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Post by Admin on Jul 21, 2020 0:38:07 GMT
A single inhalation of vapor from dried toad secretion containing 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT) in a naturalistic setting is related to sustained enhancement of satisfaction with life, mindfulness-related capacities, and a decrement of psychopathological symptoms pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30982127/Abstract Background: 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (hereinafter referred to as 5-MeO-DMT) is a psychedelic substance found in the secretion from the parotoid glands of the Bufo alvarius toad. Inhalation of vapor from toad secretion containing 5-MeO-DMT has become popular in naturalistic settings as a treatment of mental health problems or as a means for spiritual exploration. However, knowledge of the effects of 5-MeO-DMT in humans is limited. Aims: The first objective of this study was to assess sub-acute and long-term effects of inhaling vapor from dried toad secretion containing 5-MeO-DMT on affect and cognition. The second objective was to assess whether any changes were associated with the psychedelic experience. Methods: Assessments at baseline, within 24 h and 4 weeks following intake, were made in 42 individuals who inhaled vapor from dried toad secretion at several European locations. Results: Relative to baseline, ratings of satisfaction with life and convergent thinking significantly increased right after intake and were maintained at follow-up 4 weeks later. Ratings of mindfulness also increased over time and reached statistical significance at 4 weeks. Ratings of depression, anxiety, and stress decreased after the session, and reached significance at 4 weeks. Participants that experienced high levels of ego dissolution or oceanic boundlessness during the session displayed higher ratings of satisfaction with life and lower ratings of depression and stress. Conclusion: A single inhalation of vapor from dried toad secretion containing 5-MeO-DMT produces sub-acute and long-term changes in affect and cognition in volunteers. These results warrant exploratory research into therapeutic applications of 5-MeO-DMT. Keywords: 5-MeO-DMT; Affect; Altered states of consciousness; Bufo alvarius; Cognition; Field study; Psychedelic; Satisfaction with life. 5-MeO-DMT: The 20-Minute Psychoactive Toad Experience That’s Transforming Lives www.forbes.com/sites/davidcarpenter/2020/02/02/5-meo-dmt-the-20-minute-psychoactive-toad-experience-thats-transforming-lives/www.youtube.com/results?search_query=toad+bufo+5-MeO-DMT en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5-MeO-DMTpsychonautwiki.org/wiki/5-MeO-DMTthethirdwave.co/psychedelics/5-meo-dmt/
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Post by Admin on Jul 23, 2020 17:23:06 GMT
Rick Strassman Returns With ‘DMT and the Soul of Prophecy’ BY ANDREI BURKE ultraculture.org/blog/2014/10/10/dmt-soul-prophecy-rick-strassman/Is There a Biological Basis for Spiritual Experience? Rick Strassman’s interest in DMT stems from his desire to find a biological basis for spiritual experience—not an explanation that rationalizes and reduces spirituality to events in the brain but rather the biological means through which spirituality manifests in the physical body. Strassman also stresses that DMT and other psychedelics are not the cause of or replacement for genuine spiritual experiences, but also does not rule out that genuine spiritual experiences can in part be evinced by DMT. This is not one of those “Everyone in the Bible was high and seeing UFO’s!” kind of books; it is far more intelligent and cogently argued for that. Rick Strassman does not break new ground with DMT and the Soul of Prophecy, but he does provide some interesting insight into the meaning of the DMT experience and the importance of prophecy in spiritual vision. While DMT and the Soul of Prophecy is not as Third Eye-opening as DMT: The Spirit Molecule, it’s a thoroughly engaging book and essential reading for anyone interested in the topic of psychedelics and spiritual experience. Thanks to Inner Traditions for providing us with a copy!
