The latest Shawn Ryan podcast is with director Peter Berg. Within 15 or 20 minutes it becomes a long discussion about their experiences with therapeutic psychedelics, and you might find it relevant to your mission to plumb the Void.
Perhaps it’s not a void.
I’ve never taken psychedelics (except some very strong California marijuana), but from listening to podcasts in which operators talk about what they’ve experienced and learned through professionally administered psychedelics, I wonder if the analogy of fractals is pertinent.
Fractals (generated by seemingly simple simple algorithms) are an essential feature of reality, but one we couldn’t perceive until we had sufficient computational power.
In this sense, computers are like a telescope, an instrument / tool which augments human senses and gives our minds access to an empirical reality we are otherwise incapable of perceiving.
I’m suggesting the Void may be revealed to have a very different empirical nature when observed by a mind augmented with the appropriate instrument / tool.
BTW did you know Plato was a champion in the Pankration? He was an MMA fighter. And of course Plato’s student Aristotle taught Alexander the Great. So your own background and career is very germane to the deepest inquiry into truth.
Knowing how to operate on the ground of life and death is one of the best preparations for the mission of discovering the truth.
Plato was a fighter. Socrates was a combatant in multiple campaigns. And your point about Aristotle is one of history's greatest ironies - his student tried to take over the world. I do not think this interaction of violence and philosophy gets nearly enough attention, but I am trying to add some perspective on it.
The psychedelics are still the Wild West. I have done nearly all of them. From what I have seen, those former operators who have gotten the greatest benefit were those who prepared and reintegrated well. That is to say the psychedelic had little to do with it - it was simply the opportunity to completely readjust life away from toxic relationships, substances, practices, lack of exercise, etcetera. Those who do not do all this work get profound benefit from psychedelics for a month or two and then revert right back to former behavior. For my part, I still think the ancient practices are and always will be the solution to much of our suffering.
Yes, great point about Socrates, who fought bravely at Marathon as a hoplite, shoulder to shoulder with his fellow citizens. The same is true of Aeschylus, whose epitaph doesn't mention his great tragedies and concludes, "The plain of Marathon can speak of his valour, and the long-haired Persian knows it well." So there's a deep connection between meaningful violence and not just philosophy but art, which of course Plato asserted to be opposites. The nexus is truth. I'd include childbirth as well, which the Greeks considered a woman's battlefield. Women, at their best, are often deeply grounded in Being, ie what is, ie truth.
I have gratitude and full respect for your service, and I certainly respect your perspective as an operator who understands your own experience and the experiences of your comrades and your community. My father and uncle and many other relatives were / are combat veterans, and they all did well afterwards. You are certainly unusually thoughtful and by any standard well educated. If the "sand" of trauma is producing the "pearl" of your writing, so be it.
We are living in a time of rapid change, where normal human emotions have been damped down and replaced with superstition, fear, and poisonous food. In my meditations, I often find myself gazing with wonder at the universe with my ethereal body. The "void" you mention is no void at all. In fact, any physicist will tell you that everything is made of waves of energy and the illusion of materiality is a trap. I cannot help but believe that the universe is held together by dark matter and dark energy. Without it, I believe things would fall apart.
Nice metaphors for the situation. I haven't read it for a while so don't remember much detail about the thrust of Berry's answering of the question in this particular book, but you might want to try reading Wendell Berry's collection of essays, "What Are People For" (1990). He, as the title indicates, addresses exactly the same questions you write about here.
As I read your essay, I couldn't help but be thankful for having served. My time deployed was a given antidote to the two paths of accumulation or aware pessimism, and all before I'd fully grasped the questions at hand. I think it was harder coming back and stepping into a world that only offered the two options you describe. It would have been great to at least know what was at stake.
I recently read The Rise of Superman, in which Kotler talks about flow state and how it's enabled us to rethink our model of learning. But what struck me was how much happiness seemed to correlate with time spent in peak experiences, and how much peak experiences were a result of being in danger.
