PsychedelicDragon
Master Psychonaut
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So to have an approach to spirituality that is more rational and intuitive, and away from faith and dogma. How does one approach the great spiritual mystery? Yes that's what it is. Our birth, our death, our existence in the present moment, these are all mysteries. They are vistas that go towards to unfathomable realms of reality.
Of course this spiritual mystery has been around for thousands of years. It is known as mysticism. Mysticism is often defined as the pursuit of communion with, identity with, or conscious awareness of an ultimate reality, divinity, spiritual truth, or God through direct experience, intuition, instinct or insight. There are many practices found in all major world religions, that reflect this mind enhancing and mind expanding spirituality.
In christianity there is the gnostic tradition, and this is best exemplified by Jesus and the way his words were written down by the doubting disciple, Thomas. The gospel of Thomas has many key mystical sayings, like knowing your inner self, and finding the savior within. Later on in the middle ages, even after the establishment of Constantine's christianity, monks in contempory monestaries all across Europe practiced christian contemplative meditation, and even using mantras to get their mind in a rhythmic pattern. Chief among this is christian mantra "Hallelujah", many people have no idea that this was a chant used by Gregorian monks in medieval christianity, and by the christian mysitics of today.
Then we move to islam. Look no further than sufism. Sufism is the way you find Allah within, and lots of people do not know this but throughout sufi history, right to the beginning, the word "Allah" was not only a divine indicator of god, it was also a special mantra chanted to get the mind focusing on Allah and Allah only. Allah meaning the ultimate reality, the felt presence of immediate existence, not some literal cosmic daddy in the sky, like what is found among some dogmatic scripturalist christians.
Judaism has kabbalah.
Sikhism has their concepts of meditative mysticism.
Not much needs to be said about eastern mysticism, which has even more detailed history than mysticism found in western spiritual traditions. Within Hinduism there is the tradition of vedenta (especially advaita vedenta), yoga, tantra, or dyana. Dyana later makes a much bigger impact on buddhism, especially how it was imported. The yoga or dyana eventually becomes a huge component with tibetan buddhism, and when it comes to China it is known as Chan, until it makes its final destination in Japan, where it is known and Zen. The Chinese themselves have a tradition known as daoism that has many of the same teachings as the rational intuitive side of buddhism and hinduism, as well as practices like tai chi which resemble meditative practices of dyana, chan, and zen; and focus on altered states of consciousness.
But to search for the root of the spiritualities like buddhism and jainism is that of Shramana. Although Daoism has separate roots, it can be described to possess many elements of a Shramanic philosophy. Then we get into the deep roots with a far earlier forms of human spirituality. It goes back to the roots of the mystical spiritual traditions of the many world religions we have to back to the very first form of spirituality: shamanism.
Shamanism is the practice of extactic experience of the the spirit world, the main, and the phantasmagorical realms of reality that your wait near to us, yet seemingly in another dimension. It is for instance common for South American shamans to to consume a herbal beverage called ayahuasca. It is often called the "vine of the dead" because it reveals the the spirit world to us, albeit in a literal or metaphorical way is up for interpretation. The important thing to notice is the use mind expanding techniques. For the first mystics, who were the shamans, they used visionary plants like cannabis, psilocyin, or ayahuasca. In places like India, the remnant of the ancient form of shamanism can still be seen among the wandering sadhus, who commonly use cannabis (which they refer to as ganja, or Shiva's gift to man). Likewise cannabis use was used in spiritual and cultural life in East Asia, and was wide spread before the advent of prohibition, forced on the world by the United States.
A similar pattern can be seen in the new world. Pscilocybin mushrooms were used among the advanced civilizations of Mezo-America, especially by the Mayans. In fact to this day ritual mushroom consumption is still an accepted part of mezo-american shamanism, and it is the pride and joy after all the terrible things european conquerers brought upon them. Indeed, when the Spanish inquisition discovered the holy mushroom being consumed by the native peoples of Mexico, they suppressed it in a witch-hunt, until they were driven into the shadows of mezo-american society. Traditional use of psilocybin is now tolerated by the Mexican government, who because of pressures from USA, cannot take the full step and end the prohibition of this safe mushroom.
But going back even more further, dmt-containing plants were probably used as long, if not even longer, than psilocybin mushrooms, and in the amazon jungles among the natives exist the largest dmt-based spirituality in the world.
In the east, meditation became an essential part of recapturing the altered states experience of the sacred Soma, which was lost to history to brahmins since ancient Indian times. Soma might have been either an ayahuasca or psilocybin brew, but it is not known for sure today.
There are of course many ways to get into the mystic altered state of shamanic ecstasy, producing loose cognitive-association binding, which then produces an experience of being controlled by frozen block-universe determinism with a single, pre-existing, ever-existing future.
The bushmen of the Kalahari for instance have a hypnotic dance that when done so for over 1 or 2 days, it will put you in a deep altered state experience.
