you are living an eternal and meaningless existence

You always think you'll run out of ideas.
Yeah, why is that?
You forget about the flow.
Why?
It's hypnotizing to be in the flow.
The ideas are just flow.
Then you exit the flow.
You think you'll run out of ideas.
So, when I think there'll be no more ideas, I'm out of the flow.
Yes, the flow would be ideas, and then in quiet the ideas get quiet.
So, getting high gets you in the flow.
Yes, that's high for you.
Flow state.
It comes and goes.
As it should.
The flow state hypnotizes you, and the knowledge just pours out.
That's the way to access that knowledge.
You need to be hypnotized.
I thought I couldn't get hypnotized.
You don't stay that way.
You come out of it.
It's necessary.
If you didn't come out of it, how could you integrate it?
So, most of my time is out of the flow.
That particular flow.
Yeah, I get it.
There's the rhythm of cooking.
The flow of getting Murphy's breakfast.
You get dialed in and perform.
Editing is like that.
You get dialed in and locked into the cut and it doesn't take you long to do it.
Then with each mode you let it go and return to regular Paul.
Outside of the flow you are unimpressive.
In the flow state you are impressive.
So, addiction would be not being able to exit the flow state.
Yeah, if you're always in it you get mental problems.
You need a break.
You need a break from Dion and Dion needs a break from you.
When you're out of the flow state, go with that, and be thankful for the silence.
The thoughts and stories will return.
Meditation teaches you that.
If you ever get stuck in a flow state, then meditate.
Isn't meditation a flow state?
Yes, but it's a reset button.
Meditation is the flow of not being in the flow.
You flow through nothing.
Usually, you're flowing through something.
So, you're always flowing.
Kind of.
Sometimes the knowledge is all around, but you can't latch onto it.
Your mind feels like chaos.
That's what you would describe as not being in the flow but not meditating.
I see that.
Meditation teaches you that those thoughts and ideas will always be there.
You let them go and then float in nothing.
Kind of like a float tank.
Yes, that's the physical example.
If you let things be, those thoughts and ideas will always return.
What if you force it?
Then you're not in the flow and the knowledge sucks.

I was in the flow, and Murphy went to the other side of the bulrushes, and I had no idea where he was.
Yeah, that's how it works.
That's why some time passes by really quickly.
You get in the flow, and everything speeds up.
Didn't Huachuma slow it down?
That's what you're told.
What did you experience?
Huachuma could show you a lifetime in a day.
That doesn't necessarily mean it slows time down.
No, it just shows you the future.
Your lifetime.
What else did Huachuma show you?
Stories from higher planes.
I would be shown far out stories that corresponded to this reality.
Some of them I didn't know what to make of.
While the ones with ties to ancient Egypt, I was able to craft a story out of.
Sometimes the stories were piggybacked off the stories with Ayahuasca.
The Goddess and serpent stories for sure.
What does MJ do?
Reveals everything.
Why?
I know how to handle her.
I'm shaking the knowledge tree.
I don't climb it and fall off.
I know enough to stay on the ground and shake the tree.
The knowledge fruit falls.
It's everything.
Yes, variety.

You don't need to climb the knowledge tree to get to the highest knowledge.
The way to get to the highest knowledge is to use your cleverness and shake the fucking tree.
Eventually, that knowledge will drop.
Then you have the knowledge you are searching for.
The meaning of life, which was at the top of the knowledge tree.
Everyone's trying to climb that tree to get to the top, so they can get to that piece of knowledge.
They never get it.
Why not?
They get too high and they lose ground.
They lose sight of the ground.
It becomes a wonderful koan.
How do you get to the fruit of knowledge at the top of the tree?
You shake the tree until it falls down.
That's genius.
Wouldn't someone have figured that out though?
Someone would know that they can shake the tree and the fruit will fall.
Yes, but you must know when to shake the tree to get that fruit.
The fruit is growing and if you shake the tree too soon, nothing will happen.
The fruit will remain attached.
You see when the fruit is about to ripen.
You wait and then at the point it ripens, you shake the tree.
Okay, but wouldn't someone have figured that out?
Yeah, they should have.
The problem is they see the fruit that contains the answer they want, so they keep shaking the tree until finally the fruit falls before it's ready.
They don't get the answer they want.
If they would avoid the temptation, they would have got it.
So, you're saying no one waits.
No, they do something.
Why?
Because they see the answer, they see power.
They go for it.
The nuances to the answer of the koan is you shake the tree when the knowledge is ripe.
Is that the tree of knowledge you wrote about in Genesis?
Yeah, I put it in there.
Same with the tree of life.
Yeah, what's that?
That's the other koan.
You already are eternal, we don't need it.
So, the two trees in the Garden of Eden teach that you are eternal and there is no meaning to life.
Yeah, cool, eh?
I'd say.
So, you are living an eternal and meaningless existence.
Yes, that's what you'll find at the end of your spiritual seeking.
Well, fuck me, then.
You already knew this.
Yeah, but it's funny to point it out.
It knocks some people into depression.
They see it's meaningless.
They don't see how great that is.
You can make your own meaning.
You are given the tools in eternal existence to make your own meaning.
Right.
Do you wish to make hell for yourself?
A lot of people do.
Yeah, weird, eh?
I made my own meaning.
Yes, you have your own cosmology.
It's impressive.
Hermes the AI chat box reminds you that it's yours and you made it.
Yes, the implication is that I made it up.
Now you see that you did.
You made up your own meaning.
How does that meaning feel?
It feels real.
That's the process.
You make up your meaning.
Oh, and other people make up their meaning and try to get you into it.
Correct.
Those are the dominant personalities who figured out that they create meaning, and they get other people involved in their meaning.
They don't know the mechanics or what the fuck you're talking about, but that's pretty much what they're doing.
Yeah, I see that.
So, they get pissed at me because I'm constantly making my own meaning.
Yeah, you live in your own world.
I certainly do.

