Dvar is shorthand for ‘dopamine variability’.
Dvar is the interaction between tonic dopamine (a stabiliser) and phasic dopamine (a destabiliser). It's how violent the waves are in your dopamine pool. This is what the buddha called craving and what I identified in the 88 hells.
Dvar is the root of all suffering.
Dvar can latch to anything. External cravings like food and sex and respect are easy to identify, but dvar extends to all kinds of craving: for example the craving for non-existence, for subservience, for self-image, for a pleasant feeling to remain or an unpleasant feeling to vanish.
Dvar is what makes you latch on to an idea and ruminate until you want to die. It’s what makes you start fights and fume about the fact you were in the wrong, then later criticise yourself in bed until you feel like screaming in frustration about the fact you can’t sleep. It's what makes you ideate.
Dvar could be summarised as agitation but it’s more pernicious than that. Over time, if left unchecked, your general dvar trend will increase and you will find that all things cause you more suffering. You crave all things - and no things - more and more. You become more driven, perfectionistic, addicted, and self-abusive.
It is important to realise that dvar is a global value; there is no good or bad. If you raise your dvar with high intensity physical training or high pressure work then you also raise your tendency toward alcoholism or anger. Dvar does not discriminate.
It is important you do *not* let dvar get too high or when your mind moves to the dark places, you are more likely to act.
Dvar is assigned a value between 0 and 1.
0 = buddha
1 = hell
You will have your own way to identify and quantify your dvar but telltale signs for me being in a state of high dvar are:
inability to sit still
head noise
feeling like what I am doing is not enough
looped thoughts and rumination
being attached to a perceived slight
In the analogy of earthquakes, you want to train your system to have micro-tremors instead of mighty temblors, and you want to make sure your brain has dampeners for when the big ones inevitably roll on in.
Dvar is easiest to spike in the morning or evening, because tonic dopamine is lowest at the start and end of the day, and doing so will either leave you cranked for a day of dissatisfaction or a night of missed sleep. This is why regular meditators feel bad if they miss their morning sit; they have a higher dvar for the day. It's also why screen-time before bed is a bad idea. You need to warm up for the day and allow a proper cool down at the end.
So:
assign a value between 0 and 1
choose a meditation
work your way down the ladder
Simple.
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