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How Exactly is a Breakthrough Different?

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elphologist1

Rising Star
I've been reading DMT trip reports on Erowid and elsewhere. I've seen several reports where the author says they "did not break through", but then goes on to describe CEVs, communication with other entities, etc. I thought a breakthrough meant seeing other entities, no? If one sees other entities without breaking through, than what distinguishes a breakthrough from a non-breakthrough?

I'm pretty sure I've never broken through. I've seen moving colors, and sensed a female presence (who I took to be a dentist!) but have never seen distinct entities in detail.

elphologist
 
All of this talk of breaking through can cause confusion. I would put it this way:

You'll know about it when you break through.

If you emerge from your experience wondering how you did not soil your trousers and ask yourself why your heart is still beating and why you are still breathing then you most likely had a breakthrough. If you sit there in a state of blissful confusion, feeling blessed to have made it to Mars and back, in 3 minutes and in one piece, then you most likely had a breakthrough

I have had many trips that were strong and out of this world, however, I was still me and still aware of my earthly presence. If I closed my eyes, I had amazing visuals and a sense of presence. However, when I break through the visuals are so strong that the visuals I see would be the same eyes open or eyes closed. There would therefore be a Jester with a giant-sized gyroscope or a serpent mantis scratching around in my brain reprogramming my API in my lounge.

There would be no such thing as suggestion. This is IN YOUR FACE.

The psychedelic experience would flood absolutely everything.

I am in no control, I am not aware of this earth or my place in it. I am as good as dead. I am plunged into an alternate reality absolutely. Nothing in my present consciousness makes sense, not me, not my limbs, not my body and certainly not my brain . In fact, it does not even exist. It goes to a place so different, so far removed that not one little piece of who I am now or where I am now can possibly have any context.

People are different though, but I have to think that what happens to me when I break through would scare the living bejeezis out of anyone.
 
To there is no single breakthrough..there are many levels of breakthrough I think..Seeing entities and such in my experience is like the first level of breakthrough..you feel yourslef sort of falling foreward through yourself for a second, and maybe seeing the chrysanthemum, and then a 3d surround sort of vision of being in some place occurs..but you can still be aware of your body and if you open your eyes it's just as if you ate maybe 5 grams of mushrooms..

Then there is another level past that you can breakthrough to where you are more outside of yourself and experience things like ego death..This is more like being submerged right into hyperspace..
 
Something as subjective as a DMT experience isn't so easily defined, however certain experiences will leave you without a shadow of a doubt that you have broken through. My breakthrough voyages have been profound affirmations leaving me in awe of the amazing mystery of life, I am truly humbled and grateful to DMT for allowing me these visions.
To me breaking though seems to mostly be a matter of mindset combined with dosage. If I keep taking big hits, with the intention of inhaling more than I think I reasonably should, I am on my way to a breakthrough. Big hits and an open mind ready to explore are the keys for me.

Good luck on your own voyages.
 
The definition of breakthrough does vary person to person. A good friend of mine has an interesting take on breakthroughs: 'I encounter entities nearly every time now. A good barometer for me knowing I had finally broken through was the feeling of complete ego-loss. If you need to tell yourself your name repeatedly ... because you've literally forgotten everything else you even knew... then you've broken through. If it scares the shit out of you to the point that you question why you are even doing it, then you've broken through. If you are past the 5 minute mark and still feel like you are stuck in that realm permanently... for better or worse.. then you've broken through.'
 
You could consider, for example, the Tree of Life, or any other model of circuits of consciousness, to better describe boundaries of types of breakthrough.

TOTAL ego death, in my humble current experience, seems to be the highest kind of breakthrough.

But there are other levels of breakthrough, out of body with the ego is still intact, entity contacts can occur...

Then there is in-body, awareness of energy fields and more rooted in Earth (but definitely beyond normal waking consciousness limits)....

I think there is more than one ring of Pass Not. There are a few hoops to jump through...

