. . . when I'm high and watching drama, how real the characters seem to be. As if they haven't simply come out of the imagination of the writer, but were real-life beings, actual people living out their life. I always know I'm watching a drama and it isn't real, and what they say may not be what could've been said exactly, but then again, it also could be, and in that moment, it feels as if it is. \nBecause everything is inside me, by feeling these ideas to be real, the ideas they represent become real to me. I am seeing these creations in the same way that we are all creations, ideas, in a sense, through the filter of ‘me', simply because what is happening is resonating and making sense in the moment I experience it. \nI might not always know when people say things whether they mean what I think they mean because most people don't reveal themselves very clearly, and some even go as far as to only reveal what they feel they want to show or others to see. This makes getting who people are not always easy. Yet, when I watch a good drama unfold on the screen, there is no doubt of its reality in certain moments because the characters in the drama are not trying to be anything other than what they are. And yet, like all art, you might see something completely different to me, connect with it differently, on your own level. Just as we all do 'in real life'. \nThe drama comes out of the minds of those who's ideas have been listened to, considered, understood, by many people before we, the audience, ever get to experience them for ourselves. Never mind how the actor, bringing them to life, imparts their own experience into who we eventually see in front of us. And after all that, if it's simply brilliant and feels real in ways that other dramas do not, so it REALLY FEELS REAL AT THE TIME I'M WATCHING IT, it is every bit as real as anything that might otherwise happen in what I'd call real life. \nA question arises though. Should I be seeing what happens on the screen as reflecting real life? Life isn't usually such a drama. In feeling it that way, am I making what goes on behind the screen more important than experiencing life away from it? Isn't real life the only thing that can reveal what reality actually is, because it's always based on how I experience it, not what I think I know about it based on what others tell me it is? \nYet, if I have a good idea and want to share it, what better way of doing so than through a medium that reaches people in such a profound way? And because what most people think and feel doesn't get to be considered by others in the way those who have a reason to be telling us theirs does, it only needs the right idea, revealed in the right way, to effect everyone who becomes aware of it. \nYou might remember a man named David Icke who went on television in the early 80's and announced that he was the son of god. In his purple tracksuit, his television status allowed him to be invited there, which set him up to be ridiculed simply because he felt something very strongly and wanted to share it, to reveal who he was as any who genuinely feel the truth would. \nIt is not about someone coming to save us exactly. That's just a way of seeing it. For were that to be absolutely true, it would continue to create feelings of separation - ‘He is there and I am here' or ‘I believe, while you do not'. But that doesn't mean there isn't someone who represents this strongly at this time. Who is capable of channeling it. A lightning rod that conducts the energy to earth. \nWe see the world according to who we are and how we look, and especially how we think. How we think denotes what we believe. In order to let go of old beliefs, we usually want something better to replace them with. We tend to hold onto what we know, what we've decided, until something supersedes it. But this approach can also close things down, because we get used to seeing it that way. To be truly free to become more of who we are, we must be ready to let go of anything at any time. Most importantly, as Postal mentioned recently, know we know nothing so as to be open to what is there when you see it.
Dammit why cant i get those kind of highs? *pounds fist on table* I seek the strongest weed for the best high, but i never experience anything like that.
You'd be surprised at how little the cannabis you choose to use matters. It is only a 'permission slip' to allow you to become more of who you are. The 'secret' is in willing to let go, not just during the altered state, but in real life too. To be open and honest so that all the barriers come down. Not achieved overnight, but as it becomes real, so do the insights about who you are and what you see,
This is one of the reasons that I advocate cannabis as an entheogen. It helps you to transcend your ego. It's okay for you to acknowledge the genius of others and the miracle of creation. Today in our culture of "did you hear this or that" we seem to want to know everything and be one step ahead of everyone else. When we drop our ego, we can see that the capacity to be amazed by another person says just as much about us as it does about them. As Pascal wrote [SIZE=12.800000190734863px]"Ordinary people will see no difference between men"[/SIZE]
i think he means you may be trying too hard.... You already have all you need... Just a bit of cannabis can often be enough to "wake" some of you up that doesn't always find its way to the surface.... Now..as for the op.... i personally don't even own a television..... not my thing..... i do however enjoy reading...and have had many experiences similar to what you describe "watching" only the experiences i describe were inspired by my reading mind....rather than my watching mind.... are the two experiences really that different at the core..... other than requiring different processing.... Idk.... reading seems far more internal..... one produces their own images for/during processing....
I don't have a TV either. Any screen will do though. Even one made of mind. I think the reading mind and the watching mind are all mind. So no, no difference, in fact, what the mind can imagine itself, rather than relying on others to do it for them, will always be more real.
Exactly. It's not what you use it's how you use it. This is well said. For those who look to 'get out of it' when they take such substances are looking in the wrong place. For those who seek the strongest, most mind-altering experience, may never find what they're really looking for. This is a journey. It is not just about escaping into another space, unless one chooses to use that space properly. As wyzard so eloquently put it, cannabis is an entheogen, and as such, is not meant to be used for its own sake alone, often combined with other things, but for the sake of the whole. It is a key that opens the door to something real, once you let go of the ego that is. It will help you to do that, or it will help you to inflate it. Look inside at why you use it, so that why you use it becomes more real than simply using it.
