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Jessica Swift
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Life Boats, Rafts and Shores - From the far reaches of space back down to the dirty floors
#15841377 - 02/21/12 06:20 AM (12 years, 12 days ago) |
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With any profound experience, be it psychedelic, near-death, the moment of witnessing your first born child, graduating, having sex for the first time, etc. there is always a return to the mundane world of banal predictability and the humdrum feeling of "just another day."
Besides the notion of samsara, what esoteric or alchemical interpretations are applied to the daily grind? Baudelaire called it Ennui, but both of these terms imply negativity and suffering. I'm referring to the basic and uneventful existence of brushing your teeth, eating a meal, running an errand, and any other combination that feels like you are "getting dressed to go nowhere" but aren't necessarily unpleasant. I'm more than familiar with mindfulness and breathing techniques that supposedly transform the monk's life of sweeping the floor to one of blissful simplicity. Thich Nhat Hahn said nirvana is washing the dishes. Ad nauseum.
More specifically, I'm curious why there is always a return to the familiar. After those "ah ha!" moments of inspiration, those creepy and grin-inducing synchronicities, those thank-fucking-God-I-made-it returns to baseline after a mushroom trip. Why does the balloon always fall back down to the ground after these?
I feel like a lot of occultist and Chaotic/Discordian philosophy is aimed at achieving terminal velocity and blasting beyond the threshold of coming down to home base. But so far death seems to be the only real edge-pusher in town.
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husmmoor
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Re: Life Boats, Rafts and Shores - From the far reaches of space back down to the dirty floors [Re: Jessica Swift]
#15841397 - 02/21/12 06:35 AM (12 years, 12 days ago) |
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As you define one type of experience as normal, another as abnormal, then by this very definition the abnormal is the exception to the usual, and so.. we shall always come back to the "normal" after a visit the "abnormal".
What I said is of course partly definitiononinal bullshit. But consider that even the farthest reaches of space or the innermost levels of the mind will soon be like eating breakfast or brushing your teeth if you spend too much time there.
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Jessica Swift
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Re: Life Boats, Rafts and Shores - From the far reaches of space back down to the dirty floors [Re: husmmoor]
#15841448 - 02/21/12 06:59 AM (12 years, 12 days ago) |
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That's one way to look at it, that the dichotomy/polarity is self-defined. The other point you made, I think, is one of homeostasis: that over time we will adjust our perception and become desensitized due to constant exposure (to either states).
Then how do we re-wire it? If the human condition is one of extremes and patterns of experience, then this suggests such random cycles from "awe" ( ) to "ah shit"( ) is integral in our framework of conscious existence.
No matter of perspective will change how we cope with living for 70-80 years. This is further hampered if we come to realize that the social changes which people strive for (and are considered mile-markers) aren't really that profound, but are merely socially constructed realities - realities that assuage our restlessness and inherent drive for some sort of proactivity, however trivial. We have the consciousness to create a society, but that same consciousness is capable of seeing beyond that society. And we're left with the pissing and pooping of basic mammalian biology. Yay.
But this up and down continuum doesn't apply to everyone (either in micro-moments or longitudinally). I volunteer in a soup kitchen that is full of people who have probably never experienced much beyond working for their next meal and a place to sleep. The highlight of their daily life is exchanging conversation with people, but this too seems existentially mute and uncharacteristic by any real up or down. Gurdjieff said most people are asleep.
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Sleepwalker
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Re: Life Boats, Rafts and Shores - From the far reaches of space back down to the dirty floors [Re: Jessica Swift]
#15841467 - 02/21/12 07:10 AM (12 years, 12 days ago) |
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Quote:
Jessica Swift said:thank-fucking-God-I-made-it returns to baseline after a mushroom trip
Baseline is the state of least resistance. Trying to leave it permanently, if possible, seems like an unhealthy goal. Though I can't say I haven't tried.
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Jessica Swift
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Re: Life Boats, Rafts and Shores - From the far reaches of space back down to the dirty floors [Re: Sleepwalker]
#15841497 - 02/21/12 07:20 AM (12 years, 12 days ago) |
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I don't think there is an escape route. Thousands of paranoid schizphrenics never found one either. All we've squeezed out of our mania is a new math equation or two, or perhaps a painting. There was an old man today in the soup kitchen talking to himself. This fabricated conversation allowed him to escape the reality he was eating alone, poor as hell, and probably going to die soon.
