LSD and Spiritual awakening

I was just wanting some of your guy's theories, revalations, spiritual awakenings, or whatever you like to call them. On why we are here, are purpose, things of that nature you may have came to the conclusion of while on LSD.

 

The present is all that truly exists.
Everything which happens is exactly what must have happened.
The universe is made up of energy which is connected at the very basest level.
Conscious life is god's way of experiencing itself.
I'm you. You're me. Everybody's me. Everybody's you.

Spread love.

 

Can't say I've really tackled the 'Why are we here question?' On LSD but I have pondered my own mortality and an afterlife.

One of the most revelatory insights I've had while on LSD is how our senses are filtered. There is a constant shaping, growing, and developing in the normal functioning human brain and body that seems to carry on into adulthood and attempts to give the person its most well equipped means at survival. I think the brain develops a homeostatic equilibrium if you will to allow us to effectively functioning in the enviornment, Even with individuals who don't necessarily have full sensory function, like let's say someone who is blind, often have another sense that is heightened so I think an example like that furthers my concept.

LSD took the filtered senses equilibrium that develops and shattered it, I felt my mind scrambled with a frantic yet relaxed reassurance to reassemble it. So in the wake of this, I found my mind going to many strange places that seemed extremely familiar, in retrospect I get the impression of almost like a mental tug of war of the equilibrium trying to maintain and this haywire flux of the senses brought on by the LSD. So with my senses in flux, I was really amazed by things like how my mind state at times had become regressive and I was filled with child like wonder and awe of the world and simple things that I often overlook on a daily basis were now taking on significant meaning. I also found the direct effects on my senses incredible, particularly visual and auditory on my initial trips. Music is a love of mine and I was able to separate aspects of the music in my mind more but simultaneously music seemed to be more cohesive as where a lot of it seemed timed perfectly and the musicians intent and artistry I felt I understood more thoroughly. Visually I was impressed with how easily objects would break and change form and while it seemed to be a constant shifting to the visuals, at times I felt like I had control of it and as I mentioned earlier some of these distorted forms that arose during the LSD trip took on significant meaning. I found what was going on behind closed eyes equally impressive, a fireworks of multi-colored fractals, shapes, patterns and dream-like sequences all charged with meaning and insight to them.

Those were some of the most profound revelations to me that have stuck from LSD, I had one trip early on where I had some concepts of afterlife and rebirth but other trips I've had since then have significantly changed my view on that one. My past few LSD trips have been heavily emotionally laden and I still enjoy how my mind reacts to the disrupted sensory equilibrium.

 

The angels do not want you to consume mass amounts of the chemical.

 

I agree with all of this.

 

Yes, this sounds like the theories put forth by Charles Tart, I know I've mentioned him before, that our normal waking consciousness is but a small portion of a wide spectrum of differing states but has been focused on because it is the state that affords the best awareness to help insure survival and reproduction.

I remember his illustration that it wouldn't be very evolutionarily beneficial to have an ecstatic visionary experience in the middle of the African savanna's. Individuals who were prone to such ecstasy's soon became lion food, so such states have been "downgraded" in favor of ones that are alert and fully aware of the surroundings.

You're smart enough GB to extrapolate out all the subtle ramifications of such a model of consciousness, and your insights a spot on IMHO. :2thumbsup:


I think one of the biggest or simplest eye-opener's that has been ingrained into my existence through psychedelics is the knowing beyond textbook assertions that everything is truly made of the same stuff, just moving at differing speeds and frequencies.

Physically and spiritually we are all but different facets of an ever-emerging jewel of creation and life.

E=MC2 and all that shit has become more than just intellectual content, but universal reality the ramifications of which are the most fundamental and life altering that can be realized, IMHO.

Another is that the only thing I actually have any control over is how I react to and interact with others in life. Shit is always gonna happen. Great days are always gonna happen, the only thing I can influence is how I respond to it.
:sunny:

 

Although most of these weren't specifically LSD, it certainly helped:



Seeking an ego loss experience isn't as great as you think it'll be, since it will be interpreted by the ego at some point anyway..

Whatever we experience, however dis-harmonic it seems at the time, is so perfectly harmonic that there's no point even worrying about it. Everything we experience is experienced because that's all we, as human beings, can actually experience. It could be a LOT worse, and on the flipside, a LOT better.. but this is it, so let it flow...

