Ayahuasca is a psychedelic medicine brewed by the traditional shamans of the amazon. Before the first and only time I tried it, one of the other participants told me, “ayahuasca has done more for me than three hundred hits of acid, and it’s a thousand times more powerful.” Two hours later when I was vomitting onto the ground as the Holy Spirit called my name from a wall of vibrating eyes straight out of an Alex Grey painting, I knew she was right.
Ayahuasca is not a recreational drug. Brewing the plants requires days of preparation. Drinking it can cause intense vomiting – known as purging. Shamans will tell you this vomiting serves a spiritual purpose as negative energy and old patterns are expelled from the body. In my case, I saw the vomit as black snakes pouring out of my throat, as they became unlodged from the seat of the ego.
I wouldn’t call it “fun.” Then again, I wasn’t taking ayahuasca for fun. I had a spiritual purpose.
Ayahuasca In Addiction Treatment
I first heard about the Amazonian shamanic drug ayahuasca through the work of Gabor Mate, a Vancouver based addiction researcher. Gabor Mate has found virtually all the addicts he works with experienced childhood sexual abuse. Because they did not receive enough love as children their bodies do not naturally produce enough of the “love chemicals” associated with happiness.
External stimulation, like drugs, fill the body with dopamine and other love chemicals. As Mate puts it, “for the first time in his life the addict feels normal.” An addict in the video below describes heroin as feeling like when your mother brings you “a nice warm bowel of chicken soup,” and Mate responds, “do you know how close you are to the scientific truth there?” (2 minutes in)
Since the underlying roots of addiction often involve a chemical imbalance created in early childhood, it’s very difficult to treat—unless of course, you had a drug that could completely reset the bodies neuro-chemistry.
Enter ayahuasca. After one or two sessions with ayahuasca, Mate’s patients began naturally producing the love chemicals they used to seek through drugs. Major addictions, ongoing issues, and lifelong baggage were wiped out using deep shamanic work.
The Shamanic Perspective
“What if,” Mate asks, “we understood something in the West which has been the underlying core insight of Eastern spiritual pathways and aboriginal shamanic pathways around the world, which is that human beings are not their personalities, we’re not our thoughts, we’re not our emotions, we are not our dysfunctional or functional dynamics, but that at the core there is a true self that is somehow connected to—in fact not connected to but part of—nature and creation?”
While Western science understands ayahuasca from a drug perspective, the tradtional shamans call it a medicine. We don’t “trip,” we journey. Unlike a pill you’d pick up at the pharmacy, ayahuasca engages your entire being. The intention and consciousness you enter the process with changes the experience. Ayahuasca requires letting go and surrendering fully – or in my case not surrendering and being taught a lesson in humility.
Preparing For Ceremony
Because it’s a part of traditional religious ceremonies, courts have upheld the right to brew and use ayahuasca in certain spiritual settings. While many shamans attempting to heal the west sometimes hold ceremonies in America, international travelers may want to look into participating in traditional South American ceremonies in Brazil or Peru.
Ayahuasca works like poison control, soaking up toxins in the body, and pouring them out through your throat, to cleanse the body both spiritually and physically. For this reason, it’s important to eat healthy beforehand, and follow whatever dietary guidelines your spiritual group recommends. Usually this means a cleanse of only fresh organic fruits and vegetables for a couple days beforehand, and avoiding eating any processed food, heavy meats, or overripe bananas and avocados (those two are specifically singled out).
A friend of mine made the mistake of eating fast food before his first ceremony. During his journey he saw visions of tortured animals, and spent three hours being chased around by an evil Ronald McDonald. If you introduce new toxins, you might have to clear them during ceremony.
Creating the Space
Only take ayahuasca in the company of a trusted spiritual healer. You will need someone who can hold space, lead you through the journey, and help you integrate afterward. Not all spiritual groups are equal. Check in with your higher self before participating in ceremonies and trust your instincts.
Ayahuasca is powerful magic. If you don’t heed the spiritual warnings, look at it this way—you’re ingesting a compound that can completely reset your entire neuro-chemisty. There were points during my journey where I forgot my name, and feared I might not come back. The shaman and your intention will ensure your return.
The medicine works it’s magic regardless of circumstances. If ayahuasca is meant to be a part of your path, it will find you. More important than anything else I have or could write is that you remember your intention. Enter the ceremony knowing clearly what you are wanting vibrationally. Then let go and surrender to whatever comes up during the journey.
The Journey
I’ve said very little about the actual experience because I don’t want to color anyone’s intention. Plus, it’s very different for each person. Ayahuasca contains DMT, the chemical released in the brain during dreaming. Trying to describe my experience would be like trying to share a very profound dream.
