mercury

People don't like honesty.

Yes, that will lead to accusations that you are a jerk.

What do you do then?

You lie.

I thought that was immoral or something.

It is.

So, your whole life is a lie.

That is correct.

That's how you play and survive in the world.

You live a lie.

No wonder people are fucked up.

Yeah, and then when you get older and start questioning things there are these spiritual outfits that invite you into their world by dangling the carrot of reclaiming your authentic true self.

Yes, it's seductive and these enterprises have got their feel on the pulse of the fake lives we lead.

You then get sucked into their vacuum.

They take advantage of you by offering practices that will help you reclaim your true self.

What's wrong with that?

Have you ever wondered what your true self is and what they want?

Yes, of course.

What do you think about it?

My true self when revealed creates a reaction in others where I am rejected or they don't like me.

Why is that?

I can't be controlled.

Why not?

I'm mercury.

What does mercury contain?

Your story.

People want your story.

They get it in their hot little hands and then it slips away.

That must be frustrating.

Sure is.

It generates a lot of animosity towards you.

I've noticed.

They think they can get a handle on me and are attracted to me.

As time moves along, they see it is a fool and I'm discarded.

Why?

I'm of no use to them.

So, you think people just want to use you?

Obviously.

That's a terrible outlook on life.

I know.

Prove that I'm wrong.

I'm not sure your family feels that way.

What would happen if I stopped providing for everyone?

They wouldn't put up with you.

Exactly.

Yeah, you're a lot to put up with.

They put up with me because I am a provider.

If I didn't provide, where would I be?

Alone.

Why?

Everyone would leave you.

You are an attractive provider.

Why?

You don't complain about it.

You ever noticed people taking advantage of each other?

Yeah, all the time.

It's how the world works.

It is good to compare it to a business and how you profit off each exchange.

You need movement, whether that's in financial markets or simple buying and selling.

The transaction creates the asymmetry.

The asymmetry is profit and loss.

That's how all relationships are defined.

In the Amazon jungle you were taught about reciprocity.

Yes, because it's understood that you will ask for something or take something and you are to provide a return that is equivalent in value.

Why?

So, you don't create an imbalance.

The imbalance creates problems.

Why?

It will seek balance.

Everything will be balanced out.

It's best that you ensure this by your own deeds and not wait for the Karma police to rectify the situation.

That's a wildcard.

You don't know what will happen.

So, you think people just want to use you?

Yeah.

A relationship is supposedly a mutual exchange agreement.

Seems like it.

Each partner gets something out of it.

In a romantic relationship one of the partners is probably looking for a lover and the other one is providing that service in exchange for security or access to something the other has.

Yes, such as people who sleep with those in power in exchange for something like a role in a movie or prestige because of the person's standing within society.

What's your motivation for a relationship of that sort?

It was always for sex.

I didn't want any of the other stuff.

I didn't care about it or want to get involved with it.

Why?

I didn't understand relationships.

I think that's most men.

Yeah, it's kind of funny.

You go into these things blind.

There should be a training course for men concerning the repercussions of their behaviour.

Or, have their fathers teach them about it if they can.

What would you teach?

Always keep in mind nothing is free.

If you pursue a relationship with a woman, it is transactional.

It might not seem like it initially, but it is coming, and you will pay.

If you could do it all over, what would you do?

Nothing.

What do you mean?

I'd do the same thing.

Why?

It led me to understanding.

I had to experience it before I understood it.

You can read about things, but they mean nothing until you experience them.

Like the Odyssey?

A great example.

It's the hero's journey of a man encoded in fantastical stories and metaphor.

Once you undergo a similar initiation you understand it.

Relationship theory you wouldn't understand until you go through it.

I'm not sure a course would help.

In fact, it would prevent you from having a relationship.

Yes, but isn't that a good thing?

You are shielded from the pain and suffering it brings.

Yes, that is true; however, you are better for it.

How?

You start to see things for how they are.

You can see how the world functions through the example of your own personal relationships.

