Leo Gura

That's what's called Group Think. And the whole point was to kill it off. I want people thinking more for themselves. Yes, that takes more effort and time. Let's see how things go. It can take some time to get used to a change like this. And I understand not everyone will like it. And some of you have some legit reasons. As with everything, there are tough trade-offs such decisions.

Yes, but probably only partially, so people have incentive to show up.

Okay, thanks all for the feedback. I will take it into account when hatching my plans for 2018. I'll keep you posted if/when the tour begins.

Okay, rank and reputation has been disabled. Let's try this out for a week and see how things go. The option to re-enable always exists.

@Chives99 Cause there's a lot within spirituality and the psyche to explore. It's sort of like if you were randomly dropped on some part of this planet for 5 hours, you would be quite confused and perplexed. And each random drop would feel and look wildly different than the last. Because the Earth is a vastly varied terrain. The jungles of Brazil feel very different than the frozen wasteland of the North Pole, and different yet again from NYC. If you really wanted to understand that whole Earth, you'd have to travel hundreds of times to see a good cross-section of all the the terrain. To really get a good understanding of psychedelics, you have to trip dozens, if not hundreds of times. Which very few people do. If you've only tripped a half-dozen times, yeah, every trip can seem kinda random. But when you trip regularly, with intention and a larger purpose, you will start to see patterns emerge.

@Shroomdoctor It's a really tough balance to strike. People come from so many different backgrounds, cultures, and experiences here. If we crack down on New Ageism too much, people will rant and whine about "censorship!" and totalitarian rule. If we let freedom and egalitarianism reign, then all opinions are valid and then you get a natural cross-section of all the worlds spiritual ideas, which are immense, wide, and crazy to most Western minds. So it's a damned-if-we-do,-damned-if-we-don't situation. Personally I'm not a fan of mixing UFOs with nonduality. But some people are really into that. It helps to distinguishing this forum from the Actualized.org videos. They are two very different things. This forum is for you guys to share ideas. And in a free marketplace of ideas, you have to expect that some crazy ones will get shared. We might have to crack down on New Ageism a bit more in the future. I'll be keeping my eye on it. I'm just giving you guys fair warning so you don't scream and holder "censorship!" if we start cracking down. The point would to be keep this place free of BS and distractions. Maintaining a good community means having editorial standards and specialization. I would rather have this place be more about strict nonduality than people debating about UFOs. We might have to re-instate the a New Age sub-forum, so that the Meditation/Consciousness sub-forum is more about strict nonduality work.

@Parki Stop using Iboga. You are going to harm yourself. You've chosen the worse of all the possible options.

No, that's not what I say. It's way more complicated than that. And infinity/nothingness doesn't map to anything, because it is everything.

Great example of a thing going full-circle.

@Whoami3 Access concentration? That's like asking if it's easier to jump with a rocket strapped to your back.

Good, you've glimpsed a bit of the Absolute. But it goes deeper! Way deeper!

I consider tripping outdoors an advanced psychonautical activity. It requires much more planning and wise judgment than tripping at home. Def not for newbies and not for your first dozen trips. There are too many variables to consider, which hardly any newbie will think of: weather, food, water, sunburn, snakes, bears, bugs, poison ivy, mud and dirt, cars, people, police, getting lost, nighttime, etc.

If you can think of a way to blend all your passions together cohesively, then that is fine. That will be your singular purpose. But otherwise, you need to focus and specialize. Success comes from specialization. You can always branch out later once you've nailed one thing well. If you are being indecisive, that itself speaks of a larger problem: you are unclear, confused about what you want from life. And so that is exactly what you will get from life: a muddy, confused mess. The whole point of finding your LP is so that you don't have doubts any more about your core direction in life. That doubt and indecision kills your ability to master anything. You want to be able to wake up every morning and know exactly what you're working towards, without seconding-guessing yourself. By not making the hard choice, you've made a choice to be mediocre.

That's too niche for us. Topics about kids and awareness you can post in this sub-forum. Topics about general parenting you can post in the Self-Actualization sub-forum.

He was a she, but yes.

@Sahil Pandit Watch out of bears. I had a bear creep up on us in the woods while tripsitting a friend.

Chimp wants his metaphorical banana

@Serotoninluv That's just cause you're still at baby doses and you have lots of prior experience. 25mg will be a totally different beast. And at 30-35mg God will skull-fuck you to death. It will be the mindfuck that ends all mindfucks.

Of course nature pulls at our heartstrings. There is something innocent, beautiful, and powerful about it. Nature reveals the pettiness of most human aspirations and chimpery. Nature is awe-some and gargantuan beyond the mind's ability to comprehend. Which is why people love looking at sunsets, mountains, rivers, and the night sky. The human brain is actually hardwired to connect with nature on a spiritual level. They have verified this in the lab by showing people line drawings of some hills, a stream, and a tree. This picture is universally preferred over pictures of city-scapes, for example. Your brain actually releases pleasure chemicals just from looking at nature. It should also be easier to get enlightened out in nature, for this reason. But also, don't confuse an awesome emotional moment out in nature with a true enlightenment experience. A true enlightenment experience is so big and out-of-the-realm of conventional reality, it's in a league all on its own. Your experience was probably just 0.0000001% of what a really deep mystical experience can be like.

@Dodo You're never going to get an absolute perspective, unless you're at the very peak of an epic enlightenment experience -- and even then, there would be no self and no universe at that moment.

Learn focus. You will not actualize anything unless you learn to be specific, concrete, and focused. This is not in conflict with having a high-level, abstract vision.

Reading books is not a replacement for spiritual work, it's only the beginning. This whole debate is like a group of doctors debating: Should we read books? Or practice surgery? Of course BOTH!

Cut the gossip. Do your work.

It's important that people know who the Mods are. And as for me, well, people know me too well already to not be biased by what I say.

@Echoes Exactly. But the point is, you cannot know that until you've read at least 50 books. The point is, you do not know which sages are truthworthy until you've read about 50 books. And even then, it's dicey. And that week of direct transmission of energy in the ashram will do you jack shit when you come back home. The wisdom learned from books at least sticks around in your head and gives you daily guidance.