Tell me there's more than this!

January 14, 2006 10:14 PM

How can I totally blow my mind?

I realize this is kind of a weird and inprecise question, but bear with me here.

Some background - I've done a lot of things in my short time on this planet in an attempt to further understand myself, everyone else, and generally just become a genuinely interesting and understanding human being. Not to mention have a bit of fun along the way. I've been around the world and seen poverty, excess, and everything in between. I've taken a myriad assortment of weird drugs, always safely, always with the intent of learning about the inner reaches of my mind. I've dabbled with reasonable success in the arts of lucid dreaming and "astral projection" (with and without drugs), keeping in mind that these are scientifically explainable aspects of conciousness and not supernatural mumbo-jumbo. In the past year or so I've been messing around a bit with meditation, and getting serious about it is my resolution for 2006.

So! What types of things have you done that have totally blown your mind? What sorts of things have changed the way you think, act, feel, or just your general perception of the world around you? "Expanded your conciousness"? I'm looking more for slightly offbeat things than the "when I saw my child for the first time" stuff that happens to everybody.

posted by borkingchikapa to religion & philosophy (129 comments total)

Epistemic philosophy?
posted by ed\26h at 10:20 PM on January 14, 2006

Three rails of methamphetamine and Alien: Resurrection blew my mind. But it's hard to explain if you haven't done it.
posted by cmonkey at 10:24 PM on January 14, 2006 [1 favorite has favorites]

Well, when my sister died, it had that kind of an effect on me. But I wouldn't recommend the experience.
posted by mwhybark at 10:25 PM on January 14, 2006

We'll assume LSD experience...
...nitrous oxide, while on LSD? Haven't tried it myself, but it's been described to me as "Once the nitrous wears off, and you're just on acid, you might as well be back in the real world."
Asked another friend about it, who said "I had sex while nitroused on acid. It was the most intense experience of my life. And not one I'm going to repeat." Take as you will.
posted by Aknaton at 10:26 PM on January 14, 2006

Converting to Buddhism a few years ago, and the subsequent meditation practices did it for me- I know you said you're already doing this, but I'd just like to encourage you to keep on. Though we may very well be practicing different sorts of meditation and for entirely different reasons, I can't tell you how much it (and the religion) has changed my world view.

I am also a naturally lucid dreamer, though I can't say it blows my mind or anything- it's just neat, but possibly because I've been doing it unintentionally for as long as I can remember.

But yeah, also study up on all kinds of philosophy. It may not change your views but it will certainly give you a lot to think about.
posted by Meredith at 10:28 PM on January 14, 2006

Quantum physics....I'm reading The Dancing Wu-Li masters and am really enjoying it. I've found it's reaffirmed things I've "felt" to be true with facts, and turned other things I thought I knew to be fact completely on it's head. The book explains things in a humorous, "regular" language.
I'm just discovering this, so I don't have much to offer except that I'm now experiencing what you sound like you are now looking for.
posted by Iamtherealme at 10:30 PM on January 14, 2006

Fully realising that everything is totally meaningless can be mind-blowing for some.
posted by interrobang at 10:31 PM on January 14, 2006

Reading Hakim Bey.
posted by dhartung at 10:35 PM on January 14, 2006

Have you tried DMT? That'd be my first choice (if I could get hold of the damn stuff). Terence McKenna said he had a friend who when asked what his favorite drug was would reply, "DMT - I took it in 1976, it lasted 5 minutes, and I'm still trying to process the experience." When asked if it was dangerous, Terence also said, "only if you're scared of dying of astonishment...". That sounds mind-blowing to me.
posted by forallmankind at 10:38 PM on January 14, 2006

Here's an idea: Become someone else for a while.

The idea's based on the show 30 Days, by the creator of that Supersize Me movie. The idea is that he found someone who would spend a period of 30 days living their life in some substantially different way. Hopefully, the person would come out of it with a greater respect and understanding.

Like the college-age kid with a deeply Christian upbringing, who spent a month living in the gayest part of San Francisco. He certainly learned a lot. Or the other Christian guy who spent a month living as a Muslim. And then there was the pilot episode, where the creator himself (and his wife) left all his money and posessions behind, and spent a month trying to get by on minimum wage. (It didn't work too well.)

You say that you've seen poverty and excess, but have you lived any of it? I think, if you really want to blow your mind, you're going to have to do something different, not just look at it.

(I also, personally, think that this would be better and more meaningful than any of the drug-related responses. Sure, chemicals can fuck you up. But when it's over, did it really mean anything?)
posted by CrayDrygu at 10:43 PM on January 14, 2006

minds generally get blown by the unexpected and unplanned for ... so this isn't really something one can set out to do

be open and cultivate serendipity ... don't be surprised when your mind is blown by something utterly mundane and insignificant, instead of an obvious bolt from the blue ... it won't be what happens ... but how you suddenly find another way of looking at it

my last mind blowing experience was walking in a state park and suddenly being escorted and watched over by a group of turkey vultures, who were showing off their gliding skills to me ... there's no way one can plan for something like that to happen

it's up to the world around you ... your task is to somehow be in the right time and place to have it happen ... follow hunches ... keep your eyes open ... and it may be more likely to happen in the natural world than in civilization

don't persue it ... just wander and allow it to persue you
posted by pyramid termite at 10:46 PM on January 14, 2006

5meo dmt
posted by Afroblanco at 10:48 PM on January 14, 2006

skydiving
posted by ArsncHeart at 10:50 PM on January 14, 2006

Actually, craydrygu has the best idea. Right on. Live another life for a while, it will almost certainly change yours.
posted by Meredith at 10:51 PM on January 14, 2006

Nitrous + LSD|MDMA + Sex = !!!
posted by Jairus at 10:54 PM on January 14, 2006

Read great writers (eg Shakespeare, Feynman, Neruda) and think.
posted by unSane at 10:55 PM on January 14, 2006

Oh, and stop thinking about yourself.
posted by unSane at 10:56 PM on January 14, 2006

Well, there are lots of ways to do this.
Firstly, you could try taking more vitamin b6. According to this study, taking vitamin b6 was heavily correlated with higher intensity, rememberance and weirdness of dreams. Works for me.

Secondly, try learning some science. Try astronomy for realising how small and insiginificant everything is, physics for how deeply strange matter is, and biology for how unlikely and intricate life is.

You also might want to try some psychology to understand how your brain works. try the book mindhacks (website here). It's a book which is full of interesting glitches in your brain. My favourite detials the stopped clock illusion. Look at your wrist watch by quickly shifting your vision to it. The first second will take longer than the subsequent ones (assuming you didnt look right at the end of the second). Now you can see that your experience of time is not as concrete as you probably thought it was.
posted by scodger at 10:56 PM on January 14, 2006

Also, studying astronomy. When it 'clicked', and I finally had a concept of the massive scale of things, it was so overwhelming that I literally felt sick, and had to sit down.
posted by Jairus at 10:56 PM on January 14, 2006

Have a kid.

