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--- imported_by: wikihub-q7gz scraped_at: 2026-01-30 source_gdoc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QsHuxis-ibxbicqrRBou6rShCb2b10gyKZG9aLJZeWc source_url: http://existentialcrisis.jacobcole.net/ title: Existential Crisis visibility: public --- <div> </div> [[systematicawesome]] \> [[existentialcrisis]] Started by <jacobcole4000@gmail.com> Existential Crisis Resources Resources that have helped people move through existential crises and such that they become breakthroughs, not just breakdowns See Also: [[meditation|meditation.jacobcole.net/]] • [bodymasters.jacobcole.net/](http://bodymasters.jacobcole.net/) • [mentalstatehacks.jacobcole.net](http://mentalstatehacks.jacobcole.net) ## The “Stop, Drop, and Roll” Of Existential Crises (Quickstart Guide / General Principles) 1. Anchoring yourself in physical well-being is key\*. It's easy to confuse emotional pain for physical. Ideally see skilled practitioners of acupuncture, osteopathy, or other healing arts, and also train in a “complete” wellness system like qigong or Iyengar yoga. - Try this [10 minute qigong routine](https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=462497675429399) — followed by [this other one](https://youtu.be/wGxDbHaDN-w) if you’re feeling more hardcore) \*Though there are other ways 2. Read about Positive Disintegration <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_disintegration> <!-- --> 3. Read an awesome philosophical/emotional/spiritual growth framework e.g. <http://yoga.jacobcole.net/> (maybe my favorite 6 pages of philosophy. From [this book](https://www.amazon.com/Religiousness-Yoga-Lectures-Theory-Practice/dp/0819109673)) <!-- --> 4. Go do something deeply fun and/or help someone with something\*! \*Help your future self, if you’re depleted; and “be wise-selfish rather than foolish-selfish” ~Dalai Lama ## Major Categories of Existential Sorts of Questions (please add) - ### Ow, I’m in pain! <!-- --> - Almost everyone has lots of unprocessed traumas “minor” or major, and life feels so much lighter when we process them! - There’s a deep connection between stuck tension in the body and unprocessed psychological tension <!-- --> - ### What “should” I do? (Related: “finding meaningful work”)? <!-- --> - Starting points at addressing: <!-- --> - Ping Jacob for group chat Support group on finding meaningful work - What is my gift? What would I be most sad if I died without leaving in the world? - [[globalideabank]] <!-- --> - ### “Who am I?” (Related: “What the heck is going on here?”) <!-- --> - Some cool frameworks/starting points <!-- --> - 5 Koshas, sheaths of the soul <https://www.yogajournal.com/yoga-101/philosophy/you-are-here/> - "We need to create extensions of our ability to make sense of the world together." ~Jerry Michalski, created world’s largest public mind map ## Logs of Specific Crises & How People Worked Through Them 1. \#Todo ## Insights from the Void ### Realizations That Left Me Feeling Ok - Things are cosmically really OK! - Discovering that my base nature – the nature of mind before conditioning – is curious and innocent and kind, and this is always trying to burst through - Discovering that following “The Way,” “the Tao”, is what I’m after, and that that’s a /way/ of moving, a “quality of movement”, and thus accessible right now/wherever I am ### Guidance that was great - “You’re on the path. There is no turning back. Kindness is the compass” ~Tom Alden ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ———— # Scratch Notes If you’re feeling really great right now in your body, it’s hard to be existentially angsty. \* Roger Cole (Jacob’s dad’s) recipe for happiness: 1. Food 2. Sleep 3. Exercise 4. Physical Environment 5. Social Environment Processing trauma feels so good! You become lighter and lighter until you become en-“light”-ened! \*That said, “[Sorrow was given so you don’t stay here](https://youtu.be/VfcjAjfGt1Y)” ~Yogananda — that is, in the box of the limited human self, in the prison of thoughts, vs in our god-like cosmic nature, which is, I suspect, inseparable from the infinite awesomeness of cosmos ## Things that induced existential crises - Making college decisions between great options that may really change course of life. “What do I want to do with my life?” <!-- --> - Going to career fair and Being terrified because none of the options on the menu sounded good <!