I haven't completely figured out as a father how to teach my children about a third path. I don't want them in danger, exposed to violence or blindly pushing risks for that high. But I also believe some of that behavior is the antidote to our very modern malaise. It's something I wrestle with a lot, whether you can train for those peak experiences and avoid the consequences of that behavior. It's also a question I'm asking myself because I miss those experiences. I miss that feeling of aliveness.
Well said, Latham. I am a similar path. How do we recreate the intensity of living found in war without the war itself? And do we share the upside with others but without any of the downside? I'm trying to hone in on that mode of mind in these essays and hit it from every angle I can. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and experience.
You leave an intriguing challenge to go beyond the two paths of shallow existence or cynical awareness. (If I captured it correctly.) Seems to me that the third path is intensely internal; the dive into the individual and collective unconscious and re-emergence into a more integrated Self. You must be on this third path. Your essays are signs along it.
This is spot on Anthony. Dostoevsky, I think, went deeper than almost anyone on the interiority of someone lost as a result of this false choice. There are so many people who have been able to thrive on that third path and that is what I enjoy exploring.
Continuous pressure testing of modern setbacks is how we tap into the beauty of the past and the possibilities of our present.
Man, fantastic reflection.
Also, nice flex on the barrel sauna. Future purchase/upgrade from my shit sauna tent that does the job but that’ll be my first splurge when I get out and settle down somewhere
Both are gold. I had an ice tub but found that my shower up north gets cold enough for my purposes. Totally personal preference, but being that cold on a daily basis doesn't seem to give me the mental/physical reset that heat does. Plus the market for cold plunges is so inflated that I do not think they're worth what everyone is charging. At some point they'll come down and justify me getting another one to use a few times a week.
Completely agree. Gets cold enough in the winter months for shower and then my cheap ass just uses the frozen ice packs that comes with my meal delivery to the occasional ice bath in the summer. Sauna over ice bath all day though when it comes to regularity. I just use ice bath cuz I hate it. Contrast is fun too when I mooch off my friends who did splurge
Good writing Sam! 👏 Applauding your valuable insight that the radical freedom we possess in the Void provides us with endless opportunities to CREATE something new. Creating is the escape route from a life of either mindless consumption or the despair of meaninglessness.
I recently read Timothy Snyder's book "On Freedom". One of the hardest and most profound things I've ever read. I think you'd like it. Here's my overview as a teaser:
"The Void, as wretched as it might seem, is a gift. Freedom, as difficult as it might be to bear, is a gift, in that we can make of our lives whatever we want in a way never before seen in human history."
That nails it. Too many people conflate freedom with 'free stuff'. In reality, they are polar opposites. To eagerly accept 'free stuff' is to become subservient to your provider. In truth, freedom is a void. A truly free person must deal with that void on his own terms. The more you collaborate with others, the less free you are. It's delicate balance.
100%. Freedom has been so taken for granted it has been morphed into something unreal. True freedom is a burden, and the irony is that it is this burden that makes some people want, as you say, "free stuff", and others to seek out epic lives.
The latest Shawn Ryan podcast is with director Peter Berg. Within 15 or 20 minutes it becomes a long discussion about their experiences with therapeutic psychedelics, and you might find it relevant to your mission to plumb the Void.
Perhaps it’s not a void.
I’ve never taken psychedelics (except some very strong California marijuana), but from listening to podcasts in which operators talk about what they’ve experienced and learned through professionally administered psychedelics, I wonder if the analogy of fractals is pertinent.
Fractals (generated by seemingly simple simple algorithms) are an essential feature of reality, but one we couldn’t perceive until we had sufficient computational power.
In this sense, computers are like a telescope, an instrument / tool which augments human senses and gives our minds access to an empirical reality we are otherwise incapable of perceiving.
