Being ok with being human

[woohoo123]

Am I just a crazy guy?

After a psychedelic experience (you can read the trip report in psychedelic section) I was contemplating on the idea: could I just be ‘some dude getting high on his sofa’ deluding himself with stories about spirituality? Maybe the stereotypical view that I might be some deluded individual, stuck in his own mental world has some truth to it?  

I noticed this generated an uncomfortable emotional response in me. Part of me wanted to deny that. I want to ‘dress it up’ somehow, add some grandeur. I am not just getting high, I am on a mission! Expanding consciousness! It's the most important thing! 

This emotional resistance made me a bit suspicious. Maybe they (normal people) do have a point about the way I am? Else why am I getting so defensive about it?

This is not a post to state the meaning/purpose of life etc. It is just an excerpt from my journal offering a perspective which helped me release some resistance to the idea I can just be an ordinary guy (who is a bit funny in the head). 

Also, I am writing this from a level I can understand and relate to, I acknowledge there are probably edge cases beyond my understanding and experience.

How do we integrate that we are the Universe, whilst also being ‘some dude getting high on his sofa’?

Firstly, can I even accept that I may really just be ‘some dude getting high on his sofa’?

Some observations:

The Persistence of Physical Reality Amidst Spiritual Awakening

Despite your spiritual awakenings, the solidarity of physical life goes on. You can realize you’re the Universe, but you’ll still need to go back to work tomorrow. 

Physical Environment affects Spiritual Experiences

Physical environment matters and has an impact on our spiritual experiences. Our spiritual experiences (on psychedelics) can be heavily influenced by the physical surroundings, environment setting, external people, music, disturbances etc. You can realize you’re the Universe, but this does not make us immune to physical danger in the physical world. We are always advised to trip to a safe place away from harm.

Inescapable Influence of the Physical World even at higher states

The influence of the physical world is still there even as we are accessing higher states of consciousness. The physical world doesn’t necessarily go away because you’re starting to see through it (else there would be no need to trip in a safe place). I doubt (my limited experience) it is possible to completely escape the influence of physical reality without dying a physical death. It seems like the physical world forms a ‘base’ or ‘platform’ for where the spiritual experiences/realizations can take place. 

Recontextualization of the Physical World Post-Spiritual Experience

After your spiritual experience, the physical world doesn’t just disappear because you have seen something beyond it. You always come back to the physical world. It is still here, but it is recontextualized. Recontextualization means while the physical world doesn't disappear, our understanding and relationship with it can be deeply transformed.

Yes, I probably am just a 'crazy' guy

The physical world is a recurring theme for me, I expect it to continue to be so, even as I have more spiritual experiences.

As long as the influence of the physical world is there, it means behind every insight, every realization, there really is just ‘some dude’  sitting there on his sofa, grinning to himself  (strange-loopy).

These observations suggest to me that whilst I am the Universe, simultaneously I really am just that dude getting high on drugs on his sofa. I am both things at once. 

I notice I don’t like using that label ‘dude getting high on his sofa’. 

One of the main reasons I started spirituality was to escape suffering and the mundane aspects of physical life. Spirituality gave me a sense of self-esteem, importance, and progress. Now, I question ‘so…did I just hallucinate all that spiritual stuff?’

As I spend more time contemplating in my ‘sober’ state (where physical reality feels very real and solid), I realize this is where reality is happening for me right now. I realize experiencing physical reality is what was intended as part of this experience. 

As I have idolized ‘mystical stuff’, I have not loved being a human as much as I could have. 

Our physical limitations are not necessarily something to be transcended and discarded, but rather to be transcended and then embraced. 

I am starting to accept that - this experience (of being a human) is the perspective of how consciousness is choosing to explore itself for now. With that comes physical limitations, impermanence, pain, suffering. All of which are allowing us to explore different facets of consciousness. 

The seemingly inescapable influence of the physical world (even as we are exploring spirituality), is something the Universe has intended to be part of this experience.

Our ability to experience both spirituality as well as the physical world (from this ‘human’ viewpoint), provides a unique perspective for consciousness to explore itself.

Consciousness is choosing to explore itself from the viewpoint of a man/woman. As I contemplate on that, I feel this is a very unique and interesting choice. I start to accept this decision.

I feel like I’m in a very special and privileged position to be having this human experience (yes it also sucks sometimes)

We weren’t supposed to reach some state, to then be whisked away never to come back. If that were intended, it would’ve happened that way. The fact we keep coming back to physical reality means we are supposed to be here.

