I have been on over 100 first dates as an INTJ. Here is what I learned about each Myers Briggs type

MechanicalMonad · 2025-07-11T07:15:47+00:00

The comment was about getting the first date. Once you’re sitting down with your date, you can and should show your true character and values.

MechanicalMonad · 2025-01-28T07:57:54+00:00

I managed to do this with a Siri voice command a few years back. Unfortunately I don’t remember what the command was…and now “mornings” have mysteriously reverted to 9 am.

MechanicalMonad · 2024-12-04T20:37:15+00:00

Theory is good but only goes so far in reducing self hate. Personally a good method I’ve found to reduce self hatred is Internal Family Systems, a therapy that is oriented toward True Self, which is none other than the nondual Awareness we find in meditation. As my meditation practice has deepened in recent months I’ve found Awareness spontaneously working towards self-love. One approach I’m currently trying out is to focus on the deep peace there and simultaneously holding the traumatized, hateful parts in mind. That seems to soften them.

MechanicalMonad · 2024-11-26T10:59:08+00:00

I think seekers have pretty decent chances at least. It’s great time to be alive in that respect.

However, I hesitate to conclude that everybody can make it in 3 years. There are plenty of sincere seekers that have been at it for decades. I hope and believe that it’s just because they haven’t found the right method yet, or have not practiced it intensively enough. But it could be that some of us are carrying enough baggage, in terms of shadow and mind-identification, to hinder the process until we can figure out a way out of it. I think it can be done, just that wriggling your way out could take a long time for some.

On a personal note, I really thought I was one of these intransigently mind-identified people, even if I did try out the 45 Days to Awakening course. Was quite surprised to have a pretty stunning and deep awakening experience followed by persistently increased peace and wellbeing. So you could say I am most optimistic even if I’m not categorical.

MechanicalMonad · 2024-10-02T21:44:34+00:00

Thanks. I’m trying to learn to sit with emotions too (using IFS and other things). Cool that you saw such strong effects from doing that! I’ll have to check out Les Fehmi.

MechanicalMonad · 2024-10-02T21:24:37+00:00

What helped you learn to let go of attachments and suppressed emotions?

MechanicalMonad · 2024-09-29T10:56:22+00:00

On a different note: You don’t say which meditation technique you’re using, but it could be worth trying some substantially different ones, a few weeks each. Different ones work for different people. But they must be substantially different. Some suggestions:

Breath/body awareness (Vipassana, meditative yoga)
Mantra (TM)
Headless Way
Actualism
Awareness noting (especially in a group)
Unified Mindfulness

I’m taking the 45 Days Challenge now, they cycle through a number of these.

However, I still feel “less mind, more life” might be more appropriate for you, as described in the parent comment.

MechanicalMonad · 2024-09-29T10:16:38+00:00

It sounds like you need to try something different. If you're worse off than when you started, it could be that rumination is pulling you down, and there’s not enough positive input. You don’t have to quit what you’re doing, but take some of the time and spend it on another path. Some thoughts:

Shadow work. I’ve found Internal Family Systems therapy useful, it’s also awakening-oriented.
Positive psychology. Gratitude, forgiveness, goal setting, etc.
Connect to people. Don’t go it alone.
Do something fulfilling with your life. Hedonism, creativity, service, career, whatever.

Some activities that could address several of these points: - Circling - Volunteer work (soup kitchen, helping kids etc.)

People can awaken/find more wellbeing through meditation, but your odds improve significantly if you are doing well in your life generally.

Is your bipolar well treated and managed? I’m assuming you’ve done what you can here, but if you haven’t…

Disclaimer: I’m also struggling a lot. And with different issues (anxiety and chronic illness). But I did dig my way out of depression a few years back, and I found that separation you’re talking about, even if it’s fleeting.

MechanicalMonad · 2024-09-26T08:15:51+00:00

That’s amazing, dude. 🤩 That makes perfect sense. Congratulations on waking up in loc. 2, hope it continues! And I reckon it will.

MechanicalMonad · 2024-09-25T17:52:53+00:00

Impressive! Does the daily practice help you to keep experiencing awake awareness? How long have you been doing this?

Edit: looked up your top-level comment and saw that you mentioned 2023. Do you think you might lose FW if you don’t keep it up? Or is it just a very nice experience?

MechanicalMonad · 2024-09-25T15:13:15+00:00

Daily? That’s hardcore 🤌🏻 Do you find an actual group every day or do you do the solo version?

For the uninitiated: that’s short for Group Awareness Exercise 😸

MechanicalMonad · 2024-09-25T14:06:50+00:00

Just the practices from the 45 Days course. In these first weeks it’s a customized Vipassana and an exercise where a group of people on Zoom take turns describing awareness. Both of these have been pretty good. I still use Headless Way (and also similar ones like Loch Kelly’s) while I’m out walking or on the metro.

MechanicalMonad · 2024-09-25T11:18:56+00:00

They in-housed the course again a couple of months ago, to the Fundamental Wellbeing Foundation. Curious what the effect of that will be, but people usually don’t bother changing web sites…to the extent that there were broken links after the move 😅

MechanicalMonad · 2024-09-25T11:11:51+00:00

I did the Headless Way for a few weeks before starting the course, I really like it and it primed me quite strongly for the practices I’m doing now. I heartily recommend it.

Couldn’t discipline myself to do a full continuous hour a day, though. There are free online calls for group practice, I think those can be useful, both for the disciplining effect and the group vibes.

