I Am That

I just thought i'd share my experience meeting with a rather unique individual, a gentleman of 122 years old living in Varanasi India. According to records, the longest living human lived to 122 years, Jeanne Calment of France. Given that there were no birth certificates in India in 1896, Sivananda's age cannot be independently verified. Although, his date of birth was discovered at a temple register. Sivananda lives a disciplined, monastic style life, is vegan and has no diseases. He does not accept donations or money. He doesn't even eat fruit, as an example, because the severely poor cannot afford fruit. He mainly lives on white rice, dahl and rotti (wholemeal flat bread). As far as his physical ability goes, I followed him up a couple of flights of stairs which he managed just fine. He moves around a surprising amount! Although his base is in Varanasi, he's often travelling around India and has many followers all over the country. The man exudes humility, and as soon as I met him he was organising food for me. It was an honour to meet with him. https://www.sbs.com.au/topics/life/health/article/2016/12/12/120-year-old-man-reveals-his-secrets-living-long-life

@Good-boy He is a virgin and he mentions this as being one of the main reasons he's lived so long. Seriously.

@Vinnie The curious thing is that he doesn't even realise he is hijacking the thread. Four people not appreciating his involvement in the thread and still not getting the picture. Spirituality is but the perfect hiding spot for the ego. Thank you. I can't say I've been to South America, but as far as travelling to these types of places in general goes I find using your intuitive sense is very important. It'll steer you where your meant to go and who you're meant to avoid. Pay attention to people's energy to interpret their intentions and also keep an eye out for lessons that may come your way. If you're young, they may be plentiful. When I was younger I made some very poor choices travelling solo through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand and attracted some outright dangerous people and found myself in some very unstable situations. But, I'm sure that phenomenon was a reflection of where I was mentally. On this trip I did not notice dark energy coming my way or me seeking it out, nor did I find myself in any situations that seemed overly dangerous, even riding a motorcycle, hiking and camping solo at 5000m altitude. I have a handful of other shots from the trip on my Flickr page if you're interested to have a look. Enjoy your trip to Peru, all the best. https://www.flickr.com/photos/narcotickangaroo/

With the positive research coming out on Ketamine and depression, I had higher hopes for this compound for relieving depression and also consciousness related work. Whilst admittedly I was not using it in a formal therapeutic environment, it would seem that plant based entheogens are far more pleasant and safer. One of the main drawbacks of Ketamine is its apparent potential for addiction. I can't say I found it remotely addictive and I have a rather long history with alcohol & tobacco addiction. My doses of Ketamine were over a month apart. But, going by reports on the net, many do succumb to the addictive qualities. I'm guessing when working with a trained therapist the potential for addiction and bladder related issues are going to be greatly reduced. In a medical setting, Ketamine has an excellent safety profile- its clinical use wouldn't be so widespread otherwise. For me, I found the experiences very cold, distant and dark, but not definitely not overwhelmingly negative. There is a severe loss of motor control and a numbness to the extremities. In my first experiment, I was so dissociated that when I played a song that I love I felt absolutely nothing, it was as pleasurable as listening to nothing at all. Sub-ego death doses of Ketamine are really so very different to trytamines- if I was listening to that same song on mushrooms I would have been blown to pieces emotionally. Dose wise, I aimed for the lower end of what others reported online would bring about a "k-hole"/full ego dissolution but did not experience anything like that. On my second experiment I ingested a total of 200mg of Ketamine via two different ROAs and had a very similar experience to the first time. I even incorporated some heavy intentional breathing/circular type breath work and even this was not enough to encourage any substantial feelings to emerge. I tried the Wim Hof method (intentional breathing) on Acacia root bark/DMT and Syrian rue last week and the bliss was immense. I think the worst side effect of Ketamine has to be the grogginess after you come around. It's just simply not really worth moving for a while. You won't be able to walk well at all. Why and how people use this stuff at raves just seems utterly insane to me. Be safe if you plan on doing this drug outside of a clinical setting! Consider your body position- laying down or propped up in bed is best. Also consider the potential for addiction, some people really seem to like the feeling this drug induces. I can't say i'm one of those people.

@pluto This maybe so. But have you personally met any of them? If so, please share you experiences.

