Old Man Contradiction

Don't waste time on qigong or the five tibetan rites or whatever. Go straight to pushups and pullups. For army prep, anything that lacks muscular intensity will just waste your valuable time.

There is nothing wrong with money, and nothing wrong with wanting money. Fundamentalism is anti-taoist. I believe strict adherence to preset principals is truly anti-taoist. This, I believe, is ass-backwards and the total opposite of what the old masters were trying to teach. Yet, it is commonly found here on this forum.

I do not know. Maybe someday I will be at the center of it experiencing itself directly. Whether it's deep in the mind, or something other than this.

I am the direct source of experience. The perceivable universe is the secondary source. The universe's history is the tertiary source.

It's sad that good people get duped by people like "Mak Tin Si".

I am afraid that the best possible solution is to travel outside of your area in order to find the best chinese medical doctor you can find. I would start sending out emails because by word of mouth will probably be your best bet, as the best around might not have a website.

Yeah massage hurts.

detox = good assuming you know other people = bad

Blasto, you win. It'd be hella interesting to talk about topics you present, but I think your post says it all. AKA too lazy. But maybe you'd like to start a new topic about it?

Experiencing death is arguably the most challenging thing in life to do. Spritual plants kill you, and than let you come back. The hardship of being buddhist does not hold a candle to the struggle of death IMO. It is naive to think that these plants are just a joy ride. Once again, read this. It is an account of an older gentleman, I believe in his late 60's now. This is a great representation of the value that can be found via symbiosis with plants. His eloquent language transmits a real sense of heart about this issue. Every quality you listed can be the product of an intelligent person experiencing ego-death through entheogenic plants. Also, these qualities can be retained impermanently, depending on the individual. My only knowledge of buddhism comes from one of Chogyal Namkhai Norbu's books. I don't see any contradiction. Fizix and Gold, I believe both of your points are very valid.

You bring up good points. But I have some questions about them. 1. It's true they can cause attachment, but meditation and qigong are not exempt from this either. Isn't it fair to say it depends on the character of the individual whether they let the ego attach itself to any of these methods? 2. True, the experience doesn't last long. But many people that haven't experienced psychedelics since the 70's report that the change that occurred during even just ONE singular experience, still affects them today. Refer to my previous link to "ChinaCat72" and his post. Also note that the change occurred at a deeper level than beliefs and the ego. 3. Please define your term "more spiritual". I also do not know very much about alchemy. 4. Arguably entheogens can help an individual access wisdom. Refer to Hippie3 or ChinaCat's experiences. 5. Not so arguably testing done on UDV members that have had long term exposure to ayahuasca vs. matched subjects without any experience with ayahuasca tested higher for levels of concentration. The test can be seen in Bill Eagle's Psychedelic Science, and more information can be found here. Interestingly the ayahuasca subjects found to have higher concentration of 5-HT sites without resistance to serotonin. This has amazingly optimistic implications. Living through heavy entheogenic experiences has never been reported as fun or easy. This is an important point, because this distinguishes between thrill-seekers and seekers of truth. Losing your ego is difficult and painful, but it builds character. Same thing with eastern methods, but again, it all depends on the subtleties of the individual. Many eastern practitioners subversively use their methods to strengthen the ego, just as do entheogen enthusiasts. I believe both can be used to help one person, and that is my argument.

"THINK[ing] you're deep and creative" is definitely a pitfall of many of newcomers to not only (but maybe especially) psychedelic enthusiasts, but of many "spiritual" philosophies. The really deep psychedelic experiences (that I have only knocked on the door of, never entered though) are of the such that there is no "you" to think anything. Here is a great post by an old-timer named ChinaCat, who was part of the dead family. This post includes his, and one other person's account of taking a "thumbprint" of LSD, which is the mass (and effect) equivalent of several hundreds of hits, or multiple sheets, or multiple vials. We're talking 100s of 100ug hits. The Thumbprint Here is a post by the late great "Hippie3", who recently passed away. This is his detail of one of his Psilocybin experiences. Note: From what I could tell, his spiritual philosophy was of a Jungian nature. Post #7: Hip3's Psilly Trip I think it's good reference to see the anecdote of unprofessional authorship. Very interesting reads. What is the best of Terence Mckenna's books that hone in on his theories of the entheogenic experience? Also, nature's hallucinogens are not anymore addictive than leaf lettuce. Fizix: I am willing to believe that the third eye exists. But I am wondering as to why it would be harmful to open it? What do you mean by "prematurely" in context of opening the third eye?

Thanks for the reply Taomeow. I'm well acquainted with Terence McKenna. He is really really smart. I don't know if my beliefs reside in the same pocket as his all of the time, but none the less he is someone that I love hearing talk, and someone I respect. I am more interested right now in why people warn AGAINST entheogens. I've seen on multiple occasions people on this forum say that it messes up your energy, it's a fake spiritual experience, or it crystallizes and cracks your energetic body. I want to see people actually explain these warnings because they do not make any sense to me.

Why do you dismiss the entheogenic experiences caused by psychotropic substances? I don't understand why spiritualists warn against the use of these plants and substances. Is it bad for energy, psychology, karma? Are the experiences invalid/valid? How and why?

This whole jing alchemy thing is terribly misleading IMO. KISS. Just pay attention to your body, that's all. If ejaculating makes you lose energy, than moderate it. If you get older and feel that is would benefit you to keep that energy, than reserve it. If you just do these things, have or had a good teacher, and train a lot. You'll be fine.