Consilience

This is a great explanation.

There is definitely a point. When you begin to suffer from boredom, this is a prime opportunity to inquire into the suffering self, the beliefs, emotional dispositions, and thought structures holding the web of illusion together. The only way to face boredom is by stepping into it. After you step into boredom though, once you truly deconstruct, dissolve, re-integrate, and re-unify the body/mind processes giving rise to boredom, all that's left is pure beauty and fulfillment in the simplicity of ordinary waking, sober state of consciousness. Practically, this means when boredom arises we have two options: 1) Inquiry, radical laser like focus into precisely 'what' is bored, whom boredom is occurring for, why boredom is occurring at all, what boredom even is, or 2) a deep radical surrender into the boredom, feeling the physical and emotional sensations of the boredom as deeply as possible. Eventually, the boredom completely dissolves into a fluid, spacious flow of perception arising and passing into and out of existence moment by moment; our attention and awareness become so sharp that we can detect the momentary arising and passing of perceptive experience. This flow opens us up into the truth of who and what we are. Boredom evaporates completely and gives way to a happiness, joy, satisfaction, fulfillment that needs nothing at all except the fact of our own existence in this moment. Boredom is one of the biggest hurdles on the path, but the rewards for traveling into it, not avoiding it, are priceless. Be wary of teachers who claim you don't have to face things like boredom, pain, or suffering on the spiritual path. For example, it is impossible to transcend suffering unless we become very intimate with the reality of what suffering really is.

Strong Determination Sitting You sit with the intention of not moving for an allotted amount of time. The only other rule is do not hurt the body. This rule is a higher priority than your intention to not move.

I've never once had any of these types of symptoms, nor have I ever met or heard of meditators getting these types of symptoms from meditation. This type of thing is for extremely frail and immobile individuals. Like dude look at these risk factors: "Your risk of developing bedsores is higher if you have difficulty moving and can't change position easily while seated or in bed. Risk factors include: Immobility. This might be due to poor health, spinal cord injury and other causes. Incontinence. Skin becomes more vulnerable with extended exposure to urine and stool. Lack of sensory perception. Spinal cord injuries, neurological disorders and other conditions can result in a loss of sensation. An inability to feel pain or discomfort can result in not being aware of warning signs and the need to change position. Poor nutrition and hydration. People need enough fluids, calories, protein, vitamins and minerals in their daily diets to maintain healthy skin and prevent the breakdown of tissues. Medical conditions affecting blood flow. Health problems that can affect blood flow, such as diabetes and vascular disease, can increase the risk of tissue damage such as bedsores." None of this is linked to high level meditators lol. This would be like me claiming high protein diets are dangerous and then referencing research on diabetics on dialysis as evidence. Two very different populations. The fact is, if you're healthy, and active, sitting down without moving for a couple of hours is fine for the body assuming you're also moving, exercising, practicing yoga, etc. And again, this is something the body can adapt to - physical pliancy is a real phenomena for meditators. Shinzen Young, for example, has done loads of SDS sitting; he's fine. Moreover, SDS is a classic zen practice and there are many zen practitioners who have spend years doing this type of training without these types of symptoms. The people who hurt themselves are those who aren't listening to their bodies and push beyond their limitations.

Ive actually found tea to make me feel more nausea... but tea seems to work well for most. Fasting for 12 hours before the trip has made a huge difference. I stopped feeling nauseous and it helped eliminate the mushroom headache hangover.

Awareness is still not it though. It is a sneaky refuge of the ego. Keep going ?

Only if you're not working up to it. The body slowly develops physical pliancy with meditation posture over time. As the body's physical pliancy grows, pushing SDS times are very safe. If you're intelligent, strategic about SDS working with the body rather than brute forcing your way through it is powerful. The number 1 rule with SDS is don't hurt the body.

Yes you can. SDS is a great way to cultivate this level of understanding.

Mindfulness is the secret sauce of sober god consciousness. It has such a bad rap because of how mainstream it's become But legitimately...

Yes everything you need to learn about developing concentration is in the book "The Mind Illuminated" Extremely powerful system.

The surface level sense of I is constructed out of: 1) Physical body sensations 2) Emotional body sensations 3) Self referential mental images 4) Mental Talk 5) Physical sounds (we identify with the speaking voice coming from the head) These 5 perceptions loop and tangle themselves up into a knot, forming the sense of “I.” This feedback loop is also flowing as a strange loop and therefore, reinforces itself. When we start to notice the strands of this knot in meditation or through self inquiry, the knot slowly starts to untangle until it’s too lose to and it falls away. As Leo mentioned, this ego thing is deep. The process of identification (which is a conceptual/emotional [“Emotional body sensation” listed above] in nature) is operating in at a multitude of ever deepening levels. It takes an INCREDIBLY sharpened, concentrated, mindful state of mind to start to untangle this ego identification knot at the subtlest levels which is why rigorous meditation is required even after someone has experientially seen through the illusion of self. Of course the obvious question still remains, if this knot isnt you, what are you?

Agree with the general consensus of yes. Having a rock solid daily meditation practice allows the changes to take root and produce lasting change. Using psychedelics without serious meditation is a huge waste of potential.

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Im not 100% certain, but insulin requirements have slowly been rising since I got diagnosed I believe because the remaining beta cells have been dying off. Requirements have been stable for around 5 months which makes me feel that the rest of the cells have gone the way of the dodo. The hourly testing is a really good idea. Kind of a pain but also hypoglycemia can be deadly so thank you for the recommendation.