You want your mind blown? Watch your child grow each day and realize what is happening.
posted by zymurgy at 10:58 PM on January 14, 2006

2cb + mdma: on a sunny day look towards a brightish spot in the sky (near, but not directly at the sun), close your eyes and stare at the insides of your eyelids.
posted by juv3nal at 11:20 PM on January 14, 2006

2cb + mdma

The only problem with this is finding the 2C-B. After you have it, you can blow your mind a thousand different ways without ever leaving your living room.
posted by Jairus at 11:30 PM on January 14, 2006

Meredith, I am somewhat saddened by the fact that you and I seem to be the only ones who believe that such a thing is possible without resorting to drugs. I don't have a problem with people using (most of) them recreationally, but I am bothered by the number of them who think that a good time can't be had without chemical alteration.
posted by CrayDrygu at 11:34 PM on January 14, 2006

Yes, a kid will open up parts of your mind and heart that you didn't know were there.
posted by LarryC at 11:40 PM on January 14, 2006

not to promote drugs, but try an eigth of shrooms. ive done it four times in my life and it's been totally different every time. first three times were awesome. i thought about life and complex ideas in new ways, felt great, heard and saw things differently too. some thoughts were mindblowing. the fourth time i did it, i took too much and had an introspective nightmare. i literally went insane for about 15 hours. but after going insane and literally losing your mind, you learn just how invaluable it is and how special you are. its weird. try shrooms and i guarentee it'll be an unforgettable experience.
posted by deeman at 11:42 PM on January 14, 2006

Skydiving, extreme sports, travel, scuba diving, etc. Just keep sampling at the physical end of life's banquet table.
posted by frogan at 12:18 AM on January 15, 2006

Be quiet, and attentive.
Read EVERYTHING

And remember, though you can seek the transcendental experience, Ram Dass points out that "only total despair can precede a change in consciousness".

That being said, if you're under 30, acid or shrooms can be amazing. Over 30 sucks. Once you lack that "i'm going to live forever" thing that we all had back then, the trip can easily descend into a morass of thinking about the long mortal slide ahead of you...

But Remember the tripster's maxims:
Only trip with people you love and trust, and even then only with a small group.
Keep a xanax around, it works like an off button.
And never forget: no matter what, all you need to do is get home and in bed and it'll all be fine when the sun comes up.
Don't do it too often.

I'd agree about the kid thing. More amazing by far than anything else that can be done.

Finally, I read a great thing years ago. A response to a busy single mother from a buddhist monk. She was asking where was she supposed to find time for all these 'practices'.

The monk gently explained that all 2600 of buddha's teachings can be boiled down to the phrase
"Be Kind"
and that if she spent 5 minutes a day concentrating on being kind to others, she was living the dharma just as well as anyone.

That always sat just right with me.
posted by asavage at 12:24 AM on January 15, 2006 [2 favorites has favorites]

Somehow, this picture posted in the recent Orion Nebula Thread did it for me in a way that "There are X galaxies, with on average Y stars" sort of speak really doesn't, just because the numbers are just way, way too large. This image covers a speck of the sky, with a much more comprehensible 1500 objects. The juxtaposition of "1500 objects" (totally comprehensible) with "Galaxy' (total mind-fuck) managed to evoke a level of terrified awe I've not experienced for a while.

Plus the fact that it's not too much of a stretch to imagine that someone, in one of those galaxies reduced to a single pixel, born many, many, many years from now, might one day look at an image much like that one, and see our galaxy similarly portrayed.

Given the distances of the galaxies involved, from two to ten billion light years away, their species might not have made it to the single cell level by this point.

Just thinking about all that gives me a big old dose of brain-vertigo, anyhow.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 12:28 AM on January 15, 2006 [1 favorite has favorites]

Jon, I found the Hubble Ultra Deep Field photo to be even more mind-blowing than the Deep Field mosaic. Combined with this (26 meg) shot of the center of the Milky Way, and thinking on the fact that there are many times more stars than that in every single one of those galaxies in the ultra deep field photo...
posted by Jairus at 12:34 AM on January 15, 2006

The process of working out some old injuries, both physical and mental/emotional, have left me amazed at the subtlety and the interconnectedness of the whole mind-body thing. I'm not sure how you'd replicate that, exactly, but meditation plus the bodywork of your choice (yoga, pilates, tai chi, frequent massage, acupuncture, whatever) might be a good place to start. It's not HOLY CRAP d00d!!!1!!! mind-blowing, but it certainly is more than a little awe-inspiring. So much complicated stuff going on in these sacks of meat...

On another tangent, some friends of mine just picked up and went to teach in Ethiopia for three years, which blows my mind a little just thinking about it. Maybe drop everything and join the Peace Corps?
posted by Vervain at 12:46 AM on January 15, 2006

I was reading something on a blog just recently where people were asked what their most dangerous idea was, and one guy's answer was "spend time in complete solitude".

Complete as in complete, not seeing a photo or an image of a person or hearing another human voice, reading words, or witnessing any evidence that other people even exist on the planet.

I've certainly never done it for more than an hour or two in my whole life.

How long could you go, and what would happen to you?
posted by AmbroseChapel at 12:50 AM on January 15, 2006

Well, poo. I meant to toss in a link to Vipassana Meditation, which turned up in a previous AskMe thread, and seemed interesting enough for me to bookmark.
posted by Vervain at 12:52 AM on January 15, 2006

From a previous post about the blown of mind.
posted by hortense at 12:54 AM on January 15, 2006

Cut your pinky off. Have a mental breakdown. Get institutionalized. These will all throw you for a loop. Don't sleep for more than 48 hours. Run until you collapse (literally) from exhuastion. Read about mental illnesses.
posted by nosophoros at 1:08 AM on January 15, 2006

Pack up everything and move somewhere you've never even planned to visit. Live there for between one and four years.

Repeat.

My mind has not stopped being blown for the past decade.
posted by Astro Zombie at 1:08 AM on January 15, 2006

Stop dabbling and make the decision to get really involved with something- a life time commitment. That will blow your mind pretty quick.
posted by fshgrl at 1:18 AM on January 15, 2006

Read Euclid. It's amazing how mindblowing simple geometry can be.
posted by evariste at 1:23 AM on January 15, 2006

Save someone's life.
posted by ikkyu2 at 1:27 AM on January 15, 2006

The bastard stepchild of Werner Erhard's EST did it for me in the early 90's, although I've heard that they have toned it down since then due to lawsuits from folks who had their minds blown in ways they weren't partial to.

