Using Entheogens to enter Non- Dual awareness

James Fadiman, Ph.D. (Author/Reseacher) Not surprisingly, most descriptions of non-dual experiences are inadequate and most theories even less useful. Studies suggest, that 80% of people having one safe, high dose entheogenic journey rate it the most important event in their lives. Therefore, to focus on how to enhance the probability of having such an experience, its basic characteristics and the qualities of knowledgeable guides can be valuable. Yes, there are other ways, but throughout history, and especially now, entheogens used rightly are powerful facilitators. Other uses and doses may be explored as well.

“Confessions of a Modern Mystic – Entheogens, consciousness, and the examination of our reality.”

James Oroc (Author) In his book about the rare entheogen 5-MeO-DMT, Tryptamine Palace, author James Oroc examines the mystical non-dualistic state induced by the use of powerful endogenous entheogens DMT and 5-MeO-DMT. Over the course of a 5 year investigation, Oroc created an intriguing hypotheses incorporating theories on a Quantum model for consciousness that utilizes the unique properties of extreme patterns of coherence (called Bose-Einstein condensates) (Danah Zohar), and emerging information on the recently realized Zero-Point (or Akashic) Field (Ervin Laszlo), to create a model of understanding for both the entheogenic experience, and the mystical experience to which tradition it rightfully belongs.

Utilizing this hypotheses, Oroc explains both how the transpersonal realm can be accessed by entheogen users, the role of the ego in denying us these realms, and now and why even previously atheist entheogen users can believe they have encountered the reality of G-D within their experiences.

“Not since Terence McKenna have I read a book on entheogens that was so thoroughly entertaining, well-researched, and informative – and with a mind-blowing hypotheses at its core … So if your looking for a book that skillfully weaves together mysticism, cutting-edge science, and far-out story telling, Tryptamine Palace is “highly” recommended.” - High Times, Jan 2010.

Psychedelics and Non-Dualism: An Entheological Perspective on the Unitary Nature of Reality

Martin Ball, Ph.D. (Author) What is really meant by the mystical claim that "all is One," and, if true, what does this imply for our experience of reality and being? In this talk, Martin W. Ball, Ph.D., will present his unique perspective of the "Entheological Paradigm," which centers on the intentional use of entheogenic or psychedelic compounds to come to a direct experience of the fundamental nature of reality. Based on original conclusions reached through his own entheogenic work, Dr. Ball will discuss how psychedelics work as tools to transcend the ego and experience what he characterizes as a "full energetic opening," where individuals are able to immediately experience the true infinite nature of being. The implications are radical: Each individual is a direct embodiment of the One Being that is All, or more simply put, God. Dr. Ball will discuss how psychedelics function to help one experience and accept this as reality and self-liberate from all limiting constricts of the ego and cultural belief systems. Central to this work is the idea of reframing discussion of psychedelic experiences and mystical states of consciousness into a language of energy and energetic experience. Non-dual awareness is therefore described as a “full energetic opening.” This reframing has far-reaching implications for our understanding of consciousness, being, and the fundamental nature of reality as a holistic, integrated, and unified fractal energetic system. Understanding consciousness as fractal energy brings conscious experience into the same framework that we can discuss the development of inorganic/physical reality as an energetic fractal system. Such a reframing also renders religious and metaphysical beliefs about non-duality obsolete and bridges the gap between mystical experience and scientific knowledge.

Does MDMA belong in your therapist’s and psychiatrist’s office?

Rick Doblin, Ph.D. (Founder and Director of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies) By sponsoring MDMA-assisted psychotherapy research around the world, MAPS is developing MDMA into a prescription medicine. MAPS' mission is 1) to treat conditions for which conventional medicines provide limited relief—such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), pain, drug dependence, anxiety and depression associated with end-of-life issues—by developing psychedelics and marijuana into prescription medicines; 2) to treat many thousands of people by building a network of clinics where treatments can be provided; and 3) to educate the public honestly about the risks and benefits of psychedelics and marijuana. MAPS explores issues surrounding pharmacologically–altered states of consciousness. Rick has positioned MAPS directly at the center of the conflict between scientific freedom and the politically–driven strategy of the War on Drugs. The contemporary status of prohibition categorizes all illegal drug uses as destructive and blurs all distinctions between use and abuse. MAPS’ focus on altered states of consciousness also requires MAPS to deal with deep–seated cultural and individual ambivalence toward religious experiences, the exploration of the unconscious mind, fear of death and loss of control, and powerful emotional states. MAPS takes great efforts to find ways to balance the hopes and fears of government regulators, scientific researchers, and people with a non–medical (e.g. spiritual, recreational, artistic, creative problem–solving) interest in psychedelic drugs and marijuana. Rick believes that psychedelics and marijuana, when used in proper settings, can be beneficial for such uses as psychotherapeutic treatment, physiological research and treatment, spiritual exploration, creativity research, shamanic healing, brain physiology research and related scientific inquiries.

