Loose Cognition, Cognitive Science, Mental Construct Processing

Enlightenment is a matter of rational, cognitive, intellectual loosening up of mental constructs and mental processing in the mystic altered state in order to revise thinking, to produce a more logically consistent mental worldmodel.

Someone wrote:

>Enlightenment is not a state of mind. Neither is it not a state of mind. Enlightment is not found on the rational end of things (although the refinement of logic plays a major role). Rather, it is a mystical state of bliss. Its when you just don't give a fuck. You see how it all is. You just look at it and laugh because you see people making sense out of it one way, then another, and then you become liberated into this lucid, lubricated, gel-like state. You see that everything is true and nothing is true.

Wilber differentiates between "states" and "stages". I found a cognitive-science derived terminology more effective: "mental worldmodels" and "cognitive binding intensities".

The egoic worldmodel is established first, and is then transcended and included in the transcendent worldmodel. Ken Wilber calls either of these worldmodels a "stage" of mental (or "psychospiritual") development.

Some people have denied that enlightenment is an altered state. I would say that (typically) enlightenment happens in the altered state, and then remains when the default state resumes.

Some people have denied that rationality produces enlightenment. I would say that rationality is one of the two required contributors to enlightenment, the other being the altered state.

Some people have denied that rationality has anything to do with enlightenment. I disagree. Only a feeble, pointlessly crippled, intuitive kind of enlightenment would be possible without rationality. That kind of enlightenment cannot be rationally communicated. One misunderstands enlightenment and sells it short, if one thinks it is not based on rationality. Enlightenment is rational and is based on rationality, and can be communicated rationally. Enlightenment happens most naturally and is experienced most deeply in the altered state (loose cognitive association).

I can imagine attaining enlightenment via full rationality with no altered state, or via no rationality but only with the altered state. However, this is as pointless, silly, absurd, and artificial as climbing a mountain with your shoes tied together. Let us think in terms of ergonomics.

Trying to attain enlightenment without the altered state is a sin against ergonomics and is an insult to the altered state. Trying to attain enlightenment without rationality is a sin against ergonomics and is an insult to rationality.

Rationality is a tool which is perfectly suited for the job at hand, and the altered state is a tool which is perfectly suited for the job at hand. The job requires both these tools: rationality and the altered state. Rationality + altered state = enlightenment. Any other formula adds up to a stunted mess and is unergonomic, therefore is to be rejected as a definition of what enlightenment is about.

Enlightenment is about using rationality in the state of loose cognitive association to switch from the egoic freewill mental worldmodel to the transcendent no-free-will, timeless block-universe mental worldmodel.

The following is a typical, archetypal sequence showing the movement from the egoic mental model to the transcendent mental model, and showing how the transition from tight cognition to temporary loose cognition and back to tight cognition is related to the mental model shift. This shows how enlightenment is both a temporary event that happens *in* the loosecog state and a permanent mental model that originates in the loosecog state and remains when the tightcog state resumes.

This shows the senses in which enlightenment is both an altered state and an enduring mental model. Rationality is required before, during, and after the altered state; rationality fully participates in enlightenment. Both rationality and loosecog are required, to attain, or at least to fully experience, enlightenment.

1. Egoic mental model & tight cognition

First there is the egoic mental worldmodel of time, self, and control, with the cognitive state of tight cognitive binding (abbreviated: tight cognition, tight-cog state, or tight-cog). Basic reasoning ability is developed using that worldmodel and that cognitive state.

2. Egoic mental model & loose cognition

Second, the mind enters the cognitive state of loose binding between mental constructs -- loose cognition, or loose-cog. This combination of egoic mental model and loose cognition is highly unstable. Virtual loss of control occurs; experience of ego death or cybernetic self-control breakdown. This is cyber-control death, or cyber-death, as portrayed in the song The Body Electric http://www.egodeath.com/rushlyrics.htm#xtocid22998.

3. Transcendent mental model & loose cognition

While still in the altered state, experience walking into the kingdom of heaven, in which the Ground of Being is seen to author, create, own, and control all thoughts. The mind contains conscious experience of the existence of a hidden transcendent or underlying metaphysical source timelessly putting all thoughts into place at all points in time. There is a world putting forth thoughts in one's mind, and there may be a transcendent God that is timelessly creating/controlling that world, but even if both a world and God exist, the one thing that doesn't is the freewill doer, the genuine egoic agent.

4. Transcendent mental model & tight cognition

Tight cognition resumes by default, and the transcendent mental model remains, including the egoic mental model which it subsumes (transcends and includes).

This is a simplified, archetypal model of the progression, as though a perfectly egoic mind enters the altered state one time only and completely transforms to the full-fledged transcendent mental model, which is then completely retained and rationally understood after tight cognition resumes. In practice, the egoic mind starts off with some religious knowledge, several initiations may be required, and much study, reflection, and explicit model-tinkering may be needed.

This ideal single-pass progression would happen if the initiate were young and not widely read, and if an ideal way of entering the altered state is fully available, and a wonderfully concise and clear and vivid book is available (Ego Death: How to Experience and Understand It), and good communities, discussion groups, or schools of transformation are available.

Mystic state vs. mental content, perennial philosophy

Cheryl wrote (paraphrased):

>>Assuming that the mystical experience has a standard common core, why is there variety of experiences across entheogen sessions and individuals? Is a person's experience influenced by their knowledge?

