Pure Imagination

I’m struggling to know what I “should” genuinely thirst for. I even struggle with that sometimes @Leo Gura Funny enough, I have had two high-dose experiences not too long ago (300ug acid, 4.5g mushrooms). Surprisingly they were both a little underwhelming; I was intending on achieving an ego death both times but that did not happen. I have no idea what’s true anymore. All I know is I’m sick of chasing something that doesn’t exist.

I like the way you are framing spirituality, and that helps me a lot. Honestly I do all the above. If I’m feeling doubtful like I am now, then I usually default to doing random, perhaps low consciousness, stuff I enjoy. Because I don’t see a point in enlightenment work if everything is just going to stay the same anyway. I do have my go-to teachers that I have frequently read/watched. However, I have been trying to be more authentic lately trying to pursue exactly what I want on the deepest level, so I’m glad you brought that up. And thank you! One of my favorite songs for a variety of reasons

I know this intellectually, but I’m not sure how watching experiences come and go is somehow supposed to enlighten me. So the solution is seeing through the illusion? Because I’m not seeing anything to see through, just the apparent content that appears as physical reality. I’m very emotionally aware. I’ve done a lot of shadow work integrating past traumas. I’m not great at maintaining habits, but I can meditate for an hour with relative ease. But I’m not seeing how that helps me see through the ego.

I’ve had that to an extent. I do feel like deep down I can’t leave this path but it can sure be discouraging sometimes... In my experience, fighting the ego creates more ego True, but where do all the fantastical beliefs about God creating the universe come in? I can see what is right here, but why should I assume there’s more than that?

I’m a musician and I get this all the time. Especially if I’m working on the same piece of music for a while. I’ve found that the music ramps up when I’m stressed or avoiding the physical world in any way. Ask yourself what you are avoiding in the present moment and see if you can fully accept what you are resisting. Or more simply, become aware of the music and and consciously release it. It will come back, but don’t get discouraged when this happens. Just keep releasing and it will show up less often. This video by Teal Swan is a great, more practical way to release thought as well. Watch when she specifically talks about auditory thoughts: I hope all this helps!

@Anton_Pierre Teal Swan has an excellent shadow work process. It’s great for healing reoccurring negative emotions.

I like this a lot! Byron Katie talks about this occasionally in her workshops and books. She explains that once you see through ego, the mind becomes still and thoughts become much simpler and more practical. For example, “I really need to eat now” turns into “women getting up and going to the refrigerator.” As if you’re watching a movie of a human percpetive rather than identifying with it. Changing the language of our inner dialogue to be in alignment with no-self is an important step. These thoughts tend to be less resistant and negative, therefore not triggering the ego (if it still exists for you). Thank you again for sharing and I will give this a try

I tend to be pretty skeptical of these new age practices. I honestly think they boil down to intention and belief. If one believes that crystals heal them in some way, they will find reasons to believe that is happening. They may even be getting genuine benefits from them, and that’s great. Anyone’s opinions on new age practices are just that - an opinion held by the ego. Ultimately, the mind’s stories are not true. So I would approach these practices with the same mentality; perhaps be open to them but don’t cling to a belief that says they absolutely do or do not work. In my opinion, everyone’s primary goal should be pursuing awakening. It’s so easy to get distracted along the way with novelty psychic abilities and practices; don’t forget to keep your eye on the ball: the deepest truth of who you are.

Your life is peaceful right now. You are enlightened right now. The thoughts you are believing are just telling you otherwise

@mandyjw Yes, those are all very useful. I do an hour of The Work of Byron Katie every day, along with other shadow work techniques. I’ve definitely gotten better with seeing and healing my triggers, but I still feel like there’s this underlying trauma that I keep coming back to when I’m with my SO. So I guess continue to feel and inquire? @ajasatya Thank you. I’ll try to be more proactive with implimenting those. I don’t completely agree with that. At the end of the day we are all responsible for our own emotions. That doesn’t mean our partners can’t help us, but at the same time they’re not our dedicated therapists. Lately we have been doing this more. But I don’t want to keep rehashing my same problems with him over and over.

tl;dr - My boyfriend is very emotionally stable and I’m not so much. How can I sustainability be more emotionally stable around my boyfriend? Hello everyone! So I’m a man in a relationship with another man. We have a great dynamic; we’ve been dating for about six months now and we’re overall very happy together. He loves me a lot and never hesitates to share that with me (which I like a lot actually). He definitely fulfills the more masculine role in our relationship. So fittingly, he is usually the more emotionally stable of the two of us. I tend to be a highly sensitive person who feels so many different emotions in a day. I like this about myself, but at the same time there will be little things that trigger me (from him or just various life things). When this happens and I’m around him, sometimes I’ll get stuck in an emotional downward spiral, causing me to become quiet and distant with him and others. He can always tell when I’m upset, but his general tactic is to try to change the subject to distract me from how I’m feeling. This literally NEVER works for me. I’m one of those people who needs to talk about how I’m feeling when I’m with others to resolve my emotions. Or I have to be alone for a little while to resolve it on my own. But I feel bad having to constantly resolve how I’m feeling when I’m with him. I would rather just get to the root of why I feel this way sometimes. So I guess my main question is what is some advice y’all would recommend for me to be sustainably more emotionally stable when I’m with him? This isn’t just a problem I have when I’m with him; most social interactions are tricky for me when I’m triggered. I get that this is something everyone deals with, but it feels like an excessive problem for me. He is always so happy around me and I wish I could be that for him.