I would also second Vervain in recommending Vipassana, particularly the variety taught by S. N. Goenka (which Vervain linked to). It's challenging (I spent two days or so of the 10 day course crying and thinking I was going insane), mind blowing, and had a cleaner finish than the EST/Landmark stuff.

Nowadays, just reading a book by Gangaji pretty much does it for me.
posted by Zendogg at 1:46 AM on January 15, 2006

DMT.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 2:03 AM on January 15, 2006

Sort of what mwhybark and pyramid termite said. Anyone "looking" to get their mind blown probably wont accomplish it, really. Its one thing to see poverty, its another to experience it. Go join a cult, believe in it, and then fight your way out. Go commit a crime. Become a victim of a crime - perhaps get kidnapped. These are the kinds of things that will blow your mind but none of them are things I recommend you go out and do.

You can also just blow your mind by sitting and thinking. Stop being restless. Think about what it really means to be alive, here, now. About the hugeness of universe and the puzzle of existence. Think about the fact that you will die and that death is inevitable.

I think some pessimistic philosopher once made the analogy that all of us are in a room - we have no idea how we got here or what we are supposed to do. All we know is that every once in a while one of us is led out of the room and never returns. Life is pure horror if you let yourself think in that direction. But it is also all that we have.
posted by vacapinta at 2:35 AM on January 15, 2006

Nothing beats having a child. Nothing at all. You may consider this banal (and it is!), but this, as LarryC says, is the most heart and mind-opening experience that exists, and absolutely will change your worldview. Permanently.
posted by Wolof at 2:40 AM on January 15, 2006

I second eating the eighth of shrooms. They can totally change your outlook on life. The first time I did 'em, had the best eight hours of my life in and around the forest in Julian, Ca, concluded with the most intense sunset ever. Just don't take more than eighth just before midnight on Halloween while trying to raise the dead on a Chumash mass grave in the woods behind the old mission in Santa Barbara where it gets 22 degrees at night. In retrospect that was about one of the more stupid ideas I've ever gone along with, but I am glad I experienced that hellish night, if only because I found my true Spirit of the Native American, out there with no tent, no fire, everything just frozen cold, tripping my balls off.
posted by FearAndLoathingInLJ at 3:22 AM on January 15, 2006

You know, if you're not ready to have a child, I bet it would be pretty mind-blowing to eat one.
posted by Astro Zombie at 3:24 AM on January 15, 2006

Be alone in nature for a while. The longest I've spent without talking to anyone or seeing a building is 3 weeks, and it rearranged everything in my head.

Move to a country where you don't speak the language, don't understand how people think, and don't know how anything works. I've done it twice, and at the beginning every day is an adventure just doing the most ordinary things without any of the assumptions you normally carry around with you.

Compared to those experiences, tripping is like watching television.
posted by fuzz at 4:08 AM on January 15, 2006

Hmm, read some Robert Anton Wilson. Start with Cosmic Trigger and work your way up. RAW suggests lots of books and authors in his own books, usually very interesting stuff you would have never heard of. There's a whole world of stuff RAW can introduce you too. For kicks, mix this with some Dawkins or some books written by skeptics. For extra credit mix all of this with some Philip K Dick, especially the VALIS books.

I would particularly stay away from New Age pre-packaged stuff that's aimed at people like you asking this question like the infamous Dancing Wu Li Masters (just an attempt to mix science and religion for the credulous), Celestine Prophesy, TM, Da Vinco Code (or any book that ends with code), etc.
posted by skallas at 4:31 AM on January 15, 2006

Ride a fixedgear bike sans brakes in NYC traffic. A Zen experience.
posted by fixedgear at 4:31 AM on January 15, 2006

If more reading isnt what youre looking for, try the polyphasic sleep cycle for 60 days like this guy did. I can imagine this being incredibly mind-bending.
posted by skallas at 4:51 AM on January 15, 2006

dedicate ten years of your life to an analytic science. it alters your worldview so strongly that threads like this become mind-blowing in their own right.
posted by andrew cooke at 4:53 AM on January 15, 2006

Trout Mask Replica. Loud.
posted by Decani at 5:39 AM on January 15, 2006

Also, study Quantum Physics. And think hard about it.
posted by Decani at 5:39 AM on January 15, 2006

Figure out how much you'll need for retirement assuming you'll stop working at 65, will live to 100, will need $70,000/year, and your savings will generate 4%/year.
posted by mono blanco at 5:40 AM on January 15, 2006

Since a lot of good ideas have gone,

Music - investigate new genres, maybe you have friends into different stuff or read around.

Try Venetian Snares - have a cup of coffee and listen to Making Orange Things (or anything by the man really). Extreamly fast, complex, overwhelming electronica.

Try the Master Musicians of Joujouka (with or without hasish). I recommend the eponymous albumn.

Try Lighting Bolt. (dig some videos). Recommend the albumn, Wondeful Rainbow.

Try Syd Barret. Recommend, The Madcap Laughs.

Try Johnny Cash, start with American 4.

Aside from music, sleep deprivation has been discussed a few times around here. That'll give you a new perspective.

Meditate daily on inevitable death.

Or cut to the chase and practise mindfulness. Be mindful of all that you do and all that happens around you. See how you suceed and fail in this practise. Be amazed.
posted by MetaMonkey at 5:58 AM on January 15, 2006

Oh, and read Naked Lunch (or pretty much anything) by William Burroughs. If you've read that, try some of his later stuff like Cities of the Red Night.
posted by MetaMonkey at 6:01 AM on January 15, 2006

Big Mind
posted by Xurando at 6:07 AM on January 15, 2006

Sorry don't mean to flood, but I couln't leave out the Tao Te Ching. Really gets to the nub of the matter.
posted by MetaMonkey at 6:16 AM on January 15, 2006

grief. losing my partner changed my worldview forever.
posted by brandz at 6:50 AM on January 15, 2006

Listen to classical music -- LOUD. Stravinsky blows my mind (if I play his music loud and let it engulf me). I can get the same effect with long (really good) fiction: "War and Peace," etc. I can get the same effect with short fiction -- or poetry -- if I'm attentive on the word level. This poem, which I wrote about on AskMe, blew my mind:

Too Much Heat, Too Much Work

It’s the fourteenth of August, and I’m too hot
To endure food, or bed. Steam and the fear of scorpions
Keep me awake. I’m told the heat won't fade with Autumn.

Swarms of flies arrive. I’m roped into my clothes.
In another moment I’ll scream down the office
As the paper mountains rise higher on my desk.

