Forestluv

Neuroscientists have. For example, even the best world-class sprinters need about 0.2 seconds to respond to the sound of the starter gun (yet the subjective experience is that the sound and muscle response or both "Now". And that is humans that have devoted their life to lower this reaction time. These races are often won in thousandths of seconds, so improving this reaction time is major emphasis for sprinters. . . The visual system is slower than the auditory system. And coordinating it all together to give an illusion that it is all synced together takes time. It's pretty straightforward to measure each individual sensory system, harder to measure the time lag to synchronize them all. I haven't read the original research on that, yet an average of 0.5 sec. seems reasonable. I could see highly trained and efficient brains getting down to 0.3 or 0.4 seconds. Yet I can't see below 0.3 being feasible. Now you are getting down to only one or two sensory systems. Simple reflex arcs in the PNS are much faster, because there is no CNS processing. For example, touching a hot stove and pulling your hand away does not involve the CNS, just a simple PNS reflex arc.

There isn't even a "present moment". That is also part of the illusion. The brain's visual, auditory, olfactory, tactile and motor systems all work at different rates. For example, the visual system is slower than the auditory system, since the visual system is more complex. The various systems are out of sync, yet create an illusion that it's all happening in one "now" - this has practical value to help the human function within the illusion. All that coordination takes about 0.5 seconds, so what you perceive as "now" actually is already in the past. "Now" happened a half second ago. . .

@zambize Yes, I think my pendulum swung from hard-core logic to hard-core "woo woo" and then started to become balanced. Yesterday, a student entered my office to "talk". His girlfriend is sensitive/empathic and seems to have some paranormal abilities, yet she occassionally drifts into places in which sinister beings and demons arise that try to possess her. Last week she had a traumatic incident and ended up in the hospital. He didn't know if all this was "real" or not. I didn't know whether she was in touch with other realms or whether this was psychosis and schizophrenic symptoms. We explored this together for three hours. At one point he said, "I can talk to people that are immersed in mysticism and I can talk to people immersed in science. Yet, you are the only one I know grounded in both mysticism and science". That made me smile. (yet I didn't spill the beans and show they are the same thing. . . ) Lately I've been thinking about training to become a Reiki Neuroscientist master. . .

The human experience of emotion and timing. . . Last month, a student entered my office. I immediately could tell she was in turmoil. A mixture of self-doubt and frustration. She had failed the first two exams, yet was putting in a lot of effort. She pulled out notebooks full of notes - color-coded with many colors. She was spending hours a day studying was still failing. She didn't know whether to drop the course, change her career or what. She oscillated back and forth between frustration and tears. We decided to have private tutoring, just the two of us. My role was to tailor-fit teaching to her optimal learning style. And to recognize any blocks she had. Her role was to show up every week on time and be fully present (she has ADD issues). We both played our roles. Last Friday was the next exam and . . . drumroll. . . she scored a 96%!!!! I have never seen a turn-around like that in my teaching career. This morning she came to my office to pick up her exam. I had been looking forward to giving it to her. She was super nervous. Whether or not she would drop this course came down to this exam. The stakes were high and I knew the result. I couldn't resist letting the suspense grow (since I already knew she aced the last exam), so I played it cool and took an extra minute or two to find the exam to let the anticipation build. . . As I handed her the exam, she reached out and I noticed her hand shaking as she reached for the exam. It was like she was radiating nervous energy. As I handed it to her, I smiled - a little bit at first then a big smile. She looked at her grade and there was a complete energy shift. . . there was a wave of relief and joy. I loved watching this. There was a moment in which there was no "her", there was no "exam", no "career", no "being good enough", no "what this means". There was a moment of nonduality in which simply joy existed. A few seconds past and then I blew it. . . I said "see what you are capable of?". Now, I meant this in the most empowering, loving, supportive way possible - yet it pulled her out of that beautiful nondual moment of pure joy into the story of "her". She popped back into the story line and the energy completely changed. I knew right away, that I spoke to soon. . . What I learned was to let that nondual magic just be. Flow with it. Let it swirl around the room like beautiful colors. Wait until her character reappears - and it would have. Eventually she would have popped back into character and said something like "Does this mean I could get a "B" in the course?" Or something like that. Then, I can play my role again and be supportive and empowering to her.

