Forestluv

One needn't become a shaman. Paranormal/mystical abilities can be beneficial in many different careers. I was pointing more toward recognition and development of the abilities.

What would be the best use of $100? A bunch of seeds, several small cuts with roots or a large 24" cut? Or maybe several small potted cacti?

At an individual level my experience and observations is that stage green white people often have a lot of subconscious biases, subconscious privilege and subconscious guilt to work through. I grew up in a relatively affluent white community and it took a lot of work to get through subconscious conditioning. A lot of it was really uncomfortable and it took some serious work. Most helpful to me were diversity workshops, I've lived in poor minority communities in the U.S., Honduras, Guatemala, Peru and Colombia. I also was in a relationship with a black women who wasn't shy about calling out my subconscious biases. I've purified out a lot of it and aware of much more in myself and others. For example, I now notice how men in committee meetings often interrupt, talk over and correct women. I've also noticed some green white people change their demeanor in subtle ways when interacting with minorities. It's like a subtle form of of how adults change their demeanor when talking to children or someone with a disability. "Oh Tyrone, you make such a good point. Thank you for sharing it with us". There can be a frothy tone to it. Yet meanwhile the voices of white males are carrying the most weight. At an institutional level, there is a lot of underlying unfair structure that favor men and the majority. This also takes work to overcome and whites and men will be less motivated to change it. One thing I've noticed at my institution is that minority people want to implement more fair policies and have their voices and concerns heard. Yet there isn't as much energy to educate white people and help them decondition subconscious biases. At my work, that is one thing I try to do. As a white male at the top of my career ladder, it may carry more weight. If so, I might as well use that privilege to help progress. Yet I've found that most people are really uncomfortable talking about subconscious biases and subconscious privilege. It can trigger strong emotional responses and defenses - even with green white people (although the intensity is less). When it comes up, I have to be careful how I handle it. People have a "stretch zone" for growth and a "panic zone" that blocks them from growth.

I've never used fresh cactus and would like to get an idea of amount, cost and time. About how much fresh cactus would be needed to have a solid trip? And about how long would it take to grow this amount?

@d0ornokey If I offer suggestions to someone I try to do so from a place of love and empathy. I try to listen to them and imagine what the situation is like. I avoid saying things like "You need to do xyz or you should do abc". Rather, I would try to listen and connect. For example, if someone was telling me about a PTSD issue, I might try to connect by saying "I don't have PTSD, yet I have had severe anxiety that felt like xyz. . . Is it sorta like that?". Or I may ask about their experience and try to imagine what it's like, rather than simply judging and analyzing the situation. I also try to stay centered in my own experience, rather than opinions I have no experience. I may say "I had a similar situation and did xyz which was helpful. I also did abc which was a mistake". Or I may imagine "If it were me, I would probably try xyz". Or "Perhaps you could try abc.". The key for me is to come from a place of love and connection. I also try to get a sense of how much advice the person wants. One of the traps I get into is assuming that people with issues need to be fixed and I need to help fix them. For example, if someone was describing how hurt they feel that their gf cheated on them, my mind may go into "solution mode" and start thinking about what actions to be taken so we can feel better. Yet that is not always wanted or needed. Sometimes a person just wants to express feelings and connect with a supportive person. If so, I may say "yea, that happened to me too. I loved her so much and it hurt so bad". Then we may share about the experience without coming up with a 5 point action plan to deal with the situation. There are also situations in which someone wants to stay immersed in conflict and is hyper-blaming. They might want me to cosign theri BS and join in on the bashing. For example, someone may complain nonstop about how their gf nags him and how much of a bitch she is. He may want me to support his view and start bashing his gf with him. I try to dis-engage from that dynamic.

@MrDmitriiV The mind can give attention, meaning and emotional response to stimuli. There are certain sounds that my mind pays attention to, gives it meaning and triggers a stress response. One thing that has helped me is to stop engaging in stories that this is super important and a threat to my wellness. If the mind thinks this is important to is bad for my wellness, it will dedicate more attention to it. For me, it's not so much the sound as my response to it. If someone next to me is chewing and I don't notice it I'm good. As well, if I notice the person chewing and it doesn't bother me - I'm also good. It's not so much about the chewing, it's my response to it. My mind can get immersed in a narrative like "This jackass chewing is so rude. I want to make him stop". That puts all the attention and energy on wanting to make an external stimuli stop and I can't make progress on changing my emotional response to the stimuli. I've had hyper-sensitivity to certain sounds - one of which would send me into a panic. I even went through EMDR therapy, which helped. I've read that others have found TRT helpful, yet I haven't tried that.