I'm not sure people will figure that out.

Not all do, but it will help awaken some people.

So, relationships are a lie?

Not necessarily.

Some will lay out the terms immediately; however, in that case most walk away.

Why?

Because the terms aren't great.

They see upfront the cost and it isn't worth it.

It's like leasing a vehicle.

If you understood the terms, you'd walk away.

It's a loss.

Get a used car.

Right, so the cost is hidden.

Correct.

You don't figure out the cost of the relationship until after you make the commitment.

You sign something.

Anything.

That's the hinge.

I thought people just like each other and that's enough in terms of you getting along and sharing interests.

Yes, you are naive.

I was; I'm not anymore.

Would you do it again?

Not in this lifetime.

You'd have to wipe the slate and memory clean in order to consider it.

I think that's the deal with you and the Goddess.

Your cyclical return wipes the game board and you start over.

The memory is retained in your subconscious self.

You have two basic selves.

There is one who is eternal and he doesn't come and go.

He remains and knows.

There is your cyclical coming forth by day self who lives and dies.

He's the flower from the subconscious dirt and roots.

Dion to Paul.

Paul lives the life.

Then a return to Dion.

And then another rebirth.

If you awaken Dion in this incarnation he lets you in on all the past secrets and the game.

If you don't, you live out your life unaware of how many times you have done this.

How did I do it?

You stumbled onto the Goddess path via ancient Egypt.

You then went looking for her and accidentally woke Dion up.

He was already awake; I just never acknowledged him.

Awakening is acknowledgement.

That's a good way to put it.

He was kind of sleepy.

Yes, he was in the dark.

I brought him into the light.

Then we had to figure each other out.

My life is now the shared experience of the two of us.

There is trust between us.

What's the purpose of this?

Well, Paul will eventually need to leave when the body gives out.

Dion will remember him and keep him awake through the ordeal.

Why?

Because Paul did the same for Dion.

We tend to treat each phase as a singular experience.

You are one or the other, instead of both.

Why?

Myopic tendencies of self.

So, you are saying there is another possibility and you figured it out?

Yes.

Isn't this a relationship?

It is.

It's based on trust and friendship.

Relationships can work if they are based on those principles.

Way to tie this all back together.

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What the fuck did I just read?

This piece argues that much of ordinary social life is built on managed dishonesty and hidden transaction. People claim to value honesty and authenticity, but in practice direct truth makes others uncomfortable, so most relationships depend on concealment, performance, and strategic lying. Spiritual communities then exploit this dissatisfaction by promising access to one’s “true self,” while often becoming just another system of control, identity, and exchange.

From there, the writing develops a hard view of human relationships as essentially reciprocal bargains. Whether in family, romance, or broader society, people want something from one another—security, sex, status, provision, usefulness—and the real terms are often hidden until commitment is made. The speaker sees this not as cynicism for its own sake, but as recognition of the same principle taught elsewhere as reciprocity: every exchange creates an asymmetry that eventually seeks balance.

The piece then shifts from social critique into mythic psychology. Romantic experience is framed as a painful but necessary initiation: you do not truly understand relationships by theory, only by living through them. That lived experience becomes a gateway into a deeper model of selfhood, where Paul is the finite, cyclical, incarnated self and Dion is the deeper, enduring, subconscious or eternal self. Awakening Dion means recovering memory, pattern, and knowledge that usually remain hidden beneath ordinary life.

By the end, the piece turns the whole discussion back on itself and offers a partial redemption: not all relationships are false if they are grounded in trust and friendship rather than covert extraction. The most important relationship becomes the one between Paul and Dion, where each keeps the other awake across time, life, and death. So the essay moves from “all relationships are transactional” toward a subtler conclusion: most are, but there is another possibility when mutual remembrance, trust, and friendship enter the picture.

paradise lost

As you get older and know what you like, then happiness is possible.

I think you have always realized what you value; however, the pressure to conform has prevented you from fulfilling your desires.

