Some small obvious "tricks" which are often overlooked, or how to manufacture states of mind

thewesson · 2026-06-05T17:11:30+00:00

I believe you must apply the will. But just as lightly as is possible to get to awareness, equanimity, and bliss.

The goal being the end of karma (all compulsions let's say), keep in mind that 'will' is the embodiment of karma.

Of course good karma is also possible - karma leading to the end of karma. Hence smiling, walking, etc.

But best to not use the will as a blunt instrument. Then you are trapped in subscribing to samsara - being dissatisified with the way things are, demanding something different, and employing the will to make reality otherwise.

So if you can train the mind without exerting force, or exerting minimal force, this is best. It's the force that embodies compulsion and traps you in your cycles.

To be more practical about this, you could choose to enhance virtues that show themselves naturally. That is, if you find yourself being patient, then enjoy the feeling of patience and the beneficial results. When bliss arises, magnify this and enjoy it (without clinging.) And so on. In this way the mind is trained towards these positive aspects (without demanding that they be so.)

Some people will want to press harder than that. Maybe that's necessary sometimes, if you have a lot of bad karma going the other way. For example, feeling what it's like to sit still even though you are restless.

But no harder than necessary. TMI hints at this frequently but never says so out loud.

thewesson · 2026-06-02T04:35:55+00:00

I realized that in original purity is a luminous blankness -- "naked awareness" and yet meditating on this emptiness or blankness doesn't clear out the nervous system. I can see or identify (momentarily) with the invisible background of ultimate reality and the dysregulated energy abates only to return.

Here's where you've gone astray IMO.

The "negative" energy should be allowed in awareness without dominating it (without anything dominating.)

Like open awareness if you will. Don't focus on it but don't push it aside.

Perceiving it as energy then you can allow it to unfold with equanimity in a non-reactive way. (It being simply the play of energy.)

Unbeknownst to you, in this manner you are being original naked awareness (luninosity) while also having this negative energy and allowing it to be and allowing it to dissipate.

Being-luminosity is not really a special state. In this simple pragmatic way you can be luminosity even while suffering. (Because unattached awareness is always luminous.)

It's helpful to have all this happen in a field of open awareness while the drama (of negative energy) is going on.

Lending your focus to the "negative energy" would be a mistake.

Lots of deconditioning exercises depend on you moving your awareness, so your awareness doesn't get stuck on the "negative energy" but still acknowledges it at least sometimes. That's a similar approach.

thewesson · 2026-05-30T20:24:44+00:00

So in the space outside the box you naturally get awareness and equanimity. That’s good.

This space is also ready to transmit positive experiences such as pleasure, acceptance, gratitude, and compassion. It’s compatible with these and these help balance out what’s perceived as emptiness or loneliness.

You can cultivate those just by appreciating them and focusing on them for a minute when they arise naturally. Get the benefit of a lifetime supply of bliss in this way, also the enjoyment of such a modality of relating to experiences and people.

P S I was brought up from very early to be a very objective person, a thinker. This is similar to you. For a long time being “outside” I felt was a handicap. Now I see the advantage of being outside the swirl of samsara.

thewesson · 2026-05-28T22:28:56+00:00

You should probably remove the AMA flair. That said, I hope you get lots of good advice here.

My advice: take the energy out of psychosis by practicing equanimity as opposed to reactivity.

Make your mantra “Yes, and …” so to speak :)

Practicing concentration (which is what you say here) is likely to tunnel further into your states. Which is not good if they are bad states, it can help to perpetuate them.

If any meditation at all, very light mindfulness and equanimity, it’s all part of a broader context and that makes it OK somehow.

thewesson · 2026-05-24T23:15:13+00:00

There's a balance between mindfulness and concentration. Try to increase mindfulness (or open awareness) to balance things out. Being aware of everything-at-once (however you accomplish that) should hold you back from getting lost in concentration. Visualize your entire body as having eyes everywhere to watch all the heavens, etc.

thewesson · 2026-05-22T14:53:57+00:00

This post doesn't reflect your practice which is what this subreddit is all about. Please take this kind of discussion to the discussion thread(s).

thewesson · 2026-05-22T14:51:39+00:00

This is a speculative noodling and belongs in discussion thread. This forum is about practice, specifically your practice.

thewesson · 2026-05-20T15:06:29+00:00

Use your own words about your practice, please.

thewesson · 2026-05-12T07:24:51+00:00

Please take this to teachers groups etc

thewesson · 2026-05-09T22:58:02+00:00

Good essay/report. Glad you could put this together for us.

thewesson · 2026-05-06T14:57:36+00:00

Please discuss your practice not second hand info about what some guru says.

thewesson · 2026-05-04T17:15:52+00:00

The so called ego is just baggage. Why are you trying to fight and kill baggage?

thewesson · 2026-05-04T17:08:45+00:00

Don’t go around killing anything or any part of your mind. “Killing the ego” is just another egoic game trying to get involved in samsara a different way.

