Forestluv

Teaching spiritual awakenings through sex is a hard needle to thread

I’ve noticed the thinking mind often enters and creates a story in a timeline to make sense of intuition. Right brain intuition appears and left brain judgement, rationality, analysis takes hold of it.

@BlackMaze Contemplating “what is trust?” will give a new perspective on intuition.

JP seems fairly open-minded on different practices such as psychedelics, breathing, diet. His heavy anchors are with the cultural stuff.

One thing I’ve observed in my own mind is how madness is often being trapped between two worlds / realities. If I can flip over to one, I generally do better. And if I go into an insane zone and return, I’ve learned how to relate to it as if it was just a dream. For example, I was watching a documentary on psychopaths and one guy was talking in depth about his heinous crimes and what is was like for him. I got so into it and then “I got it”. I knew what it was like as if I was him, a psychopathic criminal. Then my mind and body freaked out that there is a monster within me and that’s who I am. It was that real. Yet then I was able to relate to it as if it was a dream. Like “Oh yea, I had this crazy dream I was a psychopathic criminal last night. It seemed so real. I’m glad it was just a dream”. Yet I can also see how a mind would have a serious crisis for months over something like this and be terrified to talk to anyone about it, which would make the condition worse.

I have a friend that spent a couple years in and out of psyche wards in her early 20s (about 30 years ago). Sometimes when I talk about different conscious states, she goes back to her “psychosis” days to relate to me. She will pause and say “Omigosh!! I experienced that back when I was in a psyche ward. I was told that was psychosis. Are you saying it’s a spiritual thing?”.

Salvia sounds like the flip side of San Pedro

That’s great too. Another view.

Connor’s recent video on “Why Buddaha would’ve been held in a psych ward” has some nice insights. He shares some insights of his psyche ward experience and how the structure of psyche wards itself has aspects of insanity. For example, one question screening questions asks if the person has thoughts of being God. If they answer “yes”, it is judged as delusional and psychotic. Yet in another context, it is a deep spiritual realization. . . As well, the environment is not conducive to mental health. There were no opportunities to do things like meditation.

@James123 Nice ?

If it wasn’t for those mean LGBTQ college kids, JP would be swimming in Turquoise by now.

“Ultimate” is also a superlative. I find it curious how superlatives are used and mind immersion into superlatives. We could say there is an ultimate truth and non-ultimate truths. In one context, it is a deep insight. Yet when the duality is seen, it’s silly in another context. At the higher levels, beings can be “multi lingual”. When they speak of a “thing” it can appear as though they have not awakened to another “thing”. In one context there is what appears to be stuckness within the process of thoughts. When the mind is transcending thought constructs, it becomes obvious when other minds are stuck within thought processes. There is strong contrast. Yet eventually this duality collapses as well into Nothing. What I write here is both thought processes and not thought processes. Thought processes, feelings, intuition, awakenings, cows, trees, quantum mechanics, face palms, nonduality and cookies all dissolve into Nothing. It’s so beautiful. As you eloquently express: ♥️

Levels is a different dynamic to me. Levels suggests a process of increasing complexity, expansion etc. For example, different levels of mathematics from basic addition to advanced calculus. A superlative adds in a new dynamic. We can have levels without an end. We can say there are various levels of math and have it open-ended. A superlative of “highest” adds a cap onto the levels. Saying calculus in the highest level of math fundamentally changes the structure. I would agree that superlatives can imply superiority, which is a human dynamic. Superlatives can also be used to get people’s attention. I see various reasons. I was referring to how superlatives don’t seem to fit with openings. As you suggest, implicit superiority may be part of that. . . Another metaphor I imagine would be exploring a forest together and someone knows about a hidden passage that opens up a whole new area of exploration. In the context of simply openings, levels and superlatives don’t seem to fit for me. If someone said “Look here! The highest opening!”. It would sound weird. Yet this is kinda a side issue of how humans frame and package. It’s not a criticism of the content. If too much emphasis is placed on packaging, it super annoying to those into content. For example, if I got a Christmas present and focused on the packaging of the gift, it can come across as being a pedantic jackass to those interested in the contents of the gift. At more intense levels, it can come across as rude, annoying, condescending and hurtful.