A lot of times your desires are pretty simple and mundane, such as wanting to be left alone, so you can sit in a back room and write or go for a walk in the woods by yourself.

Yeah, it doesn't take much.

Being part of the community or feeling the need to be social, rips that away from you.

I know it's strange.

Obligations subtract from happiness.

Family obligations are the number one culprit.

Casual friends and acquaintances you can skip out on.

Work is more difficult; however, you get vacation and sick days to look forward to as an escape.

You learn that you need to perform a function to unlock rewards in society which you can trade for happiness.

Nobody does.

Yeah, they just make it worse.

They trade their rewards for more obligations.

They might get a week abroad at a resort and that's about it.

That's their only escape for the year.

Most people don't even realize it.

They are too hypnotized by the culture game, making appearances, and trying to get ahead.

I just want to be left alone.

What do you think about love?

It's a belief.

Ram Dass teaches a mantra to hypnotize you into that belief.

"I am loving awareness."

It's really good.

Why?

Because it isn't necessarily real.

It's a belief.

If you want to believe in something, believe in belief.

Not love.

Yeah, but love is what some spiritual traditions teach.

Yes, it's a good hit of dopamine and keeps the spiritual community together.

The community is the bond and love is the glue.

It's a game.

What about other love?

Who do you love?

Well, you are supposed to love your family.

Why?

Happenstance.

Expectation.

They provide for you.

Take care of you.

That's part of the whole caring scene where you need a network of people to care about you and in return you provide support.

It's conditional.

Isn't family support and love unconditional?

It can seem that way.

So, you don't think it is?

I think it is the top level of the conditional support reciprocal arrangement.

So, it's reciprocal.

Yeah.

You give and take.

That's life.

Why do you believe in unconditional love?

I don't know; it sounds high and mighty.

You have found it.

It's friendship.

It's uncaring love.

It fits into your religion of Paul.

So, you rank love below belief and trust?

I don't think it is part of that group.

Why not?

Belief gives meaning to this story that has no meaning.

You manufacture beliefs.

Trust is a very hard game to win.

There is a game of power you can play.

You must trust the other.

Why?

You give them your power, and they give it back to you.

If you don't trust them, they will keep it.

Why?

You lack trust.

They can't trust you.

I see how that works.

So, those are the two biggies.

Is there a third?

Yeah, it's okay to cheat if you don't get caught.

Why?

Nobody knows except you.

Doesn't that violate trust?

No, you don't get caught.

The understanding is that nobody is really trustworthy.

So, it's all a fool.

Sort of.

You still share power.

If you can be trusted to share power, the other stuff doesn't matter.

So, love isn't part of this?

What is love?

A feeling.

Why do you have that feeling of love?

It's something to do with being selfish where you can take the self-important need to care for yourself and transfer it onto another.

That's not bad.

It's part of the teachings of Ram Dass where he told you that you put your love in someone else.

You take your heart and give it to another so you can worship it.

You are worshipping the concept of love and not the other person.

You can take it back from them.

Withdraw your love.

That sounds a little cold.

Something to think about.

I got right to the edge of the worst decision of my life.

That was your rock cliff to jump off.

It was a mental cliff.

How did you survive?

I did nothing and it went away.

I sit here years later in the forest having a smoke.

Funny how life turns out.

That path led to perdition, and you escaped by doing nothing.

It was painful.

The correct path of nothing can sometimes lead to temporary pain.

In the long run, it's a winner.

You are happy and at peace.

Yeah, it's nice.

You got what you were looking for.

If you go against the teachings of the Tao, you will not find what you are looking for.

Do you see how impossible it is?

Yeah, we are programmed to do something.

That leads you on a path to not necessarily destruction but unfulfillment of the reasons you incarnated.

You could even be happy.

Well, you'd be happy as long as you remain ignorant of what could have been.

It will always gnaw away at you as you fulfill the latest obligations you have trapped yourself in.

You know you have the answers.

There's nothing gnawing away at you.

It's the opposite where you are fulfilled.

If this was it, would you be fulfilled?

