Thread by @nickcammarata

day five jhana log: can’t believe I figured this out directly following a year and a half long forced isolation. Timing was slightly off

https://twitter.com/nickcammarata/status/1418974654681784320

It’s probably good I would have sat down in feb 2020 and gotten up only for my vaccine appointment

Had a sit yesterday in same ballpark as mdma therapy, minus the amphetamine bits of mdma (which I don’t like anyway). Started with focusing on my breath then second jhana for pleasure then pivoted through different emotional-memories and helping parts feel safe via good feelings

I think the important thing about MDMA is the safety and pleasure, so any state that recreates those things can recreate the therapeutic benefits. I wish we didn’t demonize pleasure, as I think it’s very adjacent to healing. It tells the system it’s safe to update

My current model is usually the system already knows how it “has” to update, it just needs to feel safe to. Giving those parts emotional space to open up and transform is the work. It’s the same with working with trauatized children, most of the work is creating a good safe space

If a subagent model of mind is true it’s not surprising the way to heal trauma (esp youth trauma) is similar to traditional child trauma psychology. Except instead of crafting a safe physical space bc it’s within “one person” you can directly manipulate the flavor of qualia

Directly manipulating the flavor of qualia is so high bandwidth compared to creating safety in “normal therapy” you can heal traumas in minutes. If you’re good at this, I think in a few hours in the right state you can heal 100s of traumas and life will feel very different

However getting to that state might take years of working with the system (or a very good psychedelic experience). I think it’s usually obvious when you’re there, it feels like “okay things are safe to change now”

It’s a rough and slightly cringe analogy but the closest media representation I’ve seen is Neo from the Matrix when he comes back and realizes all the world is malleable and he can change whatever he feels like. I don’t think it’s fully that plastic, but much more than normal

Obviously only limited to your mind, but being able to change your mind is a big deal

Big error bars everywhere psychology is complex these are just my field reports so far in understanding mine