@Paul92 Paul as a biographical, biological, physical entity is constructed fiction. A narrative.
But there is a True You -- the True Self/No-Self/Nothingness/Void/God. Your true nature is not human but God. You are God thinking it is Paul. So when you realize that you are actually God, you will also realize that God has Will. God has infinite Will, in fact. Paul's will is a tiny splinter off God's infinite Will.
So in a sense you will discover Paul was never really in control.
But then you will also discover that since you are God, you control and create everything. As God, you have Will which you can use to create. So literally God allocates a tiny percentage of its infinite Will to this body of Paul's so that it could create a life. As a human your creative capacities are not infinite, they are limited so long as you are in a human form. If you exit the human form your creative power will be infinite, you can literally materialize physical objects out of thin air. But at this point you're not a human any more, you are the Godhead. You are that which you were before you were born.
In the end, everything is God's choice. But the kicker is, you're God! But simultaneously you're human
None of this is to be believed. You must discover if it is true through consciousness practices.
The more conscious you become the more of God's Will will be at your disposal. Eventually you and God will merge into one such there will be zero distance between your lifting a finger and God willing it so.
The definition of a devil is someone who thinks he is separate from God. The devil seeks to separate itself from God and rule using his own will. But the devil is always just a partition within God. So the devil is tricking itself into thinking that it is in control. Eventually the devil must surrender control and accept that it was God all along. This merges the devil back into God as if the separation never even happened. That's nonduality in a nutshell. Nonduality polarizes into duality and then depolarizes back into nonduality.
God is the doing non-doer

This thread is pure gold 
Here's two I liked so far :
 
 

That's good progress!
That's the trick! There isn't a "how". Formlessness cannot be reached through any method or process. Formlessness just is. You are it. You cannot reach it through any steps because it is the zero-th step. It is impossibly direct.
Although psychedelics can put you there in minutes.
The reaching of formlessness is a spontaneous occurrence, like a lightning strike. You cannot predict it or make it happen. But you can increase the odds by intensifying your inquiry & concentration.
Of course they are a part of you -- because everything is a part of you. But they are not essential to you. For example, a thought or feeling can arise and then disappear. It's disappearance does not change your essence. So what you are -- your essence -- is independent of all arising phenomena.
What you're missing is that you must distinguish yourself from all form. You have to separate the formlessness which right now is intermixed and confused with various forms. Then, later, you will realize that formlessness and form are in fact identical. But at the same time, they can be distinguished! It's a paradox.
Your first awakening experience is you realizing that formlessness is distinct from all form. It's you realizing that Consciousness/You is distinct from any content that arises.
It's sort of like a TV realizing that it is distinct from the images it displays. In the unenlightened state you are like a TV which is attached to the forms it displays, not realizing that in fact all forms could disappear without affecting the TV's existence.
What you are looking for with self-inquiry is PURE CONSCIOUSNESS. Consciousness without any forms.
But be careful, what I said above does not mean that any particular forms must be eliminated. So don't get some silly idea in your head that your sensory field will somehow turn off or go black. That's not what I mean. I mean you must realize that the sensory field is always occurring within formlessness. Like water is always occurring within some container. The True Self is the container. Find yourself as the empty container which holds the world. Right now you are so identified with the world that you cannot see the transparent container.
Form = the material world
Formlessness = the transparent container which holds it
And ultimately, Form = Formlessness
That's what "nonduality" means: not two.

