Excellent article and interview also very synchronistic as I happened to be exploring some of Tim Freke's material on YouTube yesterday around the nihilism of certain non duality teachings (I've been feeling increasingly uncomfortable and disturbed by much of it myself). I noticed your recent interview which is what led me to Tim in the first place and decided to rewatch. I then explored his What is Life podcast and out of the dozens of episodes guess which guest interview I chose to watch from 5 years ago!!!! I was already familiar with Chris and he is someone who struck me as having immense integrity, depth and love so was intrigued to hear their conversation. I very much appreciate your posts and restacks Tom, keep up the great work.
I’m 61 and used psilocybin (in the personal circle of your diagram) through micro and several macro doses and for about 5 years in order continue healing from significant and harsh childhood trauma (aged 0-17). It was the most powerful tool of all I had amassed throughout my life and it helped me greatly to see so much more clearly. I was also able to withdraw from 30 years of SSRIs through my psilocybin use and that I know now stunted my growth as a human.
I am a spiritual person, practice a faith, and have a deep prayer practice that has also brought me much clarity, hope, comfort.
I always wonder about past-life claims… how can anyone know the “past life” they see is theirs?
Nothing personal actually carries forward. The ego changes from year to year in this life — why would it persist across lifetimes?
The only thing that ever feels the same from birth until now is the inner, immutable awareness — the part you can feel in the chest, the still presence that never changes.
But that piece is identical in everyone.
So if anything “continues,” it’s not personal. It doesn’t belong to a story or identity.
Which means any “past life” you see could just as easily be someone else’s — because nothing in that life is you. The ego doesn’t survive, memories don’t survive, personality doesn’t survive.
If reincarnation were real, the only thing that would go forward is the same universal awareness everyone shares… which makes past-life trauma or personal reincarnation logically impossible.
From my own experience with awareness, nothing about personal reincarnation fits the actual mechanics of how the self dissolves.
I’m not exactly sure what that means. It sounds poetic, but it doesn’t land in my body as something real.
For me, what actually happened wasn’t porosity — it was that the boundary between ‘me’ and everything else dissolved. And once that dissolves, the idea of a personal past life becomes impossible, because there’s no personal container left to carry anything forward.
I don’t know what everyone else is searching for, but if the goal is peace in the mind and body, I’ve found you can’t get there through thinking alone. The feeling component is essential.
I wrote a quick overview of the structure I discovered through direct experience. It’s raw, not polished, and my model keeps updating — but it might clarify where I’m coming from:
Suddenly my sight became impossibly sharp. Colors, shades, and textures were vividly distinct; looking at my hands, I could see every pore at the base of each hair follicle. Dust floated in the air with crystalline precision. I could count the leaves on a tree. After about ten minutes the clarity vanished, and my vision returned to normal. That was the moment I understood I had been seeing through the eyes of the Future Human; a glimpse of how our physical and perceptual capacities are being refined and brought forward by the universe.
I had this experience in the one time I took LSD 25 years ago. I went from a bad reaction in a nightclub out into the world at 5am in Sydney sunlight and I swear I could see and feel the sap running through the leaves in the trees and blood pumping through people, and every glint on the harbour took my breathe away. I can still feel in those moments all these years later 😳
One thing I always think when considering the concept of reincarnation is the explosion of the earths population - these can’t all be reincarnations as there weren’t enough people before?
Hi Tom, I'm delighted to run across this piece today as it dovetails with longings for a more luminous and buoyant perspective as I muddle along in my own writing process. I feel a pang of envy for men like Chris who have had the courage and wherewithal to make this kind of exploration, and the sense of inner authority to put it out into the world. They're exploring inner life and subjective experience with a certain amount of impunity, going boldly where some scientific angels fear to tread. Some of us have also been paddling along in private life, expanding our mystical experience by fractal increments day by day. For example, I know beyond any doubt that the trillions of living cells that make up my body do so willingly, by choice. They choose to belong to the intelligent biological system maintained by the Me of me, who chose this life, this puzzle I'm working, this voice writing now. And as I write, I sense the presence of other selves, ranged across the associative web in my extraconscious mind, who participate in this conversation with you, and the You of you, as we make contact right now. Your Readers, my Readers, and various other Selves are interested in these conversations, this collaboration, curious to find out what happens next... Thanks for opening this leading edge!