-- --> - Helping - Tranquilo. Don’t worry, be happy! Sometimes this is your problem. A centered person could be happy doing whatever! Centeredness is the target to shoot for. Simultaneously maybe that uneasiness is your innate wisdom noticing that nothing the society around you is doing is aligned with your deepest nature, and maybe your path is to be a trailblazer. - “Get out of the box! You’re addicted to thinking! It’s worse than heroin!” ~Tibetan Buddhist Master Ossian Maclise - Many indigenous populations turn thinking / conceptualization on and off as a tool, and have a fluid sense of ego. Words are swords that slice up the infinitely strange oneness ### Transcending your current level of consciousness - Beyond “should” <!-- --> - NVC approach - <!-- --> - Beyond “wanting to start a company” <!-- --> - Dustin Moskowitz, cofounder of Facebook, founder of Asana on founding companies (paraphrase) - “Look at what you actually want to do in the world. Consider if it’s the kind of thing that would be well-served by a for-profit company. Or ask yourself If you are the best person in the world to be found in that company. If not, find the best person in the world, and help them“ - - “you shouldn’t found a company unless you’re the best person in the world to found that company” <!-- --> - Exercise you can do down: make a Minimalist Homepage listing all the projects you’ve ever done that you are proud of. This process is incredibly wife organizing and inspiring people has helped people[ Minimalisthomepages.com](http://minimalisthomepages.com) - Embodiment Practices —Existential Crisis is often a heady thing # Rough Idea to Organize \#todo \#AlternateIndex How to Cope, for the Broke —Monetarily Free Paths \#todo \#AlternateIndex For Neuro Atypical Conditions ## \#ToWrite Depression and Existentialness Also Existentialness and trauma “Spiritual emergencies” - comparatively rare, but it’s own category ## Paths and Results It would be really nice if these paths were all 100% montetarily free, or all had scholarships available (many do!)! Let’s make a future more like this! And ping me if you’re financially blocked on following a healing path you believe in Getting really into Iyengar Yoga - Famous yoga teacher Patricia Walden was depressed - [Erasing Samskaras: Using Yoga to Slowly Rewire the Brain](https://www.yogauonline.com/yoga-for-depression-and-anxiety/one-small-step-time-patricia-walden-yoga-for-depression) <!-- --> - "Take a step, no matter how small.” This was the advice of yoga master B.K.S. Iyengar to Patricia Walden some 40 years ago when she sought help to deal with recurring depression. Little by little, one small step at a time, progress can—and will—be made. ### Oases of Good Feelings — Nice things to do when you’re feeling existential - Watching Oprah Winfrey Videos - Surfing, swimming, martial arts, camping trips - Seeing a great yoga/qigong/tai chi teacher - Seeing a great embodied healer, e.g. Osteopath, Embodyment Yoga Therapist e.g. bodymasters.jacobcole.net - Receiving kindness — be around mom energy! - Giving kindness — taking care of little kids - Immersion in healthy happy conscious community that lives a healing lifestyle e.g. [Sundari](https://sundarigardens.com/) on big island of Hawaii Ken Wilbur Integral Theory <https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integral_theory_(Ken_Wilber)> - Friends who benefitted Jeremy Tunnell Living in a Monastery (free?) - Deer Park (Phoebe) - - Monastic Academy <!-- --> - Reviews: Mixed <!-- --> - Positive: Julia: <https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCppAewF6AlqPjQRl7WYT-zg> - Negative: S: “I would ask \[a person considering attending\] what they really want. And if the people they will spend time with there have what they really want” <!-- --> - Was not embodied enough for “stuck in head” personality <!-- --> - \#todo Monastery Tiger Lived in in Marin, H in Tibet How I Attained Persistent Self-Love, or, On-Demand Deep Okayness For Everyone “it is possible to feel better than you think” <https://sashachapin.substack.com/p/how-i-attained-persistent-self-love?s=r> Sasha Chapin “Throughout the fall and winter, I spent a lot of time picking up on transmissions put out by Tasshin Fogleman and [Nick Cammarata](https://mobile.twitter.com/nickcammarata), two guys who talk a lot about the power of loving-kindness, and the potential of loving yourself deeply. And, at separate times, both advertised the power of doing solo MDMA trips combined with loving-kindness meditation, a traditional variety of contemplation where you cultivate a sense of goodwill and then bounce it around in your mind between yourself, people you know, and the rest of the universe, to the extent you feel appropriate.” - ### Ow, I’m in pain! <!