Chapter 2 First contact Theory

So you have developed a bigger consciousness about yourself and who you actually are in the good, the bad and the better (pun always intended).
What is this chapter going about? Your actual first connection with God/Universe inside/outside yourself. Why so soon? Because its a very great experience and anime cannot be real, uhm i mean magic cannot be real without or your daily experience cannot be real without. So lets start with the theoretical and how it works. And again the second part will be some exercises that will be very fitting with this (trust me, you will all love this chapter after the heavy introduction, this one will even be heavier, but also way way more jollyness, shadilay!

Why did i call it first contact?

Well to give the easy answer, i love puns, the more horrible the better. But on a more serious note, its the first connection you will make with God (the universe or your true core) and its one of the biggest moments of your life, it can turn the strongest atheïst into a very faithfull person. But thats not the point here though.
The point of this is for you to actually needing to start connecting is like not just a big boost of becoming a better person, but you also learn to understand what your Will actually means (from a very very basic point), you also learn that miracles are possible (wich also helps you in your positive intake in life, wich will help others also around you, hopes and dreams people search it up when you can). This is like a base point of where to start for me, where others in my field see this as a thing in the middle. Also Franz Bardon saw this as a somewhat more advanced point. Times are changing though and a lot of people are not thinking about what things in certain ages can be learned quicker/slower or turning beginner or becoming advanced. Every age is different and to my idea this connection can better be made sooner than later.

What is this connecting to the universe thing actually?

I know it can be boring, ugh... theory.... reading letters... pictures are more fun, going out more fun also... but books, tons of books hell no! (this does not count for everyone, i know somewhat more introverted people love books more, personally i also love books, not as much as a lot of other magicians)

Because i am also still on my own route, i will give you a more of a different format answer with conclusion in the end, eventually you are being capable of making your own idea or own thing out of it. Or own experience, wich you can share with others and help them grow also! 

Practically its actually mixing the flow state (learning how to hack it is also a part of your training of knowing yourself, gamers call this the zone, to make it easy its true involvement, true joy, true happy focus of a certain activity) with Sisu (Sisu = true determination and long term iron will (undertale fans are now crying in celebration)) to create a spiral of non stop growth (sisu and the flow state combined, while being in meditative trans, actually screws over your mind so much that you litterly get mind blown and mind blown is the state of the switch that flips when connecting with your subconsciousness while being in contact consciously with your sub consciousness and there are theories about the fact that we all have a shared subconsciousness, wich means all knowledge, wisdom and litterly everything and nothing is in there. Using this way of thinking, actually helps us making it somewhat easier to get a grasp and know where to go towards to. 
For some people with some 'special plant (drugs)' experiences in the past know what i mean with this. (i do not use drugs myself, everything is achieved for me through pure meditation and living life while doing these practices and a lot a hell lot of thinking and reflecting!)

Flow state

Well lets chat a bit more about the flow state, you got the basic idea behind it, but... there is a trap with the idea of it, people mix it up a lot between hyperfocus and the flow state. One example is when doing certain thing way too much, getting side tracked and pleasurebly absorbed by one aspect of a certain task. The hyperfocus litterly captures you, so watch out.

The true flow state is like this:

1. Intense and focused concentration on the present moment
2. Merging of action and awareness
3. A loss of reflective self-consciousness
4. A sense of personal control or agency over the situation or activity
5. A distortion of temporal experience, one's subjective experience of time is altered
6. Experience of the activity as intrinsically rewarding, also referred to as autotelic experience

Here are 3 other things that are also part of the flow state:

1. Immediate feedback
2. Feeling that you have the potential to succeed
3. Feeling so engrossed in the experience, that other needs become negligible

And yes the flow state can let you not feel hunger or thirst, but it has a good reason for that wich i will explain in the next part after this bit.

Also how can you achieve it in a more concrete wording?

A good question, its pretty simple finding a challenge and beat that challenge, but not just any challenge, a challenge wich is just a bit above your current limit. This can be done by sports, science, magic... (later on that one) etc etc. Everything that you see that you need to go beyond in, will be the thing you can get into flow state, its also a great start to become specialized in your field or you can even create a job for yourself using this. Because you are pushing yourself to the limit in that field, you are able to even become a professional in it. In the end though for a lot of jobs different forms of having degrees are important. 