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Post by Admin on Jul 23, 2020 17:29:42 GMT
What is uniMIND? uniMIND aims to set up academic discussion groups that meet and talk about psychedelic science. Students and senior academics of any level and any background engage in a critical discourse on altered states of consciousness and psychedelics. The discussion revolves around their application in basic and clinical research, the brain sciences, philosophy, and human development. International psychedelic science is regaining momentum in dozens of universities. Current research findings show that psychedelics can be effective therapeutic agents in the treatment of mental conditions such as depression, anxiety, addiction, and trauma. Besides their effect in treating mental disorders, psychedelics are shown to promote creativity, productivity, and wellbeing in supporting contexts. MDMA and psilocybin are currently in clinical trials for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder and treatment-resistant depression, respectively. uniMIND groups meet regularly at a convenient location. One person gets to present a publication/topic/project per meeting using e.g. slides, handouts, or an oral presentation. Topics may cover any discipline of psychedelic science, from psychotherapy and neuroscience to anthropology and social science. The topic has to be shared prior to the meeting, to allow the rest of the group to prepare. Ultimately, uniMIND aspires to initiate dialogue about psychedelic science that educates and inspires. It can be the starting point for writing bachelor, master and doctoral thesis, collaboration for project application, and building risk-aware and vivid communities. mind-foundation.org/unimind-groups/
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Post by Admin on Jul 26, 2020 14:41:35 GMT
Survey of subjective "God encounter experiences": Comparisons among naturally occurring experiences and those occasioned by the classic psychedelics psilocybin, LSD, ayahuasca, or DMT Roland R. Griffiths ,Ethan S. Hurwitz,Alan K. Davis,Matthew W. Johnson,Robert Jesse Published: April 23, 2019https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0214377 journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0214377Abstract Naturally occurring and psychedelic drug–occasioned experiences interpreted as personal encounters with God are well described but have not been systematically compared. In this study, five groups of individuals participated in an online survey with detailed questions characterizing the subjective phenomena, interpretation, and persisting changes attributed to their single most memorable God encounter experience (n = 809 Non-Drug, 1184 psilocybin, 1251 lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), 435 ayahuasca, and 606 N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT)). Analyses of differences in experiences were adjusted statistically for demographic differences between groups. The Non-Drug Group was most likely to choose "God" as the best descriptor of that which was encountered while the psychedelic groups were most likely to choose "Ultimate Reality." Although there were some other differences between non-drug and the combined psychedelic group, as well as between the four psychedelic groups, the similarities among these groups were most striking. Most participants reported vivid memories of the encounter experience, which frequently involved communication with something having the attributes of being conscious, benevolent, intelligent, sacred, eternal, and all-knowing. The encounter experience fulfilled a priori criteria for being a complete mystical experience in approximately half of the participants. More than two-thirds of those who identified as atheist before the experience no longer identified as atheist afterwards. These experiences were rated as among the most personally meaningful and spiritually significant lifetime experiences, with moderate to strong persisting positive changes in life satisfaction, purpose, and meaning attributed to these experiences. Among the four groups of psychedelic users, the psilocybin and LSD groups were most similar and the ayahuasca group tended to have the highest rates of endorsing positive features and enduring consequences of the experience. Future exploration of predisposing factors and phenomenological and neural correlates of such experiences may provide new insights into religious and spiritual beliefs that have been integral to shaping human culture since time immemorial.
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Post by Admin on Aug 3, 2020 10:22:37 GMT
What Does a Common-Factors Approach Reveal About Psychedelic Therapy? Psychedelic assisted mental health research may be better-understood through the common factors of effective psychological treatments. www.madinamerica.com/2020/08/understanding-psychedelic-assisted-treatments-common-factors-lens/A new article in the forthcoming special issue of Transcultural Psychiatry: Cultural Contexts and Ethical Issues in Therapeutic Use of Psychedelics provides a review of the major contextual factors shared by various healing traditions such as psychedelic-assisted treatments, indigenous healing practices, and present-day mental healthcare in the West. The authors, Natalie Gukasyan and Sandeep Nayak of the John Hopkins Center for Psychedelics and Consciousness, provide a review of the common factor theory of psychotherapy and how it applies to psychedelic-assisted treatments. They suggest using this theory to clarify the definition and nature of possible placebo effects, which have posed considerable challenges to psychedelic research, and explain how these insights may inform future treatments and understanding across cultures. “The common factors lens allows us to more clearly see psychedelic treatment in a broader historical and cultural context. Though at face value psychedelics might appear to have exotic qualities, psychedelic-assisted treatment likely has much more in common with established forms of mental healthcare than not.”
