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>Thoughts came out of nowhere, I had no control over them; often the constant, unceasing flow of thought was distressing and uncomfortable. I want to touch on

>Thoughts came out of nowhere, I had no control over them; often the constant, unceasing flow of thought was distressing and uncomfortable. I want to touch on this. "You" never have any control of your thoughts, because "you" isn't really a thing. Psychedelics and meditation teach us this if you pay close attention. The thoughts arise from nowhere and we - the imagined, but illusory - self are mere observers along for the ride that is consciousness. I can imagine that using a substance such a psilocybin could cause your thought patterns to have both short and long term changes in quality (in terms of substance, not of superior gradation), however. It's also possible that your experience led to your paying greater attention to the thoughts that did arise, and over time the feedback loop of consciousness along with taking better care of yourself led to greater moderation of their genesis.

gmoot 2y ago
"You" can learn to steer your mind by choosing which of these thoughts to capture and dwell on, by monitoring them. There is voluminous writing in the area of monastic spiritually about this. On the one hand, they affirm that these thoughts aren't chosen, using the vocabulary of sinful thoughts introduced by demons. But it's also clear that change is possible through prayer/meditation (not exactly identical to modern ideas about mindfulness).
- rjbwork 2y ago
  I tend to agree that change is possible and you can learn to steer, but that too is no choice.
  - galaxyLogic 2y ago
    I believe that our minds are much like Large Language Models. Our brains put together and combine and mix up sentences that on average have some benefit to us. We speculate to explore possible outcomes. We practice saying sentences within our heads and then explore their possible consequencees. It is a random (but not totally random of course) process where one thought gives rise to new ones. I think that depression means being in an indirect loop of negative thoughts which amplify each other. Phychedelics might be a way to break out of such loops. But, I'm just speculating here of course.

gmoot 2y ago

"You" can learn to steer your mind by choosing which of these thoughts to capture and dwell on, by monitoring them. There is voluminous writing in the area of monastic spiritually about this. On the one hand, they affirm that these thoughts aren't chosen, using the vocabulary of sinful thoughts introduced by demons. But it's also clear that change is possible through prayer/meditation (not exactly identical to modern ideas about mindfulness).

rjbwork 2y ago
I tend to agree that change is possible and you can learn to steer, but that too is no choice.
- galaxyLogic 2y ago
  I believe that our minds are much like Large Language Models. Our brains put together and combine and mix up sentences that on average have some benefit to us. We speculate to explore possible outcomes. We practice saying sentences within our heads and then explore their possible consequencees. It is a random (but not totally random of course) process where one thought gives rise to new ones. I think that depression means being in an indirect loop of negative thoughts which amplify each other. Phychedelics might be a way to break out of such loops. But, I'm just speculating here of course.