Awareness is everything.

Consciousness is the reason we know we exist(essentially the same as God experiencing itself - linked to awareness.. consciousness being the ability to ask)

We don't need these chemicals, but they help.

 

The entire whole of reality is expression of that what we call god. That their is transcendental realm of nature which all this energy and consciousness spawns from, and it is so vast and so rich it takes not only our universe, but millions of universes and realities to express itself to itself.

This expression has evolved over eternity and has refined and refined itself into more intelligent, more self fulfilling forms, in order to wake itself up to itself at greater and greater scales until some point of perfection can be achieved.

The physical universe is under a divine plan, there is a some point on earth in which the divine aspect will reveal itself to the physical. The masterpiece of a writer or a musician is a reflection of this divine plan, in the sense that god is working in the same way to create a masterpiece in which when we do experience the divine it is an utterly perfect experience that makes the whole thing worth while. (A reflection of this in earth is Michelangelo painting in the Sistine Chapel. An unbelievable masterpiece that seems impossible but has been performed, and opens a door to the mystery and wondrous phenomena that is life itself.)

Their have been levels of spiritual trips that differ from normal trips.

1. The Awakening to Divine - that there is more than just this universe, and their is a realm beyond death, and an interconnectedness to everything. The first glimpse of the other side. The relief of a meaningless life that we die and the worms eat our brains. (Presented by Lsd)

2. NIRVANA - The state of absolute freedom. Pure flowing consciousness without the self. The purest heaven can still be manifest in this state, which is something like the final beauties which surround the consciousness as it takes its freedom from material plane. (Presented by a combination of Lsd and Mushrooms.)

3. The Pure Lands - The transcendence of the material form. The realm of light in which all manifest from. Experience of the ever flowing, ever awakening consciousness, the spread of darkness into light. The experience of the One, the Divine state of Oneness with no other entity's manifest. No more conflict for there is only the self and no other. Also the experience of the Divine Plan and the expression was revealed during this state, and the path of the enlightend one who knows and travels through manifest reality to spread the word. Jamu IJamu Jamu IJamu All praise the, for his name raises us. (Presented by Mushrooms.)

4. The Perfected State - The transcendental other, the final state of reality, when light resolves all darkness into perfect awareness. Absolute perfect bliss, without movement. The end of evolution. The reality and the perciever of reality resolve into each other. Also coming down from that state, the state of the total perceiver of reality, which becomes all of reality at one single time. (Presented by the Mushroom)

5.The Rest State - Not sure if this happens before or after the perfected state, or if this was our beginning or our end or what. But it is back into darkness, everything shuts itself off, there is no longer an awareness of the self, it is still perfect, but it leaves its awareness of itself and goes to sleep unconscious of its perfection. Total annihilation of reality. (Presented by the Mushroom)

6. The Orgasmic Experience - the total engulfment of the senses (not just physical) by the spiritual. The unity of matter, individual consciousness, and the divine spirit in which everything is engulfed in ecstasy. Sex with the universe, and the expansion of its energy. The state in which creation happens as the abundance of energy generated begins to manifest itself into form. (Presented by the Mushroom)

7. Zen - The balance of consciousness, matter, and the force between them in the physical realm. (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) When this mastery of the forces comes a profound sense of well being, a feng shui, or flow happens. A state in which your life energy or chi is harmony with the world around you, and in its awakened state. A indescribable feeling of balance comes in this state, its how life in the earth plane is meant to be experienced. If life were lived in this state there would be no question of why we were here. It would be like questioning why we listen to music, no reason other than it makes us feel good, it makes us happy, it fulfilling to us. (Presented by Lsd)

Now all the experiences were partial and almost seem to contradict each other when written down. But its logical sense is not important. What is important is the fact that someone can experience a state of total bliss, total transcendence, that there is something which resides in our nature that can be called perfect. That there is place we come from which is no longer in conflict, no longer going anywhere, that there is place of complete peace and wholeness. That there is something which is substantially beyond anything we can comprehend or think about, yet were part of and will always be part of it. And that when it resolves itself we are not longer a part of it but become it in whole. We come from a land of tremendous light, oceanic fields of orgasmic energy. Which manifest itself in order to tell the greatest story ever told to itself. You're it man, the whole of everything.

