Consilience

Shrooms are much more powerful than weed, so just be aware of that. They are similar in some ways different in others. I find shrooms to be more healing and intelligent than weed. I love weed and have had amazing insights from it, Ive also used weed as an integration tool for my psychedelic trips with great success, but truly shrooms are on another level. Shrooms are anti addictive whereas weed is extremely habit forming. Weed muddies the mind after you come down, shrooms leave you with a sense of openness and clarity, at least for me. It seems that whatever you’re subconscious is feeling, shrooms can manifest. The last 3 times Ive done shrooms, the fear of death has surfaced and strong negative energy has risen. But it’s always been cleansing and releasing. It’s terrifying in the moment but if I surrender, breakthroughs have occurred. Maybe mamma mushroom will go easy on you, but she also can be fucking brutal. Even if strong negative energy surfaces, it can be transmuted if you open yourself up. If you have mental health problems, you may need a trip sitter or might not be ready for mushrooms. It seems to me the fungi has an intrinsic intelligence to it such that when you’re tripping you are in communion with this life force. Weed isnt like this. If you treat the fungus with respect, gratitude, and love, even a dark terrifying trip will give you direction, insight and breakthroughs. Listen to your intuition with shrooms, and take action after your trip. The mushrooms will help if you are open to receiving their wisdom. They will punish you if you’re arrogant and abusing them. They can be kind and loving, but can equally show you the harsh nature of reality. If you are afraid, either way the fear must be faced with or without mushrooms and weed.

