Forestluv

@JayG84 The term “better” is relative, it depends on one’s personality. After an Ayahuasca ceremony, a few of us were sharing about our trip. One woman said that she turned into a lizard and was disappointed because she wanted to go back into her childhood and work on stuff. She wanted a “better” trip. I then said transforming into a lizard would be amazing. I’m so curious what a lizard perspective and experience would be like. The woman next to me tensed up and said she hates lizards and it would be horrific to transform from human to lizard. She said she would have struggled and fought to stay human. In relative terms of better, dosage, mindset and setting are important features. People that can let go and go with the flow have a higher chance of having a better trip than nervous nellies that want to control every aspect of a trip. This “go with the flow” mindset doesn’t seem to be an SD feature, although it may be more common with orange and above. In terms of SD and trip betterment, one feature that might come in handy is being able to take detached, meta views. This is one of the features of Tier2. Quite often, psychedelics dissolve the self identity attachments allowing for detached, meta viewing and a sense of Oneness. Someone in Tier2 may have a better ability with this. When I first trip, I was at high Orange transitioning into Green. Psychedelics wanted to send me into Yellow and Turqoise and some of those trips were a rough ride. My mind wanted to control the internal narrative of what things mean. And there was anxiety about what would happen if I let go. What if I did something crazy? What if I harmed someone? My mind would fight to stay in control. Yet when I was able to let go. . . It was amaaaazing. . . It was like I was given a magic wand. I could see how everything is inter-related. They was a deep sense of awe and curiosity. It felt like my higher self. When I returned to my baseline level of consciousness, I was overwhelmed. I didn’t know where to even begin. I couldn’t make sense of it. I didn’t have words or concepts like “systemic thinking” or “nondual awareness”. When I first started learning about SD, I was like “yea! Some of that yellow, turquoise and nondual stuff they are talking about happened during the trip. There are actually words for it??!!. I’d like some more of that, please. . . “

One thing I like about taking a trip is that is feels new. It feels far away from my normal space. It feels new. One way to do this is to get on an airplane and travel far away. To find a forest in New Zealand. . . Another way to do this is to take a psychedelic. It’s actually similar in a way. I can go my local nature center while tripping and it’s like going far away. It feels new, like I’ve never been there before. As I was walking through my nature center today. I felt bored. I introspected the boredom. Part of it was due to being in this nature center so many times. I then realized, I have a “mind map”. This mind map is constructed from previous visits and knowing where I am in relation to images beyond my field of perception. For example, I know which way the path will turn ahead. I know where the barn is. I know where all the parts of the town is and my house in relation to where I am standing in the nature center. This map has been re-enforced, creating a mind map in the background. This mind map leads to familiarity. Not just familiarity with my field of perception, yet a subconscious mind map of what surrounds my field of perception. I realize this while I was hiking today. Just this awareness of this can open doors. I asked if I could right now enter a mind space as if I had never been here before. Yes it’s possible. In a way, this was the first time I was there. All the leaf positions, the shadows, angles of sunlight etc. where all unique. As well, a psychedelic would erase my mind maps. . . Why would traveling erase a mind map? Part of it is being in a new place, yet part of it is giving yourself permission. An international trip takes months of planning. You’ve got to pack, get on a plane, get the rental car, find the AirBnb etc. It feels so far away because of the backstory it’s so far away. So. . . I was able to do it, somewhat. It was sorta like drifting in and out of an awake lucid dream. There were briefs periods in which it was like I was seeing it all for the very first time. I really didn’t know where I was. Yet then my mind would drift back into memory and the mind map and I became re-familiarized. Yet it was cool I could do it, even for brief periods. It’s almost like learning to juggle. You can do it for 10 seconds or so and are like “I’m juggling” and then you lose it and the balls fall down. . .

Methodist churches split up early this year over wether LGBTQ can become pastors. A clean Blue vs Green break. With the recent SCOTUS and cultural shift, the churches that chose green are probably feeling good now.

Similar to how trying to be a nonconformist ironically becomes conforming.

It seems you are looking for a particular type of science that supports your pre-conceived views. That doesn’t allow for an open-minded exploration, since only science that supports that view will be deemed worthy and science contrary to that view will be debated. As well, partial truths become miscontextualized.

