Forestluv

I'd say attachment and identification are the biggest obstacles.

Neuroscientists know less than 0.0000001% about the model of a DMN they created. I'd be careful with making conclusions about something we know so little about.

I'd be careful about giving *meaning* to insights. It looks like you are gaining some insight into symbols, relativity and nonduality. Yet, it seems like your mind is adding a lot of extra stuff: "Symbols are there to hide the truly miraculous nature of things, and in doing so, hell within the mind is created since we divorce ourselves from what is." "Hellish" is just one interpretation. I find what you described to be sooo fascinating. I want learn more and more about it!! It's exciting!!

@Devil Nope. This is one storyline among an infinite number of storylines. I can engage in this story or not. Right now, there are other storylines that are more interesting to me. As I said, the story is not right or wrong. It's just a story. Just be mindful of getting attached to the story as if it were actually true. @Outer I could be either a player or NPC in this storyline. You can make up ANY story you want. People get sooo attached to their stories. . .

Be careful drawing conclusions from neuroscience. We are still in it's infancy. For example, the field of Quantum Neuroscience has not even arose yet. There are inputs we don't even know exist yet. It's like we've read three pages of a 10,000 page manual.

Cool story, bro. This is one story of an infinite number of stories to make sense of reality. Fun stuff. Just don't fall into the trap of believing it's actually true. . .

How is dualism a misperception? It is a perception that arises. How can anything that arises be a "mis"? It's like looking at one of those pictures that can be perceived as a vase or as two faces. Which is a "misperception"? On a larger scale, there are an infinite number of perceptions. Humans, bats, trees, ants, moles, birds etc - all perceive reality differently. I wouldn't consider any perception as a "misperception".

Trip Report: 5-meo-dmt 28mg. A lesson in nothing. A couple minutes in, resistance thoughts started to arise such as "Why am I doing this again? I've been using drugs to much lately, it's interfering with my life. It's going to consume my life. These altered realities are going to take over and change me. I'm likely to lose my job". The next minute the 5-meo got stronger and I was still trying to hang on. I started losing sense of meaning - of what is good and bad, of what is healthy and unhealthy. Jumping out a window was no different than taking a pee. Then, panic started seeping in and I struggled. Looking back, it was a struggle to stay sane. A thought went by that I was to experience the horror of 5-meo like I had read online. The trip took a different turn, yet I now know the horror of struggling to maintain sanity with 5-meo. I'm not sure if I was able to let go or if the 5-meo overpowered me. Yet the tide turned from the horror zone. It was as if white cream was poured into black coffee. At first, the white cream and black coffee are separate. As one starts to stir, there are some white streaks visible within the coffee and the overall color of the coffee starts to turn tan. With more stirring, the cream are coffee are completely mixed as one. Similarly, I started off with dualistic thoughts and concepts. I am a person, there is a chair, meditation is part of spiritual practice, and on and on. As the mixing started, words and ideas stopped making sense. Every word, thought, image, concepts etc. started to get stirred together with all other thoughts, images, concepts and started disappearing. Soon, English didn't make sense. A chair didn't make sense. A word didn't make sense. Seeing a tree didn't make sense. Hearing a lawnmower didn't make sense. They are started swirling together. Distinctions started disappearing. It felt like I was going insane and I tried to hold on to sanity. Yet, distinctions rapidly began disappearing. The ideas of sanity and insanity swirled away. Ideas of struggle or no struggle swirled away. Soon, ALL distinctions swirled away and was mixed together. It was like my brain hard drive got wiped clean. This was NOT like the stillness or emptiness I have experienced during meditation. When all distinctions were mixed together, there was nothing. The concept of nothingness has been difficult for my mind to comprehend. The idea of "one everything" is easier for my mind to hold. I've heard various teachers speak about "nothingness" in different ways. Some say "it's not really like the type of nothing most people imagine". Well, now I have direct experience with nothingness. When all distinctions disappeared there was nothing. And I mean NOTHING. I did not see anything in my field of view. I did not hear, feel or smell anything. There were no thoughts. There was no me. There was no body, United States, foreign countries, fruit, feminism, gender, people, objects. Nothing. There was no nothing, no emptiness, no stillness, no infinity, no void. Nothing. I did not see empty black or white. I did not see emptiness or transparent. There was no other world. Nothing. At about 12min., there was the first appearance of a something. The first slight distinction of something different than a something else. It was very subtle, kinda hazy and amorphous. Then an amazing process began. Gradually, more distinctions began to appear. Shapes started to arise. Sounds started to arise. At first, with low resolution - then with more resolution. Ideas started to appear. Then a sense that there was awareness that was aware of what was arising. Then physical sensations and an idea there is a body. Then an idea of a me. Then images of objects in my living room - the couch and ceiling. Then the idea that I was lying in my living room floor. It was like actually watching a lifetime of programming take place. Totally fascinating. I've had nondual experiences, yet there was always some type of consciousness/awareness present. Here, there was no consciousness/awareness. There was nothing to be aware of. There was no observer. It was the appearance of a first something when awareness arose to be aware of it. What could come prior to awareness has been inconceivable to me. I often hear teachers speak of awareness/consciousness - yet rarely do they speak prior to awareness/consciousness. Looking back, the nothingness is so simple. You can't get any simpler. Yet, my mind just can make sense of it. There is a sense of knowing it without being able to fully describe or understand it.