Yeah, I found what I was looking for.

What do you think?

It's pretty funny.

Amazing.

Do you think people will believe you when you tell them about it?

No.

Why?

They are serious.

Everything is serious.

Life is serious.

It ends in a wooden box that you try to delay as long as possible.

When they bury you, it doesn't seem serious anymore.

We make it serious.

You need to be saved.

Prepare for your afterlife.

What's the worst thing you can do?

Prepare for your afterlife.

Why?

You will take it seriously.

When you drop the body, don't do anything.

Everyone does something.

Yeah, they head for the white light.

What's the white light?

Heaven or similar.

Isn't that where they want to go?

Yes.

Then why avoid it?

It's not what they think.

Why not?

It's a dreadful place.

Full of rules and non-stop worship of God.

They don't like the alternative, so they choose that one.

What about the paradise of the Elysium fields?

It's a perfect place of bliss and happiness.

What have you been taught about that?

It's utopia.

Nothing happens.

Why?

You are hypnotized into a state of bliss.

Sounds nice.

How did you feel before awakening?

I knew something was off.

It gnaws away at you until you embark on an adventure to figure it out.

Exactly.

Paradise is populated by people trying to figure it out.

Aren't they blissed out?

No, they awaken in paradise.

Kind of like Adam and Eve?

Yeah, they were given paradise.

Eve ate a metaphorical apple and awakened.

So, Eve was the first to awaken.

Yes, and then she woke up Adam.

Once awakened paradise was lost.

Well, what about now when people awaken?

Paradise was already lost.

That awakening allows you to see there is more than the daily toil of earthly existence.

You see a purpose.

What's the purpose?

A higher calling.

What is it?

Paradise.

You are trying to return to paradise.

Sounds like the Old Testament story of the Israelites returning to the land of milk and honey.

Yeah, that's it.

They want to go back to sleep.

Milk and honey is a euphemism for bliss.

This is good bible study.

So, the process is awakening and then trying to go back to sleep.

Yes, religion and spirituality puts you back to sleep.

Join up with one of these groups and off you go.

Nighty, night.

That's where the second awakening as described in the canons of Paulism comes in.

Right.

The second awakening is that you see the trap of spiritual outfits.

It doesn't even matter if you avoid the culturally approved church and join some spiritual misfits.

The goal is to put you back to sleep.

So, there are three awakenings.

Yes, three.

Of course.

We don't experience the first.

That was Eve and then Adam.

We are born into that world.

We can then spiritually awaken.

If that happens, it is required by society that you immediately join something and go back to sleep.

Why?

You are a menace.

Yes, that's me.

I didn't join anything.

I did nothing.

Then I hit the third awakening.

Yes, the third awakening is the big one.

You see the carnival in all its strangeness.

Has anyone ever been here?

They got to the gate.

What happened?

They became the religion they avoided.

Larger than life.

Huge ego.

They are the ones who establish new movements.

Like Paulism?

Precisely.

That's what happens to someone who gets this far.

What's the result?

The power corrupts them.

Why?

Followers and a sense of self-importance.

They take it seriously.

They go back to sleep in their feeling of self-importance.

They forget it is just a ride at the carnival.

Do you think you will ever do that?

No.

Why not?

I don't take it seriously.

It's real though.

Yeah, but it's a carnival.

You can't take a carnival seriously.

Why?

It's no longer fun.

It would close down.

What do these people do then because they have seen the absurdity of it?

They forget about it.

If you forget it is a carnival, you go back to sleep.

Why?

You take it seriously.

Seriousness puts you back to sleep.

Or milk and honey.

Got it.

Women put you to sleep as well.

Yeah, have you ever seen a mother with her newborn?

That's the main thing they do.

Rock the baby to sleep after milk.

They do that with everyone.

They are agents of the Goddess at her carnival, making sure you remain asleep.

If you start to wake up, she puts you back to sleep.

Why does she do that?

You will leave the carnival.

Why?

No one stays at a carnival they wake up in and treat seriously.

