Forestluv

How is the bacteria in your gut not your body and “you”? That bacteria is communicating with your brain and influencing your thoughts and emotions - like neurons in your brain are influencing thoughts and emotions. Are the neurons in your brain part of your body and “you”?

@Aakash Could the ego be trying to take ownership of a feeling by labeling it the “feeling of I”? Seems like a sneaky way for the ego to keep itself relevant and in the game.

Are the billions of microbes within your skin also your body? Also consider that the bacteria in your gut have a direct pipeline to communicate with your brain. They influence your brain’s activity, thoughts and emotions. Your brain also sends signals to your gut to regulate that bacteria community. Are these bacteria part of your body? Do you identify with these bacteria as “me”?

This is so true. I lived with local families in Honduras and Guatemala for a month - immersed in their culture and learning their language. Beautiful people with other perspectives of life. I highly recommend it.

The passage on Love and Sorrow is so profound. It helped me grow through a few difficult times.

@Anirban657 Where is the exact point your external environment ends and your body begins?

I have no recollection of anything during the main peak time. Perhaps there may be some subconscious effects, yet I don’t resonate with those trips. They are still intense tho and take time to recover.

@kieranperez “Can you elaborate more on what you mean by this and what you’re referring to?” I was referring to the development stages of medication, therapy and spirituality. Many wealthier countries such as the U.S. have invested enormous amounts of money, time and effort into the development of prescription drugs. It’s got conflict of interests with profit motives, yet a lot of resources have been put into research and design of medication. Therapy also has a long history and has the support of academic institutions and health insurance companies. The health-care industry is fueled by medication. . . Psychedelic research is lagging way behind - mainly due to its schedule 1 status, social sigma and restrictions on research. As a researcher, I can easily order enough Mercury to wipe out everyone in the town I live in. I could have it by next Thursday. Yet I can’t order a tiny amount if LSD to make a single fruit fly trip. I would have to secure a large grant and go through a couple years worth of approval applications and then comply with draconian oversight. Then a single hits worth of acid would cost hundreds of dollars. There is a lot of resistance against psychedelic research. The first cellular biology article just came out last summer. Regarding my comments on how far a person can fall and still protect the ego, I didn’t phrase it very well and I appreciate your thoughts. There are a lot of mind’s that have undergone trauma, injuries, have biochemical imbalances and abnormally wired circuitry. That’s a heavy burden to carry and I don’t have direct experience with that. I’ve had fleeting episodes, yet not at the level I’ve seen in others. Sometimes I rely too heavily on my own direct experience and unintentionally neglect to include the direct experience of certain groups. My comments didn’t properly include a portion of the population and I appreciate you bringing attention to that and offering your own direct experience ?

That is so awesome to read. You are radiating and I can feel it. Nice work and thank you for writing a trip report ? ❤️

30mg plugged. I have a tight window of whiteing out at breakthrough, yet I held on to this one and it was extremely powerful. And I was somehow able to integrate it.

That’s a good question. It’s been a while since I was in that dynamic. I’m trying to remember what it was about them. I think it was complicated with various aspects - in terms of just the narcissism, it had something to do with seeking attention and approval from them. I remember them manipulating this - like really badly. I remember wondering a lot if they really cared about me or not. Also, there was an aspect of suffering to them I wanted to help. I wanted to help them see within themselves various blocks and defenses so they could heal inner turmoil. Yet they had no interest in looking at this and used as a weapon. In a weird way, we also had a type of magic. As unhealthy as one side was, the other side was unbelievably beautiful magic.

Nice work and good luck.

I’n this case, attraction to opposite would be very unhealthy. It would be a woman that is emotionally unavailable and narcissistic. In the past, I have actually been attracted to that and it turns into a bad story.

@moon777light I would fo everything I could to get as much space and distance as possible, yet not to the point that it started to harm family relationships and dynamics. I say go for it. I would set up a very clear communication agreement as low as possible - and immerse myself into the retreat as much as possible. 10 seconds a day of distraction is not that big a deal, imo. It’s what you do with the other 23hr :59min:50sec that matter.

@Aakash Ahhh yes, perhaps the illusionary personality will be exposed. Then perhaps illusionary humanness. Yes, letting go of attachments to beliefs can free up some space. Beliefs tend to crowd the room.

The subjective experience of being human won’t go away after enlightenment. Do you think you will turn into a kangaroo? ?