The mystic state of consciousness, such as from visionary plants, has some standard but loose set of cognitive effects, as a family resemblance, as a general cognitive processing state aside from particular mental content. For example, the most interesting parameter that often changes in cognitive processing is the great loosening of mental construct association binding; mental constructs dis-integrate.

Even if this particular effect is less tangible with THC than with LSD, the 'loose cognition' characterization is all that's needed for a highly useful theoretical model of the mystic state. By conceptualizing the mystic state as 'loose cognition', that characterization gives the most bang for the buck in proceeding to construct an entire theory and model of mental worldmodel revision.

On top of the layer of loose cognition, is the layer of particular mental content. Loose cognition enables profoundly blissful and terrifying experiences. For everyone, across world mysticism, there exists a set of classic experiential phenomena, potential altered-state mental dynamics, awaiting discovery during exploration of the mystic state, or loosecog state.

Give an American and a Japanese a dose of LSD, during two sessions, and the result will be four different sets of experiences, but with certain recurring phenomena, in a loosely overlapping way. The same set of around twelve themes is reported across cultures, though these themes are experienced and reported using various, equivalent imagery and metaphorical description.

Greater knowledge about loose cognition and its dynamics of content layered on top of it, can home in on some of the most characteristic, fascinating, and alluring aspects of it, such as the self-control singularity vortex, time stoppage, affixion and absorption of oneself into spacetime, the sense of being mysteriously externally controlled, and the loss of the sense of wielding personal control power over one's thoughts, actions, and movements of will.

I am of the Perennial Philosophy school, putting the accent on the transcendent unity of mystic experiencing across cultures. However, this doesn't mean that everyone within a particular culture has the same quality of mystic experiencing. Your knowledge about higher thinking must reach a certain level, before you can fully, intensely, and richly engage with the mystic state realm and meaningfully discover and encounter its potential mental dynamics and the resulting experiential insights.

Michael wrote:

>>>You might say I discovered the key to secular metaphysical philosophy in 1988, but didn't discover the essence of transcendent religion until around 1995. Around 1995 I still assumed much of the New Testament should be read literally; that there was a historical Jesus and crew, even though I had experienced rising up to meet the *heavenly*, spiritual Jesus as personified principle halfway up in the air, as in the "third or fourth heaven" in a system where the sphere of deterministic fixed stars to penetrate is level 8.

Cheryl wrote:

>>How to more advanced mystic state experiences compare with earlier, more beginner mystic state experiences? How does knowing the theory of mystic insight, or knowing various cultural mental constructs affect mystic-state experience?

Familiarity with the mental dynamics and intellectual-philosophical concerns expands as the series of entheogen sessions proceeds, but also homes in on certain of the most fascinating mental dynamics, such as the experiencing of non-control and of timelessness.

To discover some of the most interesting and profound classic mystic-state phenomena, a certain level of thinking and reading is necessary about mystic experiencing, theology, religion, philosophy, cognitive psychology, mythology, esotericism, control, time, will, and personal agency. It is nonsensical and self-defeating, a common fallacy, to think that it's possible to have full and profound mystic experiencing without having a pertinent mental library of concepts to provide a handle on the mystic state.

Without knowledge, experience is greatly limited. Inadequate knowledge limits experiencing, and inadequate experiencing limits knowledge.

>>Is the core of mystic-state experiencing universal because of brain chemistry, analogous to how eyesight is biologically universal and standard?

The common features of mystic-state experiencing are universal because brain chemistry and cognitive construct processing about personal agency is universal and standard. Everyone, across cultures, by late childhood, has an experience of being a locus of controllership, wielding power and responsibility, interacting with other people who are also so conceived.

Even if all the rest of their myth-religion and culture is different, the original sin of thinking in terms of freewill personal agency is universal, even applying to animals: "I move myself and direct my thoughts".

This accustomed, sense-based mental framework becomes highly developed and entrenched even in the most rational, intellectual person prior to initiation, like how the Newtonian system of spacetime physics became highly elaborated by the late 1800s, with only a few loose ends, such as lack of self-integrity about moving oneself and one's thoughts.

>>Does the standard mystic state of loose cognition, when combined with various worldviews or theories, influence one's mental content and perceptual sense of the world?

Most generally, the cross-culturally standard mystic state of loose cognition is combined with perennial philosophy, which is also cross-culturally standard; there are equivalent ideas in the higher philosophy across cultures, such as problematic concern with what can be called freewill personal agency. One's mental content will vary in some respects across cultures, but the similarity of the mystic state and of the perennial philosophy across cultures will cause a degree of standardization of one's mental content and perceptual sense of the world and of personal agency.

There will be some differences in surface conceptualization and metaphorical language frameworks, but the cognitive dynamics of personal controllership are pretty well standard.

Michael wrote:

>>>My modern whole-system of transcendence works by combining unprecedentedly *direct* and effective explanation, with any amount of tripping. My systematization (the Cybernetic Theory of Ego Death) is clearer not just to today's audience, but to any audience; it is clearer in absolute terms, not just relative to its contemporary audience.

