Enhanced Flow
In the book Stealing Fire, Kuttler and Wheal describe “ecstasis” as being the secret ingredient -- utilized by Navy Seals, innovative high tech companies, and researchers of psychedelics -- to achieve breakthrough benefits. It attributes 4 characteristics to ecstasis -- selflessness, timelessness, effortlessness, and richness -- and describes how achieving these attributes results in superior performance.
I will review the book's explanation of ecstasis' four characteristics while contrasting it with my model, Evolutionary Nature-based Transformation (ENT). ENT could be considered a wellness model of flow versus the conventional “disease model” (remove the problem) approach that the authors propose. The attributes of selflessness, timelessness, and effortlessness are a negation of what’s inhibiting flow. In contrast, the ENT process is rooted in the reality that we are each an unique expression of Creation; a culmination of the 4.5 billion year process of Sun and Earth, nicknamed as SHE (Sun, Human, Earth). When this expanded identity is experienced in Nature, flow is inherently present, so there is no need for negation. Within this bigger context, the benefits of these 4 attributes naturally arise, and in an enhanced way.
In addition, I add 4 more ways to further support optimal experience. These are: immersion in Nature, embodying the “evolutionary life force” of universal unfolding, expanding one's capacity for joy, and opening to interpersonal playfulness.
1. Selflessness is valuable because one's culturally defined sense of self, individually and as a species, is so relatively poor, that ridding oneself of this limitation provides immense benefit. Without the constraint of one’s habitual way to be oneself, there is great potential to be tapped.
However, the benefits of selflessness can be achieved without a negation of oneself. “Self-fullness” includes the value of releasing the contraction of only being one’s personal self, and then adds our identity as SHE and as a cell in the "global consciousness". This leads to our organism functioning with a selfless striving to be the best we can in service of the greater whole. Living in, and as, this paradigm frees up valuable bandwidth of consciousness to deeply experience a felt sense of blissful well-being, profound gratitude for existence itself, and endless awe at the miraculousness of Creation. Thus, one is positively impacted physically, emotionally, and mentally simultaneously.
From that accurate, expanded, and compelling identity and experience, the need to self-monitor for self-esteem data -- either negative or positive -- wanes. One's self-esteem is naturally humbled by being a cell in the global consciousness, and simultaneously elevated by opening to the transcendent miraculousness of Creation that takes the form of Sun, Earth, Universe .... and us.
In the bigger picture, everyone is a singular representation of the collective planetary consciousness of which we are interconnected; which is itself a fractal of the evolutionary Universe. In this context, one's individual purpose is to uniquely fulfill the needs of humanity and the Universe, and our actions are powerfully infused with the desire to contribute to the well-being of all.
It's supported by developing a deep connection to Nature that accurately reflects the qualities of our human nature. This promotes personal growth along the dual tracks of dissolving what’s persona and conditioning, as well as embracing more of what is essence. This leads to a natural winnowing away of inner and outer evaluations. In addition, it leads to developing one's intuition and the self-expression of one's essence.
2. Timelessness, being able to live in the now, without the past or future hijacking our attention, gives us access to all that direct experience can bring to us. This simple awareness is akin to the consciousness of young children who have natural vitality and learn new things in an accelerated way.
The experience of timelessness arises within the field of “being a link in the chain of time”. It's exhilarating to live in the present while knowing the extraordinary journey that produced us; a billion years ago there were only 1 celled creatures, and now our evolutionary process has produced an organism of 60 trillion cells with extraordinary capacities.
Evolution is a continual process that's still happening, and we can tap into this extraordinary momentum that finds unprecedented solutions in order to keep surviving and thriving.
It’s a given that Nature is always vibrating with timeless beingness. Immersing oneself in nature, as purely and directly as possible, with minimal mental distraction, naturally elicits the power of the “evolutionary now”. Thus, we are rooted in beingness, and also a carrier of the creative genius of all that has produced our miraculous inner and outer realities.
3. Effortlessness can be enhanced in several ways. Effortlessness is characterized by a flow state where one is focused on “being” rather than “doing”. Immersion in Nature provides a very effective way to facilitate this. Rather than trying to “not do”, which has inherent limitations, one's awareness is simply in Nature, and as Nature. As one notices this without commentary, there is a natural “seeping into the interconnectedness with the ecosystem”. This alignment, familiar to indigenous cultures, can allow access to the inherent “life force of the Universe” which includes increased energy and wellbeing.
This interconnection with Nature, stimulates a natural emulation by our human nature, which is our essence before conditioning. This further taps into the benefits of allowing our inner child to flourish.
Stealing Fire gives examples of effortlessness, such as having such a great experience that one doesn't need to use force to get oneself to do it again (and they spend a good part of the chapter describing how unmotivated the vast majority of people are).
