The Spiritual Use of Entheogens

[Monica]

I recently got an email from our good friend Taha, which reminded me that I never did post his last comments on hallucinagens. I had this saved in a pm, and got permission to post it. Here it is:

------from Taha------

As for the post on hallucinogens, yes, by all means re-post it if you like. I find that people are often reluctant to share their own powerful experiences, perhaps being worried that they'll be perceived as being egotistical or looking for attention. That's one reason I've always stayed away from the media, or allowing any form of guru worship to develop around me. There's all too much of it in the the world!

Have fun in there!
x

I'd saved my main post from the drug related thread for someone else who'd asked me a few questions, so I'll add it here for what it may be worth. I do hope those considering taking hallucinogens don't go for it too readily - you and I both know of the real dangers having tried it. I had a very bad trip once when in my late teens, much as you describe, and it took me a year or more to even begin to recover from it. My companions warned me beforehand, but you know how it is..!

My best wishes Monica, to you and everyone, and perhaps paths will cross at other times.

Taha

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Post:

I've experienced what you tried to describe, but found that the experience without the hallucinogens is far more powerful and real (let's assume real is not just 'in the mind' so it doesn't go into an opinion spiral). I've said in other threads that having gone through whatever 'veil' we try to describe, I can and do at will and when I just relax. It takes others around me with it, like an experience catalyst. I mentioned this happening sometimes in shops, etc., where I'm feeling very light and all-one, and then find people staring at things wide-eyed like they're tripping. And they are, so I 'drag myself back' to 'normal solidity' and they all 'come back' too. This started happening years ago when I really awoke, but of course usually in group teaching sessions. People accepted it as they wanted to 'go beyond' the ordinary. Some try to do that using drugs, and as you say, it can be a very valid and useful way to do it. But the warnings are because of the inherent dangers in the changes the drugs cause, sometimes leading to psychological trauma, and as one (Ra I think) lesson said, energy field (ie., soul) burn out which the person may not fully recover from in this incarnation. I know this is very personal, but here's one evening I spent with a group of friends.

We'd been talking for perhaps an hour, when someone who'd been looking very high and glassy-eyed said the table was shimmering. Then someone else said the walls were breathing, and the carpet looked like it was flowing like a shallow river. The table, to another, seemed to be trying to grow, or change shape. Everyone said each looked as though they were on fire, but the fire was white with colours in it. Someone said the soft white shapes floating around me had coalesced into three beautiful 'angels', and one had her hand on my shoulder. People started seeing rays of all sorts of colours coming from each other, as one said, kind of like the Jesus pictures, but moving and far brighter. Acid trip? Nope. Just another training evening, like any other. What everyone was experiencing was reality, but with relaxed and clearer perceptions. They talked with my companions and their own, we did 'healing' work and lit up the building, played games with our light companions, some shared whispered things and smilingly refused to share what was said, some hugged them and said they remembered them as old friends, one woman knew my closest companion as an old friend, etc. After a few hours of this, and quite capable of relating to the 'normal' world and aware of it getting late, we 'wound down' and everyone went home. Some experienced more than others, as always.

Moving into time/space like this, tangibly experiencing the flow of energies everything is made from, and communing in a very tactile way with our light companions is so much better than a drug trip for many reasons. One, at the least, is that you know it wasn't induced by a drug. I'm not saying that invalidates drug experiences, but for almost everyone it's not then passed off as, "Oh that - Yeah, I was really tripping!" It's very real, very tangible, and regularly reproducible so as to become normal experience. Oh, and as someone did compare it with drug experiences once, even though we were close and trusted each other implicitly, I actually told everyone to bring their own bottled water and snacks a few times, just to reassure their subconscious mind that nothing had been secretly done to them. Some laughed and didn't bother, but some did and thanked me for being down to earth about it and reassuring them.

What I constantly share with others is that we can all very easily slip beyond the bounds of consensus reality, and not just in visualisations either. So why not just leave out the drugs, the uncertainty a 'trip' leaves, and the very real potential dangers? Of course that may give rise to the thought of, "Yes, but what about the danger of those experiences sending someone loopy?"

There's a wonderful and very natural safety mechanism. Those who walk behind the scenes will never deliberately wreck anyone's perceptions of consensus reality without knowing that they're ready to go further, and more importantly, that they've actively asked to be assisted in doing so. Which is why they don't just appear and walk around visible to everyone. I've found in many situations, with individuals and with groups, that people only go as far as their fears let them. Some who seem nervous or even quite scared very quickly loose all fears and find themselves standing, as one guy did, with his hands on my closest companions cheeks. He described her perfectly, as though trying to reassure me that he was experiencing it. (This was a guy who said, "I don't have anything special happen in my life. I'm just a thick electrician"). Another woman who was convinced she wanted to 'meet angels', approached what she saw as a glowing person shape, who then reached out and touched her hand. The woman shot backwards into a corner saying, "That's wrong, that's all wrong!" The tangible experience was more than she could cope with. But guess what happened? Half an hour later she was smiling and saying that however I did the trick with the light and making her think she'd felt something, it was very clever! She stated firmly that she still believed angels exist, and that she was going to ask the priest on Sunday what angels really were.

Sorry if I'm not addressing or delving into a discussion about the validity of hallucinogens, but having experienced that a number of times, and then moving into experience which made those pale in comparison, I recommend not bothering with the drugs myself. Tangible experience of the universe behind consensus reality is so much better without them, leads to much more intimate contact with our light companions, and far greater perception of our true nature.