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You are the Universe and the Universe is you. I first gained notion of this idea after a friend told me about DMT. Although a 'drug', your body itself produces some kind of DMT but in rather small quantities. They typically peak during lucid dreams and meditation.
Apparently DMT users experience the world as an extension of themselves. That is the recurring theme, but that's not all there is to it. They also describe meeting strange creatures and other colorful hallucinations. I suppose these could be some kind of side effects. Exogenous DMT obtained via plants may have a slightly different chemical structure than endogenous DMT. Similarly, exogenous cannabinoids (weed) have a slightly different structure than endogenous cannabinoid, resulting in a side effect that is the sensation of being 'high' (for some this may actually be main effect).
Now, for those of you who experienced with exogenous DMT (Ayahuasca et al.) how do you tell the main effect from the side effect? If DMT is supposed to make you experience the universe from another perspective and in the course of this trip you meet god, where does the main effect finish and where do the side effect begin? Is god part of the real experience or is he a side effect? I've wanted to try DMT so far but this critical question worries me.
Then I've looked into ways to increase endogenous DMT and found out that it may be possible via changes in the diet and meditation and ultimately yoga. Thus far I had a very narrow view of yoga, in my mind it was a hobby. I couldn't be more wrong. At least that's what Western yoga is. Someone reduced a rich and complete Eastern philosophy to nothing more than a recreational activity.
I can't say that I'm even vaguely familiar with yoga, but from what I gathered there could be an actual way of extending yourself beyond the body and its 5 senses. Let's pretend for a second that you've lost your right leg in a car accident. It is very likely that you will still feel sensations in your leg although it was amputated.
1. How is it possible, that you feel something as part of you although it's visibly not there?
2. Yet something that is indeed real, like the chair you sit on, never feels as part of you.
3. It's as if the mind created boundaries which limit your sensory body to one head, two arms and two legs.
Considering the last 3 points, a question arises. Can you push this boundary further and by what mechanism? Could you, for example, touch the chair and feel it as though it's part of you, like a limb if you wish?
From my limited understanding of yoga, there are 2 forces driving individuals. One is exploration and you can tell this from the fact that all our sensory organs are driven outwards. The second force can be summed up to survival. Now, how would one go about extending himself and feel the world as a continuation of him. Here is the inherent problem. You cannot, and it wouldn't make sense otherwise, expand beyond what your mind perceives as threatening to its existence. For example, a caveman cannot extend further than his cave because he recognizes that a saber-toothed cat may represent a threat. If he somehow manages to extend his sensory body to encompass the saber-tooth, he would lose the ability to identify the beast. Thus it's important for the mind to make a distinction between man and beast, because the latter may make an attempt at its self-preservation. Survival made it such that we divided the world into distinct objects in order to better spot threats. After all, not all the environment is threatening, therefore, the more distinctions you make, the more efficient you are in precisely telling where a threat might come from. On the other hand, if you see everything as one, everything becomes blurry and you cannot tell friend from foe, right?
I'd like to hear your thoughts on this!
Apparently DMT users experience the world as an extension of themselves. That is the recurring theme, but that's not all there is to it. They also describe meeting strange creatures and other colorful hallucinations. I suppose these could be some kind of side effects. Exogenous DMT obtained via plants may have a slightly different chemical structure than endogenous DMT. Similarly, exogenous cannabinoids (weed) have a slightly different structure than endogenous cannabinoid, resulting in a side effect that is the sensation of being 'high' (for some this may actually be main effect).
Now, for those of you who experienced with exogenous DMT (Ayahuasca et al.) how do you tell the main effect from the side effect? If DMT is supposed to make you experience the universe from another perspective and in the course of this trip you meet god, where does the main effect finish and where do the side effect begin? Is god part of the real experience or is he a side effect? I've wanted to try DMT so far but this critical question worries me.
Then I've looked into ways to increase endogenous DMT and found out that it may be possible via changes in the diet and meditation and ultimately yoga. Thus far I had a very narrow view of yoga, in my mind it was a hobby. I couldn't be more wrong. At least that's what Western yoga is. Someone reduced a rich and complete Eastern philosophy to nothing more than a recreational activity.
I can't say that I'm even vaguely familiar with yoga, but from what I gathered there could be an actual way of extending yourself beyond the body and its 5 senses. Let's pretend for a second that you've lost your right leg in a car accident. It is very likely that you will still feel sensations in your leg although it was amputated.
1. How is it possible, that you feel something as part of you although it's visibly not there?
2. Yet something that is indeed real, like the chair you sit on, never feels as part of you.
3. It's as if the mind created boundaries which limit your sensory body to one head, two arms and two legs.
Considering the last 3 points, a question arises. Can you push this boundary further and by what mechanism? Could you, for example, touch the chair and feel it as though it's part of you, like a limb if you wish?
From my limited understanding of yoga, there are 2 forces driving individuals. One is exploration and you can tell this from the fact that all our sensory organs are driven outwards. The second force can be summed up to survival. Now, how would one go about extending himself and feel the world as a continuation of him. Here is the inherent problem. You cannot, and it wouldn't make sense otherwise, expand beyond what your mind perceives as threatening to its existence. For example, a caveman cannot extend further than his cave because he recognizes that a saber-toothed cat may represent a threat. If he somehow manages to extend his sensory body to encompass the saber-tooth, he would lose the ability to identify the beast. Thus it's important for the mind to make a distinction between man and beast, because the latter may make an attempt at its self-preservation. Survival made it such that we divided the world into distinct objects in order to better spot threats. After all, not all the environment is threatening, therefore, the more distinctions you make, the more efficient you are in precisely telling where a threat might come from. On the other hand, if you see everything as one, everything becomes blurry and you cannot tell friend from foe, right?
I'd like to hear your thoughts on this!
