What Happens when self deceived people open their minds?

[Thought Art]

Recently I've been looking back at my spiritual journey. I realize that maybe 4 years ago after a mushroom trip my openness went through the roof. However, at this time I really didn't know how reality worked at all. So I went out searching, searching, searching. I am still searching. I think I have worked through a lot of my deeper self deceptions, and am still working through more self deceptions. 

I think I've learned that when opening the mind that we need to be able to give ourselves the room to make epistemological/ metaphysical errors and to be compassionate with ourselves when we make these errors. Chances are when we begin our foundation database of reality we are starting with is already so full of unquestioned errors that foundation of our world view is fragmented, largely developed unconsciously, etc.   When we step out into the dark we are likely to occasionally pick up some crappy ideologies, ideas, habits, actions etc. Mistakes are bound to happen in this work. I think one of the biggest risks in open mindedness would be opening the mind only to cling on to something that is neurotic.

A large part of my journey I would describe as turning over every stone, or stumbling around in the dark. Trying to light my lantern.

Our ego wants reality to be a certain way. I think this has been one of my biggest challenges. My ego wanting to manipulate reality, that somehow awakening would be me REALLY awakening from the dream. As if, I was really imagining Leo, and everyone around me and somehow awakening would be a massive change internally and externally. I had to treat this as a possibility because I was being radically open minded. But, I was also 100% prepared to find whatever I found.

My idea of awakening strangely is becoming more and more secular and practical. 

I think some important ideas or questions that I have learned when working through the open mindedness of exploring the spiritual landscape are:

1. What does it mean to have clarity?

2. How can I explore new possibilities in reality while remaining grounded in secular survival?

3. How do I weed out wishful thinking vs reality when exploring spiritual ideas like New age, manifesting, awakening, imagining others and reality etc..

4. How do I listen to as many perspectives as possible without clinging to any particular one?

5. How do I allow myself the forgiveness and compassion to make mistakes with ideas, world views, perceptions, wishful thinking, self deception, ideology, stupid questions, false insights from psychedelics, false mystical experiences, etc

6.  How do I find time to take inventory on the self deceptions I have had in the past? 

7. How do I take the free spirit approach to reality. This means opening your mind to ideas, taking them in, putting them into your bag as possible but not clinging or becoming idealogical about them

8. How do I know when I have reached a point of maturity, clarity, sobriety, self honesty, and understanding of reality that I can trust my mind not to be deceiving me that I can operate in life and the world in a powerful, meaningful and healthy way?

9. How can I use the obvious self deception of others (Connor Murphy, Donald Trump, Maga Shaman, etc) to ground myself

10. Realize that mistakes, errors, wishful thinking etc will happen along your path. When you are studying accounting you will get some questions wrong. It's going to happen. Let yourself make error for sake of learning. Just keep going. Eventually you will reach the shore. 

 

[BipolarGrowth]

What happens when self deceived people open their minds? They become self deceived in new ways which might look like they learned or know more. 
 

Open yourself up to new experiential possibilities and try to set yourself up to experience them after some practice. Open yourself to more or higher quality sources of information. Trust your own intuition and contemplation. Maybe you know your truth and experiences better than the information source does. There are holes in every theory and teaching. Not Buddha, not Jesus, you are the final judge of Truth. Everything is being judged and filtered through humanity whether it’s theirs or yours by the time you can get back to a state where you can think about any of this which is still where you will spend most of your time. 

Edited October 20, 2021 by BipolarGrowth