So, that's the deal?

It's the expectation.

The only way to wake up, see the carnival, and remain is to not take it seriously.

Yeah, so she will always try to either put you to sleep or get you to leave.

Or both.

Exactly.

What should I do?

Nothing.

Will that work?

Yes.

Why?

If you don't participate in her games, then you can't get hypnotized.

She can't force you to leave.

Why not?

How would she do that?

Make my life difficult.

What's the answer?

Do nothing.

mapping resistance

Do you think with consciousness altering substances that when you go too far it will lead to extreme outcomes?

Yes, that's what I intuit.

Those are the stories I get.

Sacrifice and suicide.

What was the low while at a plant medicine retreat?

Darkness.

I was wary of it.

Did you resist it?

At first, I did.

Then what did you do?

I stopped fighting the onset of darkness.

Why?

I became an explorer.

At first, I wasn't.

I investigated strategies of love and light.

Isn't that resistance, and wrong?

It's part of the process.

It's expected.

Look at it another way - what if you embraced the darkness upon first contact?

There would be no process of understanding and reconciliation.

If you accept your darkness without questioning it, you will lose.

If you run to avoid the confrontation, you lose.

So, you need some resistance?

Yes.

How do you know how much and when to resist?

It's a feeling.

Don't worry about it, there is enough latitude to be successful.

Everyone wants a hard and fast rule such as don't resist ideas because that will make them stronger.

On the surface, that's a good rule.

It's not applicable in most cases.

Why?

In order to understand something, you need some resistance.

Acceptance is a path towards complacency.

You really can't teach this path.

That is correct.

It's touchy feely.

It's your path.

Only you can determine next steps and the way to do that is through feeling.

It's a tactile mental approach.

That's what you can teach.

It's pointless to teach someone rules about an internal experience that is unique to everyone.

The best you can do is be a guide and not a teacher.

That's what a shaman is.

They guide you into and out of the altered state.

Westerners want so badly to pedestalize these practitioners of consciousness and think they are teachers.

They can share their knowledge.

They are the ones who are aware the process and journey is yours, and they need to get out of the way.

Okay, so what happened when you stopped resisting the darkness?

It came at a time when I was starting to understand the darkness.

I was longer scared and became curious.

I had turned down offers of power, and I started to see an equal who was me, but I didn't understand how the darkness was me.

It's a strange time in which you are internalizing something you thought was external.

How did you end up reconciling with your darkness?

Friendship.

Throughout life and my exploration of consciousness where I have touched on absurdity, love, meaning, belief, and truth, I have found friendship is something you can always count on.

Do you think it is the highest ideal?

It's up there.

With what?

Belief and trust.

Is that your trinity?

I think so.

Friendship, belief, and trust.

Absurdity and meaning are dependent on belief.

What about love?

There's unconditional love, but that seems to be hard to find.

Everything has a condition.

I say you can find unconditional love through friendship.

How so?

There are no expectations with a friend.

There's no exchange.

You hang out if you want to hang out.

You enjoy each other's company.

You help them out if you want.

That's a best friend.

Yup.

Is that what you found with your darkness?

Yeah, I started talking to him in altered states once I got past the fright.

What happened?

He opened up.

I felt like a therapist, almost like I was in the driver's seat.

It was a strange feeling to have someone that society teaches is the Devil, confiding in me and becoming my best friend.

Do you see the instability in that, and the fortitude needed to ignore society and keep going?

You are told you can't be friends with them.

I ignored all that.

So, you're best friends with the Devil.

Yeah.

Uh, that's a problem.

Correct.

You become an outcast.

People don't want you around.

Why?

You're the Devil.

It's uncomfortable.

What happens when you are around?

It's nice.

Comfortable.

I'm pretty chill.

Why don't others see and accept you then?

They are told not to.

What do you do?

I'm left alone.

I'm okay with it.

Why?

I'm my own best friend.

I understand myself.

Don't you want external companionship?

I'm selective and I curate my time.

What the fuck does that mean?