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Post by Admin on Aug 5, 2020 14:41:28 GMT
Neuroimaging study suggests a single dose of ayahuasca produces lasting changes in two important brain networks BY ERIC W. DOLAN AUGUST 3, 2020 www.psypost.org/2020/08/neuroimaging-study-suggests-a-single-dose-of-ayahuasca-produces-lasting-changes-in-two-important-brain-networks-57565Consuming a single dose of the psychedelic brew ayahuasca can result in lasting changes in higher-order cognitive brain networks, according to a new study published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology. Ayahuasca, a concoction used for centuries by indigenous Amazon tribes, contains the powerful psychedelic drug dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and monoamine oxidase inhibitors. The brew is typically prepared using leaves from the Psychotria viridis shrub and the bark of the Banisteriopsis caapi vine. The new neuroimaging research suggests that ayahuasca may produce long-lasting effects on mood by altering the functional connectivity of the brain’s salience and default mode networks.
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Post by Admin on Aug 5, 2020 14:42:27 GMT
Canada grants first legal exemptions for psilocybin use in 50 years newatlas.com/health-wellbeing/canada-grants-legal-exemptions-psilocybin-therapsil-terminal-cancer/After waiting more than 100 days for a response, four terminally ill cancer patients have now been approved to use psilocybin to treat end-of-life distress. These patients will be the first to legally use the psychedelic in Canada for almost half a century following the country’s health minister granting them a unique special exemption.
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Post by Admin on Aug 26, 2020 8:37:18 GMT
To maintain momentum, the Psychedelic Renaissance must go mainstream. What I learned by joining the conversation by PSYCHEDELIC FRONTIER on Aug 24, 2020 psychedelicfrontier.com/psychedelic-renaissance-mainstream/The tides have turned regarding public opinion about psychedelics. Since Nixon’s 1970 Controlled Substances Act, which criminalized LSD, psilocybin, mescaline, and DMT, potential uses for these drugs have been legally stopped in their tracks and engulfed by a widespread moral panic. Until now. Not only are we seeing an uptick in vital research for clinical and therapeutic applications of drugs like psilocybin, MDMA, LSD, and ketamine, but big names from across the spectrum are speaking out in support of psychedelics and plant medicines. Bringing this conversation into the mainstream will play a key role in pushing research forward, shifting attitudes, decriminalization and, hopefully, the successful re-integration of these compounds back into modern society. Joining the conversation Keen to contribute, I decided to dip my toes into the psychedelic space and run a four-part mini series called The New Era of Psychedelics, on the podcast I co-host, Brains Byte Back. The series kicked off with Delic founder and High Times’ former VP of content, Jackee Stang. This interview covered everything from the public’s shifting perception about psychedelic drugs, the patriarchy in the psychedelic space, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the second installment of the series, I dove into the topic of microdosing with an experienced microdoser (who preferred not to give his identity) and clinical biologist and psychedelic writer, Gaurav Dubey. In episode three, I explored the therapeutic value of ayahuasca with Kat Courtney, founder of AfterLife Coach, and an Ayahuasquera who trained for 10 years with indigenous communities. The series finished with an episode on the transformative power of psilocybin with The Sociable editor and mushroom-enthusiast Tim Hinchliffe. I learned that the psychedelic renaissance is more than underway, thanks to the many individuals, organizations, and communities from across the cultural and scientific spectrum that are working relentlessly to make this revolution a reality. The movement is multifaceted; it will be a combination of continuous research, amplified diverse voices, and a commitment to open and honest discussion in mainstream forums that will help it maintain its momentum. Psychedelic research speaks for itself: A look at the science The state of research into psychedelic compounds today is a far cry from what followed post-criminalization in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s. Leading the charge are institutions like the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and the NYU Grossman School of Medicine, amongst many others. Research from these institutions is being conducted to explore the potential for psychedelic drugs to help with conditions such as addiction, depression, anxiety, and PTSD – all of which are chronic epidemics in today’s society. Currently, these are treated without great success using pharmaceuticals that are sometimes more harmful than beneficial.