Some people report feelings of deep love and euphoria. I had what could be called a “bad trip” but it was exactly what I needed in my spiritual path. I was put on a journey over which I had no control and had completely surrender to the divine or burn at the hands of my ego. For a time, there was no ‘me,’ just ego and awareness fighting over dominion of my soul. Ego held me hostage with white knuckled fists, and awareness surrounded it, laughing because it didn’t stand a chance. I finally understood the meaning of the phrase “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”
Part of my journey involved being told that I didn’t have to seek ayahuasca out again. I’d taken it for my own spiritual pride. The same pride that brought me to the medicine was the pride the medicine needed to cure. If I am to take ayahuasca again, it will be because it finds me. I’m open to it, but neither seeking it nor resisting it. Whatever spirit wants, thy will be done.
Integration
More important that the experience itself is integrating well. Unless the journey impacts your life it’s just spiritual tourism. There is a saying—after the ecstascy, the laundry—meaning after peak experiences, ground yourself in the mundane. The daily world is just as important as any spiritual realm you could travel to.
Plan on giving yourself several days afterward to integrate. Don’t schedule any major work or engagements for close to a week afterward. Remember, you may have reset your entire neuro-chemistry. Your body will need to rest. Journal, reflect, and take time to integrate your experience so you can use the lessons gained moving forward.
After ceremony, my friends said I was more myself after than they’d ever seen me before. I’ve never laughed and smiled as much as I did the day after ceremony. I felt grateful for every moment of my experience no matter how painful, because I knew just being incarnated in this world is a gift. There was nothing left to control. I was just along for the ride.
Read More: Why You Should Embark On A Pilgrimage
http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/files/2013/06/fedoradgentleman.jpg
Kudos for a well-presented post on the subject of spiritual healing / shamanic journeying that RoK can be proud of. I have studied Western physics and this is ancient physics. If you have the inclination, Terence McKennas methods for journeying bear an essay (or ten!). Graham Hancock’s “Supernatural”, read with an open mind, is incredibly well-researched on the pay helix world and connection to our DNA. It seems very likely that many animals on this planet were wired to be sensitive to the ‘language’ hidden in so-called junk DNA, which may be what psychedelics activate.
Excellent recommendations for trusting your higher self. After some openings facilitated through meditation, I had a very profound journey (at home in silent darkness) with a small amount of ingested Cannabis. It was a transformative experience.
In the West, ego is held as a God, which has caused this society to lose touch with our true nature. Psychedelics, part of our history for many millennia, dissolve ego structures. They are our planet healers and the most important medicine we can mindfully take.
‘Pay helix world’ = psychedelic. No, not tripping!
http://25.media.tumblr.com/22b964932776dce813d06a1d8e0d7fe2/tumblr_mpm975WgFn1qgyf27o1_500.gif
At least he is no longer a fedora-wearing neckbeard.
Ayahuasca is the real deal. If you try to use it like a recreational drug, you are going to suffer. It is medicine, but unlike any other medicine on Earth. Actually Ayahuasca is unlike any other experience on Earth. I couldn’t even begin to describe my encounter with it here, but I can tell you that you’re not going to want to do it alone. That was a big mistake I made. You might just see some funny colors and go to sleep, but it’s much more likely that your mind and life will be changed forever by this stuff. Do your research beforehand and be careful.
I intensely wanted to be alone each time while on it. It felt so much more comfortable to be away from anyone else and be absorbed by the night. The presence of others was irritating and distracting in a way that made me feel constricted by them even though they were not interacting with me.
I understand that completely. I’m just saying that the experience can be so intense and overwhelming and strange that even if you don’t have a shaman guiding you, you do want to have some kind of “trip sitter” around to watch over things.
Awesome article! I went to Peru with some friends to drink the brew, it had been a dream of mine for ten years since I got serious about my spirituality. My experience was also a “bad trip,” also exactly what I needed. Men of the west need a revival of a compelling and living spirituality.
Finally a good spiritual article on RoK. I never did DMT or Ayauhausa but I did do LSD once, and it blew my fucking mind. I also did Ecstasy and it seems like the best drug, it gives you a very good feeling. Can someone write an article about their E experience? I’ve read lots of very blissful E trips on erowid.com, that has millions of drug reports.
Im a little older than most of the dudes here. We dropped acid all the time in high school. “Blotter” acid, on drop on a piece of white construction paper that was visible under a blacklight. “4-way Blotter” as in 4 hits per “Blot”. Usually you did a 1/2 hit. Within 20 minutes you were laughing your ass off at freekin’ anything! It was fun. Everyone even chicks did it all the time. Made you a little jittery sometimes because they used to cut it with minute amounts of stryrchnine to enhance the colors. A full hit would get you pretty wasted. Almost a little too wasted. I did two full hits once in my bedroom because I sure didnt want to go outside in the real world on that much. Your perception is truly distorted – something 6 inches away looked like it was 6 feet away.
But I can concur with what other commenters have stated — there is a world in between what you see and feel and what really exists that you have no idea is there…until you are tripping.
