ivory

There are a lot of trappings in Buddhism. That's why Zen came into the picture... to simplify the teachings. If you are seeking Truth Buddhism can be seen as pure nonsense. But eventually you get into the "reduction of suffering" aspect of spiritual practice and Buddhism makes more sense and becomes more valuable. If you are looking for a spiritual community, good luck. There are very few truth seekers. Most get lost in the trappings or develop really annoying spiritual identities. However, you're not going to find much better anywhere else. That said, if you really want to extract the core teachings of Buddhism, familiarize yourself with the Three Characteristics and develop a breath practice of some sort.

Oh and check out some of the work by John Welwood: http://www.johnwelwood.com/articles/TRIC_interview_uncut.pdf See if that resonates

@TheAvatarState Hey dude. Just to clarify, true dark night occurs when you become deeply aware of the Three Characteristics: Not-self, impermanence (nothing lasts), and unsatisfactoriness (all of life is suffering, unsatisfactory, unpleasant). If you find yourself obsessing over these truths, then you are likely in dark night. The way out is acceptance. You really need to explore these concepts and accept them on a deep level to get through dark night. It's also important to cut out the highs and do what you can to minimize suffering. Equanimity is what you are after. A lot of people claim they are in dark night but are just experiencing depression, and depression can have many causes: low self-esteem (negative self talk), addiction, trauma, low quality of life, isolation, lack of job satisfaction, laziness/complacency, idealism. It is crucial to acknowledge that the apparent individual does in fact have needs and responsibilities. A good therapist can help with this stuff and there's no shame in getting help even if you believe yourself to be an advanced spiritual practitioner. Just don't tell them you don't exist I posit that many spiritual seekers get stuck because some combination of the above. You really need to have a healthy ego to navigate some of the more challenging spiritual terrain. Lastly, make sure you get clear on what's causing your suffering so you know to treat it. Make it a practice to get clear on the thoughts that arise in your mind. You need to make that shit conscious. A noting practice of a free-form of journaling is really helpful here.

Sup my dude! In a way meaningless is always lurking there ready to be rediscovered. Nothing lasts and all of life is satisfactory to some degree or another so it's only a matter of time before you get caught in the trap of meaninglessness. That said, we still have needs. We need to be engaged with the world to fend off meaninglessness. You need a reason to wake up in the morning but you have to accept that life will never meet your expectations. Idealism is the biggest illusion of all. There are ways to cope with meaninglessness. Exercise, meditate, eat somewhat healthy, and free yourself of all addictions. It's also important to get some social interaction, isolation isn't healthy. Of course, even though this will all sound meaningless it's crucial that you keep practicing and living a healthy lifestyle. How does match up with your experience?

@7thLetter I actually agree with most of your points. Let's not confuse the difference between solitude and isolation. Solitude is healthy whereas isolation is not. That's one of the points that I'm trying to emphasize in this thread. This link also goes on to say: Though dependent on others for the satisfaction of such basic needs as love, belongingness, safety and respect, they get their principal satisfactions from their own development and continued growth. The motif, in the life conditions GREEN has brought about, is to make the best for yourself – this vMEME is very much on the self-expressive side of the Spiral! Self-actualising people tend to have deep interpersonal relations with others. They are selective, however, and their circle of friends may be small, usually consisting of others capable of 2nd Tier thinking. In spite of their tendency to privacy, they often attract others to them as admirers or disciples. I definitely agree that a yellow would walk away with lost causes. Your algebra analogy is rather appropriate. I also agree that many people won't be intellectually stimulating, but I don't think that would be true for all. Yellow has integrated the healthy manifestations at orange and green (for example) so interactions with people at that level won't necessarily be 100% boring. I would agree for sure. I just think it's important to acknowledge that we do have social needs and the lack of tier 2 thinking in society will require a certain level of acceptance for those needs to be met. A yellow person will likely need to accept that his stage green friend is just where he happens to be developmentally. But, he may get bored or agitated from time to time. Yeah, that's basically what I was saying above. I think there's a lot of truth to it. Think about it this way. Health practices, spiritual and growth practices, creative pursuits, and career development. A lot of that happens independently of others. As one develops, there's a desire for growth in all aspects of life. A desire for wholeness. We can only devote so much time to others in order to focus on the other aspects of our lives. Also consider that society is structured so that we have to work long hours just to support ourselves. In a more sane society we would work less and devote more time to other things. One of those areas might be relationships. Instead we are forced to choose, we have to decide what's more important. Obviously, if people are lame we are going to choose more meaningful activities. Maybe things would be different if a larger percentage of people were teir 2, who knows. Given the current set of conditions I can totally see how solitude would be a characteristic at yellow. Again, you and I actually agree on a lot here. We may have differing opinions on whether or not we have "social needs" at all. I'm not sure. I also seem to have the view that yellow would integrate the healthy manifestations of green, and that would include meaningful relationships. i'm not sure where you stand on that. It may also be possible that you don't make a distinction between "isolation" and "solitude" so it's sort of ambiguous to me which one is synonymous with "lone wolf" in your book. This thread was mostly addressing those that isolate. I am actually a huge advocate of solitude.

