I touched a tree

[Carl-Richard]

I touched a tree right after sprinting, and it felt like my energy got sucked in, like the tree was a black hole. It felt empty, still, peaceful. Quite psychedelic experience. And as I was walking back and thought about what just happened and how it was quite psychedelic, I remembered the dream I had last night where I was picking mushrooms just on the road I was walking on and which I got high from touching the mushrooms. And then I thought "ah, what a psychedelic experience indeed".

I thought about how Bernardo Kastrup thinks single-celled organisms are conscious, and then I thought then also trees must be conscious (they are also made of cells, they are organisms, they metabolize, they have a "bodily boundary"). And when in this highly energized state, it felt like the tree was conscious, touching it was like touching the arm of a person. I even felt embarassed for violating its autonomy afterwards. I then thought I understand tree huggers now, but I also thought they are like unhinged pleasure seekers violating people's autonomy for their pleasure.

I also thought I was downloading some ancestral energy from the earth.

Edited June 12 by Carl-Richard

[UnbornTao]

You MONSTER! Leave the tree alone!

Edited June 10 by UnbornTao

[Carl-Richard]

2 hours ago, UnbornTao said:

You MONSTER! Leave the tree alone!

😂 That's literally what I thought or felt like. The few moments after sprinting (after the last set) is like a micro psychedelic trip. It's like your sensitivity to things is at a moderate dose of LSD. It's just that you don't have the luxury to sit down and relax but instead you're trying not to die.

Edited June 10 by Carl-Richard

[Eskilon]

5 hours ago, Carl-Richard said:

I touched a tree right after sprinting, and it felt like my energy got sucked in, like the tree was a black hole. It felt empty, still, peaceful. Quite psychedelic experience. And as I was walking back and thought about what just happened and how it was quite psychedelic, I remembered the dream I had last night where I was picking mushrooms just on the road I was walking on and which I got high from touching the mushrooms. And then I thought "ah, what a psychedelic experience indeed".

I thought about how Bernardo Kastrup thinks single celled-organisms are conscious, and then I thought then also trees must be conscious (they are also made of cells, they are organisms, they metabolize, they have a "bodily boundary"). And when in this highly energized state, it felt like the tree was conscious, touching it was like touching the arm of a person. I even felt embarassed for violating its autonomy afterwards. I then thought I understand tree huggers now, but I also thought they are like unhinged pleasure seekers violating people's autonomy.

I also thought I was downloading some ancestral energy from the earth.

You now understand new agers 

Cool experience though!

Edited June 10 by Eskilon

[Carl-Richard]

42 minutes ago, Eskilon said:

You now understand new agers 

Cool experience though!

It was like I was experiencing grounding through my hand. My adrenaline and heart beats and exhausted energy all got sucked into the tree like it was channeling it into another dimension or into the ground and its roots. We should spend more time with trees.

Edited June 10 by Carl-Richard

[UnbornTao]

14 hours ago, Carl-Richard said:

😂 That's literally what I thought or felt like. The few moments after sprinting (after the last set) is like a micro psychedelic trip. It's like your sensitivity to things is at a moderate dose of LSD. It's just that you don't have the luxury to sit down and relax but instead you're trying not to die.

Not sure I've experienced something similar, but I appreciate the sentiment. Sensitivity can be very powerful. 

[Nilsi]

The best is right after a sprinting session on the treadmill - when you step off and start walking normally again. Suddenly, it feels like you’re moving at light speed. Your body’s adjusted to the sensation of running in place, so the moment you return to regular motion, there’s this strange shift in perception. The ground feels like it’s rushing underneath you. Every step feels exaggerated, like you’re gliding or being pulled forward by something invisible.

It’s disorienting, but also kind of exhilarating. Like your internal sense of motion and your external environment are totally out of sync for a few seconds. You know you’re just walking - but it feels like you’re flying. Like the world can’t quite keep up with you.