Notice the energetic orientation here. The energy is to create a story that will relieve underlying fears and anxiety. This minds want to create grounding for a sense of safety and security. A lot is missed with this orientation. Ime, awakenings are more of an energetic shift than an intellectual shift. You ask a lot of interesting questions that are amazing to explore. Energetic orientation has a big impact on experience. It's like being at an Amusement Park and feeling excited to ride the roller coaster. As we board the roller coaster, my friend says to me "Are you aware that 43 people die in roller coaster accidents each year? And the operator looks like he should be working at Pizza Hut". This is a different energetic orientation that alters the experience. We could explore this question from a different orientation. Sometimes I contemplate if awareness can be transferred from one physical being to another. One day I realized "Wait a minute, if awareness can be transferred that means my awareness has been transferred to me. This awareness was in another physical body. Perhaps a century ago, someone with anxiety about there death questioned "I wonder if my awareness will go to a new physical body when I die? I hope I will be able to recognize the awareness transference". Then it hit me. . . If this is true, the person the awareness was transferred to is me. I should be able to connect to this. Then there was a flash of realization "It's ME. Oh my god!!! I'm back!! I remember now!! It's true!! I'm here and now again!!". It was an amazing experience. It was like I forgot and then remembered. It shifted my energetic relationship to reality. For example "what is memory?". I had an experience of "remembering", yet not like regular memories. These memories are more like body / energy memory. Sometimes I try to recall my awareness when it was in another person. At times, it feels like I am so close. I can almost remember something, yet can't quite get it clearly. I don't "know" if this is "real or imagined", yet this comes "prior" to that in a dimension in which real and imagined dissolve. It is unknowable reality, yet there is also a form of "knowing". It is a magnificent place to explore. Yet when my energetic orientation is "I'm feeling anxious about death and loss of my awareness. I wonder if my awareness will reappear in another". This orientation has a very different dynamic.

We can create all sorts of ideas and models about insights and thoughts. Some can be quite helpful in navigating through life. Yet there is no one objectively true thing called an "insight" and another objectively true thing called a "thought". There are many different constructs we could build. We could do this intellectually, through feeling, intuition, experience etc. Yet all of these terms also are fluid. In self inquiry, we might inquire "what is an insight?" or "what is a thought?" - without thinking about it and trying to figure it out. For me, sometimes something arises in the moment and sometimes it comes later. For example, prior to yin yoga I may ask "what are thoughts". Then I go blank into the yoga. Maybe something on the thought theme will arise, maybe not. As well, I try to be an aware observer. During one yoga session, I observed how feelings, thoughts, sensations and environmental stimuli are all interconnected and I lost ability to differentiate between them. I could tell the difference between a thought and feeling or sensation. And then I sorta could, then I couldn't. Drifting in and out of different states. Yet for hard distinctions, my rational mind would need to be activated. I would need to create a narrative. "That is a thought, that is a separate feeling. The difference between them is XYZ". That is fine and can have practical purpose in life. For example, we define terms to converse meaning to others. This limits confusion. If I say I had an insight this morning and was referring to a bowl of cereal I ate - it would be confusing to others (and myself). Yet to me the true potential is going prior to any construct and seeing the infinite numbers of construct that can be formed. This cannot be found in any textbook or video - because those are expressions. There is another essence that is more fundamental and direct than outward expressions. Notice how indirect constructs are. I can create a construct of what an "insight" is and what a "thought" is. Yet that is one or two steps away from direct ISness. If I say "this is what an insight is", that is a step away from the actual ISness. It is going through a filter in my mind interpreting and defining the ISness. And if I say "this is what an insight is" and you read it - there is another filter in your mind that is interpreting the statement. That is two steps away from the actual ISness. For me, this can cause inner turmoil and amazing connection. The inner turmoil often comes from trying to form a sense of grounding. My mind may think "What is an insight? Just tell me what it is without all this mumbo jumbo". Sometimes my mind and body does not like to be uncertain, fluid and groundless. It's taken my mind and body a lot of time to be at peace with this. . . For amazing connection. . . I cannot capture all of a realization. Any image or construct cannot capture it all. There is a loss. As well, any explanation I give cannot capture it and there is further loss. This is one of the saddest aspects of spiritual communication for me. Yet the other side of sadness is joy. No image, idea or construct can capture it all, yet some capture more than others. Sometimes ineffible-ness arises and then a representation of that arises - and it feels like the representation is fairly close to the ISness. This is one of the most wonderful experiences for me. That sense that "I got it". . . As well, sometimes I listen to another sharing a representation of an ISness. For example, we may be watching Rupert Spira giving a representation of an ineffable. Notice how Rupert Spira rarely gives definitions. He generally does so simply for clarity toward that which is ineffible. He usually says things like "It is sorta like. . . xyz". And he offers some type of analogy. Occasionally, the ineffible is transmitted / appears and there is a "getting it", yet not in intellectual terms. More like the ineffible ISness appears and there is a "knowing" - yet not an intellectual knowing. More like ISness knowing ISness. . . Yet the mind often jumps in and may think "Well how do I know that is true? How do I know if I understand correctly? How do I know I just experienced what Rupert Spira was pointing to?". This is all second order contextualization. The magnificence for me is direct first order. I think having a basic foundation of theory and knowledge is helpful. Without that there would be no grounding. There is a balance of groundlessness and grounding. My mind had been generally oriented too much toward grounding and would get off-balance. My mind wanted to figure things out, make sense of things and define things. My mind would over-think. This can be unsettling because it is like trying to build stable concrete in shifting sand. As well, to much grounding can demystify the mystical and contract a human from greater expansion and potential. People can tell you various ideas about insights and thoughts. Observe how you resonate with this. There is intuitive and empathic resonance. A sense of "getting it" without being to explain it. For me, the "getting it" is prior to being able to "express it". I often "get something", yet have no idea how to put it into words. I don't even know where to begin. Then a day or two later, an image of it may arise and I smile. Notice how some minds are very rigid and say "This is how it is. Period.". These minds take positions and want to ground themselves in positions. There is "my" position and "your position". There is a desire to be right and defend one's own position. . . Also notice other minds that are flexible and can flow with form and formless.

