The Mystical Man

Blanton on his first acid trip:

If self-esteem is confidence in one's mind, it makes sense that mercury poisoning can ruin your self-esteem, because it impairs your thinking. If you can't think properly, you can't handle life's situations very well, and if you can't handle basic challenges, you can't think very highly of yourself. The reality of no-self does not preclude the reality and importance of self-esteem, for no-self means no solid and absolute self, but you do have a self that can grow or degenerate. The self is actually a gift that needs to be honored. Spiritual people are too obsessed with this idea of stopping thinking as if thinking is the problem. Thinking itself is not the problem. Improper thinking is the problem. True spirituality is not antithetical to thinking. True spirituality has to be predicated on clear and sound thinking. True thinking is hard work. Spiritual people also have this idea that consciousness is something other than thought. It's true that pure consciousness transcends thought; that's the reason why it's pure: it's pure of thought, but formless, pure consciousness becomes formed thought; therefore, thought is consciousness, too; you can't actually raise your consciousness without thought. That's important to understand. You can't live consciously and mindfully and responsibly without thinking. The goal isn't to stop or even reduce thinking. The goal is to refine one's thinking. Sharpen your thinking. Use your thinking to see truth and communicate truth. Yes, it's nice to break through to the infinite field of pure consciousness, but you won't get there through lazy thinking or lack of thinking. Lazy thinking will ruin your self-esteem. Nothing is gained through sloppy thinking. Pure consciousness is overrated. A whole and mature psyche will naturally have the tendency to reflect the truth, goodness, and beauty of pure consciousness, and it will also have it easier to experience the truth, goodness, and beauty of pure consciousness. Don't chase the experience of the immaculate infinite with a fragmented psyche in the hope of escaping your problems, for even if you manage to break through to the boundless and pristine source of existence, you won't be able to stay there indefinitely, and your psyche with its particular problems will resurface to be reexamined and reformed. In the end, everything is determined by your level of consciousness. And your level of consciousness is inextricably linked to your psyche and your thinking. It's not linked to how deeply you've experienced the ground of being. The most mind-bending experience of consciousness does not guarantee a mindful life. A mindful life, by its very nature, cannot be handed to you. You have to choose it and create it consciously and responsibly. Every single day. Every single moment.

I'll move on after OOOOO. I want to make a thread for each month. I'm creating my magnum opus here.

Good for you. I start threads about NoFap because it's fun. It's more entertaining to track your progress using fun titles:

I made it back to day 50. This could've been day 100, but, alas, the ego is stupid.

No. Looks interesting, though.

True. I think the most important thing is growing up. That was Jed's main message: forget awakening, it's pointlessness; instead, become an adult. Awakening won't save humanity, maturity will. Even Adya agreed that humanity would be served more by growing up than waking up, but he feels called to teach awakening. I think people like Branden and Blanton, and Moore & Gillette are great teachers of what it takes to grow up.

No. What's pointless are the writings and models of teachers. After an awakening, you feel the desire to throw it all out of the window.

Because in the final analysis their work is pointless. I've read The Book of Not Knowing three times, and now I know nothing. That book is a joke. Wilber's models are a joke. Hawkins' calibrations are a joke. It all seems so profound and exciting when you first get into it, but it's all so pointless in the end.

I feel the desire to bash those guys.

He's right. His personality is something to behold.

Is it really an exaggeration to say that this guy is better than Wilber, Ralston, Hawkins? Blanton, and the other guys I listed, never positioned themselves as spiritual teachers, but what they're teaching is true spirituality.

That thread will be my magnum opus.

I love the atmosphere of the backrooms: Forever lost and alone, exploring strange rooms.

It's happening: ‘The Backrooms’: A24 Developing Feature Based On Viral Horror Shorts – Deadline

I'm reading his other books; they're amazing: Honoring the Self: The Pyschology of Confidence and Respect Taking Responsibility: Self-Reliance and the Accountable Life

Based on the posts he makes it seems to me that he needs psychological help. I don't get the sense that it's an existential matter.

I'm just being radically honest ? I don't appreciate your assessment of my posts, frankly. I post good stuff.

Great books indeed.