For me, this reiterated the importance of bringing our spiritual experiences and integrating them with our existence in the physical world. To bring love in the form of a life purpose, the decisions we make and how we treat others. The spiritual and physical experiences come together to form one experience - that is the experience of a human exploring consciousness.

‘dude getting high on his sofa’. Yea I guess that’s me. What a wonderful, unique and amazing position to be in 

I love you 
Journey well brothers and sisters

[Guest Bazooka Jesus]

12 hours ago, woohoo123 said:

As I have idolized ‘mystical stuff’, I have not loved being a human as much as I could have. 

Our physical limitations are not necessarily something to be transcended and discarded, but rather to be transcended and then embraced. 

I am starting to accept that - this experience (of being a human) is the perspective of how consciousness is choosing to explore itself for now. With that comes physical limitations, impermanence, pain, suffering. All of which are allowing us to explore different facets of consciousness. 

The seemingly inescapable influence of the physical world (even as we are exploring spirituality), is something the Universe has intended to be part of this experience.

Our ability to experience both spirituality as well as the physical world (from this ‘human’ viewpoint), provides a unique perspective for consciousness to explore itself.

Consciousness is choosing to explore itself from the viewpoint of a man/woman. As I contemplate on that, I feel this is a very unique and interesting choice. I start to accept this decision.

I feel like I’m in a very special and privileged position to be having this human experience (yes it also sucks sometimes)

We weren’t supposed to reach some state, to then be whisked away never to come back. If that were intended, it would’ve happened that way. The fact we keep coming back to physical reality means we are supposed to be here.

Too many people - especially here on this forum - regard spirituality as a kind of escape hatch which they hope will allow them to cheat the system (get one up on the universe, as Alan Watts put it) and get out of the "hellhole" of human existence... they are completely missing the point. The point of recognizing the game for what it is is not to escape it but to fully embrace it!

And it's not that you somehow have to choose between the relative (=> dude getting high on the sofa) and the absolute (=> Beingness itself) perspective. It's about acknowledgeing, balancing and integrating both aspects; having one foot firmly planted in the realm of human existence and the other one in the realm of the divine without losing balance and keeling over is the name of the game.

Great insightful post!

Sincerely, A Dude Getting Sleepy On The Mattress 😴

 

 

Edited January 28 by Bazooka Jesus

[Breakingthewall]

I imagine people on this forum telling their friends: you are not human, you are god imagining this reality to play. Fuck. "being human sucks, now I'm god and being human seems stupid to me" while you're in your first world room smoking weed. Right after saying this two guys in uniform should burst into your room, anesthetize you, and you would wake up in the trenches of the First World War.

There is only this, now. There is no escape, any escape returns you to the starting point. The game must be played , it's deep and beautiful. 

Edited January 28 by Breakingthewall

[Ishanga]

Yes Good Post!

I think the key is realizing that being Human is Super (compared to wanting to be something else other than Human), we have allot of Potential and Possibility within us, and that trying to be something else (God) is foolhardy, and using psychedelics to experience something beyond our everyday experience, although can lead one to a greater realization, it still has to become a natural occurrence and not induced by the use of an outside stimulant of sorts. This is why we have a plethora of practices and Guru's/Teachers at hand, to help us get to that realization naturally and having it as an everyday experience while functioning within this body.

This reason why we are not born this way is super simple, how would we be able to function and survive if we are always in a 5meo-dmt experience of Oneness and Love? Our species would have died out million years ago, so we are born with a super Intellect, that allows us to learn quickly what is dangerous and safe, healthy and unhealthy for our survival, this is a very strong instinct within Us, but today we have more tech and knowledge that enables our survival much more easily, we have enough food and resources to feed/house everyone on the planet, but we are not the most spiritually empowered or happy society ever are we? 

But some ppl have found a more in-depth life and inner experience, we've read and heard the stories so we get curious about it, then systems are created and methods are brought forward to hopefully get us (those that are curious about such things) to those realizations as well, its the nature of Desire that we become unbounded and totally free, which is the experience of Oneness and Love/Bliss...but its all rooted in our embodiment, we live within a body/mind complex in a dual material world, but this is not what we are, but its our housing of sorts, within we can still have an experience of Oneness that is the foundation of everything else, at the least this will stop all suffering within one's self..