@Inliytened1 Good point. I think I understood, yet I misinterpret at times, so who knows. I was trying to point from a different direction. Perhaps not the most elegant pointer though ? From one direction, I would say concept is pure being in that both are illusions. Is the illusory beingness of a dream character different than the illusory concepts within the dream character? From one perspective, I’d say no, it’s all dream stuff of one dream.

The below vermillion flycatcher recently went extinct. It was an amazing bird. I bet you didn’t know anything about it. What was it like living a life not knowing about it? As well, you only perceive about one tenth of a trillionth of the information around you. You already know and perceive virtually nothing. There’s no need to imagine what it’s like, it is essentially your direct experience right now. Your mind is simply playing tricks on you. Newly-recognised as a distinct species in 2016, this glossy, scarlet-and-black insectivore has the unwanted distinction of becoming the first avian extinction recorded in the Galapagos. First discovered during Charles Darwin's voyage in 1835, invasive plants soon began crowding out the islands' native vegetation, which in turn led to the decline of the bird's favoured insects. The resultant food shortages, coupled with avian pox and malaria, probably led to the species' demise as the last reliable sighting was in 1987.

I would say to trust your intuition and what your body is trying to tell you. Your direct experience is the most powerful teacher you have. To me, it sounds like a legit glimpse into something profound

That's a good question and I'm not sure what a good answer would be. . . I've seen a lot of people get really immersed in a spiritual path and seem to go overboard with it. They seem to get isolated and immersed in spirituality and end up getting contracted. Yet they generally don't have these dramatic lives with stuff like gambling, abuse etc. I've also seen people that seem dedicated to mindfulness and truth, yet engage with a lot of human endeavors and are still within the personality - with some periods of being in an "observer + object" phase. I would put myself in this category. I've gotten into a lot of unhealthy self-centered situations, yet I'd say I've experienced more peace, fulfilment and happiness than I would have otherwise, even though I didn't fully realize the self. I still don't think I have. I would estimate about 70%, if it can be put into that. . . I would also say that it helped give "glimpses" into profound direct experiences and insights. They passed, yet I don't think I would have had them as much without the spiritual practices.

Ahhh yes, I know this thinking mind very well. Ime, seeing it too much as a "problem" keeps the thinking mind relevant. My thoughts say "This thinking is causing me problems, I better figure out how to stop thinking". It's absurd. Worrying as well are impulses. I've had much of my life being a worrier. Rather than trying to eat the whole enchilada in one bite, I would cut it up into bite size chunks. Rather than saying "I can't spend a day without thinking or worrying", I would go for a smaller bite. I have found it helpful to set a scenario in which I can let go of worries for say 30min. Do what you need to do and the stuff you still need to do will be there after 30min. Then mediate, do yoga, art or whatever and give yourself permission to get completely immersed into it. The thinking mind will have a fit, yet just ask him politely to put the damn cowbell down for 30min. Getting into a "zone" for 30min. was a success for me. Regarding thoughts. For many many years I had a constant stream of thoughts. Then one day, one of my teachers said that there are tiny "gaps" between thoughts yet we don't notice them. If we pay attention, we will notice them. So then I went on the lookout for these gaps between thoughts. And sure enough I noticed them. Very very small short gaps and my thinking mind immediately wanted control again - to figure out what these gaps mean and how to use them. Over time, these gaps got longer and longer - especially as I reached deeper and deeper states of relaxation. A couple years ago, I reached a point in which the gaps where long enough that I could "rest" in them. I would go about 10 seconds without a thought or image. Nothing. Silence. - I never *thought* that was possible. Once I could rest in the gaps, I started asking "from where does the thought arise?". Here my curiosity was stronger than my intellect's desire to control the narrative. So I started sitting and waiting for that next thought - like a cat waiting for a mouse to leave a cupboard. What I found was that the thoughts slowed down even more. The one time I actually wanted to think, there was silence. It's like thoughts didn't want to be observed - they wanted to arise in the shadows of awareness. When I turned on the light to see from where they arise, they scattered into the cupboards like mice. . .

Relax the thinking mind and listen to what your body is trying to tell you. The heart won't steer you wrong.

He shoots, he scores!!!!!!!

I've spent a lot of time trying to understand this and I don't think I will ever understand it on an intellectual level. Perhaps it could be understood on some existential nonverbal level. . . What comes to mind is a mouse asking why it's a mouse and living a life as a mouse. It seems kinda silly to me. Yet is it not just as silly for humans to do that as well? Sometimes it all seems like this bizarre cosmic joke and it's best to just go with the flow as if it's real. . .