O those real mountains to the south of here!
I gaze at the ravines kept cool by pines.
If I could walk on ice, with my feet bare!

Tu Fu (712-770)
Translated from the Chinese by Carolyn Kizer

Paintings can do it for me too, but not if they're small reproductions in art books. I need to go to museums, stand in front of them, and see the brush strokes pop out and hit me in the face. If you can get to NYC, go to the Brooklyn Museum of Art and walk through the Rodin exhibit. I never knew a sculpture could turn me on until I saw (and touched -- I know I shouldn't have) his art.

Then there's sex. I'm talking about really kinky, dangerous, boundary-pushing sex (think "Eyes Wide Shut"). Not that I'm speaking from personal experience, here, but I hear tell such activities can be mind-expanding (or SOMETHING expanding).

Are there many foods you dislike? In "The Man Who Ate Everything." Jeffrey Steingarten learned to like all the foods he once hated (trick: forcing yourself to eat them over and over again). He eventually reached an epiphany when he would stare at menus and be unable to order because he couldn't choose between all the delicious items.

You might also want to try learning complex math (i.e. calculus), even if you have to start from simple arithmetic and work yourself up. People who really GET math get their minds blown regularly. They see the universe in a whole different way.

Lean acting. I'm not talking about "community theatre" acting, which tends to be silly walks and voices and histrionics. Study Stansilavsky, take a professional acting class, and learn a Shakespearean role.

Live on the streets for a month. Beg for money and food.

Cut yourself off from all modern forms of entertainment: no TV, no internet, etc. See where your mind goes.
posted by grumblebee at 6:53 AM on January 15, 2006

Wear glasses that flip the world upside down. After a few days of wearing them, your brain will compensate, and the world will appear right side up.

Then, keep wearing the glasses, and wonder if your brain will be able to repeat that trick so that you can get your normal vision back.

A few things that have blown my mind:
- every few years, the first day I can really *feel* spring blows my mind - it is a primordial, orgasmic, and spiritual experience where I feel part of it all
- looking at a tree for a few hours, preferably in a gentle breeze - I only managed to really do this once
- playing improvised music with other musicians where you suddenly seem to be communicating very clearly with each other on the same plane, and having the same intuitions and instincts - it is like you are joining some music that is already there - and better yet, everyone knows it when it happens. I am not talking about Britney Spears.
- realizing the power of the human mind - thinking about thinking, and realizing that we are no where near fathoming the extent of the brain's abilities
- really good food - eating at Susur in Toronto gave me this feeling
- as previously mentioned, contemplating other thinkers, for me esp. physicists

I am realizing now that most of the items on my list are not "out there" - they are things within me that just need to be given the opportunity.
posted by SNACKeR at 6:54 AM on January 15, 2006

It's interesting that grumblebee mentioned food. I'm not going to suggest that learning to enjoy foods you currently dislike will necessarily open your mind, but I think it's a good example of a somewhat mundane thing that can have enormous power to access your perception of the world. If not food, some other thing that is material in nature but has the power to access your brain on a very fundamnetal level... It seems obvious to use drugs for this purpose but something like food may be less obvious to people.
posted by rxrfrx at 7:38 AM on January 15, 2006

If you're going the psychedelic route, you should be specific about it. Many people seem to think that they're an elixir and all you have to do is pop them and the telegrams start coming in. Not so. Think of them as stage-setters. Pick a difficult piece of music that you've never understood, or a painting or a book. Avoid tasks that require motor execution, since the conception may be striking, your motor control over its execution won't be. Some psychedelic experiences are self-contained (DMT, Salvia..) and not everyone's cup of tea.

Some of the suggestions about learning math or science are ill-considered. Those require long periods of time & effort, discipline, and the motivation to carry it out. Most likely, they'll leave you with a better nuanced and rich appreciation of cognition and phenomena, but don't expect "mind-blowing" unless some result turns out to be very counter-intuitive.

In terms of economy & convenience, psychedelics are your best bet. You could always take up skydiving or immerse yourself in another culture, but they take up lot more money and in the latter case, uprooting from your home. It also depends on whether you want these experiences because you're stagnating/bored or because you're depressed. In the latter case, psychedelics are risky.
posted by Gyan at 7:42 AM on January 15, 2006

N,N-dimethyltryptamine
posted by aramaic at 7:48 AM on January 15, 2006

Starmaker. Mother Nature. The Moral Animal.

All three did it for me at different times...
posted by rleamon at 7:54 AM on January 15, 2006

Another suggestion: learn 3D Modeling & Animation. That will help you get a good grasp on the grammar of visual composition. And provide a concrete outlet for your imagination. If you're a student, you can get legal copies of standard industry software for under $200, often quite less.
posted by Gyan at 8:01 AM on January 15, 2006

Some of the suggestions about learning math or science are ill-considered. Those require long periods of time & effort, discipline, and the motivation to carry it out.

Pretty much everything that has ever blown my mind has taken time, effort, discipline and motivation -- except for those rare things that hit my senses and make me go "WOW" (i.e. the Grand Canyon).

Then again, I don't take drugs.
posted by grumblebee at 8:10 AM on January 15, 2006

Sure, chemicals can fuck you up. But when it's over, did it really mean anything?

all your thoughts and feelings are chemicals. They're chemicals you get to be, that somehow unify themselves into a consciousness, but to say chemicals are meaningless is to say life is meaningless. It all depends what you make of it.

Compared to those experiences, tripping is like watching television.

"tripping" is not a homogenous experience. It's like "thinking" - sometimes mundane, sometimes mind-blowing, depending on who you are, what you're looking for, etc. I don't think anyone can say what is or isn't "more" awesome.

I got my cousin & his young family a big book on astronomy/the universe for xmas, and he was so amazed really looking at the scale of the universe (everyone knows it's big, but sometimes a visual representation really brings it home) that he started feeling a little sick & had to sit down. I got the book because I've always been fascinated by astronomy myself - I think it is one of the oldest reasons that I went into philosophy. I've always had neuro curiosity, too, so wanting to explore both basically led to epistemology/metaphysics - mind and world, and the connection between them. I can be an annoying conversationalist these days because practically any subject can eventually lead to "but what the hell is Being anyway?", a question I thought I'd put aside like a good pragmatist sometime back in college. But I can't get over it. Which I guess is to say that if that's not still blowing your mind, you're not really thinking about it hard enough :).