Here I will write about "seeing" other perspectives, loss of self, multi-self, hyper-empathy and other paranormal abilities. Seeing other perspectives has become one of my natural abilities that has developed over time. I now can go into groundless states in which there is no perspective to hold and noone to hold it. This can lead to an amazing dynamic in one's own mind and the relationship with others. When my mind is not holding a perspective, it is open and free. The filters dissolve. There is empty looking and empty listening. With empty looking and listening, there is no judgement, there is no interpretive filter, there is no conflict, there is no "my' position and "your" position. There is no desire to be right or to be understood. It is an extraordinary state of consciousness. There is a shared energy. At more advanced levels, it is as if one can almost become the other person. It is extraordinarily beautiful. Sometimes I contemplate abilities, such as "paranormal" abilities. Are we born with them? Can they be developed? Can they be learned? Over the last several years, I've met several people with paranormal abilities. I seem to attract them know. There are lots of abilities I seem to completely lack. For example, astral projection and seeing auras. I can't do it at all. Zero. Nothing. And there are abilities I have just a hint of ability - such as Reiki. Yet it is barely perceivable. Abilities I'm moderate at - such as lucid dreaming. I only have one ability that I am a natural at: empathic abilities. I'm not just talking about having compassion for another or feeling bad for another. High level empathic abilities go into paranormal zones and it can get bizarre. Back to seeing various perspectives and developing this ability. I would say there are various components that come together: integral thinking/imagery, curiosity and empathy. Earlier in my life, I was often attached/identified to "my" perspective and I often got into debates. I wanted to be right and I wanted to be understood. These were often emotionally charged debates in which noone changed their opinion. Yet a higher desire would often appear. An energy of wondering. As well, there was often a sense that I was only partially right yet I was trying to be completely right. This was very unsettling to me. For example, I used to be highly contracted into science and logic. I got into debates about the existence of god, ghosts, the paranormal etc. I would always take a hard logical. rational position and expose their irrational beliefs. Quite often, I had a sincere desire to help them. They were believing in irrational things. Yet later that night I would be lying in bed unable to fall asleep. It just didn't feel right. The energy of our conversation and me being right. There was a sense I was missing something. Then the desire to discover that arose. I would think about how someone could believe those irrational beliefs. I wondered about their upbringing in life. The purpose it serves them. How they feel inside. I'd wonder what I would be like if I had had a similar upbringing. Over time, the wondering turned to imagining. I imagined what it would be like to be a woman, a transexual, gay, insane, a Chinese person, schizophrenia. I started asking people "what's it like?". What's it like to be able to play the piano? What's it like to have autism? Yet I didn't want to know theoretically. I wanted to know what actually holding the perspective and experience is like. Sometimes this led to uncomfortable situations. One time I was with a woman who had a combination of bipolar and schizophrenia issues. I really wanted to enter her world. I kept asking "Is it like this? I've experienced this before, is it like that? I would also try to feel it and enter her mind. I felt really close, like I was actually getting it and experiencing it. Like I was becoming her. Then she freaked out. I felt really bad I put her in distress and I realized I needed to tone it down and have better awareness of the stability of the "other". However, this would not be the last time things got so intense the other person couldn't handle it. I would also watch documentaries like criminal minds and multiple personalities. One time I was watching a documentary on serial killers. I don't resonate with the details of crime solving. I resonate with minds and conscious states. There was one show in which the killer talked about his experience of desiring to chase a victim, capture them and kill them. He was describing "what it was like" and I got so immersed. There was no "me". There was no filter that said "Killing is bad and this guy is demented". There was no filter saying "You are messed up for watching this" or "You better stop watching. You could become like him". Nothing like that. Just intense curiosity and wonderment of his experience and perspective. What it is like. As he described his experience during one of his sprees, I went deeper and deeper into it and started connecting empathically to him - as if I was him. Then he reached described the experience of when the victim took their last breath and the life force left their body. And I "got it". There was a "knowing" of what it's like. A knowing of his perspective and experience. That moment freaked me out. For a moment, I could not tell if I had killed someone or not. I didn't know if I was a murderer. . . When I returned to "me", I was really shaken up, yet I also realized I had some ability to do something I didn't know existed and had never seen in another. . . And it's not just with serial killers. I've gone into that space with multiple personalities, autism, forced feedings, insanity and solitary confinement. I tend to resonate stronger with darker dynamics for some reason. I probably wouldn't enter that hyper-empathic space watching someone describe the joy and freedom of being weightless in outer-space. Yet maybe I could if I work on it. The next big jump in deepening this ability was with psychedelics and cannabis edibles. This amplifies my empathic ability big time. I actually have to be careful because it's real and there are spaces that can traumatize my mind and body. Same as if I was "actually" going through it. After a lot of hyper-empathic trips, my baseline ability increased and new variations of it appeared. The thing with psychedelics is that the other person is no longer needed and I started to be able to do it on my own. For example, one trip went to a space that was so genius that it met insanity and I could no longer differentiate the two. I became that and I know what it's like. I know there are people in the world with this dynamic and I know them, their perspective and their experience. Over time, I started to be able to do it to an extent on my own. For example, I take long walks in nature and all sorts of perspectives, realities and experiences appear and disappear. There is no "me" present to hold onto "my" perspective, "my" experience or "my story". For example, I may be walking in the woods and various characters I've met in my life would arise in my consciousness. Not memories like a memory of someone I dated and how she would get angry. More like an appearance of a person I met and they were actually appearing, yet not in physical form. Or that I become that person. For example, I watched a documentary of a woman who developed multiple personalities as a child to cope with abuse from her father. She wasn't faking, it was real. As I hiked, she entered and I explored the different regions of her mind. Yet it was no longer "her" mind "I" was looking at. Perhaps psychedelics have led to my ability to do this. . . . I started to see how the mind is partitioned and multiple personalities started appearing. Lots of different people, perspectives and experiences started appearing. They were as much "me" as "my real story" is me. At first, this type of stuff would send me into full-on fight or flight panic. Yet now I'm cool with it. I can flow with it and I even immerse into it. For those that may have hints of an ability they want to develop deeper, I think one of the keys is letting go of skeptical questioning and analysis. Also, not trying to make it happen. It never works for me in that direction. For example, I cannot go into an ancient building and "turn it on". I can't think "I want to turn on my empathic abilities and detect if there is some energy lingering from a bad event that took place here". Or "I want to empathically communicate with this tree". Perhaps that will come at higher levels, yet that's not how it works now. I can only go blank and whatever appears, appears. . . When something appears, there can be mind chatter of resistance. For example "Is this real or am I just imagining it?". or "Is this occurrence like the one I heard about on YT?". Thinking that tries to demystify it, kills the energy. It is a different mode and dimension in which there is no difference between real and imagined. Also, if you have an ability you will be able to recognize others with that ability. Below, Ananta describes "empty looking and listening". This is a pretty good description of the emptiness that allows for appearance of paranormal.

