Forestluv

Could you recognize yourself in a mirror? Not many species of animals can. Similarly can you recognize that another is yourself? Not many humans can. Maslow wrote about how self-actualized people could easily recognize each other. He was able to observe this phenomena as he himself became self actualized.

How can you tell if someone can speak English or not?

I now see how the imagery I create about 5-meo can be unintentionally misleading. I think you need to do it to understand it. There is no sense in trying to understand it via your imagination. To me, it doesn’t seem like there is full surrender here and I would be cautious entering the deeper levels of 5-meo as precaution for the mind and body. I’d recommend not starting with a heavy dose. That’s just my impression, I could be off.

This is what I am pointing at. Yet the point cannot be seen while immersed within the point. This doesn’t seem to be resonating with you, which is fine. Perhaps someone else reading the thread will find value in it.

@Bluff You seem to have theoretical understanding of nonduality and are immersed in theoretical ruminations. There is nothing wrong with that and it can have practical value. Yet the theoretical ruminations can lead to contractions within, and attachment to, those theoretical constructs. You’ve got the theory of nonduality down pat. You understand in nondual theory how there is no degrees or stages of awareness. You seem fluent in this and you don’t need anymore work to realize there are no degrees or stages of awareness. This has truth, yet attachment to this truth is a limitation. If I say “I have already arrived”, that has truth from one perspective. Yet if I become attached to that belief and extrapolate it, it will block me from realizing that I also haven’t arrived. This is the dilemma of theoretical constructs, they have inherently contradictions. If I think “I have arrived” and I don’t take a step to a destination, I will fail because I will not move toward the destination. Yet if I think “I have not arrived” and I take steps toward the destination, I will fail because there is no destination separate from where I am here and now. To me, it looks like you have the nondual “arrival” theory down, which is a profound understanding of truth. Yet attachment to this aspect of truth will hinder realization and understanding of other truths you have not yet arrived to. What you are writing is not completely wrong. It is partial and incomplete.

Ime, 5-Meo is very different than the various other psychedelics I’ve done, such as LSD, shrooms, Aya etc. One word I would use for 5-Meo is “clear”. Imagine perfectly clear crystal. “Within” that crystal is Nothing and Everything. All things can be imagined and created within that crystal. Every poem, animal, movie, idea, LSD trip, feeling, dimension, happening, entity, and on and on infinitely. This is why I consider 5-Meo the Crown Jewel. Within this Jewel is clarity and omniscience of all jewel facets, because it holds no jewel facets. Other psychedelics like LSD, Shrooms and Aya are extremely helpful in revealing aspects of each facet, yet they are all within 5-meo. A couple years ago I was visiting art galleries in Sedona, AZ. The quality of art in these galleries was amazing. And then I saw a set of three large blocks of perfectly clear crystal and became captivated. It was both Nothing and Everything. Every piece of art dissolved into this crystal as it contained all forms of art. It was both formless and form. After about 10min. of gazing into it, I turned away and observed all the other art pieces. The appeal of each piece of art was now very different as I was now aware that the clear crystal contained them all. There is value in each piece of artwork as well as the realization that they are all contained within the clear crystal. This can be expanded such that all things, including me, are within the clear crystal being imagined. Ime, 5-Meo changed my relationship with reality in a way no other psychedelic did, because all psychedelics are within 5-Meo (as are all things). This is just an attempt to create imagery. I could create many other imaginations of 5-meo, yet my best imagery can only capture one grain of sand on the 5-Meo beach.

Generally the question “Are you happy?” assumes a conditional happiness since asking “Are you unconditionally happy?” doesn’t make sense as it points to itself. It is the same as asking “Is happiness happiness?” or “IS IS ISing?” In an unconditional context, I would say a better question is “are you aware of unconditional happiness?”. Yet this too is incomplete. In conditional contexts, asking “are you happy” can arise from a place of genuine caring for the well-being of another. Yet it can also be a contraction within a construct of happiness one associates with a attainment. I’m not saying this is your orientation, yet it is for the vast majority of people. The kind intention is appreciated, yet it misses the point since it is within the point being pointed to.

Another thing to keep in mind: when a hospital exceeds capacity due to the corona virus, that means there are no beds for anyone. That means no hospital bed for the 22 y.o. guy that was in a car accident who now dies. No bed for the 40 y.o. woman who had a stroke and dies. When the hospital is beyond capacity that means no beds and nearly everyone is on their own. In this situation, fatalities significantly increase for all age groups, yet they are not categorized as a coved-19 death.

@MsNobody Nice! We are classmates

@Javfly33 It boils down to surrender.

Haha yes. There is a big difference between Neo and Nemo. I wish everyone that seeks happiness the best.

