Thanks for this, Tom. So much of this resonates, especially this bit at the end:
"If you’re looking for a single specific experiment to bring these themes into your life immediately, the simplest and most effective of all the practices I have spent the last few years researching is tracking your energy as it rises and falls throughout the day.”
I’ve been stress testing this concept lately, mostly out of a well-worn pattern of frustration of going to the mind for answers only the intuition can give. One morning I sat down at my computer and stared at it, trying to figure out how to solve a particular problem. The more I thought, the more frustrated I became. So I asked myself, “What would be energizing? What would be playful?”
I was planning to go for a 4 mile hike that afternoon for a workout. When I thought about that I got excited . . . so I was like “f*** it, let’s do that.” My energy came up so I followed that. Five miles into my hike, I texted my wife and told her I would probably do 7 (I ended up at 7.5) because the answers I needed, and several I never considered, were coming to me effortlessly.
Tapping into that free flow of energy burned the fog of war away, revealing the path. I stopped resisting the flow of life and it felt like magic. I agree with River, Bodhi, et al, magic is just another name for cooperating fully with Reality.
1. I might pinpoint "relative materialism" > "absolute materialism" as our primary anxiety. Most people, today, could access materialist security quite easily, but what we REALLY want is to be relatively secure. That lens creates a never-ending fuel of anxiety for humans.
2. I've come to recognize that the "spectrum of meaning" available to us is quite abundant. We act like it's scarce (e.g. "only some of us can live out a calling"), but in reality, it's everywhere and quite renewable.
Thanks, Rick! I’m thinking of it in a slightly different way in that. It’s not necessarily relative or absolute, it’s what money represents to you psychologically. If you integrate that it’s a lot of the battle.
As always mind-expanding, astute and timely article, thanks for writing it! :)
"Our overwhelming belief is first you need material security, then you can start to pursue your attractor". Yes, the problem however is that its not only a believe and therefore "just" requires a correction within your psychology. That might be the job for people who suffer from perceived material lack, but are financially save.
For people who are constantly threatend by econical survival it is first and formost a neurological problem with a permanent overcharged nervous system, frequent amygdala responses, etc. leading to a narrowing of perception, irrational fear and latent distrustful and pessimistic life orientation.
As you described that earlier it´s a vicious downward cycle. What was the decisive pivot from your nadir? Pure grace? If yes how did you prepare for it? :)
Yes now I remember, I ve actually read that post when it came out and your platform was called “What’s important” (or even before that).
Reading it again, as a meta level take away 2 points got reconfirmed one more time.
1. Uniqueness: The moment someone’s path resonates with you there IS some piece of navigational information, however it never is your complete map.
“If the path before you is clear, you’re probably on someone else’s.”, as J. Campbell said.
So while it’s tempting to try to find comparable cases to oneself and it does have some value it’s at the same time a trap of abdicating your responsability to pioneer your own path out of, through or towards whatever situation or destination. The more transformative the stretch you are in the truer that becomes (and the more difficult to see and accept it)
2. Judgement/Relativity: Regardless of one’s own perceived darkness and the corresponding judgement you always find facets in other peoples paths where this judgment is humbled by your perception of their darkness.
“I cursed the fact I had no shoes until the day I saw the man who had no feet (persian proverb)”.
Moments of instant “reality checks” and also gratefulness that I don’t have to express that darkness too🙏
It's crazy how the very topics I think about seem to be followed by an article by you that perfectly articulates, and even brings new insight - particularly about scarcity being linked to ego and narrowing consciousness, which then is also linked to the fitness-accuracy trade-off brought to the fore by Hoffman. I hadn't made that connection yet, but I get the uncanny feeling I already knew it. Another example of how maybe there's something to the collective unconcious, cosmic waters and so on.
Holy flux this is an in-effing-able piece. Love this bit: "It’s pretty obvious that fears of scarcity cloud our judgement. Where this gets more interesting is the other side of the trade-off between fitness and accuracy. The implication being: the less anxious you are, the more of true reality you can perceive. As we move into one of the least dangerous environments in evolutionary history, a growing number of people will see reality increasingly accurately. We would expect a rise in mystical experiences, neurodivergence and interest in substances that expand the doors of perception.¹"
It's interesting how accuracy is related to "the subtle," something that is nebulous unless one has the capacity to accurately sense it. Then it's not amorphous, but a morphing kaleidoscope of ever changing newness. And if accuracy is not "needed" for survival, as we can be so precise exactly when we are safe in our environment. We have time to dwell on the structure and beauty of a mushroom before we figure out if it's safe to eat.
