Forestluv

Within the perceptions of Oneness / Singularity, there is no point, because there is no other point for contrast. There are no distinctions, thus no objects, sensations, thoughts etc. There is no observer, since there is nothing to observe. There is simply pure awareness / presence. The greatest gift of 5-meo, ime. And upon “return”, there is creation of distinctions. The edges of a coffee cup that make it a coffee cup. Distinctions between colors. Distinctions of feelings and thoughts, which can get highly complex - yet seem so simple. I consider immersion into distinctions to be attention - and it can range from high resolution to low resolution. High intensity to low intensity. There is also “background” awareness. The mind can become so immersed into attention of a candle flame that it loses awareness of the greater context of the larger environment. And a mind can become so aware with 5-Meo that it loses attention of distinctions (which can be considered and “awakening”). When “returning” from pure awareness, it’s easy for the mind to get immersed in attention to content and lose larger awareness. This has practical value in some contexts. Yet the mind can become so mesmerized by content it loses track of the larger context. It becomes mesmerized by the flame and loses awareness of the flame within the more expansive space. Being able to shift with balance and maneuver attention to content and awareness of context is a mind skill. This is one of the most powerful aspects of 5-meo ime. It can reveal the process of full deconstruction to pure awareness and the gradual construction of content. Pure awareness can’t be “seen” because the mind cannot place it’s attention on a singularity. Attention requires the contractions of distinctions to create a “thing” relative to another “thing” upon which to place the attention.

@Raptorsin7 In terms of relaxing, releasing and being now - I’ve found it important to be able to do it sober - which can be difficult. One thing that helped in the past was doing micro doses to help bridge the gap.

Keep in mind this is one dynamic influenced by an experiential field. Profound and helpful in its context, yet still a conceptualization spoken ‘as is’. It is one dynamic that can appear, yet there are other dynamics. The context reminds me of Ram Dass’ experience and relationship to psychedelics and awakening. A limited contextualization within infinite potential becomes extrapolated due to a contraction of attention at the expense of peripheral awareness. I think what you are expressing is very insightful, has value and is helpful for many people (including for me). Yet, it is also one dynamic of many which can arise. The range of what is with ‘psychedelics’ includes what you dynamic you describe, yet goes way beyond the that dynamic. When the mind loses sight of this and directs its attention to one dynamic, it loses peripheral awareness of other dynamics. That has advantages, yet comes at the cost of decreased mind fluidity, awareness of the unattended and holistic being.

Yes Do you have an idea what “permanently changed for the better” looks like? Or is it an open, unknown thing that is better than Here and Now?

@Breakingthewall Keep in mind this is real in a sense and a contextualized story in a sense.