-- --> - Physical and emotional traumas can connect profoundly <!-- --> - Physical wellbeing frameworks to master - Feldenkrais, Qigong (various systems), Iyengar Yoga, - Processing trauma ### Awesome Mental State Hack Max Strom ribs expanded breathing <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Lb5L-VEm34> Minute 14 \#breathingExercise ### Halp! I want to feel better and I can’t afford these things Try: 10 Minute Qigong Routine from Peter Caughey <https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=462497675429399> Followed by. Am I actually just feeling awful because I don’t have one of these needs met? Often simple! NVC needs list <https://www.cnvc.org/training/resource/needs-inventory> — “Needs are more than you think” ### Ways of Processing Trauma \#Curate - [EFT Tapping — weekly online community circle](https://m.youtube.com/user/TheEFTUniverse?utm_source=ONTRAPORT-email-campaign&utm_medium=ONTRAPORT-email-campaign&utm_term&utm_content=%E2%9D%A4%EF%B8%8F+%5BFirst+Name+%23%23cap_lower%5D%2C+Take+Your+First+Steps+to+a+Trauma+Free+Life&utm_campaign=Be+Trauma+Free+Marketing+Automation) - [EMDR (bilateral stimulation) Therapy](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xZVw-9ThmSM) <!-- --> - With a pro - Self-EMDR groups (start a discussion if you’d like help finding one) - [Self-EMDR without a group](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=M2ra8p4MSOk) <!-- --> - Intensive Breathwork, e.g. Richard Bock “quantum light” breathwork for 1 hours <!-- --> - “It’s like a therapy session” <!-- --> - Wim Hoff Breathing - “Light Language” - Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy - Surfing- Assisted Psychotherapy :) <!-- --> - <https://neurohacker.com/using-sex-psychology-surfing-reprogram-mind-jamie-wheals-stealing-fire> - “3. Therapeutic Interventions - Whether through talk therapy, pharmacological interventions, or flow states induced by action sports, research is demonstrating that even brief moments spent outside ourselves produce positive impact, regardless of the mechanisms used to get there. - - In 2007, working with Iraq War veterans at Camp Pendleton, occupational therapist Carly Rogers of the University of California, Los Angeles blended surfing and talk therapy into a treatment for PTSD. In a 2014 paper published in the Journal of Occupational Therapy, Rogers reported that after as little as five weeks in the waves, soldiers had a “clinically meaningful improvement in PTSD symptom severity and in depressive symptoms.” - - In 2012, psychologist Michael Mithoefer discovered that even a single dose of MDMA can reduce or cure post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in survivors of child abuse, sexual abuse, and combat. He found that the benefits provided by one to three rounds of MDMA therapy lasts for years. These results outstrip conventional treatments so convincingly that, in May 2015, the federal government approved studies of MDMA as a treatment for depression and anxiety.” \#Todo ### The “Who am I” Direction “You are not your next thought” ~Sam Harris …so who are you? A whole lot (all?) of the world’s spiritual traditions hinge on breaking down the mysterious sense of self Nice Paradigms ## Resources/Insights that Proved Useful ### May 2021: AK A: Non force chiropractic A: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnkU0nNoO0E JC: https://forestrock.com/courses/enrolled/834821 Long Life Qigong Class by Peter Caughey If I were you I would go through all the lessons but you could start at 34 A: https://www.wayofbodhi.org/ A: Intro to person Jacob uses A: Bodhi Dharma founder of zen, Indian dude who went to china to teach shaolin monks JC: Taoist butcher "What your servant loves is the method of the Dao, something in advance of any art." \#quote His cook was cutting up an ox for the ruler Wen Hui. Whenever he applied his hand, leaned forward with his shoulder, planted his foot, and employed the pressure of his knee, in the audible ripping off of the skin, and slicing operation of the knife, the sounds were all in regular cadence. Movements and sounds proceeded as in the dance of 