endlessness said:
Rising Spirit, I hope you didnt take my words in the other thread as offensive or demeaning to your opinion. I thought I was being pretty reasonable in my questions regarding "where is the limit to believing in unfounded theories?". If I was out of line, forgive me.
No offense taken, really. As they say in sunny Brazil, "nao problema." I've read enough of your posts to realize you have
Seen the Light and suspected that you were simply seeking to express clarity and stay within the meter of the Science forum. Amongst my friends are a quantum physicist, a couple mathematicians, a linguist and a brilliant young engineer with a dual passion for robotics and holographic development. So I fairly well acquainted with the scientific intellect. Our debates are epic, yet I am often frustrated by the rigidity of their perspective. Numbers and equations, proven facts and formulas, are the very building blocks of their mental castles. To each their own? Of course, only the quantum physicist is spiritually inclined. Most of them are confirmed atheists and yet, we are still good friends and I can't be blind to their quite admirable minds, however fixated on the rational and closed to the mystical. So I am not truly offended by any of the rationalism within this branch of the Nexus. I do take offense and draw the line at one upmanship, condescension and dismissivism. There is a term,
FORUM BULLY...
Still, I take most of the responsibility for the friction, since I didn't actually realize where I was, forum-wise. You expressed none of these negative attitudes towards me, so I have no bruised ego or hurt feelings. thanks for caring, though. If I did feel so from the other folks, it's my choice to identify with the polarity or not... and I hope I have learned to be meditative in all circumstances. I found it perplexing that one fellow member used the phrase, "your argument". What argument? Still, I must respect the structure of the Science forum and this is probably a far, far better place for such cosmic "mumbo jumbo". :lol:
Now back to the thread. You know its funny because when I was 15 and I took my first acid (which was VERY strong), I had never really read any philosophical/mystical books, and I remember that one thought kept coming to my mind: "Its all One". I remember even having visuals where I literally saw arrows pointing to a point in the middle of a circle/spiral.
Only later did I actually start researching and seeing all of these typical kind of sentences in more philosophical/esoteric thoughts.
Ditto!!!
Back in 1977, when I was still just a teen, I also had my first sample of enlightenment. I had, up that time, very little exposure with any Eastern mysticism. Frankly, at that point for me, "drugs" were for experimentation and adventure. Little did I know what psychedelics might do to me! So, when on my 3rd trip on LSD-25 (purple microdots), I experienced a spontaneous awakening. Spontaneous? Only in the sense that I had no preconceptions about the experience and no knowledge of human auras, chakras and kundalini. This unstoppable geyser of rushing energy shooting up my spine, was unlike anything I had known before. I was completely floored by the experience! This raw, forceful energy was activating different parts of my body as it rose towards the top of my head, back around the crown area.
My heart was pounding like a drum and I could visualize it opening like an unfolding flower. A magenta rose as I recall. Now, the energy expanded exponentially and rocketed further up my spinal column. Inside of my spine? It was blowing my mind! My throat became jittery and I sensed a turning, churning sensation from somewhere inside of my throat. Was I choking? No. Something seemed as if it to wanted it's way out, through my mouth. My voice? I opened my mouth breathed out slowly and this looooooong "Ahhhhhhh... " sound came out. It seemed to blend with a thousand other voices, from somewhere in the distance. The sound stopped my thought process, yet, I was fully awake and aware. I could see this great, brilliant light pouring down from behind my forehead. Right inside of my head. Basically, the light emanated from about where the pineal gland is located. Out of nowhere, a picture of the Buddha popped into my quited mind and I seemed to intuitively know, that what I was witnessing was the Third Eye.
The One Eye. So that's what it meant! I occurred to me that perhaps this was the lens of my mind, ALL MINDS and it was transmitting some kind of supernatural light from a higher plane of consciousness above. This was the first time I had seen the Light in all it's radiant glory. I dawned on me that the light was actually emanating from above and on the other side of this lens (third eye). It was as if there was this grand realm of pure light, just on the other side of this eye-like lens.