[Jannes]

Thats very fascinating. Cultures which are closer to nature think that trees have a spirit and can suffer. Which is why they dont like it when they are trimmed. They even communicate with them, for example the trees told them how to create ayahuasca. 

[UnbornTao]

Would you categorize the experience as a psychic phenomenon? 

[Carl-Richard]

53 minutes ago, UnbornTao said:

Would you categorize the experience as a psychic phenomenon? 

What is not a psychic phenomenon? I would classify it as a coincidentally (not intrinsically) extraordinary experience, something that most people have simply happened to not have experienced, not because they are necessarily unable to experience it, but because they simply haven't done the right things (i.e. be in nature and touch a tree in an elevated state). It's kinda sad that it's now a seemingly extraordinary thing to connect with nature in any fashion. 

I think you can experience a similar effect without sprinting if you do things like (especially in combination) fasting, nofap, technological fasting, meditation, avoiding chemicals / chemical detoxes (fluoride, heavy metals). Sprinting is just one way to perk your system.

Edited June 13 by Carl-Richard

[UnbornTao]

1 hour ago, Carl-Richard said:

What is not a psychic phenomenon? I would classify it as a coincidentally (not intrinsically) extraordinary experience, something that most people have simply happened to not have experienced, not because they are necessarily unable to experience it, but because they simply haven't done the right things (i.e. be in nature and touch a tree in an elevated state). It's kinda sad that it's now a seemingly extraordinary thing to connect with nature in any fashion. 

Got it, thanks. I’d add that it might have more to do with your state than the circumstances - like being "receptive" when looking at the stars at night, or a dog, or something else entirely. Maybe it could be done with a simple object - I don't know. Of course, in some of these cases, you’re not physically touching anything, but more like feeling it with your soul, metaphorically speaking. It’d be interesting to investigate what that experience is based on, or what helps create that - whatever it is we’re talking about (incredibly sensitive altered states, perhaps?).

Quote

I think you can experience a similar effect without sprinting if you do things like (especially in combination) fasting, nofap, technological fasting, meditation, avoiding chemicals / chemical detoxes (fluoride, heavy metals). Sprinting is just one way to perk your system.

I was thinking the same.

Imagine doing all of those in some form for three straight months - as an intense practice/retreat. That'd be something.

Edited June 13 by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

But what is a tree?

[Keryo Koffa]

On 6/9/2025 at 10:20 PM, Carl-Richard said:

I touched a tree

1 hour ago, UnbornTao said:

But what is a tree?

 

The real question is, "Did you touch the tree or were you touched by the tree?"

Were you the medium by which the tree touched and reflected itself through?

Quote

Each portion of physically oriented consciousness sees reality and experience from its
own privileged viewpoint, about which it seems all else revolves, even though this
may involve a larger generalized held than your own, or a smaller one.

So to rocks, say, you can be considered a portion of their environment,
while you may consider them merely a portion of your environment.
You simply do not tune into the range of rock consciousness.
Actually, many other kinds of consciousness, while focused in
their own specific ways, are more aware than man is of earth's unified nature—
but man, in following his own ways, also adds to the value fulfillment of all
other consciousnesses in ways that are quite outside of usual systems of knowledge.

[Keryo Koffa]

14 minutes ago, UnbornTao said:

@Keryo Koffa Or maybe no tree was there to begin with. 

Who's asking?

[UnbornTao]

23 minutes ago, Keryo Koffa said:

Who's asking?

No one.

There wasn't even a post to begin with. 

[Keryo Koffa]

11 hours ago, UnbornTao said:

No one. There wasn't even a post to begin with. 

What is a post? What's a beginning? Who isn't this no one being hinted at? There, where?  

[Carl-Richard]

On 13.6.2025 at 10:39 PM, UnbornTao said:

But what is a tree?

 

[UnbornTao]

@Carl-Richard Too flat and 2-dimensional.

[zurew]

[UnbornTao]

28 minutes ago, zurew said:

Hard wood.