Interesting. One thing I notice is that Leo is very good with communicating through facial expressions, tone of voice and rhythm. In one channel, that is helpful to articulate ideas - yet as you mention, there are other energetic channels as well. For example, relaxing an audience into a peaceful place can be helpful in articulating ideas. I went to an Adyashanti retreat and he was super good at relaxing the audience. After 10min. It was like everyone took a Xanax. It was a good environment and a lot of people could relax their guard.

I have a friend who is very entangled with a spiritual teacher. The teacher is awesome. He is genuine and at a super high spiritual level. He gives her a lot of grounding: directions, practices and feedback. A year ago, I spoke a bit about how she is her Rinpoche teacher as well as Buddha and Jesus and on and on. They are all within Her. She got a glimpse of it and had some sort of satori that was overwhelming. We were in a cafe, and it was a bit odd as she was shaking and hyper-ventilating. Yet I acted as if it was totally normal and the people in the cafe settled down. I saw her the following week and she was a mess - talking about whether she should leave her Sangha. At a personal level, it was really disruptive and stressful to her. So I pulled back and talked about the value of spiritual teachers along the path. She got re-grounded and we never spoke about it again. . .until last night. . . . She mentioned that she is now working to transcend her teacher and he is guiding her along that process. This time I shut my yapper and asked “interesting. How has the process been for you? Tell me about it”.

Oh, the content is great stuff. It’s an aspect of human nature that I find curious. An ego’s love to seek for opening doesn’t quite fit to me. In that context, the framing of “a new realm of consciousness” would align better with seeking for opening. Or perhaps, “more expansive” or “liberating”. For example, if I was trapped in a cave and seeking an opening, “highest” doesn’t quite work for me. Superlatives like “the *highest* level of consciousness have a different energetic orientation to me. Sometimes I get curious about the framing and packaging of content.

Sure, yet I got bored and decided to create some context within a dimension of infinite dimensions. It’s better than watching Netflix. Sure, there is value in that. Personally I don’t resonate with intermediaries. At times I wish I did. Having a spirit guide would be kinda cool at times. Like a spirit Raven or something. I’m just not very good at creating that type of thing.

In the context of One source, Buddha was within the source. I like to cut out the middle-man and go straight to the source. Yet others seem to resonate with intermediaries such as sages, spirit guides, enlightened beings etc. In terms of teachings, all teachings are limited since any teaching is not another teaching.

It’s curious how the mind loves to label a state of consciousness as the *highest* state of consciousness. I see spiritual people do this a lot. Seems like there can be various desires underlying it. In some contexts, it could be helpful, in other contexts a block.

That is only one psychedelic realm. There are many others.

I’ve found yin yoga with 4 minute positions to be a great alternative for extended static seating - which is not good for my body long term. With the right mindset and environment, yin yoga allows for surrender, calmness and meditative states. And it’s very good for the body. There is some ‘discomfort’, yet transcending into the comfort within discomfort is part of the benefits for me. As well, extended shivassana after yoga can go into deeply relaxed, calm spaces

If one defines reality as a certain way, then it cannot be another way based on that definition. If I define reality as “this”, of course it cannot be “that”. I’ve already defined it as “this”. Underling this mindset is an assumption that there is an objective, external reality that is “this”. Based on that assumption, of course this is this and not that. There is some fluidity in that construct, yet it is mostly rigid. It would be like asking “Can rocks float as if there is no gravity? If so, why don’t they?”. But if the mind does not accept an objective, external reality - rigid form becomes very fluid and potential is greatly expanded.