 

I think the rabit hole is an empty chase. And users need to be careful. It feels great, and perhaps it's useful as it's a tool, or an easy way to see what it feels like should such grand attitudes come into fruition, but you have to enjoy the sober version, the less euphoric and dramatic version for it to truly last.

I just wanted to put that into words.

 

I am unfamiliar with Tart, I agree with the spectrum idea though diverge from the illustration. Terrence Mckenna has been influential on me and he is one of the only other people I know to suggest how psychedelics may have played a role in early man. Mckenna suggets that experiences of psychedelic ecstasy promoted bonding and an increase in sexual activity, He further suggests that diet habits changed and communication patterns as well, therefore allowing man to thrive. Mckenna also hypothesized that there may have been favorable changes in brain structure but I'm not really on board with that idea.

We can see psychedelic use being utilized in hostile areas such as ayahuasca in the Amazon, so that's why I'm skeptical of Tart's example. Psychedelic experiences may have had a much more immeadiate and significant impact on a much smaller population with not as efficient medicine that mostly lived into their 30's-40's.

 

I think maybe you misunderstand Tart's theories. Unlike McKenna, Tart does not postulate that early man's use of psychedelics prompted evolutionary growth in certain ways. Tart's idea is that during the early development of the primate nervous system that all these different states of awareness were more or less available, but through natural selection, those individuals more prone to experience spontaneous altered states, (it does happen) were relatively quickly removed from the gene pool through natural selection. The normal waking state of consciousness we experience has been arrived at through natural selection in favor of other states that are less-conducive to survival.
Tart's theories really have little or nothing to do with psychedelics, but our natural spectrum of consciousness, which contains all the differing psychedelic states as well.
If natural selection could cause outward physical changes due to environmental influences, why can't the same hold true for neuro-chemistry as well?

 

I saw how beautiful it all is. I real-ized that we are all One. I felt the pain and joy of humanity. I experienced the Eternal Now. I saw how beautiful I can be. These are all variations on the spiritual/transcendental. Experiencing all these, where could I turn but toward spiritual? And what can I do but try to live out the reality as best I can. I’ve had successes and failures.

As to why we are here and our purpose, my belief is that the purpose in life is reconciliation with God, self, and others. One of my teachers said we are born to be healed. Some would add, and live accordingly. We should try to not do harm.

 

These were pretty profound guys, maybe im doing it wrong (haha jk) but I like conversations like this, of why we are here, why we do the things in this particular moment, etc. I also believe the fellows statement about the angels do not want us to consume a lot of it, it is a tool to be used sparringly, I believe.

 

Nah, I'm older now and I strongly believe the world and humanity is fucked. Goodness does not spread. It is always the exception among mass [ego & material] feeding.

 

That doesn't have anything to do with meaning or purpose or actions in my life.

I probably know what you're talking about though. Though I don't proselytize, I'm well aware that the more we turn toward spirit, reconciliation, awareness, and so on, the better off we are (and possibly those around us as well).

 

I had a few wake-up calls on LSD that influenced me a lot. I once realized how bad it is for me, other people and the rest of the world to work on a job. In the middle of an intense trip, I got hit by that thought: how does contributing to the destruction of the planet through my work, in order to be able to buy a life, do any good for my happiness and sanity? The obvious answer was that it doesn't contribute to it, at all. I immediately started looking for alternative solutions so I could get out of this nightmare ASAP and break free.

I also got to understand how important it is to have respect and consideration for yourself, as much as you would have for anybody else. It is very easy to neglect yourself, your health and your appearance, to put your dreams, your hopes and needs aside, settle with mediocre food, mediocre clothes, a mediocre rent or lover, etc. Things don't need to be like that. I learned I should treat myself like a queen and accept no less from others. At first I thought I was becoming pretentious and would run for disaster, but it worked wonders, improving my life radically, and people still like me.

And, of course, I had the typical "feeling connected to my surrounding, the planet and the Universe" thing, making me more empathic and considerate towards others while also strenghtening my ecological and egalitarian convictions. Plus some very, very fucked up things I don't dare to mention yet.

 

Peace to you sister.

 

Oh I'm at peace, thanks. I just keep those things for myself so I don't end up in a straitjacket.

 

^^Cool. I gots a few of them myself.