A primary marker of the tumescent mind is a sense of obligation. The tumescent mind works by creating a background smog of anxiety that makes it difficult to draw our attention to the interior world, where the antidote lies that is needed to cut through or prevent that smog from being created.
The interior world operates like trees in the forest that photosynthesize light energy into chemical energy. But here, we are converting the smog of obligation into the oxygen of desire.
The challenge in working with smog and turning into the interior world is that the sense of urgency to escape this feeling can act as a repulsion that sends us further out of ourselves. From inside, all things are viewed with beauty and meaning; the further out we move, the more life becomes dry, arid, and empty.