Our identity as SHE is fostered in the effortless practice of “SolEarthing”-- standing barefoot on the Earth and opening to the Sun. This taps into the well-documented beneficial energy of the Earth and uses one’s body as a conduit to the Sun. Vitality and regulation of the nervous system to promote optimal functioning is accompanied by the arising of gratitude and awe in contemplation of the miraculous characteristics of these most remarkable entities.
Another quality that isn't mentioned in the book is a profound trust in Existence, which welcomes life however it presents itself. This significantly increases the amount of energy that is available compared to when there is fear or aversion.
4. Richness can become ever-increasing ecstasy. Our identity as SHE naturally allows for a much greater potential for wellbeing than being only a separate self. A significant barrier to this is what Gay Hendricks, a leading relationship therapist, has identified as the “upper limits problem”. That people undermine or limit themselves when reaching the maximum amount of wellbeing they can experience without causing themselves anxiety that they are outside their comfort zone.
Personally, overcoming the upper limits problem has been my focus for over 50 years. What has helped me do this is: my ability to play through my distress, to consciously allow energy to move through my body, my willingness to keep opening (often invoking my desire to do so for the benefit of all beings) in the face of fear of the unknown, and to affirm the value of this expanded state even when my conscious mind is moving into uncharted territory. I find that my doing this can make it easier for others to move past their previous upper limits as well.
A reliable and powerful source of enhanced richness is joyfully interconnecting with others, and reveling in their happiness. The author’s didn't mention playfully interacting with others, by which we continually douse ourselves with well-being by freely sharing our joy and relishing the empathic feeling of other people’s joy as well. Building this muscle leads to a synergistic upward spiral which is only limited by one's capacity for wellbeing and the constraints we feel in expressing that fully with others. No pain, all gain.
By these ways of optimizing our internal set and external setting, beneficial results are powerfully catalyzed. We can regard ourselves as emerging metahumans in the context of the Sun and the Earth from which we have been created, and as singular expressions of the Evolutionary Lifeforce of the Universe, incarnated to support all beings. From this foundational base available to all, we can joyfully open as fully as possible into flow states.
Another way I can help people break through their upper limits is through an initiatory process. Forty-nine years ago, I was blessed to receive initiation from Swami Muktananda, among the most powerful awakeners of Kundalini in our lifetime. I spent four years as a full time devotee, deepening into this. Eight years ago, I began a daily practice of making the Sun and Earth my objects of worship, and have spent about 4 hours a day in my SolEarthing practice, developing the capacity to be a tuning fork for the SHE frequency for people, and happily share this gift for anyone who's interested in receiving this transmission.
In addition, for some people, upper limits breakthrough can be facilitated through the sacred use of plant medicine. Stealing Fire documents this quite extensively, and along with extensive current research, advocates strongly for the re-emerging of psychedelics as profound awakeners of transcendent, mystical experiences, and the solving of difficult, “knotty” problems.
The skillful use of “entheogens”-- becoming divine within -- can be tremendously helpful in achieving “escape velocity” from our habitual patterns, and in breaking through our previous upper limits. Using cannabis ceremonially, I have done this during most of the 2900 SolEarthing sessions and 1000 dance experiences I've participated in during the past 9 years.
Our bodies are wired with an extensive endocannabinoid system. As Stephen Buhner, writes in his book,
Plant Intelligence, we are designed with receptors for cannabis’ capacity for “stimulating neural net functioning outside of normal habituated parameters and opening sensory gating settings more widely”.
I have honed my ability to use small amounts of cannabis in sacred ways, within a beneficial set and setting that allows for full opening and self-expression. Though one will come down from the “high”, this helps lay down neuro-pathways which are easier to access when one isn't using cannabis. The key is to use the minimum amount to achieve “escape velocity” while one is “building the muscle” of expanding awareness and enhancing experience, rooting it in the body, and not relying on the consciousness altering effects to be passively experienced.
Also, cannabis is a pathway for attuning with plant consciousness, especially when in Nature. Our bodies’ receptor sites for cannabinoids makes this a natural way to expand our consciousness in this essential way.
This can be an excellent alternative to stronger substances for several reasons. It is increasingly legal, safer, more accessible, promotes embodiment, and can be used much more often without side effects, especially in low doses.
For the past 3 years, I have incorporated “hape”, an Amazonian herbal mixture into my protocol as well. This tobacco-based formulation, which many indigenous peoples consider sacred, is likened to “smelling salts for expanded consciousness”. It clarifies one’s vision, and one’s felt experience. I’ve developed an unique delivery system, and within the context of merging with the local and Universal ecosystems, it reliably performs it’s clearing away of what’s not in alignment with SHE and Creation.