If you need things to trigger those thoughts, there's visual stimulation - a stormy ocean, the night sky in the desert, a glacier, or man-made sublimity like the pyramids or a great cathedral. there's aural stimulation - go see a live symphony, e.g. And there's direct ideas - read some books. Read philosophy or science books about what is and how we understand it. Most of all, just stay aware of the constant miracle around you. That's a wall in front of you. think about what that means. (really - I mean, e.g., consider the wood in it - think about how an acorn directs dirt & water etc to become a tree... etc.)
posted by mdn at 8:12 AM on January 15, 2006

on the science thing - my point (which i won't labour because it's probably off-topic) is not that it's mind-blowing, but that you will realise that mind-blowing is simply a euphemism for "error".
posted by andrew cooke at 8:21 AM on January 15, 2006

grumblebee : "Pretty much everything that has ever blown my mind has taken time, effort, discipline and motivation"

Yes, but you did them because you were generally interested. The OP specifically wants mind-blowing experiences. (S)He'll get bored by the time he learns integration by parts, and it doesn't seem practical or fascinating. Science as a "big picture" thing is one thing. Its instruction is much more dry and technical.

andrew cooke : "mind-blowing is simply a euphemism for 'error'"

More accurately, "shock" or "reorientation" since you never know whether your new conception is error-free.
posted by Gyan at 8:28 AM on January 15, 2006

so if you just want errors for kicks, do something that messes up your physiochemistry - take a pile of drugs, or hold your breath too long, or abuse your internal chemical responses by doing an "extreme sport", or... - or attempt to make sense of something meaningless - zen koans being the obvious example here.

curiously, bereavement kind of fits into both of those categories (sincerely, no disrespect intended - i can imagine it both causes your emotional chemistry to go haywire, and encourages you to search for an "explanation" where there is none).

which i guess is what everyone is saying. i just don't understand why they're all so enthusiastic about it
posted by andrew cooke at 8:41 AM on January 15, 2006

Yes, but you did them because you were generally interested.

Sort of, Gyan. Actually, I'm after the same sorts of experiences as borkingchikapa, but I'm not willing to use drugs. I AM willing to travel, but I'm limited by budget. So I generally turn to study (maybe my Jewish-intellectual background explains this). I SPECIFICALLY choose subjects that I've been told are mind-blowing. I read big novels, like "In Search of Lost Time" and "War and Peace," because other people have recommended them as mindblowers. Similarly, calculus, and other complex branches of math, have the reputation of being almost religious experiences by people who really understand them.

Come to think of it, now that I'm out of school, I shy away from learning ANYTHING for practical purposes. When I study, it's purely for a journey of the mind.
posted by grumblebee at 8:53 AM on January 15, 2006

Psychedelic Mushrooms.
posted by delmoi at 9:00 AM on January 15, 2006

The first time I was able to follow a proof of Godel's Incompleteness Theorem, my mind was blown. The crux of the matter is really quite accessible, though the details are such that it's a mild amount of work. It's especially interesting if you know anything about fractals like the Mandelbrot set, because there are some similar concepts.

Also, even people who have experimented with LSD may dismiss psychedelic experience as a way to shatter your current worldview bubble. But there are varying levels of experience, and many people have only gone to the pretty pictures and synestheasia level.

Drop enough clean acid, and you can become quite disconnected from time, ego, space, and reality as you know it. This also takes a little ramping up. Have a few guided trips (have an LSD-experienced person with you who is not tripping) of increasing intensity before attempting this.

Apparently ketamine can also be used in this way, but I have never tried it.
posted by jimfl at 9:02 AM on January 15, 2006

Hmm, read some Robert Anton Wilson.

From Maybe Logic:
"Nasrudin went galloping through Baghdad one day on his donkey. He went up every street and into every alley and across every plaza—galloping every place he'd go, an unending race, a hunt, a search. Everybody got curious, everybody came out of their houses and they're all yelling 'Nasrudin! Nasrudin! What are you looking for?' He yelled 'I lost my donkey and I'm looking for it.'

See, the donkey represents what everybody is looking for, which is a mystical school, it's the answer to all the riddles of the universe. And you hunt for it east, west, north, south, up, down, everywhere you can imagine. All the time it's carrying you around: it's the human nervous system which takes out of the infinity of the universe the little reality-tunnel that you consider reality, which is your creation and which you think is the whole of the universe...

...Unless you've been through a Sufi school or studied General Semantics or did a lot of Zen meditation or dropped LSD once or twice. Then you realize the universe is much bigger and more complicated than any little map we can make of it. The map is not the territory (the words that describe the map are not the territory, they're even further from the territory)."
posted by jbrjake at 9:02 AM on January 15, 2006

andrew cooke : "or attempt to make sense of something meaningless - zen koans being the obvious example here"

And how are you so sure that koans are meaningless?
posted by Gyan at 9:17 AM on January 15, 2006

jfdp ids if o sf foo iffii.
posted by andrew cooke at 9:24 AM on January 15, 2006

For lots more Nasr ud'Din stories (which are to Sufism as Koans are to Zen), you can look to any of a number of books by Idries Shah.
posted by jimfl at 9:26 AM on January 15, 2006

The analogous illustration doesn't apply automatically. Explain.
posted by Gyan at 9:26 AM on January 15, 2006

you just don't understand. try harder.
posted by andrew cooke at 9:27 AM on January 15, 2006

Mu.
posted by Gyan at 9:27 AM on January 15, 2006

Apparently ketamine can also be used in this way, but I have never tried it.

Erf. Ketamine. Odd and partially amusing, not exactly the stuff of mind-expansion though.
posted by ed\26h at 9:35 AM on January 15, 2006

:o)

that's what i should have posted, isn't it?

i think you'd need to define what "meaning" is, and i suspect we'd end up with something that (in charitable terms!) defies external verification. so our difference in opinion would be purely subjective (this is really off-topic...)
posted by andrew cooke at 9:38 AM on January 15, 2006

Meredith, I am somewhat saddened by the fact that you and I seem to be the only ones who believe that such a thing is possible without resorting to drugs.

Just as some people attend church (temple, sit zazen) all their lives and never have a religious experience, so will many people who work (and/or play) with drugs never have a deep psychedelic experience (which may or may not be equivalent, who knows).

I should note that it is arguable that having a child releases a flood of hormones which may be responsible for any altered states of consciousness. Because our bodies and minds have evolved to be receptive to changes in chemistry like this is precicely why certain plant and chemical substances can trigger (or block) the same or similar responses.

It is not impossible that this is why religion "works."

Some paths may not be accessible to certain folks. One really bad trip might block the psychedelic path for someone. Being raised in a religion by people who don't really grok it may block the religion path. Infertility may block the child-rearing path. Severe bout of polio as a child will block the mountain climbing path, etc.