Never underestimate mushrooms... Set – To become conscious of God Setting – My backyard/Room on a sunny day Intro How can I even truly articulate what I experienced yesterday? There have been these mild intellectual skirmishes on the forum lately talking about the role psychedelics play in enlightenment or lack thereof. For the most part, I’ve stayed off the fence because I truly DON’T know what role these substances play with awakening. You’ve got the Ralston camp going on about how Enlightenment, Truth isn’t an experience and therefore taking a psychedelic which changes experience cannot deliver the truth to you and then on the other end you’ve got the Leo camp ignoring these claims and seriously pursuing psychedelic work. Yet after this trip, I just don’t know how one could ever argue they don’t play a role unless they lack the direct experience of God realization on a psychedelic. I have no doubt meditation, contemplation, and yoga can facilitate these insights to a massive degree, but it will take a massive amount of time to deliver what these mushrooms showed. Let me explain. It’s odd because normally mushrooms get really twisty, kind of funny and confusing with the way they deliver insights. Yet this trip, my mind was sharp, clear and open in contrast with the usual twisty nature. There were no real visual effects other than a mild increase in sharpness to objects and colors. To be quite honest I hardly felt like I was tripping at all up until the peak. Fear Opening the Mind So over the course of 4 hours there was this subtle anxiety and fear that was accumulating in my mind. I started feeling all of these insecurities and fears bubbling up. I felt overwhelmed by my college debt, I felt weak from my chronic illness, I felt like my life purpose was going to be a complete failure. It was interesting watching these emotions build slowly, slowly slowly… I was able to sit with the pretty successfully and just watch unattached to them using basic mindfulness principles. I don’t think I was aware of how deep rooted they were in my subconscious though, but it seems I really believe myself to be a failure. Yet as this fear grow bolder (presumably as the psychedelic effects grew stronger) the fear’s root began to surface – The fear of death. Oddly enough these ‘surface’ level fears all stemmed ultimately from my fear of death. Death I remember just sitting outside alone contemplating my own death, contemplating the meaninglessness of my individual life, feeling the reality that in a thousand years all of this life would be gone. Humanity will have long forgotten me, and in all likelihood, all of my contributions will be but a grain of sand to the transformation of the species. Of course my life plays a pivotal role in the infinite chain of causation, however it is utterly impermanent. My mind then started scaling not to thousands of years, but millions of years in this universe’s lifetime. I was somehow able to conceptualize into a higher tier of time and not merely think, but FEEL the emptiness of my life in reality’s lifespan. A great sadness washed over my being. At this point I went into my room and laid down in silence, just staring into my ceiling. A Glimpse of God As I was staring into this empty ceiling feeling the void of my life, all of my loved ones, of humanity itself, I was struck with the most powerful nondual insight of my life. I burst into tears whaling as I realized how I am all beings, every last perspective of consciousness in all possible realities, my being was coming to terms with the enormity of what these implications really meant, that I was responsible for this Universe, that I was this moment of eternity, and that I would experience every last possible variation of possible perspectives. Not only will I experience lifetime after lifetime after lifetime, I’ve done this for eternity. Fucking eternity. I felt my self violently explode into awareness, tears where streaming down my face, and I literally started drooling because of how much infinity I became conscious of. It was heart wrenching, terrifying, utterly absolute Love and terror. It felt like I was going through some sort of childbirth process where I was contracting and releasing into fear and love simultaneously. It was utter infinity, utter emptiness. I was whaling in ecstasy, sadness, love. My body temperature rose and began sweating everywhere. My hands, face, legs, feet, where all damp, all muscles where firing and releasing energy as I felt the enormity of what I am. My body would scrunch up into a child’s pose and then open back up in release. It was the most powerful experience I’ve ever had of God and it only lasted around 10 minutes total. I don’t think such a body reaction is necessary, but if one is not prepared for the enormity of Truth, there’s no telling how the ego-body-mind structure will react. Mine reacted in some sort of hurricane of psycho-physical-energetic contraction and release BECAUSE I’ve never truly seen this shit. Not to the extent of yesterday. I’ve had glimpse of God before both sober and tripping, but nothing like this. Nothing even close. I then spent about an hour just chilling in this massively increased state of awareness processing what the fuck I’d just gone through. Take aways: I realize now that the mind shields itself from the Self to colossal degrees. I already knew the mind acts a shied from Truth, but I really only yesterday felt the power of this mechanism firsthand. If the mind where truly able to remain in this state forever, I’m not sure survival would be possible. This is why I am unsure of whether Ralston’s perspective is correct. Yes you can awaken to yourself while sober; in fact the majority of my awakening process has been from meditation and contemplation. I see very clearly the illusory nature of self, the will of the Universe playing out in every moment, the love and compassion I authentically feel for life and all beings. Yet after this trip I see now the distinction between awakening to your true self and UNDERSTANDING your true self. I see now why Leo talks about understanding. I’m not sure this level of understanding is possible without psychedelics. The thing is, this was only 2g of mushrooms, never mind 5-MeO or a higher dose. As horrific and amazing as this understanding was, I intuited very clearly that this was only the tip of the iceberg. The depth to Truth is kind of terrifying to consider and until one has a heavy dose of themselves, they won’t understand. Was this “experience” temporary? Yes. As new aged as this may sound though, I feel an energetic shift in my being. I’ve felt this from all the trips I do. They truly change one’s energy system and the experience stays with you, changes you. It’s similar to how once you’ve had sex, you forever have an understanding about a facet of reality that no amount of masturbation, porn, or foreplay can replicate. Today I feel at peace, and ease. I feel happy and equanimous. I feel strong and I feel incredible fortunate to have been given this gift, this level of understanding. Another thing I wanted to mention – My intuition tells me that my meditation and hatha yoga practice played a key role with how I was able to receive such a powerful breakthrough on such a low dose of psychedelics. I see a lot of people questioning the effectiveness of more traditional consciousness practices, but from what I can tell, they all feed off one another. So if you’re reading this and are interested in pursuing psychedelics, but don’t have a strong, grounded sober practice, I would encourage you to begin there. 1 hour of meditation a day will radically change your life.

The mind hides itself from Truth by placing attention on perception and conceptualizing about it. When attention is completely stable and mind empty, attention evaporates and God shines through.

@Leo Gura Thank you for such a thorough response, truly. I'll keep contemplating, i'll watch the perception video. Next time I trip I'll keep the focus and intention on direct consciousness.

