Forestluv

That was you?! ?

@Bno You don’t seem able to imagine things through the mind of a criminal.

You can transcend all the conceptualization. Yet more conceptualization is unlikely to transcend concepts. Allowing space for direct experience realization is a better way, ime. Ask yourself: would you like to conceptualize about magic? Or would you rather be a magician that creates and experiences magic? Notice how there is an idea of someone in Africa sungazing. That idea itself is finite and separate. "If I am a person here and not a person in Africa, then I am not absolute". . . Also notice that the idea of someone in Africa is happening Now. It involves both space and time. In a sense, you are in the dimension of Now (there is me and a person in Africa right now). Yet you still have the dimension of space. "There is a thing here called me and a thing over there in Africa". This imagery is creating spatial separation of here relative to there. It's very similar with time - the mind creates separation by imagining past and future - relative to now. Once the time and space dimensions dissolve (transcended). All sorts of "experience" can arise. The gloves come off. . . For example, could you dream you were a person in Africa sugazing? Yep. Could that dream feel very real? So real that you wake up and you aren't sure whether or not you are in Africa sungazing? You bethcha. Once the time and space dimensions dissolve, a much more diverse set of experiences can arise. At times, imagination and reality cannot be distinguished. Yet imo, this type of voyaging isn't possible when a mind is still contracted within time and space constructs. You have an easier time with this because you have removed imaginary space (I am here and not in Africa). In this case, you are Now with what is "actual". You are still imagining the tree, yet the tree appears to be "here" spatially. Thus, you have removed one of your barriers. Yet notice how there is still a spatial dimension of subject - object. I am the subject and the tree is the object in front of me. "I am the tree" still has separation. There are two things: the seer and the tree. Yet there is only one. Look. There is only what is. Your mind is creating separation of a thing over there and me over here. Yet seer and tree is the same thing. I think realizing this through the visual system is much much harder than through the auditory system because the visual system is so much richer in terms of detail and space. I think it's much more accessible through sound. One meditation I do is in a room near birds (it could probably be done via bird recordings). . . I sit and relax the mind so thoughts slow. It's not necessary to be thoughtless, yet thoughts need to be unattached, at a distant. Close your eyes and put your attention on the bird chirps. Watch the appearance of bird chirp sounds in your head. The mind will create an image that the bird chirps are "over there". This is due to millions of years of evolution, a lifetime of conditioning and survival needs. Yet it can be transcended. Put all your attention on those bird chirps. There will be a glimpse that the bird chirps are not outside of my head, they are appearing inside my head. This is a glimpse of nondual perception in which "inside" and "outside" dissolve. Yet at first it is a brief glimpse and the mind will go back to perceiving the bird chirps as if they are external. Notice how the mind does this. It's very very good at this. It can even determine how far away outside the bird chirps are!!. . . Bring the focus back to the appearances in the mind. More glimpses will occur. The bird chirps are occurring in my mind!!! With enough practice, spatial duality can dissolve and you can even flip into it on your own. . . . At a more advanced stage when the mind no longer associates bird chirps as external. . . then. . . observe the appearance of thoughts. Thoughts are the mirror image - thoughts are associated as internal. Yet now, bird chirps and thoughts appear in the same space. There is no "thoughts inside" and "bird chirps" outside. I suppose this could be done with some type of recording and other sounds could be used. I like natural sounds. . . This can also be done visually, yet ime it is much much harder to do it visually. Like 100x harder.

Just like any technique, it takes some practice and skill. And just like other practices, some people will have predispositions and naturally resonate. Most people I've talked to didn't get much out of it. Not as much as they hoped for or expected. I went with one person who kept thinking the whole time "what's it supposed to be like, do I need to be doing something?", Another person I went with got incredibly bored and irritated and would never do it again. Another person said it was super relaxing, yet she fell asleep through part of it. I've done pretty well with floats. I think the key is to let go and be aware/pay attention. Just keep letting go. Let go of trying to let go. As well, going with the flow of imagination - without rational analysis. If someone is good with mediation and can let go, it would be an asset. Or just letting go in general. For example, if someone can lay under a tree and fully let go, it would be an asset in a tank, imo. Yet even still, they don't resonate with everyone. I've had a few deep realizations during floats. As well, if someone is experienced with floating and psychedelics - they can supplement the float with a low dose of psychedelic or cannabis edible. I've gotten good results with this, yet I'd advise against it for newbies.

