I was reading about stages of jhana today. I don’t know very much about them, and I don’t know which of my experiences map onto which stages. I felt as though I’ve gone through some progression of ‘stages’ in myself, and I thought maybe describing them would be helpful for the people who’ve expressed curiosity […]
You are in a room built out of your framework of the world. The beliefs you can describe make up the walls, and the beliefs you can’t make up the floor. The ceiling is a mishmash of memory, patterned like dreams. In the chair in front of you sits Crazybrain. It looks just like you. […]
I don’t know a lot about spiritual traditions. I haven’t read any Buddhist books (minus the Tao te Ching), I don’t meditate regularly, and most of my knowledge about chakras comes from Naruto. But I do have ‘episodes,’ which I’ve mentioned briefly elsewhere on this blog. I don’t know what these episodes are, if other people […]
For those who didn’t know, I’m working with Luna, a blockchain-based dating app. Scott Alexander recently wrote a post about our project, which – along with the comment section – brought up some questions we don’t currently have good published answers for. So here’s some published answers! This is written assuming you have a basic […]
Once, when I was lying on the floor in a hotbox of a room, one of my friends was leaving, and she said “Goodbye! I’m going to get smaller and quieter now!” This was surprising to me at the time, but years later ended up being a great example of the sort of translation I […]
These are permanent changes I’ve noticed after doing a fuckton of LSD. It’s been about 3 years since I ‘quit’ (though I still dose about twice a year), and these are the effects that still seem to linger. Please don’t worry any of these will happen to you if you take LSD once in a […]
The accordion is much easier than it looks. Each left handed button is an entire chord, and it’s arranged in an easy-to-memorize pattern. You pick it up, press down, and it booms with harmony. The instrument is constructed that you only need to engage with it minimally to get the song you want out of […]
I want to preface this by emphasizing that I in no way want to trivialize experiences people have had as victims of sexual assault. All feelings are valid, and it’s ok to feel hurt even at something that might seem trivial to others. People on my Facebook and Twitter are posting “me too,” which […]
This is written mostly for higher doses of acid, usually 200ug+, where a tripsitter may become seriously needed. This is all written with the assumption that you’ll be indoors, which is strongly recommended unless the person tripping has a lot of experience with the dose they’re taking. 1. Don’t try to interact with them too […]
A tribesman from a hot place points at what you’re wearing. “What is that?” “A jacket,” you say. “What is a jacket?” he asks. What he wants to know is the purpose for which the jacket is used, and so you tell him “It keeps me warm. It protects me from the sun. It is […]