@Noone Here Lectins don't cause all those problems for all humans, that's not well supported at all. Most likely, the reason why you feel better is because your gut is so impaired that you can't efficiently process these foods, so you're basically on an elimination diet. Or, you're just one of those individuals who does well on more animal flesh. As far as the elimination diet goes and why some folk may see improvements ditching grains/legumes, Brit explains it pretty well here. And yeah, i'd suggest you follow @Wolfram Volpi 's link to Dr. Greger's ideas on this subject. Btw, last week I met with a gentleman in Varanasi, India who is 123 years old and lives on dahl, potato & rotti. I'll be putting up a post shortly.

@Moreira Unless you are suffering from chronic depression or chronic pain, I don't think it's an avenue worth exploring. Even then, you would want to track down a medical professional trained in administering Ketamine infusions. The additional concerns of the purity of street grade Ketamine are too large to ignore.

Yeah mate, all well and good if you are stable enough to experiment with these compounds, some people aren't and it could end in a disaster. One of my best friends experimented with LSD, it fractured his mind completely and ruined him beyond repair. He eventually ended up committing suicide. Yes well you missed something rather significant there, as that's the very root of addiction- distance from unpleasant emotions. This is utter nonsense and quite frankly a dangerous statement. Please be mindful of making such assumptions. Ketamine tolerance builds up very quickly and this is noted among addicts. This is why you find addicts needing to consume 2, 3 even 5+ grams a day.

Healing with Whole Foods by Paul Pitchford I believe is an absolute must have if you are truly interested in health. It's a big book, very helpful as a reference. I found How Not to Die by Greger missing quite a lot in the overall picture of healthy and happy living. Its approach is far too clinical for my liking. If you are able to entertain some fairly far out shit, then i'd suggest Survival in the 21st Century by Viktoras Kulvinskas. Andreas Moritz is also worth checking out, especially his book on the liver/gallbladder flush. The Tao of Health, Sex, and Longevity by Daniel Reid is excellent too.

@Solace Very interesting! I find that with full time work, a high raw/high fruit can be hard to do because of prep time and the actual amount of time it takes to eat the calories needed to fuel yourself for the day. I guess there are psychological barriers there to, as we are quite conditioned to eating higher calorie foods, thus arriving at satiation earlier. The closer you are to the equator high fruit becomes much more viable, although, I do not think this way of eating is 100% optimal as it appears to me to be more of a cleansing/short term diet. Not to suggest that you are this way inclined, but I get a little turned off by the religious/dogmatic attitude that some people have in regards to FULLY raw/fruitarian. I know Andreas Moritz has suggested that raw foods diets are appropriate for only very few individuals. As far as longevity goes, Swami Sivananda of India claims to have been born in 1896, making him currently 122 years old and eats only boiled foods (rice and dalh) and chillies. He has said that since poor people cannot afford fruit, he will not eat it. He does yoga daily and travels all over India. I am planning to meet with him in a couple of months. Just wondering, with the high fruit have you had any detox symptoms come up or flushed out any mucoid plaque or anything like that?

Well it's just not as simple a matter as is this thing bad or not. I have no idea about "life-design gurus" but I mean are you quite happy to ingest milk that contains traces of anti-biotics, herbicides, chlorinated pesticides, recombinant bovine growth hormone? Not sure where you are located, but rBGH is legal for use in dairy cattle In America, it's pretty fucked up. I do not consume cow's milk but don't consider raw, organic cow or goat milk to be unhealthy in sensible amounts. Consider also that disease does not spawn overnight. Just because you feel fine now, does not mean it's great for you. You can't see what the hell is going on inside your body so how do you know everything is cool? There are also the ethical implications of consuming dairy. I would suggest use it very sparingly and the highest quality you can afford. It sounds like you have quite a bit of research to do.