What I'm pointing at is prior to knowing whether or not it would make one miserable or happy. Imagine standing at a closed door and there is truth on the other side of the door. Yet you don't know if what is on the other side of the door will make you happy, peaceful, terrified or agonized. The question is whether one opens the door prior to knowing what it is. At the deeper levels, I don't get to know or decide. It is unconditional surrender and death of me. Not a surrender of "ok, I will surrender if I know it will bring me happiness and if it doesn't I can stop it when I want to", Rather, it is an unconditional surrender of all control. This may mean experiencing indescribable happiness or indescribable agony. It may mean the human experience is temporary or permanent. And yes, I've crossed that door into both realms because the desire for truth was stronger than my personal welfare. Yet I don't recommend it to others unless they are serious seekers of truth and have a lot of experience. Which is pretty much nobody. Nearly every seeker I see is not willing to die for truth. They want the feel good stuff. Which is fine. That is part of the human experience and paths other than mine are fine. Yet ime, the deeper levels can get extremely radical and intense - involving both unimaginable happiness, peace and connection as well as unimaginable terror and agony. When my mind and body ventures to those depths, there is complete surrender and I don't know what is on the other side of the door. Similar to Neo - he didn't know what would happen after he took that pill. Yet his desire for truth was stronger than his desire for personal well being. I've now got chronic conditions that are likely due to pushing things so far for so long. At a human level, it's miserable to live with and I knew it would happen, yet realizing truth was more important. At a personal level, my mind and body has attraction toward feeling pleasure and avoiding pain. Yet that is not the deepest desire within me. There is a deeper desire to know what is true. Other people are oriented differently and that's totally fine. I'm not trying to suggest my path is any better or worse than another. However, if someone's deepest desire is to realize truth, regardless of the consequences, then there are better paths than others. As well, this is also a story appearing Now - that never happened. This is another form of surrender.

Is there a form of sitting and mind emptying you find effective?

Our very nature is every form of happiness and unhappiness imaginable - as well as the absence of happiness. If a human is oriented to believe “our very nature is happiness” and seeks happiness as true nature, that is fine. Yet it is also contracted and limited. There are aspects of truth, awakening and understanding beyond happiness - if a person is focused on happiness they will miss this - they will avoid or dismiss truths and realizations that appear as being non-happy. I’m not saying it’s a “bad” belief or a “wrong” belief. If I placed happiness over truth and understanding, I would take abiding happiness in a heartbeat. Yet I have no interest in abiding happiness. I’m more interested in being open to all forms of truth, whatever the feelings or consequences at the human level. Yet this is much easier said than done - when it’s time to face it, it can be challenging. This is placing relative human feeling / experience above ultimate truth and understanding. There’s nothing wrong with this, yet it is a relatively surface level. The mind will call more expansive and deeper truths/understanding “superfluous” because it doesn’t want to venture there. Which is fine, not every mind-body is oriented toward realizing the totality of truth. Most humans only want to realize a subset of truth (that is acceptable and pleasing to them). Just like not every mind-body is oriented toward climbing Mt. Everest.

@UpperClassWhiteBoy It depends on your location. In the U.S. there is no national policy, each state has their own policy. In my state we are in “stay at home” - only “essential businesses” are open (such as grocery stores) and people can only leave their home for “essential reasons”, such as going to buy food. Yet my understanding is briefly going outside of a walk/exercise is ok, as long as you stay away from other people. If people don’t comply, law enforcement will get involved. Yet it might be different in your state.

Associating happiness to God / Truth is a limiting condition that is imagined. Happiness at the human level is irrelevant. God and Truth are all forms of happiness and unhappiness imaginable - as well as the absence of happiness/unhappiness. Sometimes I’m amazed by how strong the human desire for happiness is. If all truth was told, 99% of spiritual teachers would be out of business.

Sam Harris did not do LSD in the 60s and 70s. In 1969 he was 2 y.o. . . . He did psychedelics in the 80s, not the 60s and 70s. These were very different cultural times.

Harris is 52 y.o. Do the math. . .

Sometimes I find it helpful to set goals and create new habits. For example, you mentioned yoga. There are lots of 30 day yoga series videos online. Doing one per day sets a healthy habit - and one can learn a lot about yoga. There are also lots of other projects you could start. You could do a 30 day retreat, start learning a new language, introspect about your dreams and passions. As you said, it's super easy to wander around and default to low=conscious activities like playing video games all day. For most people, extrinsic pressures and rewards are major incentives to take action. Going to school and working toward grades is largely extrinsic. Ime, intrinsic rewards go much deeper, yet it's much harder to be disciplined without other people structuring my life and telling me what to do. Yet if I can tap into intrinsic rewards, the meaning and satisfaction goes much deeper. For example, you can be creative how you want to be creative. You have the time and resources right now to create from your innner being. That is a luxury. Yet it can be hard to get started.

@Nichts In addition to the proximal danger of covid-19, I would also consider the broader danger. Yes, the virus is more dangerous to older people. Younger people have considerable danger, yet far less than the elderly and people with commodities. There is also the broader danger to younger people: this crisis will likely have a significant economic impact. The severity of the impact is unknown, yet there may be high unemployment and a global recession/depression. If I was young, I would be much more concerned about this than contracting the coronavirus. There will be lots of new life purpose opportunities created as we move forward. For example, emerging forms of integrated, global health monitoring and care.

That would make a great meme.

Sam Harris was born in 1967

Martin has had insomnia issues his whole life, long before he did 5meo. It’s unknown what impact, if any, 5meo had on his pre-existing condition. I’ve never heard of a spiritual teacher advocate for the abuse of anything - be that the abuse of animals, a spouse, vitamin A, exercise, medication, substances etc. This includes spiritual teachers that use psychedelics with their students.

Thread has derailed and degenerated

Time is already telling.