Forestluv

Two threads on a similar topic have been merged. Some seekers don’t have easy access to psychedelics and wonder about alternatives to psychedelics. This is a good thread to explore this topic.

Those are some good reasons. It’s got me thinking about trying to maintain cultural identity, which is a form of survival. As we approach the holidays, I’m seeing the “War on Christmas” perception arise agin. Mostly with people that are older. There is some resistance to inclusion and multiculturalism during the holiday’s. Some of it is a desire to preserve tradition and define America as a “Christian nation”.

@Matt23 I wonder if it might be helpful to step outside of it for a bit into something relaxing and enjoyable without pressures to make progress. Last summer, I noticed myself getting really intense and felt pressured. I decided to take a spontaneous solo trip to take a break and change the environment. I had no expectations of growing or making progress. I spent all day hiking, relaxing and sitting in nature. Things started to feel natural and spontaneous again, being now. For me, a little bit of pressure, intensity and discomfort can be good. Yet there also needs to be relaxation and enjoyment. It’s hard for me to be going with the flow of Now when I’m caught up with this, that and the other thing.

It’s not that hard. If you want it, open yourself up, put in some effort and you will find it. You will attract it and it will come to your life. One day you will realize “I can’t believe this is actually happening”. You have internet access, which is a huge resource for research. @Nahm I love that story. I can visualize it in my mind. What the cafe, server and man all looked like. Almost like I am there. I actually found myself conversing with them for a bit. You could write a wonderful book of short stories.

If this “I” is not in control, then how can I control how I think about my lack of control? The idea of personal choice has practical value in personal survival, personal development and navigating life. Yet identification to the belief keeps one contracted in self.

@Fede83 Hatha and vinyasa are physically active forms. Yin yoga holds postures/stretches for 4-8 min. Ime, this allows to go into a meditative state, yet isn’t one long static posture like traditional meditation. Kriya yoga is mostly seated and a deep form of meditation with a some focus on breathing. Kundalini yoga is focused on breathing. All forms have benefits. There are a ton of beginner videos online for each form.

@Fede83 If you like stretching, you may like yin yoga. It can be very meditative, and great for the mind and body.

I have auditory hallucinations and sleep disturbances. These are some things that have helped me: 1) Create a consistent sleep schedule. 2) Make your room dark, 3) Exercise a couple hours before going to bed 4) a non-addictive sleep aid like melatonin or valarian before bed, 5) something relaxing like meditation or restorative yoga prior to bed, 6) No screen time an hour before bed., 7) change my relationship with the hallucinations, such that they are no longer bothersome (EMDR can help), 8) stop engaging and reinforcing the story 9) let go of the attachment to what I think was the cause.

@Mihajlo Toviovic @Bobana Please don’t post in a foreign language. The rest of the forum community doesn’t understand. If you would like to have a conversation in a foreign language, feel free to do so via the pm system.

When starting a thread, please give some context, not just a url.

I find it interesting that this was a green-level idea of communal workspaces by hippyish founders. Yet turned into corrosive Orange management.

I may have misinterpreted the context of your questions above. . . I think most of your questions boil down to free will, determinism and an external god. For example “If god could eliminate suffering yet doesn’t, he is either unable to stop suffering (determinism) or is able to stop suffering yet chooses to experience suffering (free will).“

