Breathe

Ok, i have a few questions here... Is awakening through psychedelics the same as awakening through meditation? Is the effect the same? Also, does awakening through psychedelics make it easier to access the awakened state easier through meditation? If so, why do you think that is on a very precise, technical level? Does awakening the natty way become easier for those that use psychedelics? For some reason I feel compelled to ask this question, based on this quote by Nisargadatta Maharaj : “Wisdom is knowing I am nothing, Love is knowing I am everything, and between the two my life moves.” What does he mean by that? Is the experience of being everything and being nothing a reference to different types (or depths) of awakenings?

They got you twice then. Cuz now you're part of a cult.

That happened to me in the beginning also. I went straight for the big insights. Leo offered some solid advice. If I could go back I'd have started out by doing a lot of calming style meditation practices, exercise, and chilling with good friends; Existential contemplation without a calm mind can be incredibly destabilizing. There's a reason the Buddhists put so much emphasis on Samatha meditation. Reading a lot of books and consuming a lot of video content can also be destabilizing. Eventually you learn to slow down because the suffering becomes too great. Make sure to get help from a teacher that you trust if things get too bad. Meaninglessness can really fuck up your life.

I'm super sensitive to caffeine, I can't have it at all, not even a can of coke or I have panic attacks. In that state I can't handle noise at all. Also, you may want to look into HSP (highly sensitive person).

It seems to me that the US is beyond saving. That's not even accurate, it's just that there's on-one coming to save us. The dems done fucked up by giving into greed and corruption. Anyone wondering why very few are speaking up? It's because they're not going to. This is not an issue of left vs right, or dems vs conservative parties. This is about corruption and what is born out of corruption. Enter fascism. According to Political scientist Dr. Lawrence Britt. Here are The 14 Characteristics of Fascism Powerful and Continuing Nationalism Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause Supremacy of the Military Rampant Sexism Controlled Mass Media Obsession with National Security Religion and Government are Intertwined Corporate Power is Protected Labor Power is Suppressed Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts Obsession with Crime and Punishment Rampant Cronyism and Corruption Fraudulent Elections Layer that on top of what we've seen playing out over the last few years and it should start to click. Now that we see social services being cut, protections gutted, becoming a country of isolation, cost of goods going up... What is going to come of poor and other marginalized groups? Imprisonment? Starvation? Deportation? Concentration camps? Wikipedia does a pretty good job in describing fascism with historical examples: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism Here's a couple of the more interesting excerpts that pertain to my question: Why in the fuck isn't everyone thinking about leaving the country?

Ok, so, basically I see a few different different threads but I don't know how they are all tied together or how they can all coexist. 1. Trump and his jerk mates have deep, long lasting ties with the Kremlin. Russia infiltrated the US government some time ago and has been manipulating us to cannibalise ourselves with the goal of bringing down the west and expanding their territories. They've made deals behind closed doors but I'm not exactly sure what Trump and the US gets out of it besides getting a share of Ukraine's minerals. Maybe Trump was blackmailed, I'm not sure. 2. Project 2025, we all know about that, no big secret here. 3. Network states. This is some scary shit. These fuckers just want to burn it all down and erect virtual but sovereign nations. Basically, societies that operate like tech startups. The primary industries include AI, defense technology, cybersecurity, and other tech shit. These would be cryptocurrency-based societies. Backers include Peter Thiel, Sam Altman, and other tech billionaires. Network states have been spoken about and written about openly. There are books, interviews, videos, etc. I do not know why this isn't getting more attention and I've yet to hear anyone in the current administration even mention it. Someone on this forum posted this link which led me to look into it a little further: https://www.vcinfodocs.com/ Other resources: https://www.amazon.com/Network-State-How-Start-Country-ebook/dp/B09VPKZR3G Thoughts?

I live in Portland. A lot of marginalized move people here because they can find acceptance and because of state services. A lot of people are worried. Especially the LGBTQ community, disabled, and activists. Trump explicitly said that he's "coming after us" so we'll have to wait and see what that will entail. I'm predicting a huge fiasco once the larger protests kick off. He'll probably really fuck with any funding we get as well.

I love that

There's a lot of shit information on the web. Even some 2019 era search results on this forum said otherwise. But I figure that may because not many knew about the molecule back then.