I’ve noticed a lot of minds have difficulty seeing that Everything = Nothing. Here is a simple example I noticed today. . . I bought some new Vegan protein powder. I noticed there was a warning label that read “This product contains a substance known to the State of California to cause birth defects or other reproductive harm”. This surprised me since the Vegan powder was supposed to be organic and the ingredients were: Organic peas, brown rice, pumpkin seeds and natural flavors. Perhaps the toxic substance was one of the “natural flavors”. Or perhaps there were contaminants from the factory processing. So I researched the product and manufacturer. Not a single negative comment about the manufacturers or product related to this. . . . Well. . . it turns out that every food manufacturer in California is worried that their product may have an ingredient that is later found out to be associated with a birth defect or reproductive harm. They are worried that they could potentially be liable in the future without the label, so every food manufacturer puts this label on their products to protect themselves just in case. All food products in California have this label. Nobody takes the warning label seriously because all food products have it. I then realized “Every food product having the warning label is the same as no food product having the warning label”. The warning label becomes useless. Everything = Nothing.

Of course that framework won’t make sense. That frame has an external god. It has a creator that is separate from that which is created. A nondual frame is very different, yet also very difficult for a mind that perceives in duality. For example, you could contextualize God as Everything or ISness. This is a very different context.

@Apparition of Jack I like your car analogy. To add into it. . . A few decades ago, driving drunk in the U.S. was not a big deal. If a drunk driver got pulled over by police, they cop often gave the person a ride home. There were no legal or social consequences. In the 1980s, a group of mothers created the group Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and they completely changed the social consciousness of drunk driving. They exposed all the harm caused. At first there was pushback and a lot of people thought MADD was over-reacting. Yet overtime their was a consciousness shift. Drunk driving became a bad thing. There was a new social stigma with drunk driving. People no longer could say to their co-workers “What a great party! I drove home so wasted that I actually parked my car on my front lawn” and everyone laughs. Those days were over. And new legal consequences arose. People lost their “freedom” to drink at parties and drive home drunk, yet this benefited society.

I don’t mean to invalidate it. I’m saying context matters. It depends on the situation. A Nazi organizer that has his feelings hurt because he is marginalized from mainstream social media is different than someone supporting Thomas Jefferson statues on social media. And in cases in which someone is marginalized for their views, is that really akin to someone getting lynched by an angry mob? People have a tendency to equalize their self hurts to much greater hurts.This elevates the significance of their self hurt. I agree I think it depends on the situation. There are cases of excess. If I stated support for a Thomas Jefferson statue and people started threatening me - that is excessive. Yet there are situations I think pushback is appropriate. For example, Germany took a hard stance prohibiting pro-Nazi speech and expression. Look how far they have come relative to the “anything goes“ pro-Confederate free expression in the U.S. Germany has made more progress in a few decades a few decades than the U.S. has made in over 140 years! The U.S. is still struggling with white supremacy expressed through pro-confederate symbolism. Germany is not debating wether to take down statues honoring Hitler, yet the U.S. is debating wether to take down studs honoring those who fought for slavery. . . .In this situation, I think it’s for the better to marginalize and stigmatize this type of toxicity. It’s not simple an “alternative perspective”. Yet I also think things can be taken to far in which non-toxic alternative perspectives get caught up in the purge. I think Green should be mindful of over-reaching.

If a mind interprets through a lens of “It’s materialistic scientific bull shit”, it will perceive everything as materialist science bull shit. We can draw a distinction between criticizing from below vs criticizing from above. From a meta view that sees both immaterial and material, it’s not all materialist science bull shit. Identifying as a immaterialist and calling it all materialist science bull shit is similar to a materialist calling the immaterial “woo woo” bull shit. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7293495/

It depends on what you consider an “alternative perspective”. Yes, there are a lot of knee-jerk reactions. However, there are also situations in which pushback can be helpful. For example, promoting Nazi ideology and formation of Nazi groups. And to call someone getting criticized on social media a “lynching by a mob” seems like excessive victim mentality to me. Consider what an actual lynching by a mob is and put things in perspective.

