InfinitePotential

Hell yeah. “As an AI language model, I don’t have personal beliefs or values, but here’s something pretty trippy to think about…”

If you are an infinite dreamer, existing eternally, with absolute never-ending capacity to dream… a dream of a typical 80 year human life makes up absolutely nothing of the totality of your infinite dream. In other words, from the perspective of your infinite dreamer self, the next “moment” (80 years from now), you may be dreaming something radically different, so that your dreams actually are not so consistent as they appear to be from your current perspective. Also, given certain states of consciousness, illogical things can happen. Also, when you’re dreaming at night, weird things may happen, but you don’t realize you’re dreaming. Similarly, we’re in this unbelievable magical existence… we take everything around us for granted and treat it as mundane and normal, when actually it’s pretty fucking crazy that we’re bipedal apes looking out of little orbs in our skulls riding on a rock hurling through empty space, etc.

I won’t say this is the #1, but it’s up there, and just to add another to this thread: self-deception. It’s always stuck with me from one of / several actualized videos the bit about (and I’m paraphrasing) “how can you possibly trust your mind, when your mind is the one assessing whether you can trust it?” kinda like how can we prove the validity of logic… with logic? The more closely I look, the more apparent it is that the mind tends to be interested in self-survival, not Truth. good news is, the mind is also interested in happiness, which methinks can lead to Truth.

This topic is an important point. When people discredit psychedelic experiences saying the realization one has is due to ingestion of an exogenous substance, I say well, we drink water and eat food, and act like when we are adequately fed and hydrated (and all the other things our body requires), only then is our perception of reality accurate and valid. In fact, if we were to stop consuming water or food - arguably becoming as sober as possible - we would eventually trip like a mother fucker. So, to accurately perceive reality, we have to intake the right amounts of certain things, and nothing of others? Almost seems like our perception of reality is always influenced by our state of mind ? And, like the original post, with us all walking around with god knows what chemicals lodged in our brains and bodies, can we really call ourselves sober.

Happiness. Peace of mind. Contentment. Joy. Feeling good, lastingly.

No, I don’t think so, if I understand you correctly. First off, there isn’t an “us” - an actual separate entity. But, speaking at the level of there being “us”es - at least in appearance - our individual consciousness is the product of, or at least dependent on / correlated with our brain. So that would have to be perfectly simulated, probably down to the quantum level (which is impossible in principle, due to indeterminacy and other quantum weirdness), unless there is some redundancy and quantum effects could be ignored. But that’s not enough, as our entire nervous system is at play in our conscious experience. But then, that is dependent on our entire physiology - the whole body. Which is dependent on all of the microorganisms inhabiting our body. But these are all affected by what is outside the body. And this is just at the “present” moment (which general relativity says does not even absolutely exist or make sense in principle). But, the past and future would all affect things as well, to the point of where it becomes impossible to draw a line saying here is the entirety of what we need to simulate in order to recreate this locus of consciousness. (Perhaps the entire observable universe is such a line - but to simulate that one would have to know, just to start, the position and momentum of all particles contained there in - which quantum mechanics tells us is impossible - but particles are ultimately just an approximation / model depicting what is actually the case…). in short, no, this is a task that technology derived from physical sciences taken to the extreme simply could not achieve. It is entirely possible and imo likely that our “locus” of consciousness is not the result of physical, or computational, or any type of “process”. It requires actual magic. And yet, seemingly, here we are having conscious experience…

Weird Fishes is one of my favorites all time, lots of other good picks in this thread too. A bunch of random ones I’m into lately: okay I’m done for now ?

But then can you really just add these “sentience units” to compare whether one group of organisms has more “sentience units” than another? The shrimp just aren’t capable of suffering like the whale is. It’s more like, what’s less ethical: pinch every human on their weenus or kill the whale? I feel like from a certain perspective, there are no amount of ants that I would not be willing to kill to save the life of a human, much less a corgi puppy. Even if their sentience is .000001 and a corgi’s is 1000, I’d kill all the ants regardless. Of course, that would bring a whole ‘nother host of problems, but the direct suffering as a result of killing the ants vs the corgis would make me choose the ants. Of course I’m biased here cause I like dogs and don’t like ant bites. Also, my reasoning kinda worries me for what an ET civilization / super-intelligence may think about us…

How about “what do I really want?”

