perfection that solves our paradox - the paradox that although truth and happiness may very well only appear through specific states, Absolute Truth and Absolute Happiness transcend all states. Let go of this need for more states, more elevation, more positive emotions and we plant the seeds for a deeper level of emotion, a deeper awareness of truth that is impossible to describe through language. And even more amazing, these more elevated emotions like happiness and joy are MUCH more available. Nothing will snuff away joy like the egoic drive to demand more joy or putting joy on a pedestal. The irony too is that as we do this, our boring, sober state of consciousness begins to radical transform precisely through not transforming at all. And on a slightly un-related yet entirely related note - Love is the only emotional orientation that would be completely at peace and accepting of all that is. If we are love, then loving all regardless of what it is is the direction we "ought" to move. From the Absolute pov, all states would be loved equally by God.

Would definitely work through “The Mind Illuminated” by John Yates. Extremely powerful meditation system designed to cultivate shamatha. If your looking for more of a vipassana approach, Shinzen Young’s See Hear Feel is rock solid.

You can also travel there without psychedelics completing extended SDS sits. Like 2+ hours. There's a video of Shinzen Young talking about how he would do daily 4 hour SDS sits during an extended retreat and he visited hell realms because of the excruciating pain.

@Leo Gura Thank you good sir ??

@Leo Gura If enlightenment is a state as you’re suggesting, doesn’t that necessarily mean that some states are not enlightenment? Yet Absolute Truth, if Absolute, must be true regardless of state. How do we come to terms with this contradiction? In my experience, state changes are critical for bringing back that which transcends state changes to all states. This question seems to be at the heart of the issue with the whole enlightenment is not a state, vs. it is a state debate.

Well that's pretty cool dude 3 months of daily meditation seems like nothing... How many minutes were your sessions? And do you mean to say you've ONLY been meditating 3 months for your whole life?

Been using this video for the past two weeks! Super powerful stuff. It seems to instantly reset and dissipate my stress levels as well as an odd increase in willpower. This nice thing about this guided session is 1) it's guided, 2) it's short, and 3) it's enough to see an immediate difference.

@aurum Thank you so much for this simple explanation. I honestly had no idea this is how our debt/money supply system worked... This seems like a complete disaster waiting to happen, just waiting for an exponential take off in debt from interest.

@Flyboy Yes that's fair, but you were saying these types of books require you to "BELIEVE" in their own source and authenticity, and therefore there isn't much use of these books besides amusement or speculation. I'm disagreeing with this claim. More specifically, I'm suggesting an alternative way to contextualize these reading these books which is more conducive for the cultivation of wisdom and insight. It may very well be the case that The Law of One has more wisdom than The Bible despite their structurally similarities insofar as their appeal to authority. I know in my own life, this has been the case. Yes Abke does seem to implicitly speak as though LoO is true, incontrovertibly. I agree, his way of presenting the material is not as nuanced as it should be if the goal is to truly and authentically raise consciousness.

Then you're missing out. But let's be completely honest, you don't go around verifying or validating other sources of information, but because these sources are outside of your comfort zone, self-bias and epistemological biases, you put them into a category of "amusement" and "speculation." The appropriate way to read these types of books is not to believe in them. It is to simply be open-minded to the messages they are presenting. Your job is not to validate whether they are objectively right or wrong, or whether the source is legitimate, per-say, but to use your intelligence and intuition to find the kernels of wisdom and "truth" such material may or may not communicate. Radical open-mindedness means you're able to read Hitler and find some kind of wisdom. Are you willing to be that open-minded? For example, if I'm reading the Tao Te Ching, am I supposed to brush it off as amusement because we're not even sure if Lao Tzu was a real historical figure? Well that's one option, to attack the messenger. Or I can read it with an open mind and see what resonates and discard what doesn't while keeping a careful eye on my own self biases, limiting beliefs, and unconscious epistemological frameworks. You're allowed to disagree with something in the Law of One or Conversations With God if it doesn't resonate with your direct experience. In fact, I've had multiple insights and intuitions that are in clear contradiction with the CWG books, doesn't mean I haven't found a lot of great wisdom and insights from them. If I'd have brushed them off immediately, or upon the moment of finding a couple of contradictions I would have been shooting myself in the foot. One of Leo's latest blog post goes into this subject of learning from all sources. It's a meta skill, a Spiral Dynamics tier 2 skill. You should check it out.

