Federico del pueblo

@Loba oh, that was interesting. I can still be struggling a bit with what is real vs what is "imaginary". So there is this consensus material reality that we all know. Nobody would have a debate with me about whether the table in front of me is real or not. If I show them a photo of the table they'll agree it is real. But if I told them that I know some spirit that keeps visiting me, then everyone would doubt it and challenge me in all kinds of ways. I can see how for them something is not real (or imaginary or false) if they can't see any evidence of it, but that doesn't make a thing unreal per se. But then again you could have someone who makes claims that can't be justified in any way, like "in the center of earth there is some huge red dragon living, that can spit fire etc." and it's a problem because the people who have legitimate experiences with certain spiritual entities could be lumped together with these people who make false claims. Anyway, so you've had experiences with spirits or entities of any kind?

So what does one actually believe when a deity is perceived as archetypal? Is like "yeah we just like the image/idea of a god of X, but we don't really think it's actual"?

- do things that are emotionally challenging (and face your fears) - do things that are physically challenging - think about what your important values are and develop integrity - develop assertiveness - develop confidence = say what you think, in spite of fear - improve your social skills (= linked to facing fear) and meet women - do typical manly things with other men - work out - watch male role models and see if you can feel into their "energy", like what must be their mindset/their beliefs/their motivations and see if there's something you can emulate - overcome your trauma and childhood conditioning, the kind of stuff that makes you feel like a loser or weak, do therapy or whatever is needed - maybe read biographies of some men you find particularly manly and see if you can implement some of their mindsets and behaviours, e.g. Arnold Schwarzenegger ?

@Leo Gura were your eyes open or closed during the experience? If they were open, what happened to your visual field? Did your sense of having a human body disappear to be replaced by this "being earth" sensation or was it more like "Leo's body + all of planet earth"?

Interesting. Was there still conscious thought going on in language, like "holy shit, I'm all of earth" or was it just pure being of earth? Was there a sense of having created or constantly creating yourself?

How is that different from your prior understanding of "I am everything"? Is planet earth still just something that you dream up? Is it real or imaginary? Is the consciousness of planet earth independent of god's consciousness as a whole or is it like a small part of it?

I'm not sure anymore if removing them is better than leaving them in. If it's a good filling the loss of material (into the mouth) due to abrasion might be extremely low. I had Mercury fillings removed. Normally dentists are supposed to apply a very elaborate procedure to remove these filling in a way so that no metal can be absorbed in the mouth. It's kinda like attaching some rubber skin on the tooth, all around the outer edge of your tooth so that only the top of the tooth itself is exposed/visible. But my dentist didn't do that and just started drilling the stuff out. I did a heavy metal test about two years ago and had about 13 times the amount of the upper limit for mercury, so I guess it didn't go so well for me.

Sure. Overtheorizing can definitely happen and it's even more likely for the typical anxious guy that hasn't had success with women yet. Though, we also have to consider that a guy who asks this kind of question on here probably already has problems and will tend to be socially anxious and anxious with girls and is struggling even though he already has the best environment (in this particular case of the op). So something needs to improve. He surely needs to "just take action" and meet lots of people, but if he also receives a bit of specific "how to" advice here and there I think it won't hurt, assuming that he actually does take action in the real world and doesn't first need to have a few hundred questions answered before he's gonna say "hello" to somebody ?

@KH2 but you can't simply run around on a small college campus doing daygame for hours in a direct manner, especially if you're still hopelessly awkward at it. In college it's actually good to do social circle game for this reason. You can still mesh some cold approach on top of the social circle stuff, but then it will look like you're that cool guys who knows a lot of people already and just also talks to strangers if he feels like it. And everybody has to start somewhere, so of course the making friends parts can already be a bit difficult too, but it's just easier to first do some general socializing compared to walking from one hot stranger girl to the next and having man to woman interaction not being on some huge campus. @Roy wow, so moralising and such strong "shoulds". I honestly would have benefited massively from the kind of knowledge discussed e.g. here on the forums in my own university time. This stuff can still make it much easier even if you already have the most conducive environment. I think it's a good think that the op asks for advice here.

@thenondualtankie your best strategy for college is being social. Get to know as many people as possible. Maybe join some social activity (sports, language, going to student's events), maybe even join some group of people that organize events themselves, like the students that organize parties for other students. Go to the student's/college parties or whatever you have. If your city has a nightlife independent from college then obviously you can go there too and do cold approach and attain skills that'll then help you in the more social circle-ish college environment. If it's a bigger city you can do a bit of daygame too (outside of college). Mostly it should be about becoming one of the more popular kids on the campus, networking etc. And check out the vids. Edit: And once you know a handful of cool people you should go out with them (bars or college parties), so you already have people to talk to, like a group you can bounce back to. So you party with your people, be as much fun as possible and then you just do a classic cold approach every once in a while, from your group (like a girl walks by your group and you're like "hey, wait a minute...who are you? Haha you're kinda cute, come here, HI! I'm the nondualtankie! Nice to meet you Denise! You seem...like trouble in an adorable way " and so on. On your way to the toilet or to other people you know you can always squeeze in a quick cold approach and then you take the girl with you to your friends or join her friends for a moment and merge the groups if possible.

Would a direct experience of his dick count as proof for the existence of his dick? ?