No problem! I just pulled an all nighter writing a paper for my class, so I was in “thorough explainations” mode ? Happy and safe tripping to you

Always a good reminder! Except for two seconds from now when I get distracted by the next thought about lunch or something

- I guess a better way to put it is release all your expectations. You can attempt to guide your trip in the direction you want, but it doesn’t always work out that way. Intention is still important though, otherwise you wouldn’t really have a shot at getting the insights you’re looking for. - I recommend tripping in silence your first few times so you can take in raw reality. Music can help, but it is equally useful to be able to trip without any “additives.” - In my experience, I don’t get much out of psychedelics when I trip with others, even if they meditate. You’re not able to truly turn inward because you need to split your attention also towards your friend. But tripping together can also deepen relationships so if that’s what you’re looking for then psychedelics are great for that. - It depends on your approach. Being at home would probably be the most productive, but if you’re able to be still and focused in nature then there’s nothing wrong with adding a little Mother Earth to your trip

^^This. It’s never a good idea to set too many intentions. Set one overarching one rather than just writing down a bunch of random questions.

You’re definitely on the right track. Anytime I want to get life insights through psychedelics, I always set a clear intention and write down what I would like to learn. Having said that, you shouldn’t try to control your trip in any way once you’re in it. I’ve had trips where I was seeking some life advice and I ended up becoming the whole universe; which is great but that doesn’t necessarily help with practical human things Let the answers come to you during your trip. Psychedelics alter your thought process; that alone will already give you insight into what you’re looking for. Really meditate on what you would like to learn. Visualize what it would feel like to have these insights, rather than focusing on the thought that you aren’t learning anything. Trust your intuition and don’t second guess what comes up for you. If it feels right, then it is. Lastly, if you still aren’t finding success, try altering your dose. I find that lower doses are better with receiving life advice. However, if you feel like your previous experiences have been underwhelming, then there’s nothing wrong with going higher. Just be careful and know that trips will never end up like you expect

This song perfectly encapsulates awakening in my opinion: Turn, turning you a bent-bone weary wandering soul and Born, borne upon a body you can never own, rollin' you a Long-bent sideways tumbling a mother-given loom You knew it when you flew in shuttlin' Weaver you are goal-bent, but do your strings hold the Strength of what was given, when you flew in? Burn, you're burning your own home, some days could you Live a little lighter, give a little water, give a little eye to Eye- see from what you're made, gotta lil' shadow in your Wake, wakin is the way you grow this, know this Gotta lil' matter to be bade, met and given it away This the trip we being shown, told is all we've ever known What another truth you gonna hide? baby finding that you Choosin' every moment lookin through the frame they givin you There's a turn from the fear A stand for the free A song for the beat-down picking' up steam And you will hear my voice here singin' There's a let from the greed A gift for the kind And I'll be dancing' with the ones who remind me We are born of dust and silence We are made of ancient songs And there are ones who'll keep us sleeping And there are ones who bring the dawn Put your back to the birch and your mind to the matter of a Listening kind of way We are born of dust and silence We are made of ancient songs Rose, rose upon the shoulders of the Shoreline, eyesight creeping round the edges of the Known you've known it from before, before your sight was Shorn shifted and they told you not to talk of this But you remember in your sleep, all the ones that you could see Raisin' candles to the sky, through the forest dark as night Wide-eyed, keep stride this the path you bein' shown Sure thing keep singin to the ones you walkin on They the wonder, you the sky they look upon You are clouds to them, givin' harm or givin' form Do we greet them with a grace? Do we run or do we face The ones who helping us to heal our choice and choose again Bade farewell all you've been told Waves are rising you to shore It's not what you say what you think It the walk and the way that you do So you Give what you give what you can what you give what you Give what you are what you give — give what you Want what you Give what you give what you can what you give what you Give what you are what you can You will hear my voice here singin… Give what you can what you give, give what you want I'll be dancing with the ones who remind me… I'll be dancing with the ones who remind me… We are born of dust and silence We are made of ancient songs And there are ones who'll keep us sleeping And there are ones who bring the dawn Put your back to the birch and your mind to the matter of a Listening kind of way We are born of dust and silence We are made of ancient Songs

Get in touch with that aspect of you that loves and thrives on social interactions. That part must exist if you are interested in becoming more socially adept. If you deeply connect with that aspect of you, you will find that it is effortless to engage in social interactions. The more you do this, the more experience you’ll get with being around people. You’ll be able to prove to yourself more and more that you are a social person. Also, inquire into that voice that’s telling you that you aren’t socially good enough. That aspect of you is an unintegrated fragment that likely formed after a traumatic experience. Let that aspect know that it is valid for feeling the way it does; it served its purpose of protecting you in the past. But it’s also important to know that you don’t need it anymore and that you can move on! Lastely, find friends that are completely accepting of you. Don’t settle for people who only love you halfway. If you find that group of friends that you feel 100% comfortable around, it’ll be so much easier to reach out and be more outgoing towards other people. Good luck