Some thoughts after letting this trip sit for the last few days: One of the most perplexing qualities during the "Glimpse of God" was that it *wasn't* perception... I keep trying to understand what specifically changed in my experience to make my body react in such a way. When I think back to what happened, there weren't changes in sight, taste, touch, sound, or smell. The changes in the mind were that the mind was freaking the Fuck out at the grandiosity of what I'd stumbled into. But it wasn't reacting to itself... Formlessness. It somehow *feels* like I become conscious of formlessness, but see even declaring this using language is a misrepresentation of what happened. "Feels" is found within the domain of perception. We feel our bodies, we feel emotions, we feel experience, but none of these are what I'm talking about. So then the question - if what I become conscious of wasn't a perception, wasn't even phenomenological in nature, what IS it? Like what is it's existential nature? All we have is our direct experience, our perception, our phenomenology which presents itself as sight, taste, touch, sound, smell, and mind. These are the ways reality manifest. Yet this manifestation where "I saw" (again, not it) God was more like a clearing, in which raw insight took place, an insight so paradoxical that the mind couldn't hold onto it and instead shuttered, and was destroyed reacting violently through terror and love. Another question - why is my mind okay now? Where is this source of equanimity and peace that the mind has stabilized into now that the trip is over? What precise qualities of mind are in place now that prevent this level of consciousness from being seen? Because I must stress, this trip was not all that powerful in terms of augmenting sight, taste, touch, sound, or smell. The biggest qualities of altered perception was a clearing away of mind into the present moment. Perhaps it is a lack of concentration, or perhaps there are subconscious mechanisms playing in my experience, generating a shield from full consciousness. I'm unsure, yet there is a deep curiosity forming around these components.

Appreciate it I've also gotten these glimpses you speak of before, but dude... it was so fucking wild. I think this was the first real breakthrough into absolute infinity. Im glad this post stoked your craving... Keep going. Keep practicing. Keep priming your body and mind with sober practices! I know I'll be.. so... race ya

Thank you for reading. Yeah man it's a never ending process... LSD and/or shrooms will definitely help, but as I mentioned at the bottom of the post, don't forget about other practices like meditation, hatha yoga, kriya yoga, contemplation, silence, nature, breath work. There are a lot of tools at your disposal besides psychedelics. There's definitely something to be said with focusing on University, career, finances, and relationships before jumping into spirituality. Yet I believe that you must be willing to give all of that stuff up if you start seeking Truth... When you start to discover your true nature, your personal life will most likely change, but this is for the better. You start acting, feeling, and thinking from a more genuine, authentic space than before. So my opinion is even if you still have to go through a lot of "normal" activities like building a career, let your spirituality empower your direction and what you pursue. I'm glad I discovered enlightenment while still being in school.

@Nahm Hey thank you good sir (GOD aka the GOAT) @Javfly33 Thank you

@Ar_Senses Thank you sir Yeah the connection is definitely there... Couldn’t “prove” it to people, but I certainly feel it for myself. I suspect there has been some sort of reverse tolerance building over time. My trips have been getting a little absurd without really having to take that much. Perhaps that’s happened in your case as well.

Thank you, I really appreciate the support. Hopefully I won't be so horrified next time haha

Just watched the first episode and wow!

None of this contradicts what I wrote

The universe is your direct experience. It is the manifestation of formlessness as form. If someone where to become so conscious they died, physical death would be achieved. Yet other people are still occurring relative to their experience so their lives are unaffected. Form oscillates with formlessness. The people we see in our experience were never there and yet they are there, in their own universes which are interconnected and “one” with ours yet distinct nonetheless.

Thinking the universe will end after a mahasamadhi is a misunderstanding of what the universe is. The universe in which a mahasamadhi manifests is not the same universe in which a guru can verify whether someone left their body from a mahasamadhi

Check out the holistic psychologist on instagram and youtube, and look into the technique of future self journaling. Very powerful. Id also recommend meditation as habit transformation will pretty much always require mindfulness and concentration as we feel the ego trying to pull itself back into old conditioning.

Ive seen this before, very interesting indeed. From what Ive observed in meditation, there are more than two. There are A LOT more than two, but these “sub selves” generally appear to aggregate into a single “self” which is how we experience being a self. Yet upon very careful examination, our ego is a collective of drives, desires, aversions, judgements, thoughts, emotions, which are backwards rationalized as being 1 thing when in reality they are many. Not only are they many, they have different motives and preferences... super fucking weird actually and extremely difficult to be aware of as we live daily life.

When you live these “smart things” rather than intellectualizing about them, they most certainly help our situation on Earth. Bliss, happiness, love and truth are available right now, regardless of form. This is a radical possibility many do not see.

