Jodistrict

I have found that it is best not to talk about your experiences with psychedelics. Nothing good comes of it. It was meant for you and won't make sense to anybody else.

This has been debated for thousands of years. Shankaracharya believed Karma Yoga and Bakti yoga couldn’t get people to liberation. Shankaracharya in the Vivekachudamani: “The fear and sorrow created by the delusory serpent on the rope can be ended only after fully ascertaining the truth of the rope which is available for recognition only through steady and balanced thinking”. He is using the rope/snake metaphor. You mistake the rope for a snake and have fear, but the fear vanishes once you recognize it is only a rope. Knowledge of the truth gives instant liberation. The catch is that in order to practice the Vedanta, you have to be qualified, which means you need to have a sattvic mind. For most people they just go in circles applying self inquiry with a disturbed mind. That is where Bakti becomes useful in purification. Even Ramana Maharshi practiced Bakhti yoga.

Chatgpt just summarizes what is already on the Internet - pretty words that mean nothing.

Don’t get hung up with the story. If somone had a trip, but the effect continued after the drug wore off, and it appears to have initiated a positive influence, that means that an energy was activated and energy is real. Somone from a different culture might label it Kundalini or Shakti energy. Again, don’t get hung up on stories. If it affects your life in a positive way that is something real.

The only problem I have with Christianity is their insistence that they are the only way. The higher philosophies of Hinduism are so much more mature and embrace all paths to the divine. Swami Vivekananda explains it as follows, noting that intolerance is not exclusive to one faith. “The one great advantage of Bhakti is that it is the easiest, and the most natural way to reach the great divine end in view; its great disadvantage is that in its lower forms it oftentimes degenerates into hideous fanaticism. The fanatical crew in Hinduism, or Mohammedanism, or Christianity, have always been almost exclusively recruited from these worshippers on the lower planes of Bhakti. That singleness of attachment (Nishthâ) to a loved object, without which no genuine love can grow, is very often also the cause of the denunciation of everything else. All the weak and undeveloped minds in every religion or country have only one way of loving their own ideal, i.e. by hating every other ideal. Herein is the explanation of why the same man who is so lovingly attached to his own ideal of God, so devoted to his own ideal of religion, becomes a howling fanatic as soon as he sees or hears anything of any other ideal.”

It was common for people in ancient cultures to live without chairs. They would sit cross legged or squat. It had nothing to do with looking cool or spiritual. And what is so great about chairs? People develop back and posture problems with chairs. Also, the only reason you can sit on a chair is because you adjust your posture every few minutes. The chair puts to much pressure on the bottom to sit perfectly still for even an hour. The full lotus distributes weight making it possible to be still for hours. But it’s not necessary for all meditation.

I went to the Goenka Vipassana 10 day retreat. They provided chairs for those who ask. But you have to ask in advance.

The Hindus see different paths. You can either approach the absolute directly or approach the absolute through forms. People have different temperments making them suitable for different approaches.

It’s interesting that we can infer from the Bible that there were loads of people who came across Jesus and didn’t see anything special about him. The Bible mentions he wasn’t believed in his own village. This is actually quit realistic. There was also loads of people who never saw Ramakrishna as special. Most people are too low vibration to recognize an enlightened being, and he becomes invisible. Most people saw Ramakrishna as ordinary but Vivekananda fell at his feet and recognized he was God.

Jesus didn't create a religion. He never talked about creating a new religion, nor indicated that he was outside the Jewish tradition. It was Paul that created Christianity.

The part I find most interesting about the story is that a positive change persisted after the drug wore off. Long term change is what everyone is looking for, and not just a one time memory. I would say go with it. But presenting the experience to a forum of skeptics probably isn’t most useful. To reinforce the experience, it would be useful to present your Ayahuasca conversion testimony at a charismatic oriented Christian church.

I have never heard of someone having a Jesus hallucination without previous indoctrination. It also occurs in near death experiences. I have done 20 Ayahuasca ceremonies, and have seen Jesus in a few because that is what I grew up with.

That's what worries me the most. This has been going on for more than 10 years

South Park went so low that there is nowhere else to go. If it doesn’t work, they have used up all their bullets. It just shows desperation. The long term solution is for the democratic party to become a party again that people want to vote for.

The scandel is that they have significant amounts of money making them worthy of being a target. Buddhism in Thailand is a unique culture.