Jodistrict

Those are fearful thoughts generated by your mind. The alternative is to walk though life as a free man.

The culture is toxic and the social media is amplifying the toxicity. Communities and families are fragmented and everyone is living alone. It is easier to see this with food. One projection says that by 2035 more than half the global population will be obese. This can be directly linked to poisonous processed food which is full of chemicals, empty calories, and sugar. Look at pictures of the 1940s where almost everyone was mean and lean. That was in the days when house wives would cook everything from scratch – no processed food.

When you lie, for example, in the example you gave, you are witholding a part of yourself, and thus preventing intimacy. You got the lollipop but gave up a part of yourself to get it. I did a workshop with Blanton, and he advocated just telling everything and then committing yourself to resolving the conflict and turbulence that follows. At the end of the rainbow, is greater intimacy and you are more in touch with your real self (which you refused to hide).

I use San Pedro. It is a natural substance so doesn't leave you depleted the next day.

Way ahead of what?

I keep a journal of triggers. They are excellent doorways into your unconscious mind. Typically, you are overreacting because the trigger has pulled up old memories of unresolved trauma. Keep asking “why” to discover the unconscious programming.

Google just gives you the Western view of Buddhism. The West is a left brain culture. When I lived in Thailand nobody ever talked about philosophy. They were more concerned about making merit. But here is a balanced article that considers both points of view. https://www.lionsroar.com/is-buddhism-a-religion-november-2013/

Buddhism is not a philosophy. Buddhism is a religion. It’s purpose is not to answer philosophical questions on the nature of consciousness. The other issue is on consciousness. Real consciousness includes an inner connection and integration of our unconscious. Thus, for example, if you get more angry than is appropriate, or you have a constant underlying anxiety, than you are not fully conscious. There are parts of yourself of which you are not aware. That is why healing is necessary for true consciousness. Then all the concepts, ideas, and chatter of the left brain just fall away and you fully live life in the moment.

A practice (e.g., yoga, meditation) over time changes the deep structure of the brain. Our left brain dominated society overrates intellectual understanding of the neocortex. Our consciousness is only the tip of the iceberg. A practice provides a context for realization through experience and requires instructions. Instructions are not dogma. Ramana Maharshi gave the instruction to inquire “Who am I?”.

It should be mentioned that Buddhism doesn’t focus on consciousness as a goal. The goal is to end “suffering”. The Buddha was focused on “suffering” and all his teachings were directed to that which ends “suffering”.

Vipassana is nothing more than using your body feelings as an object of meditation. Shinzen Young’s Unified Mindfulness system is based on Vipassana, with all the cultural trappings and beliefs removed. It is a pure practice. https://unifiedmindfulness.com/

It’s interesting that he claims that anyone who is making statements about psychedelics doesn’t know what they are talking about because there isn’t sufficient scientific research to back it up. He only talks about scientific studies and never once mentions shamanism. Presumably, the people who have been using these substances for hundreds of years aren’t even worth mentioning. He doesn’t appear to have taken psychedelics himself, but he thinks he is qualified to talk about them. This is why you will never hear anything useful from these YouTube “gurus”.

Years ago I had roomates who were scientologists. They woke up to the scam and left. But they still claimed that the auditing worked.

Or Spiritual Bypassing.

It’s already well known as a technique. When Shinzen Young was in a Japan monastery, he had to pour freezing cold water over himself every morning before meditation in the middle of winter. That’s cold torture. The American Indians have the sweat lodge. That’s hot torture. But these methods don’t permanently damage the body so they could still be considered the middle way. The middle way can still be pretty extreme.

This is just repeating Western Christian propaganda on the “savage” that needs to be civilized. But nobody has been more cruel than Christians. Western civilization killed close to 100 million people in two World Wars, and nuclear weapons could end human life. Who is the savage? It is a myth that indigenous cultures are “simple”. They are human and have the same brains that we have. And they have developed sustainable ways of life, whereas “civilization” is unsustainable leading to catastrophe.

A communal life is still practiced by indigenous tribes, some who still have no use for money. It was our natural condition.

The Western countries were supporting apartheid in South Africa, while the communist and socialist countries were opposing it.

The demons are symbols of repressed pain in your unconscious mind. Psychedelics like LSD, Ayahuasca, and mushrooms keep you stuck in your mind. You are exploring your self. Everything you see is you, just like in dreams. The only thing that seems to take you beyond the mind is 5-meo.

This is an interesting and well written article written by a young person raised by American Buddhist parents. She explains why Western Buddhism is not so benign as people think and why she left. For those here who were raised by Buddhist parents, do you agree with this? https://slate.com/human-interest/2023/02/what-it-was-like-to-be-raised-by-american-buddhists.html

Having used a lot of psychedelic medicines, I have become skeptical of anyone who thinks they understand them. Because research has been illegal for years, we know very little. When I was in Peru, where they have a longer history with them, they treat the plant medicines like deities. This isn’t a bad metaphor. A deity is unpredictable and you just don’t approach with demands and expectations. You first make sacrifices, and approach with humility bringing gifts. Western capitalistic culture will treat them as commodities to be sold for profit by large corporations. What could go wrong?

Any psychedelic will do the same thing if it breaks through your defenses to the deeper parts of the brain. When I was in the Amazon taking Black Ayahuasca I heard audible voices calling to me from the jungle.

I agree. I actually find the results encouraging. Janov came up with his therapy in the 1960s when knowledge of the brain was very limited and he was funding his own research. However, in my opinion he has outlined the correct approach to psychotherapy, based on biology, that can result in a complete cure. The other problem is getting money to support the research needed. Only the government could provide funds to do this. But the system has been captured by cognitive psychologists who have staked their careers on ineffective therapies and will fight to maintain the status quo. The Janov therapists had to go through years of extra training and how many are still around? There are plenty of fakes who will pretend to be primalists.

That could work some, but it is still a left brain coping strategy. When you are under stress, the pain signals will still come from the right brain putting the whole strategy in jeopardy.

The Disappointments of Primal Therapy http://primal-page.com/disapp.htm The Success and Failure of Primal Therapy http://primal-page.com/success.htm