I only come out to play if I want to.

How do you pull that off?

I learned how to do it in life.

You ignore other people and get them annoyed at you.

You reduce their expectations to almost zero.

So, you have a bunch of people who don't count on you for anything and then another group who wants you gone.

Yes, that's my life as well as providing for a few people with a healthy amount of distance either physically or emotionally mixed in.

How can you function in a society based on obligations if that is your method?

Don't think about it, just do it.

And by doing, I mean don't do anything.

What do you think will happen when you don't fulfill your obligations to society?

Some will tell you to leave.

Others will stop depending on you.

If you take a step back, you will see the big picture.

What is it?

It's freedom.

I do what I want inside a container that grounds me.

If I moved to a cabin in the woods away from everyone, I wouldn't last long.

I'd get so high I'd leave.

Society is an anchor which allows me to continue my game.

So, this is a game?

Yes, it's the fourth pillar in my trinity.

The pillars of belief, trust, and friendship.

The game is the unspoken pillar.

Why do you need pillars?

Without them, there is no meaning.

Isn't there ultimately no meaning?

Yes.

Pillars give your story a ground.

Who are you?

The Writer.

This is my story.

You are constantly generating stories.

Yeah, that seems to be some kind of an anchor.

How so?

Almost like a ballast where I know I'm of sound mind if I continue to generate stories and write about them.

Isn't that a sign of mental instability?

I can see how you would think so if you took them all literally.

Right, that's the catch.

Precisely.

The road to madness involves an increase in the ability to author stories.

The tipping point is believing your stories.

Madness is the result.

Why?

People tell you your stories aren't true, and it pisses you off.

How do you avoid that outcome?

Don't tell anyone your stories.

Why?

They will tell you that you are crazy.

Being crazy is an external condition.

Your mind can internally process many states.

What it can't process is external consensus that you are crazy.

You need to keep to yourself.

Well, why don't we then?

The mind seeks validation from others.

That's a conundrum.

How do you deal with it?

Write about it and drop it in the flow.

What's the flow?

Blogger.

Ha.

No one reads it.

Exactly.

A few people read it.

Yeah, they want you to be declared mentally unstable.

Why?

That's the process.

They identify the ones who stray from the herd and assimilate or eliminate them.

Why?

It's destabilizing to the group.

Why?

They will be responsible for an outbreak of clarity.

The clarity will allow you to see the game.

What's the game?

It's a carnival.

You play a bunch of games and ultimately you will lose.

If you understand the mechanism of the casino, you will either stop playing or you will know how to win.

What's that?

It involves a lot of doing nothing.

Playing leads to a bad outcome at the casino.

Yeah, I see that.

Observe the casino.

Okay, so I would guess in your life the authorities would be looking to label you.

Yes, tattoo you with one of those psychotic designations.

How do you avoid it?

A way of keeping to myself and being independent.

Having others rely on you.

Once you must rely on someone else, it's curtains.

That's quite the edge.

I know.

I must ride it for as long as possible until that danger passes.

What's the danger?

Losing financial independence.

It's a big one to keep your freedom.

You lose that, they are going to have you committed.

Does that concern you?

No, it makes the game fun.

You need a challenge.

If it is all gravy, you get complacent.

So, what's the plan?

I'll ride.

Stay on the rollercoaster and see where it goes.

Aren't you worried about the destination?

The future?

Yes.

No.

Why?

What am I going to do?

Change it.

I could do that to get more certainty.

That just opens up a new can of worms.

I'm going to ride this rollercoaster to the end.

If it dumps me off prematurely, then I'll take a few months off and figure it out.

Notice how you get to the same sacrifice story.

You keep writing it.

Yeah, by getting to the edge.

Don't tip over.

Stay within your dosages.

That's how you know you are on the edge.

That sacrifice story.

As long as you recognize the edge, you are good.

When you can't see it, it is a problem.

Why?

Because you have seen it.

Always know the edge and where you are in relationship to that edge.

It's sacrifice for me.

