The SHN #83: Spiritual Awakening

December 19th, 2024: Greetings from Jomtien, Pattaya, Thailand! I’ve recently arrived in a coastal town just south of Pattaya City, Jomtien. It is around 75% Russian families which is interesting (even the restaurant menus are partly in Russian), with tourists also coming from Norway, China, and Korea. I’m spending this week walking the beach, lying by the pool reading, hitting the gym and sauna, and riding a scooter around the coast.

In today’s edition, we’ll explore spiritual awakening, mainly through the insights and teachings of one of my favorite teachers, Angelo DiLullo.

After that, why America could use the knowledge shared by Dr. Ray Peat.

Then comes a look at a handy supplement, black ginger extract.

Finally, I’ll include some links to things I’ve found particularly interesting recently.

🧘🏻‍♀️ Spiritual Awakening 🧘🏻‍♂️

Liberation, according to Angelo DiLullo's book "Awake: It's Your Turn," manifests as complete absorption in the momentary flow of life without any rejection of the present situation. This state represents our natural way of being, where true freedom and radical intimacy emerge as the simple, obvious nature of things.

The Path from Awakening to Liberation

Awakening and liberation represent distinct phases of spiritual unfoldment. An initial awakening arrives as a fundamental shift in consciousness - a direct recognition beyond the veil of our conditioned reality where we experience our true nature. This recognition permanently alters our relationship with reality. While old patterns and conditioning may still arise, we can never fully return to our previous state of unconscious identification with thoughts and beliefs. The initial awakening serves as a powerful catalyst for deeper spiritual growth and transformation.

Many people experience significant and lasting changes after their first awakening: a natural sense of peace, decreased identification with thoughts, spontaneous compassion, and a fundamental shift in how they experience themselves and the world. While these awakenings vary in depth and intensity, they all mark a point of no return in spiritual development.

Liberation, while more rare, represents an even deeper falling away of all remaining barriers. In this state, one completely dissolves the illusion of separation and fully embodies their natural state of unbound awareness. While awakening can be seen as the first major breakthrough - and it absolutely transforms one's life - liberation describes the complete dissolution of any remaining subtle veils of separation.

The Role of Thoughts and Beliefs

Our relationship with thoughts creates significant barriers to awakening. DiLullo explains that thoughts themselves remain harmless – we suffer from how we interact with them. Each thought simply reflects one of the five senses or another thought.

Consider how easily we get lost in thought streams: We might notice a slight tension in our body, which triggers a thought about stress at work, which leads to worrying about an upcoming presentation, which spirals into questioning our career choices, which evolves into regret about past decisions. Before we know it, we're completely disconnected from the simple reality of the present moment - where there was just a subtle body sensation.

Beliefs present even more complex challenges. These hidden thoughts make assumptions we rarely examine. Beyond questioning our perceived separation from everything around us, DiLullo encourages us to examine beliefs like:

• "I am in here, and the world is out there"

• "Time and distance are fundamentally real"

• "I need to feel in control to be okay"

• "Suffering is necessary and unavoidable"

• "One thing cannot be everything"

The Emotional Landscape

Emotions themselves exist as natural, valid experiences. DiLullo emphasizes that suffering arises from our resistance to emotions, not from the emotions themselves. Pure emotions, when fully felt and unrepressed, typically last only a few minutes. Our resistance patterns and complex narratives about emotions can persist for years.

A Simple Practice for Working with Emotions: When you notice a strong emotion arising, try this:

1. Locate where you feel the emotion in your body - it might be a tightness in your chest, a churning in your stomach, or tension in your shoulders

2. Place 100% of your attention on these physical sensations

3. Watch with curiosity as the sensation potentially intensifies or moves through your body

4. Stay with it without resistance - you'll likely notice the emotional energy naturally dissolving within a few minutes

5. Notice the peace that naturally emerges when the emotional energy is fully felt and accepted

Practical Approaches to Awakening

Self-inquiry stands as one of the most powerful tools for awakening. DiLullo offers several potent questions to direct our attention beyond conceptual thinking:

• "Who am I?" - Asked repeatedly, this classic question helps expose the emptiness of our conceptual identity

• "What am I?" - Points to our essential nature beyond all descriptions and labels

• "What is here when I don't reference the past or future?"

• "What remains when all thoughts cease?"

• "Who or what is aware of this experience right now?"

The key lies in asking these questions with genuine curiosity while looking directly at experience rather than seeking conceptual answers.

Working with attention offers another powerful practice. We can move our awareness between different sensory experiences – sounds, visual objects, body sensations – while observing how each experience becomes clearer and more intimate when we remain present with it.

The Post-Awakening Journey

Awakening marks a beginning rather than an endpoint. Many people experience what DiLullo calls a "spiritual no-person's land" after initial awakening – a potentially confusing period lasting months or years. This phase involves significant emotional work and shadow work, serving as an essential part of the journey.

Living in Peace

Uninterrupted peace already exists as the playing ground on which our lives unfold. We rediscover this peace by recognizing and opening to what's already here in each moment. DiLullo emphasizes this throughout the book: peace emerges naturally when we remove the barriers we've built against direct experience.

"Awake: It's Your Turn" reveals awakening as our natural state, available to anyone willing to look deeply into their experience and question their fundamental assumptions about reality. Through persistent inquiry, emotional acceptance, and a willingness to question our most basic beliefs about reality, it’s possible to move from initial glimpses of awakening to complete liberation - where we permanently recognize and live from our true nature as boundless awareness.

This begins in this moment through simple curiosity about our direct experience. By questioning the thoughts and beliefs maintaining our sense of separation from life, we open ourselves to discovering what we've always been.