@zambize The underlying fuel was a yearning. A yearning for a "something" that I didn't quite know what is was or how to get it. Other people could see that yearning in me. Once I started getting a "taste" of that deeper emotional experience and connection, it became solidified. To do so, I had to relax the mind and surrender thought control of the narrative.

Once *knowing* reality = illusion, the "me" dissolves. There is nothing to anchor the "me". It's one thing the cognitively think it, it's another to embody it.

@Raphael I would trust your underlying feelings. If you genuinely want to solitary time, go for it. I'm more introverted and I often tell people "no thanks". One can do it gracefully like "I appreciate the invite, yet I won't be able to". People don't get offended when I phrase it lightly and after a while, stop asking. For some things, there is more of an obligation and I have to weigh the pros and cons. For example, if my co-workers are going out for drinks after work, it's easy for me to say "no, thanks". Yet if a close friend invited me to her wedding, that would be a different situation. I would likely be somewhat uncomfortable, yet I would go because I value our friendship and it would be a very important event for her.

@Cody_Atzori Below is a fun video you might find interesting. Even at the level of the brain, that "me" is a complete illusion from nothingness. Reality = Illusion.

You betcha. You may want to try some yin yoga - it's perfect to reach these deeper states of mind-body relaxation through stretching. And it will likely take you somewhere. I like YT videos of Aprille Walker at the Ranger Station in this area.

@Nivsch If there are only two options, I would support the higher conscious candidate. I want the highest conscious people to have more power to control the narrative and make decisions that affect public policy. This will stabilize and normalize the higher conscious level in society. If orange-green becomes stabilized and normalized as the average conscious level, those at blue-orange will get pulled up. With orange-green in power, there will be resistance to evolving to high green/yellow, but the average conscious is much closer than if blue-orange was in power. With orange-green in power, mature solid green has a better chance to emerge, imo

I've vaped freebase with a standard vape at 428 degrees F. I'm not sure if it is the optimal temperature, yet it's as high as my vape goes. I have gotten good results (good for me anyway). Yet I have not reached breakthrough levels vaping. For me, vaping gives more management control - almost like a dial of intensity. It kicks in so fast. I can have mild intensity on 2 inhales or moderate intensity on 5 inhales. It's easy peasy and smooth. It takes out the anxiety aspect for me because nothing "takes over" or is possessive. Imo, it is by far the best roa for newbies getting their feet wet. Plus, you just need a couple mg of freebase. Plugging is more like a wave. Once it's in there, the wave takes over. . .

@Scholar Thanks for your take of the video. I find it an insightful view of a psychological dynamic that I had not realized before.

@FredFred That creates a dualism. Absolute truth vs. Absolute falsehood. Absolute includes everything. There is no escape.

I think there could be value in a certain context. For example a psychologist might find value and ask if this individual is engaged in a particular psychological dynamic that leads to misinterpretation and blocks him from a deeper understanding. What might that be? Perhaps learning about what is fueling his underlying thought story, how that story serves him and how it prevents expansion can allow us to develop methods to help people in a similar situation (that want help). For example, we might be able to form more efficient methods of deconstruction and disidentification. This could be helpful to others. From this perspective, his perspective and underlying psychological dynamics would have value. (This of course assumes he is contracted within a psychological self dynamic - which I think he is. Others may see him differently).

It's like looking for my glasses and suddenly realizing they were on my face the whole time. . .