I'm really feeling into the idea that stress and accumulated negative emotions are signals of moving sideways. Though it's inescapable, can the branches be pruned, or awareness be attuned to "okay I'm on a side quest at the moment and I can get back to my main-stage in a few hours." At some point, those delays of a few hours meld into a timeless pathless path where dots connect in synchronicity. And perhaps it was like that all along. But then, who is to say. Thanks Tom!
Thanks Andrea- I guess one can get too sensitive and subtle as well, which is unsuited to our blunt world. But then most people (me) end up being far too dissociated.
Lovely piece again, Tom. All of your recent pieces have resonated deeply, igniting me with energy. This reminded me of something I wrote last October.
Excerpt:
"The world of the unknown is an unfamiliar home. While visiting, I feel a dense fog resting on my shoulders. Every step forward lays itself out as long as I am respectfully thinking and intuiting. Each step makes itself known, and at times, the fog lifts, and I feel I can see as far as the horizon extends around me in all its horror and beauty.
I live for the fog to lift, hoping to build something beautiful for those traveling with me in this new territory."
Wow that’s awesome. I feel the fog only works so much as a metaphor, because it doesn’t so much as shift and you get better at walking through it with your eyes closed…
Is it possible to heart this more than once? Well done. And I love the bit about an upward spiral - that phrase is literally in my essay for this week. Synchronicities always bring a smile if you can spot them.
Thanks Tom- I had a lot of eyes on this one for proofreading. Which really helped. And it started off conflating two topics, which broke my brain for 3 days straight. Killing darlings is HARD.
Thanks for this, Tom. So much of this resonates, especially this bit at the end:
"If you’re looking for a single specific experiment to bring these themes into your life immediately, the simplest and most effective of all the practices I have spent the last few years researching is tracking your energy as it rises and falls throughout the day.”
I’ve been stress testing this concept lately, mostly out of a well-worn pattern of frustration of going to the mind for answers only the intuition can give. One morning I sat down at my computer and stared at it, trying to figure out how to solve a particular problem. The more I thought, the more frustrated I became. So I asked myself, “What would be energizing? What would be playful?”
I was planning to go for a 4 mile hike that afternoon for a workout. When I thought about that I got excited . . . so I was like “f*** it, let’s do that.” My energy came up so I followed that. Five miles into my hike, I texted my wife and told her I would probably do 7 (I ended up at 7.5) because the answers I needed, and several I never considered, were coming to me effortlessly.
Tapping into that free flow of energy burned the fog of war away, revealing the path. I stopped resisting the flow of life and it felt like magic. I agree with River, Bodhi, et al, magic is just another name for cooperating fully with Reality.
Thanks Kevin!
Great essay. Two thoughts:
1. I might pinpoint "relative materialism" > "absolute materialism" as our primary anxiety. Most people, today, could access materialist security quite easily, but what we REALLY want is to be relatively secure. That lens creates a never-ending fuel of anxiety for humans.
2. I've come to recognize that the "spectrum of meaning" available to us is quite abundant. We act like it's scarce (e.g. "only some of us can live out a calling"), but in reality, it's everywhere and quite renewable.
Thanks, Rick! I’m thinking of it in a slightly different way in that. It’s not necessarily relative or absolute, it’s what money represents to you psychologically. If you integrate that it’s a lot of the battle.
gotcha, thanks for the clarification
As always mind-expanding, astute and timely article, thanks for writing it! :)
"Our overwhelming belief is first you need material security, then you can start to pursue your attractor". Yes, the problem however is that its not only a believe and therefore "just" requires a correction within your psychology. That might be the job for people who suffer from perceived material lack, but are financially save.
For people who are constantly threatend by econical survival it is first and formost a neurological problem with a permanent overcharged nervous system, frequent amygdala responses, etc. leading to a narrowing of perception, irrational fear and latent distrustful and pessimistic life orientation.