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Post by Admin on Aug 31, 2020 16:43:33 GMT
Humans Have Been Using Entheogens Since the Dawn of Time, Study Shows BY ANDREI BURKE ultraculture.org/blog/2014/05/14/entheogens-dawn-time/New evidence has suggested that ancient humans regularly used entheogens and mind-altering substances as part of sacred ritual Ancient humans were tripping balls, new research shows. But unlike us, they were doing it for the right reasons, and using entheogens as part of sacred rituals. A recent study published in the Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory suggests that ancient humans did not use entheogens for hedonistic pleasure, as we often do in the modern day. Elisa Guerra-Doce of the Universidad de Valladolid in Spain contends that the use of entheogens was integral to the beliefs of prehistoric peoples, and that their use was believed to aid in communication with the spirit world. Her research adds to the growing body of cutting-edge literature about the cultural and historical context of entheogens in prehistoric Europe.
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Post by Admin on Sept 2, 2020 19:26:38 GMT
Mushrooms, moonshine and psychedelics: Merlin Sheldrake on the wild life of fungi Susannah Goldsbrough August 31, 2020, 10:38 AM GMT+1·10 mins read www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/mushrooms-moonshine-psychedelics-merlin-sheldrake-093851402.htmlWhen Merlin Sheldrake’s book, Entangled Life, arrived from the printers, he marked the occasion by eating a copy. Not plain – that would be insane. First, he dampened the pages, then he seeded them with the fungi that produce oyster mushrooms and waited for the fat, fleshy plates to sprout through the covers. “It was great!” he tells me cheerily, of chomping on two years’ worth of research and writing. “They tasted just like normal oyster mushrooms, which is encouraging. It means they fully metabolised the book.” Most authors would be more concerned with how their work was being consumed by readers, but biologist Sheldrake is rather unconventional. When we spoke over Zoom last week, he’d just returned to England from Greece, where he had been travelling with friends researching traditional wine-making methods. Traditional, meaning the way the ancient Greeks did it – by crushing grapes with your feet. “It’s quite an interesting feeling,” Sheldrake says, “stomping around on grapes. You can feel them popping, a bit like walking on bubble-wrap.” This was not his first experience with alcohol production. In Entangled Life, he describes developing an enthusiasm for moonshine while at university, after being introduced to the idea by a neighbour’s boyfriend: “Things escalated quickly. After a couple of years I had several large brewing containers, including a fifty-litre saucepan… My room was lined with barrels of bubbling liquids, and my wardrobe filled up with bottles.” It was, in part, this early experience with the magical potential of yeast, the active ingredient in fermentation that transforms sugar into alcohol, that inspired Sheldrake’s great scientific passion and the subject of his new book. Unlikely as it might sound, Entangled Life is a playful, strange, intensely philosophical study of fungi. Until very recently, human knowledge of this most mysterious lifeform, neither plant nor animal, has been extremely limited. This is astounding, given the sheer preponderance of fungi in the world – there is an estimated six to 10 times more species of fungi than there are plants – and their seismic impact on life on earth. The first plant life emerged onto dry land around 600 million years ago, thanks to the nutrients provided by fungi; human societies began to transform from hunter-gathering to agriculture around 12,000 years ago, in part as a response to the possibilities of yeast; and even penicillin, one of the cornerstones of modern medicine, was first isolated from a fungus.
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Post by Admin on Sept 3, 2020 11:26:51 GMT
Hallucinogenic Drugs Don’t Harm Mental Health, May Actually Improve It, According to Study BY JASON LOUV ultraculture.org/blog/2013/08/20/hallucinogenic-drugs-mental-health/Hallucinogenic drugs like psilocybin mushrooms and LSD not only don’t cause mental health problems, they may actually improve mental health, say Norwegian researchers Used correctly, hallucinogenic drugs might just drive you sane. Those are the findings by neuroscience researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, who reported that LSD, psilocybin and mescaline not only don’t cause long-term mental health problems, but that in many cases the use of hallucinogenic drugs is associated with a lower rate of mental health problems. The study (here) pulled data from the US National Survey on Drug Use and Health, observing 130,152 randomly-selected respondents from the adult population of the US. 13.4% of that group (21,967 individuals) reported lifetime use of psychedelics. Comparing this data to standardized screening measures for mental health, the researchers found that neither lifetime psychedelic use nor use of LSD in the past year were independent risk factors for mental health problems—and that, in fact, psychedelic users had lower rates of mental health issues.
