Arman

Somewhat controversial figure Jordon B Peterson has recently crowdfunded a series of lectures on the psychological significance of the stories within the bible. The first lecture 'Introduction to the idea of God' has been released. I think they'll be released on a weekly basis, and if he reaches his next crowd-funding goal, which seems likely, then they'll be bi-weekly. I've been excited about this series for a while. If you haven't been exposed to Jordan's talks before then give him just 5 minutes listening and you may very well find yourself absorbed and captivated.

A lot of people seem to think mushrooms enable some kind of telepathic experience. Particularly when taken with those we're close with. Talking with a friend while on psychedelics is fun, but language can feel inhibiting and I find we're usually just trying to express the inexpressible. Talking can also be clumsy when high. It feels to me like a waste of energy attempting to englishify your experiences on the fly instead of just moving through them silently. Though I guess it depends on your intentions. If you want fun and connection then talk, but also keep in mind you have unlimited time after the retreat to relate insights and experiences together.

No formal technique is necessary. Through intention alone you can cultivate all kinds of states - from the mundane to the exalted. Easier said than done though. Sometimes techniques and formal practices only work more easily because they bypass our held beliefs about what we can and can't do. We think we can't just simply relax and be happy for no reason other than because we want to, so we meditate because we believe that will do it for us, and then we reap some of the results. Bashar would call these 'permission slips'. It is possible to create a state inwardly and hold that identity or state firmly, and eventually that identity or reality will be reflected in your emotions, thoughts, physicality, and the rest of your experience allowing for a total transformation. One of the powers behind psychedelics is that they temporarily strip away lots of held limiting beliefs and so it's easier to access states of higher clarity, intuition or bliss - but this dynamic can reinforce the idea we need to do something (take something, do a certain kind of meditation, etc) to reach certain states of being. It is possible to, for example, work yourself into states of really high bliss comparable to MDMA, or to effortlessly receive answers to your questions. This can be done by consciously generating the reality of your desire inwardly. If you continue to look towards your external experience to determine how you aught to feel, think and behave, then you will continue to generate that same reality which is governed by unconscious patterns. If you can consciously hold your inward reality and choose to frame your entire experience as confirmation of the reality that you're now choosing to align with, then it's only a matter of time before it is reflected externally . The art comes in aligning in fulfillment of your chosen reality now. If you are expecting, waiting or hoping for a change in the external reality, then that change won't come because you're still associating with the old experience. If you know you can have anything you want right now by freely and consciously choosing to have it and so you rest in that fulfillment now, then reality will start to quickly align with that experience and generate it in your external experience, feeling, thoughts, synchronicities and whatever perceptions it takes to fulfill your desired state perfectly. It's a bit of an art and there are many different techniques, teachings and approaches on the subject. A lot of it is just removing the barriers and beliefs that say you can't generate your states from within - or that external reality governs in the internal. Experience says that the opposite is true - that the inward reality generates your entire experience. Discovery of this takes some dedication, openness, but most importantly the willingness to find out for yourself.

Are you becoming mad because of your thoughts? Are you hoping or expecting to sit and have a clear and still mind? Anger is usually resistance to something so perhaps you are resisting the fact that you are having thoughts. Mindfulness is not about repressing thoughts or necessarily trying to make your body or mind still. It may be your goal to eventually live with still mind and clarity, but for now you can relax by accepting what your experience is like. Relaxation makes progression easier. Having thoughts, emotions and frustrations doesn't mean that you are not making progress. Even getting angry about the situation can be progress. If you find anger arising, just observe that anger and try to breathe through it and be with it without labeling your efforts as a failure. Instead label them as a success. If anger is arising, you are doing extra well. Keep practicing, keep observing and keep accepting, and your experience will transform over the days and weeks.

Edit: nvm

Nice. Consider scaling back the intensity and/or length of your practices so you can progress in a smooth, grounded and enjoyable way. Remember to stay hydrated and eat healthy. If you are experiencing psychosis and mental disturbances then it may be time to be more gentle, as pushing ahead can compound on uncomfortable symptoms.

my response was just to the video, missed your reply, but empty calories is a great way to put it

Seems like a very limited view of intelligence. The implication seems to be that a higher level of intelligence = having less friends by choice but it actually seems to be more the case that people who think they are choosing to have less friends actually have an inability to bond, connect, or just be at ease with other humans. It's easier to just say that nobody gets you because you're too high a level. There's great joy in friendship and social interaction. Acute intelligence in just one area can distorts perception, especially if someone is identified with that intelligence. Like being mildly autistic or something. If someone had a great degree of social intelligence and could feel love and joy with practically everyone, but yet chooses not to have friends, then that would be interesting, but I don't see that being the case. Even the title of the thread says intelligence and loneliness - loneliness seems to imply lack, not inspired choice. It's like teenage kids claiming they don't get along with anyone because people "they're all sheep and don't understand the world like I do." Kind of laughable. If someone claims to be intelligent and doesn't have harmony in their family and world relationships, then I don't consider them particularly intelligent because they have ignored, neglected or just failed to understand how to move through life with basic happiness and ease. I believe basic happiness to be a sign of intelligence. Some actually claim that basic happiness is a sign of low intelligence. I think that's an unfortunate and bitter stance by those who feel stranded in life. If you don't have a base degree of social mastery then it will prove itself to be difficult to achieve large results in different areas of life, and even more difficult to move through life feeling loved, safe and happy.