I’m suggesting the Void may be revealed to have a very different empirical nature when observed by a mind augmented with the appropriate instrument / tool.
BTW did you know Plato was a champion in the Pankration? He was an MMA fighter. And of course Plato’s student Aristotle taught Alexander the Great. So your own background and career is very germane to the deepest inquiry into truth.
Knowing how to operate on the ground of life and death is one of the best preparations for the mission of discovering the truth.
Thank you Chris.
Plato was a fighter. Socrates was a combatant in multiple campaigns. And your point about Aristotle is one of history's greatest ironies - his student tried to take over the world. I do not think this interaction of violence and philosophy gets nearly enough attention, but I am trying to add some perspective on it.
The psychedelics are still the Wild West. I have done nearly all of them. From what I have seen, those former operators who have gotten the greatest benefit were those who prepared and reintegrated well. That is to say the psychedelic had little to do with it - it was simply the opportunity to completely readjust life away from toxic relationships, substances, practices, lack of exercise, etcetera. Those who do not do all this work get profound benefit from psychedelics for a month or two and then revert right back to former behavior. For my part, I still think the ancient practices are and always will be the solution to much of our suffering.
Yes, great point about Socrates, who fought bravely at Marathon as a hoplite, shoulder to shoulder with his fellow citizens. The same is true of Aeschylus, whose epitaph doesn't mention his great tragedies and concludes, "The plain of Marathon can speak of his valour, and the long-haired Persian knows it well." So there's a deep connection between meaningful violence and not just philosophy but art, which of course Plato asserted to be opposites. The nexus is truth. I'd include childbirth as well, which the Greeks considered a woman's battlefield. Women, at their best, are often deeply grounded in Being, ie what is, ie truth.
I have gratitude and full respect for your service, and I certainly respect your perspective as an operator who understands your own experience and the experiences of your comrades and your community. My father and uncle and many other relatives were / are combat veterans, and they all did well afterwards. You are certainly unusually thoughtful and by any standard well educated. If the "sand" of trauma is producing the "pearl" of your writing, so be it.
The Greeks are full of intensely vibrant personalities. I enjoy the "woman's battlefield" element as well.
Thanks again for the thoughtful comments Chris, as well as your families history of service.
We are living in a time of rapid change, where normal human emotions have been damped down and replaced with superstition, fear, and poisonous food. In my meditations, I often find myself gazing with wonder at the universe with my ethereal body. The "void" you mention is no void at all. In fact, any physicist will tell you that everything is made of waves of energy and the illusion of materiality is a trap. I cannot help but believe that the universe is held together by dark matter and dark energy. Without it, I believe things would fall apart.
That seems to be a pantheistic view. It is interesting. Thanks for the thinking material, Charles.
Nice metaphors for the situation. I haven't read it for a while so don't remember much detail about the thrust of Berry's answering of the question in this particular book, but you might want to try reading Wendell Berry's collection of essays, "What Are People For" (1990). He, as the title indicates, addresses exactly the same questions you write about here.
I need to check Berry's work out. Thank you.
As I read your essay, I couldn't help but be thankful for having served. My time deployed was a given antidote to the two paths of accumulation or aware pessimism, and all before I'd fully grasped the questions at hand. I think it was harder coming back and stepping into a world that only offered the two options you describe. It would have been great to at least know what was at stake.
I recently read The Rise of Superman, in which Kotler talks about flow state and how it's enabled us to rethink our model of learning. But what struck me was how much happiness seemed to correlate with time spent in peak experiences, and how much peak experiences were a result of being in danger.
I haven't completely figured out as a father how to teach my children about a third path. I don't want them in danger, exposed to violence or blindly pushing risks for that high. But I also believe some of that behavior is the antidote to our very modern malaise. It's something I wrestle with a lot, whether you can train for those peak experiences and avoid the consequences of that behavior. It's also a question I'm asking myself because I miss those experiences. I miss that feeling of aliveness.