I don't think they change brain type.
I think they can change how the brain is wired, which is very significant. Not sure about brain chemistry since there's no way I can measure that.
Subjectively it feels like the last 13 5-MeO trips have significantly changed how my brain works in a permanent way. It's subtle, but also significant. I am not the same person I was a few months ago. But also, I'm not totally different either. It seems pretty clear to me that if I do another 50 trips, I will be permanently changed after that. My consciousness will be much more expanded at the very least. Perhaps even a more radical change could result. I suspect that at some point the brain/mind will totally collapse and reconfigure itself to function at a much higher level. Permanent superhuman levels seem within reach but I have not verified it yet. It's going to take a lot of tripping and serious integration work. And won't be easy.
Cool

I was going to suggest 4-AcO-DMT as well. It would serve as a very fine intro to psychedelics, and prepare you for the direction of 5-MeO-DMT. 4-AcO-DMT is very close to psilocybin in terms of both chemical structure and it's effects, but I find it to be more deep, peaceful and controlled, less of a chaotic rollercoaster than mushrooms, and easier to dose accurately.
1p-LSD or ALD-52 would be very good classic intros as well.

@Javad In your analogy, the I AM/True Self/Witness/Consciousness/Absolute is the vacuum of empty space in which the car is located.
The mind is NOT the I AM. The mind will try to make itself feel and think that it is the I AM, so watch out! You must detach from all mind activity. That doesn't mean all mind activity must stop, it just means you must not identify with it.
What you are looking for is Nothingness. But it cannot be found using the mind. So how do you find it? There is no way, no method to get to it. A radical leap in consciousness is required. That comes naturally with lots of practice witnessing and observing your direct experience.
You must throw out all analogies. Enlightenment/Nothingness cannot be accessed via an analogy AT ALL. Every analogy is not it. You must become the Nothingness directly! It has to be totally direct. You cannot form an image or idea of it. Any idea you have of it is not it. This is why it's so frustrating and difficult.
Closest you can get to Nothingness via a technique is just sitting in silence with a very still mind.

Well, nothingness is not something. And also it is (sorry for the Zen-speak)
Nothingness is existence itself. If you just sit with a quiet mind in silence you can sort of "feel" existence. Although feeling is not quite the right word. You can be conscious of existence.
Try this: just sit and focus your attention on the raw fact of existence itself. I don't mean on the existence of any particular object, but existence itself. Try to "lock on" to existence itself. Notice it has no shape. It has no form. It is not an object. Yet here it is! But WHAT IS IT? What is existence? Try to just sit and be "locked on" to that for 15 minutes with a very open mind. Don't theorize or speculate. Just observed what existence is. Have a very open mind free of any ideas, models, images, or theories about what existence is. Whatever existence is, it's right there in your direct experience. if you can't realize what it is using your direct experience, you will never realize it (not through books, videos, or teaching).
Can you sort of "feel" that existence is nothing? It is empty. Good. Now just sit with that. Focus on that emptiness. That is enlightenment, that is the True Self, that is the I AM, that is the Godhead.
Also notice that anything you say about pure existence itself is not accurate. Any description or qualification of it is not true because it is empty. It is so empty that even calling it "empty" is untrue! So what do you do? You just sit and observe it silently without too much thinking. Let it captivate you. Rather than being human, become it!

I would just say, keep observing. A few days of observing are not enough. You need months and years of observing. The observation process itself is curative and self-correcting. You don't necessarily need to "do" anything about it. Just observe all your survival mechanisms at work. Observe why you feel you need them. Observe your attachment to them. As you do that, their grip over you loosens. Then you are more free to behave however you want without being dominated by survival concerns.
For example, observe how you manipulate people and why you feel you need to. That's very eye-opening and there's a lot to observe there. Observation is not the same thing as stopping your manipulation. I'm not asking you to stop anything. I'm just asking you to observe. With lots of good observation, many manipulations will naturally fall away. Not all, but many.

@Aakash I'm not clear what you're asking. Just doing opposite things automatically sounds mechanical and not conscious. The solution is to do things more consciously.
Yes, challenging your automatic survival reactions is good. It is harder than merely observing. It's the next step after lots of observing.
There is no categorization per se. 99% of all the stuff you do every day are your survival mechanisms. Rather than trying to categorize them, observe them. Categorizing stuff tends to itself be a survival mechanism. Why are you categorizing stuff? To help you do what?