If it were me, I’d loosen up on the visuals needed for a mystical experience. Ime, visuals can be distracting - like some entity materializing. Usually, I have no p visuals or ver subtle - like things are perceived through a new lens - yet not toasters turning into machine elves kinda thing. Expectations can be good for motivation and progress toward a goal, yet they can also be very limiting. For example, before I did my first sensory deprivation tank, I read about other people’s mystic experiences and I realized I was developing beliefs what it “should be like”. I needed to let this go, to open up greater space and potential. I’ve been interested in exploring mystical experiences my whole life, it’s part of my personality. The biggest block for me is mindest in several ways: 1) The conditioned way of perceiving / thinking that is “normal” and the belief I need to go somewhere mystical. When my mind is conditionally thinking in patterns, seeing things familiar as normal / boring and thinking about stuff I should do, it’s very unlikely I can enter an altered state of consciousness. For example, my living room is highly familiar to me and very difficult to relate differently with. One nice thing about psychedelics is that it scrambles everything up. It’s like I’ve never been in this room before, yet I have. It’s a totally different relationship. For example, I may ‘feel’ the essence of inanimate objects in the room. 2) Beliefs that a mystical experience need to be a certain way and have lots of bells and whistles. This is common when people read about other’s mystic experience reports (which are often sensationalized in an effort to capture the extra ordinary nature). Mystical experiences often begin subtle and if the mind challenges it, the opportunity vanishes. For example, last night I took my first dark hike in nature. It was a drizzly, misty night with moonglow. I had been to this nature center 100+ times, yet it just felt and looked different. The first thing my mind wanted to do was to get grounded and make sense of things be using internal maps and placing myself in time and space “Oh, I know where I am. The bridge is coming up, and the turtle trail will be on the left. Yet I should probably stay on the main trail because the side trails may be too wet”. This is a very rational and grounded way to perceive. Yet awareness “caught” it. This is a skill developed in traditional meditation. There was realization of the thoughts and mind construction and it was let go. Then, space for unknown, uncertainty and creativity arose. I didn’t know who, what, where I was. The fog rolling over the river was like a scene out of a movie. There was an eerie silence. It’s was peaceful yet also eerie. All the animals were hidden. I was the only animal and I started sensing spirits. . . Traditionally, my mind would take over narrative control and think “C’mon dude, you are just making this shit up. You are in the local nature center getting wet. You’re probably gonna get a cold, then you will need to get tested for covid. It’s best we turn around now”. This is a rational mind taking control and people who yearn for mystical experiences generally have a rationally conditioned mind. People that have more fluid minds, can let go and enter creative imaginary spaces. They might not even call the “mystical experiences” 3) As written above, a big part of entering altered states is relaxing the conditioned mind and imagining, without labeling as imagining and returning to rationality. Kids have this ability, yet the vast majority of adults lose it. It’s an ability to enter a pseudo lucid state in which it doesn’t matter if it’s “real” or “imaginary”. The nice thing about psychedelics, is that they de-active this part of the mind. Edible cannabis is super helpful. Ime, it’s much harder do without substances. Some people, like myself, aren’t naturally good at this. For many years of meditation, I wanted mystic experiences, yet they never came. I got some insights and relation, yet no what I would consider mystical. Yet after the mind enters many altered states it becomes easier. If I were to write a guide on i inducing mystical experiences, I would first relax what it’s supposed to be like. As well, they can be subtle and just glimpses. I would learn to enjoy the subtle glimpses, get curious and set an intention to return. For example, while doing yoga, there may be 10 seconds of effortless flow and a unique form of energy, Rather, than think “that wasn’t real. Or that’s not what kundalini energy is supposed to be like”, think “whoa, that was cool. Like a peek into another realm”. Know that you can have a mild state of mysticism simply sitting wherever you are. I’ve also found getting into lucid dreaming helps - especially the interface between real and dreaming (half awake / half asleep). In mediation, there is so much emphasis placed on focused attention on an object and awareness being “Here and Now”. I would say a “monkey mind” that jumps all over the place is problematic. Yet a “wandering” mind can be an asset in some contexts. A monkey-mind would be like “I forgot to pay my bill. Crap I’m screwed. That dog barking is distracting. It’s too hot in here. My leg hurts. How much more time until I’m done? What should I eat for lunch?”. That type of scattered mind is not a good mindset to set the stage for a mystical experience. The mind can re-condition itself with lots of mindful practice, or use a substance. Psychedelics can temporarily deactivate that monkey mind, yet it will return after the trip. Yet I’ve found psychedelics is a good tool to deco diction monkey mind. Yet ime, that monkey mindset has got to to enter mystical states. Other methods can be shamanic breathing, edible cannabis - this can overpower the monkey mind. Rational thinking, analysis and making sense of everything is also a deterrent. As is chronic worrying and planning. This can be reduced with meditation practice. Drastically changing one’s environment can be useful if the mind is in a grey zone of being able to relax. For example, taking a week long retreat in the woods can a good environment for a mind that is “close”. Without distractions, social media, work . . the mind can slowly let go of societal rules, one’s character etc. Yet if a mind is strongly grounded in rational analysis it will spend half the time trying to figure things out, then probably beat itself up for wasting this opportunity trying to figure stuff out. Yet a mind in the grey zone may relax into a pseudo dreamscape and start noticing new things about nature, itself and relationship to reality - opening up a mystical experience. For me, ‘mind wandering’ is beneficial and context-dependent. Mind wandering is distinct from the chaotic monkey mind that jumps all over the place. Mind wandering meanders along a common theme. In meditation, it is getting lost in “thinking”. This is considered “bad” by meditation practitioners, yet I think this labeling is cuts one off from an important skill development. If the goal is to focus on the breath and/or be present Here and Now, then mind wandering is distractive. Unfortunately, the mind sees this as “bad” and may get frustrated in getting lost in thought. Yet I’ve learned that mind wandering can be a form of meditation helpful to entering different mind states. I’m not ta liking about mind wandering about an upcoming exam, needing to see the dentist, what some guy on Twitter said etc. I’m referring more to “day dreaming”, a mind space where it isn’t just thoughts - there are images and emotions. For example, the mind may remember a trip with a friend and wonder about traveling to Africa with the friend. The mind enters tribes, dances, new foods. At deeper levels there may be feelings, tastes of foods - yet there is t the detached witness of ‘“I’m sitting in on a meditation cushion imagining this”. If that realization occurs, it is good in the context that your mind wandered and you lost awareness that you should be meditating Here and Now. Yet it is also “bad”, because it pulls the mind out of immersion in a creative dreamscape. That type of wandering mind is a creative skill, imo. The trick is being able to roll with it without analysis and judgement that ruins it.