These are just my impressions. If they allow insight, great. If not, that's fine too. My impression is that you are in a form of limbo - there is dissatisfaction with the surface-level self seeking stuff - like sex, money, job etc. If you genuinely don't have the energetic desire and motivation for such things, you are really far ahead. I spent 20 years of my adult life seeking knowledge, relationships, career success, financial security until I had an existential crisis. None of that stuff was working anymore and the was a void I could not fill. In this regard, you may be advanced. However. . . My impression is that your energetic orientation has not shifted to "transpersonal" seeking of Truth. I think it is good that you acknowledge this and are being honest with yourself about it. Going through the motions without the energetic desire is unsatisfying, frustrating and counter-productive. I don't think one can fake it. From my observations, the most common traits I see in the deeper awakenings are: 1. Their suffering becomes so intense that they are desperate and on the edge of life or death (E.g. Eckhart Tolle). Intense suffering can lead to surrender that allows space for awakening to arise, yet to me it seems rare that this alone is sufficient. I think Eckhart is an exception). One of the problems with this dynamic is that the person is still highly attached/identified to the personal construct. They want relief from their personal suffering. They are not oriented toward transcending the personal construct. So this route is very indirect. Everytime the person faces discomfort and pain along the spiritual path, they will recoil. Thus, this is a conditional orientation. They just want the relieving aspects of spirituality. 2. A predisposition to spirituality. Some people seem to have spiritual gifts and things come easy to them. For example, I meditated for over 20 years without a single strong mystical experience. I noticed fellow meditators in the sangha having mystical experiences and realizations in far less time and effort than me. I've even met a couple people that suddenly had deep realizations with little effort. It just appeared and they didn't think it was that big a deal. 3. Karma, past lives, place of birth/upbringing, genetics. To me, it seems like if someone is not carrying a lot of previous karma, conditioning and are in a relatively high conscious environment - there is a higher chance of awakenings. Someone born into poverty in Africa that is getting abused daily, is malnourished and has a family history of violence and trauma is less likely to have space to awaken. I'm sure it can happen, yet that is a lot to overcome. 4. Desire of Truth for Truth's sake. I would say this is the most important orientation. With this orientation, the person will constantly be drawn to Truth. I've seen a range of desire intensity. When it gets strong, the desire can be overwhelming. This can lead to intense curiosity, openness and willingness. If Truth is the highest desire the person will be willing to let go of there most treasured beliefs to reach a deeper level of Truth. They will be willing to sacrifice themselves and experience Truth. They will be willing to lose everything for Truth. They are even willing to die for it. . . I would say this is the most important energetic orientation since the person it open to all forms of Truth. They don't care whether it will make them happy. They don't care "what's in it for me?". The highest desire is to find Truth whatever it might be. If discovering Truth means experiences of insanity, terror and sorrow, that's just how it is and they are willing to walk through it. This orientation is not conditional on what flavors of Truth are revealed. Yet very few people have this orientation because it involves dynamics that threaten the survival of the self and the wellbeing of the self. I would say Adyashanti, Leo and Nemo have (or have had) this energetic orientation. For example, Adyashanti had an insatiable desire to awaken. He wasn't seeking relief or seeking to be happy. He was seeking Truth. He meditated long hours and put all his effort into it. Before his major awakening during a meditation session he realized he may die right now - yet he kept going because he knew he would realize Truth prior to his death. Similarly, Nemo was handed a pill that guaranteed him realization of Truth. Nemo didn't know what was behind the door. It could be an eternity of pain and suffering. Yet he had a higher desire to know Truth. . . Many people love this moment and often try to identify as someone who would take that red pill of Truth. Yet I think very few people would actually do it. . . The closest we have to this in life is psychedelic "ego-death" experiences. In terms of awakening - it doesn't sound like you have any of these orientations (other than perhaps #3). You may not have a heavy load of karma and conditioning). Yet I don't think that is sufficient - I think it just allows space and opportunity - yet other factors also need to be present. You've clearly stated that you do not desire realizing Truth for Truth's sake. That is fine, yet it means you will be very unlikely to realize Truth. I can say that Truth is an acquired taste that can develop over time. Since you are not desiring material things, it could be that a genuine desire and appreciation for Truth may develop over time. However, if that isn't resonating with you now, I wouldn't force it. I would follow my genuine desire. Perhaps there is a desire for something like experiencing new things. If so, I would do something like travel to foreign countries and immerse myself into different cultures. Or perhaps learn to master a new skill of expression and creativity - like learning a musical instrument. If you are simply experiencing blissful experiences, I might look into using recreational drugs responsibly. After a while, one may realize that chasing blissful experiences doesn't do it either. They could then let go of that orientation and perhaps go deeper.