After a brief eternity, I moved my consciousness into and through this blinding point of light. No sooner had this been done, the sense of self that had become my shell and hush, vaporized into nothingness and I felt myself evaporated into the great light. Odd, I was till conscious of existing, yet, my identity had become one with the Infinite Spirit. Maybe because I was raised a Christian, the words
"GOD IS EVERYTHING" echoed out of nowhere in particular. Who said that, I wondered? Me? I was begining to loose my grasp on who I was and I couldn't quite remeber. It was at this point that the rushing energy blew the lid off the back of my head (figuratively speaking). It felt like the tremendous energy was literally squirting liquid electricity right through the top on my head, into some higher level (hence the geyser reference). This was the first time I had ever seen my Third Eye light up like a million suns. the first time I felt my heart spread it's wings and expand loving vibrations in all directions. It was the first time my crown was expanded into the far reaches of the Eternal. For me it was uncharted territory.
Just about when I had but a fragment of subjectivity left... I recall hearing a high-pitched ringing sound which seemed to draw the self I had left, nearly out of me. At this time in my young life, the only thing I knew about meditation and the Hindu cosmology was the word
OM. Who didn't back in the 70's? Could this be what I was hearing? The sound drew me further into the light until time seemed to stop. Or was it that I had arrived at a place where time had yet to start? A myriad of subtle sonic undertones were discernible, despite the cessation of my thought process. within the core of this deep droning sound, was a higher overtone. It drew my attention up in it's simplicity. Silence is the last thing I remember of that first transcendental experience. Absolute stillness and total silence...
After that? I whited out, since it was definitely not a blackout. The light completely consumed the faint threads and fading fibers of my ego and there is absolutely nothing that can be said of the peak of this experience, since subjectivity was temporarily gone. It was if the lines that divide everything in the universe had been erased and a frequency of unified consciousness devoured the witness of the experience (metaphorically speaking). Empty formlessness... When I came back to myself, I kept thinking, "Everything is One. One mind, one emotion, one soul." I felt reborn. Years later, I learned about kundalini, chakras and enlightened states of Samadhi/Satori/Divine Rapture. Funny how the Sacred medicines work their magic, eh? 8)
Many psychedelic experiences have had the similar theme for me. Once on ayahuasca I remember seeing a butterfly, and looking into its eyes, seeing the shine of Consciousness in it, and seeing how I was that butterfly aeons/lifetimes ago, and then I saw all life, and how I am every living being.
With mushrooms I also had similar experiences.
With vaporized DMT though, to be honest, I dont feel this so much. It has a more "another alien reality" kind of feeling, I rarely get the "its all One" experience, its more this other dimension kind of place.
In any case, with all those experiences that I do feel its all One, I wouldnt say that necessarily this is the pinnacle of the psychedelic experience. I mean, I would say its beneficial to feel that at least once in life, but then I think its all about coming back and integrating it all. I dont think feeling that necessarily makes you a better person. I think that its maybe more important (at least for me) to actually try to take lessons from the experience that we can translate into changes in our actions in daily life.
Lastly, even if we really feel all the Omniself, are we literally experiencing it? I mean, lets say we are looking at a screen from the front, and we dont realize its a screen but actually think its Reality (a la plato's cave). Then we see it from the side, and because of this triangulation, we see that its a screen with a projection. This means we can realize its all part of one projection. But are we really seeing all that there is ? Maybe there is another side in the projection which we are still not seeing, and therefore its not literally Being One, but somehow getting closer to realizing that its all interconnected and so on. Or there might be other explanations to the experience. Its hard to really say what it is, even if it subjectively feel very real. Thats why I go back to "it doesnt matter, as long as you use it to be a healthier person and appreciate existence more".
I dont know if im making much sense here...
You make perfect sense. And yes, the whole enlightenment/transcendental trip indeed has another side, so to speak.
The Void. I believe that deep within the core and the center of the Light, at the very heart of being, there exists a force which is opposite to anything we can perceive or comprehend. Such Indivisibility is beyond words. For we humans to fully understand such a vacuum of form, such a silent emptiness... we would need to completely merge with this emptiness, thus die. :shock:
Peace, love & Light
