Flammable

Not really, what you know after this experiment is that they are part of a feedback loop - you can only conclude that the brain and perceptions are somehow self-interactive. As opposed to, for instance, smashing a Starbucks cup with a hammer which seems to be interacting with other perceptions and seems to have no apparent effect on your global perceptive field. It does produce some local perceptions though - sound of smashing, sight of a broken cup, etc. The Starbucks cup does not SEEM to be directly related to the global field.

You can check this in your direct experience - all perceptions interact in complex patterns, sometimes unpredictable. You can check for yourself by, for instance, stabbing yourself in the stomach and then in the brain - just to observe what the phenomenological changes would be. You would definitely spot some differences between the resulting occurrences. Not all perceptions interact in the same way - that is why reality is infinite as it has infinite possibilities of self-interaction. Ken Wilber describes it really well in his book Integral Spirituality - he presents a holistic model showing how brains as a perception, for instance, have a relation to the global phenomenological reality. His model also serves to explain how models such as Spiral Dynamics or cultural artifacts or altering molecular structures all have a certain effect on the global reality even though they are all simply perceptions and 'parts' of the global reality (still made of consciousness since everything is simply that).

@Serotoninluv For sure. Still remember the first time a friend pointed out time is an illusion. Beautiful (still happened in the Now haha)

@Preetom Lovely insight! Alan Watts has a nice quote on this. What does tomorrow even mean? Bring me tomorrow's newspaper please. Or tell me tomorrow's thoughts. There is simply no such thing as tomorrow or yesterday! Tomorrow and yesterday are simply thoughts happening in the eternal Now

It is worth exploring different techniques, but stay with one for at least 1-2 months. Changing them too frequently can bring about a counter-productive effect.

@luckieluuke One thing that struck me as particularly interesting is that my thought process sometimes continues directly from my dream - I recently had this dream where I had to murder a guy with a hammer (sounds weird I know haha - it was not particularly gruesome in the dream), but then I was walking with a friend in an autumn park and discussing whether killing people consciously is better than doing it unconsciously. Then there was a seamless transition to waking and I just continued my train of thought as if nothing had happened. I was in bed and went to the bathroom for my morning routine, but kept on thinking about the topic, as if I was the dream character himself and nothing had changed. It felt as if the dream and waking state are one and the same, one just continuing the other, two parts of the same coin, so to say.

@luckieluuke It varies as far as I am aware - especially with magnificent events it is easier to realise it is a dream (I had this dream of seeing planets and galaxies coming closer to Earth than the Moon, so that was awesome) and enjoy its magnificence. However, with more mundane dreams it is harder to grasp that. Anyhow, if there are not any techniques except journaling, I suppose I can only continue observing it.

I am keeping a dream journal right now as I am having quite clear/active dreams each night, but I struggle to actively do anything in a dream - like going up to characters and asking them questions. I would realize it is all a dream at some point, but I would keep on being the observer without any real control over the entire occurrence.

Can anybody recommend any good Kriya Yoga resources online? I know there are 2 books on the book list, but I currently cannot purchase them, so I was looking for something to work with in the meantime. Thanks.

I love the guy.

Very nice.

@outlandish Mu!

Doggos are life.

Method of acquiring it? Edit: Just realized I was taking this pill in the years when I was hyped about gym, I believe before bed haha

Those are not psychedelics as far as I am aware, but I may be wrong. I feel like you might be conflating psychedelics and drugs in one category. Just intuition, don't take my words as truth.

@luckieluuke No criticism present in my post, just what I felt like writing. Do not see why this would not be possible. Whatever works for people is what works at the end of the day.

Are there achievements or prizes at 700, 800 or 900? Sounds like a boring video game otherwise.

Keep us posted.

I have the same problem - simply observing what the genuine reaction is causes it to cease as it has nothing to feed on! Just like tension in the body, once you become aware and observe it, it simply goes away - same is with psychological reactions/tension. If you feel like observing it and accepting it is not making it go away - look deeper, you might have a part of the self clinging on to it somewhere deeper in the psyche. Once you actually see what the projection is - simply a mental image of failure in your head or a feeling of uneasiness in the stomach (describing envy, for instance), then you will see how absurd it is to be triggered and affected by such a thing, immediately ceasing the cycle of psychological reaction. Observation of fear/projections is essential. The projection itself is the self, it is what it feeds upon.

@Preetom Haha thank you! Alan Watts is a source of beautiful quotes - this one specifically serves as a good pointer on my path

Bumping it, lovely post

@Ali123 The problem might lie in the fact that you are expecting something good to happen which means there is movement of thought/self. Thus, your desire for becoming better is the exact thing preventing you from 'becoming better' (using it for the lack of a better phrase). As @Jack River often mentions, try to look and understand why thought wants to get better or do something in the future. That could solve your problems. Try to understand what is rather than try to become something fixed in the future. Here is a quote from our lovely Alan here which might point you to something essential: Now in this question 'Can I improve me?' there is the obvious difficulty, that if I am in need of improvement, the person who's going to do the improving, is the one who needs to be improved. And there immediately we have a vicious circle.

Stage Orange is usually moderately to really greedy whilst stage Yellow often sees the benefits/reasons of doing something beyond its material rewards (greed not only for money, but also for status, skills, etc). Still a generalization, but often correct.

Coming back to the forum and seeing @Outer and @Shin arguing once again. Much love for all haha

They are all fundamentally leading to the same place - both east and west. Do not conceptualize east and west, but rather explore spirituality without assigning tags to it. Do not believe anything, be it east or west, but trust yourself and experiment. Read all the perspectives so that you avoid getting locked in a paradigm - then experiment with what you feel or think is useful or apt.