As far as bad trips, its like going to the bar to drink alone after your wife left you and you lost your job and got a speeding ticket that day. You go into it with the wrong mindset – you will bum out.
Its a mind expanding drug. A good book on it is Timothy Leary’s Politics of Ecstasy.
Love the article!
I’ve taken LSD and had similar experiences. I know DMT and I will eventually cross paths, but I’m not actively seeking it. I need to implement the lessons from my last journey. The last time I took it, I hadn’t implemented the previous lessons. It lead me to a dark place, and my first “ego death” (forgot my name as well).
I like how you emphasize remembering your intention. Psychedelics are not party drugs, as movies like Fear and Loathing depict. You will come out the other end a changed person. Words can’t describe the experience, you really have to try it for yourself. I need to emphasize they are not party drugs!!! Know what you’re getting into – research the effects. Make sure you’re in a comfortable setting with people you trust. And don’t do it just because it’s offered – you need to seek it out of your own volition. I had an acquaintance commit suicide shortly after trying LSD. He didn’t do the research; was in an uncomfortable, unfamiliar setting (different city, friends parents lurking, etc).
I think if everyone on the planet was required to take a psychedelic drug as a sort of right of passage, the problems that plague us would be almost instantly solved. Like an entire grade 12 course preparing you for the journey that will ensue. I am an atheist but LSD put me in touch with the spiritual world. There is definitely more to this existence than meets the eye. It’s much deeper than this 4-dimensional universe. Psychedelics are very humbling. They don’t show you everything, but they show you that you know absolutely nothing.
Yea, psychedelics show us the goal, enlightenment, a higher state of consciousness. But then we have to do the hard work, and this is why many people turn to yoga or meditation and other types of spiritual life, to regain that high state of consciousness naturally. Many yogis and saints in the Himalayas in India are naturally at that cosmic level. THere was some book called Cosmic Consciousness that Ray Manzarek recommended, has anyone read it?
I started doing mantra chanting, the Hare Krsna mantra, Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare and I went and lived in India and visited a few holy places. The holy place of Vrindavan (Krishna’s birthplace) is the most divine realm on this planet, if you go there, you will immediately notice that the atmosphere there is something other-worldly, the vibrations there are so fucking incredible, if you want to know what the highest happiness, the highest realm is, just go there and experience it yourself. It’s about a 2 hour drive away from Delhi.
it was impressive only cause you primed yourself to be impressed. if you build up your excitement over weeks before the trip itself, on that fateful day they could probably show you a crappy mud hut and you’d still be taken aback because in your head that shit-hut is the best thing in the universe. don’t explain with spirituality what can easily be explained by human nature. d’oh!
One time when I was a teenager I was doing “acid” and got my finger caught in a car jack. It was an enlightening experience.
On yet another occasion my friends and I were doing acid and went to Dunkin Donuts. It was raining real hard and some friends of the kids working there came in and thought they could dry off their sneakers in the oven. Of course the shoes melted all over the oven.
Im on acid right now.
I just had a hallucination that your comments were funny.
Had a friend who went to the Indianopolis 500 on acid. I asked him did he have a good time.
“No. I felt like a piece of rubber, and my jaw hurt from grinding my teeth”, he said.
Lol. So, you were serious.
You wouldnt have known of the term “peaking” if you hadnt done it. Hahaha.
Whatever you do, do not take LSD and listen to this album, unless you want to awaken from your illusion and wake up as a God
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEQtD9rrKqw
More like you will wake up with a sore anus.
Mahavishnu Orchestra is what you want to listen to. The live album.
I woke up from my illusion and saw God once. I had eaten chinese food that was left out on the counter all day, and for a few hours, I had perfect clarity. After about 2 hours, I had noisy diarrhea and farted constantly for like 4 days straight.
This article is very timely for me, I’m scheduled for a three day retreat next week. I am not a stranger to Shamans or to psychedelics, that said I am looking for more guidance in regards to integration. Without proper post journey debriefing and guidance the experience becomes moot.
Congrats. Good luck in your journey. May it be so.
I did it. I noticed after the ceremony that everyone had a different takeaway. I think the medicine acts like a giant magnifying glass on your ego. That is, if you have “issues” prior to the ceremony you will have massive issues during the trip. I had some intentions to bring to the medicine prior to the trip but the plant revealed answers that were much larger than my petty concerns. I was shown “the cosmic trick” during my session…it was beautiful. I can’t tell you what I saw because good magicians should never show the mechanics of a trick, to do so would make the world less fun.
Great article and very interesting video with Gabor Mate
As someone who experienced N’N-DMT 5 years ago (A short but extremely intense version of ayahusca without the vomiting, which is smoked) I can say without a doubt that it was a moment of catharsis that changed my life at the most fundamental level. I had tried an array of psychedelics before this (LSD, Mushrooms, Mescaline) but none of them impacted me in the way DMT did, it really is in a league of its own.
