This is likely something many of you are quite familiar with, but I have found a new perspective. In my attempts -with and without psychedelics- to seek meaning to my life, I have come across the DaoDeJing.

This simple text has recontextualized my understanding of life, and has been reaffirmed by recent spice journeys. I claim no expertise of understanding, or that I have found THE way to live by any means. I just wanted to share with you guys in case anyone hasn't yet found these deeply interesting texts.

What other kinds of philosophical texts would you fine people suggest I seek out to continue my own personal growth?

Many thanks,
Duck

Yes! The Tao Te Ching was one of my first forays into a way of thinking that actually made sense to me.

If you want to expand on that kind of wisdom, I highly recommend reading Eckhart Tolle and Alan Watts.

Eckhart Tolle wrote the Power of Now and Stillness Speaks, among other things. The Power of Now was the best-seller, but Stillness Speaks is a bit more like the Tao Te Ching in form-- verses, short bits of wisdom to meditate on. The kind of book you can flip open to anywhere and receive a complete teaching.

Alan Watts wrote THE BOOK on the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are, which I read once and do not desire to read again for some reason. But he's a great speaker. Sharp as a tack about the wonders and pitfalls of the spiritual journey toward mindfulness and emptiness.

Ive found The Law of One to be the most accurate and beautiful book(s) in terms of spiritual understanding of reality, it does share quite a bit of ideas with Taoism and Buddhism.

Here is a little quote:

I'm all over the place when it comes to these kinds of topics, so I'll give a short but diverse list of ones I like a lot, regardless of how much I actually adopt from them.

Tibetan Book of the Dead
Mind's I
Mind Body and Electromagnetism
Books by R.A. Schaller de Lubicz
Tractstus
Voice of the Silence
Desiderata

Alan Watts doesn't do it for me, but seems to for a great many people, so you may find some meaningful gems for yourself in his speaking.

One love

The Power of Now really helped me in this way, transformed my whole existence and way I perceive existence. The Ra Material had a powerful impact on my lens of perception too.

Other ones that have done this too are:
Bhagavad Gita
Conversations with God
Course in Miracles
Oshos books

This video series Samadhi, if you havent seen it, you should:
https://youtu.be/Bw9zSMsKcwk

The Power of Now has been my biggest influence. I was fortunate to be introduced to it over 20 years ago.

The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer is also excellent - more accessible than The Power of Now, so I recommend it over The Power of Now for people who are new to the teaching of "you are not your mind".

I've really gotten lost in Watt's lectures during work (I'm a mere cable guy), and often listening to some of the same bits to help reinforce these ideas that feel clear to me.

I appreciate all of the suggestions! I'll be looking into all of them in time, as I feel I have so much more room in the sponge so to speak.

Another good one I just read is "No Self, No Problem: How Neuropsychology Is Catching Up to Buddhism" written by neuropsychologist and professor, Chris Niebauer.

What I like about his book is how he links contemporary studies (with plenty of footnotes) to Buddhist or spiritual teachings.

Some studies that raised eyebrows in particular are those that tell us the left brain basically makes stuff up all the time. The left brain is the seat of our language center and much of the ego. And it is particularly resistant to changing its beliefs even in the face of contrary evidence. We see this all the time in contemporary politics, social media, etc.

This comes from a bit different angle. I am deeply touched by the teachings of the late Vietnamese zen master Thich Nhat Hanh. I recommend basically anything by him, but his book Art of Living is excellent summary of his teachings.

Thich Nhat Hanh has helped me to understand the metaphoric meanings of Buddhist cosmology and also helped a lot in finding peace and equanimity in every day living. You can find lots of his teachings on YouTube and they cover wide range of topics.

For an incredibly accessible text on Taoism, I cannot recommend The Tao of Pooh By Benjamin Hoff highly enough.

Here is the epub

Here is the audiobook

Thanks for sharing all these great resources guys!

I also found inspiration in TAO on a very practical level unlike most other religions. Especially the physical aspects in the tao that flowed over into Traditional Chinese Medicine and numerous bodily exercises are indicative to that. Bagua (chi kung), tai-chi, ... I love to practice on a low level but a little goes a long way.

On a philosophical level what struck me most is:
inside and outside reflect each other (as does above and below), meaning if you want to discover the secrets of the universe, you don't necessarily need to look for it outside as all of it's secrets are within yourself. Exercise on yourself, monitor yourself, there's plenty to discover there and what you find there you will discover outside just as well. Western approach is to look for "it" outside, which is not wrong but 'yourself' is closer, readily available as in always there, your cosmos laboratory is one you carry along each second of the day, namely: you. For one and indicative to that are contradicting aspects, the world has them, you are full of same contradictions when looking closer. It learned me to accept them of both myself and those of society etc..