Can the HCL form be vaped? If so, do you know the optimal temp?

@kev014 That's a super complex question. A few studies have a shown life-long mediators have significantly more cortical thickness than non-meditators in specific brain regions. As well, non-meditators that went on an 8 week meditation program showed increased cortical thickness in key areas, while the control group did not. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1361002/

The type of psychedelic is just one factor. Mindset, setting and dosage are also important factors. As well, each can reveal different aspects of truth. It's weird to say one aspect of truth is "better". In terms of depth of insight, I would roughly rank them as: (number of trips in parenthesis) 1. 5-meo-dmt (about 10) 2. Ayahuasca ceremonies (3) 3. 4-Aco-dmt (about 30) 4. San Pedro (2) 5. LSD (about 20) 6. A handful of other research chemicals like ALD-52, ETH-LAD, 4-HO-Met etc (about 10) What put Aya so high, wasn't just the drug effects. The environment of the ceremony added greatly.

That why it's so hard to speak about nonduality. There is everything and no thing. Would the concept of nonduality be within everything? Yes Would the concept of duality be within everything? Yes Would every possible thought regarding nonduality be within everything? Yes The concepts of everything and nothing are hard to fathom since our brains have been programmed to perceive the world dualistically.

If you don’t get roaming charges, just use google maps as you go along. If you have limited data, then download google maps before you leave. Once you arrive, you can turn off cellular and still navigate with the downloaded google maps. And use WiFi at cafes and lodging for using social media and the internet.

Will you have cellular data or will you be limited to wi-fi?

@Joseph Maynor And those words are relative to other words. And those ideas are relative to other ideas. To exist, something must be relative to something else. If one goes beyond relativity, everything stops making sense. Then there are no distinctions. There is nothing. Stuff appears relative to other stuff. It can be fun conceptualizing - yet it’s all just stuff that appears relative to other stuff that appears. Sometimes I notice people get attached to stuff to the point they think it is actually true. If they identify a self with it, they will defend what they perceive as “their stuff”. With an understanding of relativity, it is much easier to let go of attachents to stuff: beliefs, opinions, feelings, being right etc.

Will you have a cell phone and will you have data while traveling?

That is a beautiful story. Thank you for sharing it. You brightened up my day ?

@Thanatos13 I’ve gone through theses types of questions too. Sometimes things start to unravel and I feel like everything is groundless.

Some facinating exchanges going on here.

Somtimes I can detach. Sometimes I can’t control it.

My personality usually tries to detach. I used get confused which feelings were mine and the other. Yet, I’ve gotten better at not identifying with the experience. But c’mon. I was walking down Times Square New York and I’m connecting to everyone I make conract with. They are all sending me packets of themselves. I couln’t look in anyone's eyes, as that would make it more intense. I put my head down and got myself to Central Park. Psychedelics opened up this area a lot. I can get hyper empathic while tripping.

@Joseph Maynor @Feel Good You both need a Time Out. Just let it go and move on. . .

That would be an understatement. That’s why I want to become more mature with it. It can be useful sense as well

It’s not a response to something else. It’s not like feeling bad for a friend . It’s like a oneness with someone. One time, I met a kid with autism. We connected and I went into empathy mode. I experienced a sense of being trapped in my head. There were concepts and thoughts that wanted to be expressed but unable to be expressed. This kid was unable to express his thoughts and feelings. He was trapped. I experienced the frustration, anxiety and isolation. Meanwhile, his mother is telling me about how he has episodes of emotional outbursts and self harm. She talks about all the tests he has undergone and that the doctors are still trying to fugure it out. She yabbers on about some theory while I’m experiencing strong anxiety of being trapped in my head, just like this kid. I knew what he was going through and why he acted out like he did. I wanted to act the same way.

Awesom!! It’s cool hearing a Turqoise perspective in a deep blue environment.