⚡️ Enlightening Bolts

😐 The Happiness Ruse: How did feeling good become a matter of relentless, competitive work; a never-to-be-attained goal which makes us miserable? Read more here.

🧘‍♀️ Are Psychedelics A Shortcut To Enlightenment? Psychedelics may grant us what feels like a "free trial" to enlightenment — but this cosmic wisdom is fleeting without the long, disciplined integration baked into traditional spiritual practice. Read more here.

🌳 Labels Are The Magic Killer: Uncle Pappy is back again with his enthusiastic southern charm to remind us of the wonder beyond our names for things. Watch it here.

📩 Like emails like this in your inbox? Down The Rabbit Hole readers also enjoy these awesome (and completely free!) newsletters. Explore

🎇 Image of The Week

Depicted above is a “Rainbow swamp” at First Landing State Park.

“What causes this phenomenon?

When the bald cypress trees drop their leaves in the fall, they decompose in the swamp. The resulting matter, when hit at just the right angle by sunlight, gives off this prismatic appearance.

And the longer the water goes undisturbed, the stronger the effect. If you’re lucky, you can see the rainbow throughout the later fall and over the course of the winter in cypress swamps throughout the South.”

🎶 A Living Song

Who are you?

This simple question unravels the very fabric of our perceived reality. Your name, that linguistic shorthand, is but a superficial label. It points to you, yet fails to capture your essence.

Probe deeper, and you might conjure a tapestry of traits, passions, and roles. But even this rich mental tableau falls short. It's a conceptual construct – a map, not the territory. Like comparing a child's planetary clothes hanger mobile to the vast, dynamic solar system, this self-image is a crude approximation of your true nature.

We often mistake this conceptual self for our authentic being, projecting it into social simulations and curating it on digital platforms. Yet, this mental avatar is merely a collection of thoughts about you, not you yourself.

The profound truth is this: you don't exist as a discrete, bounded entity. You are fundamentally interwoven with the world around you. Life courses through you, and you flow back into it, in an unending dance of reciprocity. Language may draw convenient borders, but these linguistic constructs blur in the face of reality's seamless continuum.

Consider the difference between a recorded song and a live performance. The latter brims with spontaneity, each rendition unique despite familiar lyrics. This is the nature of your true self – not a static profile, but a dynamic, ever-evolving expression.

You are not a fixed identity to be captured or defined. You are more akin to a verb than a noun – a living, breathing process. Like a river that's never the same from moment to moment, you are constantly renewed, forever unfolding in the eternal now.

📰 News That Doesn’t Suck

All your news. None of the bias.

Be the smartest person in the room by reading 1440! Dive into 1440, where 3.5 million readers find their daily, fact-based news fix. We navigate through 100+ sources to deliver a comprehensive roundup from every corner of the internet – politics, global events, business, and culture, all in a quick, 5-minute newsletter. It's completely free and devoid of bias or political influence, ensuring you get the facts straight.

Subscribe to 1440 today.

☔️ In The Messy Middle

Take to heart this reminder from Lisa Buscomb:

“It is okay to be in this space. The transition, the messy middle, the space in between. You've moved on but you haven't yet arrived. You've left behind what you needed to, but the puzzle pieces haven't all yet come together. There is messiness. There is waiting. There is uncertainty. You are wanting to rush but everything is moving slow. You are wondering if you will get to where you want to go. But where you are is perfect. The messy middle is for doors to close and new doors to open. This transition period is where things come undone so that they can be put back together. This is a season of just being, of trusting. This is a season to pause and take a breath. Have love for yourself, you are exactly where you need to be.”

🤓 Learn This Word

Solkatt: A Swedish word that describes the glimmer that reflects the sunshine off a wristwatch

⏳ From The Archives

A hand-picked classic HighExistence article.

The Psychedelic Emotion: Why We Need More “Awe” In Everyday Life

I stood there with my toes in the sand gazing at the endless expanse of water.

I was a little boy and it was my first time seeing the ocean in person.

It gave me goosebumps. My jaw was left hanging wide open, stunned by what I was witnessing.

I was experiencing awe.

Awe is a profound self-transcendent feeling.

It is the wellspring of the mystical experiences through which religious traditions have emerged.

Keep reading this article and you might find yourself struck with awe before you finish.

I’m going to share an exercise with you that will help you tune into the awe-inspiring experiences all around you.

But before we dive, why is awe so important?

Astonishingly, we only began researching this emotion rigorously in 2003 and we are beginning to discover that awe carries with it powerful benefits that could help recenter a world off balance.

What are those benefits?

• After an experience of awe, you’re more likely to engage in altruistic behavior because you’re feeling a deeper sense of connectedness with others

• You’re more likely to engage in experiences over material goods

• Your perception of time transforms creating the feeling that you’re inside of a timeless moment

• Awe is the emotion that most strongly predicts reduced levels of cytokines, a marker of inflammation that’s linked to depression because they block serotonin and dopamine

• It sharpens your mind making you more discerning and enhances your capacity to analyze the strength of an argument

To some, this combination might sound like the description of a psychedelic trip.

But this experience is accessible to all of us. No drugs necessary.

[Continue Reading]