>>>One way it is better is that it has much higher *for its intended audience* than the old attempted systematizations had *for their intended audiences*. Thus after we have normalized for cultural differences, my theory still comes out far ahead. Previous systems were confused and hazy *to their own audiences*; they were *not* clear and direct and ergonomic to the audience of their day.

Cheryl wrote:

>>Concerning cultural difference: would this include a cultural acknowledging the value of critical thinking? Would this groundwork be helpful?

Critical thinking is an increase of thinking compared to careless, lazy thinking. Noncritical thinking receives a single careless association, and immediately halts, whereas criticial thinking gathers many associations, evaluates them carefully, and selects the best. Critical thinking also amounts to a conscious, skilled awareness of interlocking sets of ideas: higher-order critical thinking.

Enlightenment about personal control agency has everything to do with higher-order critical thinking: you can either think about time, will, self, and control according to the familiar accustomed overarching scheme, or, according to a profoundly different arrangement of all sorts of related ideas and mental constructs.

Critical thinking means mastering multiple competing idea-networks; and enlightenment is about switching from one idea-network to a competing idea-network, so higher-order critical thinking is essential and mandatory for full basic enlightenment. Short of such critical thinking, the mind can't quickly lock onto the changed mental worldmodel; thus the horrible inefficiency of Zen, which attempts to attain enlightenment based only on experience, empty of intellectual content and skill.

>>Do cultural differences cause some resistance to embracing the cybernetic self-control theory of ego death and rebirth? Such as the negative attitude toward visionary plants? Or as in an educational system that promotes a worldview antagonistic toward "book knowledge"?

There is a confluence of factors working together against giving visionary plants the credit they deserve. The American hot/cold attitude toward the intellect, ersatz New Age spirituality, and the phony Prohibition-for-Profit War on Drugs walk hand-in-hand.

There is no resistance to the cybernetic self-control theory of ego death and rebirth. People who have learned what the theory says have readily accepted it. The theory hasn't been put forward in print for evaluation yet. Some people don't accept certain main aspects of the theory, such as the ahistoricity of Jesus, the straightforward rationality of mystic insight and enlightenment, the strongly entheogenic basis of religion, and mystic no-free-will.

I don't know of anyone who has evaluated all the main points of the theory and then rejected the theory overall. It is too early still; the theory is still being initially packaged to make it quickly learnable.

Entheogens as telescope

>I, like so many other people here, are trying to understand what you are saying about block-universe determinism without taking entheogens.

I am undecided about my views of people trying to understand comprehend or perceive block universe determinism without looking through the telescope of entheogens. The Prohibition-for-profit gravy-train has made the Holy Spirit illegal. The telescope is illegal, so I cannot ask people to look through it. But this telescope is *the* main tool for doing scientific research and data collection in this area of studying the ego death experience.

The sure and instant way to understand the rational model of ego death is to study the summaries I'm putting together and also look through the appropriate, entheogenic opera glasses. Entheogens without a rational theory of ego death won't convey understanding *or* fullness of experience, and a rational theory without entheogens will be severely limited in ability to convey a full understanding.

Entheogens amplify all mental processes

Empty-headed people portray their entheogen experiences in empty-headed ways. Do not confuse the way empty-headed people characterize and report entheogen experiences with the potential of entheogen experiences. Polymaths and gifted minds, even when starting out heavily biased against entheogens, consistently report that entheogens are a generalized, non-specific amplifier of cognitive processes including artistic sense, emotional capability, cognitive performance, and metaphor-manipulation ability.

Anyone who values cognition, or metaphor-handling ability, or emotion, and wants to amplify that, can do no better than to investigate entheogens. Never forget: the first thing to remember about our knowledge of entheogens is that our culture, so far, only has experienced them under a severe combination of legal suppression, cultural taboo, and sheer ignorance and misinformation, including lies, distortion, misinformation, and power-establishment propaganda.

What are entheogens about? Certainly *not* just today's way of using entheogens, which most obviously includes empty-headed kids at raves. You must not mistake the reports of directionless 16-year-olds in today's extremely oppressive and largely ignorant climate to provide a useful characterization and report of what entheogens can bring.

The superficial and the young may value entheogens as sensory enhancers while overlooking the cognitive enhancement abilities. Certainly, sensory enhancement is helpful in developing many areas of human knowledge -- we should not put down sensory enhancement, but only put down excessive attention to sensory enhancement at the expense of the many other riches entheogens provide as a non-specific amplifier of all mental processes.

An important idea I want to impress on everyone: imagine what it would be like if entheogens were not suppressed. We would hear descriptions and applications from many more people than just superficial empty-headed people who value them only for their sensory enhancement quality. Even now, under today's worst-case conditions, although kids and other non-cerebral users may overemphasize the superficial effects of entheogens, if you read any serious books about entheogens or even if you read a large number of anonymous writings online you will immediately find a much broader picture of the cognitive enhancement abilities of entheogens.

Always remember: blame prohibition for today's shortcomings of entheogens; don't blame entheogens themselves. If entheogens look ridiculous and limited today, it is not because of their potential or their own innate character; it's because of prohibition.

Aldous Huxley had shockingly backwards, narrow-minded, unenlightened notions about entheogens -- until the moment he tried them."

Optimal looseness of mental construct binding

Ed wrote:

>...I think more in concepts than visual images so I wasn't inclined to close my eyes and visualize ... my own technique ... music and inward focus, the feedback loops ...

