The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.
The name that can be named is not the eternal name.
The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth.
The named is the mother of ten thousand things.
Ever desireless, one can see the mystery.
Ever desiring, one can see the manifestations.
These two spring from the same source but differ in name;
this appears as darkness.
Darkness within darkness.
The gate to all mystery.

Metaphorically, DMT is like an intellectual black hole in that once one knows about it, it is very hard for others to understand what one is talking about. One cannot be heard. The more one is able to articulate what it is, the less others are able to understand. This is why I think people who attain enlightenment, if we may for a moment comap these two, are silent. They are silent because we cannot understand them. Why the phenomenon of tryptamine ecstasy has not been looked at by scientists, thrill seekers, or anyone else, I am not sure, but I recommend it to your attention.

~ Terence McKenna, The Archaic Revival

The Tao that can be told is NOT the eternal Tao...

Just as the DMT flash that is put into language will always be a misrepresentation...

I think DMT is great for aligning one with "the flow", and exposing pieces of the Tao for what it actually is, rather than what has been said about it.

-eg

When I think of the Tao, the primary notion that comes to my mind (however correct that may be) is "going with the flow." I think indirectly, DMT puts us in contact with the Tao through fostering the letting go mindset. More directly however, I think many of us are familiar with DMT being able to move the body. We sometimes find ourselves going through Qi Gong-like postures or being moved by magnetic-like forces. When we surrender to this energy, and allow our bodies to be in this complete state of flow, that rings of the Tao quite strongly.

When I think of the Tao, the primary notion that comes to my mind (however correct that may be) is "going with the flow." I think indirectly, DMT puts us in contact with the Tao through fostering the letting go mindset.

... let go of voluntary control over the body, after pracicing this for awhile twitches and twists start happening, which are usually very relaxing for the body and also bring a certain kind of inner peace.
...
The theory behind it is that the body, when you let it out of your minds control will do things that are good for it/lead to its healing(through the flow of the Dao if you will)

Life (and we are patterns of it) always strives to/at its "best".

The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.
The name that can be named is not the eternal name.
The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth.
The named is the mother of ten thousand things.
Ever desireless, one can see the mystery.
Ever desiring, one can see the manifestations.
These two spring from the same source but differ in name;
this appears as darkness.
Darkness within darkness.
The gate to all mystery

AN EXERCISE IN THINKING:
This is an invitation to consider Life’s relationship to Eternity

The Tao de Ching (3, 4, 5, 6)
(Translated as “The Book of the Way”)

By Lao Tzu


The name Lao Tzu is often translated as a “wise old Master” that lived in China around 2,500 years ago. One legend tells that he was an advisor to the Emperor. When he left the palace, he planned to retire to the mountains, but the guards were ordered not to let him go until he wrote down all he knew. THE TAO DE CHING is said to be the result. Frank J. MacHovec’s 1962 poetic translation has been my favorite. He called it The Book of Tao: Key to the Mastery of Life. This and several other translations are listed at the end. Since I don’t translate Chinese, I have studied several translations. The following is my own version from meditating on all of them.

The Tao de Ching
(The Way of Cosmic Consciousness)


“There is something mysterious, without beginning, without end, that is the Essence of the heavens and the Earth. (*A) Unmoving; infinite; standing alone; never changing. It is everywhere and it is inexhaustible. It is the mother of all.
I do not know its name. If I must name it, I call it Cosmic Consciousness [Tao] with loving wonderment for its All Encompassing Supremacy. (*B)
Thus Cosmic Consciousness is Supreme, the Universe is Supreme, the Earth is Supreme, and Life is Supreme. There are four Supremes in the Universe. Life is one of them.
Life is subject to the laws of the Earth, the Earth is subject to the laws of the Universe, the Universe is subject to the laws of Cosmic Consciousness, and Cosmic Consciousness is subject to the laws of its own nature....” (*C)



*A) In this ancient Chinese story about the Cosmos, this Essence is without beginning and without end, and that idea supports the concept of Eternity and Infinity. The ancient Western story about the Cosmos supports the idea of a beginning and an end: “In the beginning God said ‘Let There be Light…’ ” The modern “scientific” explanation about a Big Bang corresponds to that concept (i.e., the whole universe began with a Big Bang from something unbelievably tiny, and may collapse again.) However, the Western story may have led us astray. Before 1924, most astronomers thought that our galaxy was the only one. Then with the new larger telescope at the Mt. Wilson Observatory, Edwin Hubble discovered a galaxy that was not our own. He and other astronomers adopted the Doppler formula as the simplest explanation for the red shift that they observed. Therefore, by Occam’s Razor, that is what was (and still is) used. The math built into Doppler included not only distance, but also the speed of travel, and a number arbitrarily set as the “Hubble Constant” (now revised upward to try to account for more distant stars.) So each time a new and more distant galaxy or star was observed, the assumption that it was also traveling faster was built into the math. Therefore “In the beginning…” (Since a beginning was also assumed) the whole universe must have begun with an explosion from something, very unbelievably tiny, around 13 (or 15) Billion Light-Years (BL-Y) ago. However, the concept that this whole vast (yet to be revealed) universe could have blown out of a tiny point, and may (or may not) condense again into a tiny point, is NOT the simplest explanation, since it has led to these irrational concepts about the nature of the universe. What the land based telescopes and the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) have been able to show, over the last 80 years, far exceeds those early assumptions, even though the HST can only see just so far. By focusing through the dark part of the sky, HST has shown us 1100 galaxies, some as far away as 5 billion light-years (BL-Y). One astronomer, on the NASA program that showed those astonishing images from HST, announced with great exultation that he thought we might be looking at nearly the beginning of the universe! “Isn’t that exciting?” Darrell Lemaire and I both had to laugh at that. Suppose HST could see in other directions, too. That would mean it might show us other galaxies 5 BL-Y away in each direction of sight. That adds up to 10 BL-Y all around us, nearly what is assumed to be the age of the Universe. We are always in the middle of only as far as we can see. The problem is that our galaxy is so full of light that HST cannot see what lies on the other side of the Milky Way. Consider the position of the Earth and the position of Hubble as it orbits the Earth. We should never assume that we could see it all from here.