Whoa, let's slow our roll here for a second. . . What I'm seeing is conflation between relative and absolute as well as extrapolating personal experience. Notice how the mind thinks "I had it very similar to his situation". And then uses that assumption to establish truth for subsequent statements. In this case "amazing insights that don't stick". The mind does this again when it says "Again, very similar to Leo's situation". Notice how the mind is again using an assumption to make a statement as if it was true - in this case that psychedelics have caused another person frustration, expectations and demotivation. . . .That is the relative experience of your mind-body. Be careful assuming that it is the experience of another mind-body. This is a filter that creates distortion within the mind. It is a major distraction, ime. . . . As well. . . I'm not saying this is your intention, yet assumptions can also be a sneaky way for the mind to discredit another's direct experience and elevate their own direct experience / beliefs. In this case, using assumptions to label another's experience as having expectations, frustrations and demotivation. I'm more curious about your direct experience with 5-meo-dmt. If I may ask a few more questions. . . If you are willing to answer my questions please don't refer to Leo and focus on your 5-meo usage. You say that you were not able to integrate amazing 5-meo insights into your daily life. I am trying to develop methods that can help people that are unable to integrate their 5-meo insights. I've been working to develop methods in my own experience and value the experience of others. 1. How many times have you tried 5-meo? What were your dosages and roa? (This can have a big impact on the 5-meo experience.) 2. You said you had "amazing 5-meo insights". Could you describe these "amazing insights"? What would you say was your most amazing 5-meo-induced insight? 3. After 5-meo trips with amazing insights, what practices/activities (if any) did you do to specifically integrate the insights? How long after the trips did you engage in the practices and how much time did you invest? 4. Looking back on your 5-meo trips, what is one practice/activity you think you could have done to help integrate your amazing 5-meo insights into your ongoing life? To me, it sounds like you are saying 5-meo yields amazing insights, yet you were unable to integrate them. I'm really curious why you were unable to integrate them. Integration can be a challenge for some people and I think it would be awesome to develop methods to help such people.

Ok, if there is no identification, that would change your post to something like below. . . "The mind-body referred to as "me" is experiencing extreme discomfort from overly sensitivity. There are some people out there, whos energies are so low that "my" mind-body just feels down and worthless all the time. "My" mind-body can't really live like that anymore...it hurts deeply. "My" mind-body can somehow feel their sadness and depression which causes a lot of depression sensations in "my" mind-body." That's certainly better than identifying with the discomfort and suffering. Yet, even if we remove the identification to the mind-body, the mind-body is still experiencing all that crap. Why live with that? Why not deconstruct it, heal and set up healthy boundaries at the personal level so that the mind-body is not experiencing pain and discomfort? "My" mind-body kinda likes the experiences of love, joy, wholeness, laughter, wonder, awe, connection etc. Enlightenment exists whether the mind-body is being loved or trashed. Why not take care of the mind-body with love? Why drink sewer water if we can drink fresh mountain spring water?

@DrewNows This is a great video on understanding healthy personal boundaries for those with sensitive/empathic tendencies. Thanks for sharing it.

@David Hammond I love that video

I've gone through this myself and it can create really unhealthy inter-personal dynamics and cause distress to the mind-body. I think whether enlightenment can overcome it is a very tricky and nuanced question. Personally, I would focus on personal boundaries. Empaths are known for having poor boundaries and it was the number 1 issue for me - by far. Looking back to when I was immersed in the negative aspects of empathy - the best thing I did was to learn about how to establish healthy personal boundaries.

For me, this sets up a polarity of opposites - which can be useful at times in a practical sense yet has caused me all sorts of confusion as well. I find it helpful to think of it as a coin with heads and tails. Is heads and tails the same thing? Well, yes and no. You can look at each side of the coin as being different. This can have practical value - for example before the start of a football game, they will flip a coin to see which team gets the ball first. Yet, from another perspective, they are the same thing. They are the same coin. They are fully connected to each other. Without heads there is no tails. The next question for me is "what if I stop calling it 'heads' and 'tails'"? What would happen? What would remain? Then, a whole new level of meaning for "God", "Love", and "Oneness" arose.

