By "it," are you referring to psychedelics? If so, the point I was endeavoring to make is that realizing the infinite, fathomless, astonishing nature of reality does not require the use of psychedelics.

Always lovely to see you there, Keene :-)

Given your online "handle," I thought you might enjoy this song of mine: kzbin.info/www/bejne/n5fRdJKwpsxpmdE

Perfectly expressed. Thank you.

Thanks for sharing, Candace ♥

Its suppose to go permanent once. But mant teachers who arent truly ewalz think u need to practice forever

Nothing is permanent though paradoxically, something is always here.

Just to clarify... while "peak" experiences are wonderful to encounter, they're not what I'm pointing to in this video. The "feeling" of everything I'm exploring here is the basis of every experience, regardless of how it's being described (e.g., peak, normal, mundane, difficult easy, etc.). The felt sense of each moment is the sheer is-ness/being-ness of it. In this sense, there is only the feeling of what is, the primal presence of everything.

@@alreadyshining Thanks for the clarification. I defer to your expertise in this matter. The primal presence of everything for me is always heightened whenever I hike in Muir Woods. The total natural setting is pretty special and makes it unforgettable. But I understand what you are saying about even mundane things. We should not go through each day feeling isolated or insulated from our environments.

Thanks for sharing this, Edward. Beautiful. Yes, the basis of every experience, regardless of its flavor (rage, joy, etc.) is the same, the felt sense of life energy that is ultimately pure, unfathomable, indescribability, the one light, appearing as all these diverse colors.

Hello fat Debbie, have a wonderful day ❤

🙏♥

Well, we certainly are these unique individual expressions of Reality. As for "mission" or "divine imperative," I don't happen to see or experience life in such terms. We do what we do according to our particular, unique inclinations though I would say that seeing into the nature of what this is more fundamentally does often influence how we are inclined to move through this life as the uniquely beautiful, remarkable expressions of divinity that we are.

Let me give you an example: At 17 I was standing up against a wall at school, watching students walk by and I had this thought, " Think I have something to tell these people, some sort of message." At 18, I walked out of my house and began to be responsible for my life, a shocker really, and got swallowed up, and never had that thought again. In my early 20's I met this young lady, and she recommended, actually she set the appointment, for this guy she knew named Jack Swartz, sort of famous as a sensitive that could see and read aura's, so you went to see him, he would see your aura and tell you about yourself, it took a 1 1/2 years to finally see him. The colors of my aura were purple, violet and gold, and he said,... "Jeff, you are what I call a Cosmic Messenger, you have a message to deliver to humanity, have you ever felt that this was true?" But I was so depressed/anxious, and in searing pain most of the time, I didn't think much of it, I was so much behind the 8 ball, I mean, what value would I have/serve in such a capacity. So, I just filed it away. But, this would be an example of a mission to be completed. And, further, John, take America for instance, doesn't it seem weird that as we progressed as a nation, certain characters seem to show up just when we really need them, the Founding Fathers for one, Abraham Lincoln, F.D.R., Shirley Temple to provide us relief during the depression, or George Patton to address WW2? Do you think this is all a coincidence? That these "just happened", or were all these characters fulfilling some sort of pre-planned Destiny, provided with the prerequisite skills to get the job done. Quickly now, my feeling is that this 3D world we have going on here, is a very small slice of what is really going on in any given period, that there is so much more going on "behind the scene" that we are not privy to. Ouspensky explained it in this way, supposing we were 2 dimensional beings living on a flat surface, and some great being dropped a coil or spring through our plane. What we would see is a point going around in a circle, that would be our "reality" of the situation, and we would never know the larger picture or reality, that of a coil being dropped through a plane. I'm supporting the personal reality you are explaining and, more importantly, experiencing here, that, ultimately, we are vast expanse of Beingness, with no real center, no real "I" but I am just stating that there are, also, some aspects of individuation involved that don't seem to be accounted for...............Yogananda stated that 75% of our lives are a destiny coming in, and 25% are free will, and the 75% was actually decided by us with the help of our Cosmic team.

Being..Presence...Experience...This....Us...complete as it is❤

To be sure, we can get lost in the words and fail to see what they're endeavoring to point to. But while words don't change what is as you say, in my experience, they do have the potential somehow to evoke the recognition of the deeper reality that lies beyond the words. For what it's worth, while I may not always accomplish it, I am attempting to use non-esoteric, everyday language rather than "flowery spiritual lingo" in my communications.

Interesting idea... but not sure how you're relating it to this particular talk/meditation.

Very nice...very nice. Now go back ,edit, and put your christ in.

No need to take a toad or eat a mushroom to experience God. All you need to do is Be Still and there It is!!

@@Andy101-tm3hz Oh, I agree. But the first instance he mentions of his friend's drug experience was a 5-MeO experience, no doubt.

There is no reality to change really, it is all one in the same….even the psychadelic experiences. And there is nothing wrong here, it is what it is. "they don't realize people have been doing that for eons already.” if we believe that time is a construct that truly exists. For some the use of psychedelics “wakes” them up and allows them to “begin” the journey. But each has their own path and it is all truly amazing and ineffable. There is no “modern people”, just people.

No doubt, psychedelic experiences can give rise to profound insights. The point I was really making though is that when it comes to what's arguably the MOST profound and liberating insight we could ever have (seeing that there is only one thing here, one inexplicable, unfathomable reality being everything), the drug experience can end up reinforcing an ultimately false dichotomy between the "trip" and the "day-to-day" reality, leading us to believe that those two flavors of life are not the same fundamental, undivided reality, when they are. As for life being "pretty trippy," it really is the ultimate, literally mind-blowing trip in that it lies completely outside of any and all ideas we may harbor about it.

@@alreadyshining Sounds like it's been awhile since you've had a psychedelic experience. I would suggest taking 2 to 3 grams of mushrooms and come back and revisit this comment lol

This feels like an intellectual / logical argument. Theres something about “mystical experience” that is so undeniably felt. I mean, through Zen Koans or mental gymnastics I could potentially feel a tug here and there of some mystical type inclinations, but it is another thing all together to have it all blown to smithernines and literally experience the felt presence of God.

​@@Kalpatarutree I'm not making an intellectual argument. It's an invitation to feel experience and discover that it cannot be collapsed into any interpretive framework. In other words, reality is inherently transcendental. If we look, we can discover that "blown to smithereens" / the presence of God is what we've got, with or without the use of psychedelics.

@@alreadyshining I agree that reality is inherently transcendental. I “think” about that stuff all the time. But having experiences of this realization will always be qualitatively different than a psychedelic-ally assisted encounter. And the function of psychedelically assisted encounters isn’t to “discover truth” in some absolute way, but its to have a direct felt experience of it, which can then inform our philosophical musings (after we emerge). This experience cannot be substituted by zen koan style exercises in logic which are useful in their own right, but don’t have anything to do with psychedelics.