👨‍🔬 Why America Needs Ray Peat

An article by David Gornoski argues that America's health and social problems stem from widespread thyroid dysfunction, primarily caused by polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in seed oils. Gornoski praises Ray Peat, a biologist often discussed in this newsletter, who warned about seed oils' negative effects decades before current discourse.

Key points from the article:

• Government-subsidized seed oils force bodies into a perpetual "winter mode," leading to fat storage and lowered metabolism

• This metabolic dysfunction contributes to both physical illness and social unrest

• Modern "health foods" and dietary trends often worsen the problem

• Peat's solutions were simple: traditional foods like milk, orange juice, mushrooms, carrots, liver, and collagen-rich soups

• He advocated for moderate exercise and rejected extreme calorie restriction

The article connects metabolic health to social behavior, suggesting that poor nutrition (especially from seed oils) leads to inflammation, mental health issues, and social discord. It concludes that reclaiming "metabolic sovereignty" through better nutrition could help solve both health and societal problems.

Gornoski presents Peat as a genuine truth-seeker who helped people without financial motivation, contrasting him with modern health influencers and gurus. It is hard to find someone to say a bad word about Peat, RIP.

🫚 Black Ginger Extract: A Research Review

Black ginger (Kaempferia parviflora or KP) is a promising natural supplement backed by scientific research. A recent meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials reveals several significant benefits worth exploring.

Metabolic Health and Body Composition

Clinical research demonstrates that black ginger extract can positively impact metabolic health markers. The meta-analysis found significant improvements in fasting blood glucose levels and reductions in visceral fat area.

Athletic Performance Enhancement

One of the most well-documented benefits of black ginger extract is its impact on physical performance. Clinical trials have demonstrated improvements in several key athletic metrics:

• Increased hand grip strength

• Enhanced back and leg strength

• Improved VO2 max (maximal oxygen consumption)

• Better performance in 40-yard technical tests

• Faster 50-meter sprint times

• Reduced resting heart rate

These performance benefits were observed across multiple studies, suggesting black ginger can be valuable for athletes and gym-goers.

Reproductive Health

While human studies on reproductive health are still limited, animal research has shown promising results regarding black ginger's effects on reproductive function. These studies have documented:

• Improved sperm count and viability

• Enhanced fertility markers

• Reduced sperm abnormalities

• Positive effects on reproductive organ health

Research Quality and Dosing

The meta-analysis examined included 16 randomized controlled trials conducted across Thailand, Japan, India, and the United States. Study durations ranged from acute single-dose experiments to 10-week interventions. Dosages varied from 12mg to 360mg per day, with one study using a single dose of 1,350mg.

To simplify— if considering trying this out— go with 300mg once a day in the morning.

Implementation and Safety

Black ginger extract appears to be well-tolerated in the studied dosage ranges. The supplement is widely available in various forms, from capsules to powders, particularly in regions where it's traditionally used, such as here in Thailand.

The current research shows promise, particularly in the areas of athletic performance and metabolic health, suggesting black ginger extract may be a valuable supplement to add to your regime. Here’s a link to a product that ships in the US.

𝕏 Thread of the Week

👎 Revisiting Endotoxins: I’ve written about them before but it’s worth reminding that endotoxins are harmful compounds in certain bacteria that trigger severe immune responses. When exposed, our immune system launches an inflammatory response, releasing cytokines that can cause fever, low blood pressure, and in severe cases, septic shock. Chronic exposure to endotoxins can lead to persistent inflammation, fatigue, brain fog, joint pain, digestive issues, and weakened immune function. These symptoms often go unrecognized but can significantly impact daily life and long-term health.

The main ways we get exposed to endotoxins are through our environment and our own bodies. Environmental exposure comes from breathing in dust and contaminated air, especially in buildings with poor ventilation or air conditioning systems. One of the biggest sources is actually internal - from the bacteria in our own gut when we have increased intestinal permeability (often called "leaky gut"). We can also be exposed through contaminated food and water, particularly when food isn't stored properly or has spoiled.

Nature provides several powerful allies in the fight against endotoxins. Simple dietary additions like the Ray Peat carrot salad, wheat bran, bamboo shoots, mushrooms, ginger, and orange juice can help combat these harmful compounds. Supporting nutrients like zinc carnosine, lactoferrin, and collagen, combined with coconut oil and activated charcoal, can create a robust defense.. Reducing endotoxin is a foundational goal in the bioenergetic approach to optimal health and is gaining more traction in the online health communities I follow.

💨 Fresh Air For the Win: Recent research suggests humans can absorb nutrients through breathing, termed "aeronutrients." We inhale about 9,000 liters of air daily, and our lungs can absorb molecules 260 times larger than the gut can. Studies show people living near seaweed-rich coasts have higher iodine levels, and aerosolized vitamin B12 can treat deficiencies. Other potential aeronutrients include zinc, manganese, and vitamins. This discovery could explain why fresh air in nature feels beneficial and might lead to new ways of preventing nutrient deficiencies.

☀️ Sunlight Leads to Better Sleep: Being exposed to sunlight, and specifically morning sunlight, led to improved sleep outcomes in this study which included 103 adults being monitored for 70 days. “Sunlight exposure may improve sleep by regulating circadian rhythms, increasing vitamin D, and influencing melatonin production.” Morning sunlight exposure remains undefeated as a major tool for optimal health outcomes.

🔗 One Hitters

🦪 Top foods to enhance attractiveness (Video)

🥛 Every American should have the right to drink raw milk (Thread)

🏋️‍♂️ 11 effective but unpopular exercises (Video)

💡 How to master any skill fast (Link)

📚 Read my e-book, “Self-Development for Authentic Living” for free.

🔗 If you know anyone who loves learning about these types of topics, send them this link!

📰 To read all past newsletters, go here.