The most common mental exercise based altered states is meditation or hypnosis. Meditation is of course a form of self hypnosis, although meditation often lacks a goal like hypnosis. There is also psychoacoustics, such as shamanic drumming, by which listening to a rhythm for a long time produces an altered state of consciousness.
Now what do all these things have in common? Whether it be dyana/chan/zen tantric and meditative practices in eastern mysticism, or the original shaman getting loaded on plants, speaking to the spirit helpers, and invoking the cosmic mystery of who we are ultimately. They all practice some form of psychonautics.
Psychonautics is the practice of exploring the mind and the direct experience of the moment of reality. The psychonautic uses altered states of consciousness to get in touch with his of her subconsciousness mind, and thereby examining exploring the source of the maya, or the illusion of reality, and how their mind and is tricking them from seeing it as it is. When he sees that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration, that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively, there is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves. He has then begin to grasp some of the possible answers of the mystery.
Perhaps the spirituality of the future will be one where the common man is no longer a slave to any person or any dogma. All humans will be the boss of their destinies, exploring the facets of reality and their mind (which puts this all to some coherent sense of understanding). In such a society, where there are no longer any rich and poor, free and oppressed, race or class; the full creative potential of man can be harnessed. Such a potential will honor the past, honor cultural tradition, and honor the power of the human imagination. Let us forget there is nothing more powerful and more able to transform the world as the human imagination. Let's not sell it straight. Let's not whore ourselves to nit-wit ideologies and hand over our power over our lives to the least among us (eg rich and powerful). Instead, step into the dawn of enlightenment, and realize that we are here as a way of the universe knowing itself. We are also a way the universe plays with itself. The sentient beings of the universe do not want suffering, and so focusing on eliminating suffering and accentuating the glory, the awe, and the wonder, can create a world where we can all happily explore both inner and outer space together equally, and (using the help of safe technology, technology that respects the planet) with no effort.
Perhaps the future spiritual human will be a psychonautic, exploring the depths of the totality of existence. And in doing so, the real heaven promised by Jesus or Allah will dawn.
How much psychonautic spirituality do you have in your life? Do you regularly explore the various realms of consciousness, whether that be through meditation/self-hypnosis, music, dance, entheogenic plants, lucid dreaming, and so on? Some of these practices involve silencing the mind of thoughts, and focusing your senses on reality. In other cases, you enter a new world induced by meditative/hypnotic or herbal changes in consciousness, where you enter the realms of the fairies, angels, the elves, the spirits, the aliens, genies, and whichever other name we want to give to the mystical entities of people that lies beyond the realm of ordinary consciousness.
What do you think?
Of course this spiritual mystery has been around for thousands of years. It is known as mysticism. Mysticism is often defined as the pursuit of communion with, identity with, or conscious awareness of an ultimate reality, divinity, spiritual truth, or God through direct experience, intuition, instinct or insight. There are many practices found in all major world religions, that reflect this mind enhancing and mind expanding spirituality.
In christianity there is the gnostic tradition, and this is best exemplified by Jesus and the way his words were written down by the doubting disciple, Thomas. The gospel of Thomas has many key mystical sayings, like knowing your inner self, and finding the savior within. Later on in the middle ages, even after the establishment of Constantine's christianity, monks in contempory monestaries all across Europe practiced christian contemplative meditation, and even using mantras to get their mind in a rhythmic pattern. Chief among this is christian mantra "Hallelujah", many people have no idea that this was a chant used by Gregorian monks in medieval christianity, and by the christian mysitics of today.
Then we move to islam. Look no further than sufism. Sufism is the way you find Allah within, and lots of people do not know this but throughout sufi history, right to the beginning, the word "Allah" was not only a divine indicator of god, it was also a special mantra chanted to get the mind focusing on Allah and Allah only. Allah meaning the ultimate reality, the felt presence of immediate existence, not some literal cosmic daddy in the sky, like what is found among some dogmatic scripturalist christians.
Judaism has kabbalah.
Sikhism has their concepts of meditative mysticism.
Not much needs to be said about eastern mysticism, which has even more detailed history than mysticism found in western spiritual traditions. Within Hinduism there is the tradition of vedenta (especially advaita vedenta), yoga, tantra, or dyana. Dyana later makes a much bigger impact on buddhism, especially how it was imported. The yoga or dyana eventually becomes a huge component with tibetan buddhism, and when it comes to China it is known as Chan, until it makes its final destination in Japan, where it is known and Zen. The Chinese themselves have a tradition known as daoism that has many of the same teachings as the rational intuitive side of buddhism and hinduism, as well as practices like tai chi which resemble meditative practices of dyana, chan, and zen; and focus on altered states of consciousness.
But to search for the root of the spiritualities like buddhism and jainism is that of Shramana. Although Daoism has separate roots, it can be described to possess many elements of a Shramanic philosophy. Then we get into the deep roots with a far earlier forms of human spirituality. It goes back to the roots of the mystical spiritual traditions of the many world religions we have to back to the very first form of spirituality: shamanism.
