Bodhitree

Buddhism differs from a ‘religion’ in that the general approach is not to take teachings on faith but to test them and use them only if they are beneficial, efficacious, and true. This then builds confidence in the teachings.

I was just listening to his ‘weirdest stories’ on YouTube because it is a great way to loosen up the mind. It made me think that perhaps the world is a bit more magical than I thought. Anyway it started me reading through his quotes on Goodreads, and I came across this quote: “Chaos is what we've lost touch with. This is why it is given a bad name. It is feared by the dominant archetype of our world, which is Ego, which clenches because its existence is defined in terms of control.” And that put me in mind of a story that Da Free John used to tell, about how enlightenment is like the unclenching of a fist that has been clenched for such a long time that it’s gotten stuck in that pose. Put the two together and suddenly Terence McKenna is talking about enlightenment! It makes me wonder that maybe the Mushroom is something like a Buddha’s rainbow body, existing beyond in the multiverse...

I think it’s misleading of Frank Yang to talk of fucking the universe as an enlightened goal. It gives totally the wrong impression to listeners, although it might be good click baiting.

You can’t develop consciousness. It is what it is, and can’t be changed.

@SQAAD it looks like he is just constructing clever arguments leading up to a conclusion he already knows, ie the standpoints of Christianity. If you look at how these teachings came about from a historical perspective, then it makes even less sense how he constructs his arguments. In fact, if you look at how the world around us works, everything is continually transformed, nothing is created or destroyed. So why would you expect there to be a creator god at all? It makes no sense. More to the point, everything that isn’t man-made comes from natural processes, there is very little in the natural world that is intelligently designed. So why would you expect some god to spend time designing things? It makes no sense, at all. We should understand that in the larger universe the way man works is the aberration, not the rule. The way nature works holds true. Anything else is just more of the myopic humanocentric thinking that led to the notion that the sun travels around the earth.

@EternalForest i would say, focus a little less on your likes and dislikes. You are not the body or the mind, so take a little distance from what tastes good and what doesn’t. Develop a little equanimity, the feeling of being in balance and treating everything similarly. You will find that some things that you used to dislike start tasting ok, like a pleasant change of pace.

I have very little to no inner monologue. I’ve learnt over the years to internalise some talk — it is sometimes handy — but most of the time I think in terms of overlapping concepts. Thanks for posting the video’s, it’s interesting to find out what other people think about this.

Terence McKenna did a bunch of lectures on magic and the hermetic tradition, they are on YouTube.

Meditation teachers need a unique selling point, if they were to say ‘just do some psilocybin mushrooms and it will show you everything’ then there is no more need for meditation or teaching it. Meditation teachers are not shamans.

In a way, the whole process of spiritual development is a kind of marinading of the mind in the sauces of various traditions. As long as you keep gradually absorbing the material, you will reach various stages where you have the opportunity to let go of the junk we accumulate, everything from emotional blockages to our inner certainties. The letting go is important.

@BipolarGrowth Hmm. Some people have no choice but to follow the enlightenment path. After all, the mystic swims in the waters where the madman drowns, which would you rather be.

@roopepa Fulfillment often means some form of achievement, the exercise of skill which first has to be acquired. Wisdom comes automatically. Love you may have to work at getting it right.

One thing that I found interesting about the way spiritually advanced people live are the stories about George Gurdjieff. Apparently he was a carpet salesman for a while, and he was quite devious making money off some people. He was a bit of a scoundrel, as well as a spiritual teacher. While I wouldn’t say to follow his example, it does show there are quite a few ways to live. By contrast, the Zen master Bernie Glassman started an ethical bakery which makes a point of employing people who have a hard time finding employment elsewhere, like ex-cons. They now bake the brownies for Ben & Jerry’s. But more often than not you see highly evolved people doing jobs which are inline with their inner directions. Some become yoga teachers, some give talks, some become artists and live on a minimum income, some are sponsored by people with money, some work at ngo’s.

@animani i agree when you have been doing something this long without results, it’s time to take a break. You might want to try grounding activities like walking in nature or gardening during the day. But it’s also the case that relaxing can be very tricky, if you do a certain activity with the goal of becoming relaxed you might find it difficult to reach that state. When breathing doesn’t relax me in the evening, I often try listening to the sound of rainfall on YouTube. You say that you suffer from “anxiety, brainfog, fatigue, and very unstable generally”. This could be due to a range of issues from mental health-related to medication-related to cardiovascular fitness. A change in lifestyle might do you good, like eating healthily, engaging in a challenging program to achieve greater physical fitness, reducing medication if you can. Just a general tip if you don’t do these things already.

Hilarious thread, all things considered.

What about truth? What about freedom? Living in a dream is all very well but it is still samsara.

It sounds like a necessary stage of development. My reaction would be to let go of everything and look for the ground of being. These kind of unsettled states can be good for meditation because the cracks are showing a bit — as long as you can find a restful moment to begin. Aloneness is not a bad thing. If you can let go of your expectations it is very possible to be happy by yourself. For the rest you have complete freedom to recreate yourself in whatever way you see fit. But if you really try to throw off habits you may find they are embedded a bit deeper than you thought.

It seems the mushroom gods have decided to poke you with the negativity stick During previous trips and the experiences of oneness you had, you probably came away feeling very good. But my understanding is that if you use it purely for entertainment you are missing the point. Make sure to take the time to integrate the experience.

First, I think it shows a pretty good level of insight and articulation to observe all of this inside yourself. That will stand you in good stead further down the path. For the rest I get quite a youthful vibe from the writing, and how you talk about life’s purpose. Which is good — you’ve got plenty of time — but also means you might not have the patience and diligence of people who have been kicking around life a little longer. The ego has a lot of tricks, and many have to do with daydreaming, putting little fantasy scenarios in front of you. That has to do with how your mind explores future scenario’s. My personal solution to this was to spend as little time doing it as possible, if you can focus on the here and now more you will find that the tendency for these fantasy constructs to come up becomes much reduced. Further I would recommend becoming a serious practitioner of some form of discipline. This can be work-related, like learning excellence in graphic design, or something like yoga or tai chi. These things teach patience, discipline, persistence, a lot of valuable qualities on the path.

It can only be selfish if you are depriving something or someone else of something, the term does not apply to mental objects which are solely yours to begin with. The process to get there however can involve some selfish actions.

That there is dis-ease, dukkha.

@Shunyata I think the greatest danger with shadow work is splitting yourself up into good and bad parts, things to be nurtured and eliminated. There are things that need correction and transformation for sure, but that needs to be done in a loving way. It is almost always possible to rehabilitate things that are unhealthy or have started generating bad impulses in yourself, transformation is a better way than trying to eliminate things. But you will want to stay alert with how your inner self is presenting things to you. Not everybody’s inner models will work in the same way as others.

I liked The Good Place

I’ve tried this for a long time, when I was younger. While you can get the mind to be “quiet”, generally you are only fooling yourself if you think that you’re not thinking. Thoughts tend to come in this state only when you want them to, which means you don’t have as much trouble with getting distracted. The mind is sneaky and it goes underground, you find yourself thinking without consciously thinking, if that makes sense. It can actually get you into some odd states of mind and some of the mechanisms which govern our spirit become visible. We are not really one self but multiple selves, you will eventually realise. I am not sure if it is ultimately useful. For enlightenment and inner freedom I have found it more useful to study and practice spirituality.

From what I know, it is not as simple as just deciding. You have to be ready, and then at a certain point it may or may not happen. There is a nice quote from the Buddhist teacher Ayya Khema, which talks about the cessation of suffering, which is the attainment of Nirvana, the Buddhist enlightenment...