The measurement of “the background radiation” was assumed to be proof of the One Original Big Bang. But that radiation might very well be left over from just the explosion of our own galaxy. Throughout the Infinite and Eternal Universe, such explosions no doubt continue to occur. Black Holes were said to be so dense that not even light could escape. Yet Hubble has shown us a galaxy swirling inward as it condenses into a black hole. From (in? or around?) the center of that black hole, material (energy? - matter? - or both?) is forced out to reach 40,000 or more light years across (this amazing Hubble image resembles the body and axis of a gyroscope). Does the new material begin a new galaxy? Was our own galaxy started in this manner from an older one that collapsed the same way? The images that HST provides are seen and interpreted one way by those who assume a Big Bang, and they can be seen and interpreted differently by those who assume an Infinite and Eternal Universe. I think this difference can and ought to be debated openly.

* B) The general translation of “Tao” is the term “The Way,” and what I believe is meant here is The Way of Cosmic Consciousness. Some have interpreted “Tao” as representing another word for “God,” or “The Great Mystery.” Among some of the more fundamentalist exclusionary forms of the Judeo-Christian-Islamic traditions, the name “God” has been used as though “He” (or Jesus) was a personal “Spirit Guide,” or a stern taskmaster and punisher of sins, or perhaps for some, “He” is totally impersonal because “He” is also God of the whole Universe. We perceive what we believe, and some beliefs have a more limited definition than what is meant here by the “Essence” of everything. Those shamans who revere the idea of a “Great Spirit” seem to embrace the heart of the meaning of “Essence,” since they also show reverence for all of Life as well as for “Father Sun and Mother Earth.”
All Life is Supreme as it Resonates with Cosmic Consciousness.

*C) “The laws of its own nature” are gradually being uncovered by science. The Einstein formula E=MC2 is one of them. The letters are symbols for “M” (mass or matter) and “E” (energy) and “C” (the speed of light). While it was thought that nothing could exceed the speed of light, the atomic age came into being with those symbols using this much faster number that is identified as the square of the speed of light (C2). Now that we explore the realms of non-local spacetime, we ourselves experience that the speed of thought is actually faster than the speed of light. Physicist Saul-Paul Sirag, in his advanced calculations mentions an unimaginable number such as C7, which he has suggested to represent Consciousness. (1) Because I don’t understand physics, or how Sirag arrives at C7, it is inappropriate for me to use the term. However, I would like to borrow the concept of CN to use as a metaphor to represent the Multiple Dimensions of Life and Consciousness. Physicist Elizabeth Rauscher also discusses the multiple dimensions of the universe and consciousness. (2) We can send thoughts around the world to our friends and receive answers from them directly in the hyperspace of non-local spacetime. These powers of mind are the abilities of our own Consciousness. The Infinite and Eternal Essence of the Universe is the Essence of our own being, as well. http://www.fmbr.org/papers/reports/debate.php

3
The Master leads
by emptying people's minds
and filling their cores,
by weakening their worldly ambition
and strengthening their essence.

He helps people lose everything
they know, everything they desire,
and creates confusion
in those who think that they know.

Practice not-doing,
and everything will fall into place.

~~~

16
Empty your mind of all thoughts.
Let your heart be at peace.

Watch the turmoil of beings,
but contemplate their return.

Each separate being in the universe
returns to the common source.
Returning to the source is serenity.

~~~

22
If you want to become whole,
let yourself be partial.
If you want to become straight,
let yourself be crooked.
If you want to become full,
let yourself be empty.
If you want to be reborn,
let yourself die.
If you want to be given everything,
give everything up.

~~~

33
Knowing others is intelligence;
knowing yourself is true wisdom.
Mastering others is strength;
mastering yourself is true power.

If you realize that you have enough,
you are truly rich.

If you stay in the center
and embrace death with your whole heart,
you will endure forever.

~~~

43
The gentlest thing in the world
overcomes the hardest thing in the world.
That which has no substance
enters where there is no space.
This shows the value of non-action.

~~~

46
There is no greater illusion than fear,
no greater wrong than preparing to defend yourself,
no greater misfortune than having an enemy.

Whoever can see through all fear
will always be safe.

~~~

50
The Master gives himself up
to whatever the moment brings.
He knows that he is going to die,
and has nothing left to hold on to:
no illusions in his mind,
no resistances in his body.

~~~

76
Men are born soft and supple;
dead, they are stiff and hard.
Plants are born tender and pliant;
dead, they are brittle and dry.

Thus whoever is stiff and inflexible
is a disciple of death.
Whoever is soft and yielding
is a disciple of life.

The hard and stiff will be broken.
The soft and supple will prevail.