I should mention mountain climbing or trekking in mountainous country as a potential path. One that requires rigorous work, but also has the side effect of keeping your body in shape as well.
posted by jimfl at 9:58 AM on January 15, 2006

Even though I am Jewish, I have found that actually reading the words of Jesus as presented in the Gospels is pretty mind blowing. Once you strip away the layers of interpretation forced on top of the life of Jesus by Christians, you end up with a radical call for justice by a man who spent his life arguing the essential value and dignity of the poor and the despised, and who spent his time traveling and healing.
posted by Astro Zombie at 10:11 AM on January 15, 2006

O those real mountains to the south of here!

You just blew my mind. No poem's ever made me cry before...
posted by Evstar at 10:15 AM on January 15, 2006

Nobody said Burning Man? What kind of hipster enclave is this?
posted by rdc at 10:48 AM on January 15, 2006

Zen meditation did it for me.

My first glimmer of any sort of enlightenment (not saying by any stretch of the imagination that I have really attained any) was one day in meditation at home along, fixated on the stick koan ("If you call this a stick you conceal it; if you say it is not a stick you deny it. What is it?"). I felt like a bubble popped in my head (literally, not metaphor) and went to have a shower, somewhat shaken. The moment I felt the water hit my back it wasn't the water. The stick flowed over me.
posted by Kickstart70 at 10:51 AM on January 15, 2006

I am somewhat saddened by the fact that you and I seem to be the only ones who believe that such a thing is possible without resorting to drugs.

I'm not saying its the only way, but it is simply impossible to take an 8th of shrooms and not have your mind blown. For some people, this can be a terrifying experience. Some friends of mine took too much shrooms and now they've sworn off drugs for ever. One of my friends won't even take much caffeine. He has to drink caffeine free pop now.

So I'm not saying shrooms are universally wonderful, but in my experience they were fantastic. If you take a lot, your mind will be blown, for good or for bad.

I mean, I honestly can't think of anything that comes close in intensity. Take the feeling you've gotten when you've discovered a new way of thinking, and multiply that by a thousand.
posted by delmoi at 10:55 AM on January 15, 2006

Extended solitude in the wilderness does things (usually good) to clear your mind. If need be, learn how to survive out there, then do it for a while.

Definitely look at Christ. What He said, what He did.

Second the notion of putting yourself in someone else's shoes in some way. Try to see them from your, their, and others' perspectives, then as objectively as possible. From momentary encounters to longer, more deliberate relationships. Force yourself look at things from various perspectives; learn how others see the same things -- it's often surprising and opens up your head.

Learn to blow your mind without drugs.
posted by mumeishi at 10:55 AM on January 15, 2006

Help people. A lot. Spend so much time helping other people that you have absolutely no time for introspection. Extended, intense manual labor for purely altruistic reasons is a great way to clear your mind.
posted by jrossi4r at 11:18 AM on January 15, 2006

Sensory Deprivation.

Go deep in a cave (with a buddy of course) and turn out the lights and just listen. You will hear your body working.

Kayak the west coast of Haida Gwaii.

All three worked for. Drugs are sleazy alley of a shortcut to a temporary vision of that which can last much longer when experienced straight.
posted by Rumple at 11:19 AM on January 15, 2006

I'm not saying its the only way, but it is simply impossible to take an 8th of shrooms and not have your mind blown. For some people, this can be a terrifying experience.

I have and although I can understand why other people may find it mind-blowing, it wasnt for me. Dont worry, I had the full experience. I took it with friends and we actually went out into the street at night and were convinced there were dwarves around every corner chasing us, the universe was conspiring against us, trees had become alive and were giving us signs - trying to warn us. The friend I was with still talks about it to others as mind-blowing. For me, I was able somehow to put it in the same compartment as dreams - a look into an alternate reality but not one that radically changed my understanding of this one.

For me, mind-blowing is to see and understand things in this reality that are true and inescapable -
--Death
--human suffering
--the range and variety of human experience (as we speak and write people around the world are (fucking, dying, having a baby, watching their best friend die, laughing, crying etc - at this very moment)
--how everything around us is an inheritance from dead people (dead people planned your city, designed most of the things you use everyday, left us with all their customs, walked this same planet, everyone who was alive anywhere on Earth in say 1860 is now dead)
--how little we actually know when it comes to Physics and Mathematics and that perhaps we have just invented it all and the Universe is playing along - all one big joke
posted by vacapinta at 11:26 AM on January 15, 2006

Risk your life.
posted by iloveit at 11:37 AM on January 15, 2006

Read great writers (eg Shakespeare, Feynman, Neruda) and think.
Oh, and stop thinking about yourself.

unSane has it. Until you stop obsessing about yourself and your own experiences, you're not going to have a mind worth blowing.
posted by languagehat at 12:14 PM on January 15, 2006

befriend a first time non-violent drug offender doing 10 years or more in federal prison (there are alot of them) and help him/her through their grim experience... perhaps through learning meditation together? on the more selfish front learn to surf and do yoga... go to west africa (my SO and i are working on a plan to see the Tuareg music festival in Mali next year... which should be fairly mind blowing)
posted by specialk420 at 12:23 PM on January 15, 2006

I've taken a myriad assortment of weird drugs, always safely, always with the intent of learning about the inner reaches of my mind.

That has got to be one of the most idiotic statements that I have ever read. Sorry, but drugs do not teach you anything about yourself or your "inner mind." They are merely tools to escape reality and blot out one's ability to reason and undertand reality.

To learn more about the "inner reaches" of your mind, you have to focus on the "outer reaches" of your life: physical activity and experiences of all types. By analyzing your motivations, observations, and reactions to the experiences, you will come to know your "inner mind" better.
posted by davidmsc at 12:24 PM on January 15, 2006

Attended Burning Man. Watching the playa at night was totally mindblowing; even without drugs.
posted by HeikoH at 12:59 PM on January 15, 2006

Skydive naked.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 1:14 PM on January 15, 2006

I'm not saying its the only way, but it is simply impossible to take an 8th of shrooms and not have your mind blown.

Eh. I took an eight of shrooms and went casino hopping and, while it was fun, it wasn't mind blowing. Mind blowing generally takes some effort and discipline as noted above. Summiting a 14,000 fter, making it down your first double black diamond alive, making a new discovery in science- stuff like that changes your world view a lot more than getting fucked up and staring at the walls for a day.

