Owledge

Trying to reach 'awakening' for the goal is probably pointless, at least based on what I think I have been shown by ayahuasca. It's all about the interesting journey, about setting a challenging goal and see whether you can achieve it. The extreme of awakening is of no benefit, because any concept of benefit falls away. It's basically like committing suicide in your head. You exit the game of life, wait until your body dies, then you re-enter it. From what I can remember, on a certain level there is no beyond. It's an illusion. It's like a computer program trying to become the computer. It has always been a part of it, yet insubstantial, thus impossible to become anything. Cherish every moment of your quest of attaining awakening, because the journey is the aim. If only you knew what big of a disappointment you're moving towards. Then again... it will only feel like a disappointment if you drop out of that state again. In blunt language, the endeavor of attaining full enlightenment is lunatic, but lunatic is interesting, and interesting is fun. With your endeavor, you're inspiring others to find good distractions from the discomforting ultimate truth. Because, ironically, the process of striving for that moment is distraction, too. Sometimes I wish I hadn't forgotten so much. Sometimes I wish I had forgotten even more. But... I might be partially out of the dark night of the soul, since I mostly only care for attaining success, fulfillment, happiness these days - very practical-minded.

Those who are living off of exploiting others will naturally try to deny that reality, suppress that inner doubt, by making up stories about why what they're doing is good. This leads to all kinds of bullshit philosophies*. *)This word is often used in a perverted way, by meaning the opposite of the love of wisdom.

I notice that when I wake up after a dream, remembering it, that dream influences my spirit for the day. If I had an unpleasant dream (like dreaming about daily chores and such - horrifingly dull!) the whole day feels like crap, while when I had a pleasant dream, it can have as powerful an effect on my spirit as if it actually happened. My theory is that it's because there isn't enough happening in my waking life to dilute those effects, combined with being relatively sensitive.

You really like to hear yourself talk, don't you? ;-) It was very difficult to read because it's very repetitive and seems extremely self-centered to me. Maybe it's just me and you simply enjoy playing a role. :-) I guess my question invited this. But between the lines, I'm looking for input that helps me to figure things out, and I'm relatively practical-minded when it comes to problem-solving. (I can be a philosopher in less personally affecting matters.) I hope this didn't come off as rude, but your post is really surprisingly tough for me to put to use.

My dreams are of all different kinds, and sometimes it fits the interpretations of dream analysis and its symbolizms, basically expressing what is reality for me. And sometimes just things whose origin I can identify easily as from waking life before. But also what idiot_stimpy said: Sometimes when I push something away and don't properly process it, it can occur in my dreams. Sometimes I perform admirably in a dream, like an adventure or fear-related task, but it doesn't have any noticeable effect on my waking life, except sometimes the mentioned emotional residue.

There is nothing to apply any technique to. It's just the feeling that lingers. I'm tempted to not try and avoid unpleasant feelings though, because that could be a form of repression. After all, I wouldn't try to avoid pleasant feelings from unsubstantial things either. Just curious about other people's experience.

Smaug! Hahahahahaha

Pretty sure I used to watch this as a child, but I only remember the names. So this was Michael Ende, too. Hm, Interestingly he seems to have preferred Asian style dragons, if I look at that picture and also considering the white dragon Fuchur (or some such) from Die Unendliche Geschichte. What I do remember well from him though, and did rewatch, is Momo. Mandatory material for any wannabe anti-capitalist, haha. Really obvious but valuable processing of moral values and troubles of modern and adult-shaped society. Now I'm wondering how many golden dragons there are in pop culture. I don't know whether the gold-coated Smaug was something they added for the movies, but here's another one with interestingly close relations to the Taoist version of golden dragon body - could also be seen as a fiery dragon, but kinda reminded me of the ... Taoist meme? LOL:

Not sure why you thought of Jim Button.

BTW I encountered a guy who I have no doubt has impressive and very advanced energy healing abilities, but he also clearly got massive career issues. You can still learn the technique from him. Doesn't mean you have to become him, you know.

I know, right?! How can you claim to be a master and then manage to just die?