Notice everything in your field of experience. Accept everything in your field of experience. Ignore everything in your field of experience. also there’s Neti-neti

I’m asleep af but I do think I have a kind heart and a pretty good grasp on some things. Plus I always tip well to balance all my shitty karma

I used to think this was true. Technically, it is. For example, people’s insulin responses to the same foods can be vastly different. (And indeed, a single person’s can be different at different times, in different situations). But that being said, there are rules of thumb that apply to the vast, vast majority of people. All animal species have little variation as to what constitutes an optimal lifestyle for each individual, health wise. Humans are not likely to be an exception. Sure there is genetic diversity, and we have spread to all corners of the globe and have different environmental influences (unlike other animals), but biologically speaking, we are (almost) all extremely similar. For example, lions are unanimously fit for consumption of raw meat, occasional hunting, and lots of laying around all day farting and grooming (idk, I’m not a lion expert). There is little to no variability. No need to make some tweaks to the standard lion lifestyle for one lion and other tweaks for another, barring injury. I see little reason why humans would be any different. Sure, we are any many ways vastly more complex, but we’re all the same species. That being said, modernity has so radically altered our “natural” environment… unnatural problems could require unnatural solutions. And too, there is a “generational health” aspect to these matters. The book Deep Nutrition makes the case that basicslly, from my understanding, if your parents and grandparents and so on lived unhealthy lifestyles, you’re fucked. If they didn’t, then you can get away with eating trash, because your genes have some good “momentum” (very loosely speaking). Makes sense to me - if I’m locked in with healthy habits, the occasional poor night’s sleep or chocolate binge isn’t too big of a deal. But weeks of that and I’m a totally different person. Anyways, my main point of this is that no, there are bits of health advice that are (virtually) applicable to everyone. They likely include avoiding poisonous substances, exposure to sunlight and nature, enough high quality sleep to feel well-rested, management of stress, some amount of physical activity, and plenty of 5-MEO-DMT. (They do not likely include abstaining from food for exceedingly long periods of time).