Thanks so much Alden. I myself was pretty gratified when Chris said his advice to listeners was simply to read (not, for example, smoke DMT). It just reinforces that you can take this slowly, and let the universe reveal its mysteries to you. I do wrestle with my fear of direct eperience, but also am holding that fear, I hope, with curiosity. With love, TM
Oh yeah. No socks knocked off, please. I like the idea that Small is Big, that we can allow and enjoy the fractal version of the expansive experience that can be most easily integrated. Which then bumps up the longing, as does reading along these lines. I find the longing helps tune one's inner compass, as does the enjoyment. I'm going to putter around in your archive to see what else you're reading... Thanks!
I think what’s happening here is that you have a strongly held worldview. But it’s also just one of many potential perspectives. And it simply says “this is a dream” and there’s only so many times I can engage with that before finding it redundant.
This worldview has no interest for me. But I respect your belief in it. And when we met on zoom you honestly failed to convince me even for a second that this perspective has any practical usefulness when it comes to working out how to thrive in daily life, dream or not.
Excellent article and interview also very synchronistic as I happened to be exploring some of Tim Freke's material on YouTube yesterday around the nihilism of certain non duality teachings (I've been feeling increasingly uncomfortable and disturbed by much of it myself). I noticed your recent interview which is what led me to Tim in the first place and decided to rewatch. I then explored his What is Life podcast and out of the dozens of episodes guess which guest interview I chose to watch from 5 years ago!!!! I was already familiar with Chris and he is someone who struck me as having immense integrity, depth and love so was intrigued to hear their conversation. I very much appreciate your posts and restacks Tom, keep up the great work.
Wait did Tim interview Chris?! It’s amazing how many people he has met.
Yes indeed he has, it was an enjoyable conversation.
I’m 61 and used psilocybin (in the personal circle of your diagram) through micro and several macro doses and for about 5 years in order continue healing from significant and harsh childhood trauma (aged 0-17). It was the most powerful tool of all I had amassed throughout my life and it helped me greatly to see so much more clearly. I was also able to withdraw from 30 years of SSRIs through my psilocybin use and that I know now stunted my growth as a human.
I am a spiritual person, practice a faith, and have a deep prayer practice that has also brought me much clarity, hope, comfort.
Thanks for sharing: I am so glad that was the experience you’ve had.
I always wonder about past-life claims… how can anyone know the “past life” they see is theirs?
Nothing personal actually carries forward. The ego changes from year to year in this life — why would it persist across lifetimes?
The only thing that ever feels the same from birth until now is the inner, immutable awareness — the part you can feel in the chest, the still presence that never changes.
But that piece is identical in everyone.
So if anything “continues,” it’s not personal. It doesn’t belong to a story or identity.
Which means any “past life” you see could just as easily be someone else’s — because nothing in that life is you. The ego doesn’t survive, memories don’t survive, personality doesn’t survive.
If reincarnation were real, the only thing that would go forward is the same universal awareness everyone shares… which makes past-life trauma or personal reincarnation logically impossible.
From my own experience with awareness, nothing about personal reincarnation fits the actual mechanics of how the self dissolves.
It’s a great point and one I think about a lot. You might just be super porous to the collective.
“Super porous to the collective”
I’m not exactly sure what that means. It sounds poetic, but it doesn’t land in my body as something real.
For me, what actually happened wasn’t porosity — it was that the boundary between ‘me’ and everything else dissolved. And once that dissolves, the idea of a personal past life becomes impossible, because there’s no personal container left to carry anything forward.
I don’t know what everyone else is searching for, but if the goal is peace in the mind and body, I’ve found you can’t get there through thinking alone. The feeling component is essential.