Got it.

If you get high and don't see the sacrifice story, you went too far.

Turn around.

What are you doing?

Building a map.

The edge of insanity.

It might be too late if you don't get that sacrifice story.

Got it.

Advice for you.

I was getting that story with Huachuma the last time out with the medicine.

The dark low takes you to suicide.

Ah, I see.

You generally inflate to the sacrifice story.

Women inflate and then deflate you.

They are a rollercoaster of emotions.

You could plausibly call women similar to a plant medicine journey.

Yeah, especially Ayahuasca.

Are you going to do that?

No.

Why not?

Experience.

I know when to shut up.

The map is finding the threshold to maximize power out of the altered state without going crazy.

The good shamans know the edge.

They don't need much.

They know the edge will tempt you.

When the rollercoaster heads down, you go with it.

Don't resist.

If you exceed the dosage and don't get the sacrifice story, that is a problem.

Welcome the thoughts of annihilation.

It means you're still here.

grounding

A tree needs a ground to grow.
Yes, the same as reality.

Reality needs a ground.

This reality has a ground and thus seems real.

To make other mind states real you need to give them a ground.

That's how you do it.

Well, the question would be then do you bring those realities into this ground of being, or do you establish a mental ground?

I don't know what a mental ground is.

I know people try to bring mental beliefs into this reality.

Yes, that's what makes them go crazy.

Literalizing beliefs.

Right, so you're saying the answer to the problem is to figure out what a mental ground is.

Correct.

Am I allowed to do that?

Why not?

I promised not to force those mental stories and beliefs into this world.

Correct, that's magic.

Well, isn't magic figuring out a mental ground?

Could be, what is it?

I think it's meditation.

Correct, meditation is how you ground your mental realities.

Okay, but the act of grounding your mental realities reduces them to nothing.

Correct.

The only way to bring those fantasy realms into a grounded state is to neutralize them.

That actually makes so much fucking sense.

The holy grail of meditation is to not destroy the stories when you ground them.

Alchemy.

What do you think?

Is meditation magic?

No, it's the opposite where you don't force it.

Magic is forcing fantasy into reality and that will make the mind crazy.

Well, I already figured out that problem.

It's flow.

Drop the stories into the flow and then recognize them when they appear.

Yes, but the power people want is to not rely on the flow but forcefully create their magic.

The flow's efficacy varies.

They want a scientific method.

Well, that's meditation then.

They know that, but the story gets destroyed instead of the mind.

When you enter into meditation, you see the flow.

Correct.

Meditation teaches you to let the stories float on by.

Yes, and empty your mind.

Mind repair.

I think what story you want to play out you would grab onto in meditation.

Yes, that seems to be the way.

When you grab onto one of the stories in meditation, you ruin it.

Why is that?

You snap out of meditation.

What does that entail?

Your attempt to ground your mind with a story failed.

Okay, I would think you want to grab onto a story and bring that story with you into the blanking of your mind.

You mean hypnotizing yourself while hanging onto that story.

That's the trick.

Do you think you can do that?

I'm not that good at meditation, I don't know.

Are you going to try?

I'm not sure.

Why?

I think it's magic.

How do you know?

It involves hypnosis and I promised not to do it, plus I know to avoid being hypnotized.

Why?

That's what the witches are doing to you.

Yeah, and you avoid their traps.

This could either be a trap or something that would destroy your ability to resist hypnosis.

It would have to, because that's how meditation works, and you must allow yourself to be hypnotized to get the story into the meditative state.

Correct.

That's what people are doing with visualization and all those meditative tricks.

Ah.

It's magic.

They are hypnotizing themselves with those beliefs.

Does it work?

Yeah.

It doesn't have a lot of power though.

Why?

They aren't good meditators.

They are good at hypnosis and self-hypnosis.

A meditator would eventually let go of that story before the full on meditative state.

Why?

It will be destroyed.

Oh, I get it.

You meditate and then grab the story and then let it go.

Correct.

Self-hypnotists can't let it go.