I personally prefer the 200-300ug range but I am very experienced with LSD. I gradually increased from 100 to 150 to 200 and beyond. I suggest you do the same. 100 is plenty if you are new to LSD. Once you get bored with the lower doses you will start craving more. Listen to that desire and let that process happen organically.

It's going to be a while before we see a shift. What I propose is that each person pursue their own truth. No need to suffer because the rest of society stuck in a meaning crisis. Support authentic causes. Get clear on and stick to your values. Live your truth and encourage other to do the same.

We easily accept what we find familiar, convenient, and beneficial. As a divided nation it's very difficult to make lasting change because there's so much opposition. Almost every policy push-back and obstacles and that's why nothing gets done. I think what we need is someone like Bernie who's willing to push the progressive agenda to the max in the shortest time possible. For that to happen we'd need a Democrat controlled House and Senate. Once people see that universal healthcare, affordable education, a living wage are all beneficial people will shut their mouths and we can begin to move forward as a nation. Once you have a taste of the good life you can't go back to a lower quality of life. Alternatively, we're gonna have to wait for Millennials and GenZ-ers to mature, vote, and take office. One of the problems we have with these generations is that they are lazy and don't vote. But, they will grow out of that. And, when they do stage blue/orange will be on its way out.

Look bad to who? The left is already having a field day with Biden, accusing him of being a corporate democrat. Remember, he has no progressive agenda, he won on the platform of being "not Trump". He will undo the shit that Trump did but for the most part I expect him to be complacent. Healthcare will still be ridiculously expensive, min wage will still be <$8 an hour, college will still be out of reach for most. He is going to take a lot of heat from the left. To the right he is a puppet of the radical left. So they will cry socialism at every turn. He will go down as the worst pres in history according to fox news, stripping people of their "freedoms" requiring masks, increasing taxes, and shit like that. The only people that like Biden are old conservatives who don't like Trump.

I'm hoping LSD makes the list. My personal favorite.

First of all it sounds like you're missing out on play and relationships, but it also sounds like you're in some sort of existential crisis or spiritual transformation. Shit like this is very difficult to diagnose because there are human factors as well as spiritual factors that aren't well understood. You need to get real clear on what it is that you want, and what it is that you need. But you're also going to need to temper those expectations with reality. Life is devoid of meaning and inherently unsatisfactory so no matter what you do or where you go you will feel like something is missing. But, you do need a reason to get out of bed in the morning so don't think you can go live in a cave and be mentally healthy. As things become clearer to you you will understand the necessity of balancing responsibility and acceptance.

@Jayson G I hope you don't mind me chiming in here but I can totally relate. On one hand you want to streamline your process on the other hand you waste a lot of time on low consciousness activities. Check it. There are a couple of things going on here. You put a lot of pressure on yourself and you suffer. You're getting in your own with with all the planning, perfectionism, and trying to get it right. I'm not saying to give up entirely but you may want to check your motives. You appear to come from a place of lack both internally and externally. You need to get to the point where are content with both the internals and externals of your life. As for giving up addictions and distractions this is a life long journey. Be easy and patient with yourself, it's only ego that wants to tackle too much.

Yeah that too

Feeling alive, healthy, and free from preferences. Variety makes me feel alive, being good to myself makes me feel healthy, and embracing life's challenges leaves me with an appreciation for it all.

@Willie Are you familiar with the phrase "not knowing"? You'll hear it a lot in Zen. It's pretty self-explanatory but basically what it means is that we don't know, we can't know, and we need to be okay with that. That said, once the mind realizes that nothing is knowable it's important to cultivate values such as love, kindness, and health. We literally know nothing but at the same time we are responsible for everything and life can seriously turn on you if you don't behave accordingly. Strive to live a healthy lifestyle and be wary of anyone who doesn't.