MDMA - primal innocence

Matthew Baggott, Ph.D. (Neuroscientist at California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute) MDMA –popularly called ‘Ecstasy’– was once nicknamed ‘Adam’ by psychotherapists who believed that it produced a condition of primal innocence. However, the drug soon left its therapeutic Eden for nightclubs and bars where innocence became Ecstasy, resulting in both a global dance culture and a global drug prohibition. This story echoes not only the older story of how LSD fell from grace, but also the myth of the Fall of Man. Different traditional views of this story may therefore illuminate the history and science of MDMA and help us answer the questions that naturally form: Who or what fell? What knowledge did the fruit really bring? What is the garden and how has society tried to peek over its wall? And, now that the door to this garden may be opening again, if only by a crack, what is inside?

Embodied Spiritual Expression: Themes from Ayahuasca Shamanism and other Spiritual Traditions

Dr. Frank Echenhofer (Professor of Clinical Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies) Ayahuasca is an Amazonian shamanic entheogenic brew used by indigenous communities for at least a thousand years. Since the 1950’s South American syncretic churches have used ayahuasca in religious rituals. Since 2000 I have conducted qualitative research in Peru and Brazil examining the subjective experiences occurring after ayahuasca ingestion. Of the many kinds of ayahuasca experiences, my talk focuses on spontaneous transformative experiences. When individuals are capable of expressing these experiences I refer to them as spontaneous transformative expression. Such expressions can be in words, painting, drawing, singing, gesture, movement, or dance. I will attempt to compare these spontaneous transformative expressions to the historical sacred literature describing forms of spiritual experience and expression that are highly spontaneous, subtle and transformative. Within Zen Buddhism, there is the story of the Buddha’s Flower Sermon where he held up a flower up to the gathering before him. It has been seen as his wordless way of encapsulating the ineffable suchness of experience and supports the notion that the most refined teaching cannot rely on words but requires extremely refined and subtle expressive spiritual forms.

        In order to convey the non-conceptual aspect of my research results, regarding how specific kinds of expression may depict the dynamics of spontaneous transformative experiences, I will present a series of images from ayahuasca and other entheogenic experiences, the spiritual traditions, the creative arts, and animate and inanimate forms. The concepts of mudra, archetype, and images schema will be used to better understand these findings. Mudra will be examined as a spiritual gesture and energetic seal of authenticity. The energetic aspect of Jung’s archetypes of transformation will be considered involving situations and places. Image schema will be considered as recurring pervasive prelinguistic cognitive structures formed from our embodied interactions with our natural, linguistic, and cultural worlds.

The Grand Illusion: A psychonautical odyssey into the depths of human experience

Steven Lehar, (Scientist/Independent Researcher)

What is it like to be a conscious being? Normally we are apt to say that consciousness is just being aware of the world as it is. This is the philosophy of naive realism. But there are some peculiar glitches in the fabric of conscious experience that hint at a secret world of hidden knowledge. Like the dizzy sensation that we get after spinning round and round. And the after-image that appears after seeing a camera flash. As children, we are intrigued by these peculiar glitches. But after they have become familiar, we simply forget about them and don't notice any more. This is where psychedelic drugs can be helpful, to pry open again the innocent eyes of childhood, and let us notice these visual anomalies again. Under LSD people see "trails", a visual after-image that clearly reveals the indirectness of perception. And under LSD I observed the peculiar warp of perspective that I had been there all along, but I simply ignored it because of its familiarity. Is the warp of perspective real, or is it illusory? Do the sides of a road converge toward a vanishing point in the distance, or do they not? Under more powerful dissociative drugs, I experienced full free-wheeling hallucinations, an endless fountain of images that gushed forth spontaneously in my mind. These hallucinations clearly reveal the powerful image-generation capacity of the human mind. Our view of the world is not direct, but rather, our experience is like a guided hallucination, a synthetic world fabricated by our mind in an attempt to replicate external reality. In other words, beyond the farthest things that you can perceive in all directions is the inner surface of your physical skull.