Identification and survival is an extremely complex and sophisticated mechanism. It's got may layers to it, most of which are of course subconscious.
It's a complex tangled mess that takes not just years, but DECADES, to fully understand and deconstruct. It must be this way because your entire life hinges upon it. If it was not this complex and sophisticated you'd be dead a long time ago.
Don't get discouraged. Keep slowly untangling that mess.
Virtually EVERYTHING your mind and body does, from morning to night is survival. Almost not a single thought crosses your mind which is not related to your survival. You need to take this point very seriously. Really notice it. You must notice how survival dominates your entire life on a second by second basis. And all of that is tied in directly with ego and identification. They are so closely tied that you don't know the difference between yourself and your survival. Every emotional disturbance you experience is survival-in-action. EMOTIONS ARE SURVIVAL! THOUGHTS ARE SURVIVAL!
The significance of this cannot be overstated.
The solution to it is, you observe it. Like an owl watches a mouse. The more you observe, the freer you become of it, the less it controls you like a puppet.

It cannot be otherwise. Survival requires identification. The function of identification is to single out what must be survived. If you didn't have an identification you would not be able to tell yourself apart from a chair, and you would not know which of the two is more important to defend and protect.
Your entire mind is what you identify with, and what you try to survive. Into this are tied all of your thoughts, beliefs, opinions, attitudes, behaviors, emotions, reactions, knowledge, etc. That entire tangled mess is the self/ego-mind. Its job is to survive at all costs. Which is why changing any part of yourself is so hard. All change is perceived as death and resisted with a vengeance.

They are one and the same, but they are simultaneously distinct. Just like how a coffee table is located in space, yet it is distinct from space. You can have space without a coffee table. Or space with a coffee table.
Phenomena occur inside the witness (we could say). Phenomena are also identical to the witness. And the witness is also distinct from all phenomena. These are various aspects of nonduality which you will have to realize individually, and also together all at once.
A good order of progression is first to realize the witness as distinct from phenomena. Then to realize that since the witness is nothing and nowhere, it is everywhere and everything, including all phenomena.
Something which is nothing and nowhere is also everything and everywhere. That's what you're missing. The witness is not a point in space, it is omnipresent, sort of like how a vacuum is omnipresent.

You are not anything. Keep disidentifying with everything until nothing remains. It's basically as simple as that. The ego will of course react and object and throw hissy-fits.
Whatever negative reactions are arising, you must watch them without identifying with them or taking them too seriously. Like watching clouds passing through the sky. The sky does not get bothered by the clouds. You are like the sky. Be like the sky.
Insecurity is one of those clouds passing through.
One awakening is rarely enough to fully disidentify from the body/mind. Keep challenging anything you identify with. Keep asking yourself, "What am I still identified with? Can I let that go?" Your ultimate goal is to completely disidentify with the entire sensory realm. All forms must be dropped. No form is your true identity. Your true identity is totally empty, a Void.

@Truth Addict Emotions will arise. Allow them and just watch them like clouds in the sky. Sometime they will take hold of you. Strong emotions will hypnotize you into a trace of believing in them. Just do your best to notice that and take a step back and witness it. That is all.
Your job in this work is to make EVERY form/perception an object of your witnessing. It cannot become an object to witness if you are identified with it. To witness it, you must first disidentify with it. So for example, you are not the sensation in your chest, you are that which is witnessing that sensation. You are not the thought of yourself, you are that which is witnessing that thought. You are not the hunger in your belly, you are that which is witnessing that feeling. Etc.
Just keep practicing that as much as you can throughout the day. The more the better. You will become more and more detached from everything, which is the goal. Eventually you should have an awakening to Absolute Emptiness that is your true identity. It will come suddenly and out of the blue. Often it's jolting.
Yes, keep entering that state of not-knowing what anything is. That's very good. That is the best state to be in for an awakening to happen.