I've done everything here that you wrote about starting in the early 90s except for lsd...I used samadhi through body sensation and breath to unhook me from the simulation projected over my sense data via conditioning...I didn't want to become dependent on something external.
Simulacra and Simulation <== one of my favorite books but for someone untrained in philosophical thought it's going to be a difficukt read!
People who are still plugged into the matrix think we are batshit crazy. I used to get upset and try to make them see beyond the glittering toys they were mesmerized with, "your house was on fire!" Now I have to stand back and watch them burn after I point out they are on fire...
My family tried to drag back into their burning house....
Thanks @reddust. Samadhi sounds fascinating. Where would I begin with that?
Yes, Baudrilliard is heavy reading :)
I know what you mean about standing back from people who are unaware.
We are in samadhi all the time when focused on something to exclusion of everything else. However, ones mundane samadhi is dulled by a persons ignorance regarding who they truly are, their hatred, and aversion.
There is right samadhi/concentration...
I asked my first teacher what "right" means, Sunim (his name means monk, his Dharma named means light of the Dharma and I can't remember how to spell it ) said...right means not colored by the gross desires.
Sunim tried to give me koans to sharpen my concentration and I told him they didn't work, I just wanted to throw something at him after trying to figure out the riddles. When I said stuff like that his face, his being would go completely still and that would catch my attention more than anything he could of said...He usually would smile or laughed after a split second passed and feed me green tea and pressed pine pollen flowers and honey. I still feel like crying when I think of him, the first man who was so kind to me, he taught me true compassion. He helped me save my life and my children's lives.
I will be forever greatful to him and the Korean community who let me in to their temple in Gresham oregon. I was a wild eyed hillbilly and they treated me with such kindness and politeness.
Sunim sent me to www.dhamma.org because his English was limited and SN Goenka spoke perfect English. I was able to serve Mr. Goenka back in the late 90s at a California vipassana retreat. Every time I sat with him after kitchen work was done my eyes would run like I was crying and my heart felt as if it would burst from bliss. I never had that happen to me when meditating in a group situation. Mr Goenka was a powerful conduit for loving kindness (metta) meditation. My primary meditation is anapana the breath and vipassana, body sensation and Dzogchen which helps me not become attached to my practices as me or mine.
http://www.koreanbuddhism.net/bbs/board.php?bo_table=5060&wr_id=14