I am not a firm believer of it, because not everyone is able to follow the standard system we are living, at the same time the guidance we are getting at school are all subjective to the teacher. If a method does not work for you and you get a low grade for it, its not you that is then the problem, but the failing system behind it and the subjectivity of the teacher. And i think a lot of people understand if i say, good teachers are rare nowadays.

This is a graphic(al)(pun always intended) example of how the flow state actually starts off and can grow!

Flow theory noticed three conditions that have to be met to achieve a flow state, so that you have a even clearer vision of what is expected from you:

1. One must be involved in an activity with a clear set of goals and progress. This adds direction and structure to the task.
2. The task at hand must have clear and immediate feedback. This helps the person negotiate any changing demands and allows them to adjust their performance to maintain the flow state.
3. One must have a good balance between the perceived challenges of the task at hand and their own perceived skills. One must have confidence in one's ability to complete the task at hand.

There is another interesting thing, wich is a combination of multiple people in flow or group flow, sounds familliar right? When groups of people doing rituals, so yeah its the same rules but then applies for the whole group to work to.

And with like in a ritual certain things needs to be done, but if you look at it like this, instead of doing the standard symbolisms, many other methods even can be used as long as it gives the same effect and there is another thing very very important, MENTAL CONNECTIONS!!! (more about that soon)

• Creative spatial arrangements: Chairs, pin walls, charts, but no tables; thus work primarily standing and moving
• Playground design: Charts for information inputs, flow graphs, project summary, craziness (here also craziness has a place), safe place (here all may say what is otherwise only thought), result wall, open topics
• Parallel, organized working
• Target group focus
• Advancement of existing one (prototyping)
• Increase in efficiency through visualization
• Using differences among participants as an opportunity, rather than an obstacle.

Also in a later chapter i will talk about group works in magic if you are interesting in reading up till that point. It shows a clear (even very clear) connection to the group flow state!

Also the flow state itself has phases that you are in, wich makes this even more epic and a whole experience by itself!

1. The Struggle phase.
   It is called struggle for a reason, it does not feel good. Most people never push themselves through this phase because they are unwilling to challenge their self image. Think of a friend who will never get in the pool because every time they put their pinky toe in the water, they freak out. Stop being a baby and get your ass in the water. (this is why sisu is important and this is why sisu is half of the work, it brings that determination in this point and you will become a symbol of determination in that field or even more then that).
2. The Release phase.
   The struggle subsides and we enter a gray area, where we are teetering on the cusp of a Flow state. This phase provides your brain space to shift from conscious to subconscious processing. This release triggers a flow state. Let's go back to the cold pool example from above. This would be where the water is no longer cold and not quit warm yet. You know that if you stay in a few minutes longer it won't be so bad.
3. Flow State.
   Depending on what you are doing, you can be in a low grade flow state or a peak flow state. A low grade flow state would be something like a video game or creative writing session, where you have intense focus.
4. Peak Flow State.
   A peak flow state could happen during an event, like surfing a 100ft wave or giving a 1 hour speech to an audience of 500 people. In a peak flow state, you are the man (or woman), in the zone, on fire, can do anything and are insanely productive. (this feeling has NO way of talking how it feels, thats how big it is, there is hope, where other people feel hopelessness, you see dreams becoming a reality where otherrs only see a dream, you believe so strongly that logic quits existing, you do not only feel this for your own, but you feel it also from others that are to afraid to feel it, it empowers you more, it feels like its all beating as one, you become a walking point of inspiration, you become a hero, a actual hero!)
5. Brain Rewiring and Memory Consolidation Phase.
   This is the crash following the flow state, where your mind and body are rewiring to a higher processing speed. You see the new possibilities and remember every excruciating detail. Have you ever had a epic game or an amazing night out where you were on top of the world? Did you have trouble sleeping that night? Think of it like you are installing the new operating system on your computer. You have to have some down time before you can operate at the higher level. High quality sleep and Meditation are important here. (Do not think that it ends here, dare not to think it ends here, once you get used or learn how to hack it, you will find out that you can almost be permanently in it, remember what i said about emotions? This is the point i made with it, it can empower it and it will not be a placebo effect, the actual flow state can be hacked, make your own challenge.
   Not only that, the first time you go through this, your allround Sisu is beyond what it were before, wich means it will go easier and easier every single time!)

An important part also is to be far enough in learning about yourself or knowing yourself that how you also need to overcome your personal issues!

