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1) This is how the mechanics of personal growth works, as far as I can tell
2) As you grow up, data comes in through the senses, and is interpreted into stories about oneself, others, and the world
3) Some of these stories are interpreted as painful & traumatic, & stored in the body as “blockages” or “impurities”
4) My favorite term for them is “kalapas” (from Goenka)
5) Their purpose as embodied memories is to remind us to avoid or protect ourselves from similar situations in the future
6) Kalapas store within themselves a crystal clear memory of the event, & are tied to visceral emotions & bodily sensations
7) They can be triggered by anything remotely similar to original trauma, which improves their defensive capabilities
8) Problem is, kalapas are incorporated into a structure we call an “identity,” like a building including occasional landmines
9) As we grow & expand our self (thru life challenges, starting a business, taking on risks, etc), kalapas get disturbed and resensitized
10) Our choice is to cushion and protect our kalapas from outside triggers, or let them go
11) Every flavor of personal/spiritual growth approaches this differently
12) Meditation is slow and steady, allowing them to bubble up to the surface thru focused nonjudgmental awareness
13) LSD is like rewiring the building in an overnight sprint, carving & flash-flooding new channels straight into story layer
14) Taking on bigger challenges/risks is like massaging them out. Painful/uncomfortable while it’s happening but brings greater flexibility
15) NLP/group dynamics (like Landmark) is like a team sport. Requires great indiv effort but ultimately you transcend yourself for the group
16) Coaching is like having an operation. You entrust yourself to another’s wisdom, knowing you’ll be better after surgery/confrontation
17) Building a business is expanding your self so far and so fast the kalapas just break out of you, like stitches from clothing
18) Very strange things can happen when kalapas come to the surface. Aches & pains, unexplainable crying, getting sick, hot flashes…
19) Long lost memories coming back, strange dreams, visions/hallucinations, change in appetite, irrational fears, etc.
20) But there are also so many benefits: better sleep, sudden loss of bad habits, renewed relationships, clarity at work, hypermotivation
21) Anytime there seems to be a constraint in the external world, look inside and there will be a corresponding kalapa
22) There are no constraints in reality
23) You can either push on the external constraint trying to make it go away, or work on letting go of the internal constraint. Your choice
24) The former may work sometimes, but internal one will show up again. Latter may lead unexpected places, but u will emerge healthier
25) One last note: u can choose to do all this slowly, on your own time and in your own way, but it will be much harder
26) Much worse (for some), the impact u want to have on the world will be greatly delayed
27) Or you can keep the kalapas coming as fast as you want, jumping from one to the other & maintaining momentum. Your choice, as always
28) Speed w/ which you can move in the world is limited only by how fast you’re willing to give up the kalapas you’ve mistaken for your self
29) This is hard/unusual because it means the ego has to get smaller the more successful you get, instead of larger
30) Best book to understand all this is The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer. I read it continuously
Correction: word is actually samskaras, not kalapas. Which is cooler bec it sounds like "scars" ht @garybasin
