Coloured sketch of Primordial Buddha, Vajradhara

Thoughts on synesthetic experience and implications for spiritual practice. (3/3)

Okay, let's play!
Go fake a synesthetic experience.

Give it a shot, generate some random associations, have fun with it. You can do this with friends, too, see what they come up with.

What does a song look like?
If it were a dance, what would the choreography be?
What does a painting sound like?
What about architecture?
What about people?
City lights?
The shape of a tree?
Animals?

Find qualitative information:
What kind of atmosphere can you intuit?
Is there rhythm?
Texture?
Movement?
Direction?

How much sensory information can you generate about a single phenomenon?


Here are some points to show you what makes this a powerful esoteric tool.
If you practice for a while, you will be able to:

- make deeper, more profound, eclectic observations that stay in your accessible memory for longer. Realizing the profundity of the mundane experience will accelerate your learning.

- intensify empathy. You'll get more receptive to subtle nuances. This will increase the ability to pick up others' experiences as though they were your own.

- better access multilateral thinking. Your pattern recognition will enhance, helping you in utilizing universal principle that all solutions are grounded in.

- feed your creativity. You'll find connections between things that other's can't see. Your output will become more vivid, your ideas more inspiring.

- improve your rhetoric and use of metaphorical/symbolic language. The pool of vocabulary you can draw from will broaden, making it easier to find the right words at the right time.


Yet, there's more to it.


How deep does it go?

When two different phenomena are triggering the "same taste" (taste in synesthetic terms; triggering the same sensory overlay response), are they not of a similar quality?

And when two different sensory pathways are stimulated simultaneously, or two phenomena occur simultaneously, do they not have the potential to become of the Same One Taste?

To die in peace is to die with no regrets.

After carrying out a task or even at the end of your day, ask yourself the following question:

Is this the best I can do?

If the answer is yes, all is well.

Lose your identity.
Ego will point to your attachments.
Let them go.
You don't need to be anyone.
Just have ultimate goodness in your heart.
People will love you.

You stand beneath this canopy of trees,
surrender will, hold still.   You close your eyes
and listen as the rustling of the leaves
and lapping breeze-blown waters tranquilize.
Inhaling deeply, you can breathe the smell
of dew-damp soil, the scent of pungent pine,
organic emanations.  All is well,
you’re in the zone in nature’s forest shrine.
Permit your eyes to open, now you see
the beauty of extraordinary things:
moss-covered rocks in shades of verdigris,
sun-dappled flapping of some insect wings.
Immerse yourself in all your senses, feel
the peace of this retreat restore and heal.

― Forest Bathing by Betsy Hughes

Image: Morning in a Pine Forest by Iwan Shishkin and Konstantin Savitsky

THE WANDERER
🌊🪐✨

Animated Short by Savva Tsekmes

I had a little boat. I called it life.
Once I went out and never came back.

All of a sudden, there was a big wind,
And waves like mountains.
Many things raced through my mind.

In the lonely chanting of the sea,
I heard the echoes of eternity,
And in the fantasy of clouded sky,
I saw the one who lives,
While all things die.

And I was swallowed by the sea,
And lost in the deep,
And washed up on the shore.
When I awakened, the storm was over,
And the sea was calm.

It was strange and wonderful,
Like seeing the world
And seeing through the world.

And when I told the people in the village,
that I went out and never came back,
they all laughed and called me the Wanderer.

And I laughed with them.
They didn't know:
They were the Wanderers.

So I found my way,
And found my home
On Eden's island,
Where the wind has been telling the truth
Forever and ever,
And ever.

― La Mar (The Sea) by Eden Ahbez

Lose your identity.
Mind will dissolve in Emptiness.
Let it go.
You don't need to be anyone.
Just have the Ineffable in your heart.
People will seek you.

Will that slumber lead
To everlasting death
Or is fate going to be
Changed before?

If the divine spark
In our soul Is to
Become a rising flame
Once again, a new
aristocracy, Not of gold
But of spirit
Will rise again!

From the ashes of decay
A new union will evolve
The highest principle
Back in full-force
And idealism will lead
Us, again to nobility.

wahrnehmen
(to perceive)

The German term for perception consists of the two parts "wahr", meaning "true" and "nehmen", meaning "to take".
Altogether, "to take (sth) for the truth".

Like in English, the word is used to describe both conceptual view and sensory intake.

What you pick up is what you believe to be true, and what you believe to be true is what you pick up.

Layers
Transcend the Outer
Vehicle to the Inner
Layers

Image: Spirals by M. C. Escher

"I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man she must be quiet.”
― 1 Timothy 2:12, New Testament

"The Germans believe that those of the female sex posses an inherent sacredness and the wisdom for prophecy; and as such the men do not avoid asking advice of their women and nor do the men ignore when their women reply.”
― Germania, Tacitus

Notes: From a Gnostic viewpoint, acknowledging the inherent sacredness of the female sex, rooted in Wisdom, mirrors the significance of Sophia within the cosmic order. Just as Sophia embodies divine Wisdom and understanding, women can serve as channels for elevated spiritual insight and intuition. The imposition of the Abrahamic religions, which uphold an off planet male deity removed from the realm of senses disrupts our connection to the sacred Earth and nature. Simultaneously, it undermines the historical role of women in prophecy, insight, and Wisdom.

Image: The Inquisition by Samson Goetze

If you want to spread the Dharma, work in your immediate environment first.
If you're still young, go meet older folk, be there for them.

They need a higher cause as their mundane life slowly turns strenuous, lonely and painful. They're approaching the doors to death - at a quicker pace and with much more palpable certainty than they may have been aware of at an earlier stage.

While many of the older generations in Europe have had some sort of Christian spiritual framework growing up, very few of them have actually done the inner work that gets them to a higher, free, blissful state of awareness. Few of them know how to leave in the company of all things good and wholesome, in short, how to die an auspiciois death.

Muster some courage, and be there for them.

Be there for them when they're confronted with the mortality of their partner.

Be there for them when they're confronted with their own mortality.

Be there for them when they're confronted with the attachments they have to their families.

Be there for their families as their elder ages, and eventually passes away.

Don't pity them. Provide substantial, authentic, compassionate support.

Don't come onto them with foreign dogma in words and concepts. Don't be harsh. Don't try to directly shatter their worldview on the last couple steps before the finish line. They might not be stable enough to take any heavy hits. In a case of mental deterioration caused by Alzheimer's or other degenerative diseases, they won't even have the capacity to understand the words you speak.

You know, be skillful about it.

Learn about them as a person, and understand in which way you could communicate the Universal Principle/Dharma to them so that they can receive it.

So many elderly people die alone, suffering, and afraid. Don't turn a blind eye to that. It's real, and you're going there, too, if you don't put in the effort to create merit.

Genuinely make friends with an old Lady or Gentleman in your neighborhood and see how that friendship enhances your spiritual practice for the benefit of all.

Offer some of your time to give them love. Talk with them about the things that are close to their heart. Be tactful in your speech. Listen to their stories. Practice patience when they're slow. Find a non-verbal method to transmit your intention to them if needed. With time, they'll open up.



Hold their hand and be quieter than the system you're touching.

They might be able to hear themselves.