On June 25 2010 14:01 GrayArea wrote: Physiologically though, drugs mess with your brain. They make you release certain neurotransmitters and throw off mental balance. If anything, you are become further from recognizing "reality" or your reality in relation to this world (who you are).
i disagree with this. "reality" is entirely based on perception. two people who have never done any psychoactive drugs in their lives can (and will) have very different perceptions of reality and differences in brain chemistry to boot. in whose brain are we to look for the right "mental balance", an aforementioned soberite? simple things like your diet, sleep pattern, and physical activity can all affect the way your brain operates and what chemicals are being produced. these can all change the way you perceive your reality. where does your relation to the world begin, and when do you start diverging when your actions affect your brain chemistry? DMT is naturally produced in the brain, and is a powerful tryptamine that alters perception. if your brain is producing more than average DMT levels, are you losing your understanding of your proper "reality" in relation to everyone else?
Well, at this point in my life, I am very curious about reality. I am basically confronting reality, so I'm trying to help the analytical part of my brain find some kind of peace. I could just say "screw this I don't care I'll just live my life," and I may HAVE to do that if this takes too long and I'm not being productive in other areas in the meantime, but some part of me is just begging to know the truths. And right now what I'm doing to take a step into the research of that is watch a bunch of youtube videos and internet articles. Which isn't the best way to go about it necessarily, but I'm at least finding ways to get deeper inside my mind where I can confront myself on a higher spiritual level. I'm questioning my very morals and values, and it's disturbing. So, I feel that if I can find truth, or enlightenment, then I will be able to let go of that desire that's making me want to know what's really happening.
1) What makes you think altering your state of consciousness through drugs helps you learn about reality? What makes you think drugs will help you find this truth? 2) You keep saying "Spirituality". I'm wondering why you think drug use will help towards "spirituality". Is it some sort of buzzword to make what you feel through drug use accepted? I have never done drugs so I'm not sure, obviously. 3) How do you know if you're going deeper into your mind?
I don't really understand what makes you believe what you're going through is actually going to help you in anyway.
If you don't mind me, I'll intervene if I manage to keep track of this thread (provided it stays interesting once I clear things up). I can pretty much assert that you and I are extremely different in terms of world views but let's see where this goes.
When you talk about these things, people tend to get confused. First you bring up your definition of "enlightenment" and it didn't really match mine at all (this is fine).
Now you're talking about "connecting with others on a higher spiritual level" and the word spiritual in itself is used with a plethora of different meanings. What does this represent to you? Beause to me, spirituality evokes a certain form of irrationality; turning away from truth and reality. As far as understanding the Universe, our best shot is science.
If you need to understand people or whatever, you can't really trust yourself or your senses for that matter. We're all fallible.
If you use the word spirituality as a synonym for mind (some people do), then I think the use if the word spirituality is futile and we should focus on the meaning of "mind".
So yea I smoke weed and I can easily say it has impacted the way I view reality etc. Shrooms took the cake though...You can learn a lot about how your brain works when you ctrl alt delete it. Salvia really wasn't anything special for me though...just a cool little fucking show of weird shit for a few moments. btw Terence Mckenna fucking owns...
When I first heard that shit it was the first time I ever heard my thoughts articulated so well with such a good metaphor. I think it's a little more relevant to the topic than the one in op as well.
On June 25 2010 14:48 drewcifer wrote: So yea I smoke weed and I can easily say it has impacted the way I view reality etc. Shrooms took the cake though...You can learn a lot about how your brain works when you ctrl alt delete it. Salvia really wasn't anything special for me though...just a cool little fucking show of weird shit for a few moments. btw Terence Mckenna fucking owns...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9c8an2XZ3MU When I first heard that shit it was the first time I ever heard my thoughts articulated so well with such a good metaphor. I think it's a little more relevant to the topic than the one in op as well.
keep in mind that many of his statements are excellent metaphors, but also note that he has ALOT of crackpot theories that are extremely interesting, but easily refutable.
edit- in other words, take everything that man says with a grain of salt lol
@drewcifer (McKenna video) I like this one in particular. If you wanna know, I've been on a McKenna marathon on youtube for a while now, but I can rewatch them several times without getting bored. This is probably one of the videos that led me to perform this experiment that I did inside my mind that will be the topic of my next blog.
I'd like to kind of wrap this post / thread up so we can diverge into a new topic when I post it tomorrow (hopefully) but I'll respond to some things I've skipped over before I just get rid of the information you guys have shared here. Maybe there'll be two topics going at once, who knows?
On June 25 2010 15:56 Surrealz wrote: keep in mind that many of his statements are excellent metaphors, but also note that he has ALOT of crackpot theories that are extremely interesting, but easily refutable.
edit- in other words, take everything that man says with a grain of salt lol
Thnx for looken out for me bud, but I take mostly everything people say with a grain of salt
what a bunch of garbage. If you wanna try drugs then just try them, but don't try and cover it up with this self discovery crap.
the only thing dro has helped me discover about myself is that I suddenly want Taco Bell WAY more than I did before.
weed/lsd/whatever isn't going to help you "discover" yourself. things that help you with that are like, playing tee ball, trying an instrument, going to college, meeting people. drugs don't do anything for your own personal enlightenment
That's quite a claim mOnion. I don't see how you can possibly say drugs cannot enlighten someone? I mean it's fact that psychedelics, drugs, etc all fuck with your brain. idk about you, but I get most of my enlightenmentness from my brain. Given this fact...Even if you never had an experience of enlightenment or never taken drugs, isn't it quite obvious that the latter could affect the former? Maybe not for all, maybe not you....but to say for nobody....how much more wrong could you be?
Now you're talking about "connecting with others on a higher spiritual level" and the word spiritual in itself is used with a plethora of different meanings. What does this represent to you? Beause to me, spirituality evokes a certain form of irrationality; turning away from truth and reality. As far as understanding the Universe, our best shot is science.
If you need to understand people or whatever, you can't really trust yourself or your senses for that matter. We're all fallible.
If you use the word spirituality as a synonym for mind (some people do), then I think the use if the word spirituality is futile and we should focus on the meaning of "mind".
There are different ways to understand things, more than just the filter of the mind. One is not better than the other, some are just more quantifiable.
Well shell if you desire the truth enough then you are surely on your way to it, eventually. Just don't be too eager to conceptualize it. My advice would be to check out the writings of various sages - y'know, people who have spent their lifetimes meditating and who have actually attained it theirselves.
To be non-specific to any religion: Buddha, Ramana Maharshi, Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.
If you don't like reading, youtube the latter 2. There are videos of them, it's beautiful to have actual video footage of enlightened men.
You might find that the path to enlightenment is a lot more boring than you'd like.
EPT
