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Todd Weir's avatar

Thank you for writing about your experience with mushrooms and meditation. It encourages me to ponder what I think about this, as I wrestle with the idea of self. I keep practicing Buddhist meditation as an ordained Christian pastor because it helps me let go of the atomized Self we love so much in the West. Jesus once said we needed to lose our self in order to save it. I think he was talking about the separate self that we think is ours alone and the most important thing in the world. The separated and isolated self is the illusion. Our consciousness is a part of something greater. I may call that God, while others call it Being or Consciousness. The paradox is that as we let go of the self, the more we become free to be related to life around us, because we are a part of it. It makes us who we are, and we give our being over to it. Another way to say this is that the self exists only in relationship, but not as a completely separated entity. The separation is an illusion.

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Dr Vicki Connop's avatar

Love how you articulate this. Funnily enough I also found myself writing about death this week without intending to. I do believe an awareness of death helps us live more fully and very much welcome these conversations 😊

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