Ken Wilber has used the term 'vision-logic' in a way that is almost perfectly appropriate for the mystic altered state of loose cognitive association. It is hard to determine exactly what he has in mind by the term. Lately he has been writing more about entheogens and maybe we will see if he connects 'vision-logic' with entheogenic cognition.

>I found that the experience varied greatly, perhaps qualitatively as well as by degree, according to dosage, as well as set and setting.

>An outwardly focused experience, perhaps chatting with friends or walking about your environment, was suitable for a low dose. low dosages seem to enhance perceptual experience and emotional response to those experiences. The externally focused trips can be enjoyable and insightful, but are limited.

"Disco hits".

>I experienced ... controlled hallucinations ... at moderate dosages. moderate dosages allow for a controlled reverie or fantasy process. the middle zone ... It's probably the best place to be.

>In the middle zone you really do have a choice about the path you take. You can obsess about the negative and focus on that. Or you can focus on the positive and go with that. You choose the path you take. And in general it's wise to choose the path with joy.

>At very high dosages, mental phenomena seem to take on a life of their own, independent of the ego and its "ray of attention".

>higher dosages mimic ... psychosis. The ego is overwhelmed by psychic forces beyond its apparent control. In that respect the condition is like dreaming, except that dreaming mimics normal waking experience, whereas the hallucinations I've had in that state are more disembodied and removed from an environmental context.

>The psychotic trips can be terrifying and too out of control. It can be difficult to integrate a psychotic episode. And without the proper setting and social support, they are potentially dangerous.

Even a sustained, deliberate investigation of ego death is best done with intermediate dosage levels, such as 350 micrograms rather than 500-800 micrograms. If you graph dosage versus usefulness, the high dosages are not the most interesting, useful, or valuable. You miss out, with overdosing. You could say that 350 mics is more kick-ass than 500-800 mics. Overdosing produces lame experiencing. The most awesome experience and comprehension of profundity is through intermediate amounts -- perhaps strong, but not extreme.

Loose cognition and dynamic visual distortion

From the Cognitive Science perspective, I think the most telling parts of some trip reports have to do with loose cognition. Entheogens cause their effects by means of a single general principle: the principle of loosening cognitive associations. Practically and tangibly, the way that loose cognition is most easily recognized as such is through visual pattern construction and through improvising on a musical instrument such as electric guitar.

Improvisational electric guitarists were thus strongly urged on by the cannabis and LSD themselves -- "pot and acid" -- because the resulting loose-cognition state promises forthcoming money and fame and Guitar-God status by providing musical creativity fully on tap -- the muse is at your beck and call. The last problem the Guitar God has to worry about is where to find creativity -- the looming problem is retaining self-control, but even that is fine because that challenge provides recognizably transcendent rather than mundane thematic material, as seen in the song Bohemian Rhapsody.

A feedback loop was thus created in acid rock, a loop formed by electric guitar improvisation, entheogenic loose cognition, songwriting material, and status within the world of Rock as a creative artist.

In this sense, music most clearly reveals loose cognition as the root of the mystic state. It is hard for a lower-intermediate level instrumentalist to improvise, but loose cognition makes it more than easy -- it is even scary how the insane genius level of improvision is blasted through one's mind and fingers.

It is scary to suddenly become a raving superhuman genius of improvisation and imagination -- God only knows what mad blast of brilliance will come next. This warrants calling them Guitar Gods, or Neil Peart a Drummer God -- superhuman inspiration of pattern-loosened inspiration is blasted through his mind and hands, with Neil merely as a channel that can at most shape the torrent.

I looked for specific and direct indicators of loose cognition in the original posting in this thread. I found two types: dynamic visual distortion, and turbocharged instrumental improvisation.

Turbocharged instrumental improvisation:

>Guitar jam - D and I spontaneously improvised some incredible music the likes of which I have yet to be able to emulate, it was caught on tape and analyzed by myself for one year, after which the tape disappeared.

>Played guitar extremely well.

Dynamic visual distortion:

>Faces melting, coming apart, cartoony.

>Trees shifting.

>Random patterns appearing perfectly ordered.

>Blinds flipping.

>Glass melting in my hands.

>Grass and trees blowing in the wind looked like cartoon.

>Entire field of vision becoming warped like fish eye lens.

>Flowers coming more alive with radiant lights and then wilting and coming alive again.

>Closed eye visions.

>First hidden paintings visions on acid (carpet, wood floors, etc.).

>Saw abstract, shifting, melting images in everything, strobe effect.

>Had random images like I was dreaming while awake.

>Face mutations in mirror.

>Watched dancing images in television static.

Other features specifically suggesting loose cognition:

>Saw "the trip of all possible trips" and it was a game where you had like a remote control and you could access any permutation of reality at will.

>The solidity of reality loosening - the possibilities.