There is a self-centered relative love and a transcendent love. The self is oriented toward protecting itself for its own survival. As well, the self is oriented toward seeking self gratification and pleasure. From the perspective of the self, there may be no reason to cultivate love in situations that the self interprets as harmful to itself. In terms of the self, an orientation that I will avoid engaging in harmful behavior to myself and others seems pretty healthy to me. There are unhealthier self orientations. For example, a self might ask "Why should I practice non-hatred if someone harms me. Why can't I seek revenge by putting is cat in a pot of boiling water?". As well, we could create healthier self orientations. For example, we may think "When someone harms me, I don't necessary want to engage with them, yet I'd like to understand their perspective and why they are behaving the way they are". For example, imagine you go on a few dates with a gal that we kinda like. Then we find out she is married with a child and the husband tracks you down and tells you "stay away from my wife or I will harm you". In a sense, the woman's lie and the husbands threat have harmed you. From a self perspective, it seems reasonable to say "I don't want to get involved and be harmed in this unhealthy situation. And I don't want to cause any harm to their family". Do you need to get involved and try to infuse love into this unhealthy family dynamic? Do you need to play some type of psychologist to help the family heal with love? I would say "no" in this context. It seems best to step away and disengage. Yet we can still have love. We may notice that this woman and family have gone through trauma and are suffering. We can see how they are acting out their trauma for relief. We may feel a sense of understanding, empathy and love for them. Yet this doesn't mean we need to intervene in the family and try to inject love. Showing up to their house with a basket full of fruit and love would be very inappropriate in this context. So let's imagine the we disengage. We can disengage with neutrality and think "She has issues. I'm outta here". Or we can disengage with a sense of understanding what they are going through on a human level. We can have empathy, compassion and love for them. We can wish them the best. Perhaps we do a tonglen meditation one night and send healing energy to their family. And then we move on. . . Is there a "benefit" to this orientation. To me that is an odd question because it is so self-centered. Thinking "If I feel a sense of empathy for the family, how will I benefit? What's in it for me?". I don't know how to answer that. I think it is more of a personal orientation. When I see people harming others, I get a sense of their inner insecurities and pain. People who harm others also harm themselves and they are suffering on the inside. This doesn't mean I should go camping with them, yet I can still have a sense of caring and empathy for them. I guess for me, the "benefit" of this is that my human experience is much deeper and meaningful. Transactional interactions are very shallow too me and I don't like them.

To me he seems like a hybrid of personal development and nonduality. I don’t resonate with him, yet I can see how others would. It’s nice to see a diversity of people exploring spirituality.

This is both the trap and the key. A fundamental essence of the human experience is a sense that something is missing. How to proceed depends on your energetic orientation. I would pay attention to what you resonate with. That will reveal your orientation and path. Below are some statements that may or may not resonate with someone based on the energetic orientation: — you are missing god in your life. Perhaps get involved with a church and find Jesus. — you are missing personal purpose in your life. Perhaps find a career path and pursue it, —- you are missing challenge and adventure. Perhaps set a goal of hiking Mt. Kilimanjaro in the next year. — you are missing true love in your life. Perhaps create a relationship with someone that is more meaningful and loving than you can imagine. — you are missing a sense of human connection and community in your life. Perhaps get involved with a meditation or yoga community. — you are missing a sense of mysticism and magnificence. Perhaps take a psychedelic and unlock a door to another dimension and discover your special abilities. —you are missing something deep within that can be found through introspection. Perhaps spend a week solo in the woods to discover your true nature. —you are missing something deep within that you have been unable to access through your own efforts. Perhaps travel to Peru and do an Ayahuasca retreat. —you are not missing anything. Perhaps transcend the personal self and realize the unconditional wholeness that is Here and Now. Each of these pointers could resonate with someone based on their energetic orientation. Personally, I would avoid pursuing something I “should” do or that may help me get out of a rut. Rather, I would pay attention to something I am drawn to - something I feel “called” to do.