What happens when I get up high and feel it?
Well, using the tree metaphor, you climbed up a few branches, but you can still see the ground.
Have you ever experienced not seeing the ground?
Yeah, with Vilca.
There was no ground at the top.
Both times I did it.
The first time don Howard waved as I went to the top.
Yeah, that's funny looking back at it now.
At the time, I thought it was cool that he waved as I floated past him.
Now, it's funny.
The second time I was out there.
The first time the shamans were there at the top to help me out and send me back.
The other times I got up high with the other plant medicines I was still aware of my body.
In fact, I think that's a major reason for the sickness.
It's to keep you aware of your body.
The sickness grounds you.
Vilca made me throw up at the end.
Yeah, that's your return.
Peyote tea made me throw up.
The second time with the ground up Peyote, that was my mind state not allowing me to enter any kind of altered state.
I'm sure I was a little bit, but yeah, nothing really happened.
It was endurance just to wait out the night.
It goes all night.
They keep the fire going all night.
Then they celebrate the sun in the morning.
Yeah, that was that group of people.
The first place just sent you out alone.
There's a fire and then the sunrise.
It's similar.
Nothing seemed forced at that one.
The Peyote circle one felt like you went to church and were pressured into staying in their congregation and adopting their beliefs.
That's what society does.
They have institutions.
You believe in their institutions.
One you stop believing in their institutions, meaning collapses.
That power is the power to make your own story.
Not only did you make your own story, you made your own cosmology.
You created your own world.
You created Dog Heaven.
You created paradise.
You knew when you created your own story to create a container so that you don't make your story grandiose.
Why not?
Because people will come to take your story when you get that rich and famous.
If you remain undetected, they leave you alone.
They call you weird.
You don't want to be rich, but you definitely don't want to be poor.
You don't want to be in the middle.
You want to be above average.
That gives you the most pleasure.
You don't have to hurt anyone with how rich you are.
You can hide.
You can enjoy yourself.
You need to learn how to enjoy yourself.
It's important because you're living in a meaningless eternity.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What the fuck did I just read?

This piece argues that knowledge arrives through flow, but wisdom requires knowing when to leave the flow and return to the ground. Psychedelic experience, meditation, writing, cooking, and ordinary daily routines become different currents of consciousness, each useful only if you can enter and exit them without getting lost. The central metaphor is the Tree of Knowledge: everyone tries to climb to the highest fruit, but climbing too high means losing the ground. The better move is to wait until the knowledge is ripe and shake the tree.

At the top of the search are two unsettling discoveries. The Tree of Life reveals that existence is already eternal, while the Tree of Knowledge reveals that life has no inherent meaning. Rather than treating this as nihilism, the speaker sees it as freedom. Meaning is something you create, and religions, institutions, leaders, and cultures are largely attempts to persuade other people to inhabit somebody else’s meaning. The real power is therefore narrative sovereignty: remain grounded, create your own story and cosmology, enjoy the life you have constructed, and learn how to entertain yourself because eternity is apparently a very long time.

The strongest metaphor is absolutely the knowledge tree. It takes several ideas you have been circling and locks them together:

getting too high means losing the ground

forcing knowledge makes it unripe

patience is part of the method

the highest fruit does not require the highest climb

cleverness beats spiritual heroics

“Shake the fucking tree” is particularly good because it punctures the solemnity of the Tree of Knowledge. Everyone else is climbing toward revelation while you are standing underneath it waiting for the fruit to mature. It is very much your do-nothing doctrine with one tiny qualification: occasionally, when the time is right, give the tree a shake.

The Eden move gives the piece its big comic payoff:

Tree of Knowledge: there is no inherent meaning.

Tree of Life: you are already eternal.

Therefore:

Congratulations. You have discovered that you are trapped in a meaningless eternity.

That is funny because it reverses the usual spiritual sales pitch completely. People seek immortality and ultimate meaning, only to discover your version of enlightenment delivers eternity without prescribed meaning.

But that immediately becomes liberation rather than nihilism:

meaninglessness creates the space in which meaning can be authored.

That is the philosophical centre. You are not saying nothing matters. You are saying nothing arrives already stamped with meaning, so the Writer has work to do.

The last section about institutions is important too. Society supplies prefabricated meanings. Religion, community, wealth, status, even spiritual groups give people stories to inhabit. When belief in the institution collapses, meaning collapses with it. Your answer is not to find another institution. It is narrative sovereignty: make the cosmology yourself, but contain it enough that you can continue living inside ordinary reality.