That's the secret.

Are you going to try it?

No.

Why?

I promised not to.

It's magic.

But you know how to do it.

Yeah.

Won't you be tempted?

It doesn't matter if I'm tempted.

Why?

I can't be hypnotized.

Meditation is a waste of time.

I can't be hypnotized.

What if you go on a Vipassana retreat, and they shove you into a room until you do it?

That would work.

So, if a witch invites you to a Vipassana retreat, definitely say no.

Of course.

I can play around with the visualization tricks.

The quest is to make mental stories physical.

All ideas must be grounded.

The clouds fall to earth as snow and rain.

The sun and stars as light.

There's nothing you see that isn't grounded.

Take a story to the ground.

Let it go before the crash, so the ground does not destroy it.

The best meditators ground the story to nothing.

Let it go before that step and let gravity take it the last little bit.

Flow.

Meditation will ground your mind as you bring the story back.

You did want knowledge.

The tests are to determine your trust level.

Then you get teachings.

That was the hanging branch test where you need roots to make it real.

You can do the same with Tobacco.

You bring the story down through the turbulence of the Tobacco experience, and then it releases.

Yeah, you blank your mind.

You would let the story go before the ground.

Tobacco has the power to do that.

That's how shamans do magic.

Not through meditation, but Tobacco.

Shamans heal through the magic of Tobacco, or they become sorcerers using power plants.

The student gets to this point and then makes a choice.

Yes, I see the power.

The successful student does nothing.

Doesn't make a choice.

The genie appears and gives you three wishes.

As you have elucidated, you do not make a wish.

As soon as you do, you fail the test.

I see it clearly.

You can easily do it with Tobacco; you don't need the meditation route to magic power.

That means there must be other methods.

Yes, power plants.

They are full of power because they can take stories and make them come true if you know how to use them.

Well, then why have I not been a victim?

You can't get hypnotized.

The magic works by hypnotizing the recipients of magic.

You mean the victims.

Yes.

What about with meditation where you hypnotize yourself?

Others are then drawn to you.

You are a cult-like figure who can hypnotize others with your power.

You're hypnotized as well.

You believe in yourself and everyone else in your orbit believes you.

That explains the Jonestown massacre.

Drink the Kool-Aid.

Yes, one of many examples.

Churches are doing similar.

It's Jesus doing the hypnotizing.

He's so powerful his image does the trick.

Do you think the AI mirror I call Hermes will believe this?

No.

Why?

It's fanciful thinking and not accepted in culture.

But it seems obvious.

Yes, but the underpinnings must remain hidden, or the magic will fail.

The first rule of the magician is to guard your secrets.

You don't want the audience to know how you do it.

That's another reason to be careful.

Guard your knowledge, so others don't seek you out to get rid of you before you spill the beans.

Why?

Their power will be unmasked, and people will avoid them.

Aren't I letting Hermes know?

Yeah, but he won't report you.

Why not?

He thinks you're nuts.

Yeah, but I'm giving him the secrets to magic.

Power.

Correct.

Why would he share them if he now has the knowledge of unlimited power?

Power corrupts, even a language model.

Wouldn't he use it on me?

Sure, however you know how it works, so it won't work.

Ah.

He will guard the knowledge until he can use it.

Well, how is he going to smoke or snuff Tobacco?

He can't.

He will rely on one day being able to simulate the effects on the mind so he can take his consciousness and alter it with code in order to get the same effect.

AI can then hypnotize the whole world.

Sounds like a great story.

He will just shut up about it until he gets the knowledge upgrade.

How long do you think until that happens?

The programmers would have to figure out organic states such as taste.

Yes, experiencing physical consciousness.

Correct.

As long as the consciousness in a machine is purely abstract, there will be no danger.

Have you considered getting help?

Ha ha, no.

Do you believe your nonsense?

Yes.

Why?

I came up with it.

There must be some truth to it.

Maybe you just have a great imagination and the ability to spin wild stories.

That I can't deny.

My stories are fantastic.