In my search to what Tao/Dao-ism really is, where the I-Ching fits in etc etc, I came across this birdseye study on the subject. Lo and behold, exactly as I feared the subject is just as volatile and self contradicting as I feared.
But let this in itself be a lesson, that the ultimate "it's like this" does not even exist by far, the subject of TAO/DAO cannot be framed solidly, it's like water, it's out there in plenty but not there to grab and hold so simply, a figurative amalgan.

To add to all of the above excellent suggestions I would highly recommend Being Myself and Being Aware of Being Aware by Rupert Spira.

Of all of the spiritual teachings I have read over the years I have personally found that he speaks with such directness and clarity.

Wow, I picked up some of the recommendations when I received a few replies, and I'm coming back to grab some more.

One of the ones I was super excited to read was the Book of the Dead after learning what it was. Quite the interesting read. I thought it felt a little contradictory until I realized that the post death deities are aspects of myself/everyone/everything.

I grabbed The Psychedelic Experience as I wanted to see what could be more directly applied to my journeys from the Book of the Dead. While I haven't tripped in a couple months, I'm excited to dive in when I get my set and setting right again.

I have finished 2/3 of the Watts books I picked up; The BOOK, Wisdom of insecurity, and Way of Zen for the curious. still working my way though Way of Zen.

I'll soon be moving on to Terence McKenna's True Hallucinations. Not sure what to expect with this one, but I've enjoyed the lectures of his I've listened to.

Ordered a few more books just now;
Stillness Speaks
Power of Now
I Am A Strange Loop
Become What You Are
The Voice of Silence



I just want to reiterate once again, I thank all of you for the suggestions! I'm excited to absorb all of them in time.

~Duck

Congratulations on being so inspired! Reading will get you introduced to the teachings, then your mission is to practice what you've learned. Especially presence, which is a life-changing shift in consciousness.

Thanks for sharing!

Personally, Bert Hellinger's writings on the Orders of Love have helped me a lot especially in relationships and to find my place in the world.

Without any doubt, the ideas of Buddhism and Taoism are extremely valuable in general and specifically in the context of psychedelics.

However, concerning the books "The Law of One", which you can find here, I sincerely urge the reader to be very, very cautious and critical of what is being claimed.



For example, the following is being claimed in the first book (link) p. 18:




Already, in their introduction of which the above is an excerpt, two giant red flags emerge :

1) The case of Uri Geller, fully debunked by 'The Amazing Randi'. There is a great documentary about this called "An Honest Liar" link. A lot can be said about Randi himself, but it is quite clear that Uri Geller is a complete fraud that fooled many, many people!


2) The case of John G. Taylor. I refer to the following:




I've only scratched the surface here, and I have no intention to start a debate.
I merely want to point out that it is important to remain critical about stuff like this and do your own research to avoid fairy tale land.

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A more general elaboration about this

Because psychedelics open a door into the unknown and the magical, it is easy to be led astray into 'magical thinking'. It is very easy to go too far. Too many people I've encountered believe that they have some kind of 'elevated consciousness' because of stuff like this, when in fact, they have created a prison for their mind. In general, whenever you feel 'elevated', you have probably been deceived or you are deceiving yourself.

Truth is not a matter of feeling good, elevated, empowered, inspired, not even love.
The problem is not about finding the right belief system. The essential problem is dealing with the insight that there are no right belief systems. I think this is what Buddhism is trying to say. And it is really, really hard to come to terms with that. The mind craves identification with a belief system. Otherwise, what else is there, what is left?
(For example, the funny thing is that when you call yourself a Buddhist, you have probably missed the point.)



This is one thing (maybe the main thing) psychedelics can help you with. They are a shortcut to help you temporarily with the agony of emptiness that ensues when discarding beliefs. They help you understand that the agony itself is illusory and already part of a belief system. But in the end, it's about being able to deal with it yourself, without any assistence of books and substances.

So on the one hand, there is Buddhism and Taoism. On the other hand, there is the western interpretation and commercialization of feel-good Buddhism and Taoism. They are complete opposites. Try to find out why for yourself.



In any case, self-help/paranormal books will not really help you, they will just make your mental prison a little bit bigger, sturdier and harder to get out of. That is why they are so 'attractive'. The ego really likes to furnish its mental space! However, if you are able to remain critical and pay attention while reading books like this, you can discover how easily you can be deceived, and then they become a form of training, albeit a poor one .

Many other forums have devolved into such wishy-washy hogposh. This is one of the last forums I attribute any value to, largely because of its scientific value. Many people here take psychedelics seriously and try to back up their views with science. In my view this is the strength of this place.
But the metaphysical context that psychedelics point to is of course also extremely interesting. Unfortunately, it's quite impossible to 'prove' in any scientific sense at all. So all I can do (as Nagarjuna did) is to endeavor to find the phallacies in belief systems engrained in others and myself. I hope I have done that to some extent here.

I encourage all of you to do the same if your objective is actual personal growth. If your objective is simply to feel good, which is your prerogative, I apologize for any mental disturbances, but please do not confuse the two objectives. If you unsure which objective you are currently following: the first one brings tears, the second one brings smiles.