In this work of exploring consciousness and reality at the most fundamental level, couldn't it happen that a desire to realize god (or infinite consciousness, nondualty etc.) kind of influences the spiritual experiences that we make at some point? Leo talked about how some religious people can have a mystical experience on psychedelics, e.g. a powerful vision that includes an image of Jesus. And then they use this to reinforce their beliefs about Jesus and delude themselves even more. So how do we make sure that we don't brainwash ourselves into certain experiences and realisations etc., couldn't the same thing that happens to religious people also happen to us here in this work?

@Breakingthewall sounds good! ?

Anyone else?

Online dating: Pros: - can set up a profile which does a lot of the work for you (if it's good) - less need to socialize/go out/meet people - can rather easily choose between a lot of people Cons: - your pics are everything = still more superficial than offline - looks matter still more, more objectification/reduction on looks - more logical and less fun than offline - need to constantly message new people and then decide about dates without having met someone - as a woman you'll need to deal with a lot of needy bullshit from desperate guys Offline: Pretty much the reverse of the above. You can convey your personality better. You become a better person if you socialize regularly and it's more fun, more "real".

Yeah, that's probably it. Everything needs to be deconstructed or transcended. Including the models that help us to get there.

Like you've all heard of some crazy story in which someone tripped on LSD and then believed he could fly and so he jumped from his balcony and died...or similar stuff. This is kind of what the mainstream media point to when they talk about how insanely dangerous a substance like LSD can be. Anyway I'd assume that if these stories are true at all, it probably is a case of abuse, like mixing LSD with another substance, taking crazy high doses without prior experience and being at a party etc., am I right? Also sometimes they say that someone "got stuck" on LSD, like he had a horror trip and now he's just basically insane or mad. I basically just want reasonable explanations for why things like these might happen, so I don't have to fear them, knowing that I'm not gonna commit the same silly mistakes as these people. This knowledge could maybe also help me to not freak out if a trip ever goes into a scary direction, like I'm gonna be less likely to be afraid of becoming mad or whatever. Thanks y'all!

So what do you think it is that can cause someone to jump from the balcony? Is it a lack of understanding for the danger of the situation or some delusional euphoric sense confidence (like a belief of having super powers)? Or is it maybe that someone has an ego death but is still moving around without really knowing about it? The dosage of 300 mcg seems extreme if your friend didn't have prior LSD experience. Is it that what you mean with "didn't do research", like a lack of awareness for the right dosage? Because I'm struggling a bit to understand how more research can help to prevent someone from doing unreasonable things on the substance, when probably the effects of the substance might make you forget about your research.

Sorry to hear that!

Really? ?

@OBEler ok ? @Jodistrict That's interesting stuff, thanks! Sure. But doesn't the substance itself reduce your impulse control? So that you need very strong impulse control when sober to still maintain reasonable impulse control when tripping? Anyway I start with low doses and only increase the dose slowly from trip to trip I think I should be ok, shouldn't I? I don't have any problems with impulse control in normal life and I take precautions, do my research etc. @something_else makes sense. Yeah it seems idiotic that all these substances are forbidden so that people are either forced to do illegal things or have to use research chemicals that aren't illegal yet...

I don’t ask for a whole lot of advice on this forum ever. Usually I like to give advice and be supportive for everyone. Tonight is different. I've been humiliated. The situation in general: A grown ass man with a masters degree in engineering is incapable of making a living for himself...due to a mysterious, not well understood chronic illness. So the man is dependent on some kind of social benefit, to survive. Most people understand this, some don't. It's a challenge to try to build any kind of healthy self esteem based on these circumstances. So today was the wedding of my very best friend. Everything was fun and positive. Until I had one conversation with a family member of my best friend. "Hey man...I was thinking about doing the same thing that you're doing...you know....just not work at all...maybe take advantage of some kind of social benefit and maybe just do some "black work" on top of that to have a great life without having to worry. Wait, you should be very knowledgeable about that kind of stuff, what do you think???!!!?" And more BS like that. That is about as humiliating as it gets for a man. Already having 0 status you get humiliated for your low level of status, but also you get accused of taking advantage of your state (for receiving benefits). It actually doesn't matter if it's man or woman, but you know that especially for a man it's a very strong low blow if somebody just takes a shit on your low level of status/achievements, especially if you know that you'd completely smoke this guy in a small glass pipe, under normal circumstances... Bros and sis' ...just give me a bunch of positive words...I'm degraded...society has thrown me in a thrash can. I've been working my ass off for year's trying to improve my fucked up situation, it's hard, it's complicated... And then some asshole comes along and makes me feel like shit. No idea what else to say. Just help your good old Federico dude who's normally writing long ass posts to improve your own tough shit, because my honor has been completely taken away.

@Leo Gura @RendHeaven @OBEler Why is there sometimes advice given against the use of psychedelics if the individual has mental illness or trauma/emotional problems? They say that it can trigger psychosis. But does this only happen if the individual does something wrong, like is not careful enough with the dosage or is resisting the experience when it comes up and feels uncomfortable? It's a bit confusing that you often hear how much healing potential psychedelics have, but then also hear people advicing against them if you have emotional problems.

@KH2 You mean people that are bullies? Well, whether or not some incident is nothing is so subjective to the individual. Maybe a bunch of words, when they hit the right button, can be more hurtful then having someone spit in your face. Or if you think about the threads in the dating section. Approaching a woman can be perceived to be so terrifying, but the same guy could not have any problems racing down some narrow trail in the woods with a bike, which is about 100x more dangerous than approaching a girl. It's all in our mind.

@SQAAD Watch more things like what I share below. A homeless guy picking up girls to find a place to sleep at. Maybe that helps you to not take all the scientific findings so seriously anymore. And there are more videos like this btw.