To be shown you know absolutely nothing with such overwhelming presence, and surrendering into the grace of your own true self is a very humbling and powerful sensation.
“Ayahuasca works like poison control, soaking up toxins in the body, and pouring them out through your throat, to cleanse the body both spiritually and physically.”
No.
I had to stop myself from vomiting when I read that line of the article.
It’s symbolic if anything. You’ve clearly never tried it though so not sure what you’re trying to achieve by posting that.
exactly. you puke because you ingested poison. end of story.
I´m very pleasantly surprised by this article! Proof that ROK has interesting people as authors with more to say than just the run of the mill PU stuff.
I´m originally from Sao Paulo, Brazil, and lived in the Amazon region from 2010 to 2013.
During my stay, I joined one of the more traditional ayahuasca groups/schools and used to drink the brew once a month. Needless to say, it was a period full of intense learning experiences!
Ayahuasca is a medicine that works on multiple levels. Apart from being a psycho-spiritual cleanser (thus, the purging), it also acts as a very potent perception enhancer.
To be clear, it augments the power of the 5 senses and also awakens those that lie latent in us. A very common event is the experience of visions with eyes closed, which can be explained as episodes of temporary clairvoyance.
After a few experiences, one begins to get a grasp of how these spiritual senses work and learns to navigate inside the spiritual dimensions that ayahuasca gives access to .
Ayahuasca is also interesting as an entrance into the world of traditional shamanic medicine in the sense that it shows one how holistic medicines are supposed to work and opens up a very rich field of study: that of the traditional medicine of different cultures, such as traditional Chinese Medicine, ayurveda, or traditional western medicine, as well as western and eastern spagyrics and Paracelsus´ school of medicinal alchemy.
As a perception booster, the shamanic brew can also be used to enhance the experience of traditional yoga practices such as the chanting of mantras and meditation, as well as the western practice of the conjuring spirits from within a circle of protection into a triangle of manifestation.
All in all, ayahuasca is a very potent tool for those seeking to experience the metaphysical.
I´m always happy to discuss ayahuasca with like minded folks!
hallucinations are not spiritual experiences. grow up.
You seem awfully sure of yourself and also a bit angry.
Is your authority based on direct experience or at least in-depth study?
Lose the attitude and perhaps people will engage you in discussion.
Henrique, you were seeing demons. Stay away from that. You are putting a curse on your life.
Do you know the definition of alternative medicine? It’s either medicine that has not been proven to work, or medicine that has been proven not to work. Do you know what they call alternative medicine that has been proven to work? Medicine.
Spirituality is great, absolutely, and it has many benefits. But once you enter the realm of attributing a drug with some form of spiritual healing that has real world affects on your body, you’re leaving the realm of rational thought. I’m not denying it helped you, and many others. All I’m saying is their is no such thing as magic, and to think that spiritual shamans of the past, and modern ones still living in the past, know more than modern science is absolutely foolish.
Go ahead and do what you’d like and what works for you, but realize what you’re doing is in a realm seperately from reason and evidence and reality, and do not present it as such.
I apologize if it was unclear in that first post. I’m not denying that it works at tripping you the fuck out. All I’m saying is that it’s a drug, and nothing more. It’s no different than LSD or pot. It’s just a drug to trip you out and what ever benefit you take from that isn’t “medicine” it’s a trip.
The bottom line is this: one Ayahuasca retreat can solve what 15-20 years of traditional psychotherapy-antidepressant rx aka “medicine” you are so fond of, would fail to do every time.
The US psychiatric-pharmaceutical complex has as much credibility as Monsanto. It’s designed around maximizing treatment/profit, not curing people.
“The bottom line is this: one Ayahuasca retreat can solve what 15-20 years of traditional psychotherapy-antidepressant rx aka “medicine” you are so fond of, would fail to do every time.”
Please cite your source. If that were true doctors would be prescribing ayahuasca
“doctors would be perscribing ayahusaca”. Exactly, because the AMA and US Government are perfect and you should always trust everything they say and do what they tell you to do. Don’t forget to take your adderrall and zoloft today.
It’s been difficult to impossible to study psychedelics in the USA but here is a professor who has done some clinical studies in SA, for those who are interested:
http://iceers.org/science-interest-ayahuasca.php#.Uxj6wPldUWI
So you’re saying that every single doctor in the western world is part of the conspiracy or too stupid to think for themselves?
Wow. Cite your sources. Also the US is not the world, and yet the rest of theworld still isn’t prescribing psychedelics as treatment for addiction, depression, the mange, boll weevils, the Marthambles, cancer, nocturnal emmissions, or whatever.
Not saying this stuff doesn’t help you to get to know yourself. I’m just noting that this is probably not the next Magic Bullet.
So I comment about the “American Medical Association & US Government” and you equate that with “every single doctor”? Interesting. Tell me more, it’s helpful as I’m doing a research project on the auto-defense mechanisms of human sheep.