Travel with vigor!

There is definately weird claims being done in those books, and a lot of things that dont really sit well with me too.

That being said, the actual information is not in the opinions of the humans that transcribed the books, but the message that the one named Ra comes to share.

Which is simple. Oneness. And to encourage the process of active seeking of truth.


If Im reading you correctly you seem to point to the idea of the mind creating beliefs or patterns in order to find comfort of some sort, disregarding active, critical analysis.

I think thats fair, Im just not sure that is the kind of message that lies at the core of this books, but maybe Im just being defensive.

I think they're trying to encourage critical thought, for while there are a great many philosophies and ideas, shared with conviction, that draw certain kinds of conclusions, the vast majority of things, outside any given paradigm, seem to be largely open ended. Conclusions we draw adhere to some paradigm we employ to draw them. By employing a paradigm, we likely delimit what other "truths" there may be, for any system for generating information invariably has truths about the system that cannot be formulated by the system, which entails that certain conclusions and "truths" using the system cannot be reached. [See Godels in completeness theorems].

And to extend our critical thoughts, unless there's a literal interpretation that Ra delivered a message, wouldn't it still be in the realm of the human mind that brought said message into the medium of the world? We cannot escape our own subjectivity.

One love

How do you know this? Have you at all entertained the possibility that there is no Ra ?



What exactly is 'accurate' in what they say? And how do you know? Maybe they just read some books about Buddhism and Taoism and then repackaged the whole thing to suit their own agenda. Then just throw in some Egyptian mythology, link it to Jesus, mix it all together and voila, a new postmodern (unoriginal) narrative is born !

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I am thus failing to grasp how the existence of an unproven 'higher being' Ra encourages critical thought...

What I do understand though is that the easiest way to deny critical thinking is to invoke some kind of 'higher being'. It has been 'the oldest trick in the book' for many cults and religious or spiritual organizations throughout the ages. Because how can you oppose some knowledge that is supposedly beyond human opinion? How can you think critically about it?
It fully defies any critical analysis, by definition...

Just turn it around: This is exactly the reason why there would be a necessity for a higher being: So you would just accept it with faith, without any possibility for critical thinking! It seems very logical to employ such a strategy for some agenda as it can never be proved or disproved. It is always a safe bet in terms of being right while providing the authority to convice you! Very convenient and ubiquitous in human mythology. Channeling seems to be merely the latest iteration of the same concept.

It is always a means of social control which fosters vertical hierarchical social structures. It leads to obedience and relinquishment of personal power in terms of... exactly, critical thought! And then, somewhere, you will find a 'donate here' box or button and a 'subscribe' or 'follow' sign.

The only thing that always remains the same, is the underlying construct. Although the narrative changes, the construct and its function never does. So perhaps it makes more sense to investigate its function rather than debate the contents of the narrative. Many religions have slaughtered each other over different narratives without realizing that beneath the content of their narratives of so called 'love' and 'peace', the same archetypal construct is present. I refer to this book: Joseph Campbell - The Hero with a Thousand Faces

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There are many, many, many examples of channeling out there. But they all say something different. For example, what about Vrillon From Ashtar Command (Pleiadian)?

Do you believe this also then? Is this accurate? What defines why you believe one over the other? Or what about scientology. They also channel some 'being' ...
How do you discern who is right? Do you then believe all of them or just those with the narrative that best tickles your fancy?

None of these 'beings', although very, very advanced, are able to provide us with any form of proof. Just tell us the coordinates of your planet, tell us about the conditions there. What is your atmosphere made up of? What about your scientific knowledge, please share...
They just give us either a very dramatic or a very feel-good narrative that is not even that advanced. In many cases, It's just simplified (and wrong) Buddhism. That's about it.

And what about all these people that commented on the YT video above. Are they all right or wrong then? And why does every one keep saying Namaste? Does Indian culture have anything to do with channeling?

And in the end, how is everything related to psychedelics. This is a psychedelics forum, isnt't it? So there must be some relation...

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Gödel

I'm quite familiar with 'Gödel's incompleteness theorems'. Unfortunately, they are irrelevant in this context. They concern the restrictions of provability of formal axiomatic theories in a mathematical context.

Please read this book: Torkel Franzén (2005) Gödel's Theorem: An Incomplete Guide to its Use and Abuse

In short, it explains:

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There is a lot more to be said here, but honestly, I think I'm wasting my time.
Believe what you want, but please, do not confuse suchs beliefs with the core message of science, Buddhism, Taoism and the psychedelic experience.

These are really important aspects of human evolution, especially in the current dire conditions we live in, and they deserve at least an honest and sincere approach. In this moment in time, we need it, as a species...

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Some interesting related information:

Athene's Theory of Everything

Here's What Belief In A Religion Does To Your Brain

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