I love a good metaphor!
Yesterday, Saturday, I had 2 interesting conversations about
meditation and psychedelics.
Strange coincidence, if you believe there are any strange
coincidences…
The first, in the morning, an unexpected call from a friend,
older than I, who has been exploring these realms for several years…
The second conversation was in the evening, planned with my
wife, with a young couple who my wife and I had mentored through the CIIS
program, and now, have become more friends than mentees…
They, also, have been exploring these realms for several
years.
In both conversations came up the theme of “resistance.”
Resistance came up as 2 types.
Those of us who seek to rise higher on the evolution of
mind, must head the call, otherwise, the call will get louder and louder…
Resisting the call may manifest as feelings of unhappiness,
recurrent dreams, or if not heeded, obscure, or not so obscure, illnesses…
Loving Star Wars, I resonate with the line “Resistance is
futile…”
When the Universe comes knocking, you had better
answer…
There are many boats you can take for personal evolution:
Common boats for further explorations of your personal
evolution are meditation and psychedelics.
This is where we find the second form of resistance, often arising
within episodes of meditation practice or within a psychedelic journey…
Great pain can arise…
As the ego dissolves…
kicking and screaming… resisting...
It can feel as though you are being torn apart… physically…
as well as emotionally…
In classic Buddhist teaching, koan practice can lead to a
place where you can feel like you are trying to swallow a ball of searing hot
iron…
In the words of Alan Watts, at about 18:30 minutes:
We have either heard of, or personally experienced, episodes
of being mired in a filthy stinking swamp, a pit of sh-t, or finding yourself
in a dark cave with monsters in every corner, or having your face pressed
against a rotating burning hot steel, perhaps being torn apart by birds, or
eaten alive by spiders…
You have to be with the pain, perhaps increase the feeling
of pain or nausea, enter your own painful place in your body, embrace the filth
of the pit, shine a flashlight into the dark corners, and as Bill Richards
taught us, find the monster and enter them through their eyes, then look out
through the eyes of the monster, human or otherwise…
That is what we help do as guides… Point people toward the pain…
Be present with them in the pain…
What you resist will persist…
So, foam rollers?
Where did that come from?
I tend to get tight muscles, legs mostly, as do many who
indulge in athletic activities…
I also have an associated recurrent area of right-sided
sacroiliac area pain, a site of several long-ago injuries…
So, this morning I was using a foam roller for my legs and a
lacrosse ball for my sacroiliac area
This is a painful experience. It can bring tears to your eyes… and groans…
So why do it?
Because it is a short painful experience, with great long
term benefits…
Along with my daily exercise routine, rolling helps to avoid
long term, all day, leg or back pain…
During this morning’s painful experience, arose this
metaphor…
Meditation and psychedelic experiences are like a foam
roller for your psyche…
Can be terribly painful…
But, good for you…
long-term…
From where does this psychic pain arise?
I believe the pain comes from the unconscious…
The unconscious rising up, needing to be made
conscious…
This is how we evolve…
This is how we clean out the karma…
As my wife texted to me (she is in California): “If we can’t/don’t see it/feel it, the depth
or intensity, the fullness of our entirety, we don’t have the choice of letting
it go to see what will fill its place!”
Sometimes we have to empty our cup, to have it filled
again…
I’ve written previously about the varieties of unconscious
information:
A little amended:
1-Personal unconscious information. This can
include prenatal, perinatal, peer, parent, other authorities, and surgical
unconscious information. Often thought of as traumatic and
negative. But, can be positive unconscious information as
well.
2-Instinctual or Archetypal unconscious
information. Jung wrote of the Archetypes as the “instincts” of
humans, I agree with this possibility. This is information from our
genetics, from having a human brain-body structure.
3-Collective Past and Future unconscious
information. I feel it is important to parse this out from
Archetypes. I don’t have a traditional belief in reincarnation. However,
I believe the Universe is more porous to time, place, and person, than
traditional science contends (Heretic!).
I have personally experienced, as have trusted others I know
well, connections to past and future information. This may include information from other
species, maybe even from sentient beings of other worlds or dimensions.
Remember, this is all non-local information, instantly
available…
(even bigger Heretic!)…
These practices are all about letting go…
Letting go of habits and drives that no longer serve
us.
Letting go of shoulds…
Stop shoulding ourselves…
(And what is that “L” doing in there anyway?)
These habits, thoughts, and actions may have been protective
for us in the past.
We may have shoved these into a long black bag, which we
drag behind us…
As Robert Bly writes in Iron John, we must take out this
unconscious information from that long black bag and incorporate this
information into our everyday existence…
When we partially or fully dissolve the ego, we have a
chance to let go of “that which no longer serves…”
When the ego pops back together, this ego overcoat may be
bit lighter…
A bit easier to wear…
And, perhaps, easier to take off, when it is safe to do
so…
And then, when wearing the ego overcoat, it may be a bit
easier to walk in the world…
Helping others, with more compassion…
Perhaps, more deeply feeling that everyone is doing the best
they can…
And, a reminder… not
everyone needs to meditate…
Perhaps, even fewer need to use the boat of
psychedelics…
There are dangers…
Hic sunt dracones…
Here be Dragons…
If you feel the drive to evolve, find a trusted guide or
teacher!
It is natural to fear the dark, and fear the pain…
But, the only way forward, is going in and through…
Getting to the other side…
Getting to the next shore in your current raft or boat…
That can be Blissful…
But do not chase the Bliss
That doesn’t work any better than resisting the pain…
Lots to ponder…
Namaste
So, when I’m not working, I spend time with my loving wife,
I read, and I try to get exercise… 
Choose a path, or 2, walk that path with intensity, grace,
and humor, by yourself or with others… 