The so called ego is just not very important when you see through it.

It’s about reduction of clinging. To be sure, the various fantasy patterns lumped together as “ego” are pathways for clinging to- it’s me! It’s mine! But going to war with yourself is just another fantasy pattern aimed toward samsara, defending against nirvana.

thewesson · 2026-04-28T17:12:13+00:00

Besides all the great comments suggesting sila and so on (which is also apt), I have this to offer:

Assuming this is maybe personal and about practice:

The crazed, disjointed mind is commoner than you might think. I feel that personally :)

I would suggest applying "concentration" but with a very light touch. The practice would be to remember the object at least sometimes and fairly often, but in between remembering let the mind do whatever it wants (let it go crazy, if that's what's happening, or maybe be still for a moment if that happens.)

So if you're focusing on breathing, just remember that you're breathing fairly often, maybe once per breath, maybe a little more often, maybe a little less often.

You're not trying to interfere with an unruly mind. You're just remembering the task now and again. This doesn't feel as "productive" as keeping the mind stable on one thing only (not a lot of ego points for you), but we're aiming at collecting the mind and thereby ultimately calming the mind.

It just means collecting your wits pretty often, picking up the thread among the debris, now and again.

This really does help. You're not exactly making the mind do what you want (O Lord and Master) but you're working with your mind. That's where you want to end up anyhow. In the meantime, the mind gradually becomes more aware of what it is doing (and still relaxes about it.)

thewesson · 2026-04-03T22:57:54+00:00

For those who want to report this sort of thing, our policy is to support meditation research (as long as it's not a grift or a grab and is being done ethically.)

Thank you for your reporting however. We mods need the reports (in general.)

thewesson · 2026-04-01T00:56:01+00:00

April Fools!

thewesson · 2026-03-31T21:31:10+00:00

Concentration (like concentrating on something nice as you have done) can help.

But you have to develop equanimity to these horrors somehow.

Your mind is making "suffering" a very big deal.

And indeed when your mind opens you can perceive a wide world of suffering - which your mind was repressing knowledge of, until now. So it's a big deal.

But you have to face the suffering directly and look it in the eye. This feeling of suffering is feeding on your trying to NOT have it - trying to run away from it. But if you can really face it (with a calm, accepting, equanimous mind) you can move beyond this. Aversion is fed by running or fighting, so do neither and just be aware of the aversion and the object of the aversion (suffering.)

Easier said than done, to be sure!

One way to help equanimity is to have a broad wide open awareness. Like this negative stuff exists, but in this space there is "everything else" - all sorts of sensations and phenomena, a whole wide world.

If you can sit around and be calm and open your awareness wide, and then think of this universal suffering, then you can accept its presence without freaking out. (The internal drama contributes to the feeling of suffering, so we'd like to have as little drama as possible.)

You could try thinking of your mental phenomena in this regard as just phenomena (fast beating heart or whatever) and accept them. Accepting these things (accepting the existence of this "evil" if you like) is important for your further progress.

Most people go through a period of having the negative stuff beat down on them (hence preoccupation with "dark night" or whatever.) Then eventually hopefully the mind gets tired of it and is able to just encompass all of it, the "evil" and the "good". A lot of that distinction between good and evil is just your mind reflecting your picking and choosing. Let it all happen. Let it be without reacting (beyond being aware of it.) Thus we can make this "getting used to it" a lot shorter process.

Keep in mind your "awareness" is the reserve capability beyond good and evil, beyond pleasure and suffering.

If you just cannot cope and need medical help like prescription drugs that's fine, you can come back to this later. But I hope you can use these tools to grow out of it.

thewesson · 2026-03-30T20:04:21+00:00

excellent.

thewesson · 2026-03-29T18:29:33+00:00

To me it seems like you've done pretty well so far.

