19 May 2011

Ladders, Consciousness and Flowers


Moving about what i like to call, "The Ladder of Consciousness" can truly be a daring practice. Each rung has it's own level of comprehension that diverges from the general understanding many people have about the world around them. Also, like any ladder you may ascend or descend, but you must always have a firm grip as to not lose your footing. Although i have never found myself to be very clumsy, i can not say i have ever been too keen on heights.




Below is a conversation i had with a close pal of mine. You may know him as The1stDimension.


Bunker540 (12:45:18 AM):
dude
omg

anonymousaimuser (12:45:34 AM):
I believe so, i might listen to some of my voice recordings tonight i have on my cell

Bunker540 (12:45:37 AM):
i just thought of something really intense

anonymousaimuser (12:45:47 AM):
oh no, or oh yes

Bunker540 (12:45:56 AM):
both in a way

anonymousaimuser (12:46:12 AM):
the best ideas, combine both

Bunker540 (12:48:39 AM):
1) i just imagined a world where how i felt inside my self would determine how i looked.

anonymousaimuser (12:51:34 AM):
well, i guess we turned out ok then

Bunker540 (12:51:42 AM):
2) And after i had gotten high, i pictured in my mind legs made of sparkling butter leading up into a dark void of where my body should have been.

anonymousaimuser (12:52:04 AM):
oh man!



It felt as if my entire being had filled the volume of the room i was sitting in. I was able to perceive my surroundings with out actually existing as myself or looking out from a first person perspective. I had let go of "me" and (i suppose for lack of a better phrase) had become "one with space". I believe i had just experienced a loss of ego.

Nick Herbert (physicist and renowned psychonaut) has shared many accounts of his personal trips along "The Ladder of Consciousness". In an interview he had this to say about taking psychedelics, "... there is this everyday world, but you can be in a place where there is no you and still perceive the world... it teaches you that there is another way of being in the world that doesn't involve Nick [yourself]... and that maybe a lot of kinds of consciousness are like this. They don't have any center. They're just there... perceiving. So you learn a lot about possibilities... about the different kinds of configurations the mind can have [and] can be in that are very different from this [everyday perception]... it's a type of research...".

It was a very startling experience, but it helped me understand what remarkable states in which consciousness may possibly exist throughout the universe.

Take for example, a flower. It flourishes on bright sunny days and bends to the winds might. It grows throughout its life and withers away like most living things. However ask it a question and it will remain silent. Even though the flower doesn't answer you, doesn't imply that it was never listening.




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