ShadedSelf said:
Ive found
The Law of One to be the most accurate and beautiful book(s) in terms of spiritual understanding of reality, it does share quite a bit of ideas with Taoism and Buddhism.
Without any doubt, the ideas of Buddhism and Taoism are extremely valuable in general and specifically in the context of psychedelics.
However, concerning the books "The Law of One", which you can find
here, I sincerely urge the reader to be very, very cautious and critical of what is being claimed.
A lie that is half-truth is the darkest of all lies. - Alfred Tennyson
For example, the following is being claimed in the first book (
link) p. 18:
What physicists have never before considered worth investigating is now increasing at a very rapid rate. Action at a distance, apparently as a result of some type of mental activity, seems repeatedly the observed effect. When Uri Geller performs on TV, mentally bending metal and fixing clocks, there are often many kids who try to duplicate Uri’s “tricks.” Sometimes the kids succeed. The number of children that can cause bends and breaks in metal and other materials just by wanting the break or bend to occur is increasing daily.
As previously mentioned, John Taylor, professor of mathematics at King's College, reports in his excellent book, Superminds, on the extensive tests run in England on several of these gifted children. If the Gellerizing children continue to increase in numbers and ability, the 1980s will see such fantasies of TV as “My Favorite Martian,” “I Dream of Jeannie,” and "Bewitched" becoming a part of reality.
With controlled, repeatable experiments like those conducted by Taylor and by the Stanford Research Institute in the United States, we begin to have good solid data available for study. Gradually we are moving into a position from which we can begin to create a science of “magic,” for that which has been called magic through the ages is now being performed at an ever-increasing rate, primarily by children. In the future, we may even find this
“magic” added to the curriculum of the sciences at universities.
Already, in their introduction of which the above is an excerpt, two giant red flags emerge :
1) The case of
Uri Geller, fully debunked by 'The Amazing Randi'. There is a great documentary about this called "An Honest Liar"
link. A lot can be said about Randi himself, but it is quite clear that Uri Geller is a complete fraud that fooled many, many people!
2) The case of
John G. Taylor. I refer to the following:
Taylor, after witnessing spoon bending by Uri Geller, became interested in parapsychology. At first he believed that Geller's feats as well as other alleged paranormal phenomena were genuine. He wrote a book titled Superminds (1975) in which he argued for a physical explanation for the paranormal. He believed the explanation for extrasensory perception, psychokinesis, spoon bending and other paranormal phenomena may be found in electromagnetism. However, experiments that he conducted under laboratory conditions were negative which left him sceptical regarding the validity of paranormal phenomena.[5][6][7] [...]
In his book Science and the Supernatural (1980) Taylor concluded that all the paranormal phenomena he investigated turned out to have a naturalistic scientific explanation or did not occur under careful controlled conditions.[2]
He wrote that many of the results could be explained by fraud, credulity, fantasy and sensory cues. The book received a positive review in the New Scientist, which concluded "he will not make any converts among believers in the paranormal, but at the same time, he probably will not alienate many of them either".[2]
source
I've only scratched the surface here, and I have no intention to start a debate.
I merely want to point out that it is important to remain critical about stuff like this and do your own research to avoid fairy tale land.
XVI. When a magical illusion is supposed to originate, or when it is (supposed to be) destroyed, one who knows about it is not deluded, (but) one who is ignorant about it will be greatly affected emotionally. - Nagarjuna
source p. 76
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A more general elaboration about this
Because psychedelics open a door into the unknown and the magical, it is easy to be led astray into 'magical thinking'. It is very easy to go too far. Too many people I've encountered believe that they have some kind of 'elevated consciousness' because of stuff like this, when in fact, they have created a prison for their mind. In general, whenever you feel 'elevated', you have probably been deceived or you are deceiving yourself.
Truth is not a matter of feeling good, elevated, empowered, inspired, not even love.
The problem is not about finding the right belief system. The essential problem is dealing with the insight that there are no right belief systems. I think this is what Buddhism is trying to say. And it is really, really hard to come to terms with that. The mind craves identification with a belief system. Otherwise, what else is there, what is left?
(For example, the funny thing is that when you call yourself a Buddhist, you have probably missed the point.)
The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off. - Gloria Steinem
This is one thing (maybe the main thing) psychedelics can help you with. They are a shortcut to help you temporarily with the agony of emptiness that ensues when discarding beliefs. They help you understand that the agony itself is illusory and already part of a belief system. But in the end, it's about being able to deal with it yourself, without any assistence of books and substances.
So on the one hand, there is Buddhism and Taoism. On the other hand, there is the western interpretation and commercialization of feel-good Buddhism and Taoism. They are complete opposites. Try to find out why for yourself.
“My technique is don’t believe anything. If you believe in something, you are automatically precluded from believing its opposite.” Terrence McKenna
In any case, self-help/paranormal books will not really help you, they will just make your mental prison a little bit bigger, sturdier and harder to get out of. That is why they are so 'attractive'. The ego really likes to furnish its mental space! However, if you are able to remain critical and pay attention while reading books like this, you can discover how easily you can be deceived, and then they become a form of training, albeit a poor one
.
Many other forums have devolved into such wishy-washy hogposh. This is one of the last forums I attribute any value to, largely because of its scientific value. Many people here take psychedelics seriously and try to back up their views with science. In my view this is the strength of this place.
But the metaphysical context that psychedelics point to is of course also extremely interesting. Unfortunately, it's quite impossible to 'prove' in any scientific sense at all. So all I can do (as Nagarjuna did) is to endeavor to find the phallacies in belief systems engrained in others and myself. I hope I have done that to some extent here.
I encourage all of you to do the same if your objective is actual personal growth. If your objective is simply to feel good, which is your prerogative, I apologize for any mental disturbances, but please do not confuse the two objectives. If you unsure which objective you are currently following: the first one brings tears, the second one brings smiles.
“All philosophies are mental fabrications. There has never been a single doctrine by which one could enter the true essence of things.” ― Nagarjuna
Travel with vigor!
