ardacigin

Quitting is incredibly hard, especially when you’re constantly surrounded by it. It’s almost impossible to break the habit while living with someone who still does it, so don't be too hard on yourself for struggling.

It’s a tough topic, but there’s definitely something to be said for digging deep and doing your own research when it comes to long-term health. Blindly trusting experts can sometimes lead to missing crucial details.

It’s always interesting to see how people lived and viewed health back then. It's a unique perspective, even if it's not exactly scientific by today’s standards.

Old thread, but still a classic question. I remember having those same doubts about whether it actually does anything or if it's just hype. I ended up picking up these organic CBD gummies to help calm my nerves during a really busy stretch at my job. It doesn't fix everything, but it helps lower my baseline anxiety. Just throwing that out there in case anyone else is on the fence.

ADHD meds can definitely be a game changer for focus and anxiety, but it’s a big adjustment. Everyone reacts so differently, so it really helps to keep track of how you feel during those first few weeks.

There's so much conflicting info out there on these that it’s hard to know what's actually legit. I’d love to hear if anyone has had a positive experience that didn't feel like a total gamble.

@Moksha Well I think Leo views that argument from 'I value deepest understanding possible compared to embodying an insight'. He must think it is all right suffering and being in normal states of delusion AS LONG AS he is gaining the deepest insights and understandings no one else is having through psychedelics. (which is not a guarantee by the way as mistaken insights are a real possibility) But thats the feeling I got from his demeanor, I may be wrong.

The usefulness of 'dissolving attachment', as Leo says, is not important in this context. Insights actually stand on their own merits and doesnt need to support any 'survival benefits' so to speak. Those attachments dissolve 'on their own' as a symptom of attaining deep and permanent insight. But I do understand what you mean. (in the sense that there is a correlation between reduced attachment and insight attainment)

Well imagine all the states of consciousness Mary can create (which is infinite) in that dream having amazing experiences. Using psychedelics and meditating. Profound truths regarding 'THAT dream' reality. But thats it. She doesnt see that thats a facade. 'She' is a facade. She is having these awakenings and curing sicknesses of unborn babies by raising her consciousness etc. but she is not cognizant of very nature of how 'experience' arises or how there is a reality Mary can never DIRECTLY access (because it is higher order) See, Mary doesnt realize this dream is ONLY a subset of a MUCH larger reality her puny brain and meditation techniques and psychedelics have NO access to. But you CAN realize this 'meta' insight by examining your mind and see how your 'mind' is trying to interpret this 'Ultimate Reality' by creating a coffee table, a hand, a body, a self, a world etc. This is crucial to understand. Your personal mind and its concoctions are NOT all there is to truth. That coffee table is a construct and ONLY represents the very nature of Ultimate reality in a crude and ultimately illusionary manner. (Just like everything) But these 'conscious experiences' are all we humans have access to derive the 'truth' from the illusion by clarity, mindfulness and deep investigation of what is going on here and thats what the Buddhist path is actually about. You gotta be proficient at this path and then come back to psychedelics and you'll see how different of a perspective you have on certain matters like this. It is not just about 'experiencing those insights regarding Ultimate Reality and our states of consciousness but also to 'see' them to be the case 100% all the time 24/7. Thats why it is so powerful and profound. When you do have a permanent insight. Until then, the possibility of misinterpretation exists even in the most experienced psychonauts.

But dont get me wrong here. Psychedelics are VERY useful and deep and profound. It is just that it is possible to have mistaken insight. Same is (to a lesser degree) present in normal meditation is as well. 'Mistaken insight' is not a problem actually but psychedelics are MUCH easier to misinterpret. And harder to see 'What was the misinterpretation?' THAT is my point and is what happened with Leo observing his last few years of content, responses and demeanor.

And hey! you can actually contact that Ultimately Reality that I'm speaking off. It is just not what you think it is. Those insights Buddhists speak of constitute the very nature of that ultimate reality and you can be conscious of them right now! Not via alien awakenings or having bombastic conscious experiences that veer one's constuctions further into 'I'm a being that is omniscient (first of all, all sense of separation is an illusion so you cant even be a 'being' so to speak) AND can control 'reality' (which again implies duality) directly via getting even more conscious' etc. It is easy to slip into that mode when the very experiences that your mind constructs in psychedelics is very convincing. But there is such a thing as a 'mistaken insight' You misinterpret it and reach the wrong conclusion through the same experiences. So don't put psychedelics on a pedestal and think 'it is 100% the truth downloading to your consciousness' or whatever. Sure it is very close to that actually but there is a significant chance of misinterpretation still Especially when you are so attached to said experiences for your entire spiritual development like Leo.

Well just keep going in your own dream analogy. You realize that 'Arthagoaan' fella is sleeping and is living in a different 'dimension' so to speak. My point is from your 'dream' landscape (while you are sleeping at night) is NOT all there is to reality. When you do wake up (both figuratively and literally in this case), you see that there is a new 'constructed' reality that INCLUDES your dream reality (Arthagon waking up from the dream as a person. Washing their face, living their lives). So that dream landscape ıs NOT all there is to reality. There is Ultimate Reality that FULLY includes and is one with your dream landscape but it is much larger and is NOT a part of 'ALL MIND' as subset. It is the higher order. A reality your mind CANT even access directly with your human brains even with the best pscyhedelics or meditations. Thats the insight into Emptiness and it truly is an eye opener. Especially considering Leo is extremely intoxicated with the idea that 'The conscious experiences are really important. They are all you know. There is NOTHING that is higher order than this. This is it!' sorta mindset. It is all the foundation that rests on his solipsistic and 'all mind' position. Not even realizing his alien awakenings are jus as unimportant as that coffee table and conscious experiences OVERALL are ultimately meaningless due to insight into emptiness and impermanence.

There is 'mind' in even dreamless sleep and it isnt 'turned off' as you say. You are just not conscious of the mind sense . That is not 'empty ultimate reality'. It is not about 'Buddhists have this bias' first of all, I'm not even a religious Buddhist and second of all, 'All mind' is just wrong on the insight level and so is solipsism. There is no need to 'reconcile' anything. It just doesnt fit. Simple as that.

You actually do. Otherwise survival worries OP makes clear in his post will rear their heads eventually. For you as well if you are 'peaceful' right now, you wont be tomorrow or the day after. You are not conscious of the magnitude of suffering you are experiencing as a ego and that contrast and understanding can occur with awakening only in the depth I'm talking about. Otherwise, your 'happiness' will always be 'shaky' and 'unreliable' so to speak.

This is exactly what you'll be free of when you permanently awaken. The fact that you experience this as an everyday common occurence tells you that you have lots of work to do and you are not spiritually awakened. Time to get to work and actually apply the insight experiences you've had with psychedelics and living in with those insights 24/7. That will start changing your life on the 'depth' axis, not doing your 58th DMT session this friday.