From a human perspective, it’s beautiful to have a world in which no human suffers. When you say perfect health for “all our creation”, you are picking and choosing who gets perfect health. Does the smallpox virus gets perfect health? How about ax murderers? What mosquitoes that carry malaria? Does malaria get perfect health too? It like you are trying to go transcendent, yet unwilling to surrender identity. For example, imagine a white supremicist asking “If I was the world ruler of humankind, could I end all disease and homelessness for white people? CouldI I kill off all non-white people and give all their wealth to white people so white people can have perfect health and prosperity?”. . . From the perspective of a white supremicist, this isn’t weird at all. From his perspective it is beautiful and loving. Yet the point he is missing is that to the rule of humankind is transcendent to human ethnicity. He no longer gets to say whites are good and non-whites are bad. From this transcendent perspective, he no longer identifies as white and he loves all ethnicities. Similarly, god is transcendent to human. From a trans-human view, there is love for all biological entities. Humans, cats, trees, bacteria, viruses, parasites, flies etc. It’s fine to have a human-centric view. Yet the questions you were asking of god is at a trans-human perspective. This includes love for humans as well as love for all non-human entities as well. And cancer isn’t a parasite. Cancer is one’s own cells. And nothing existed before it existed. This is through the lens of a human. God is transcendent to that. Imagine a sick person that takes antibiotics. . . is god wanting to experience the death of the bacteria? The reason you care so much about human welfare is because you identify as human. From a human perspective, that is beautiful, yet you are asking questions of a trans-human perspective in which humans don’t call the shots anymore. If you want to help humans, that’s awesome. Go into medicine or Reiki.

I think these are super interesting areas and I've tried to explore. . . . Reiki masters are engaged in this area. Trying to manipulate energetics to heal. I've had some transient experiences in which higher potential/power is revealed. As humans, we have certain limitations, yet I think humans limit themselves and are nowhere near human potential. In the bigger picture, your questions have a framework of "If one is god, could they help humans?". This is a component, yet it is still contracted. Notice how everything you ask is still within a human perspective. It is still seeing through a human lens. It is concerned about fellow humans and sees things like illness and homelessness as bad. In particular, illness in one's own family. Yet at trans-personal and trans-human levels, there is no longer a "me", there is no longer a "human". There is everything/nothing. Human homelessness is no more significant than a community of ants in a rainstorm in Madagascar. At a trans-human level, humans are no longer priority - that is a human-centric view. Notice how you are essentially asking "As god, could I cure cancer in someone?". Yet as god, you are also that cancer. That cancer is being exposed to chemicals and radiation that want to kill it. That cancer is struggling to survive. As god, why aren't you concerned about helping and healing the cancer.? As god, why wouldn't you disable the doctors and drugs to save the struggling cancer so it can thrive in the human? As god, why don't you want manipulate the cancer so it can spread throughout the human community to form a healthy collective cancer? At the human level, we see someone with cancer and feel for them. We want to help our fellow humans. That is beautiful and loving . . . . from a human perspective.

@WHO IS Sex is fundamental to human survival, so it will be fundamental to personal identity. It is a great way for people to manipulate each other for self-centered desires. Whether someone like peanuts more than walnuts is not going to have much "umpf" in terms of personality, energetics and manipulation because peanut/walnut preference has no relevance to survival and personal identity. If someone tried to shame another for eating peanuts rather than walnuts, it just wouldn't be effective. Unless a culture was able to establish that peanut/walnut preference is fundamental to survival and personal worth. Yet that is a long put. Humans have already evolved to have sex be a fundamental component of survival, desire and personal identity. The stage is already set. . . I grew up in a fundamental catholic environment and they were masters at using sex and guilt to manipulate and control. And sex is used for manipulation in many contexts, not just shaming. E.g. Marketers use sex to manipulate consumers for profits.

@Raptorsin7 Relaxing the mind and body is great to allow space. If my mind is filled with worrisome thoughts about the past or future - or trying to figure things out - it doesn't allow the mind to slow down. Once the mind slows down a bit, I don't think it's helpful to try and stop thoughts. Ime, that just sets up inner tension. As you mentioned, you can label thoughts as thoughts and return to here and now - like the breath. One thing I find helpful is to observe my relationship with thoughts. In the beginning, I would count breaths. Then I would suddenly realize I was "lost in thoughts". Not like thoughts passing by, yet *lost* in thoughts. I'd be like "whoa, I'm supposed to be counting breaths - how long did I get lost in thinking?". I became very curious about the relationship to thoughts. One meditation I do is "thoughts are logs". I imagine myself on a river bank watching logs (thoughts) flow down the river. I don't chase or grasp any logs (thoughts). This can break the attachment/identification to thoughts. After a while, thoughts may arise, yet they are just background noise - like bird chirps. I'd also be aware of creating a "Big Bang" event for realization such that and awakening experience must be a mindblowing mindfuck and the body is flopping around the floor like a fish. That type of thing can happen, yet one will miss a lot of realizations. Many are subtle and simple.