@Leo Gura @Arcangelo Thank you both. It’ll also probably just take a lot of trial and error... Ill have to go slowly and be very careful with how Im doing it. Unfortunately there isn’t much on the internet around this topic, however Ive read a reddit post of a diabetic doing a 7 day water fast so it seems possible. As far as insulin adjustment guidelines, guides, resources, information, and whatnot, there’s nothing. We are definitely in the stone age of health.

Agreed!

This is your problem. Understanding the 3 characteristics cannot be accomplished through the intellect, only through hardcore practice. When your concentration becomes so stabilized onto the present moment that you start seeing underneath the fabrication of perception, you'll understand impermanence. Perhaps "nothing" is permanent like you say, but honestly, who knows? What is nothingness? What is the present moment? Why would some very reputable dharma teachers claim that even the present moment is empty? I don't have any answers. No one will through a forum. The only way to find out is through the radical responsibility of a rigorous meditation practice.

My take on this topic is that eventually states stop mattering. I've traveled to some wicked and ecstatic realms on psychedelics, realms that to this day leave me speechless as there is literally 0 context for communication through symbolic language. I've had some of the most indescribably beautiful states of consciousness possible through jhanas. I've felt elated, ecstatic, unified and whole through sexual union. I've felt miserable, cut off, trapped and confused because of my particular life circumstances, wondering why I have to struggle so much while others float by unaware of their privilege. Yet what is that which has watched, witnessed, been conscious of these ginormous ebbs and flows of states? What is even the thing that wants states at all? There's a grand paradox at play here. The paradox that unless we are in a very specific type of state, truth will never reveal itself. The millions who march through the maze of capitalism, constantly chasing happiness through distractions of every kind prove to us that states matter. If we are caught in such a trance state, a state attached to the stories of separation, externalized happiness, addictions to the pursuit of pleasure and avoidance of pain, truth will not show up. Yet as we move through the various realms of consciousness, we start to encounter increasingly profound states. We start to see that these increasingly powerful, beautiful states dwarf these egoic driven pursuits. How could a night out drinking with friends compare to the full-blown union with source? Well... It doesn't. Until it does. In my own experience, the deeper down the rabbit hole I go, the deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper the natural, sober, boring state becomes. I no longer feel an insistent pull at the next big psychedelic breakthrough. I no longer feel a need for constant bliss during meditation through jhanas. Simply breathing, simply being in this neutral existence is revealed to be ineffably beautiful. We could call it a state, yet this "state" is the same state I've had throughout my life. There's not particularly more joy, happiness, or any kind of elevation of emotion. Yet the elevation of emotion is much more available! No doubt. As we expand and raise our consciousness, we can see that happiness, joy, and peace are literally on demand and available to tap into in any moment. But a more accurate way to describe what's changed is that states have been entirely re-contextualized, not pushed towards the positive. And this is the heart of spirituality, the re-contextualization of all states, the intuitive and absolute recognition that all of the striving for higher states, connecting with god, happiness, and bliss are just more ego. Ironically, as we let go of our spiritual ego's, the attachment to these expanded states gives room for this deep re-contextualization of all states of breathe. Such that no longer do we need happiness to experience happiness, or joy to experience joy; through this insight into the nature of all states, there is an underlying, palpable perfection that solves our paradox - the paradox that although truth and happiness may very well only appear through specific states, Absolute Truth and Absolute Happiness transcend all states. Let go of this need for more states, more elevation, more positive emotions and we plant the seeds for a deeper level of emotion, a deeper awareness of truth that is impossible to describe through language. And even more amazing, these more elevated emotions like happiness and joy are MUCH more available. Nothing will snuff away joy like the egoic drive to demand more joy or putting joy on a pedestal. The irony too is that as we do this, our boring, sober state of consciousness begins to radical transform precisely through not transforming at all. And on a slightly un-related yet entirely related note - Love is the only emotional orientation that would be completely at peace and accepting of all that is. If we are love, then loving all regardless of what it is is the direction we "ought" to move. From the Absolute pov, all states would be loved equally by God.

Would definitely work through “The Mind Illuminated” by John Yates. Extremely powerful meditation system designed to cultivate shamatha. If your looking for more of a vipassana approach, Shinzen Young’s See Hear Feel is rock solid.

You can also travel there without psychedelics completing extended SDS sits. Like 2+ hours. There's a video of Shinzen Young talking about how he would do daily 4 hour SDS sits during an extended retreat and he visited hell realms because of the excruciating pain.

@Leo Gura Thank you good sir ??

@Leo Gura If enlightenment is a state as you’re suggesting, doesn’t that necessarily mean that some states are not enlightenment? Yet Absolute Truth, if Absolute, must be true regardless of state. How do we come to terms with this contradiction? In my experience, state changes are critical for bringing back that which transcends state changes to all states. This question seems to be at the heart of the issue with the whole enlightenment is not a state, vs. it is a state debate.

Well that's pretty cool dude 3 months of daily meditation seems like nothing... How many minutes were your sessions? And do you mean to say you've ONLY been meditating 3 months for your whole life?

Been using this video for the past two weeks! Super powerful stuff. It seems to instantly reset and dissipate my stress levels as well as an odd increase in willpower. This nice thing about this guided session is 1) it's guided, 2) it's short, and 3) it's enough to see an immediate difference.

@aurum Thank you so much for this simple explanation. I honestly had no idea this is how our debt/money supply system worked... This seems like a complete disaster waiting to happen, just waiting for an exponential take off in debt from interest.