At least 1000 reps and if doesn't hurt if you know how to do a few sweet skateboard tricks

I can't remember where I heard it, but supposedly flow states occur when the situation requires a certain degree of challenge or possibility to move beyond - like a baseline of challenge that pushes you. If there's too little 'challenge', then the flow state doesn't occur, but if the challenge, circumstance or stimuli is too far beyond your abilities, then you're overwhelmed and also can't enter the flow state. So if you are a chess player, you're best bet at entering the flow is playing someone who is slightly above your skill level. If you are a writer, you are more likely to enter a flow state writing something that excites and pushes you, rather than the same kind of content that is already second nature to you.

if that's your mustache in your avatar, then yes.

i've got a feelin'

Try making less of a distinction between masks you wear in social occasions and more subtle masks that are worn when you are alone. The programming/conditioning is always there - it is just heightened or triggered when you are around people - so if you are struggling to create mindfulness and act from a more grounded space when you are around people, then remind yourself that gains can be made at all times. Any time you meditation or return to your body, you are improving. Particularly it may be useful to process the emotions of the social experiences afterwards when you're by yourself. You will be able to tap back into the tightness/discomfort that you felt and use it as an opportunity to work with it. The softer you feel on the subject and the less 'strained' your focus on it is, then the more steadily and comfortably will you start to shift. Soften your attention on the subject by being more gentle on yourself, being more compassionate and by recognizing that everyone around you feels the same way, they struggle with these issues and are wearing masks of their own. If you meditate on the idea that everyone has these layers of conditioning, you'll start to see it as less of a burden or malady, and more as a natural part of being human and part of the process of growing up. Primarily remind yourself that you don't need to actually rid any of the conditioning before you start to feel better. Before releasing the conditioning, focus on releasing your resistance to the conditioning/masks themselves in a gentle, easy and light way. It is what we humans do. The masks were here to help you as a way for you to move through the world and deal with unsure energies as you grew up. It's good to recognize this because then you can move consciously in the direction of your choice through natural attraction to well-being as opposed to the path of aversion.

I don't have the answer for you either but for what it is worth, there are many going through the same experience and you are not alone. Wishing you solace.

There's irony in my previous post that hasn't been completely lost on me. It seems the rigidity/rudeness in my own post has been reflected with a deserved hostility, so I'm not the best example of my own advice. My only suggestion is that there are more effective ways of reaching people than by beginning and ending with insults.

aggressiveness and rigidity invites defensiveness I don't necessarily disagree with your points, but it's tempting to disagree with you purely because doing so would apparently make me an awful person . It is not surprising to find that people aren't receptive when you open a discussion with "There is no counter-argument to my position." If you push against an animal they instinctively resist, you know? If you want to help people you have to relax your energy so you can work through our monkey minds.

Yeah as pluto said, infrequent use can be useful. I have found that using cannabis with little to no tolerance or after a long break can be super effective for healing experiences - particularly purging physiological stuff/traumas, but more frequent use seems to completely reduce the power of that healing property, at least for me. I think continuous use probably has detrimental effects to brain chemistry and the subtle energetic system. I find the day after smoking I tend to feel a little cerebrally exhausted. The properties and how its gonna effect you are gonna depend a lot on the strain too. Cannabis, particularly sativas, I think, also have a tendency to suddenly up-heave suppressed energies of the mind and body, so a lot of repressed anxiety and life pressures can arise and it feels intense and kind of panicky - but that can be a positive experience if you're willing to be there and release it.

pretty cool, but I'd be just as content sitting on a shitty couch with a friend. I like the sense of adventure that comes with lowly places

It'd bring me happiness right now. I'd buy weed and KFC.

I remember the first time I read The Power of Now, there was some exercise involving just taking in your surroundings. It was one of the first times I consciously tried to become 'present'. I remember it vividly... How vividly boring it was. I was like, ok... that's it? I find as the years pass that the simple practice get's deeper and deeper. Eventually it goes from something from a mundane concentration to accessing a field of radiance/intelligence and it is effortlessly relaxing and insights present themselves. Right now the experience you had is a kind of 'peak' (or sneak peak) of higher experience. Eventually, believe it or not that kind of experience will become a baseline of mindfulness that you can cultivate at will as long as you're balanced and well. From there, there are new peak experiences and I think it get's endlessly deeper. It also just becomes nice for no reason, like your body can access more of something. I think a lot of it is less to do with how much insight or wisdom you have and more just to do with how primed your nervous system is to certain kind of states, and I think that priming comes with time and practice. I don't know, but it never stops getting more interesting. I guess they don't talk about that a lot because it'd create attachment for another experience which is counter-productive to being mindful, heh. Glad to hear about your positive experience.

I think whatever you do, as long as your intention is growth then you can't lose.

I'm so enlightened you can't even use the word 'I' in a conversation with me without getting lectured

I can tell you with fair certainty that as it stands, your book is unlikely to be successful, or be of a great degree of quality. This is based on your tone and how you talked about it. Writing a book is challenging. Writing a good book is even more challenging, and writing a good book that reaches people, the most challenging of all. There are thousands of new books written every day. Many of them about adversity and struggle. What makes yours worth writing? You are asking us if it's worth finishing? If you don't know, either find out yourself, or don't bother. I don't mean this to be disheartening. It is just something to reflect on. The way I see it, you have three choices: 1. Keep at it given your current level of energy on the subject, and either not finish the book, or create a low quality product 2. Decide that you don't care if it reaches people or it's successful, and allow it to be something that is a creative exercise that helps you process things, makes you feel good, etc (nothing wrong with this) 3. Decide that it is something you really, genuinely want to do, get realistic about how much work and dedication it takes, and increase the amount of focus, energy, and love you place into it. How inspiring can a book be if the author didn't even know if he wanted to finish it? Consider why you're doing it. Unless it's aligned with serious purpose then it's going to be one more low quality book. If your purpose is aligned and you have enough devotion and focus, then you can make it happen.

its playful sleight of hand like an uncle would do for his niece, they're laughing because it's silly no siddhis here

it's pretty neat