Some lyrics alluding to dynamic visual distortion include:

wall street shuffles

behind my beloved waterfall

shifting shafts of shining

pavements may teem with intense energy, but the city is calm in this violent sea

permanent waves

sea spray blurs my vision, the waves roll by so fast

wave after wave will flow with the tide, and bury the world as it does

fish-eye lens

features distorted in the flickering light, faces are twisted and grotesque

wind in my hair shifting and drifting

a tired mind become a shape shifter

sunlight on chrome

become a shape-shifter

unstable condition

feverish flux"

Article: Experiences of Radical Personal Transformation in Mysticism

Experiences of Radical Personal Transformation in Mysticism, Religious

Conversion, and Psychosis: A Review of the Varieties, Processes, and

Consequences of the Numinous

Harry T. Hunt, Brock University

The Journal of Mind and Behavior, Autumn 2000, Volume 21, Number 4,

Pages 353-398, ISSN 0271-0137

After an overview of the phenomenology of numinous experience in mysticism, conversion, and related states in psychosis, the intersection and distinction between contemporary transpersonal psychologies of spiritual development and psychodynamic/clinical perspectives on pathological states is addressed from cognitive-developmental, psycho-physiological, personality, and socio-cultural perspectives. Debates about the nature of mystical and conversion experiences have a long history in the psychology of religious experience and raise fundamental methodological issues concerning the potential inclusiveness or narrowness of the human sciences. A genuine psychology of numinous experience and its impact on life histories must find its way between the twin dangers of "over-belief" and false reductionism.

Requests for reprints should be sent to Harry T. Hunt, Ph.D., Department of

Psychology, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada L2S 3A1.

Innovative Pattern Recognition, Flexible pattern perception

>What is the difference between "higher" and "lower" pattern perception?

Loose cognition, such as provided by LSD, enables the mind to switch from the accustomed worldmodel to another worldmodel, particularly an egoless, timeless, frozen-future worldmodel. Lower pattern perception is restricted to familar cliche patterns of thinking and perceiving -- this mode of pattern-recognition is reliable and is supported by tight cognition, or tight association of mental construct patterns, such as the feeling of a solid sense of self as a control agent moving through time and exercising power to create one's future.

In lower pattern perception, the 3rd eye is closed; consciousness is settled down and immersed in the familar ruts of patterns and familiar mental associations, such as trying to improvise on a musical instrument but ending up playing the same patterns inadvertently. Having a recognizable personality relies on such habitual patterns of dynamic mental construct associations.

During the mystic altered state of loose cognition, mental construct associations are loosened. The 3rd eye or consciousness is raise up out of its immersion in egoic routine patterns, and a higher or further-back point of view results. This higher point of view enables new pattern perception, and self-control and will and self and time are all seen from above, from a different point of view. Time appears frozen, thoughts appear to be injected into the mind from a hidden source -- and the mind is passively, helplessly given one thought after the next, without one's will being consulted. Self-control is seen as something artificial and distant from one's new locus of identity, which is consciousness.

Michael wrote in the intro page:

>>>Pattern-perception becomes highly flexible and innovative in the dissociative cognitive state

Melody http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Transpersonal_Psychology/ wrote:

>>I haven't looked in on egodeath.com for quite awhile.

Most of my new material from the past few years is in the egodeath discussion group, not yet migrated to the egodeath website.

It is hard to identify the best discussion groups and spend the time posting there. For sheer practical reasons, I've fallen back too much posting in just a few groups, purely for reasons of limited attention, not because they are the best groups or the best use of my time. Pure familiarity and habit -- those same reasons prevent people from discovering my discussion group.

I would like to discuss the shortcomings of Ken Wilber in the transpersonal psychology group. Wilber writes almost nothing about the Hellenistic Religions, entheogens, and determinism -- just enough to demonstrate that he knows next to nothing about these three closely interrelated subjects. His crucial oversight is my opportunity.

Wilber's paradigm includes: free will implicitly accepted by default; meditation predominance w/ entheogens as "alternative simulation"; literalism about Jesus' existence

I take the opposite view on these three points, and pose them as the most central concerns of religion. I hold: timeless determinism; entheogens strongly predominant over meditation; all religion is purely mythic metaphorical description of the mystic state, with Jesus and crew being entirely mythical-mystical, and not at all literal -- same with Buddha.

All my other analysis of Wilber amounts to elaboration upon a paradigmatic difference based on these pillars.

>>Elaborate -- are you talking about "synchronicities" here? I think your sentence describes perfectly the CIA scene in "A Beautiful Mind" (Russell Crowe as a schizophrenic).

I'm talking about systemic pattern recognition, as in learning to perceive 3-dimensional shapes in stereograms. Perhaps Jung's idea of synchronicities is legitimate when interpreted as this sort of pattern recognition. Zen and mystic insight is a matter of, in a mystic state of loose cognitive association, perceiving things in a different way, resulting in an experiential insight about the relation of self, control, time, and world.

Alan Watts' book The Way of Zen portrays Satori this way -- against today's conceptions of spirituality as a lifestyle. I agree with Watts in portraying enlightenment, salvation, and satori as having everything to do with a change of understanding and perception of the world, and nothing directly to do with a change of conduct or lifestyle.

Improved conduct and improved concept (worldmodel) are two distinct threads of personal development. In the intense mystic altered state, there is a prominent experience of something akin to "synchronicities"; everything seems to be leading together toward some remarkable, tremendous goal: that's the real, legitimate meaning of "synchronicities". Everything *is* -- while in that state -- working in concert in a certain limited sense, but what's really going on is that the individual mind is in an esoteric mode of reading the world, such that a candy wrapper "means" ego death.