Why are all you haters taking the time to comment here anyway? You obviously aren’t going to try it, so apparently you are here to “save” others from making a huge mistake? How white-knight of you. Like it’s such a big deal with long term consequences. Let people go and find out for themselves and decide if it works for them. Why do you care so much about what other people do anyway, you are the same people who vote against marijuana legalization.
Ayahuasca is no magic bullet. You aren’t going to be a different personality. But from my personal experience of using it and observations of others, my sincere belief is this: if everyone taking anti-depressants/anxiety meds went did a legit Ayahuasca retreat, I believe the majority would be able to drop their meds without any negative consequences and they will be rid of their anxiety and depression. That’s my belief based on my own direct experience and observing others. I could be wrong; I’m no doctor. But here’s the thing, you have very little to lose and a lot to gain. So just go to Peru and find out for yourself. Then you are in a position to give an informed opinion.
Again, feel free to come back and tell me to cite my sources, but just be real that you are giving an opinion about something you have absolutely no direct knowledge of.
Well, as someone who does have direct knowledge, this “if everyone taking anti-depressants/anxiety meds went did a legit Ayahuasca retreat, I believe the majority would be able to drop their meds without any negative consequences and they will be rid of their anxiety and depression.” I highly doubt.
Even shamans will tell you that you need to “top off” the experience every 3 months or so. It is very likely the natural MAOI in ayahuasca that temporarily alleviates symptoms of depression. The drug eventually leaves your body and you are back in the same place you started.
There is more to ayahuasca to be discovered for sure, but it is not a magic bullet by any means.
1. Where is “magic bullet” mentioned in the article or anything I’ve said? I fully concede there is nothing magic about Ayahuasca. You are still the same person with the same life once you “come back”. Note I also said “majority will be able to drop meds”. Majority, not everyone. I know that some people it’s just not going to “click” for.
2. I also concede that the verdict is still out on permanent, lasting change. I really don’t think that you go back to zero, but yes, “maintenance” is recommended by shamans depending on the person/case. Let me ask you this though. If you had a close friend who was depressed, what would you rather see them doing – an Ayahuasca session every 6 months, or a daily dose of prozac/zoloft and seeing a shrink once a week? To each is own, but personally I’d rather see my friends working with a plant that’s been used for thousands of years, than a chemical manufactured by Eli Lilly factory.
I lost my two best friends in a car accident. I was still fucked up over it even 2 years out. Ayahuasca helped me to finally process it and put it behind me. A guy I was with on the retreat was an Iraq war vet with PTSD. He saw some harrowing shit. All the drugs/counseling he’d had was ineffective. I’ve kept in touch with the guy and he’s doing a lot better and is off his depression meds with no issues 9 months out. On the other hand another guy on my retreat was 50 and had been stuck in a horrible marriage for 25 years (married his 1st girlfriend/lover). He had a lot of pent up shit because he lived and worked with his wife (who owned the business) so he never stood up to her. It seemed like she basically emasculated him for 25 years. Needless to say, he couldn’t handle it and had to leave the retreat early.
So yeah like I said, not a magic bullet, and no guarantee for lasting change either, though I do believe there is a solid chance for it depending on the person/case, and how they handle the post-retreat phase. From my observation it’s at least worth trying if traditional methods aren’t kicking the problem for you.
Ron, I know several people who have gone on Ayahuasca retreats and they are still suffering from depression and other mental-emotional issues.
As referenced in the article, the clinical applications of Ayahuasca to drug treatment, de-toxifying the body, and permanently changing neurochemistry have been well studied.
“Ayahuasca works like poison control, soaking up toxins in the body, and pouring them out through your throat, to cleanse the body both spiritually and physically.”
This drug magically absorbing “toxins” in your body, and SPIRITUAL cleansing have been scientifically studied? I don’t think you know what science, or studied mean.
This is a drug that trips you the fuck out. It’s not medicine and it’s not magic.
Chillaz braj, it’s not that big a fuckin’ deal. What you’re trying to debate has very little bearing on, well, anything.
^^^^Truth
vice news had a good doc on some weird tribal pyschoactive drug that has been shown to be really effective at treating heroin addiction this is the one: http://www.vice.com/vice-on-hbo-outtakes/kicking-heroin-with-an-ibogaine-ceremony
http://m.imdb.com/title/tt1340425/plotsummary?ref_=m_tt_stry_pl
Government-sanctioned research on DMT. This is a mind blowing documentary film.
Have you tried DMT or anything of the sort? Obviously his experience was a mental one, and not magic. Explaining this type of experience often seems futile.
Modern objective science works, no doubt. It has practical applications that propel humanity forward. The thing is, our assessment of reality is only as accurate as our tools can sense. This includes the human brain and our 5 senses.