Chapter 15 of the Tao Te Ching. That’s so interesting! I randomly stumbled into and was just reflecting on this exact passage last night haha. Weird synchronicities. Tbh I doubt these masters this passage describes had any interest taking psychedelics. But who knows man. I see this pov. For myself, making meditation a “practice” has a relentlessness towards becoming disinterested in the mind and ego. When “I don’t feel like meditating” this is the perfect opportunity to notice the illusory nature of self, suffering, craving, and practice anyways. However Ive never done 10 hours of practice/day besides on a meditation retreat. I may feel different after that level of commitment.

Everything said above is solid. The problem is you can’t expect to participate in survival in an enduring DMT psychedelic state. At some point, you’re going to have to return to the mundane, sober, grounded state of mind. How does one embody, integrate, nurture, and facilitate the flourishing of these massive awakenings on psychedelics though? Through training the sober mind. Your mind is the mechanism preventing the lived embodiment of enlightenment. Repeated blasting off into the psychedelics is an inefficient, energetically demanding approach to this work. It’s also fueled by ego; the egoic desire for a never ending buffet for awakening experiences. The deception is that because these awakenings are oriented in the context of the pursuit of truth, the ego VERY easily can justify this constant gorging of psychedelic use. Yet if you combine these types of explorations with a rigorous sober practice, you’re pretty much guaranteed to awaken. The nervous system is trained in the same way a gardener gardens. With patience, diligence, persistence, and care. Imagine if a gardener’s approach to gardening was to just constantly plant new flowers once the current set of flowers die. Lol. A master gardener knows how to nurture and grow what is already there. They know how to let the garden grow on its own, in its own time, within the context of the supporting principles listed above. Give yourself the space to let these insights blossom into your everyday, lived experience. Aka practice. Meditation, self inquiry, kriya any and all are great. Keep using psychedelics, but find that which transcends all psychedelic states, all sober states, and literally all form.

This! Plus getting way more serious with formal practice as well. It we really cared about raising consciousness, why wouldn't we spending 2-3+ hours per day on practice? Even more on days we aren’t working.

This is wrong. Yang is not the greatest of teachers. Amazing entertainer though.

For sure ?? But some content is more conducive for seeing the context than others. Hence why psychedelics can be so powerful. Good luck becoming conscious of God binge watching Netflix. Tripping balls in silent darkness though? Well... that’s a little different. Context is all the same. Regardless, yes this is a really important post for all psychonauts to take seriously. The possible self deception around using psychedelics is scary sneaky. Absolute truth is ALWAYS true regardless of state, otherwise it wouldn’t be absolute truth.

There is without a doubt a global shift in consciousness taking place right now. The virus, the isolation, the social distancing, the weather events, the constant bad news, and for those doing spiritual work, the work inadvertently opens the heart up to this reality of increased suffering, confusion, and turmoil. The external world is creating a myriad of conditions which are forcing the collective to look in the mirror, and the reflection aint pretty. The growing pains are intense both on an individual level, but also a collective. This point in time is an inflection point for humanity. Don't underestimate the interconnectivity of the species on a very metaphysical, psycho-spiritual level; nor should we underestimate how this collective interconnectivity impacts the individual. Over this pandemic I keep returning to a passage from the Tao Te Ching. Here's an excerpt: 'Cultivate Virtue within yourself, and it will become a true part of you. If you cultivate this in a family, it will endure. If you cultivate this in a community, it will live and grow. If you cultivate this in a state, it will flourish abundantly. If you cultivate this in the world, it will become universal. For this reason, a person should be judged as a person, a family as a family, a community as a community, and a state as a state. How can I know about the world? By what is found within me." I guess for me, the only way I've been able to cope with this shift is to keep going. Keep going and going and going. Much love dude. Also Clancy ftw

This!

Calling it a prison is still being caught in the prison. Love yourself to death, judging it as evil, a prison, bad is just bypassing and still being caught in the prison. Much love man ❤️

This is amazing. Thank you so much for sharing.