That’s part of the adventure. Once the mind is aware of the nature of stories, there is a massive expansion of what a story is and the potential for story creation. For example, we could say there are “thought stories” like “I’m a 32 y.o. man that lives in England. I’m an electrician with two kids. I’m very upset with covid lockdowns because my business has suffered.”. We could go on and on adding to the details of this thought story. Yet aren’t there other forms of stories? I was so immersed in the movie Inception that I didn’t have any thoughts. Wasn’t that experience a form of story? Last night I spent two hours staring at a fire in my fireplace. I was mesmerized. All sorts of images, intuitions, feelings arose. Time dissolved and the eternal nature of fire arose. The relationship of humans to fire throughout history arose. Tribal fires, community campfires, forest fires, the desire of arsonists to set buildings on fire. The salvation, destruction, live, hate, art, science of fire all appearing. At the time, I wasn’t creating this thought story. It was more like images, timelessness, intuition, empathy, knowing, feeling etc. There were probably some “thoughts” that arose, yet in this context, such “thoughts” aren’t traditional “thoughts” because it isn’t a traditional thought-dominated story. The “thoughts” get blended in with all the other images, feelings, intuitions etc. It’s not like thoughts stick out like a sore thumb. They are integrated into the experience. Like a guitar gets integrated into a song. But yea, it’s great to become aware of traditional thought stories and transcend them, such that the mind is not immersed and identified with them. Yet it’s also fun to immerse oneself into a story and forget it’s a story. Sometimes I go into nature and enter a magical story. I get so immersed, I forget it’s a story and become that character. If during this adventure I encountered another human and he told me “You realize this is just a story and none of it’s real, right?”. I’d be like “Thanks a lot, jackass. You just ruined the movie”. It’s a nice ability to be able to zoom in and out of stories. Yet most minds are locked into a story. So there is a lot of emphasis on the spiritual path to transcend stories and realize “no story”. When this is realized and embodied, it’s a whole new ballgame. Even what counts as a “story” melts and becomes fluid. Ime, early in the process this was unstable. At times it was insane. Other times, it was a peaceful sense of Now - simply revealing itself. Other times there were desires to figure it out and create a new stable story. Regarding thought stories: my mind tends to be thought-dominated. I spent many years trying to reduce the frequency of thoughts and my tendency to get immersed and trapped in thoughts. I’ve found that reducing thought frequency and intense attachment to thoughts opens up new ways to experience reality. Some people, like artists, seem naturally good at it. Yet it took me a lot of work and mind re-conditioning. One of my highest desires is to have the ability to let go of thought stories and dissolve them, when I want to. During the first week of my 5-meo retreat, I was able to observe full deconstruction of thought stories, it’s transcendence and the re-construction of thought stories. During the process of re-immersion into thought stories, I would ask “How can I do this own my own?”. It’s one of my deepest desires as this is a key to liberation and transcendence to a ‘higher’, more expansive consciousness. At one point, a door was opened and there was a realization of “Ahhh, so that’s how you do it!!!”. Then my mind was like “Wait, wait, wait!!! Don’t go!! Exactly how do I do it!? I want to write it down!”. Yet it wasn’t like a mechanical thing. It was more like “Q: How do I transcend thoughts? A: Like this (thoughts transcended)”. Or in another context: “Q: How do I speak?. . . A: Like this (speaking begins)”. And of course, all this is a story.

@RichnNL Personality and ego development seem inter-related to me. Yet concepts of “personality”, “ego” and “development” can each become highly complex in their own regard. In a simple construct: one of the Big 5 personality categories is about open-mindedness to new experience. Imagine someone who scores super low here. They always want to do the same familiar things, they never want to experience something new. Now consider someone who scores super high. They are constantly seeking new experiences: traveling to foreign countries, living in tribal cultures, eating new food, sky diving, hypnosis, sensory deprivation tanks, psychedelics, ayahuasca ceremonies, polyamorous communities, gender fluidity, scuba diving, past life regressions, trying improv comedy, playing a musical instrument. They are constantly thinking “I wonder what it’s like to experience XYZ. I’m gonna find out!”. Would this personality trait have an impact on ego development? To me, clearly it would. The personality trait of experience seeking would create a much larger experiential range. The ego would be much more expansive.