In one of the previous articles on RoK, we talked about how nature is very selective about providing features to living organisms. Dogs can’t fly because they don’t need to. Just like our senses, we have what we need and nothing more. Could it be that our brains are wired the same way?
When on LSD I often feel as if the “filter” that my mind operates through is removed. I’m exposed to the truth. People often experience a sense of connectedness with the universe and everyone on this planet. And it’s true! We were crafted by this environment in a symbiotic relationship.
People often experience a vibrational energy, and see patterns and fractals in the mundane. This is congruent with nature as scientists have come up with string theory, the golden ratio etc. There are aspects of existence that logic may never be able to explain. How can logic explain a universe where time and space are infinite? Or the other option being that there IS a beginning – which would imply that there was once nothing. These things don’t make sense, but we accept them. It doesn’t make objective reality any less real and relevant to us.
Beautiful reply. There’s a video somewhere of scientists tripping on LSD and getting incredible inspiration. Crick admitted to being on LSD while investing the structure of DNA (double helix, which as a motif also has shown up in ‘primitive’ journeying work for thousands of years).
Anyone commenting against psychedelics who has not used them mindfully is like a virgin lecturing about sex. You have zero credibility. There is no area where our freedom is more important than exploring our own consciousness. By listening to the fear-mon getting PTB you stay exactly where they want you – dazed and confused. Witness the resulting state of the world since our connection to Source has been demonized.
I agree with everything you said! The virgin comment is bang-on. Glad someone’s on the same page.
Also agree that the PTB want you to remain ignorant. Reminds me of Mark Passio’s natural law seminar (available on youtube). Just like he says, they want you ignorant and fearful in order to control you. If everyone was to find out the truth, we would all be full of love and humility. Hardly profitable. Spend spend spend!
I didn’t know that about the DNA scientists. Gonna try to find that video. Cheers!
Also this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vX1CvW38cHA
Here you go, friend! The segment on the scientists is at 18:40:
I’m all for experiencing transcendence but Western people have proven irresponsible and dangerous when it comes to using psychedelics. They are predisposed toward addiction and destruction.
Meditation is a far superior way of achieving the same states of consciousness. And it costs nothing and can be done anywhere at anytime.
If it weren’t for the psychs I wouldn’t have tried meditation – basically the drugs are a shortcut to the same state. Sure they can be “dangerous” but so is riding a motorcycle. This is a site for men.
Have you heard of the stoned ape theory? Could it be that these monks that meditate are just trying to get back to that state? Meditation has its place, but the doors of perception need to be opened beforehand. Most people including myself describe the LSD and DMT experiences as ineffable.
You should watch the above series. And browse through the channel; many academics and intellectuals giving their personal testimony after trying psychs.
I agree Western and European people have lost touch with the spiritual side of things in our quest to dominate nature. It needs to be rekindled. I believe all religion is allegory trying to explain the same spiritual experiences. Christianity has been seized by the PTB to control the population. This was not the intention and is downright evil.
And as for the addictive criticism – there are certain drugs that are bad and some that are good. Most psychs are self-limiting. Every time I tried LSD my ass was kicked so hard. I was exposed to all my personal demons. Not exactly lazing on a Sunday afternoon. The PTB control language. “Drug” has a negative connotation, we need to have an honest discussion to decide good from bad. The truth is they don’t want us to experience these things for ourselves. Even the church would rather you just take their word for it. It’s a multi-billion dollar, tax-free business. Open your mind dude.
Can’t wait to watch it 🙂
Cameron, you are writing to me as if you are writing to someone who has absolutely no experience with psychs whatsoever. My experience is precisely why I say meditation is superior.
“Christianity has been seized by the PTB to control the population.”
What’s the PTB?
If you think you can get addicted to acid – you are a buffoon.
Dont talk about things you know zero about. It looks bad.
Just wanted to add this famous bit by Bill Hicks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7D0BeLz5blM
the only meaning your visions have are the ones you give them. your brain is on sensory overload cause of the chemicals, that’s why you get the feeling of liberation or whatever. you may think you see the ‘ultimate truth’ in your head, but you know what people around you see? some dude lying on the floor drooling and grasping at flying shit in his head. if that’s cool with you, go for it bub. me, i prefer to get my highs from the real shit in front of my eyes
Hey everybody,
I’m all for experiencing transcendence but Western people have proven irresponsible and dangerous when it comes to using psychedelics. They are predisposed toward addiction and destruction.
Meditation is a far superior and safer way of achieving the same states of consciousness. And it costs nothing and can be done anywhere at anytime.
Finally, a fellow practitioner of critical thinking!
My loss of innocence for all things eastern came from working in the far east. If you want your mind blown and your cynicism cranked up to 11, read up on the ‘barefoot doctors.’ Although eastern alternative medicine is 80% made-up by western con artists, the other 20% came from Mao’s Great Leap Forward. Without enough doctors to service China, Mao’s folks came up with the idea of giving .001% of literate rural residents the equivalent of a Boy Scout 1st aid course, and a book of standardized placebo ‘cures’ for ailments, since there was also no money for medicine… and thus, eastern Alternative medicine was born.