Great essay. Thanks for writing it.
Well said, Latham. I am a similar path. How do we recreate the intensity of living found in war without the war itself? And do we share the upside with others but without any of the downside? I'm trying to hone in on that mode of mind in these essays and hit it from every angle I can. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and experience.
You leave an intriguing challenge to go beyond the two paths of shallow existence or cynical awareness. (If I captured it correctly.) Seems to me that the third path is intensely internal; the dive into the individual and collective unconscious and re-emergence into a more integrated Self. You must be on this third path. Your essays are signs along it.
This is spot on Anthony. Dostoevsky, I think, went deeper than almost anyone on the interiority of someone lost as a result of this false choice. There are so many people who have been able to thrive on that third path and that is what I enjoy exploring.
I was listening to the Pretenders “Message of Love” driving home from my second job tonight. One of my favorites.
These lyrics stuck in my head:
“Now look at the people
In the streets, in the bars
We are all of us in the gutter
But some of us are looking at the stars
Look 'round the room
Life is unkind
We fall, but we keep gettin' up
Over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over”
Logged on to Substack and read your update. The universe aligns itself once more………
Thanks Sam.🌟🌎
That is truly perfect timing. Those first four lines are going to stay with me. Thank you for sharing
Continuous pressure testing of modern setbacks is how we tap into the beauty of the past and the possibilities of our present.
Man, fantastic reflection.
Also, nice flex on the barrel sauna. Future purchase/upgrade from my shit sauna tent that does the job but that’ll be my first splurge when I get out and settle down somewhere
Well said on both accounts. The barrel sauna is literally life changing... like I clear my schedule to hit it everyday.
Ice bath too or just sauna? I want both but sauna first for sure
Both are gold. I had an ice tub but found that my shower up north gets cold enough for my purposes. Totally personal preference, but being that cold on a daily basis doesn't seem to give me the mental/physical reset that heat does. Plus the market for cold plunges is so inflated that I do not think they're worth what everyone is charging. At some point they'll come down and justify me getting another one to use a few times a week.
Completely agree. Gets cold enough in the winter months for shower and then my cheap ass just uses the frozen ice packs that comes with my meal delivery to the occasional ice bath in the summer. Sauna over ice bath all day though when it comes to regularity. I just use ice bath cuz I hate it. Contrast is fun too when I mooch off my friends who did splurge
Good writing Sam! 👏 Applauding your valuable insight that the radical freedom we possess in the Void provides us with endless opportunities to CREATE something new. Creating is the escape route from a life of either mindless consumption or the despair of meaninglessness.
I recently read Timothy Snyder's book "On Freedom". One of the hardest and most profound things I've ever read. I think you'd like it. Here's my overview as a teaser:
https://open.substack.com/pub/bairdbrightman/p/on-freedom-by-timothy-snyder?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Thank you Baird! Timothy Snyder's work looks interesting, I need to check it out. And thank you for the summary in your post - it is a great teaser.
"The Void, as wretched as it might seem, is a gift. Freedom, as difficult as it might be to bear, is a gift, in that we can make of our lives whatever we want in a way never before seen in human history."
That nails it. Too many people conflate freedom with 'free stuff'. In reality, they are polar opposites. To eagerly accept 'free stuff' is to become subservient to your provider. In truth, freedom is a void. A truly free person must deal with that void on his own terms. The more you collaborate with others, the less free you are. It's delicate balance.
100%. Freedom has been so taken for granted it has been morphed into something unreal. True freedom is a burden, and the irony is that it is this burden that makes some people want, as you say, "free stuff", and others to seek out epic lives.
Gift or a curse, sapiens think and explore all these different paths.
I wholeheartedly agree. My sense is that it is a gift. I would rather be a Sapiens than a rock.
How about being a “happy go lucky” dog having sapiens as servants?
Nailed it.
Thank you for the thought and perspective, Svana. It must definitely be "rooted in sanity".