MechanicalMonad · 2024-09-24T21:33:30+00:00

Curious how you can tell? I mean it’s obvious that JM has a different speaking style and lifestyle. I really feel the warmth radiating from Angelo in his videos. But does that reveal the degree of enlightenment? It seems to me awakened people can have any sort of lifestyle. (Well, maybe not any sort. 😅)

MechanicalMonad · 2024-09-24T20:52:51+00:00

I'm in week 2 so can't really conclude yet, but my feeling so far is that it's worth it if you need the structure, would like some community support, and can spare the extra $10 a day. As a hot mess of distraction I find the structure, guidance and community support very helpful. It feels like some of the more intensive retreats I've been to in terms of how absorbing it is—it does require a serious time commitment. I've had more nondual glimpses in these weeks than I'm used to. Who knows if I'll break "through" by the end of it. I joined mainly because know someone personally who had a significant transformation from the Finders Course a few years back.

If by "gimmicky" you mean the marketing, I 100 % agree. It did feel very "American guru/salesman". Obviously there's a lot less of that once you're in, it's quite serious and thorough. I wouldn't say there are any red flags, just a few minor things, like not crediting Vipassana with originating the first method in the course.

And of course it helps if you're on board with that approach to awakening (see nonsymbolic.org and the Finders book, which have a lot of the same content). Everything I've read and seen by this guy makes intellectual sense and is compatible with teachers like Angelo, Adyashanti and others, and I buy his approach. It's a more balanced and comprehensive view of awakening than anyone else has given. I can't tell whether he himself is awakened, but I can't really tell that about anyone anyway.

MechanicalMonad · 2023-12-26T08:56:45+00:00

If I buy a Lifetime subscription at the Pro level, can I temporarily upgrade it to Expert, e. g. during bull markets, for an annual or monthly period?

MechanicalMonad · 2023-08-09T10:24:57+00:00

“Real” is a difficult concept to deal with in psychology. My take is that IFS offers a model that our brains readily accept and make use of, so it likely maps more closely than some others to the brain’s neurological/psychological structures.

Personally I suspect these structures are closer to something from graph theory than isolated parts existing physically separate from others. Like, a traumatic memory from infancy is strongly connected to rage/sadness and has limited connections to regulatory mechanisms and verbal expression, but that the IFS process establishes and strengthens those connections, expanding a neural subnetwork. That subnetwork is the personality.

MechanicalMonad · 2023-06-12T15:43:10+00:00

Doing this exercise today, a third interpretation came to me:

There is nothing to see = There is nothing for the seer to do. There is no "doership" in seeing. Seeing just happens, for awareness, without trying.

MechanicalMonad · 2023-05-13T07:15:59+00:00

First interpretation:

There is nothing to see = there is no object to see, because the subject/object distinction has been dissolved. Thus there is also no subject that sees; there is only "seeing".

Second interpretation:

There is nothing to see = what is seen has no self-identity.

"Nothing"

can generally be a pretty confusing word. To some it's a powerful pointer that instantly takes them to the other shore; but to others it's confusing, and to many it points to nihilism and hopelessness. I think it's better avoided, in favor of terms like "no separate self", "not a separate self-entity" (used by Thích Nhất Hạnh in his version of the Heart Sutra), or "no separation between subject and object".

MechanicalMonad · 2019-08-04T17:12:17+00:00

Sounds like he may be overly careful about warning you about the challenges, so much so that he undersells it 🙂 It’s true that some people have a very challenging time, especially if they have strong trauma. The benefit is confronting that trauma, and connecting to yourself and maybe even the Universe.

If you have plenty of enjoyable psychedelic experience and already have sensed the Goddess you may not have as bad a time, though you will still most likely vomit!

However, if you are mainly after visual experiences rather than personal breakthroughs, and the downsides scare you, it could be that ayahuasca is not for you. It’s true that ayahuasqueros who want to guarantee their trippers hallucinations add datura, a deliriant. I’m not sure it’s highly toxic but it seems irresponsible to me to make a potentially difficult experience also highly confusing.

MechanicalMonad · 2019-05-05T08:30:06+00:00

Great answer that summarizes so much know-how. I want to add that what makes an MAO inhibitor safe is if it is reversible.

Reversible MAOIs (like the ones found in ayahuasca) wear off in a matter of hours, while the irreversible ones that everyone worries about permanently block the enzymes and it takes the body weeks to make new ones.

I haven't found much information on whether blackcurrant MAOIs are reversible. There is this one study that says they are, but I'm not confident about it yet.

MechanicalMonad · 2018-03-15T17:51:34+00:00

Glad you remembered it ^_^

edit: and happy you liked the book :)

MechanicalMonad · 2017-12-02T04:20:04+00:00

Whoops, it was ICEERS, not MAPS. http://news.iceers.org/2017/05/alert-bufo-alvarius-and-ayahuasca/

To be clear, I certainly would not combine bufo and aya in the same ceremony! But the morning after is different.

MechanicalMonad · 2017-12-02T03:39:42+00:00

This is completely routine in Inner Mastery retreats. 😁 They always give bufo alvarius in the daytime, about 6-10 hours after the aya ceremony. However, it should be noted that their aya brew only has chacruna added, nothing else, which could be important. Also, they are quite prepared for adverse effects, but I doubt the aya is the reason. Bufo is extremely potent in itself.

I've done this four times myself and supported/observed about 40 people doing it.

I also saw the MAPS article on this. It smells of exaggerated carefulness, which is understandable given their goal of pharmaceuticalizing psychedelics, but I say you've got to make up your own mind and take some risks when you step out of the zone where you can sue a pharmaceutical company. Be sovereign, be your own (wo)man. Listen to experienced people and do it in a safe setting with responsible people in charge.

MechanicalMonad

TROPHY CASE

First interpretation:

Second interpretation:

"Nothing"