https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2020/06/417906/still-confused-about-masks-heres-science-behind-how-face-masks-prevent

I think there are a lot of caveats about who gets to define what intelligence is, write the tests and what the tests are actually testing. For example, IQ tests also test for motivation and the ability to focus on their questions and their answers.. Those are aspects of “Intelligence” to them. I’ve taken an IQ test in which I started to deconstruct the question structure, the relativity of points, how certain parts could be interpreted differently, how multiple answers could be partially correct and how unintelligent the test writers were. Of course this type of intelligence doesn’t count and I ended up scoring relatively poorly. As well, I get bored taking those tests. I’m not motivated. I would much rather construct my own models or recontextualize existing models. Yet this doesn’t count as “intelligence” according to the tests.

The song “Lift Every Voice” will be played at the start of every NFL game week 1. It is an important song within black culture and has been called a black anthem. Here is Beyoncé performing the song at a concert.

Alabama University football is a religion in Alabama. The Crimson Tide are the best program in college football history. The state has no professional sports teams and they are obsessed with Alabama football. . . . Alabama is also a deep red conservative state with an abundance of confederate flags and monuments. Trump destroyed Hilary in Alabama by a massive 28%. I find it interesting that the Alabama football program put out a video supporting BLM. There was no racist incident anywhere near campus or the city that the program was forced to respond to. The students aren’t even on campus now. Why would the football program release a BLM video featuring their Hall of Fame coach? I doubt it was motivated by a hunger for Green racial equality. The Alabama coaches, staff, administration and Board of Trustees ain’t Green. They are Blue/Orange. And this video got approval from the very top. I speculate that the main motivation was Orange: desire for winning and making huge profits. The coaches realize that if they want to recruit players of color, they better get on board, and the players know it too. Saban’s success has been attributable to the Black players he has recruited for his teams. About 80% of Alabama's starting football players are Black. Some fans are infuriated with the BLM video, yet my hunch is that the vast majority of fans will prioritize winning and stomach a BLM video from their beloved football team. I think it’s another example of Orange indirectly assistIng Green.

Here is a post-fight interview with Bellator champion Rory MacDonald. To reach this championship level, a fighter needs to have a killer instinct. When the opponent is hurt, they need to immediately brutalize him to the finish. Rory had recently begun with blue level religion. This was his first fight that he didn’t have the killer instinct to finish a wounded opponent with brutal violence. Notice how he has knocked his opponent partially unconscious, yet can’t “pull the trigger” and finish him off. His interview is very telling and beautifully shows him transitioning from red to blue.

@Twega It seems like you are asking “how can I trust experience”? And that is a different question. Another frame would be “How can I trust ISness?”. It doesn’t really make sense because ISness is prior to trust. To add in trust, we have to start constructing. We need to create constructs of what is ISness? Is it sensations? Is it material or immaterial? How do I know I am accurately perceiving ISness? That is all second order. ISness is first order and prior to those constructs. Also consider “what is experience”. Is not experience a contextualization? The mind makes up a story like “I just ate a ham sandwich. It was delicious”. That is one of many contextualizations we can create. As well, it is occurring now and is also ISness yet the mind creates a thing called “trust” to help protect it’s self interests and wellbeing. Can I trust the stories I am creating? Can I trust my feelings?. Let’s say I am gazing at a tree and an entity appears. I see it’s aura and feel it’s essence. . . It is what it is. . . We can then go second order and ask “Can I trust the experience I just had? Was that a real spirit entity? Was that a paranormal event? Maybe I have psychic powers. Or maybe it was just a bird. Maybe I’m losing my mind and need to go on medication.” Whether to trust a particular contextualization of ISness into experience is second order, yet it can be important and useful at the personal level. If I go around thinking birds are spirit entities from another dimension that are spying on me. . . trusting in that story may cause difficulties in my life.

Individualistic competition is at the core of red and orange, yet their expressions differ. There is a difference between a red-level gang member that kills others so he can be the best vs. an orange-level basketball player that practices a lot so he can be the best. I would consider most UFC fighters to have a mix of red and orange. Most have orange-level desires for fame and money, yet you also need to be very physically violent to have success in the UFC. The whole point is exerting the maximum amount of violence into your opponent.