@remember We are using the terms in different contexts and won’t be able to have a comprehensible discussion. We aren’t on the same frequency, which is fine.

@remember That’s not how I’m using the terms relative authority and absolute authority. You are assigning different meaning, which is fine - you are free to do so. In the context of how I’m using the terms a mechanic is a relative authority on cars. For example, a mechanic is an authority on cars relative to a blind circus clown. According to my term usage, Absolute authority is a direct experience that is not constrained by thoughts or personality constructs. It is realized through direct experience - as all absolutes. This thread discussion is about relative authorities among people. Some may not resonate with how I am using these terms and thats totally fine.

This is not what I'm saying. This is still within the dynamic of positions - a pro-life position or pro-choice position. I am pointing a meta view of both positions. The term "okay" is a relative term. What is "okay" is relative to a perspective. From the perspective of an ardent pro-life position, it is not okay to end life in our own bodies. A pro-life position would place the life of a human biological organism over allowing the woman to choose. From a pro-life position, it is not "okay" for a woman to end the life of the human organism inside her. However, this pro-life position is limited to human life. Pro-lifers are not marching to protect mouse life or fly larvae life. It is conditional to human life. . . In contrast, an ardent pro-choice position would be to prioritize allowing the mother to choose over protecting the life of the biological organism inside her. From this position it is "okay" for a woman to choose to end the life of a human organism inside her. . . Whether or not it is "okay" is relative to the perspective. There is no external, objective, universal "okay" - it is relative. From a pro-choice perspective, a woman has a right to choose whether to carry a human biological organism inside her or to end it. Choice is a higher priority than "life". To understand this position, one needs to understand that choice is the higher priority in this example. If we shift to the life of a biological organism outside of the body, it is a completely different context. Now the highest priority of choice is no longer relevant. It is a new context. Now that "choice is irrelevant" the person is no longer considered "pro-choice"because from this perspective there is no "choice" (whether to terminate a pregnancy in their body). Whether to protect the lives of non-human biological organisms would be a new question. A pro-life perspective would be very different. From this perspective protecting the life of a human biological organism is higher than allowing a woman to choose whether to carry it. From this perspective, the pro-choice position seems hypocritical. A pro-choicer may say it is "okay" to end the life of a human embryo, yet not the life of a sea turtle embryo. This seems hypocritical to a pro-lifer because they do not understand a pro-choice position due to their attachment/identification to their pro-life position. However, from a pro-choice position, it is not hypocritical - it is consistent to their position. This would be considered a high green or yellow view because it includes relativism. If a person held this meta view and believed it was the right view, that is high green. If a person was aware that this relativistic meta view itself is relative, that is stage yellow. Blue, Orange and Green tend to hold different views on abortion due to their underlying value system.

Of course. An extreme pro-lifer has a position. Their position is timepoint 0 (conception). If we set a timepoint of 20 weeks, of course they will perceive it as losing ground. It is losing ground relative to their position of timepoint 0. An extreme pro-lifer will interpret this as pro-choicers "winning". On the flip side, an extreme pro-choicer may want the timepoint to be 40 weeks (birth). From this position they will see a 20 week cutoff as losing ground. It is losing ground relative to timepoint 40. An extreme pro-choicer will interpret this as pro-lifers "winning". The point of compromise is not to appease either extreme. Neither extreme will be happy with compromise. Both extreme pro-lifers and extreme pro-choicers will see any intermediate timepoint as losing ground and that the other side is "winning". . . The goal of compromise is not to appease either extreme. The goal of compromise is to find maximum consensus. By definition, the two polar extremes will be unhappy with compromise. . . Compromise must be between 0 and 40 weeks. The greatest level of consensus is most likely between the first and third trimesters. Somewhere between week 12 and week 25. It might not be exactly at week 20, yet that misses the point. Focusing and debating about the specific week is a strategy used by both extreme pro-lifers and extreme pro-choicers because they don't want to "lose ground" from their relative position. Yet from the perspective of consensus, the specific week is a secondary concern. The primary concern is reaching maximum consensus. If maximum consensus is week 15, go with week 15. If maximum consensus is week 23, go with week 23. . . Overtime, the point of maximum consensus may change considerably and need to be adjusted. You are missing the point of what motivates ardent pro-lifers and ardent pro-choicers. Most ardent pro-lifers are motivated to protect human life. They see human life to be more sacred than other forms of life,. Of course they won't care about protecting deer life and are fine with killing deer. An ardent pro-choicer is motivated primarily by personal choice. They are motivated to protect a women's right of choice. They place choice higher than the protection of a biological organism in their body. I'm not surprised at all if a pro-choicer gets angry over someone stepping on a sea turtle egg, because the sea turtle egg is not in their womb and they are not being forced to carry a sea turtle to its birth against their own wishes. . . If sea turtles developed in human wombs, ardent pro-choicers would support the choice to abort the sea turtle pregnancy because they place personal choice and autonomy over their own body over the life of the biological organism.