Nothing wrong with being stoned, but there are other ways to approach this altered state that reveal a different experience if one wants it.
Actually, that brings a question to mind: I'm interested to know what changes you notice within yourself when you feel stoned, especially when you're around other people? I ask this not because I suspect you experience things differently, although you might, but in how you still exert the control over yourself and others which you feel you need.
Aside from these remarkably unusual symptoms you seem to experience, what about psychologically? Do you think differently. See things differently? For me, there is an opening, even a vulnerability sometimes, whereby what I feel, what I see, gets heightened, especially around other people. But then I choose to be open, want to be, am not afraid to be. I don't choose to spend time with people I don't wish to be open with though. Most people don't seem able to be as open; many aren't looking to be, don't know how to be, or are afraid of seeming weak, so to be around people openly isn't always easy. I suspect that when you're stoned, nobody notices.
My personal view on life is that it is all based around narrative, we are born into the narrative of a family, of a nation, of a self. All around us stories consume our daily lives while purporting to be more than stories; fiction does not claim to be more than a story, and so while being "less real" than our daily existence it can sometimes feel more real due to it's truthfulness in allowing itself to be no more than a story. I'm not sure I'm explaining myself well, it's an idea I don't often articulate, but it's the main reason I enjoy reading so much. I guess to expand I mean to say that we relate to everything around us through story, the story of a table is that it stays in the same place and allows things to be placed on top of it, the story of the world is that things are going wrong and we're not exactly sure what to do, etc. etc. All things relate to us as stories, but we most often see a table as a table and not as a story, which creates a disconnect, so when something allows itself to simply be a story it connects with us on a higher level, we can see it clearly for what it is. This isn't really a developed idea, just something I've been pondering a lot lately, hope it makes sense.
I get what you mean. I suppose the difference is, and why I thought about this, is we think we can learn from what other people tell us, and to some extent we can, but unless we experience it ourselves, we only have our own idea about what they actually mean to go on. So you'd think, that in seeing certain kinds of performances the way I can, there should be nothing I can get from it when compared to real life. Yet, when done well, drama is also real life because it makes me feel something that moves me in a way regular life does not.
I would think that's because it's made up. Your social mimicry can still kick in while watching TV and movies, so if well done, they'll convey the emotions they want to convey.. So if you're watching something and the emotional focus is love, you'll feel it, but you won't have all those other possibilities like in reality. You meet someone, you fall in love, yet there's always a fear of something lingering. Fear she'll leave you, cheat on you, or die. Whatever other emotions or thoughts you have going on take up more of your focus, you don't really get that with entertainment.. Or you could have some kind of nonviolent, unaggressive antisocial personality disorder.
I associate the word 'stoned' with the feeling you get after your mind has exhausted itself processing information in an elevated state. For the best experience with Cannabis I recommend: Eat a good meal about two-hours before - Nutritious meal, a multi-vitamin, and lots of water\t Wait to smoke/vape until after you no longer feel the meal digesting. This will focus your mind on the ethereal and away from the biological process of digestion.\t Do not eat or drink anything while high, doing so will re-focus your mind on the earth and distract it from the ethereal energy fields that we all associate with the isolation of ego and the incorporation with the divine. Many traditions call this 'fasting' - but simply not eating is unwise as you will not have the energy you need to excite your brain to the energy level you desire. Wiccans have a concept they call "grounding" which acts in a similar way. I have heard grounding explained many ways, but it amounts to the same thing (putting your body in the state that is conducive to working with your intended energy) @essef not directing this advice at you, It's clear to me you too have walked among the gods.
I can try, I am no expert nor have I really studied outside of personal interaction (mostly people watching actually) and the world wide web.. and when it comes to the mind and mental "illness", there's a seemingly unlimited number of factors. When it comes to people though, in terms of what I am talking about, there are some who can feel their emotions, like really feel them. Then there are people who are more disconnected from their personal emotions, typically more connected with the emotions of their environment. Most people have a balance between the two sides, some lean more towards one side or the other.. Everyone is different, and some might not even have any "activity" on one side.. or either in some extreme cases. Even rarer, some might be on full blast on both sides.. You're probably leaning a good bit further than most to the disconnected side. Going off of your surroundings for the most part since that's what you feel the most. If your subconscious is relying more on social mimicry than your own "ego", you'll probably feel what others feel. You make someone feel good and loved, you feel good and loved. Make someone angry and have them project it onto you, rage will build even if you don't want it to. Might have a harder time with big social events, mainly cause your brain is going nuts with the mimicry. There's probably a ton of expanding left and/or needed, most of that was a lot of personal projection too, it's just my ADD has been on a warpath lately. If any or all rings a bell to you, I can try to better explain whatever it is I am trying to explain then..
PS - The only time I get goosebumps (aside from being cold) is when I am watching a movie or something. Getting goosebumps with personal interaction, good luck..