You are breathing too much. Practically everyone in modern society is chronically mildly hyperventilating, due largely to being overly comfortable, sitting down all day, junk food, overeating, underactivity etc etc. Optimizing your breathing is, in my opinion, the single most beneficial thing you can do to improve your health and well being (okay tied with meditation and relaxation). Proper breathing is unfortunately overlooked in the health and fitness community, and of course in society at large. On top of that, the breathing advice we DO get is often counterproductive. For example "take deep breaths". On the surface this may sound like good advice.... wouldn't bringing in a ton of air help oxygenate your body? The answer is no. It's counter-intuitive (like so many things in self-actualization), but breathing LESS oxygenates your body MORE. I won't get too scientific but it has to do with the carbon dioxide in your body (see Bohr effect). You actually do not breathe because you are hungry for oxygen, you breathe to get rid of carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide, though often demonized as a toxic byproduct of breathing, is required to transport oxygen into your cells and bloodstream. Our goal is to increase your tolerance for carbon dioxide, so that more of this gas can stay in your body for longer, so that more oxygen can be transported into your bloodstream and cells. And in general, more oxygenation = better health and well being. To add just a little more science, you want to be breathing through your nose, because the air interacts with your sinuses to produce nitric oxide which further increases oxygenation. (Increasing nitric oxide is another extremely worthwhile endeavor in addition to breathing properly). Additionally, your nose warms the air and filters out impurities. Proper Breathing Inhaling and exhaling through the nose Slow, gentle, calm, soft Non-visible, quiet No sighing, yawning, gasping, coughing, abrupt inhales or exhales, etc Using the diaphragm ("horizontal" breathing, not "vertical") Exhale is not forceful, rather it is simply a relaxation of the body Slight pause after exhale Rhythmic and regular Less than you are currently breathing Better advice than "take deep breaths" would be: relax your body and take softer, gentler breaths. Think about it this way, what does a calm, healthy, fit individual breathe like at rest? You wouldn't even notice their breathing. Then, consider an overweight, unfit, anxious individual breathing at rest. This person's breathing would likely be visible, perhaps you could hear it, they might even be breathing through the mouth sighing a lot etc. Consider also when you are deep in meditation... with your body and mind as calm as can be, your breathing can almost become nonexistent. Ideally, you want to get your "control pause" as high as possible. Your control pause is the amount of time you can comfortably hold your breath after exhaling. To measure, sit upright, comfortably, relaxed, and breathe as normal for a few minutes. Then, take a normal inhale, and normal exhale. Hold your breath until the first inclination to breathe occurs. The number of seconds between that exhale and inhale is your control pause. Note, you should be able to resume breathing normally after measuring your control pause. If you have to take a big gasp or feel out of breath, you have held your breath too long and improperly measured your control pause. A good goal is to get your control pause over 20 seconds. Even more is better. Don't worry, I was at like 3-5 seconds when first starting. Every few seconds you can increase to your control pause has a substantial influence of your health and well being. I especially notice it in my mood, cognition, mental health etc. Proper Breathing Exercise There are many exercises, but the goal of most is to maintain a slight air hunger for some time. Don't overdo this, you wouldn't try to bench 300 lbs your first day at the gym Sit upright, completely relax your body Gently, softly, slowly, inhale through the nose. Inhale slightly less than you would naturally Exhale through your nose by completely relaxing, especially your diaphragm and stomach Wait a little bit longer to inhale than you would naturally Continue for as long as you'd like. This is a great way to meditate / start your meditation Breathe in this manner while also doing physical activity like walking, running, lifting weights etc etc for SERIOUS health gains (try not to open your mouth!) (can't stress this bulletpoint enough) You will know you are doing well when your extremities feel warmer, you are producing more saliva, and you feel calmer and more at peace Other tips to oxygenate your body Exercise Walk, walk, walk Don't sit too much Eat oxygenating foods: Beets (MVP), spices like ginger turmeric cayenne etc, high nitrate vegetables like leafy greens (nitrates increase nitric oxide, beets have the most which is why they're MVP... In fact, I would wager that most of the benefits of eating plenty of vegetables comes from their nitrate content), raw cacao, cordyceps mushroom Meditation and relaxation Properly hydrate Do not overeat or eat junk food Look into fasting Improve your sleep quality (may need to write a separate post on this sometime) TAPE YOUR MOUTH SHUT AT NIGHT WHILE SLEEPING (maybe the single easiest yet most beneficial thing you can do for your health) Some Resources Patrick Mckeown's youtube videos and book "The Oxygen Advantage" Research the "Buteyko Method" Some Caveats The goal is to make your unconscious breathing more in alignment with the above descriptions of proper breathing I.e., breathing exercises where you DO hyperventilate can potentially have benefits as well (Wim Hoff method, shamanic breathing, etc), but chronically hyperventilating (which practically all of us do to some degree) is harmful, and in general breathing less throughout your day makes you healthier "A perfect man breathes as if he is not breathing" -Lao Tzu

Smoked DMT in a dream, reality became very fractal like and I sorta spiraled into an infinite singularity. Highly recommended

@Matt8800 I’m really interested in this as a possibility. However, I have dealt with negative entities in nightmares in a different way.... by loving and blessing them. For example, I had a pretty sick dream with a demon sitting in the living room of the house I grew up in farting and laughing at me (weird I know). Doesn’t sound it, but it was scary in the dream. I started “blessing it”, saying things like “I love you so much, you deserve to be happy and well, you deserve to be loved and cherished, I bless you” etc. This made the demon get up and run away into a dark room, then it challenged me to come at it in the dark room. I tried to turn on the lights, didn’t work (as is usually the case in dreams). Then walked around the back and turned on the lights, which worked, then continued blessing the demon in the same way and it turned into a beautiful woman. Anyways, this method has worked for me lots of times, and I find myself having fewer and fewer nightmares. Would be curious to hear your thoughts on this method versus the one in the OP. Also, what about dreams where there is no negative entity but simply fear? Like, dreams where you’re dissolving into infinity, or falling to your death etc. Nothing specific to direct anger and rage at in these dreams?

