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JedCurtis
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04 Nov 2010, 5:23 am

If the premise of William Stillman's book "Autism and the God Connection" is correct, are there any autistic mystics who care to share their interest in a direct connection to God?



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04 Nov 2010, 5:28 am

I am intrigued by this. I'll have to read the book. Can anyone give me an opinion if they have read it?


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04 Nov 2010, 9:52 am

Chaos theory.


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04 Nov 2010, 10:44 am

JedCurtis wrote:
If the premise of William Stillman's book "Autism and the God Connection" is correct, are there any autistic mystics who care to share their interest in a direct connection to God?

Several months have passed since I read that book, so I do not now recall much from it. However, I do know William Stillman presents/proposes some wrong conclusions within it ... and yet, and even as a so-called "autistic mystic" or whatever, I must say I do not know all the bottom-line facts here.

Personally, I do not claim to have any kind of "direct connection to 'God'", yet I do know there is a such a thing as a "'God' connection" with various kinds of direct communication possible. And as to my own interest in any of that, I sometimes wonder whether I might have simply been born with it. My mother once told me of a time as a child when she heard me crying not long after she had tucked me in for the night, and when asked why I was crying (or when asked what was wrong or whatever), I said something about "just wanting to know more about 'God'" ... and without in any way trying to wear this as some kind of badge, I can also report I have never once even ever come anywhere close to being any kind of "angry with 'God'" about anything at all. Rather, my personal curiosity always has been, presently is, and will always be dominant.

It seems many people *want* some kind of "direct connection", but it cannot be had by being pursued. Then also, there is no hierarchy among human beings ... yet there are specific "assignments" or "giftings" made and made known for the good of all ... and we all miss them for just as long as our vision is lateral.


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skafather84
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04 Nov 2010, 10:52 am

If you want a direct connection, look into tryptamines like psilocybin mushrooms and DMT.


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04 Nov 2010, 10:57 am

skafather84 wrote:
If you want a direct connection, look into tryptamines like psilocybin mushrooms and DMT.

... kind of like the "burning bush" Moshe experienced?!


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04 Nov 2010, 11:09 am

leejosepho wrote:
skafather84 wrote:
If you want a direct connection, look into tryptamines like psilocybin mushrooms and DMT.

... kind of like the "burning bush" Moshe experienced?!


Supposedly Moses' various chats with god were due to a hallucinogenic trip on such mushrooms found in their region. Mana.


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMjt9qE4kx0&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]


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04 Nov 2010, 11:20 am

People have all kinds of pet theories and ideas, but the OP is actually asking a much more practical question having nothing to do with drugs.


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04 Nov 2010, 11:38 am

leejosepho wrote:
People have all kinds of pet theories and ideas, but the OP is actually asking a much more practical question having nothing to do with drugs.


The OP asked about mystic experiences and direct connections to "god" so I responded with practical practices that are tried and true.

And don't denigrate these things as simply drugs like as if it's the same as heroin or crystal meth. Tryptamine hallucinogens have shown to have positive influence on one's psychological health. Studies from reputable universities have shown this including the Johns Hopkins study on psilocybin. The interesting thing is that there isn't a study yet linking the various studies to the fact that they're all variant tryptamines.


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04 Nov 2010, 12:34 pm

JedCurtis wrote:
If the premise of William Stillman's book "Autism and the God Connection" is correct, are there any autistic mystics who care to share their interest in a direct connection to God?


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_helmet


if this subject interests you, that link should be eye opening (or mind f***ing).


if more "mystics" could be honest with themselves, we could work more on solving mysteries instead of just exploiting them.

tim minchin sings it well:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBUc_kATGgg[/youtube]


tryptamines are great for perspective as long as the user can understand that the perspective they experience is still their own. i'm very hopeful about research going on regarding psychedelic treatments for alzheimer's and depression.

of course, if physical/chemical explanations aren't your thing, you can always just call it mysticism.


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04 Nov 2010, 12:46 pm

waltur wrote:
JedCurtis wrote:
If the premise of William Stillman's book "Autism and the God Connection" is correct, are there any autistic mystics who care to share their interest in a direct connection to God?


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_helmet


if this subject interests you, that link should be eye opening (or mind f***ing).


if more "mystics" could be honest with themselves, we could work more on solving mysteries instead of just exploiting them.

tim minchin sings it well:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBUc_kATGgg[/youtube]


tryptamines are great for perspective as long as the user can understand that the perspective they experience is still their own. i'm very hopeful about research going on regarding psychedelic treatments for alzheimer's and depression.

of course, if physical/chemical explanations aren't your thing, you can always just call it mysticism.


The god helmet is really interesting. I saw Joe Rogan talking about it before on twitter.

And that's entirely right as far as the user needs to understand that there is no new knowledge gained, just different perspective. That's why unless you're actually read up on the philosophy and what not for it, it's best if you have a guide of sorts. That's what Johns Hopkins did if I recall correctly: they did guided sessions.

I find mysticism interesting more so because the philosophies provide a different way to approach perspective and understanding. It's like giving yourself a larger comprehension vocabulary, if that makes sense. Rather than simply seeing things from one singular perspective, you're able to approach from different perspectives.

Edit: Have you read the book DMT: The Spirit Molecule. It's a pretty interesting study into the chemical and its effects on people.