I've been looking into an off-grid lifestyle for the same reasons you have stated. Reducing waste is another. Hopefully next year i'll have the ball rolling. I can't say i've considered living in a van or bus, it's a little cramped for my liking and my plan is to buy 5-10 acres of land. With a container home you would probably have to build a large corrugated roof over the top of it to make sure you are going to get enough water and this would also double as a barrier from the sun in summer. I'm looking at locations with a decent amount of annual rainfall- not exactly sure of tank size as yet. You can get granny flat/kit homes for pretty cheap nowadays (not fitted out). I've been looking at a flat pack dwelling 4x10m for just over $10k AUD. Obviously that's not including assembly, power etc. Another thing is that if the dwelling is demountable/relocatable you'll probably get away with not having to pour a big slab (fucking expensive) and obtain council permits. I looked into a ready to go tiny home just for the convenience but they're a bit too expensive in my opinion, $70-80k, 50-60k if you build something decent yourself. Humanure is something worth looking into also. No need for a septic tank and flushing good rainwater away, just compost your own crap. There's a good channel on YouTube that goes into this system called off grid with doug and stacey. Their toilet setup is easy and super cheap- the composting toilets worth 2 grand seem to me a major rip off. If you are going to reside near major chain supermarkets, dumpster diving can net you large quantities of perfectly edible food. Go on the night before the bin gets emptied and make sure you have plenty of bags with you. I routinely pull $50-100 worth of groceries from only ONE or TWO Aldi bins. I never walk away with less than 3kg of bananas. As the other poster suggested, look into permaculture. Consider a course/seminar. Start growing plants to eat now to transition into this lifestyle. Another cool channel on YouTube is Edible Acres. They explain how to keep chooks really cheap via a composting system.

@Ryan_047 You literally cannot raise or expand awareness/consciousness- it is ever expanded always. What you want to actually do is reduce and disidentify with the activity of mind, as this is what obscures awareness. This may sound like nitpicking, but it's well worth being able to articulate yourself proficiently on these matters. "Being conscious" requires no effort, it is a relaxing of a previous effort. But if you feel like you need to make an effort to get through your spirtual practices, then by all means make the effort. Listen to reputable "teachers" of non-duality on a daily basis.

They don't sound like people you want to be around very often. Healing the Shame that Binds You and Family Secrets by John Bradshaw are great books to read if you want to delve deeper into toxic family systems.

@Leo Gura Haha cheers. Yes, I do agree. I guess some folk aren't confident enough to explore psychedelics on their own and worry about the legal side of things. Not me though. Foraging for wild mushrooms in the bush with my Border Collie running about is one of my favourite winter activities. A universe where mushrooms do not exist? That's a little scary. I'm so grateful for how accessible mushrooms are in Australia. I've been using them on and off for 13 years now and never paid a cent for them.

@Leo Gura I appreciate you providing a platform in which to share these matters. As I pointed out, I believe in a clinical setting the risk of addiction and bladder issues are greatly reduced. This is noteworthy because Ketamine infusions administered by a psychiatrist may be able to really help someone overcome depression. It may well save someone from killing themselves. I don't wish to scare people away from that option if they have the money and live in the right part of the world. In relation to truth seeking/shadow work endeavours, there are safer choices.

Make sure you are eating whole foods for a start! I actually have the opposite problem in that I have too much iron/high ferritin from hereditary hemochromatosis. Being male, obviously I do not have periods so I have to have therapeutic blood lets- a period out my arm via a 16 gauge needle Apparently eggs and dairy are common food sources that inhibits iron absorption, so cut back on eggs/dairy if you consume them. Coffee and tea also supposedly can inhibit iron absorption. I'm not sure where you stand ethically in regards to eating animal products, but if you are showing signs of anemia you should definitely consider consuming some shellfish, muscle or organ meats even if initially to boost your ferritin stores. Obviously bivalve mollusks are a more ethical choice. Beef, liver, mussels, oysters are super high in iron and you should combine that with vitamin C. Oysters with lemon juice for example should really help you out. I eat vegetarian for ethical reasons, but thankfully that also helps me keep my ferritin stores/absorption down.

Yes, trying will be futile. I like the way that Rupert Spira puts it, you do not access pure consciousness via effort, but rather from a relaxation of a prior effort. As Hero stated, the separate self is based on an activity.

@Toby That comment makes me think about the Rinzai Zen masters who were fanatical supporters of the Japanese military or Joshu Sasaki, another Rinzai Zen master, who was accused of sexual abuse of his students . Exactly just how much cultural and parental conditioning survives liberation is an interesting topic. @Azrael Would you care to elaborate on the rapist comment in relation to parental conditioning?

@Loreena Don't rely on people so much- they are guaranteed to let you down in one way or another. No one can truly hold your hand through life except yourself. Once you start accepting this, you can find peace and giving without the expectation of receiving comes naturally.