It’s an ugly, ugly truth. And thus China and SE Asia still has hideously underreported infant and childhood mortality, inflated longevity claims and other earmarks of a long, long con.
There is a lot more to eastern medicine than Maoist politics. Watch former Stanford professors William Tillers “conscious acts of creation” on google videos and pay attention to the interactions between doctor / patient and patient / medicine. Our beliefs are extremely important for health or sickness; placebos are more effective because there is an intensified belief that if we are given an inert substance our subtle body receives it as medicine which impacts our physical body. By the way I have a physics degree and run a company fully grounded in ‘the real world,’ making physical products. This isn’t spacey new age bullshit.
Free. Your. Mind!
Someone clearly hasn’t read the literature….
Sounds like the kind of mystical codswallop that fat chicks are addicted to.
Men live in the world of facts, not “spirituality.”
Heh, ironic name for that opinion…
What is more factual than investigating the nature of YOUR consciousness? All other so-called facts reside inside awareness. What is the nature of the substrate you stack this ‘world of facts’ upon?
Men investigate then judge, including the very subtle facts that are so obvious they’re ignored or taken for granted.
Very interesting. Any suggestion on where to find someone good to help me experience this..??
http://www.mensjournal.com/magazine/the-dark-side-of-ayahuasca-20130215
I’d recommend at least reading this before booking a trip to South America.
I got back 2 weeks ago from a 9-day Ayahuasca retreat at The Way Inn, near Huaraz, Peru. I chose this venue after hearing good things/researching, and I really liked the idea of a retreat based in the mountains rather than the jungle so I could get some hiking/climbing in. It’s an amazing location, right by a national park.
You are staying at 12K feet the whole time. The altitude hit me pretty hard the first day, but then they gave me some coca-leaf tea and I was straight. There’s some awesome day hikes with the park nearby, including a glacial lake about a 3 hours hike away that is a sight to behold.
We had 5 Ayahuasca ceremonies, and a day-hike with San Pedro at the end. Personally, I’d recommend doing a longer retreat with multiple ceremonies if you can, and with an experienced Shaman (10 years+ experience working with Ayahuasca, verified). Some people don’t even feel anything the first couple times. You don’t want to ending up flying over, doing 2 ceremonies that don’t “take” and then fly back to the US. I didn’t feel a thing the first ceremony. 2nd ceremony, I was in another dimension.
I’ll skip the detail of the things I saw/experienced because that’s not important as the end result. I was able to re-examine my life and fix a lot a lot of stuff. I had baggage from my past that I didn’t event think it was affecting me, but deep down it was there like a parasite, and I was sabotaging myself in various areas of my life. The Ayahuasca brought the shit right up to the surface and allowed me to deal with it and release it.
It’s still early in the post-retreat phase for me, but I’m noticing subtle differences. For instance in my Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practice, I have always had problems with over-muscling and getting frustrated, forgetting techniques when I had already learned them, stuff like that. This is entirely subjective, but since getting back it seems like I’m learning techniques a lot faster and remembering them during live rolls, and not spazzing. I’m going with the flow, capitalizing on mistakes rather than forcing stuff to happen, not getting frustrated, etc. Outside of BJJ, I feel more level-headed, not craving alcohol or caffeine like I used to – seems like my self control and inner-security has definitely been boosted from the experience. But again, it’s early.
My take – if you are spending any time researching it, you should do it. Just go to Peru and do it. You really find out what you are made of. And don’t go the cheap route. You really need an experienced staff to guide you with the medicine and help you process it. If you just take Ayahuasca in someone idiots basement or hippie church in Portland, I really think it would backfire, especially for a first time. Go to Peru to a legit outfit. My entire retreat including bus from Lima, food, ceremonies, accommodations – everything came in at like $1,300 or so. Then I used an airlines rewards card I’d had for like 3 months and so the flight was $100.
I tried psychedelic mushrooms some years ago together with some friends. We walked through the woods for several hours smoking some pot. We had so much fun and energy and we experienced deep personal events. I was so close to nature and to an understanding of existence.
Does ayahuasca work like that? Any experiences, guys?
Psyilocyben mushies compared with acid, DMT.
No. You had a lite beer compared to Ronrico 150 proof bro.
Eat 5 grams in silent darkness and say that again I dare you.
Mushrooms contain psilocin, 4-OH-DMT. So it is very structurally similar to DMT. Mushroom experiences at heroic doses (7+ grams) can be similar to DMT experiences. And at least in my personal experience, after you do DMT once, you notice the DMT-like nature of the mushroom trip.
But a weak mushroom trip is very different from DMT. DMT is more an experience of being transported to a different dimension than ‘tripping’ on acid, mescaline, etc.