The book The Mind Illuminated teaches an extremely robust meditation method centered around developing concentration. As you move through the stages outlined in the book, not only will you make massive concentration gains, but your overall mindfulness will increase as well. Ive personally gotten to the point where I can create states similar to that of a mushroom microdose while sober... pretty crazy stuff. Im not perfect, some days Im more mindful than others, I have ego backlashes, etc,. But the overall direction is profound. There’s a free pdf of the book online. Id read the introduction and see if it’s what you're looking for. Feel like a broken record on this topic, but concentration is the number one skill truth seekers lack. Unless you have a profoundly stable focus, the likelihood of embodying insights and awakening are improbable. Truth resides in this moment. This moment requires you to break out of the illusion of time. Breaking out of time means detaching yourself from thoughts as these exist as a function of time. Detaching yourself from thoughts requires the massive mindfulness/awareness/concentration. We can create and stabilize this mindfulness/awareness/concentration through effective techniques. Ta-da! Insight alone aint enough. Embodiment is the real game.

It’s pretty simple. 1) All you have is direct experience aka consciousness 2) All you’ve ever had or will have is direct experience or consciousness 3) The idea of a material reality is an *idea* a way of modeling, conceptualizing, and thinking about our *experience* (refer to points 1 and 2) of reality. 4) All models, thinking, and concepts exist as mind, they aren't found in sight, taste, touch, sound, or smell. They are experienced through mind. 5) Mind is an experience and therefore consciousness. To think reality is material requires a belief system about reality. If you want to believe reality is physical, that’s fine. The ego mind enjoys building grounding around the unknown, as this provides it comfort and a sense of safety. However recognize that you buying into an idea of materialism requires a belief system. Reality being consciousness is prior to all beliefs, it is what is direct. Your reality is LITERALLY consciousness, has always been, will always be, and could only ever be consciousness. “Something must be wrong with Leo’s theory” you’ve got it wrong here. Leo is pointing to an observation prior to all theories, as all theories fall into the predicament of 1-5. Look at actuality, look at reality directly and recognize that is is quite literally conscious experience. That’s the most you can say with Absolute, unquestionable certainty. I made this insight before ever taking psychedelics so they arent necessary, however they certainly help.

Yessir. A meditation practice with a focus on concentration/attention stability has been leading to a stabilized waking state of what feels like microdosing shrooms. The reason for this is one of the key effects of psychedelics is that they draw attention into the present moment. This moment is where insight and truth resides, so of course the more we can replicate this state while sober, the closer we will be to what is actual, what is true, which is what psychedelics help facilitate anyways. It’s my opinion that concentration is the #1 skill truth seekers need to actively be cultivating if they want to embody their insights from contemplation.

If you reallt want to get shredded and look good you’ll need to he eating a gram of protein per pound of body weight while also resistance training with a focus on progressive overload. Since gyms are closed though, it’ll be tough. For bodybuilding knowledge like building muscle, losing fat, look into a group called 3DMJ. They are a group of natural (non steroid using) bodybuilders that focus on being jacked while also living a balanced and healthy life.

Funnily enough I was tripping on LSD about 3 weeks ago and somehow energetically felt the damage caffeine was doing to my body, haven’t touched it since and havent had any cravings to. Tbh Im amazed at how much better I feel. Then this video came out a couple weeks layer haha. I pretty much agree with everything he says here. Caffeine is so embedded into our culture, no one treats it like a hard drug but it really is. Society is literally promoting the addiction of this drug too which makes it that much harder to quit. For me once I could clearly *feel* the extent of the damage, something inside of my mind clicked. I now can wake up within 5-10 minutes feeling normal, it’s wild. Edit: just to put this in perspective I was only drinking 1 cup per day. Nonetheless have had crazy results abstaining.

I think Id rather just ride the wave no matter how bad. Psychedelics are a great bullshitting test for people who claim they’re awake or conscious of the absolute. When reality is crumbling around you in chaos or you’re literally conscious of the collective suffering and horror (Love) of humanity, how grounded in Truth will you remain? Why have a safety net when you could use these as opportunities to see practice the embodiment of Love? Moreover, after around 20 trips Ive found that the best perspective to take is that there are no bad trips, just ones that are more challenging than others. Just my 0.02.

Wow... I remember seeing a video of him posted on the forum awhile back and being inspired by his bravery. Very sad news.

?‍♂️ Good luck on your path.