@Shin I came across this passage a couple of days ago and thought it relevant regarding Sufism. It is from the book, Introduction to Sufism: The Inner Path of Islam. p14 - Union with God, or "Extinguishing Oneself" in Him? The ultimate goal of the mystical life cannot be to know God but to be united with Him. However, in Islam one cannot speak of via unitiva as the same sense as in Christian theology. From the point of view from the central dogma of tawhid, which focuses only on "the divine Oneness," the very concept of "union" with God is eminently paradoxical. Indeed, union presumes the coming together of two entities, of two substances. Now, the profession of faith (shahada) of Islam affirms: "There is no god but God." For the Sufi, this negative assertion actually means: "Only God is," since that which is created, the contingent, vanishes in the face of the Absolute.

@Skenderberg My morning meditation feels like dragging a horse through mud compared to my evening meditation. 5:45 am is when I sit in the morning and 8:30 ish in the evenings. I never seem to have that piercing clarity in the morning for some reason.

@Leo Gura Hey Leo, have you ever considered or used Ketamine for consciousness related work?

I know there's a few threads on this topic, but I just wanted to share my take on it and also to express my concern with Leo's comment reporting the movement as "silly." I'm not sure if his position on this has changed, but given the changes that i've experienced, I was amazed to read that. Whilst i'll admit the actual name nofap sounds a little silly, the actual practice is far, far from it. Nofap is just a label, words anyway, no need to get carried away with that. I've had terrible brain fog/fatigue for just over a year, and have had mild depression for 11 odd years. Anxiety has been generally intermittent for many years, but most prominent during the peak of my 8 year career of alcoholism. Now is different. I was going to give it a month before giving a thorough write up, but only after day 8 of abstaining from orgasm, I noticed things had shifted- quite dramatically. I always used to get very intense anxiety/fear from hangovers and it was one of the driving factors that made me cut back significantly on drinking. On day 7 of abstinence I had a shocking headache that plagued me all day and being my birthday, tried to drown it with a few beers and wine at dinner. The next day, there was barely any anxiety at all despite being slightly sleep deprived and having drunk 5-6 standard drinks the night before. At the end of last year, it got to the point where I was finding just 2-3 beers the night before would leave me feeling hungover and anxious the next day. So now, the differences i've noticed in just two weeks of abstinence from orgasm: - Brain fog and heavy fatigue basically non-existent (my mind feels sharp as fuck) - General & social anxiety/fear GREATLY diminished as are feelings of anger - Physical strength is up (high-bar back squats feel easier) - Increased confidence and patience - The beauty in life; children, trees, birds, the wind is much more accessible - Being friendly just comes so much more naturally - Something strange going on with appetite (not as hungry/fasting used to give me anxiety, this doesn't seem so anymore) - Diziness and poor coordination gone - Emotional stability (and being able to really fucking FEEL on a deep level) - Depression has fallen away - Dreams are much more vivid and easily remembered Anxiety from high amounts of caffeine is still there, for sure, but it is very, very minor compared to what it was. Tea and coffee is somewhat important to me because I have hemochromatosis (increased iron absorption) and I just love green and pu er tea. Obviously some of these benefits snowball into one another and can probably be summarised as just being more present and allowing self-love. Of course I'm still "suffering" to some degree, but as Paul Hedderman would say, something has stabilised and I'm traveling lighter over the geography of life. For now anyway. I really love that saying. I really vibe with Paul's energy and talks on non-duality. I'd like to stress that all these changes are not just from giving up porn and masturbating. In the past 8 months I have quit facebook, quit tinder and all that shit, quit my gym (to train solo at home) ditched my psychologist and basically avoid social gatherings like the plague. My psychologist told me masturbating to porn was no problem! Also, i've purchased over $400 AUD worth of books on spirituality, corrected a mineral imbalance and thus raised testosterone and lowered estradiol, have been smashing out non-duality talks on YouTube, dialled in my plant based diet, started yoga, daily meditation and have been using entheogens (mushrooms and ayahuasca) rigorously for 7 months. After the meditation and heavy entheogen use, I could fucking feel the light trying desperately to push through the thick fog but I just didn't know exactly what it was that was causing it. So far it hasn't been too challenging, just a couple of 3-4 am relentless erections that were somewhat bothersome. So if you're in a right cu*t of a place and are watching porn on the regular, maybe give it a whirl ey. You may feel no difference, but it may change your life. My habit was once a day, sometimes once every 2-3 days. Nothing excessive IMO. I had intuitive feelings that it wasn't healthy and in the end was watching rather softcore videos (wristies and what not) but this made little difference. This is just my experience, yours will be different. I found some pretty interesting reading here.. https://www.nofap.com/forum/index.php?threads/heres-why-nofap-is-essential-for-spiritual-growth.40561/