Don’t bash it til you try it you dickheads
hey antwuan, pop-quiz: is jamming a needle in your eye a good or a bad thing? bad? well, how do you know? have you tried it? no. some things are obvious and don’t need to be tried out first-hand
well the people who poked their eyes werent too happy about it after now were they? what about the people who have taken ayahuasca were they happy after?
i’m sure a heroin addict is also on cloud nine a minute after his hit. what’s your point? mine was, err on the side of caution. drinking suspicious chemicals for a kick? why? what’s next, drinking drano?
I would like to make a valuable contribution to this objective and well written article on the natural freedom we have to intoxicate ourselves.
The Union of the Plants is recognized as a church under the laws of the Great Imperialist Corporate Government of The USA.
Its religious practices are based of the consumption of Ayahuasca. Or something almost identical to it.
The US law allows you to use ayahuasca in a religious setting.
You only need to join UDV:
udvusa.org
You are all fuckin’ welcome
Long live anarchy as a model of political organization that we can all customize at the expense of the rich and powerful.
@
Go back to woodstock, hippie. Take your primitive savage “medicine” with you and stick it where the sun don’t shi…oops, almost gave you strange folks another idea.
This was interesting- but please be clear- what toxins are we talking about, as far as this stuff goes?
“Toxins” is a byword that has no definition. It’s a bullshit filler word, or you would name the particular chemical- and this is apropos of nothing in this article, as it doesn’t take away from the message that this stuff can give you insight via poisoning you physically and causing physiological change in brain chemistry.
Well, let’s be clear again: hallucinations are caused by poisoning or adversely altering the biological environment of neural tissue… in that respect, this stuff actually is the ‘toxin,’ but that’s not my point. My point is that we should be aware of spurious claims or outright lies. This stuff doesn’t purge the body of ‘toxins’ unless it binds on a molecular level with other chemicals that are harmful. Does it do this?
I doubt it. It might, however, stimulate deep thought and new ideas, which is pretty interesting. But let’s be rational- this stuff may lead to spiritual insight, but it is not doing everything you claim. It is not clearing imaginary ‘toxins.’ Few things do. I’d say it does enough interesting stuff without adding spurious claims.
if you rely on external stimulus to even your keel, you are weak. drugs, alcohol, video games, porn, compulsive spending, they are all there to mask the underlying problem you have. and as all crutches, the more you use them the more you need them. but hell it’s a semi-free country, what do i care what you do..
use your common sense, you dumbasses. if you throw up, that means your body thinks what you just drank is FUCKING POISON. trust your body – that’s what the reflex is for, to protect you from ingesting harmful shit! sure you wannabe hippies may frame it as ‘sin leaving the body’ or whatever you wanna call it, but in the end, it’s exactly as spiritual as puking from drinking 20 beers. the biological processes are identical, just that with beer you drop the pretentiousness of having a spiritual enlightening or whatever.
Someone has been listening to the Joe Rogan podcast a little too much…
This whole article reads like a shit test.
So the question is, does anyone have recommendation as to where some of us can find reputable Shamans to undergo the procedure.
I’m here in Brazil… Rio to be more specific…
For the curious ones and naysaying psychedelic virgins (hah!), watch scientists on LSD solve vexing problems in their research. Taken from ‘Inside LSD’ documentary.
James Fadiman is the featured Stanford researcher here.
http://www.jamesfadiman.com
Sorry, man, but you didn`t see the Holy Spirit. You saw demons. God would never participate in a ritual that He expressly condemns.
Ayuasca, or the Daime, is the most potent drug used to destroy the natural protection that God gave us against spiritual world. You take it, you are totally vulnerable to any spiritual being. You are playing on their turf, naked and fragile.
Most people see giant black bats with leathery wings. Is that a good thing? Other have had heart attacks, women have been raped by gurus while in trance. Here in Sao Paulo, a guy toook ayuasca and killed a father and a son.
Stay away from that shit, don`t be the naive foreigner who falls for the exotic stuff.
I really don’t understand the hatred for “The West” on ROK. If it wasn’t for this West that you so much despise, we would be living back in the stone age eating eachother like animals.
I great lot of ignorant comments here regarding psychedelics, but not exactly surprising. Psychedelic experiences are probably the only ones in which those who have not and refuse to try them out believe themselves less biased than those that actually have.
The undeserved hate and fear associated with them are sure signs that government instilled taboo trumps rationality to this day. There is clinical evidence that they can in fact improve mental wellbeing in a significant number of patients and yet they are still Schedule 1 drugs unlike heroine and cocaine.
Part of the red pill is deconditioning your mind from groupthink processes and strategies to limit and control your consciousness, the most immediate and liberating aspects of the psychedelic experience. They are natural allies of any free thinker. If you tried them, you would laugh at your own ignorance of the subject and ponder the inherent illness of a society that rejects them.