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Post by Admin on Sept 4, 2020 17:07:31 GMT
Ending America's War on Drugs Would Finally Unleash the Therapeutic Potential of Psychedelics time.com/5295544/war-on-drugs-ptsd-mdma-rick-doblin/It was only after U.S. veteran Jonathan Lubecky pulled the trigger on a loaded gun aimed at his head and it misfired that he finally decided to seek help. He had tried to commit suicide five times, after struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result of 12 years in the Marines and the Army, including service in Iraq. Like many ex-servicemen and women experiencing mental health issues, Lubecky went to the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (VA). But none of the treatments offered there worked for him. The only two drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration for PTSD, Zoloft and Paxil, were more effective in women than in men, and didn’t work for combat-related PTSD. Out of desperation, he volunteered as a subject in an experimental study of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for chronic, treatment-resistant PTSD in veterans, firefighters and police officers. The study was sponsored by the non-profit research and educational organization I founded, the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), and funded entirely by private donations. Because of the stigma associated with illegal drugs—MDMA is what the party drug, ecstasy contains, though the pills are often impure—MAPS was unable to get grants from the Department of Defense, the Veterans Administration or the National Institute of Mental Health, despite there being over 868,000 veterans with PTSD receiving monthly disability payments from the VA at an estimated cost of $17 billion per year. The treatment being tested by the study involved three day-long administrations of MDMA about a month apart, and 12 sessions of psychotherapy within a three-and-a-half-month process. After his treatment with MDMA-assisted psychotherapy, Lubecky managed to heal from his PTSD to the point that he became National Veterans Director for Senator Rand Paul’s 2016 presidential primary campaign. His recovery is not unusual. On May 1, The Lancet Psychiatry published a scientific paper about the study Lubecky volunteered for; it reported that two-thirds of the 26 veterans, firefighters and police officers treated no longer qualified for a diagnosis of PTSD one month after their second MDMA session, with their reduction of PTSD symptoms lasting over time. If Big Pharma were to try to create from scratch a drug optimized to treat PTSD, MDMA would be that drug. Big Pharma, in the form of Merck, did invent MDMA in 1912, but had no idea what it had created. Merck tested MDMA in animals in 1927 and again in 1959 but the research gave no clues about MDMA’s therapeutic potential. MDMA is now out of its patent restrictions, another reason for MAPS’ non-profit drug development efforts. PTSD changes people’s brains, increasing activity in the amygdala, where fear is processed, and reducing activity in the prefrontal cortex, where rational decision-making takes place. MDMA does the opposite, decreasing activity in the amygdala and increasing activity in the prefrontal cortex. MDMA also stimulates the release of the hormones prolactin and oxytocin, associated with bonding, affiliation and love, facilitating the therapeutic alliance between patient and therapist and increasing the effectiveness of psychotherapy. MDMA also stimulates the release of the neurotransmitters serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine, producing a complex symphony of effects that help the drug enhance psychotherapy. The organization is also sponsoring research into the use of four different kinds of smoked cannabis (THC, CBD, THC/CBD combination and a placebo) in 76 veterans with chronic, treatment-resistant PTSD. This study took seven years to obtain all the approvals, is funded by a $2.15 million grant to MAPS from the State of Colorado, and enrollment is about 75% completed. Unlike MDMA-assisted psychotherapy, marijuana for PTSD is usually self-administered on a daily basis to control symptoms, and is used for months or years, with symptoms often returning after cessation of use. Marijuana is reported by many veterans to be helpful for PTSD, but MAPS’ study is the first double-blind, placebo-controlled study ever conducted. U.S. and global drug prohibition has for decades delayed medical research into the healing properties of Schedule 1 drugs. Now that this research is finally being conducted, we’re learning that enormous suffering and many suicides could have been prevented over these decades. It’s long past time for the mainstreaming of the medical use of psychedelics and marijuana, and for replacing prohibition and criminalization with public health approaches to reducing drug abuse. In a post-prohibition world, we’ll finally recognize that.