Sleep exists because it’s so exhausting to contract into a separate self that every life form needs to let go of being an ego for a while

Perhaps there are infinite possible futures for humanity and planet earth, and the future you experience is largely up to you. I.e., different versions of “you” experiencing different versions of the future. Just be sure to do your best. And I for one welcome our new robot overlords

For getting warm, try sipping on some beet juice before going out on your runs. You can look for a supplement that advertises how it boosts nitric oxide. Beets have a tonnnn of nitrates in them, which bacteria in your mouth convert into nitric oxide. They are excellent for circulation, especially when combined with some physical activity. I definitely notice a warming effect when using them. As for the hypothyroidism, listen to your doctor, but consider getting some iodine and selenium rich foods.

Reminds me of how in a dream at night, nothing seems out of the ordinary and everything is self consistent according to the dream’s rules. And when you realize you’re dreaming, the rules can change. You might be able to fly, or make the scary monster disappear. It has always amazed me how in dreams we almost always take for granted that everything makes sense and there’s nothing to make us question the dream as being real. Everything seems “normal and physical”. Even things that make no sense in waking life. And then we wake up from the dream and are so naive as to say “ohhh wow well all THAT wasn’t real but now THIS experience is really real, NOW I’m experiencing the real objective world”. Just because we feel we’ve experienced this real world for longer and everybody in it is telling us it’s real and it seems consistent and like it makes sense. Even though if we think about it enough and are honest, it makes no sense to us. We feel accustomed to standing upright walking around on a rock zooming through space around a ball of fire, thinking we’re experiencing a real, objective reality that exists independent of ourselves, with all kinds of explanations for why things are the way they happen to be... not questioning if maybe we’re making it all up.

I would highly recommend giving it a shot. Being in ketosis is, in general, a very healing state (if I can speak very loosely). And for sure, it is safe. One hypothesized reason that ketosis helps in epilepsy so much is that it improves the handling of glutamate in the brain, the most important excitatory neurotransmitter, and improves conversion of glutamine into GABA, the most important inhibitory neurotransmitter: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2722878/ https://www.naomiwhittel.com/the-ketogenic-diet-and-gaba-connection/ As for schizophrenia, Just from quickly searching, it sounds like GABA and glutamate play a role here as well, so improving the functioning of these could help a lot. As for bipolar disorder, I could see rises and crashes in blood sugar being a major culprit, which keto eating gets rid of. So basically, it is safe to try, you'll see some positive benefits, and it might help you with any bipolar symptoms.

Understood, it sounds like you have a job where you can be up and about though! Any movement is better than nothing, including getting up and stretching / shaking it out regularly. Hell, a bunch of bodyweight squats (idk, 50 or so depending on level of fitness) around your meals will go such a long way into helping you digest your food, keeping you insulin sensitive, etc. And to add on the diet stuff, consider a temporary strict ketogenic diet. It’s personally (and according to countless others stories) proven to be the best way to lose body fat quickly and effortlessly (effortless besides resisting the temptation to eat carby foods). Doesn’t have to be forever, but challenging your body to switch to primarily fat metabolism from time to time is extremely beneficial. And can help you feel amazing and focused. In general, the leaner you are and more physical activity you perform, the better your body is at handling carbs. Whatever you do, love yourself. You got this

I’m seeing a lot about diet, but nothing about physical activity and sleep. Be sure to optimize both of these areas, as they are crucial for maintaining an optimal weight and physique, and to just feel good all around, body and mind (and spirit?). For physical activity, the following is a good guideline: Getting PLENTY of movement (walking, stretching, yoga, REBOUNDING, etc), some weight lifting, and occasional super high intensity exercise will go an extremely long way in achieving optimal weight and physique. A good goal is an hour a day (anything from standing up and stretching to all out sprinting counts). For sleep, cool, quiet, dark room, winding down before bed, plenty of time (in my opinion, you can’t sleep too much... you would just wake up. But I’ve seen others disagree with this). Sleep is so crucial. It’s also important to get healthy amounts of sunlight and nature most days, and of course all the other things like stress management, fulfilling life, relationships, consciousness work, etc. As for diet, stick to whole foods (a “paleo” diet), favor meals over snacks, and listen to your body as to when you are hungry and what you need. Occasional extended fasting is very powerful as well but be careful not to obsess over this and deprive yourself. Only engage in a long fast when particularly inspired to. Daily intermittent fasting is excellent. Good luck. You can do it!!

In my experience, exposing your giggleberries to sunlight is hugely beneficial.