But the candy wrapper doesn't *in itself* intend to pull the mind toward ego death and enlightenment; the apparent concert of intention where everything that happens in one's experience points to ego death enlightenment reflects what goes on in one's mind, *not* the intended meaning going on out there in the world. One could even say that *God* intends all that's happening around the person in the mystic state to lead to ego death/enlightenment, and that the individual mind is *interpreting* all events as leading toward it. But it is incorrect to suppose that the candy wrapper and surrounding people all *consciously intend in themselves* to lead one to ego death and enlightenment.

The people and objects "are meant" to lead one to ego death, one could say, but what is the nature of this "meant"? To complicate matters, this lack of conscious intention applies to religiously retarded modernity, more than to pre-modern culture that has authentic mystic-state enlightenment. In an authentically mystical community, the people around one -- such as the Mystery Cult hierophant -- may indeed be deliberately and masterfully leading one on to the self-destruction insight that is ego death and enlightenment; a notable and outstanding exception to the rule "they aren't intending to lead you to ego death" is heavy rock lyrics.

The schizophrenic hears any lyrics and interprets them in a "delusions of reference" way, thinking that all songs on the radio are intended by the lyricists to lead him or other listeners into ego death and enlightenment. The schizophrenic is mistaken: not *all* lyrics are intended so by their authors.

However, there is a notable exception: in Heavy Rock lyrics, many lyricists themselves are in the psychotomimetic state and know about ego death and enlightenment and loose-cognition pattern recognition, and certain of their verses *do* intend consciously to pull the individual listener toward the ego death realization climax vortex.

In Beautiful Mind, the schizophrenic is looking for pattern recognition trends in pop news articles. This urge to pattern recognition is generally profound and legitimate: the mind has a circuit which is specifically designed for a particular pattern- recognition activity: the pattern recognition that is required for ego death insight as a mystic-state experiential climax. When not steered coherently, this innate universal urge for pattern recognition toward ego death climax ends up being misdirected into other directions, psychotic delusions of reference. Everything and everyone *is* out to mentally kill oneself, to cause some dreadful drama centered around oneself, in some sense -- but in what sense?

Pattern recognition is useful for other intellectual endeavors, but the main application is to learn to perceive the transcendent mental worldmodel; to bring egoic thinking to a mystical climax, to grow one's titan or golem until it goes berserk, goes out of control, and gains enlightenment as a dragon gains the pearl of wisdom.

>My husband tells me that in his past times of getting stoned in Vietnam, he used to have these tremendous realizations, which, upon sobering up, either didn't make logical sense, or became trivial.

The mind has a built-in sense of "tremendous realization", but there is only a limited range of insight that makes good on the promise; that general sense of tremendous realization is meant to lead to ego death and enlightenment, which is a particular set of experiential insights into the actual relations of time, self, control, and world. So the general sense is valid and a built-in sense, and is wholly valid when applied to ego death enlightenment in particular.

>>What makes the ethnogenic realizations more logical and important?

Entheogens are the most effective and reliable way of triggering the sense of insight and alternate pattern recognition; meditation provides just a glimpse of this state, by triggering the same chemical circuits but less effectively and directly. Reasoning (rational model-building) can be combined with entheogens more effectively than with meditation.

>I know there are ways to manifest a dissociative state without the entheogens as I've done it before, but I've temporarily lost that path due to lack of practice.

When using the visionary-plant method, lack of practice falls out of the picture. The only 'practice' in the plant method of triggering the mystic state of pattern recognition is the use of visionary plants.

>>>I'm talking about systemic pattern recognition, as in learning to perceive 3-dimensional shapes in stereograms.

>>I will have to look up "systemic" pattern recognition.

System-wide; perceiving patterns spread throughout mental content and processing.

_____________________

Michael wrote:

>>>I agree with Watts in portraying enlightenment, salvation, and satori as having everything to do with a change of understanding and perception of the world...

Melody wrote:

>>So you are saying that this realization of determinism is based strictly on a personal *experience*, and one which most likely can only come to a person after ingesting hallucinogens. But what about for those of us who may not have a stable ego enough to go the entheogen route and come back in one mental piece? (have had bad LSD trips in the past, and psychotic breaks). Are we doomed to forever being philosophically ignorant and not having the ability to *know for sure* that block universe determinism is true?

Michael wrote:

>>>The schizophrenic hears any lyrics and interprets them in a "delusions of reference" way, thinking that all songs on the radio are intended by the lyricists to lead him or other listeners into ego death and enlightenment. The schizophrenic is mistaken: not *all* lyrics are intended so by their authors.

Melody wrote:

>>It isn't just people with schizophrenia who do this; a bipolar (manic depressive) also does this in a manic episode. Your candy bar analogy is good, however in my periods of loose cognition I tended to take labels and signs to have literal personal meaning.

>>It was fine as long as they had a positive message, (a bottle in my doctor's office has a label that says "Common Sense" on it), but trying to sort them out from the negative "messages" leads to brain exhaustion and ultimately an inability to cognitively function. I don't imagine you mean to take "candy bars" literally anyway, but what specifically is the alternative?

We have to discuss several aspects of the meaning of random things such as candy bar wrappers. Does God mean for the wrapper to have personal meaning for a person in the dissociative state? In some sense yes; in some sense no. According to the simple theory of ego death, God (or the mind's divine pattern-recognition circuit) means for the candy bar wrapper to lead the loose mind toward deterministic ego-death and transcendent ascension beyond the deterministic cosmos.