Nearly getting killed a few times doing risky shit has probably been the most life-altering thing that's ever happened to me. Not the thrill of it but the fact that it really exposes you and not always in the msot flattering way. I'm a lot more accepting of myself and others and a lot more in touch with my instincts nowadays as well as more apt to live in the moment and appreciate what I do have.
posted by fshgrl at 1:15 PM on January 15, 2006

I'm sorry, but I don't see the fundamental difference between drugs and, say, rock climbing or surfing. First of all, more or less the same thing is happening in your body during activities like that (depending on what you're on), and I'd hardly call drugs an "shortcut" - sure, if you're drunk at a party and you drop acid that's one thing, but actually using them as tools for introspection can be just as challenging, if not moreso. As far as dangers go, is hiking in the mountains by yourself for a week really less dangerous than taking a few psychadelics? No, of course not. Does that mean it's not worth doing? Once again, of course not.

I'd go out on a limb and say that 99.9% of the people who are against drug use full stop haven't used them at any entheogenic or useful capacity.
posted by borkingchikapa at 1:19 PM on January 15, 2006

I think a week camping in the Black Rock Desert sans Burning Man is far more mind blowing- but then again, mind-blowing for me is generally more of an introspective experience, rather than extracorporeal.
Best of all is camping in the Desert with memoirs of the pioneers who crossed that very desert. Nature+Solitude+Literature blows my mind every time.
posted by oneirodynia at 1:21 PM on January 15, 2006

Molecular biology.

All life is little mechanical interactions. Little levers and cogs and ratchets made of molecules.
posted by orthogonality at 1:27 PM on January 15, 2006

Well, borkingchikapa, I'll admit to being against drugs without actually trying them. This is a personal choice. I'm not judging anyone else's decision pro/con drugs. Part of the reason I avoid them is because they're dangerous (maybe there are some that aren't -- I haven't done tons of research). I take your point about rock climbing, but I wouldn't do that either (also because it's dangerous). I'm a fraid-i-cat who wants to live a long, healthy life.

But I am also skeptical about the claim that drugs are mindblowing. As I've said, I'm speaking largely from ignorance, so please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

I'm also defining mindblowing in a very specific way, so let me be clear about it: for me to have a mindblowing experience that I care about (especially if it involves risk), it can't be ephemeral. I'm not interested in having a WOW drug experience if it's gone the minute the drug wears off. And my skepticism stems from talking to people who use drugs. It seems like they need to be ON the drug to enjoy the experience. Whereas with a book, painting, etc., the experience lasts -- at least for me -- sometimes years (sometimes a lifetime) after I'm done experiencing it.

Am I wrong? Is it typical to come down from a high with great insights? I'm thinking it's more like dreaming. My dreams FEEL really important while I'm having them. When I wake up, they're no longer interesting.
posted by grumblebee at 3:12 PM on January 15, 2006

Am I wrong? Is it typical to come down from a high with great insights? I'm thinking it's more like dreaming. My dreams FEEL really important while I'm having them. When I wake up, they're no longer interesting.

Repeated use of entheogens probably doesn't offer anything lasting more than a single sufficiently strong experience does, but the one experience if done right certainly isn't ephemeral. I wouldn't say it gives you any "insights". It's more like if you had never seen the color blue before and you saw it for half a second; even if you never saw it again you would still know what blue looks like. Some people don't like blue, others think blue is their favorite color and want to see it as often as possible.
posted by juv3nal at 3:58 PM on January 15, 2006

juv3nal has it right...hence, the whole Huxleyan notion of 'doors of perception.' Sometimes you just feel as if you have glimpsed yet another possible way that the universe might work...like you're the protagonist of Flatland, and you're suddenly experiencing things in a way that you hadn't even realized was possible. The fact that you've experienced that, even if you can't get it back exactly, can stick with you. I wouldn't compare it to experiencing a good work of art...it's more like staying at a youth hostel for a night and meeting someone so interesting that they change the way you perceive a whole culture, or philosophy, or your own life.
posted by bingo at 4:19 PM on January 15, 2006

Learn tantric yoga.
Learn to Tango.
Both preferably with a significant other.
posted by peacay at 5:01 PM on January 15, 2006

Buy a very expensive computer (the new Macbook Pro fully loaded) and give it to some one you don't know. That will blow 2 minds with one thought.
posted by alteredcarbon at 5:09 PM on January 15, 2006

Oh, I love this post because it IS blowing my mind.
posted by alteredcarbon at 5:11 PM on January 15, 2006

Am I wrong? Is it typical to come down from a high with great insights? I'm thinking it's more like dreaming. My dreams FEEL really important while I'm having them. When I wake up, they're no longer interesting.

I've found that highs from drugs like pot and mushrooms to be like you describe -- but my experiences with LSD and MDMA were ones that certainly did not wear off or become less interesting when I came down. The insights I had did not become drug-addled nonsense, and indeed, still enrich my life.
posted by Jairus at 5:15 PM on January 15, 2006

"mind-blowing is simply a euphemism for 'error'">

totally disagree. The more you understand, the more mind-blowing it all is. It's the largeness, the infinity, the connectedness, that's mind-blowing, not that something unexpected happens.

but it is simply impossible to take an 8th of shrooms and not have your mind blown.

also disagree with this. Shrooms are just a tool - an excellent one in my experience, but by themselves they cannot "make" something happen. I've known people who tripped "just for fun" and really didn't seem to get anything long-lasting out of it. It becomes normalized and expected, and then it's just the bright colors and intensified 3d and "trails" ho hum.

Basically, I think one could say "it is simply impossible to open your eyes and not have your mind blown", but if a person doesn't have the right perspective, this will absolutely not be the case - i think because everything gets normalized. So drugs are a way to un-normalize, so to speak, but if you take them with boundaries and vocabulary etc already established, then it won't change how you think, but just make things different for a while

on preview: grumblebee, in my experience most people with somewhat philosophical attitudes who have tripped count their experiences on drugs among the more significant moments of insight. But it's possible that many of them remember certain dreams as meaningful as well... for me, the first two times I tripped I consider "mind-blowing" in the long-term sense, ie, I still look back on what I uncovered then. That does not mean I could never have uncovered those insights other ways, but I found it profound to experience it directly, as it were - it wasn't work or logical reasoning; it was a fundamental perceptive experience, which I think bleeds into the way I understand things even now. That could be my own personal mythology, but I think there must be some truth in there..
posted by mdn at 5:21 PM on January 15, 2006

Eh. I took an eight of shrooms and went casino hopping and, while it was fun, it wasn't mind blowing. Mind blowing generally takes some effort and discipline as noted above.

Eh. There was definitely something wrong with those mushrooms :P (they can be ruined by tempratures above 85 degrees, and some are less potent then others).
posted by delmoi at 5:47 PM on January 15, 2006

I wouldn't say it gives you any "insights". It's more like if you had never seen the color blue before and you saw it for half a second; even if you never saw it again you would still know what blue looks like. Some people don't like blue, others think blue is their favorite color and want to see it as often as possible.