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Post by Admin on Sept 4, 2020 19:09:12 GMT
Magick and Psychedelic Drugs are Serious Business BY ANDREI BURKE ultraculture.org/blog/2014/05/26/psychedelic-drugs-magick/Academia may be on the brink of recognizing psychedelic drugs and psychedelic-fueled esoteric study as a legitimate field of inquiry Have you gained insights into the nature of reality from the use of psychedelic drugs? Do you spend long hours listening to the bottomless well of Terence McKenna archives on YouTube? Do you know what words like “hermeticism” and “entheogen” mean? Then you might be part of a new religious movement dubbed “entheogenic esotericism.” According to academic Wouter Jacobus Hanegraaff, “entheogenic esotericism” is what happens when psychedelic drugs meet with Hermetic philosophy; Hanegraaff coined the term to describe a new religious movement that has been growing in prominence in Western societies for the last half a century. Hanegraaff, who is a professor of Hermetic Philosophy at the University of Amsterdam, defines entheogenic esotericism as “the religious use of psychoactive substances as means of access to spiritual insights about the true nature of reality.” (Check out Hanegraaff presenting on Entheogenic Esotericism below.) www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrIMjjPg7uUReframing the Narrative Around Psychedelic Drugs A group of ethnobotanists and scholars of mythology coined the word entheogen in 1979 in an effort to find an appropriate terminology that acknowledges the ritual use of psychoactive plants in traditional religious context, while avoiding terms like “hallucinogen” or “psychedelic drugs” that had been hijacked by law enforcement and popular culture. A drug is considered entheogenic if it generates “unusual states of consciousness in which those who use them are believe to be ‘filled,’ ‘possessed,’ or ‘inspired’ by some kind of divine entity, presence, or force.” The criminalization of entheogenic substances, however, did very much to harm the development of a genuine religious movement. As a result, the focus of consciousness expansion moved from drug-induced ecstatic states in the 1960s, toward more focused and drugless methods like meditation in the 1970s. Prohibition made it difficult for authors who discovered valid insights into the nature of reality through the intervention of psychoactive plants and substances to publish their stories, for fear of legal consequence and cultural stigmatization. The majority of authors on the subject were forced to employ “skilled revelation of skilled concealment” to transmit their experiences. Prohibition hasn’t been the only obstacle faced by entheogens. Deep-rooted prejudices in the Western intellectual tradition have created controversy for psychedelic drugs being accepted as a legitimate religious experience. Post-Enlightenment thinking has internalized Protestant dogmas to the point that they are accepted as the way of things, with little reflection on the cultural biases that produce these dogmas. Entheogens became victims of these prejudices because of a belief that religion “implies an attitude in which human beings are dependent on the divine initiative to receive grace or salvation.” This categorizes them as on the animistic fringe of “magical” activity, and outside the bounds of a “truly religious” experience. Breaking Down Cultural Prohibition Entheogens also face the prejudice that religion is intended to be about “spiritual realities,” and not material ones. Under this presumption, modification of brain activity by chemical means is counterintuitive to religious pursuit, making psychedelic drugs little more than sleight-of-mind tricks that cheat the practitioner into believing they experienced a “genuine” religious experience. Hanegraaff problematizes this position by pointing out that there are no scholarly procedures for distinguishing genuine from fake religion. It’s doubly wrong to ignore the fact that mind and spirit are inseparable from neurological activity. If there were any spiritual experience that didn’t have a neurological counterpart, we would be incapable of having it. Prohibition and cultural prejudice have done little to prevent the intrepid force of entheogens becoming legitimized. Hanegraaff cites Christopher Partridge’s framing of entheogenic religion within the context of contemporary occulture, which traces three distinct phases of “modern spiritual psychedelic revolution.” The first of these is Albert Hofmann’s discovery of LSD in 1938, through the end of the 1950s, with Aldous Huxley as figurehead. This was followed by