It is in-principle possible that the author of the candy bar wrapper is enlightened and included deliberate allusions to trigger and communicate ego-death enlightenment to loose-cognition minds, just as an initiated disc jockey prefers to play songs that deliberately allude to mystic-state phenomena such as loss of the sense of control.

The human designer of the candy wrapper may well intend to include psychedelic overtones in the text and design of the wrapper. In that case, the designer doesn't intend to communicate to a *single* particular person in the loose-cog state, but like a mystic poet, intends to communicate the mystic-state allusions to any minds that are in the loose-cog state.

Michael wrote:

>>>However, there is a notable exception: in Heavy Rock lyrics, many lyricists themselves are in the psychotomimetic state.

Melody wrote:

>>I would call that a trance. I think you might find Dennis Wier's descriptions of different kinds of trances and how they are made interesting (he discusses both mystic and schizophrenic trances): http://www.trance.edu Please get back to me on this when you have the time, should it interest you. I'd absolutely love to hear your response to what he says.

My usage of the construct 'dissociative cognition' or 'loose cognitive association' or 'loose cognition', as the key characteristic of the intense mystic altered state, is largely equivalent to his usage of the term 'trance'. I emphasize that loose cognition or trance is the mental correlate or result of altered brain chemistry states, and then I portray entheogens as the ideal trigger for altering brain chemistry state change and thus, entheogens are the ideal method of inducing loose cognition or trance.

Meditation is a way of triggering brain chemistry change without ingesting external chemicals, but meditation is also therefore less efficient, for typical people, than entheogens, for triggering brain chemistry change. For most people most of the time, meditation doesn't significantly change brain chemistry, and therefore doesn't induce loose cognition or trance, whereas entheogens do.

Entheogens are accused of being *too* efficient at achieving this brain chemistry change, which is an unfair and distorted portrayal based on the unspoken assumption of uncontrolled, extreme usage. Entheogen-diminishing meditation advocates nearly always compare controlled and moderate use of meditation with extreme and uncontrolled use of entheogens, when entheogens actually have the potential to be applied with controlled dosage and timing, thus actually offering a fully wide range of controlled use.

If entheogens are too dangerous because too effective, then simply use a smaller dosage. Overwhelming doses typically result in sheer mental chaos rather than increased insight, so that in many cases the ideal dose is an intermediate, somewhat moderate dose. Entheogens *can* be used in dangerous, overwhelming doses, but that is *not* a mark against entheogens -- it's a mark against *misapplication* or *misuse* of entheogens. Entheogens *when used as intelligently as any other tool* are more effective than meditation.

Michael wrote:

>>>When not steered coherently, this innate universal urge for pattern recognition toward ego death climax ends up being misdirected into other directions, psychotic delusions of reference. Everything and everyone *is* out to mentally kill oneself, to cause some dreadful drama centered around oneself, in some sense -- but in what sense?

Melody wrote:

>>Not always. Like I said, I have in times past labored to sift out positive "messages" from the "paranoid" ones. But *how* does one steer them coherently? Only by using entheogens?

Paranoia overlaps with being led to enlightenment about determinism and the illusory nature of self-control agency. Paranoia is a distorted, somewhat confused misreading. I expect that people who study the principles of deterministic ego death and perennial philosophy are less susceptible to the distorted, somewhat skewed misreading that is paranoia.

In the mystic state of loose cognition, the universe is intentionally leading one on toward divinization, toward ego death and rebirth, toward being an enlightened leader who can show others the way to deterministic awareness and the way beyond it to mysterious divine transcendence that is expressed in world religions. One becomes the messiah, the savior, one with the metaphysical savior idea (distinct from the "political military savior" sense that was intertwined in ancient religion-politics-warfare).

One's thoughts *are* controlled by some hidden controller outside oneself: by the deterministic Ground of Being that produces all objects and thoughts and actions, and that metaphysically overpowers one's own largely illusory power as a control-agent. So "paranoid" ideas are largely correct; but they are somewhat distorted, and need to be pulled into coherent alignment, to form transcendent enlightenment.

The goal isn't so much to sort out positive from paranoid messages, but rather, to correct the distortions of the paranoid messages, producing spiritual maturity or perfection: the renunciation of the freewill/separate-self delusion, reconceiving it as instead, merely a useful illusion of convention.

What is to be gained is a certain kind of mental integrity and an appreciation for the radically transcendent aspect of religion, which is able to acknowledge the tremendous and overpowering coherence of timeless determinism, and yet postulate some mysterious level far beyond that, while avoiding crass regression into the freewill/separate-self delusion that is fit only for animals and children.

In some ways, supernaturalist literalist religionists are closer to the mythic-mystic truth than are the liberal but clueless "demythologizing" religionists. Similarly, in some ways, the insane (people who are plagued by unwanted loose cognition) are closer to enlightenment than are the people who know only the tight cognitive binding mode of consciousness. This goes against Ken Wilber, who portrays insanity as pre-egoic, and enlightenment as post-egoic.