Oh my! Your standards are more out-there than any DMT trip. First, try to shed your subjectivity. Those buddhists look and talk healthy in my perception. Maybe you have been blessed with a pampering start into life, but usually it's a challenge and not at all fair or a walk in the park. You gotta work with what you got, and the most profound insights often seem contradictory to the unexperienced mind. There's so much richness in life that doesn't follow fairy tale guidelines. The best spiritual guide for you might be a fitness studio owner.

Wow, not meaning to be rude, but your line of reasoning is pretty messed up and confused. Look, just because someone attained stuff with internal alchemy doesn't mean they're a levitating smiling buddha. Life goes on; that's one of the big lessons to learn after having made a big breakthrough. It reminds me of this video: where the local Christians couldn't believe that Buddhists eat pizza.

Your rigid preconceptions are quite funny from my perspective, because it is applying conventionalism to something metaphysical. That being said, one should also keep in mind that Max himself said that he's a trickster, so you shouldn't take everything at face value.

No such thing as too much joy. BTW I think for good mental health, women should have two eggs and sausage with cream in the morning.

Did that year drag on?

It's a Kunlun Nei Gung thing. Possibly derived from Mao Shan - I don't remember. The moment I saw the golden dwarf statue unveiled, I knew what would be going to happen, and immediately this popped into my mind. It was the second most enjoyable moment for me in that movie, out of two. (The most enjoyable was seeing the fat dwarf do a dual axe whirl in a barrel.)

I agree with Taomeow on that seeing a single relapse as a failure can demotivate you too much. If you can accept an occasional relapse and just try to do better next time, it will be easier. The inner demon wants you to give up, so naturally the words whispered into your ear want you to admit defeat. Your wording betrays you. ^^ http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=puns

Embrace the unpleasantness of the taste as a rare experience; a change from routine.

You are being tested to see whether you are willing to make a sacrifice. P.S.: "Before Christmas" - I heard that silly phrase in an overheard convo at the supermarket lately. It's also before Easter. And after Easter. So the sacrifice to make is mostly just in your head, haha.

I'm not denying that there are other beneficial substances in coffee, I'm saying I don't aim for them. And if you prefer the shamanistic way, you should know that the power of the mind has great influence over the experience. I did ayahuasca in two very different settings and mixtures, one in a Christian-religious mass ceremony who don't even call the brew ayahuasca, others with a shaman in a small, nice, calm group, with his special mix of local herbs and such mixed in, and it is impossible to say how much influence that had on the experience compared to my mind's state. Because guess what - during the Christian ceremony where they refused to call it ayahuasca, I heard ayahuasca icaros playing, which was an episode from the future ceremony with the shaman. There were also similar parts of the experiences in both settings. I think those substances are mere access points, and since the nature of the approach sometimes touches on the foundations of reality-creation, it is quite likely that the stuff you believe shapes the experience. (It's also practically confirmed in plenty of experiences by people. E.g. it is possible to drink a hefty dose and not have anything happen, and on the other side, some people get trippy by merely being close to a mind traveler.) With unlimited power of the mind over the experience, it becomes difficult to put so much meaning in the means of initiating them. The only thing that probably has a tendentially significant effect is DMT vs. ayahuasca due to the administration intensity. Your preference for the latter might get fuzzy if you tried DPT orally for example, since it creates a longer experience than smoking DMT.

I'm taking caffeine for the awareness boost, not for an amazing experience. That approach, as you slightly demonstrate, leads to weird stuff like for example whisky tasting, which is more about showing off one's taste buds than enjoying the taste. Rituals create a strong emotional/mental attachment. And while that can be considered creative magic, I don't think caffeine intake needs any magic about it, haha. If you are willing to experiment with your perceptions, replace your coffee with some delicious fruit juice or some such that you enjoy for its taste and add 50-100 mg caffeine to each glass. Even better: Drink the juice in a coffee cup/mug. And smell it before you drink it. The mind can be so powerful.

After reading these things, I'm kinda glad I take caffeine pure, haha.

That's interesting info. Funny how these things tend to get bigger and bigger, haha. If Voltaire had seen the mugs millions of people are drinking coffee from these days, even he as a mass coffee drinker might have gotten critical. ^^ ... OR he'd have said "Why didn't I think of this?!".

Yes, I did assume that cups meant something like tea cups.