I don’t think that is a fair description. The Lincoln Project is a coalition of ex-republicans and conservative democrats. They are a mix of blue and orange with some green sprinkles. Most of their ads have to do with things like integrity (blue), financial success (orange) and some ads have promoted unity, equality (green). Many of the members have a traditional “strong on military defense” mindset. And some of the members, like Bill Kristol, could be considered new-conservative and hawkish. Yet I think it is a gross mischaracterization to label the group as “warmongering new-conservatives”. That ad is not warmongering. It’s more like fear mongering. It depicts Russia having control over the U.S. The ad isn’t saying we need to bomb Russia and start a war. We could respond via diplomacy, building alliances, imposing sanctions on Russia etc. They are not sneakily trying to overthrow Trump to push a war mongering new-conservative agenda. I welcome their help since I see Trump as a much bigger threat than LP. Yet I am concerned that they will have a lot of influence on Biden if he wins. I would like that balanced with some green influence on Biden.

Of course it is preferable to remove the statues via the governing body. Yet can you not see the frustration when the political officials don’t do there jobs and the statues remain year after year? You mention that you are disappointed in the State of Tennessee and the Republicans for not removing the Nathan Bedford Forrest statue. Actually, there are many of them as well as a state holiday. Imagine being a black person and having statues honoring this despicable person. I’m not even black and it would both me if my public parks had statues honoring sadistic man that brutalized innocent people. Imagine how that community feels. At what point would your “disappointment” turn to “frustration”? Two years of dealing with this? Five years? At what point does frustration turn to “enough is enough”? . . It’s much easily to simply be “disappointed” and tell others to continue waiting if one doesn’t have to deal with it and doesn’t have to carry the burden. Yes, removing the statues via the proper channels is best and most of them are being removed that way. However, I understand the extreme frustration community members are feeling. If that statue was in my local park, I would feel the same way. And if my city council failed to act year after year, I could see a boiling point in which I join my community to take down the sadistic statue ourselves. I can’t see myself actually pulling it down. Yet I could see myself in the crowd watching and feeling relieved when it came down.

Thanks.

Not in this human lifetime. I probably have less than 50 years left in this human body and won’t see it? It gives me greater appreciation for old people when I hear them say: “I never thought I’d see this in my lifetime” - in regards to big cultural changes.

It seems like we are far away from that ideal. How many Americans would want to help underdeveloped Central American countries? I’d say a minority. Even for countries that would be beneficial to us. For example, helping Brazil move along would be beneficial, especially with preserving the rainforest and global climate health. Often the U.S. talks about good intentions after invading a foreign country. Giving them democracy, building infrastructure etc. Yet it only seems like a half-hearted ideal. And there are conflicts of interest, such as wanting influence over oil or using their country for geographic strategy purposes. Do you think there is a dynamic in which someone that is a leading horse believes that they want every horse to do well. Yet when the other horses catch up , or pass them, they get uncomfortable. For example, a white progressive person may genuinely advocate for more racial equality at their work. Yet when when upper leadership actually become people of color that are calling the shots, that changes things.

I’ve noticed a vague sense that white western civilization is better outside of white western civilization. In my travels through central and South America, I noticed vague senses that white western civilization is better. For example, in somewhat remote areas of Peru there would be a billboard of a woman that was sorta white woman and sorta western looking. Her skin was much lighter than any Peruvian woman I saw, yet she still sorta looked Peruvian. I don’t know if she had skin whitening treatment or they brushed the photograph. And there was a glorification of western culture: the makeup, jewelry and and clothing. As if to say “This is beautiful and successful”. There was a vague sense of admiration of this, yet also a sense that our culture is better - their music, history, heritage, traditions etc. There was a lot of pride in it. Wherever I went, I would say that I really liked their culture’s way of speaking Spanish. The majority of people would agree with and be proud of it.

No, I haven’t. I read a synopsis and this looks to be light on science and heavy on a political agenda. I haven’t read the book, yet my initial impression is that it seems to be the type of thing I’m talking about. I don’t like modeling that misrepresents to create frames toward an agenda. I get super frustrated with it.