I consider insanity to be an uncontrolled unwanted release of brain chemicals that are properly and classically triggered through controlled use of visionary plants. Insanity could bring enlightenment, via loose cognition, but like meditation, has severe ergonomic problems compared to visionary plants. Meditation is safe but ineffective. Insanity is effective at bringing loose cognition, but is uncontrollable. Entheogens are controllable and effective.

It is possible to misuse and overdose on entheogens, but that is a problem due to misuse of the tool, not to a defect of the tool. *Any* tool can cause damage if misused. When used intelligently, in conjunction with studying world mysticism and perennial philosophy, entheogens are the most controllable and effective technique, much more so than meditation or abnormal psychology.

Michael wrote:

>>>Pattern recognition is useful for other intellectual endeavors, but the main application is to learn to perceive the transcendent mental worldmodel; to bring egoic thinking to a mystical climax, to grow one's titan or golem until it goes berserk, goes out of control, and gains enlightenment as a dragon gains the pearl of wisdom.

Or, grow one's titan or golem or centaur until it almost goes berserk, and in some sense goes out of control.

Melody wrote:

>>Yes, but is it *safe* for a person who has had psychotic breaks or bad LSD trips in their background to attempt any of this?

Everything in the world has some dangerous potential. It's a matter of context and degree and usage. The existing evidence suggests that with small doses, used in conjunction with study of world mysticism/religions and perennial philosophy, the dangerous potential of entheogens is lessened, while still accessing the potential for enlightenment. That combination is dangerous, to a lesser extent than if one took large doses and didn't integrate the study of world mysticism/religions and perennial philosophy.

Michael wrote:

>>>Entheogens are the most effective and reliable way of triggering the sense of insight and alternate pattern recognition; meditation provides just a glimpse of this state, by triggering the same chemical circuits but less effectively and directly. Reasoning (rational model-building) can be combined with entheogens more effectively than with meditation.

Melody wrote:

>>So, didn't you say before that you read difficult literature while on entheogens. This does it?

Research clearly shows that reading is difficult during loose cognition. To fully gain the experiential insight of enlightenment, the most ergonomic method for typical people is the standard classic method of enlightenment: the integrated combination of visionary plants interspersed with the study of world mysticism/religions and perennial philosophy such as studying my theoretical model of the ego death and rebirth experience.

_____________________

Michael wrote:

>>>I agree with Watts in portraying enlightenment, salvation, and satori as having everything to do with a change of understanding and perception of the world...

Melody wrote:

>>So you are saying that this realization of determinism is based strictly on a personal *experience*,

The fullest realization of determinism is based on personal mystic-state experience, integrated with intellectual study and reflection on models of space, time, world, will, control, self-concept, and personal agency. The ancients combined heavy use of personal mystic-state experience with some degree of metaphysical or philosophical model-building, though in the modern era we have the potential of doing a better job of both aspects than the ancients did, combining more ergonomic entheogens with more explicit and potent philosophical worldmodels.

I consider ancient transcendent worldmodels to be hazy and indirect, compared to the best of potential modern transcendent worldmodels.

I intend my systematization of transcendent knowledge to be clearer, more direct, and more explicit than the ancient models. Some ancient mystic-philosophers mention that there are relatively more and less explicit models of transcendent knowledge, but that falls short of actually explicitly *defining*, or providing a definition of, an explicit model of transcendent knowledge. Does my model agree with the ancients'; is my model the same as that of the premoderns? It is essentially the same, but clearer, more explicit, more specific, more direct, more ergonomic.

>>and one which most likely can only come to a person after ingesting hallucinogens. But what about for those of us who may not have a stable ego enough to go the entheogen route and come back in one mental piece? (have had bad LSD trips in the past, and psychotic breaks).

How did ancient Tradition of enlightenment and mystery-religion initiation deal with this problem? Was the ancient visionary-plant religion actually a way of curing insanity? Was there a lower incidence of insanity due to the integrated use of visionary plants in determinism-aware initiation-religion?

To some extent, insanity is internally-triggered religious initiation, not taken through to completion with the full understanding of cosmic determinism and its ramifications and trembling fearsome problems for the would-be power-wielding personal controller agent, and taken all the way through to fully comprehending the tremendous benefits of the rational mind's ability to postulate a realm of compassion and rescue lying above and outside the rational, deterministic realm of thought and experience.

>>Are we

doomed to forever being philosophically ignorant and not having the ability to

*know for sure* that block universe determinism is true?

It's unclear whether we ever can know anything metaphysical for certain. But we *can* know for sure that the mind carries the potential to think about the impressive coherence of the deterministic worldmodel, in conjunction with feeling and sensing cosmic determinism, such that all of one's thoughts at all times are timelessly frozen into a single spacetime block.

We can't know that thoughts are deterministic -- all theoretical knowledge is subject to revision and adjustment and correction -- but we *can* know that we can have an awesome experience of ego death, rebirth, and enlightenment; we can certainly experience, and certainly know that we can experience, the mystic-state climax and release, both through experiencing determinism and through experiencing a kind of transcendent divine ascension beyond determinism and finite rationality.

Would you and could you release your dependence on rationality, if your life and near-future viability depended on it? Yes: we are so designed; this comes as great news (a redeeming higher revelation that returns our practical freedom to us) when rationality is discovered to reduce personal power to nothing, and to dangerous turbulent instability, in the face of the deterministic conceptual and experiential worldmodel.

_____________________

>>Would you and could you