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04 Nov 2010, 2:35 pm

skafather84 wrote:
waltur wrote:
JedCurtis wrote:
If the premise of William Stillman's book "Autism and the God Connection" is correct, are there any autistic mystics who care to share their interest in a direct connection to God?


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_helmet


if this subject interests you, that link should be eye opening (or mind f***ing).


if more "mystics" could be honest with themselves, we could work more on solving mysteries instead of just exploiting them.

tim minchin sings it well:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBUc_kATGgg[/youtube]


tryptamines are great for perspective as long as the user can understand that the perspective they experience is still their own. i'm very hopeful about research going on regarding psychedelic treatments for alzheimer's and depression.

of course, if physical/chemical explanations aren't your thing, you can always just call it mysticism.


The god helmet is really interesting. I saw Joe Rogan talking about it before on twitter.

And that's entirely right as far as the user needs to understand that there is no new knowledge gained, just different perspective. That's why unless you're actually read up on the philosophy and what not for it, it's best if you have a guide of sorts. That's what Johns Hopkins did if I recall correctly: they did guided sessions.

I find mysticism interesting more so because the philosophies provide a different way to approach perspective and understanding. It's like giving yourself a larger comprehension vocabulary, if that makes sense. Rather than simply seeing things from one singular perspective, you're able to approach from different perspectives.

Edit: Have you read the book DMT: The Spirit Molecule. It's a pretty interesting study into the chemical and its effects on people.


i haven't read that book. i feel like a pompous ass for saying it, but i've had that book recommended to me by spiritualists, conspiracy theorists, and burnouts and i tend to overly avoid things recommended by them (all real life acquaintances) on principle. i might look into that one, specifically, now that you've suggested it.

i like "mysticism" about as well as i like "spiritualism," "theism," and "magic." i find it to be an easily confusable term of obfuscation, though not always inappropriate.

i like that you stated the lack of "new knowledge." i can't stand when people relate drug-induced hallucinations to silly notions of "astral projection" to explain the "oneness with the universe" that is often reported.

my first trip was with salvia and i was far from my current mindset of skepticism. i was fresh out of the army and was obsessed with conspiracy theories (mkultra made a lot of crackpot conspiracy theories sound credible) and, while i was not alone, i didn't really have a guide. in the immediate aftermath, i interpreted and reinterpreted my trip. with hindsight, i have a basic understanding of what i was experiencing and why i was interpreting it as i did. several different trips since then have reinforced some aspects and delineated others.

i'd still say the worst trip was better than the most powerful religious experiences of my childhood.

but mysticism carries too much of an implication of magic or the supernatural and hallucinations are entirely natural. it's our perspective that makes them "mystical."


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04 Nov 2010, 2:59 pm

waltur wrote:
i haven't read that book. i feel like a pompous ass for saying it, but i've had that book recommended to me by spiritualists, conspiracy theorists, and burnouts and i tend to overly avoid things recommended by them (all real life acquaintances) on principle. i might look into that one, specifically, now that you've suggested it.


That's funny because I can't imagine such people (burnouts) actually being able to read through the whole book considering that half of it (a good 160 or so pages of its 350 or so) is about the process of obtaining the correct permissions from the various university, medical, and government bureaucracies. Describing the process of how they determined what would be the appropriate way to carry out the test, how to store it, how to distribute the dose, etc etc.

It's a legit report in terms of being about as thorough in describing their process as possible. The report itself ends up being more of a pharmacology study of DMT than a convincing report that would make me believe that there is endogenous DMT but I don't think that takes away from the information it does contain on the subject.


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04 Nov 2010, 3:02 pm

waltur wrote:
but mysticism carries too much of an implication of magic or the supernatural and hallucinations are entirely natural. it's our perspective that makes them "mystical."


I consider it more like how magic is merely technology we don't understand yet. Mysticism is psychology and pharmacology that we don't understand yet.


And if the chaos magicians are right, maybe physics too. :p


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04 Nov 2010, 3:46 pm

skafather84 wrote:
waltur wrote:
but mysticism carries too much of an implication of magic or the supernatural and hallucinations are entirely natural. it's our perspective that makes them "mystical."


I consider it more like how magic is merely technology we don't understand yet. Mysticism is psychology and pharmacology that we don't understand yet.


And if the chaos magicians are right, maybe physics too. :p


Some kinds of mysticism are denials of cause and order in the physical world and belief in non physical entities and processes. That is an error. Everything that exists is physical.

All there is are energy and matter in the void.

ruveyn



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04 Nov 2010, 4:02 pm

ruveyn wrote:
skafather84 wrote:
waltur wrote:
but mysticism carries too much of an implication of magic or the supernatural and hallucinations are entirely natural. it's our perspective that makes them "mystical."


I consider it more like how magic is merely technology we don't understand yet. Mysticism is psychology and pharmacology that we don't understand yet.


And if the chaos magicians are right, maybe physics too. :p


Some kinds of mysticism are denials of cause and order in the physical world and belief in non physical entities and processes. That is an error. Everything that exists is physical.

All there is are energy and matter in the void.

ruveyn


Everything that is physical is not yet detected or fully understood. Or are you withholding the secrets of the graviton and dark matter? In the mystic sense, light is non-physical. It's a different dialect than what you're used to.


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