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Fluid Stillness

He ran out of fucks to give a long time ago. Now he’s giving $500 for each 1,000 new subscribers to charity. Here he improvs his favorite thing.

I can’t do it automatically and effortlessly. I often catch myself in poor posture and shallow / contracted breathing. A small portion of my day involves improving my breathing. Usually through yoga or while I am taking walks. Breathing is also great for attention and awareness development.

‘You’ have a great poetic style of expressing profundity.

As I’ve evolved my inner and outer circles have changed. Yet it doesn’t necessarily need to be a rejection in which ties are cut. There are contacts I used to be in touch with daily. Yet now we just catch up every once in a while. I still appreciate them and curious to catch up occasionally, yet we just aren’t on the same inner circle wavelength. I’ve also found freeing up some space isn’t just the time I’m in direct contact with them. Due to entanglement, it carries over into my mind space the rest of the day. There is momentum and attachment to mind appearances. When meditating, observe what types of thoughts, images, memories and emotions arise. Many are associated with what we were recently engaged with. My mind and body is not an independent entity separate from an external world. It is deeply entangled with the “external” world.

That’s a hot love story ?

At times, when I’ve hugged trees it felt awkward. The mind might think “This is silly” or “what’s supposed to happen?”. Yet I’ve also experienced deep love while hugging a tree, as if that tree was a friend I deeply loved. I’ve also experienced a sense of connection to all the tree is connected to and all that the tree has experienced in its long life. And nature can be an amazing healer. Nature is wise. Nature makes no judgements and has no agenda.

If you are interested in a second trip, I would consider cutting the dosage down to 25-50ug. Dosage has a big impact on the type of trip. I even find micro/mini doses of 10-20ug to have value as creative enhancement and zooming out.

Sure, that is a great point. As well, a position declared as a position is not another position. Yet all positions within that position are within that position. There is a balance between attention and awareness. Yet of course, this itself is a position and can be dismissed as such. This assumes that a habitual identification with a conditioned thought was referring to another way of relating. This is true within it’s truth. The term “only” restricts within that truth - which of course is true within it’s truth. Yet hyper attention on this internal truth comes at the expense of awareness peripheral to that truth.

Most commonly gum recession and mouth ulcers. More severe consequences are mouth cancer. Chew generally hits faster than smoking. Most people can smoke daily for 20-30 years before serious consequences like emphysema. Yet not many mouths can survive daily chew anywhere near that long. For younger people, if they quit they can get by with minor gum loss, yet gums never grow back - so they are looking at exposed nerves and root canals earlier than most people. I started having problems in my 40s at the spots I put the chew 20 years earlier. Every dentist I’ve ever had could see the damage and would ask me about it. Its also mindblowing addictive. The drug hits super fast and some tobacco companies add fiberglass in chew to put micro tears in the gums so more nicotine can enter and faster. Yea, they’re bastards and don’t give a shit about harming their customers they get addicted.