Timothy Leary’s psychedelic era from the 1960s through 1976, with the third phase being the development of rave culture beginning in the mid-80s. The Fourth Wave of Entheogens We are now hinged on a fourth wave of entheogens, with the influence of cyberculture being central in this era. This wave synthesizes Leary’s psychedelic utopianism of the 60s and the Castenadan neoshamanic tribalism of the 70s to produce a vision of entheogenic religion suitable for 21st century global resurgence. This era does not blindly adopt the hedonistic imperative, nor does it fall into luddite fantasies. It is within this wave that minds like Terence McKenna were able to take sail and gain prominence, and it was in McKenna that the culture surrounding entheogens were synthesized with Hermetic philosophy to produce the religious phenomenon that Hanegraaff has termed “entheogenic esotericism.” Hanegraaff points to a series of talks given by McKenna at Easlen in the 1990s on the history of Hermetic philosophy as an example of when the concept of “entheogenic esotericism” crystalized. By attempting to introduce his audience to Frances Yates’ Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition, McKenna in turn discoursed on the “interconnectedness of mind and matter, the notion of microcosmos/macrocosmos, the idea of individual minds being ultimately part of a universal Mind, and the idea of the human mind as the ‘mirror of nature’ (and the reverse).” (Talk attached below.) www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YNdBpYh1eAThe Science of the Imagination In Yates’ narrative of the Hermetic Tradition, McKenna found a system that emphasized personal religious experience and the powers of the imagination, one that promoted a holistic science that saw the world as an organic living whole. It reflected an optimistic perspective that emphasized humanity’s ability to operate on the world to create a “more harmonious, more beautiful” society. This pre-Enlightenment philosophy rejects the creatio ex nihilo doctrine and conceptualizes the world as “co-eternal with God.” We are able to achieve gnosis—direct experiential knowledge of our divine nature through ecstatic states of mind. While all of this information might be old hat to many a psychonautic veteran, keep in mind that Hanegraaff’s concept of “entheogenic esotericism” presents an opportunity for a detailed anthropological survey of contemporary studies on psychedelic drugs to emerge. Such an acceptance holds the potential of breaking up the vestiges of Enlightenment prejudices permeating the academy. The Western intellectual discourse has been mired in an existential despair for the last half a century. While this stance is an honest reaction to the horrors of the 20th century, its prevalence has alienated us from a genuine spiritual engagement with the world, and thus inhibits us from fully acting to effect positive change. We now stand to see the transmutation of this existential despair into entheogenic esotericism. [is_visitor]
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Post by Admin on Sept 4, 2020 19:11:21 GMT
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Post by Admin on Sept 8, 2020 19:16:47 GMT
Machine Elves and a Journey Into The DMT Spirit World Many people report seeing "machine elves" or "clockwork elves" while on DMT, but why do so many people see entities and why do different people have such similar experiences? Anna Wilcox // September 4, 2020 doubleblindmag.com/machine-elves-clockwork-elves-dmt-rick-strassman-terence-mckenna/The second time he tried DMT, Ali broke through. (His name isn’t actually Ali, but that’s what we’ll call him for privacy’s sake.) The initial onslaught of kaleidoscopic shapes gave way to a more familiar scene: The bedroom, twin mattress and all, from which he embarked on his DMT experience. Only, the room’s features weren’t quite right. They were distorted somehow, like an unfinished rendering—and he had company. Five silvery beings surrounded him, he describes, their towering, slender bodies cloaked in what can only be described as alien skin (or maybe just gray spandex). But their imposing nature wasn’t the most unusual thing about them; it was their faces. Their faces matched Ali’s friends, who had already been in the room before his DMT experience began. And yet, these entities weren’t just his friends; they were distinctly different. Their faces were jumbled, abstracted, and leaking colored light. Ali had the uncanny sense that these beings were of their own world entirely. Ali had journeyed into the spirit world.
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