3 ms·

It's hard to imagine what it must be like to go from feeling no emotions to feeling them all, like the colourblind glasses. It's relatively easy to imagine see

by mfoy_ 11y ago

It's hard to imagine what it must be like to go from feeling no emotions to feeling them all, like the colourblind glasses. It's relatively easy to imagine seeing the world in black and white and then having the colour switch flipped. I can't imagine the same for emotion... what a wild ride it must have been. It must have been so painful at first, especially when he realized that some of his "funny friends" had really been making fun of him...

hosh 11y ago
Ask someone who is an experienced psychonaut or meditator. These kinds of experiential shifts can, and does happen to people. In this guy's case, it was an awakening of empathy -- however, there are other kinds of awakening, other kinds of consciousness shifts that people are not normally aware of.
- coffeemug 11y ago
  I have gone through some of these shifts and they made a profound impact on me. I'm still learning to integrate many of the things I learned into my life in such a way that I can function in a modern society and remain authentic. It's very, very hard. Can you give examples of the other shifts you're referring to? I realize many of them may not have names (or may not have names in the western culture), but it would be very meaningful to me if you gave it a shot.
  - hosh 11y ago
    Awakening of empathy is one of them. There is also tele-empathy which lets you sense people who you could not have possibly read through body language. Direct experience of "oneness" is another one. This can range from feeling the interconnections of everything, to feeling that all is One (monism), and there ever just the One. Seeing through your acquired self is another. That sense that the acquired self -- the socialized personality -- has never been real. People often come back from that one thinking "my ego died". (Well, it often resurrects ;-) Another is direct experience of Nothing (similar to the Oneness experience), where things somehow, mysteriously, spontaneously arises and passes. Also related is spaciousness. Then there's a host of parapsychological effects which might make you feel crazy. They don't feel as insightful as the examples that I listed, but they do break down the conventional beliefs most people have and think of as "normal". For example, clairvoiyance, clairaudience, etc. There are actually transpersonal psychologists holding Ph.D.s who specializes in counseling for spiritual emergence. There's a great thread on Quora related to that integration process. I'd find it right now, but my wife is waiting for me to go with her to the grocery store. ("Chop wood, carry water" You never thought you'd understand that koan, eh? :-D) Feel free to email me at talktohosh at gmail.com if you want to continue this conversation.
  - hosh 11y ago
    This is from Bonnie Greenwall's book, The Awakening Guide:A companion for the Inner Journey. Greenwall holds a Ph.D. in transpersonal psychology, and did her dissertation on one of the awakening experiences following a Kundalini awakening experience of her own. She has since talked with many more people. This excerpt is more comprehensive than what I wrote. https://gist.github.com/hosh/d859c35b90c563245c32 https://gist.github.com/hosh/d859c35b90c563245c32
klenwell 11y ago
The metaphor is an apt one. Although, it may be less a case of going from color-blindness to sight but from blindness itself to sight. The article reminded me of Annie Dillard's Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, where she meditates on Marius von Senden's book Space and Sight. Von Senden recounts the effects of the first widespread successful cataract operations and the overwhelming effect the restoration of sight had on people who had lived there whole life blind and whose brains had not developed the ability to naturally process visual sensation. A passage from Dillard's book that resonates with the author's account here: The mental effort involved in these reasonings proves overwhelming for many patients. It oppresses them to realize, if they ever do at all, the tremendous size of the world, which they had previously conceived of as something touchingly manageable. It oppresses them to realize that they have been visible to people all along, perhaps unattractively so, without their knowledge or consent. A disheartening number of them refuse to use their new vision, continuing to go over objects with their tongues, and lapsing into apathy and despair. It was comforting to read that the author here, John Elder Robison, adapted over time. But I agree that it must be something very hard for those who haven't experienced it to imagine.

by mfoy_ 11y ago

hosh 11y ago

Ask someone who is an experienced psychonaut or meditator. These kinds of experiential shifts can, and does happen to people. In this guy's case, it was an awakening of empathy -- however, there are other kinds of awakening, other kinds of consciousness shifts that people are not normally aware of.

coffeemug 11y ago
I have gone through some of these shifts and they made a profound impact on me. I'm still learning to integrate many of the things I learned into my life in such a way that I can function in a modern society and remain authentic. It's very, very hard. Can you give examples of the other shifts you're referring to? I realize many of them may not have names (or may not have names in the western culture), but it would be very meaningful to me if you gave it a shot.
- hosh 11y ago
  Awakening of empathy is one of them. There is also tele-empathy which lets you sense people who you could not have possibly read through body language. Direct experience of "oneness" is another one. This can range from feeling the interconnections of everything, to feeling that all is One (monism), and there ever just the One. Seeing through your acquired self is another. That sense that the acquired self -- the socialized personality -- has never been real. People often come back from that one thinking "my ego died". (Well, it often resurrects ;-) Another is direct experience of Nothing (similar to the Oneness experience), where things somehow, mysteriously, spontaneously arises and passes. Also related is spaciousness. Then there's a host of parapsychological effects which might make you feel crazy. They don't feel as insightful as the examples that I listed, but they do break down the conventional beliefs most people have and think of as "normal". For example, clairvoiyance, clairaudience, etc. There are actually transpersonal psychologists holding Ph.D.s who specializes in counseling for spiritual emergence. There's a great thread on Quora related to that integration process. I'd find it right now, but my wife is waiting for me to go with her to the grocery store. ("Chop wood, carry water" You never thought you'd understand that koan, eh? :-D) Feel free to email me at talktohosh at gmail.com if you want to continue this conversation.
- hosh 11y ago
  This is from Bonnie Greenwall's book, The Awakening Guide:A companion for the Inner Journey. Greenwall holds a Ph.D. in transpersonal psychology, and did her dissertation on one of the awakening experiences following a Kundalini awakening experience of her own. She has since talked with many more people. This excerpt is more comprehensive than what I wrote. https://gist.github.com/hosh/d859c35b90c563245c32 https://gist.github.com/hosh/d859c35b90c563245c32

klenwell 11y ago

The metaphor is an apt one. Although, it may be less a case of going from color-blindness to sight but from blindness itself to sight. The article reminded me of Annie Dillard's Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, where she meditates on Marius von Senden's book Space and Sight. Von Senden recounts the effects of the first widespread successful cataract operations and the overwhelming effect the restoration of sight had on people who had lived there whole life blind and whose brains had not developed the ability to naturally process visual sensation. A passage from Dillard's book that resonates with the author's account here: The mental effort involved in these reasonings proves overwhelming for many patients. It oppresses them to realize, if they ever do at all, the tremendous size of the world, which they had previously conceived of as something touchingly manageable. It oppresses them to realize that they have been visible to people all along, perhaps unattractively so, without their knowledge or consent. A disheartening number of them refuse to use their new vision, continuing to go over objects with their tongues, and lapsing into apathy and despair. It was comforting to read that the author here, John Elder Robison, adapted over time. But I agree that it must be something very hard for those who haven't experienced it to imagine.