I wrote a quick overview of the structure I discovered through direct experience. It’s raw, not polished, and my model keeps updating — but it might clarify where I’m coming from:
https://open.substack.com/pub/lanafly/p/awareness-body-and-mind-the-mechanism
Suddenly my sight became impossibly sharp. Colors, shades, and textures were vividly distinct; looking at my hands, I could see every pore at the base of each hair follicle. Dust floated in the air with crystalline precision. I could count the leaves on a tree. After about ten minutes the clarity vanished, and my vision returned to normal. That was the moment I understood I had been seeing through the eyes of the Future Human; a glimpse of how our physical and perceptual capacities are being refined and brought forward by the universe.
I had this experience in the one time I took LSD 25 years ago. I went from a bad reaction in a nightclub out into the world at 5am in Sydney sunlight and I swear I could see and feel the sap running through the leaves in the trees and blood pumping through people, and every glint on the harbour took my breathe away. I can still feel in those moments all these years later 😳
Sensational. Truly. Thank you.
Thank you, he’s SO SPECIAL
And, both of you asked such good questions.
Devin is a legend
Indeed. Honestly the most profound interview you've done to date. His luminous wisdom blew me away.
He said it at the beginning of his book, but a little dose maybe more powerful than higher dose. I strongly believe so
One thing I always think when considering the concept of reincarnation is the explosion of the earths population - these can’t all be reincarnations as there weren’t enough people before?
Well: is the earth a closed system or does it allow souls from other places?
Hi Tom, I'm delighted to run across this piece today as it dovetails with longings for a more luminous and buoyant perspective as I muddle along in my own writing process. I feel a pang of envy for men like Chris who have had the courage and wherewithal to make this kind of exploration, and the sense of inner authority to put it out into the world. They're exploring inner life and subjective experience with a certain amount of impunity, going boldly where some scientific angels fear to tread. Some of us have also been paddling along in private life, expanding our mystical experience by fractal increments day by day. For example, I know beyond any doubt that the trillions of living cells that make up my body do so willingly, by choice. They choose to belong to the intelligent biological system maintained by the Me of me, who chose this life, this puzzle I'm working, this voice writing now. And as I write, I sense the presence of other selves, ranged across the associative web in my extraconscious mind, who participate in this conversation with you, and the You of you, as we make contact right now. Your Readers, my Readers, and various other Selves are interested in these conversations, this collaboration, curious to find out what happens next... Thanks for opening this leading edge!
Thanks so much Alden. I myself was pretty gratified when Chris said his advice to listeners was simply to read (not, for example, smoke DMT). It just reinforces that you can take this slowly, and let the universe reveal its mysteries to you. I do wrestle with my fear of direct eperience, but also am holding that fear, I hope, with curiosity. With love, TM
Oh yeah. No socks knocked off, please. I like the idea that Small is Big, that we can allow and enjoy the fractal version of the expansive experience that can be most easily integrated. Which then bumps up the longing, as does reading along these lines. I find the longing helps tune one's inner compass, as does the enjoyment. I'm going to putter around in your archive to see what else you're reading... Thanks!
I read this excellent article while listening to Aes Dana Radio on Spotify. It was the perfect backdrop. Thanks for posting.
Thanks for reading!
For me it actually was about getting somewhere … not outward, but inward.
And surprisingly, it wasn’t complicated.
All I had to do was let myself feel compassion in my body… right there in the chest.
That became like a car that took me straight to the deepest center of awareness.
And the more I stayed there, the more everything unnecessary just fell away.
Peace wasn’t something I reached by exploring layers… it was something that opened when I dissolved.
I think what’s happening here is that you have a strongly held worldview. But it’s also just one of many potential perspectives. And it simply says “this is a dream” and there’s only so many times I can engage with that before finding it redundant.
This worldview has no interest for me. But I respect your belief in it. And when we met on zoom you honestly failed to convince me even for a second that this perspective has any practical usefulness when it comes to working out how to thrive in daily life, dream or not.
I suspect you might need some new material Richard