Because you are creating a "particular perspective" that is separate. There is nothing wrong with that, it comes in handy when navigating life. Yet what is there prior to the creation of a separate thing called "my perspective". Prior to thinking "this is my perspective", what is there? There is simply what is happening. There may be sounds, smells, bird chirps, thoughts and feelings. It's all simply ISness happening. The mind creates a narrative of a thing called a perspective and becomes attached/identified - it becomes my perspective. Humans often seek to defend, change or get rid of a perspective. For example, someone may have the rotten perspective of their parents and ask "I can I improve my perspective". This is still within identification. The person seeks to "upgrade" from a rotten perspective to a healthier perspective. Nothing wrong with that - it can be very helpful to the mind and body. Rather than trying to improve the content of a perspective, what if we observe the attachment/identification to any perspective? Of course the ego won't like this, because the ego is all about attachment/identification to my perspective. What happens if we let go of all attachment/identification such that it is no longer my perspective? Now, the perspective is simply an appearance and there is no me to take ownership of it. When sounds of bird chirps arise, there is nothing to take ownership of it. There is no "my" bird chirps. There is no "I am bird chirps". If the bird chirps are annoying there is no "I am annoying bird chirps". If the bird chirps are beautiful, there is no "I am beautiful bird chirps". . . . Similarly, thoughts and images can appear just like bird chirps with no "me" taking ownership of it. Yet the ego will strongly rebel, for this would be the death of the ego. The ego is dependent to the identification to perspective as "mine". The ego will become attached to this egoic identification. Without the attachment/identification, there are simply appearances happening now. Yet this isn't what the ego desires and seeks. Regarding "can't get out of it". There can be dissolution of attachment/identification, which is a form of liberation. Yet, One can't get out of ISness. There is no escape from that. One cannot escape One. Now cannot escape Now.

The theatre is your mind and you are projecting the show ?

❤️ ?

@mandyjw Thank you for those kind, beautiful words You rascal

Let's remove that pesky middle-man and see what happens. . . Now we're talkin' . . .

self It's hard to find words. I wish I was more of a poet. . . I'd say self creates an image of Self, and in doing so there is separation between self and Self. Yet this separation can merge within Now. self is Self. All is Self. When I sit by the river, it is so easy to see that the water, clouds, trees and birds are Self. Yet not so easy to see that self is also Self. I can't formulate or communicate it. This can feel sorrowful.

I find it interesting that people associate LoA very very closely with personal desire.

@Raptorsin7 Follow your intuition and let the flow state flow. Love being in the present moment. You got this ? ?

This is an old thread and the OP hasn't visited the forum for months.

Fun stuff. ? Links to commercial stores selling video games are discouraged. Here is the trailer for the game.

@Fede83 There is something special about an innocent, pure desire to share romantic love with another. ♥️

That’s a nice description. I think I’ve had similar. It’s not like a new point of attention/perception. It’s more like the dissolution of awareness in a localized body. And then a general non-localized awareness. Like being everything in the cafe I’m with it observing itself. I call it a “collective consciousness”. I was also freaked out at first and had a few panic episodes. Yet now when I feel it coming on, I’m like “Ooohhh yea, here it comes. . . “ ?

I’d be mindful of setting up a duality of materialism vs non-materialism and forcing yourself to embrace one of the opposites. After my initial nondual experiences, I went all-in on non-materialism. I was that nondual talking bear for about six months. ? @Scholar Yes, it’s fun stuff to explore ??

@Scholar You are free to interact with others as you see best. ?

@Scholar If someone asks a question in Esperanto, I've found it best to respond in Esperanto.