But for absolute breakthrough, I think ghostman said it best.
 
I've also seen descriptions of having a feeling of going through some kind of a "curtain" during breakthrough. Then on the other side, confusion supposedly goes away and one is in a different reality but everything is clear. But the reports are not consistent. Also wouldn't one go through the same "curtain" coming back then? But I never read of this. Also didn't Rick Strassman say a certain percentage of people can never break through regardless of dosage?

elphologist
 
Do you know on what grounds Strassman made those claims?

My thoughts on the "inability" to break through...

I wonder, if it is physiological, if any kind of detox regime could help? Lots of seaweed, algae, cilantro, green things to pull out heavy metals that get stuck in the brain (did you ever read about the ways fluoride concentrates inside the pineal?). Just a thought. (and I know the PINEAL is shrouded in speculation, too--but it could make sense.)

Another thing that makes me speculate this way is the extremely antioxidant nature of Ayahuasca. Over time, drinking regularly seems to induce a reverse tolerance. I'm sure there are lots of things at play, but its highly cleansing nature could definitely be a part of it. It's also pretty common, with Aya, for some people to have to drink a few times before they can experience any effects from the DMT element of the brew--she definitely "cleans house" before unlocking the visionary realms. In my personal experience, visions have also become increasingly colorful over time. Partially a spiritual effect? Yes. Partially a learned response? Probably. Partially physiological? I would venture a yes.

SO, anyway, maybe, if all other factors are ruled out (quality of materials, smoking technique, etc.), and a person still can't break through, it might be worth exploring physiology, "cleaning up" and becoming more sensitive.

Has anyone significantly, academically or experientially, ventured into the realms of antioxidants, diet, brain maintenance, and smoked experience?

It does impact oral experience profoundly. There have been reports of potentiating Aya with Melatonin, as well (but this is potentially dangerous and I do not advocate it).
 
desiderata said:
The definition of breakthrough does vary person to person. A good friend of mine has an interesting take on breakthroughs: 'I encounter entities nearly every time now. A good barometer for me knowing I had finally broken through was the feeling of complete ego-loss. If you need to tell yourself your name repeatedly ... because you've literally forgotten everything else you even knew... then you've broken through. If it scares the shit out of you to the point that you question why you are even doing it, then you've broken through. If you are past the 5 minute mark and still feel like you are stuck in that realm permanently... for better or worse.. then you've broken through.'
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I have had a lot of conversations with people about this...and I have sometimes been inclined to tell people that they haven't really seen the full potential of DMT just with the experience of fractal patterns and molecules in this world that anyone can see who takes it. There certainly IS more to it if that is all you have seen so far. But beware of expecting your experience to be neatly bifurcated.
Some of the DMT trips I have had were marked by a brutal 'break-through' sensation - beginning with a feeling of terror and massive inner struggle, being squeezed through some sort of hole or tunnel, or being smothered, feeling like I couldn't breathe, or like I was being strangled, and then suddenly being in a totally different reality, unaware of my physical body or the room in which it was lying, and only experiencing this massively overwhelming light-filled universe in which it was not clear what was me and what was not, not at all clear what was ecstasy and what was agony. But I have also had other trips that were not so brutal and yet where I also felt unaware of my physical body and zapped somewhere else, but the landscape was completely different and I was still aware of myself and there was a distinct albeit telepathic kind of dialogue with a deity. Then there have been other trips that were clearly milder, ie. where I smoked less DMT, and I did not leave this world, but just saw it differently and interacted with the deity again this time in the room in which I sat. And in others I have felt myself to be in a different world when my eyes were shut, but in this world when I opened them, and other world again if I shut them again.

So I really couldn't say that my DMT experiences are divided between 'break-through' and not, or that one is better than the other, though the first kind I described is certainly more overwhelming, difficult to verbalise afterwards, and takes longer to process in its meaning over the following months or years...
 
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