How I Freed My Mind From The Cult of Materialism

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How I Freed My Mind From The Cult of Materialism

It is a curious fact that we have successfully used our minds to penetrate profound secrets of the physical universe; but when it comes to grasping the nature of our minds, we are baffled.https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6889910938799271565#_edn1 This is the famous mind-body problem, the “hard” problem being to account for our consciousness, which is utterly unlike anything physical. The mind, it seems, has a hard time trying to understand itself.

In this essay, I describe how I evolved my view of the subject, which is deeply at odds with mainstream physicalism. Without putting a label on my view, there were two kinds of crucial step I had to take, theoretical and empirical.
 
I can relate to this article, the stuff I have experienced the last 2 weeks is nothing short of amazing, I'm all in
 
He hasn't freed his mind from the cult of oneness:
The one mind that is filtered through my brain is bound to create the illusion of isolation and separateness. We then naturally identify with our bodies and unique personal perspectives, so the differences between you and me are real enough. And yet, the more deeply we enter ourselves, the more we merge toward the oneness of our humanity that lies in our common consciousness.

Although I think that materialism is detrimental, doctrine of oneness is much worse.
 
Although I think that materialism is detrimental, doctrine of oneness is much worse.
I'll have to agree. The idea of oneness seems to be very popular in some circles. Especially from what I've seen in the psychedelic "community". While I see it as a possibility, it is not something I like to believe. I don't like the idea that who I am is just an illusion of the body while really being something which is really beyond what we can understand. One consciousness seems to me like an idea that is being pushed without even being understood. Because how can we understand it while existing as separate beings? Just my 2 cents. Obviously what I say isn't based purely on research, just what I feel.
 
He hasn't freed his mind from the cult of oneness:

Although I think that materialism is detrimental, doctrine of oneness is much worse.

I'll have to agree. The idea of oneness seems to be very popular in some circles. Especially from what I've seen in the psychedelic "community". While I see it as a possibility, it is not something I like to believe. I don't like the idea that who I am is just an illusion of the body while really being something which is really beyond what we can understand. One consciousness seems to me like an idea that is being pushed without even being understood. Because how can we understand it while existing as separate beings? Just my 2 cents. Obviously what I say isn't based purely on research, just what I feel.

IMO, whether you see Oneness or reductionist multiplicity is a purely arbitrary choice. It is not about which version of reality is real or illusory. If anyone dogmatically claims one or the other is an illusion, you may very well be right about being stuck in a kind of cult mindset.

We choose how we frame up our perceptions based on what is most useful at the time. If you feel alone and alienated - burdened by the stresses of modern life and by pathologies of the ego - then dissolving boundaries/reframing/zooming to the extreme in order to perceive everything as Oneness can be extremely relieving and beneficial. On the other hand, one can get the zoom wheel stuck and be unable to come back down and frame up reality in a way that is useful or beneficial. This can lead to insanity, emotional deadness or aloofness, or lack of ambition or responsibility.
 
Oneness always tugged at me in the wrong way, atleast how I understand it. I don't want to be at one with another entity who harmed and killed a family member or even another person
 
I have been fortunate enough to have had a number of experiences where I felt I achieved oneness.
Most concerned the natural world. The sensations were extraordinary, to say the least. They were the nearest I have come to some sort of unlimited potential.
The words fail me.
 
Oneness always tugged at me in the wrong way, atleast how I understand it. I don't want to be at one with another entity who harmed and killed a family member or even another person
In the physical world, we are aware of a sort of oneness (for example, everything is attracted by gravity to everything else), but it doesn't trouble us.

I too feel uncomfortable with oneness, but perhaps it is because we normally conceive of consciousness as utterly separate - basically because we have no science of consciousness.

David
 
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I would say our Self does, at the edges, bleed into other Selves but there is a Core I-Self that does intertwine with others.

See these models of consciousness Crabtree has collected and his own model at the end:


The Outer Mind and Inner Mind are separated by a barrier that normally prevents the Outer Mind from being directly aware of the contents of the Inner Mind, but which does not prevent the Inner Mind from knowing the Outer Mind and the Outer World. This shielding seems to be necessary to allow the Outer Mind to do its job of living in the world without undue distraction. The threshold or barrier may be considered a kind of semipermeable membrane which allows free movement only one way. This barrier may also be thought of as a threshold of consciousness, in the sense that impressions or influences break through from the Inner Mind into Outer Mind awareness.
 
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