What is the actual physical proof behind the flow state? 
Well good news on that one actually, they have found out what your brain is doing in the flow state, in Flow your brain releases a chemical cocktail of :

• Norepinephrine-It is the hormone and neurotransmitter most responsible for concentration.
• Dopamine - A neurotransmitter responsible for cognitive alertness.
• Endorphin- Activates the opioid receptor. AKA it makes you feel really good.
• Anandamide-The name is taken from the Sanskrit word ananda, which means "bliss, delight". You can guess how this makes you feel.

The neuro-chemicals, are released in a way that would stun even your local pharmacist (or drug dealer). In fact, if we were to try and duplicate this cocktail in a lab and administer it to someone, it would probably kill them. Yet for some unknown reason our brains can release these chemicals given the right circumstances. (litteral quote from one of the sources, also interesting for the Undertale fans that giving Determination to monsters, would melt them and it seems that giving us flow in a injection, would kill us).

It means that actually getting into the first touch of the Universe and this? It all has to do again with the subconsciousness doing the work for you, while still being conscious, wich again comes with the theory of subconsciousness is all and it also applies with the rule as above so below! In this case it means that well your subconsciousness is connected to the univers itself, hence why this experience is like that first connection, atleast for the first time.

This is also one of the reasons why i do not see the need of drugs personally, you have everything you want already. You do not need it from the outside, i do still respect though other views ofcourse.

Sisu

Well next bit is Sisu(its finnish and why not just calling what it means, because thats not epic enough) , or true determination, true grit etc etc, but it also means long term iron will, wich is interesting, more about it soon. 

There is a saying that the magicians feet are in hell and the demons are scratching him/her non stop and that he/she is with his/her head in the clouds! But think about it, head in the clouds here can be seen as the determination and going for a better tomorrow instead of floating around believing that it will come eventually. Also when in the face of extreme danger or extreme risk, still focussing that will to pull through (wich also starts the flow state frequence). 
The feet getting attacked non stop by demons, are his/her personal demons, the demons that keep giving doubt, guilt etc etc. Its something that you need to face and beat time after time after time, no matter the trauma (and some trauma's are near unbeatable to the point that they scar you for life, i understand that, but wisdom says that you even need to beat THAT), only then you are able to GO BEYOND. These demons can be as powerful as you let them be, but most of the time the deeper the understanding of the magician, the stronger the demons, this also has to do ofc with the connection making, wich we will talk later on about).
So yeah face  yourself, no matter what! 
For the magicians, yes you will slap Choronzon so hard, that he does not know what hit him, you are overwhelming him so hard that he cannot even respond, you are like a beam of light going through hell itself to reach heaven, but so quickly, so powerful and time after time after time again.

What we also see here is that it means that you are forced to have a iron will your whole life and that it needs to grow and that it actually grows more powerful, the more flow states you get, wich also explains the recommendation of magicians doing tons of rituals.

I can talk so much more about this, but then it would never end. And we need to move on, because yes this can also end up as a trap, becoming addicted and then you can add another demon clawing at you!

Connections:

A part of getting into sisu flow state fusion is also making connections with the right things, that trigger the right emotions wich help you level on the spot.
If you are more trained in the way of the magi (enter personal star wars reference here, with pun plz) you are able to make so much connections in such a small time frame, wich helps you become very very creative or always find a solution to any problem presented. 
So yeah actually having the mind of doctor Who will be helping out here a lot, finding connections to connections to connections to connections to connections to connections to find the answer, also this will help you out a lot when studying for school, it also will help you (not scientifically proven, but out of own experience) making new connections itself in your brain, so that your brain will work more efficiënt and focused.

In the practices, more will be done with helping out making more connections for yourself, so that you can make you yourself mind blown and remember combine it with sisu and the flow state and you get the starting system of a full fledged magical ritual!

also if you do not want to go further after chapter 2, that is ok. Because with these 2 chapters, you are already able to fully embrace yourself as a full human being, the path taking will walk itself and you will grow quicker then ever before!

Sources:

I also have taken some copy and pasts from there, because they were very well written and to honour their information, to bring up the sources here. Also i put up one very very good doctor who link in between, because i am a fan, but also the personality and why he also should fit here.

https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisu_(begrip)

https://benaustinblog.com/flow-state-triggers/

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-playing-field/201402/flow-states-and-creativity

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUOJFB6ZGQQ

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTIizGyf5kU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_ahxGt44WY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIRJfls37D8 this link is about tengen toppa gurren lagann, its one of my fav shows, but for the feeling or the idea, this is how the first time feels like!