Some of the discussion here is assuming there is a psychiatric "problem". If one assumes there is a psychiatric problem, then we could have a discussion on the pros and cons of seeing a psychiatrist or shaman for help with this problem. That is one frame, there is also a very different frame. A person could have paranormal abilities that are considered psychotic by the community and psychiatrists. A psychiatrist may misdiagnose the paranormal ability and associated distress as "psychosis" and prescribe medication to relieve the "psychotic" episodes. A shaman could see this person and rather than seeing a "psychotic problem" the shaman may recognize the paranormal and mystical abilities. Rather than trying to "treat" or "cure" this person, the shaman would support this person and try to help this person reach their mystical potential. This is a very different frame. . . As well, there could be a combination of both frames. On the flip side, imagine an aboriginal tribe in which a person has an extraordinary memory. They can remember details of every single day of their life. They can remember a string of thousands of numbers. To the aboriginal community, this is highly abnormal - they have never seen anything like this and think the person is possessed by a demon. Shamans and witch doctors come to try and "cure" the person of this psychosis. This person could come to America and be seen as gifted. The person would go on talk shows and could become a celebrity. Mathematicians and psychologists may try and help this gifted person reach their highest potential. For example, could this person expand their abilities toward a photographic memory?

In general, please don't start threads that are just a thread title with no context in the post. This forum is not a Quora style forum.

@Identity You've got me contemplating relative authority and absolute authority. . . Last week, I took my car to a mechanic. This guy has a ton of knowledge and experience with vehicular mechanics. He identified a problem with the exhaust system and knew exactly how to fix it. In a sense, he is a relative authority. He has developed knowledge and skill over many years of training. I believe and trust that he diagnosed the problem accurately. We could say that I create my own reality and I am creating a trustworthy mechanic who is an authority on the top. So, I am giving him my authority. . . Another person may be more cynical and get a very different vibe from this mechanic. They may think he is full of BS and just trying to rip people off. Yet I've had direct experience with another form of authority. While hiking in nature, the self dissolved and there was an essence revealed - the source of all sages, shamans, enlightened beings. The transcendent "I" is that source from which all expressions of the source arise. The transcendent "I" is Jesus, Buddha, The Dali Lama, shamans, mystics, Rupert Spira, Adyahanti and all others. "I" am that and so are "you". That form of Authority has a different essence than the relative authority of the mechanic. This form of meta authority creates all the sages, shamans, mystics etc. When I watch someone like Rupert Spira, he has a relative authority due to his decades of practice, understanding and skill. Yet he is also a creation of that transcendent source authority, of which we all have access to since we are all that source.

If you are channeling that through direct experience, you are accessing some high level mystical states. I spent 20 years meditating and didn't come close to the mysticism you are describing. The chemical combinations you are taking may be revealing natural abilities and granting access. For me, psychedelics increase my resonance and revealed paranormal abilities. Yet then we return to our baseline conscious level and try to "make sense" of the paranormal phenomena. This can be weird and scary to people that have no clue about the paranormal and mysticism. They may portray images that this is "abnormal", and you are "abnormal" and need to get "fixed". I'm not a psychiatrist, yet to me it seems like you have special abilities that seem odd and scary to others. Part of the mental instability may be due from others trying to alter your true nature. Imagine you had an opportunity to go on a retreat in Peru and spend a month with the highest level shaman's. You would be seen and accepted as a young man with abilities and you would have the opportunity to develop those abilities. You would be completely accepted in the community and everyone there would understand the mystical nature of your channeling. You would be a young mystic that gets to develop your natural abilities. Would something like that be appealing to you?. . . Since you keep returning to chemicals and mystical states, my hunch is that this would seem appealing to you. The states you seem to be accessing are higher than any verbal messages I can send to you. Realize that those states are one of the greatest teachers you can find. Be careful when giving authority to others, since you have access to higher authority. I have some mid-range paranormal abilities - here are a few things I've learned and suggestions. If they resonate with you great, if not - also great. Trust your intuition. 1. Psychedelics and weed can rocket consciousness up levels and amplify paranormal abilities. For example, psychedelics have amplified an empathic ability I have to full-on hyper-empathic master. When returning to baseline consciousness, this can be extremely unsettling. I don't know how to make sense of it, whether it is real, or whether I'm going crazy. I've had empathic communication with trees. This isn't the type of thing I can tell most people. They won't understand and will think I'm crazy. At first, I thought I was crazy. With time, I realized it's not crazy at all. I am not a psychiatrist and cannot diagnose you, yet it could be that some of what is being called "crazy" may actually be paranormal abilities. 2. I've learned to be careful who I share what with. I have found people that understand. For example, Reiki masters often "get" what I'm saying. As well, I've met a couple strong empaths online that have helped me work with these appearances and develop them. Yet I would not tell my family about it. I can only give a few hints like "I have a strong imagination". Or I may talk about lucid dreaming. They can handle that surface stuff. Yet they cannot handle the deeper stuff. So you might want to be careful about how much you share with others. To you, this channeling may seem like awesome insights - yet you have no idea how far away most people are from accessing and understanding this. You may want to find people in your community or online that have paranormal abilities. . . Yet be careful of charlatons that are fakers and would mislead or take advantage of you. And this is an important part: you know who the mystics and paranormals are if you are one. There is a "knowing" you can access, just like you "know" if someone can speak English because you are fluent in English. . . If someone tells me they have extra-sensory empathic abilities, I can tell immediately if the empathic resonance is there because I am on that frequency. If someone tells me they can see Auras, I cannot tell because I'm not on that frequency - yet there is still a connection since we both have paranormal abilities and we can freely share together. 3. The weed and psychedelics may be elevating your consciousness and amplifying your abilities. This can be good, yet I would be careful of downsides. Psychedelics can elevate a person from a stage 1 mystic apprentice to a stage 9 mystic master. This may take years of work without psychedelics, yet can be reached in a matter of hours with psychedelics. This can create an unstable dynamic - if you rocket up to stage 9 mysticism and return to stage 1 grounding - it can be unstable. I would consider investing in integration and development without the psychedelics. For me this kinda sucked. I was like a stage 9 magician with psychedelics and trying to develop the skills at my baseline consciousness. Perhaps see if you can access some of these states without psychedelics / weed or with a very low dose. You might only get 40% there, yet I found this really important. As well, you might want to read up online about mysticism or meet some people with paranormal abilities. Be mindful of how you resonate with them. If you have abilities, you already know - you just forgot. I would also be mindful of who you share this with. I would share it with people who "get it". 4. If possible, I would consider getting some distance from family and get into a new environment temporarily. Perhaps take a weekend trip away from it all. Perhaps in nature away from the negative energy. Even a day long retreat. Perhaps there is a day long yoga/mediation retreat in your area and you could tell parents that you just want to relax your mind for a day. At a day long yoga/mediation retreat, there will likely be people/teachers that have some spiritual/paranormal abilities. They would be much more open to discussing things like energetic flows and nonduality.