@Leo Kaminski Any interpretation is a judgement. Any assignment of meaning is a judgement. If I am walking in nature and think "That flower is beautiful", that is a judgement. If I say my favorite movie is "Inception" it is a judgement. If I think "That is a pencil", it is a judgement. "I need to pee" is a judgement. The mind is constantly judging it's environment, it is a judgement machine. That's pretty much all it does all day long. You seem to be trying to create a category of judgments that cause inner turmoil and interfere with inter-personal relations. For example, my mind may interpret reality like "My boss is such a jackass. He isn't even qualified for the job. He only got it because his uncle owns the company". Or, "people that eat insects are gross. They are like animals". These types of judgments may interfere with inner peace and exploration in life. We may never notice our boss actually has some talents we could learn from. We may never realize that our boss acts overbearing because of his fear of not being good enough. . . We may never travel to places because they eat insects there. We may miss out on a lot. Who knows, maybe we would love chocolate-covered crickets!! Yet there are also grey areas. Imagine someone is highly active. She runs marathons and hikes to mountaintops. She goes on a date with a guy that has muscular dystrophy. He seems like a nice guy, yet she wants to find a long-term partner to run with and climb mountains. She makes a judgement that she doesn't want to date him. Is she being "judgmental"? Yes. But she was also being "judgmental" when she judged the menu as something to be read than to be eaten. You could create categories of "healthy", "neutral" and "unhealthy" judgments. How you categorize them is relative to you. It depends on your definition of "valid". If your definition of "valid" is something that is objectively, universally true - then no. One person judges eating insects as gross. Another person judges eating insects as a delicacy. Is the judgment "valid" relative to the person? Sure. If someone judges eating insects as delicious - that is valid to them. Is the judgment objectively, universally true? No. Any interpretation has some degree of bias. At an obvious bias would be "eating insects is gross". This person may have grew up in a family and culture in which the idea of eating insects is barbaric. This is a personal bias Many personal biases are subconcious. An average person is unaware of the vast majority of their personal biases because they are immersed and identified to that personality. . . A much more subtle bias would be the judgment that this is a paper clip that is useful to hold paper together. This would be a subconscious human bias. The human is perceiving and judging a thing called a paper clip as being useful. A non-human organism, like a bird, would not perceive/judge the object like this.

3-5 beers per month is trivial. Since it is part of healthy socializing and bonding for you - it probably has a net positive effect. I would be more concerned about toxins on unwashed fruits and vegetables I eat. That would have more negative impact than a few beers per month.

There are several reasons psychedelics are non-addictive and non-habit-forming. 1) They don't activate the dopamine reward pathway. 2) There is a long onset until effects manifest (about 1 hr). 3) The trip has a very long duration 5+ hours, 4) There is a rapid onset of tolerance for a long period (a tolerance spike within 1hr that requires 12 days for a reset), 5) There are often uncomfortable associations with the trip (e.g. anxiety, nausea). Taken together. there is a low risk for addiction or habit formation. 5-meo is not a standard psychedelic with all of these features. In particular, 5-meo has a rapid onset of effects (within minutes), the trip duration is short (under an hour) and there is a very short tolerance window (under 1 day). Taken together, 5-meo is still relatively non-addictive/non-habit forming, yet it does not have the extreme non-addictive/non-habit profile of a standard psychedelic like LSD. In a general population, I would place the risk of 5-meo addiction / habit formation above LSD and below cannabis. The majority of people can moderate their 5-meo usage effortlessly or with little effort. Yet there occasionally are individuals that have difficulty moderating their 5-meo usage. For example, the may use 5-meo as an escape or recreationally.

Could this be a toxic form of criticism? Is there also healthy criticism? I’ve had some friends that have given me some constructive criticism about shortcomings I should work on. It was hard to hear at the time. My boundaries and defenses were too strong and I needed to open up. I’ve also experienced the type you describe. I had an ex that was hyper critical in a manipulative way. In this situation, my boundaries and defenses were too weak.

I like it. I hadn’t thought of it quite like that before. And the quote is kinda poetic.

@Lento Thats an interesting way of looking at things. You’ve got me thinking in a different way. Supposed I asked you “How do you know it’s Now?”. Well, you just know it’s Now. . . Would that come “prior” to your contemplations?