Forestluv

Ego death experiences have been the most terrifying experiences of my life. I absolutely dread it beforehand.

Sounds like an ego posturing to retain control. My ego’s best posture is that I could act on harmful impulses if I let go of control. Anxiety and fear are powerful deterrents to enlightenment.

My ego finds the “truth” quite boring and doesn’t give it much value. It would rather pursue goals and create stories and concepts.

For me, those glimpses of “enlightenment” have no goals or purpose. Just IS.

Kranti Ananta

@Brimstone Thanks. After about 25 years of personal development, I’ve recently had some glimpses into. . . I don’t know what to call it. . . Yet listening to Leo, Rupert Spira and Ananta Kranti speak of nonduality, I’m like “yea, ir’s kinda like that.” That kind of talk used to drive me crazy. I’d think “Just explain it in plain English!”. Now, relating to people feels odd. There’s like a familiar dual perspective with language. Then, this nondual whatever. So many things seem important and meaningful from my dual perspective, yet there is a singularity from nondual perspective. It’s almost like flipping between two different languages. Or, English and some alien sixth sense of just being like everything else, without thought or talk. It feels awkward at times.

Gotcha. Perhaps I shouldn’t have assumed the OP had a strong ego.

@kieranperez Isn’t the point of consciousness work to lose the self?

@Brimstone I’ve had some moments of “IT”, yet it’s not a “I get the concept” kinda thing like I experience in the sciences. The only word I’m able to use is “IS”. In the moment, there was zero doubt of “IS”. Afterwards, my mind tries to make sense and add stuff. Is it “truth”? “True nature”? “Actualization”? “Direct experience”? Yet, all words, terms and concepts were meaningless and irrelevant in that moment. I’ve tried to lose my self and return to “IS”. I’ve experienced two others flavors of “IS”. How is that possible?

My job allows me to take a month off each winter and two months each summer. I'm considering using that time for solid consciousness work. I have a career that I find rewarding and it comfortably pays the bills. I'm curious to what extent full-time communities, such as ashrams, are necessary or helpful. I've had a few glimpses into nonduality (mostly with psychedelics, yet a couple sober as well). One recurring message is that "IT" is right here, right now. That I don't need to travel thousands of miles to India in search of anything, because right now I am zero miles away from "IT". The sense feels like "truth". Yet then I read about people going to ashrams and monasteries and think perhaps some are a good idea.

From one perspective, I totally understand feeling stuck and frustrated. I've worked long and hard trying to get out of ruts to continue making progress. From another perspective, this is just one giant complex story you have created and are replaying over and over in your head. I do the same thing. Not saying one perspective is "better" than the other. For me, I find it helpful to acknowledge both to "put things into perspective".

The terms "best" and "potential" are loaded terms to me. There is an ego-driven goal present. Not that there is anything "wrong" that. Yet for me, there is also an ego dissolution component that doesn't have a "best" or "potential". There is no "good" or "bad". What if my ego dissolved away. What would be left? It would just be. Is a frog "better" than a tree?

Last Monday I spent six hours hiking in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. My first time there. The hike was amazing. So much diversity. Plants, trees, rivers, animals, colors. . . I took a small bit of 4-aco-dmt/met which only had an effect the first couple hours. Yet, during this time frame, there was very much a sense of being in the moment and going with the flow. A woman walked by with a stern look, focused on the path. She just flowed by. A couple walked by and we smiled, there was a connection. A chipmunk sitting on a log surprised be with a very loud shrill call, then ran off. I spontaneously shouted "Holy shit! That was the coolest thing ever!!". A dog approached me and we briefly made contact, petting and smiling. Another chipmunk hustled off with a nut. I said "You better hurry, lil' chipmunk. Winter is coming! Better hustle up!". Another woman passed, not wanting to make eye contact. She just passed by and the next moment arrived. It felt like each moment flowed and I naturally flowed with it. Previous moments flowed away and future moments did not exist. Just being in that moment of the flow of happenings. I recall hearing about how buddhist monks are "ready for anything" in the moment. I had interpreted that as the monk is prepared to react to given any stimulus. Yet, the sense I had wasn't a reaction to a stimulus. It was within the happening. There was no reacting.

@AleksMThose “sources” are links to more speculation. Mostly by some group called “HeartMath” that are apparently publushing their own non-perr reveviewd work. The only peer-reviewed journal I saw was current biology - which indeed is a reputable journal. The work showed a correlation between stress, amount if mitochondria and telomere length. This is an interesting preliminary result which warrents more research. People seem so quick to accept claims in the name of science if it conforms to their world view.

Within our gut is a community of over 1,000 species of bacteria, yeast, fungi, virus etc. Collectively, they are referred to as "microbiota". It's not hard to imagine that these microbiota affect our gastrointestinal track. It makes sense, they would influence digestion and absorption. When out of balance, they could contribute to nausea and gastrointestinal illness. Here, the microbes are part of the entity we call the gut. Other microbes can live in the brain. It's not hard to imagine that a microbe, such as Toxoplasma, in the brain could influence brain activity. It makes sense, that the microbe could secrete molecules that influence neuronal activity. Here, the microbes are part of the entity we call the brain. Many microbes live in our gut, yet very few in the brain. Why?. . . Well, gut microbes need only adapt to live in a low pH environment. Yet, brain microbes need to cross a barrier (such as skin or gut tissue), enter the bloodstream, evade the immune system and cross the blood-brain barrier. Not an easy task. Now, imagine gut microbes that use an alternative communication route to the brain. Perhaps secreting molecules that get routed to the brain through the nervous system. What if those microbe molecules could influence brain development and activity? Now imagine the communication both ways, the brain communicates to the gut microbes. Wouldn't we say those gut microbes are part of the entity we call the brain? The stress-response of the CNS can alter the community composition of those 1,000 species of gut bacteria and alter gene expression of the microbes. Brain stress is communicated to gut microbes. Organisms that grow in a microbe-free environment develop brain abnormalities and behavioral changes - in particular anxiety responses. Gut microbes communicate to the brain. Quite the juicy concept for me

To each there own. . . To me, this smacks of pop psychology

Spend more time in nature.

It doesn’t “prove” anything. It smacks of pseudoscience. I’d like to know the peer-reviewed scientific journals that published this work (if any). So I can read over the methodology and results.

To Assume = Making an Ass out of U and Me

I noticed in Rogan’s interview, Russell commented that as much as he would like to use psychedelics to explore consciousness, he can’t because he screwed himself in his 20’s. The belief that an alcoholic/addict is forever addicted to alcohol and all non-prescribed drugs is deeply ingrained in recovery circles. I held the belief for 25 years to later find out it’s not always true.

@Coraline There were several people in the village that did just that. One guy was a stock broker. He quit his job and joined the tribe. Drinking ayahuasca, playing music and living each minute in the sacred valley. He seemed pretty content

For sure. Perhaps better to say “always great in sciences, sometimes not great for existential reality”

@Sri McDonald Trump Maharaj For sure. My mind finds the whole “Just Being” thing boring as hell. But my spirit loves the livin’ with the flow thing

Haha You betcha! It’s conditioning. Takes time to break that Pavlonian response! One thing that helped me was Pema Chodron’s metaphor with bait: After being away a few months we return to a family event. And out comes a hook with a big juicy worm ? wriggling. So tempting!!! We feel the “shempa”, we bite and are hooked. My Dad would throw hooks with big juicy Obama worms and sprinkle on some pixie dust about minorities and “real” racism. Irresistable! ?