2012 theories, I believe, are unconsciously motivated by seeking an escape. Serious alcoholics are turning down the reality knob and use it as temporary escape. Religious fanatics use scripture and belief as an escape route: the delusion sees them through to their demise and appeases any unsettling questions.
We all understand what distractions are. But I don't think there is even anything to grasp or understand in the absence of our distractions (or "activity" to use a more pleasant word). I've heard a reference to mere 'awareness' for the umpteenth time. That's a dead mantra. Awareness doesn't put food in your mouth, even though it's fueled by calories. Awareness doesn't fornicate, even though that's how you got here.
But the trite repetition of "eat, sleep, fuck" is over-simplistic and only a fraction of the picture. There is more to it; some of which we are capable of understanding, and the majority of which remains a mystery bounded by our limitations.
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husmmoor
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Re: Life Boats, Rafts and Shores - From the far reaches of space back down to the dirty floors [Re: Jessica Swift]
#15841519 - 02/21/12 07:32 AM (12 years, 12 days ago) |
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I wonder what kind of "abnormality", exactly, you want to make permanent? I mean there are lots of strange things to choose from. 
If the defining characteristic of the unusual/abnormal that you seek is that it is something that is out of the ordinary, then you can certainly train yourself to be more surprised and excited about things.
I think this is part of the "abnormal" joy of many mystics, that they can be extremely grateful for someone bringing them a cup of tea or a glass of water, surprised at seeing the sun rise once again, etc. The old Blakean "infinity in a grain of sand".
I don't think that maintaining a state of mind like this need in any way impair your mental or social functioning otherwise. In fact quite the opposite.
Prayer and devotion to "the normal" (i.e. one's daily life) as a miraculous, statistically improbable manifestation or incarnation of the "abnormal" or "the divine".
Buddhist breath watching is more doubtful for this purpose I think.
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FishOilTheKid
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Re: Life Boats, Rafts and Shores - From the far reaches of space back down to the dirty floors [Re: Jessica Swift]
#15841800 - 02/21/12 09:23 AM (12 years, 12 days ago) |
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Quote:
...aimed at achieving terminal velocity and blasting beyond the threshold of coming down to home base.
Its quite possible just IME complete upheaval and a challenging adjustment. There is an experience where the observer finds the observed presumed personality no more. From there some other story line takes precedent and you are witness to a merging of the paranormal with your own thought stream. It is a new reality.
Quote:
The mystic, endowed with native talents... and following... the instruction of a master, enters the waters and finds he can swim; whereas the schizophrenic, unprepared, unguided, and ungifted, has fallen or has intentionally plunged and is drowning. Joseph Campbell, Myths to Live By
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Chronic7
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Re: Life Boats, Rafts and Shores - From the far reaches of space back down to the dirty floors [Re: Jessica Swift]
#15842038 - 02/21/12 10:33 AM (12 years, 12 days ago) |
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The way i see it is the differentiation between the far reaches of space & the dirty floor ceases
The universes infinite magnifence doesn't disappear when the psilocybin wears off, it's there, just some middle man (the ego) reappears & effects experiencing.
When you see infinity in a rain drop tripping, then next day you just see raindrops, what has changed? the universe? or your perception of it?
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Edited by Chronic7 (02/21/12 10:38 AM)
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Jessica Swift
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Re: Life Boats, Rafts and Shores - From the far reaches of space back down to the dirty floors [Re: Chronic7]
#15842049 - 02/21/12 10:38 AM (12 years, 12 days ago) |
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Then how do know where you are without knowing proximity?
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Chronic7
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Re: Life Boats, Rafts and Shores - From the far reaches of space back down to the dirty floors [Re: Jessica Swift]
#15842078 - 02/21/12 10:46 AM (12 years, 12 days ago) |
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Do you mean how do i know where my body is without knowing proximity? I guess my mind/body just knows where it is & what distance it is from 'other' things automatically To sense distance of objects in space doesn't mean you must be identified as an object in space
No matter how my mind judges or separates anything for utility there is just an undeniable experience of being ultimately unsplittable
So i can see the difference between far reaches of space & the dirty floor, but i don't have to believe it
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moonrockmushy
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Re: Life Boats, Rafts and Shores - From the far reaches of space back down to the dirty floors [Re: Chronic7]
#15842370 - 02/21/12 12:06 PM (12 years, 12 days ago) |
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Quote:
Why does the balloon always fall back down to the ground after these?