Ok, I have a couple of questions: How long does 5-MeO-DMT Freebase last when stored at room temp? I have it stored in a glass vial, inside of a mason jar with a deoxidizer and a dessicant. I'm open to suggestions on how else to store it. I have about a gram, I thought about stocking up on more, but that isn't likely necessary. I do plan on plugging it to start, but even if I were to take one breakthrough dose every week I'd have close to a year's supply. I also have 5-MeO-MALT and NN-DMT stored in the same mason jar in the same fashion. Similar question here

I just started working with a meditation teacher and the way he described it to me is that it does matter how you meditate. He was trained in the Mahasi tradition before he started practicing Samatha-Vipassana. With Mahasi, he said kiss your social life goodbye, and that awakening was difficult to achieve without long retreats. He now teaches Samatha-Vipassana which is more forgiving because of the calming nature and how it translates into daily life. It's also very simple. I haven't awakened yet, but from this style of training, letting go is natural and easy because of how pleasant the effects are. I still want to experiment with psychedelics, but this thread has confirmed what I have suspected. One thing worth mentioning, is that this is why sanghas exist. Meditation communities make it easier to commit to the practice when your social needs met. Monasteries are similar but ALL of your needs are met. That is on reason why I disagree with the whole "lone wolf" theme of this forum. Things would be different if we didn't live in capitalist systems where we work 40+ hours per week. But, here we are so we adapt.

Thanks, this is what I suspected.

What are your sources?

Kyle talked about this very thing today:

Ok, this is really fucked: The whole Greenland thing may actually be an effort for a Peter Thiel backed network state to build its own country. First, Usha Vance visiting Greenland is likely a setup: https://bsky.app/profile/timothysnyder.bsky.social/post/3ll7hphgxzs2d Tracing through the comments we arrive at arrive at a compelling objective: https://bsky.app/profile/jennycohn.bsky.social/post/3levv4j35xk2b

It's not one guy

I suspect this is something you project onto everyone. Maybe you haven't been paying attention, but most of my free time is dedicated to health practices right now. This is a time of rest for me. It's not what I want, but it has to be done.

MAGA encompasses a lot of different characteristics. You have your wealthy greedy MAGAs, your uneducated rural MAGAs, and swing voters, guns and Jesus MAGas. Maybe others, that's all I can think of right now. Not many of them are going to do consciousness work. They'll change their minds once their lives are turned upside down. Financial ruin, self or family members deported, loss of family members lives due to shitty health policies, anti-vax deaths. Many will never change, regardless. It's a cult.

OMG that is funny

For anyone else, my anti-fascist friend recommended the book: How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them by Jason Stanley. It's about modern day fascism. I just picked up my copy today.

Agreed I'm educating myself. Fear may continue to come up or not. My life is full as it is. As for everyone else, I think people need to be somewhat more strategic about the bigger decisions they make right now.

You could be right. I'll consider that. I think it's going to be worse than you think it's going to be. Partially because of because of where you're at in life but maybe something else. The sick, the elderly, the poor, and non-whites are really at risk. We now have to contend with AI, we're isolating as a nation, and threatening war with allies. Jobs are being lost, services are being cut, prices are going up. This may not be the fascism of old, but this is way worse than anything we've seen in the last 50 years.

That's my take as well. When I was healthy I could relate to Leo's position, but after a freak accident I couldn't work more than 2 hours a day for almost 10 years. I fear for those that aren't healthy. I'm a first generation American, the rest of the family are legal immigrants (citizens now). I look white, but they are being super cautious about being profiled because they look Mexican as hell. I have family that DID work for the government, one was forced to retire early because of DOGE. The other is just looking for something new now. This was just in the last month Also, I work in tech, and right now, there are very few jobs. The market has been highly competitive since around when Biden took office. Who knows what's on the horizon. All my coworkers are terrified of being laid off. I do think Leo is underestimating the economic situation that's going to unfold. Comparing this to the Biden+Trump 1.0 era is comparing apples to oranges.

That's a bold statement. When the UK isolated the economy their economy took a hit. But they weren't threatening their neighbors or deporting immigrants to places like Gitmo and El Salvador's mega prison. The UK just simply their borders. We were the leader of the free world and now we are eating ourselves form the inside out. Our economy is going to take a hit, but unlike the UK we brazen existential threat to the rest of the world. What else do we even have to compare this to? This is a different beast. I think we need wake the fuck up just like our allies have.

I'd consider Europe or Canada but fascism is on the rise everywhere and the global economy is also taking a huge hit from the USA's betrayal and chaos. Europe also has to worry about aggression from Russia now, so there's that. I'm not sure it's safe to go anywhere