+1 on shamanic breathing. It can allow entry to lucid realms. Ime, the more I let go and allow imagination, the better. Tribal drumming in the background helps.

@hamedsf That’s a good way to explain it. I hadn’t thought of it like that. What’s coming up for me now is that there is “present moment” imagination and actual presence. Sometimes I want to set up a meditative environment that allows “presence”. As if I am walking from a room of “non-prescence” into a room of “presence”. I even start a timer that that marks the beginning of presence. In a way it’s quite silly, yet in another way it’s helpful to relax the mind and allow space for awareness of presence. Yet other times, it seems like I am imagining presence and trying to express it and lose it. For me this relates to what I am sensitive in Now. Sometimes my mind is off in thought stories and not sensitive to what is happening Now. I may mindlessly spill my coffee. Other times, it’s like I’m super sensitive to what’s happening Now. I may be walking in nature without any thoughts. Then something may appear that I sense, perhaps a type of energy or aura. Yet as soon asI think about it like “What was that? Was that real or my imagination” - I lose touch with it.

I think charisma / looks can be a factor to various degrees depending on context. Not just physical appearance, yet also how the person carries themself. At my work, we are conducting a job search for a science teacher and each candidate has to give a seminar. On appearance, one candidate was unattractive, introverted and dull. She was very knowledgeable and gave a good talk on content and tried to connect with others - yet just didn’t resonate well with people. Another candidate was a marathon runner in super physical shape. Attractive with vitality. She was outgoing , engaging and positive. It was contagious. People just wanted to be around her. He also gave a good seminar. It was difficult to compare the two just on content and filter out the attractiveness. Two people can give the same seminar on content, yet have very different impact on an audience depending on attractiveness. Here attractiveness includes, yet is not limited, to physical looks. It also includes charisma.

I’ve done these types of reality checks and Ime they can be useful to bring me back into the moment. For example, I set my wrist watch timer to beep once every hour. Not an alarm, just a quicks double beep. It usually went off while I was engaged in thought stories and helped me “come back”. I found that it was more effective when I did daily morning meditation. As the day went on, I would lose presence and the beep helped me to regain presence. Yet after a while, my mind began to build resistance to the beep and filtered it out or dismissed it. A beep every 20 min would have been way too frequent for me. . . . Another thing I tried was wearing a rubber band around my wrist and periodically snapping it during the day.

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Psychedelics are one spiritual tool. How effective they are depends on many variables of the person. Some people don’t resonate well with psychedelics for a variety of reasons. Others resonate well and it can be a powerful spiritual or PD tool. If you want to experiment with a psychedelic, it’s safest to discontinue antidepressants like SSRIs, use a low dose and create a safe, familiar setting. As well there are many many other practices for spiritual / PD development.

@Lento You are fine as you are. The humor wasn’t directed or related to you.

@WisdomSeeker Not confirmation bias. Conditioning and distraction of playing a character in a movie. “I am a scientist. I need to get the workers in my lab to generate data, publish results and grant money to keep my lab going”. This is just one dynamic of a character story. . . . It’s not me or other people. It’s all of the characters in the movie. One day the scientist or beauty queen may have a moment of awakening and realize “wait a second. I’m just playing a character. Oh my god. . . “

I think it’s more about conditioning and distraction. A scientist that spends all his time trying to get grant money and prove his theory will likely remain contracted in their reality.