This is a solo episode reflecting on the behavioral and sensory locks and keys to our inner world, that beautiful melty sacred space where imagination, possibilities, dreams, creativity, freedom, and the unconscious come alive, where we are no longer controlled by the external puppeteers and can instead awaken to the authenticity, simplicity, and greatness of our true natural being. 

Today, we discuss how to leverage those sweet gentle tools that bring us inward and avoid those that blast us outward into existential and psychophysiological oblivion. 

Learn to shift your attention toward the inside, rather than letting it get hijacked by external stimuli, and watch your health, mood, life, and autonomy re-emerge. Bask in your inner oasis, where all those invisible things you’ve always dreamed of and run from become visible, perty, and real. If this sounds like the kind of vibe and life you want, then listen in as together we traverse this wild inner dreamscape where rules do not exist, nature melts with mind, memories dance, and you are colorful like a child. 

The shamanic keychain provided today contains the following keys (and corresponding locks) into your boundless inner self:

1. eyes closed (vs. open)
2. darkness (vs. light)
3. direct sensory experience (vs. screens and cameras)
4. valuing those things on the inside (vs. those on the outside)
5. imagination (vs. videos, pictures, and porn)
6. silence (vs. noise)
7. odorless (vs. fragrance)
8. flavorless (vs. flavors)
9. nose breathing (vs. mouth breathing)
10. exhales *including humming, chanting, singing (vs. inhales)
11. fasting (vs. eating)
12. breaking rules (vs. obeying cultural and habitual rules, norms, & limits)
13. solitude (vs. socializing)
14. sleep & dreams (vs. waking life)
15. creation (vs. consumption)
16. meditation & hypnosis (vs. brainwashing and memes)
17. difficulty, discomfort, challenge & pain (vs. easiness, comfort, & pleasure)
18. nature (vs. city)
19. death, loss, & change (vs. immortality, possessiveness, & permanence)
20. minimalism (vs. materialism)
21. stillness & slowing down (vs. busyness and going fast)
22. curvy and spontaneous movement (vs. rigid and predictable ones)

In addition, there are experiences that sweetly bridge the inner and outer worlds, which can also be embraced to your comfort. Some of these include: books, podcasts, psychedelics, conversations, interviewing, safe connection and embrace, eye gazing, instrumental music, and more.

You can also stack these tools on top of one another, mix and mash them, to create your own little customized meditation-like retreat. 

We also discuss a brief history of sense-hacking technologies and how that evolution intertwines with the collapse of the inner world. Don’t let your beautiful mind go the way of the dinosaurs. Become like a bird and fly freely into the future.

RESOURCES

 - Between Two Worlds (episode #60)
- Darshan with Paramahamsa Vishwananda (the darshan event I went to in Osaka)
- Duncan Trussell (podcaster / comedian)
- Duncan Trussell Family Hour (podcast)
- Merlion (overphotographed statue in Singapore)
- scratch and sniffs (fragrance technology)
- Say Cheese and Die! by R.L. Stine (Goosebumps book #4)