[Thoughts on psychedelics?]

On 1/10/2023 at 5:21 PM, Phil said:

I don’t know about ‘just’ experience. 

I guess I'm not seeing the distinction. Could you elaborate?

[What is sleep from a non-dual perspective?]

I'm reading "Full Stop!" by John Wheeler and read this bit recently, which may help with the question.
 

Quote

 

Question: I have been confused about the differentiation between awareness and consciousness. When you say you see the coming and going of consciousness what does that mean? Are you talking about sleep? Or are you saying consciousness is the changing sensations and thoughts? To answer my question, I think you have to define the two, because I always thought awareness and consciousness were the same thing.

 

John: There are different ways of talking about this. So it depends on how you define your terms. In deep sleep, you are not conscious in the normal sense of the word. You were there, but not self-aware. You could say that awareness was there, but not aware of anything other (awareness unaware of itself). It is non-dual. At some moment ‘you’ became conscious of being. You knew ‘I am’, ‘I am present’. That experience was not present in deep sleep. You were, but you did not know you were. That event or occurrence (of knowing ‘I am’) is an appearance, experience or state. All other objective appearances arise in that, or following that. In this style of talking there is a distinction made between consciousness-as-a-state and the prior or original source, which some have termed as non-conceptual awareness or non-dual being. Keep in mind that this is only one way of talking about this. I happen to find it a useful and accurate way of talking about experience. Also keep in mind that even in approaches such as Vedanta, ‘consciousness’ is not the absolute, but only a very refined pointer to it. As it always says in the scriptures, the true self is neither being nor non-being, neither conscious (knowledge) or unconscious (ignorance). All words and pointers turn back.

 

What is being pointed to here can be easily verified by looking at direct experience. Sometimes you are conscious (waking, dreaming), sometimes not (sleep, unconsciousness, under anesthetic, etc.). The experience of being conscious or unconscious is registered by your primordial natural condition which, properly, cannot be termed conscious or unconscious, as it transcends (and includes) both.

 

Some approaches do not look at it in as fine-grained a manner, which is also fine. Some say that consciousness remains constant even in deep sleep. It is a simpler pointer, which is perhaps easier to grasp for some. I happen to find the way I am speaking about consciousness and awareness in this manner more clear and accurate to experience. Past a point, however, you need to look beyond the words. You are not a word!

 

 

[Thoughts on psychedelics?]

Eat some magic mushrooms and listen to Rupert Spira while sitting in the dark for a few hours 🍄 😆 A profound experience awaits! But Phil's dead on. It's just an experience. Don't chase it afterward. Use the insights learned to deepen your understanding. I've found that psilocybin brings up some very intense and difficult emotional traumas from the past and can really aid in shadow work. Those not prepared for this have bad trips.

[Eye Contact]

Thank you! @Phil 🙂

[Eye Contact]

I can relate to this. As I've disconnected my identity from the body/mind and have started to see clearly from the perspective of the natural state, eye contact is a thing that causes less and less tension. Who is uncomfortable in the first place? The answer, I find, is a part of "me" who feels threatened or "lesser than" the person I'm speaking to.