Shamanism is the practice of extactic experience of the the spirit world, the main, and the phantasmagorical realms of reality that your wait near to us, yet seemingly in another dimension. It is for instance common for South American shamans to to consume a herbal beverage called ayahuasca. It is often called the "vine of the dead" because it reveals the the spirit world to us, albeit in a literal or metaphorical way is up for interpretation. The important thing to notice is the use mind expanding techniques. For the first mystics, who were the shamans, they used visionary plants like cannabis, psilocyin, or ayahuasca. In places like India, the remnant of the ancient form of shamanism can still be seen among the wandering sadhus, who commonly use cannabis (which they refer to as ganja, or Shiva's gift to man). Likewise cannabis use was used in spiritual and cultural life in East Asia, and was wide spread before the advent of prohibition, forced on the world by the United States.
A similar pattern can be seen in the new world. Pscilocybin mushrooms were used among the advanced civilizations of Mezo-America, especially by the Mayans. In fact to this day ritual mushroom consumption is still an accepted part of mezo-american shamanism, and it is the pride and joy after all the terrible things european conquerers brought upon them. Indeed, when the Spanish inquisition discovered the holy mushroom being consumed by the native peoples of Mexico, they suppressed it in a witch-hunt, until they were driven into the shadows of mezo-american society. Traditional use of psilocybin is now tolerated by the Mexican government, who because of pressures from USA, cannot take the full step and end the prohibition of this safe mushroom.
But going back even more further, dmt-containing plants were probably used as long, if not even longer, than psilocybin mushrooms, and in the amazon jungles among the natives exist the largest dmt-based spirituality in the world.
In the east, meditation became an essential part of recapturing the altered states experience of the sacred Soma, which was lost to history to brahmins since ancient Indian times. Soma might have been either an ayahuasca or psilocybin brew, but it is not known for sure today.
There are of course many ways to get into the mystic altered state of shamanic ecstasy, producing loose cognitive-association binding, which then produces an experience of being controlled by frozen block-universe determinism with a single, pre-existing, ever-existing future.
The bushmen of the Kalahari for instance have a hypnotic dance that when done so for over 1 or 2 days, it will put you in a deep altered state experience.
The most common mental exercise based altered states is meditation or hypnosis. Meditation is of course a form of self hypnosis, although meditation often lacks a goal like hypnosis. There is also psychoacoustics, such as shamanic drumming, by which listening to a rhythm for a long time produces an altered state of consciousness.
Now what do all these things have in common? Whether it be dyana/chan/zen tantric and meditative practices in eastern mysticism, or the original shaman getting loaded on plants, speaking to the spirit helpers, and invoking the cosmic mystery of who we are ultimately. They all practice some form of psychonautics.
Psychonautics is the practice of exploring the mind and the direct experience of the moment of reality. The psychonautic uses altered states of consciousness to get in touch with his of her subconsciousness mind, and thereby examining exploring the source of the maya, or the illusion of reality, and how their mind and is tricking them from seeing it as it is. When he sees that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration, that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively, there is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves. He has then begin to grasp some of the possible answers of the mystery.
Perhaps the spirituality of the future will be one where the common man is no longer a slave to any person or any dogma. All humans will be the boss of their destinies, exploring the facets of reality and their mind (which puts this all to some coherent sense of understanding). In such a society, where there are no longer any rich and poor, free and oppressed, race or class; the full creative potential of man can be harnessed. Such a potential will honor the past, honor cultural tradition, and honor the power of the human imagination. Let us forget there is nothing more powerful and more able to transform the world as the human imagination. Let's not sell it straight. Let's not whore ourselves to nit-wit ideologies and hand over our power over our lives to the least among us (eg rich and powerful). Instead, step into the dawn of enlightenment, and realize that we are here as a way of the universe knowing itself. We are also a way the universe plays with itself. The sentient beings of the universe do not want suffering, and so focusing on eliminating suffering and accentuating the glory, the awe, and the wonder, can create a world where we can all happily explore both inner and outer space together equally, and (using the help of safe technology, technology that respects the planet) with no effort.
Perhaps the future spiritual human will be a psychonautic, exploring the depths of the totality of existence. And in doing so, the real heaven promised by Jesus or Allah will dawn.
How much psychonautic spirituality do you have in your life? Do you regularly explore the various realms of consciousness, whether that be through meditation/self-hypnosis, music, dance, entheogenic plants, lucid dreaming, and so on? Some of these practices involve silencing the mind of thoughts, and focusing your senses on reality. In other cases, you enter a new world induced by meditative/hypnotic or herbal changes in consciousness, where you enter the realms of the fairies, angels, the elves, the spirits, the aliens, genies, and whichever other name we want to give to the mystical entities of people that lies beyond the realm of ordinary consciousness.
What do you think?