That’s not how vaccine development works. Framing it as a “natural lifespan” doesn’t quite work with viral life cycles. It’s not like a cat or dog that have a particular lifespan in time The plague was caused by a bacterium which has a very different life cycle and interaction with humans than viruses. Many vaccines in history have been effective against viruses, for example the vaccine against varicella zoster has been extremely effective. A generation ago, nearly every kid got chicken pox - the vaccine much stopped that virus and there isn’t chicken pox anymore. It was super contagious as well. Other examples include diphtheria, polio, tetanus. . . the list goes on and on. ?

Sure, that’s one way to relate. I was referring to another way of relating.

I would favor decriminalization first. Legalization is much more complex. I think the U.S. is ready for federal legalization of cannabis, yet not yet ready for other substances, such as psychedelics. I would like to see a federal decriminalization of psychedelics and a couple years of education and regulatory development before legalization. If any business can sell psychedelics right now, it would be a mess. There would be a lot of bad faith greedy actors and naive, vulnerable people. I think the next step after decriminalization of psychedelics would be legalize the distribution of prescription psychedelics as a transition into legalization (coupled with education). Regarding other substances, I would say it depends on the value. For example, a society could decriminalize meth and offer meth addicts treatment recovery programs. Yet I don’t see the value in legalizing meth, which would allow widespread distribution and profiting off of meth sales and addicts.

If there is a surrender to what is, it doesn’t matter if thoughts arise or not since thoughts are what is just like bird chirps are what is. To me, it seems like there is a desire to reduce the frequency, intensity and impact of thinking. That seems reasonable, especially if over-thinking is causing distress to the mind and body. I’ve found it helpful to be aware of my desires. If my mind won’t shut up and it‘s causing me serious distress - I’m going to have a desire to reduce that impact. Once I acknowledge that, I can start setting genuine intentions and developing practices that relax the mind and the frequency/intensity/impact of thinking. This allows things like letting go and law of attraction. Recently, I realized I was way too immersed into conceptualization and thoughts. There was a desire to reduce the intensity and re-balance my mind/body/spirit. A desire to give my thinking mind a break and experience reality in a new way in which emotions, intuition, sensations and thoughts are more aligned and in harmony. I only want to stop thinking when it’s unpleasant. When thoughts are dancing with creativity, emotions, energetics - I love it.

Funny you should mention that. Last night I listened to some Watts for the first time in months and downloaded his book The Wisdom of Insecurity ?

I think that is one key dynamic. With conscious intent there is greater open-ness, curiosity and space for experiencing and observing. Yet that doesn’t necessary mean understanding. If someone describes a phenomena of “x”, it is common for the receiving mind to assume it knows what “x” is, even if it is misinterpretation. Letting go of that view allows appreciation and curiosity of “x” and greatly increases the chance of realizing “x”, yet the intention alone does not guarantee direct experience/knowing/understanding of “x”, Ime and observations. There have been many times that I was super and interested and curious about someone’s perspective / experience, yet didn’t know what tf they were pointing to. For many people, this feeling of ambiguity, groundlessness, uncertainty can be extremely uncomfortable, and they avoid entering that space. Some people have a very strong desire to feel sure about a grounded position.

Referring to vaccines as a “ a cocktail of disease, heavy metals and carcinogens injected into veins” is a hyperbolic misrepresentation that fuels fear mongering. You are welcome to address vaccine concerns in a mature, well-informed, accurate manner if you wish. Yet gross misrepresentations are not allowed. To deepen and broaden understanding, I would recommend detaching from your current (partially true) view and open you mind and curiosity to learning about vaccines at a deeper, broader level. You seem to already know the answer to your question and are oriented to engaging in a debate to defend your pre-conceived view. (Notice how you answered your own question to establish grounding within the frame). Since that view itself is a hyperbolic misrepresentation, it would do no good to engage in debate within it. It only re-enforces the attachment in a mind that desires to defend the view it tightly holds. The way beyond this would be to introspect the belief network. Deconstruct it and observe attachments, dismissals, exaggerations, polarized categories etc.