Ime, words and concepts are helpful in a certain context. For example. . . for many years I was in what some refer to as the "oberver + object" phase. I could reach a place in which it seemed like there was a neutral observer simply observing thoughts and stuff in my environment. When I sat in buddhist groups, many beginner's would get confused by this concept, yet I just understood the teacher because I had direct experience. . . So, a couple years ago I'm watching a Rupert Spira video in which he talks about the "observer + object" stage as a halfway point. I had thought it was the final destination, so I was perplexed. Rupert describes merging observer and object into one as the next stage. He gave an analogy of a movie screen and pixels. I remember not really "getting it". My mind really wanted to figure it out and advance to this stage. It was frustrating at times. I spent a couple days trying to figure it out and at times convinced myself I had figured it out. Yet my direct experience was still being "observer + object". I just had to let the "advanced" stage go for a while. Then I started getting curious about it - but not in a "figure it out kind of way". In a curious way. Like I would go hiking in nature and look around me and the thought would arise "How is this like a movie screen?". It was like the Universe was teasing me. This disappeared for a while and then one day I was out in nature and just had this experience and it was like "that's it". That is what Rupert was talking about. It was just a glimpse, yet it was crystal clear and I started laughing. I realized there are many different ways one could try to explain it. Rupert's is just one way. So here's the thing. . . if I didn't watch that Rupert Spira video, would I still be locked in the "observer + object" stage like I was for 20 years? Did he plant a seed through words and imagery into my mind? I say he did. I think that imagery was a seed. Over-analyzing it was like putting the seed in rotten soil with no water. Yet just being chill with it and curious was like rich soil and water. Then one day that seed sprouted like magic. Now, consider the opposite. . . what if I had that realization without watching Rupert's video? Would I have been aware of the realization? Would I have "caught" it? Or would it have slipped by? Even if I did notice it, would I have dismissed it as being "kind cool, but 'woo woo'"? How many glimpses have I gotten in my life that slipped away? I would say a lot. Overall, I would say words and concepts are valuable in what people often refer to as "pointers", yet it is important for me to not analyze the pointer itself. Rather, to relax the mind and get curious as to what is being pointed to. Let the pointer get planted in my mind like a seed. I think it's good to water it from time to time, yet digging it up to keep checking if it sprouted yet, getting annoyed it hasn't sprouted and adding lots of chemicals on it to make it sprout is counter-productive.

@CreamCat You have made some strong developmental/expansion progress over the last year. Nice work.

This is just what is arising for me. . . There is a difference between the mind trying to explain something in words vs. something trying to explain itself through the mind / words. Consider someone who is color-blind. That person reads about colors, conceptualizes about colors and has many discussions about what colors are like. He tries to explain to himself what colors are with thoughts and words. That will ultimately fail, right? Now imagine this color-blind person receives stem cell therapy and can now see colors. He is amazed. His color-blind friend approaches him and says "Omigosh, you can see colors now??!! What's it like?". The person who can now see colors tries to explain it in words, yet cannot to his color-blind friend. He does his best by saying things "It's sorta like this. . . ". Yet nothing can quite capture it. This will ultimately fail as well. Can you see how the two approaches are totally different? In the first, he had no direct experience of seeing colors and trying to figure out what it is like through words. In the second case, actual colors are trying to explain themselves through words.

I think it’s cool you are being honest with where you are at. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to convince myself of something I didn’t truly believe and it didn’t work. For me, the direct experience is primary, the concepts are secondary. A couple of things that helped me: without the story of being a finite human, what is there? I had to be careful not to engage in the opposite thought story of “I am not a finite human”. Rather, in the absence of any thought story what is there? This allowed me to go beneath the surface level of thoughts and concepts into the deeper level of body sensations. Also, engaging in flow states was helpful. Being in awe of a beautiful sky, being in the zone playing a sport, being in a flow with a musical instrument in which the instrument is playing itself. In all these states, there is no “me”. No human, no story. It is simply being one with the environment and what is actually happening now.