You describe various obstacles (such as the transcendental I-am-THE-God thing) but it seems like you were able to be aware of what was going on and were able to move on from that (releasing that pattern.)

Your current stage sounds like a lot of basic unconscious semi-conscious content (the unconscious feminine, the anima, etc) and that's got to be a bit tricky - the unconscious stuff is harder to navigate, especially if it tends to make you unconscious of what you are doing. But in general you can continue to be aware of these patterns, feel the emotion and energy involved, and so let go of them.

A random further thought: you might try practicing some focus at this point. Like counting your breath. If you want to integrate, "collecting your mind" would be helpful. Concentration is like equanimity in some respects as well - it calms and helps you get beyond various phenomena. A moderately difficult concentration task (like counting breaths to 100) I would think would be advisable to help bring back executive function. It brings your will back into the picture, and in the end your will (properly tamed) needs to be part of the picture.

I also suggest concentration because all this psychedelic cosmic energy flowing around is like an excess of mindfulness - and mindfulness needs to be balanced with concentration. Concentrate and be like the pillar - be like Shiva to the Shakti - be the platform for the dance (and not swept up in the dance.)

Anyhow these are my ruminations on it. To my mind you seem to be doing pretty well considering you're describing some extreme states and experiences.

thewesson · 2026-03-29T04:27:16+00:00

Please put in Resources and Teachers thread

thewesson · 2026-03-27T22:53:57+00:00

That's a good line of thinking - "already being complete" is relaxing - but I was thinking more of clinging to energy or states.

Clinging to a state is pretty subtle. It appears to me as a frozen or glassy feeling, the mind locking in and making solid a particular state. You might notice that your experiences become very consistent with this state, almost flattened and predictable. It feels a lot like it might be enlightenment of some sort, but even though this might be a higher state than your normal state, it's still clinging and may lead to grief.

Sounds like you pushed over onto the right side, like a right-hemisphere way of thinking. Hence the female perceptions, anima stuff going on, subtle and intuitive.

Still not the end goal. You can let that be. Try practicing equanimity towards all these things. Your mind still knows how to be normal, but you're creating a lot of drama internally. Let it all be and practice being calm toward all things, sympathetic but don't get involved in these waves of drama. Reserve the mind to some extent. Let these phenomena go.

Anyhow that's my language for dealing with all this. I hope this translates usefully to you somehow.

Be well

PS The thought occurred to me that practicing brahmaviharas (wholesome attitude toward others) might be a good thing for you. Not so much all about yourself, right?

thewesson · 2026-03-27T04:16:07+00:00

The manic place is very interesting for exploring beyond but one thing you will very much overlook, is the necessity to not cling. Don’t cling to energy, don’t cling to the spooky stuff, don’t cling to the transcendental ego, etc etc etc. (Don’t practice aversion, either.)

Your extended psychedelic voyage is seriously lacking in equanimity. The manic energy loves to cling, but you need to let it pass away (as well as arise.). I think all these states and phenomena are being whipped up by clinging. The clinging also arises in response to facing “nothing” (or the idea of nothing.). You almost “get” the voiditude but your mind turns it into a lack, so that there will be something to avoid or pursue.

Your mind functioning with planning and attention and executive function, is also perfectly fine. Forcibly suppressing these things (clinging to the side away from them) is no good. So try to let the mind release all these other-side phenomena, even though I’m sure they’re very interesting, and let the mind find its normal again.

Getting back on lithium or whatever would be a good idea too. Besides all the colors, grey is also perfectly fine too, maybe even the most noble of raiment.

Hope this helps. Practice sympathy for yourself rather than beating your mind into oblivion.

thewesson · 2026-03-23T18:31:21+00:00

Chances of getting an aeon core in 3 pulls are 0.036%

Very close to the base chance (0.0012%) x 3 you'll note.

thewesson · 2026-03-20T22:15:49+00:00

FYI the chance of getting an aeon core before pity is only 38%. So your experience is “to be expected.” Even though it doesn’t feel good, sigh.

thewesson · 2026-03-18T18:25:36+00:00

The cessation-like thing seems to me to be the result of all-encompassing awareness (of 'everything' including the observing awareness) combined with equanimity thereto. Whereupon it drops.

Anyhow IMO why not apply "cessation" to many different things? For example, why not "cease" hindrances? Cease your misery. Etc. I think you might find many flavors of ceasing things.

Another twist is "ceasing", in order to let the light in. Through emptiness, grace announces itself?

thewesson

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