What were some of the revelations that you personally experienced on DMT?
Besides the fact that the totality of the experience itself is quite astonishing and shocking obviously, what little insights did you have, either about yourself, the experience, or beyond?
Within the handful of experiences I had there were, aside from the brilliant and spectacular visuals, direct and instantaneous revelations that came to me. They weren't reasoned out or consequence of logical process, nor from prior reading. They were direct intuitive realizations that were complete unto themselves and quite shocking.
1) People are robots. - When I opened my eyes on one occasion and looked at a friend it was as if he were a puppet, hollow, empty. Not visually so, but intuitively felt. It suddenly dawned on me that everyone is a stranger to themselves, and that what motivates and moves people is not really 'them'.
2) I am not the body - Another time I opened my eyes I looked down at my body and it was completely foreign to me. It only happened on one occasion, but it was shocking. The body seemed like a suit, something external to 'me'. I really can not put into words how it was other than my identification with the body had completely vanished. I've felt a lot of things on psychedelics before with regards to the body, but this was profoundly different.
3) I am not the mind - Can't remember the exact point or particular episode I had this one, but it became clear to me I was watching the contents of my mind. Something shifted, I recognized the visions were pouring out of my mind (loose metaphor) and that if I was watching my mind I could not be the mind.
4) Entities are real - I had kind of semi-figured this one from early childhood dreams and sleep states, but was never definitively sure. There were two instances in my experiences where I knew without doubt what was interacting with me was external to myself.
5) Breath In, Breath Out - Underneath the experience it felt like every breath my body was taking, on its own accord, was a reflection of some universal process. The visual aspect was responsive to the breath, connected to my mental contents, and my real-time emotional state all at once. Which followed into the next realization,
6) It's all projection and you are the projector - By all, I mean DMT visions, the physical world, the body, what I think of as myself. It's a sort of mirage, some kind of self-reflecting and refracting kaleidoscope that pours out of some infinitely small point or singularity. None of us are actually real or here. It was not a sense of unity. There was a moment of terror, it felt like something was behind 'me' and that if I turned around I would be gone. It was brief.
In relation to point 6, it was a few years later I came across the literature of non-dualism, R. Maharshi, Nisargadatta and others. When I read their works it rang so true. Maharshi's cinema screen analogy in particular. It was then for the first time I became convinced enlightenment is not a fantastical self-deception and that these people are sincere in their conviction.
Besides the fact that the totality of the experience itself is quite astonishing and shocking obviously, what little insights did you have, either about yourself, the experience, or beyond?
Within the handful of experiences I had there were, aside from the brilliant and spectacular visuals, direct and instantaneous revelations that came to me. They weren't reasoned out or consequence of logical process, nor from prior reading. They were direct intuitive realizations that were complete unto themselves and quite shocking.
1) People are robots. - When I opened my eyes on one occasion and looked at a friend it was as if he were a puppet, hollow, empty. Not visually so, but intuitively felt. It suddenly dawned on me that everyone is a stranger to themselves, and that what motivates and moves people is not really 'them'.
2) I am not the body - Another time I opened my eyes I looked down at my body and it was completely foreign to me. It only happened on one occasion, but it was shocking. The body seemed like a suit, something external to 'me'. I really can not put into words how it was other than my identification with the body had completely vanished. I've felt a lot of things on psychedelics before with regards to the body, but this was profoundly different.
3) I am not the mind - Can't remember the exact point or particular episode I had this one, but it became clear to me I was watching the contents of my mind. Something shifted, I recognized the visions were pouring out of my mind (loose metaphor) and that if I was watching my mind I could not be the mind.
4) Entities are real - I had kind of semi-figured this one from early childhood dreams and sleep states, but was never definitively sure. There were two instances in my experiences where I knew without doubt what was interacting with me was external to myself.
5) Breath In, Breath Out - Underneath the experience it felt like every breath my body was taking, on its own accord, was a reflection of some universal process. The visual aspect was responsive to the breath, connected to my mental contents, and my real-time emotional state all at once. Which followed into the next realization,
6) It's all projection and you are the projector - By all, I mean DMT visions, the physical world, the body, what I think of as myself. It's a sort of mirage, some kind of self-reflecting and refracting kaleidoscope that pours out of some infinitely small point or singularity. None of us are actually real or here. It was not a sense of unity. There was a moment of terror, it felt like something was behind 'me' and that if I turned around I would be gone. It was brief.
In relation to point 6, it was a few years later I came across the literature of non-dualism, R. Maharshi, Nisargadatta and others. When I read their works it rang so true. Maharshi's cinema screen analogy in particular. It was then for the first time I became convinced enlightenment is not a fantastical self-deception and that these people are sincere in their conviction.