I think that a Dark Night of the Soul can be a potential symptom of ego death. I do not believe they are the same. The Dark Night is essentially an ego backlash to an awakening experience. The ego starts to tell itself that everything is meaningless; this is typically accompanied by a depression and thoughts that say everything is meaningless. It’s important to remember that the Dark Night will not last forever, despite what the ego may tell you. You are safe

I think if one lowers a frequency at all, it tends to sound “warmer.” I don’t think there’s anything special about 432hz; if you listen to traditional Baroque music it is tuned to 415hz and anyone could argue that music sounds warmer than modern tuning. I also have perfect pitch though, which explains my bias towards 440hz

How do you stop the monkey-mind long term? I have had enlightenment experiences in the past, but my mind has only sped up if anything. What would you recommend to quiet the mind? Does becoming enlightened slow the mind down?

I have had some profound spiritual awakening experiences in the past, but at the same time my mind has been more active than ever. What are some of your favorite methods for quieting down monkey-mind?

Hello all! I hope you are having a fantastic start to your week. If you asked me a month ago where I fell on Spiral Dynamics, I would say my spread was like this: 50% Green, 30% Yellow, 20% Turquoise. Now however, I feel like I want to be so much more productive in my human life, rather than taking my life less seriously (kind of like a typical hippie). I feel like I was using spirituality more as an escape in a crude manner before. I feel like I'm shedding that "immature" approach to spirituality now. Right now I feel so motivated to accomplish great things in my human life, and I feel so much less lazy than I did even a month ago. I want to learn about things, engage in creative endeavors (I'm a musician, and I love it to death), and just enjoy human life much more in general. My mind has been also been super noisy lately, trying to figure things out. It's like my mind always needs something to chew on. My creativity has skyrocketed as a result. So to all you (mostly) solid Yellow folks out there, what was your transition from Green to Yellow like? Did you get this massive increase in productivity like I'm experiencing? How about the racing mind? Did you feel more motivated about life? I'm curious, because I feel like I'm much more Yellow now than I was before. Let me know what you think!

@bejapuskas Your response helps, thank you! Thank you for your insight! I honestly don't feel like I'm Orange. I am a huge critic of capitalism; I'm to the left politically of most people in the US. I used to resonate with Green a lot over the past few years. My productivity tanked, but I was so much more accepting and loving of others and myself. And I started to fall in love with yoga and meditation. I have watched Leo's Spiral Dynamics series multiple times and I'm fairly familiar with the values of each stage. Yellow deeply resonates with me; I am very non-judgmental (if I do say so myself), I am aware that everyone has their perspective rather than one "absolute truth" being true, and I feel like I'm much less emotionally triggered than the average person. Also, I feel like I am at least a little bit Turquoise. I have done extensive consciousness work with psychedelics, including 5-meo-DMT; because of this I have a palpable sense of non-duality in my life. If I take the time to slow down and be present, I can start to feel the mind-made boundaries dissolve. Although I feel like the majority of myself is in the lower stages; psychedelics are good for giving one a taste of non-duality but I know I still have much integration and shadow work to do to move up the spiral. I love your point about music and the flow state. When performing, my goal is always to get in the flow and lose my sense of self. I have been able to achieve that before (to varying degrees), but the ego will sometimes show up and manifest as nervousness and anxiety. But when I cultivate the flow, it is so obvious. Everything clicks into place, the nerves disappear, and whatever sounds come out of my instrument are perfect to me. Like I said above, I feel like I can cultivate that "observer" perspective. It takes effort though; my "default" state at the moment is usually mind identification. It is a constant practice for me to take actions in my life with mindfulness. Thank you again for your post At the end of the day, only you can know what stage you are at. It all depends on what your values are, as well as how you see reality. I have noticed that an individuals values evolve as they move up the spiral. It's not that a blue person suddenly picks up orange values; its more like a transcendence. You take the best of each stage, but then also become conscious of its limitations, and thus you develop more mature values. What values do you hold currently? Where do you fall politically? Is personal success your number one value at this point?

More and more lately I have been able to disidentify from my thoughts and realize that I am the presence where they are taking place. I seem to oscillate between identification and disidentification many many times a day to the point where it can even get exhausting. Sometimes this will even happen while I am using my mind during everyday tasks, such as doing the dishes, doing schoolwork, making dinner, ect. When I do disidentify, it seems to stop me in my tracks during my task and sometimes I'll temporarily lose my place and have to jog my memory. So my question to you all - how do enlightened people utilize their mind for everyday tasks? I feel like I can only be efficient if I am identified with thought; is there another way to do our "human things" with an enlightened mind? What is your experience of being mindful, yet accomplishing things?