Jodistrict

The thing to keep in mind is that idealism does not deny science. Materialism and idealism are different philosophical points of view. Think of seeing an object and labeling it a “tree”. Treating it as a stable object is a convenient fiction. According to science, what we label as “tree” is just a flurry of activity, that is molecules moving against each other. Our seeing a tree is not true, it is useful. It helps the body navigate the world. Our intelligence has evolved for the purpose of survival, not truth. In the same sense, science comes up with objective theories. I can build a smartphone that does useful things based on these theories. But, that does not mean the theories are truth with a capital T. From my understanding the core of Bernardo’s argument is that materialism is incomplete in that it can’t explain qualia. If materialism is true, that means that which we consider most real – our personal experience is just an epiphenomenon. We are just another type of matter and our consciousness has no inherent reality in itself but is an accidental consequence of evolution in a material universe. So from that perspective, the difference between materialism and idealism is huge. If you reflect on your awareness, you should see the problem – from your subjective point of reference, your experience is the most intimate provable reality – and the material world is phenomena in your consciousness. The materialists shrug that off and say it isn’t even worth thinking about.

You are constructing a strawman of Buddhism and then shooting it down.

Lonliness is a pathology. Human beings were meant to live with each other. The fact that so many people rationalize loneliness as being normal shows the deep sickness and unsustainability of Western capitalism.

Exactly, It's like arguing with fundamentalist Christians. They have a complete closed system with all the answers. There's no inquiry or not knowing.

I am starting to find non duality dogma to be mind-numbing and empty (no pun intended). Imagine being a child of a non-dualist. No you can’t have that cookie because you were never born. The thing I like about Ramana Maharshi is that he was a bakti yogi. Connecting with the heart is important. In the path of tantra, the body is real, not imaginary, and the path to liberation is through the body. If psychedelics are useful I think it has something to do with getting us out of the mind and truly connecting with the body.

I wonder how safe this vape technology is? I once tried a cannabis vape. I took one deep puff and I was out and couldn’t move for 6 hours. I don’t know whether it was malfunctioning or if it is just hard to control dosage with a vape. Doing something like that on 5-meo could be fatal. I find that with the old technology – vaping bufo in a pipe - after getting some experience, it is easy to make the dosage predictable without any nasty surprises.

And what good does that do for you?

I have taken a considerable amount of psychedelics mostly in ceremonies, so I have had the opportunity to compare my experiences with other people. What I have learned is that general statements about psychedelics are mostly false. These drugs affect everyone differently. The same substance that gives you a life changing insight might give someone else a headache. I have also found that facilitators and “shamen” don’t know anymore than you do. So what is the value of asking Ralston to take 5-meo? If it works for him, that doesn’t mean it will work for you. And if it doesn’t work for him, that doesn’t mean it won’t work for you. The exercise just perpetuates meaningless chatter dressed up as a search for deep consciousness.

For me it was San Pedro. The trip lasted 17 hours. Mescaline can stay in the body for 20 hours.

This is why Zen keeps conversation to a minimum. The real truth is non verbal.

Shinzen would talk about pain as a means of spirituality. He use to teach AIDS patients how to use meditation to control pain. Years ago, he got interested in Native American spirituality, and decided to do a sun dance. That is where you dance for several days in the sun without food or water and then they put two knives in your breasts and hang you from a tree. He was telling us how interesting the sensations were and that it was deeply spiritual.

At which level does suffering cease?

Awaken the World in Canada did an intensive physical retreat several years ago where they microdosed with Iboga to aid the meditation and self inquiry. I saw a video where they claimed that a percentage of the people had an awakening. I don’t remember what the percentage was.

I agree. I am just saying that all information that use to be secret is now out there. There was a wisdom to keeping it secret. One can see how non duality has turned into a dogma with people flippantly saying they are god.

You needed to be a monk for 20 years to learn things like non duality. But now we can get the information on the Internet. I think that cat is already out of the bag.

Why should I listen to him? He promotes magical thinking which indicates to me that he is more concerned about marketing than liberation of his followers. Magical thinking and wild stories are entertainment for the masses.

My hunch is that reaching the most people possible would be the least concern of an enlightened person. Ramana Maharshi didn't have a marketing team.

This sounds like prosperity gospel from a megachurch pastor.

Sadhguru is a good businessman as demonstrated by the large organization he created and manages. He has fashioned a message that appeals to a simplistic audience coming from a materialistic culture. It’s important to keep in mind that his actual demonstrated competence is in business. The same thing happens in the medicine world. The guy who runs the Ayahuasca retreat has no shamanic abilities and may even be a sexual predator. But he is a good businessman, which is why he is the one running a retreat.

He is a professor who taught clinical psychology and when the going gets tough they blame it on demons, instead of facing himself and his defenses. He is a quack psychologist.

I am wondering how you get around the Federal Analogue Act which specifically targets "designer drugs". It treats chemical analogs as if they were the original controlled substance.

You don't know that.

They use dyads in holotropic breathwork. The breathwork sessions last 3 hours. One partner does the breathing while you take care of your partner. Then you switch. This works well for breathwork. But doing that with a powerful chemical sounds risky. I have been to over 20 bufo ceremonies and I saw some crazy things happen that require an experienced facilitator to keep the space safe. It might work for micro doses.

Meditation is a technique that quiets the mind and puts you in a non symbolic space where you can see the truth. Your non duality dogma is conceptual and will not liberate anyone.

Meditation is a technique for awakening that we know works. It has worked for thousands of years, worked for Buddha, etc. Ramana Maharshi meditated in a cave for 17 years. From a modern perspective, the problem is that it takes too long. Shinzen’s idea is to give meditation (which we know already works) a technical boost using technology to cut down the time it takes to awaken. It doesn’t replace meditation, it amplifies it. He has already experimented with this describing a TMS session as “like compressing a week-long retreat into 20 minutes”. Meditation is an empirical technique and not a dogma.