"WHATEVER YOU CAN IMAGINE; FAR WORSE IS TRUE AND FAR BETTER" Penny Dreadful...
Back in the day, we used to seek caves which had hot springs in them. We'd immerse ourselves in the water on certain substances and experience many different types of altered states of consciousness. I, personally, never experienced a bad trip doing this but I think it's possible so one should be psychically prepared for such an experience and being anti-fragile does help in that regards to a certain extent--or so I would think. There's also something womb-like to this experience and it's quite comforting.
I've taught myself a bathtub meditation which mimics this experience and although one won't get transported to Alpha Centauri it does help in calming, quieting the mind while bringing one into presence, and helps ease anxiety to certain degrees.
So...fill your tub and add anything you like to the water--essential oils or salts and candles are cool, too. Lay with your back and spine as level as possible with your eyes eventually focused straight in front of you and not up--also find a spot in front of you to focus on. Have your knees bent and I like to put my feet on the upper surface of the front of the tub so that my knees are elevated with the knees about 6-inches apart ( my feet are also about 6-inches above the base of the tub) and pointing to the ceiling. Now put your thumbs together directly in front of your eyes with your fingers pointing upwards so that your two hands form a pyramid shape. Your eyes when looking through your hands should see the pyramid and you should also see the solar cross if you adjust your knees and hands accordingly--this cross also looks like a Christmas angel. I should note that to me this is in no way sun worship. These are simply the geometric shapes which form when laying in this position. Now I just focus my attention through my hands at the previously mentioned focal point in front of me. Concentrating on the breath or counting breaths is also helpful. And Voila, I come out of this experience in an ultra-relaxed state of being.
A word on cults: inner strength and intestinal fortitude cannot be gained via the cult ethos and structure. True strength comes from within and doesn't need exterior validation. I've mentioned this before but I reject the Nietzschean will to power as being 'the thing in itself' which doesn't exist in this 'darkened womb' and this explains why this particular mode of thinking so often leads to tragedy--humans are not Gods and never can be in the sense of what is being espoused in these philosophies. I also reject universal cosmological declarations based solely on the meditative experiences. Moreover, cults reject dialogue and only pontificate dogmatically while doing everything possible to defend the deluded worldview usually demonizing those who are critical of the cult.
A thought on Season 2's Penny Dreadful: the most interesting scene to me was when the old Jewish scholar was talking to the head witch and they are talking about God and he says many say God is found within (assumably because God isn't found anywhere else/the death of God) and the witch replies, "they're wrong"...This is interesting from my idiosyncratic Gnostic view and goes to the aphorism above. IF we are the result of Elohim archons then we may very well be 'good Godless' here. Our situation is far worse than normatively imagined but things could also be far better as The Lighted Womb really does exist. If this were true then humanities destiny/ies (recurring civilizations brought about by cataclysm) is in the hands of the Gods.
FWIW: THE GOLDEN RULE practiced as I understand it (no unnecessary exploitation or coercion of other lifeforms, humans, and resources) is our only hope of escape as one cannot be taken to The Lighted Womb while practicing such behavior. DO YOU SEE WHY OUR PRESENT FINANCIAL SYSTEMS ARE ALL EXTRAORDINARY EXPLOITATIVE AND COERCIVE?
At any rate, maybe this meditation will be of some efficacy to those living out there in 'Lala' land...PEACE...