As you described that earlier it´s a vicious downward cycle. What was the decisive pivot from your nadir? Pure grace? If yes how did you prepare for it? :)
Ketamine infusions! And it wasn't a graceful descent either. https://www.ecstaticintegration.org/p/a-dark-night-on-wall-street
Thanks Tom!
Yes now I remember, I ve actually read that post when it came out and your platform was called “What’s important” (or even before that).
Reading it again, as a meta level take away 2 points got reconfirmed one more time.
1. Uniqueness: The moment someone’s path resonates with you there IS some piece of navigational information, however it never is your complete map.
“If the path before you is clear, you’re probably on someone else’s.”, as J. Campbell said.
So while it’s tempting to try to find comparable cases to oneself and it does have some value it’s at the same time a trap of abdicating your responsability to pioneer your own path out of, through or towards whatever situation or destination. The more transformative the stretch you are in the truer that becomes (and the more difficult to see and accept it)
2. Judgement/Relativity: Regardless of one’s own perceived darkness and the corresponding judgement you always find facets in other peoples paths where this judgment is humbled by your perception of their darkness.
“I cursed the fact I had no shoes until the day I saw the man who had no feet (persian proverb)”.
Moments of instant “reality checks” and also gratefulness that I don’t have to express that darkness too🙏
"one of life’s primary goals is to learn how to manifest from love rather than fear"
basically this.
It's crazy how the very topics I think about seem to be followed by an article by you that perfectly articulates, and even brings new insight - particularly about scarcity being linked to ego and narrowing consciousness, which then is also linked to the fitness-accuracy trade-off brought to the fore by Hoffman. I hadn't made that connection yet, but I get the uncanny feeling I already knew it. Another example of how maybe there's something to the collective unconcious, cosmic waters and so on.
I genuinely believe there’s some kind of morphic resonance on this topic right now. My five fave prophets all writing about it concurrently is weird.
Holy flux this is an in-effing-able piece. Love this bit: "It’s pretty obvious that fears of scarcity cloud our judgement. Where this gets more interesting is the other side of the trade-off between fitness and accuracy. The implication being: the less anxious you are, the more of true reality you can perceive. As we move into one of the least dangerous environments in evolutionary history, a growing number of people will see reality increasingly accurately. We would expect a rise in mystical experiences, neurodivergence and interest in substances that expand the doors of perception.¹"
It's interesting how accuracy is related to "the subtle," something that is nebulous unless one has the capacity to accurately sense it. Then it's not amorphous, but a morphing kaleidoscope of ever changing newness. And if accuracy is not "needed" for survival, as we can be so precise exactly when we are safe in our environment. We have time to dwell on the structure and beauty of a mushroom before we figure out if it's safe to eat.
I'm really feeling into the idea that stress and accumulated negative emotions are signals of moving sideways. Though it's inescapable, can the branches be pruned, or awareness be attuned to "okay I'm on a side quest at the moment and I can get back to my main-stage in a few hours." At some point, those delays of a few hours meld into a timeless pathless path where dots connect in synchronicity. And perhaps it was like that all along. But then, who is to say. Thanks Tom!
Thanks Andrea- I guess one can get too sensitive and subtle as well, which is unsuited to our blunt world. But then most people (me) end up being far too dissociated.
Good stuff thank you Tom
Cheers Jack!
Lovely piece again, Tom. All of your recent pieces have resonated deeply, igniting me with energy. This reminded me of something I wrote last October.
Excerpt:
"The world of the unknown is an unfamiliar home. While visiting, I feel a dense fog resting on my shoulders. Every step forward lays itself out as long as I am respectfully thinking and intuiting. Each step makes itself known, and at times, the fog lifts, and I feel I can see as far as the horizon extends around me in all its horror and beauty.
I live for the fog to lift, hoping to build something beautiful for those traveling with me in this new territory."
Thank you so much for your work!
Wow that’s awesome. I feel the fog only works so much as a metaphor, because it doesn’t so much as shift and you get better at walking through it with your eyes closed…
Is it possible to heart this more than once? Well done. And I love the bit about an upward spiral - that phrase is literally in my essay for this week. Synchronicities always bring a smile if you can spot them.
Thanks Tom- I had a lot of eyes on this one for proofreading. Which really helped. And it started off conflating two topics, which broke my brain for 3 days straight. Killing darlings is HARD.