We are afraid that if we go too high what we are will pop. From what I have seen these fears are well founded.
If becomes about balance. Knowing the ground, inflation, rising, then suddenly you are a shining bubble alone in the atmosphere. The ground is an immovable object and the sky is endless possibility.
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Chronic7
Registered: 05/08/04
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Re: Life Boats, Rafts and Shores - From the far reaches of space back down to the dirty floors [Re: moonrockmushy]
#15842389 - 02/21/12 12:11 PM (12 years, 12 days ago) |
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Quote:
moonrockmushy said:
Quote:
Why does the balloon always fall back down to the ground after these?
We are afraid that if we go too high what we are will pop.
I like the metaphor, and that the only reason we 'come down' is because we are actually scared of the idea of total death
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MarkostheGnostic
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Re: Life Boats, Rafts and Shores - From the far reaches of space back down to the dirty floors [Re: Jessica Swift] 1
#15854128 - 02/23/12 06:43 PM (12 years, 9 days ago) |
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Quote:
Jessica Swift said: With any profound experience, be it psychedelic, near-death, the moment of witnessing your first born child, graduating, having sex for the first time, etc. there is always a return to the mundane world of banal predictability and the humdrum feeling of "just another day."
Besides the notion of samsara, what esoteric or alchemical interpretations are applied to the daily grind? Baudelaire called it Ennui, but both of these terms imply negativity and suffering. I'm referring to the basic and uneventful existence of brushing your teeth, eating a meal, running an errand, and any other combination that feels like you are "getting dressed to go nowhere" but aren't necessarily unpleasant. I'm more than familiar with mindfulness and breathing techniques that supposedly transform the monk's life of sweeping the floor to one of blissful simplicity. Thich Nhat Hahn said nirvana is washing the dishes. Ad nauseum.
More specifically, I'm curious why there is always a return to the familiar. After those "ah ha!" moments of inspiration, those creepy and grin-inducing synchronicities, those thank-fucking-God-I-made-it returns to baseline after a mushroom trip. Why does the balloon always fall back down to the ground after these?
I feel like a lot of occultist and Chaotic/Discordian philosophy is aimed at achieving terminal velocity and blasting beyond the threshold of coming down to home base. But so far death seems to be the only real edge-pusher in town.
This is why the Buddhists (Vajrayana) place the seed syllable OM at the beginning of mantras. Lama Anagarika Govinda explained this exquisitely in Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism. In the Great Mantra: OM MANI PADME HUM, the OM symbolizes the culmination of the "Ascent Towards Universality,'' as when the Inner Fire from the lower centers fills the Brain Center, at which point the finite mind dissolves into the Infinite [OM]. However, unlike the Hindu Tantric model, which ONLY stresses the ascending movement, the Buddhist recognize a ''Descent Towards Realization," which is symbolized by the seed syllable HUM (as in HUMan, HUMble, HUMility, etc.). HUM is the Heart Center in which the Infinite comes to dwell (or 'tabernacle' in biblical terms) in the finitude of the human Heart. Lama Govinda says that HUM is more than OM, and asks us to marvel not so much at the Heaven Centers (Throat-Knowledge Holding, and Brain-Unity) but at the real Presence of Infinity - The Jewel [Mani] - that is Realized, in the human plane, symbolized by the Heart Center, when the hyperpranic, transcendental Wisdom-Energy symbolized by OM descends to the Heart [HUM]. Below the Heart, the Navel and Root Center (Anal-Genital complex) comprise the Earth centers. Human beings partake of each realm, which is why the Hexagram means the same thing in Hindu, Jewish, or Tibetan symbology, as well as the alchemical interlacing of Fire and Water (upward and downward triangles) as the Philosopher's Stone (Mani Stone, Jewel in the Lotus of the Heart, Diamond Body [Vajra-Dorje]. After such an OM experience, the upper centers: Brain, Throat, and Heart, become transformed into vehicles of enlightened mind - The Mystery of Body, Speech, and Mind - OM-AH-HUM. If one is to look into Qabalism, (especially as Will Parfitt teaches), it is equally important to 'ground' the energies of the Supernal Triangle all the way down into the spheres which comprise the natural soul (Nefesh), the body and its personality (like in W.H. Sheldon's Constitutional Psychology where body type has a correlate personality).