@capriciousduck The mind likes to create a "me" that is separate and independent from it's surroundings. It creates a "within me" that is separate from "outside me". For example, a mind may think "I am an independent thinker. I am not influenced by others". . . Yet this "within" and "outside" of me is a manufactured construct. Everything is an inter-connected whole. We make up distinctions. We can create a "me" that is separate from "them". Or we can create an inter-connected "us". At a collective conscious level, there is one inter-connected being. . . Take a walk in a forest. The mind can think "I am taking a walk in a forest" as if there is a "me" inside and a forest "outside". Or the mind can go to a collective conscious level in which everything is the forest. The idea that "who I AM" is dependent on my five closest friends. This has some aspects of a collective level, yet there is still separation. There is an inside "me" that is influenced by five of "them". This can have practical value at the personal level. From a personal perspective, if the five people I spend the most time with are influencing my development and personality, I may want to choose my best friends more carefully. This may be helpful in one's personal development, yet it is just scratching the surface. "I AM" is not dependent of five others, "I AM" is dependent on everything, since I AM is everything. In terms of people, we are all neurotransmitters to each other. With this realization, one's consciousness increases and they will be more aware of how one's subjective experience is related to what is happening "outside" me. Over time, this "inside vs outside" construct can dissolve.

@cetus56 Sometimes I like to take a shot on goal, even if it has a low chance of getting in. . . It's part of the sadness for me. It's like sitting with someone during a beautiful sunset and they are lost at sea grasping symbols. . .

@John Paul You are using vague measurements like "strong tab". A microdose is generally between 5-15ug. A standard dose is about 125ug. Yet if you are new to tripping, I would suggest the first trip be between 50-75ug. Everyone's sensitivity to psychedelics is different and trips will vary among people to due their genetics, karma, prior conditioning, mindset, setting etc. Thus, we generally give ranges of light, moderate and heavy doses. I would not be concerned about your "upper limit" at this time. You need to experimentally find that point. You could have a very strong trip at 125ug and think "There is no way I could go higher. That is my upper limit". Or you could be underwhelmed with 125ug and think "Is this all there is?". You would need to find out. I would say 200ug is a very strong dose for most people and most would not need to go higher than this for a strong non-dual trip. Yet for many people this dosage could be counter-productive and even traumatic. Some psychonauts have gone into the 400ug+ range, yet I think they likely have a naturally high tolerance, had residual tolerance from previous trips. Regardless, such high dosages have risks and it would be extremely difficult to integrate. Two day breaks between microdosing is fine. Two weeks breaks between regular trips is fine. Two days between a microdose and regular trip is fine. However, there are exceptions. For you, three day breaks may be best. As well, I would not create a hard schedule of tripping every two weeks. Just see how it goes and how your mind-body respond. You may feel a calling to trip again in two weeks. Or maybe not. In general, full trips every two weeks is a lot for a newbie to handle. It takes time to integrate realizations and tripping every two weeks may lose the "magic" or may be unsustainable due to intensity. Also, I would strongly recommend having integration practices. I would dedicate about 1hr of integration for each hour of tripping. So, 8 hours of integration for an 8 hour trip. This integration time can be meditation, journaling, inquiry, walks in nature etc.

Both of those beginnings are arbitrary. Pregnancy lasts about 40 weeks, so cut that in half to 20 weeks as an arbitrary midway compromise. As someone said earlier, about 75% of the population would support a 20 week compromise. 75% support is a good level for compromise.