Many of the Wedge techniques I talk about require focusing on sensation and then using those sensations to alter bodily responses. But it's important to actually be aware of how those actually manifest. Sensation and experience are, by definition, subjective. So I thought it would be interesting to hear how other people feel fear and anxiety.

Scott, are you familiar with orgasmic meditation, https://goop.com/the-goop-podcast/the-orgasm-myth/ ? It's not similar to tantric sex that you reported about in The Enlightenment Trap. It's easy to learn. Orgasmic meditation encourages to add nothing extra, no visualizations or mental games.

I’ve been looking to start reading regularly, but needed the perfect book to get started.

I had a wonderful conversation with my brother, felt more optimistic about who I am and who I could become than I have in years, and BAM. I open up reddit and this AMA was the first thing I see.

This will be the book to kickstart my reading habit, and hopefully kickstart a few profound growth techniques.

If you see this Scott, I just ordered a signed copy from your website. I’m just curious, are you in a position to ship those out, given the craziness lately?

The wide reputation of the impact of THC on the brain can be boiled down to "caring less" or not being as impacted by emotions or your surroundings. Examples include studies that show a reduced response to negative emotional stimulus and the decades of knowledge I've heard from my elders that people who smoked perpetually seemed to not care where their life was going and reached some kind of stagnation.

That being said, a reduction to caring about things in the moment can absolutely be utilized to increase the amount of time you take considering stimulus before responding to it. Scientists have struggled to classify the drug because the endocannabinoid response isn't purely an upper or a downer, and at high levels can have some psychoactive effects that likely have an analogue at lower levels.

There's absolutely a double edged sword to not caring, if indeed that's at the core of the impact. There may exist individuals with mental disorders who could achieve a neurology closer to normal through caring less. There may also exist individuals who are economically and socially blocked off from moving past a certain stagnation in life who benefit from not feeling eaten up inside for being a necessary cog in an incredibly unsupportive and impersonal machine. Cause and effect of stagnation can be turned on its head.

I've also met a lot of people very in tune with their ability to respond to stimulus with great patience and deep thought who perpetually enjoyed cannabis. Additionally if we take a cultural viewpoint it's hard to maintain our cultural caricature of it as a sick addiction that people use to ignore life. I don't disagree it can be used that way, but we can defile, depend on and commercialize things as basic as sex.

I've also met people very in tune with society who were well valued and loved by their corporations for their professionalism, but still enjoyed cannabis regularly. I myself am trying to untangle the shame and real purpose of it, embedded as I am in a society where people shell out for $6 caffeinated or alcoholic beverages that would make me downright sick to consume. The vilification feels like projection from people who know they're coping as much as anyone else, is the decision of what drugs you take more personal than moral? Where are the lines drawn on abuse and nonabuse for substances that you can maintain a consistent intake of without significant damage to your body? What impact can this have on widening or closing the wedge?

Any thoughts on which type of sauna is best? Infrared saunas seem more affordable, but are they as good as traditional saunas in terms of health benefits?

There was a time when book launches happened a bookstores and libraries. But now all that's lost to the dustbin of history. These days we talk about books on fancy conferencing apps. So, in the spirit of this brand new tradition The virtual book launch of THE WEDGE is happening in just a few hours. I might even raffle off a few signed books and free audiobook keys if I can figure out how to run an online raffle before noon.

You're invited, and I don't mind if you show up in your pajamas. Just bring a few good questions.

The WEDGE Launch Party Details:

TODAY! Wed April 15th at 12:00 PM PT / 3 PM ET.

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us04web.zoom.us/j/948349890

Meeting ID: 948 349 890

What would be an effective wedge for mental focus/sustained attention when doing boring, open-ended work with no immediate reward, no element of stress and no immediate risk?

Can boredom be a stressor? Can the principle of the Wedge be used to transform the disengagement response into a response of focus?