One is not supposed to take the inferior path of an Arhat/Arhant, and flee the body and the world into Infinity. Rather, the superior path is to freely 'incarnate,' freely remain in the marketplace as a Bodhisattva - descend from the rarified heights at the mountaintop It is very etherial, pristine, radiant at the Peak, but also cold, sterile, and forbidding of human life. Like Moses descending Mt. Sinai, face so radiant he needed to wear a veil, according to the myth, with a divine code by which to transcend the primitive animal proclivities, we must likewise descend the mountaintop, taking the Light into our Hearts where, like a flame in a ruby votive, the blood redness of our Heart softens the blinding Light of Unmitigated Reality. Our Heart becomes a Sacred Heart, encircled by the painful crown of thorns, to symbolize the descent of Head into Heart, Mind into Compassion, where the Heart center is recognized as the Sun and source, the Brain center a reflection of consciousness like the Moon reflects sunlight. No longer lost in egoless ecstasy, the task is to experience that "Unbearable Compassion" in the midst of the pain of existence, of which the thorn is a symbol, and to act in the world of humans. Compassion-in-Action, is the method (upaya) and the goal (Prajna-Wisdom).
-------------------- γνῶθι σαὐτόν - Gnothi Seauton - Know Thyself
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Jessica Swift
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Re: Life Boats, Rafts and Shores - From the far reaches of space back down to the dirty floors [Re: MarkostheGnostic]
#15855764 - 02/23/12 11:58 PM (12 years, 9 days ago) |
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Thanks for the detailed and thought-provoking response, Markos.
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Kupo
Kupop!

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Re: Life Boats, Rafts and Shores - From the far reaches of space back down to the dirty floors [Re: Jessica Swift]
#15855898 - 02/24/12 12:43 AM (12 years, 9 days ago) |
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Unbearable compassion
This rings so true to past experiences, less now than before. (BATTLE OF SELF)
But currently
taking middle path
therefore always here is the knowing.
Markos/entire thread tickling my trip memory feelers.
Ascent to Universality : Could someone help me with this? Instantly my mind goes to memories of salvia, and most recently DMT. Same house, different paint. Hard to describe what is trying to be said. Triangle man pulled me up into it most recently on DMT. Had green triangle eyes, many of them.
Feels infinite, know it's infinite. Self questions, always doubt.
It causes a stomach churn. Throughout my life. Mara still has claims on this body in this realm. But not for long.
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k00laid
NEMO


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Re: Life Boats, Rafts and Shores - From the far reaches of space back down to the dirty floors [Re: Kupo] 1
#15856504 - 02/24/12 07:04 AM (12 years, 9 days ago) |
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i chop wood and carry water
i call it chopping wood and carrying water
-------------------- AMU - AMU Q & A - MyVideo Teks!
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christopheshea
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Re: Life Boats, Rafts and Shores - From the far reaches of space back down to the dirty floors [Re: k00laid]
#15861483 - 02/25/12 11:34 AM (12 years, 8 days ago) |
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what a question, i've been asking myself the same one recently, and i'm actually in awe but what i might suppose, but i'm not sure if it can be so thoroughly expressed as to convey its significance, unless shared, but at this point, i donno about the sharing the whole picture with anyone else except through psychedelics, and that just makes it more complicated doesn't it. immediate felt experience is the only way to go, so, i'm starting to think, if i believe i can change the world, which, i always toyed with the idea, i mean, how can i sit idly by and watch all this shit go on any longer. personal pasts, dime a dozen when you get a group of people together, but when you can start learning from those past experiences, drawing them into your present, it feels like magic. i haven't done shroom in a while, maybe a gram back in dec, but before that, been years, used to be right the heavy user, and i feel like i disrespected the whole process, i, up until this point, feel like i've been disrespectful because i haven't acted when i believed in myself. so, i'm taking action, and the ripple effect, the response that i'm getting, the feedback, it was never there before because i never believed in myself, and now that i do, i've got this sort of way about me, christians would say reborn, buddhists would say enlightened, i say i woke up, and there's a lot to do. i don't think any of what i say can be truly understood until you see it in action. and i'm still trying to figure it out.
not being on mushrooms and being like this, pretty magical, i took that gram before to see what the fuck, you know, use it as a marker, and it only furthered, it's like i finally listened to what was being said, or saw what was shown, or felt whatever it was.
now that i'm older and wiser, time to act younger and wiser
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