That's a good example. If you lived in a world with no blue light, and suddenly saw it for just a second. It would probably change you forever. Taking mushrooms is kind of like seeing a color you've never seen before, very hard to describe to someone who's never seen it, but easy to remember once you have.

I really feel like I learned something about the mind, or at least my mind on them. People who think they learn something about reality are unable to differentiate their own mind from reality. IMO.
posted by delmoi at 5:50 PM on January 15, 2006

And of course some people are not effected by mushrooms at all.
posted by delmoi at 5:52 PM on January 15, 2006

One of the few things that have really blown my mind is working as a social servant in destitute places, namely some ghettos in Mexico. Seeing people who literally had nothing but a hammock to sleep on yet being happier than 99% of the people I know who have 99% of the material possessions they want? Truely blew my mind and put things in a whole new perspective and makes me wonder if we have it right & still does.
posted by jmd82 at 7:03 PM on January 15, 2006

But I am also skeptical about the claim that drugs are mindblowing. As I've said, I'm speaking largely from ignorance, so please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

You're wrong.

I have a book next to me that I haven't read. I think it sucks. Haven't read it, just don't like the cover.
posted by zardoz at 7:41 PM on January 15, 2006

Am I wrong? Is it typical to come down from a high with great insights? I'm thinking it's more like dreaming. My dreams FEEL really important while I'm having them. When I wake up, they're no longer interesting.

Well, it depends on the drug, obviously. But some 'trips' definitely stay with you for the rest of your life, and some don't. I would imagine that you might gain all the insight available to get through a particular drug at some point, and of course some drugs don't have that effect at all (like booze or tobacco)
posted by delmoi at 7:57 PM on January 15, 2006

I'm sorry, but I don't see the fundamental difference between drugs and, say, rock climbing or surfing.

There is a huge, fundamental difference! In one you are a passive and one you are active for a start. It has nothing to do with endorphins or runners high (which I've never experienced anyway) it has to do with the fact that you do something difficult on purpose, then you fuck it up or you are miserable and it makes you stop and think about your place in the cosmos pretty fast. That's the enlightening bit. You also make better friends doing climbing than you do getting fucked up.

And the shrooms were good ;) My mind remained unblown. Maybe I'm too rational.
posted by fshgrl at 8:31 PM on January 15, 2006

fshgrl : "You also make better friends doing climbing than you do getting fucked up."

Anyone who describes tripping as "getting fucked up", doesn't know how to use psychedelics.
posted by Gyan at 9:00 PM on January 15, 2006

This one might take some work to attain, but it is doable. Enroll in medical school, or a related program. Take a comrehensive anatomy class, with lab. Spend three months systematically taking apart a formerly living human being. Learn about limits of your rationality, appreciate you limited lifestyle, ponder the turns of life that put that cadaver on the table, and put you and your scalper over him. Be faced with your mortality like you never have before.

It worked for me. (self link).
posted by blindcarboncopy at 9:02 PM on January 15, 2006

you do something difficult on purpose, then you fuck it up or you are miserable and it makes you stop and think about your place in the cosmos pretty fast. That's the enlightening bit.

This is a pretty much perfect description of high-level LSD doses.
posted by Jairus at 9:23 PM on January 15, 2006

People who think they learn something about reality are unable to differentiate their own mind from reality.

That's a strange thing to say, right after you agreed with someone else's analogy about seeing the color blue for the first time. If you see a primary color that you've never seen before, then you definitely have learned something about reality. Are you saying that when you come down, you decide that there isn't a color blue after all?
posted by bingo at 9:46 PM on January 15, 2006

deconstruction. read alot of nietzche
posted by BigBrownBear at 1:22 AM on January 16, 2006

Am I wrong? Is it typical to come down from a high with great insights? I'm thinking it's more like dreaming. My dreams FEEL really important while I'm having them. When I wake up, they're no longer interesting.

In my youth I used quite a few drugs. I often used them to escape from the realities of life. After developing a dependancy on these substances I have sworn off all alcohol and drug use.
The one drug that I still miss to this day, for purely introspective reasons is Mushrooms. Taking mushrooms for me was like hitting the reset button on my mind. De-cluttering the "desktop" of my mind and starting fresh. Almost every time I did them I would come down with an entirely new perspective about my life.
It was almost always life-changing for me, far after the drug wore off.
posted by kevin_2864212 at 8:01 AM on January 16, 2006

Have you been to India? That will blow your wig back.
posted by jasondigitized at 9:11 AM on January 16, 2006

Do all of the above while at Burning Man. (well, better not do all of them).
posted by spirograph at 12:49 PM on January 16, 2006

I spent about 8 months alternating between reading spiritual astrology books and The Seth Material books. The two subjects aren't necessarily compatible either. I also spent time reading books by Marianne Williamson and The Course In Miracles and going to those workshops, but my life got too intense.

I'm really amazed at how many different responses there are to this question.
posted by gt at 10:49 PM on January 18, 2006

Try coming to grips with the posibility that there may not be more than this. - it keeps blowing my mind every day with new details and beauty in the world as I experience it each day.
posted by jeffe at 12:37 PM on February 7, 2006

I second going to India. Or Asia in general. Any developing country. I'm currently in Nepal, a huge seething pot of cultures clashing currently undergoing a civil war, massive systemic corruption, week-long strikes, massive democratic protest, pressure cooker bombs, etc.

Try Tibeto-Burmese, Indo-Aryan, and a whole host of small cultures, a true multilingual stewpot of 25 million people crammed in and around the highest mountains in the world that ranks about 148 or so in the UN Index for liveability corruption etc. I see at least one thing a day where I have no idea what's going on.

Or... try learning a very different language, outside of the Indo-European language family. That'll blow your mind in how different people perceive the world. This really requires daily tutoring from a native speaker, so I recommend traveling and staying for a while. Don't wimp out, go for a really different language. Immerse yourself and watch your psyche shred.
posted by AArtaud at 2:07 AM on February 13, 2006

Going on a study-abroad program blew my mind - the exposure to different cultures (we travelled constantly and our crew had all sorts of people), being faced with all sorts of situations, deciphering languages...it was amazing.
posted by divabat at 10:21 PM on March 18, 2006

Think about this...

For some reason, we have developed five senses, through which we perceive an arbitrary spectrum of information. We've invented language so we can share the random fluctuations of our brains' electrical fields with each other. We can create altered copies of ourselves, and love doing it so to such an extent that practicing it consumes the majority of our lifespan. We're on a giant rock, being flung around at speeds we can't even comprehend. And no one, anywhere, has a clue what ANY OF IT means.

You still there?
posted by dmaterialized at 11:44 PM on January 12, 2007