'the Mulberry Forest' and the blended notes of the King Shou.' The ruler said, 'Ah! Admirable! That your art should have become so perfect!' (Having finished his operation), the cook laid down his knife, and replied to the remark, 'What your servant loves is the method of the Dao, something in advance of any art. When … JC: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_disintegration JC: Every word every thought generates karma — ideal is oneness without thought JC: Technique for tranquility JC: Get rest of life together Then ask: What else is there to do What else is there to do but my pt JC: The thing I want is to have good alignment with the world —\> don’t give treats for misalignment Freedom to let things happen Release attachments so you can assimilate to the structure of cosmic order When you release attachments you become the universe Embody the qualities of the universe so they no longer hold you back Metabolize this through A: "when you release all attachments, you become the universe" \<\> obi wan If you strike me down I will be more powerful than you could ever imagine A: "you now let the bigger cosmic order flow through you" JC: Important I think to realize that releasing attachments is actually a good thing. Because I was on the fence about it until recently It allows the hot air balloon of your spirit to fly free from this body and this life. And releasing an attachment to something doesn’t mean you can’t have material things. It’s just the attachment that Hass to go. But when something starts to become an attachment it Has to go Until the attachment is broken. It’s possible to do this very gently and joyfully I think Star Wars midi chlorians ### 2021: SV J Sayam Sandhya (Ahankara illusion) 5/25/21 I was remembering that trick J taught P: “Do you actually want to eat that quesadilla or do you just remember wanting to?” I’ve tried it for a bunch of things and it’s shocking how well it can stop me in my tracks as I realize the desire I was acting out was just this thought in my mind that said I had the desire but the desire itself disappears upon investigation. The root of all these desires is the Ahankara, so logically it also can be treated this way? Do “i” actually exist, or do I just remember myself existing? Upon investigation, I just remember my self-identification but it doesn’t actually have any intrinsic existence. It’s yet another program that we can unload from our minds. #shortcut I’ve been learning about Ramana Maharishi’s self enquiry method and it’s extremely direct J: What’s Ahankara? Ah, and this is a good way to really start to comprehend the idea of the ego as an imaginary friend / story / belief vs direct perception (knowledge) Btw my tag for these things that really work to shift mental state is \#Interrupt It’s ridiculously helpful to hear that this one is working so well for you. I should lean into it more. What other ones are powerful for you? A really powerful Buddhist concept that has hit me as the idea of distinguishing between that which we believe/hypothesize verses that which we know. And the only things that we know are direct perception It shocks me back into direct perception Consider friends since your hand. The idea that it is made of atoms is a belief, not a knowing. All you know is the color in front of you and the sensation from the inside But the truth is, we now recognize even atoms as a fiction They are ripples on the cosmic medium \*Consider, for instance, your hand ### 2021: SB J Jacob Cole: "Love is the absence of judgment" \#quote ~The Dalai Lama Shadi: "It is to be hoped that we all have some friend, perhaps more often feminine than masculine, and young than old, whose soul is of this sky-blue tint, whose affinities are rather with flowers and birds and all enchanting innocencies than with dark human passions, who can think no ill of man or God, and in whom religious gladness, being in possession from the outset, needs no deliverance from any antecedent burden.” You are that friend —William James Pardon the long quotes, this book is full of gems “I have swum in clear sweet waters all my days; and if sometimes they were a little cold, and the stream ran adverse and something ## Misc Ideas \#idea Spirtual awakening log app --- *Source: <http://existentialcrisis.jacobcole.net/>* *Google Doc: <https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QsHuxis-ibxbicqrRBou6rShCb2b10gyKZG9aLJZeWc>* *Scraped: 2026-01-30*