Hi Earl -
I was looking around also, and noticed that Huston Smith was a contributor to Higher Wisdom. I dug a little deeper, and came across this from an interview:
"SMITH: Well, shamanism is immensely fascinating, and extremely important in the history of religion. But sanctity one does not associate with shamans. They have immense power, and it can be misused as well as used. I think on balance it's been used. So I value them, but they're neither -- what shall I say? -- saints nor philosophers...
... Most shamans are very much linked with the people, in helping them with practical problems of life. But the aspect of religion that has to do with virtues and compassion and loving-kindness, now, this kind of thing is when I speak of profundity, getting into those waters. The shamans, that's not their forte. They have a different role... "
Huston Smith: The Psychology of Religious Experience
and this, the whole interview is worth a read:
Q: ... are drugs the lazy man's kensho?"
HS: Nick, I understand completely what you're saying. If there is one undisputed fact in this very complicated area, it is that there is no such thing as "the drug experience." All are conditioned by what students of the subject call "set and setting." By 'set' they mean the personality and personal history of the person ingesting; by 'setting', the circumstance under which the ingestion occurs. My important entheogen experiences enabled me to see regions of the world that I already believed in but had not directly experienced. Entheogens could be considered a "lazy man's kensho," but we must always remember that Zen masters say that kensho is not the point. It is only a doorway for moving the kensho experience into one's daily life and experiencing in that daily life the wonder of kensho. As the saying goes, "Drawing water and hewing wood - this is the marvelous activity." That requires constant, ongoing work. Even the Buddha after his enlightenment experience continued to meditate to the end of his life."
Council on Spiritual Practices - Cleansing the Doors of Perception
I know I sound down on the whole thing, but that's not the case ... I think I'm in the area of the 'big experience' is not what religion is about, not what Christ was about, not what Buddha was about ... but today it is how we in a materialist/consumerist culture are programmed to measure religion, as a personal benefit (otherwise what's the point?) and an endorsement (see how cool I am) ... everybody wants to be a mystic ... and I regard it as 'spiritual materialism' ... or as I think Huston Smith said, 'coffee table spirituality'.
The question then, of whether the author of Revelations used psychotropics or not, is really a red herring, because we'll never know ... the real question is whether the Book is of any use or value to its audience ... and I think we can say, and this puts it on difficult terrain, that its use is both shamanic and religious – and in this we have to distinguish between psychodrama and prophecy.
In that sense I do not read Revelations, nor Daniel, as rightly belonging to the genre of 'prophecy', but more to the psychodramatic, both are an exhortation to stand firm and ride out the storm, and both offer an eschatalogical vision of the 'new day' after the clouds have cleared.
If we treat it as pure prophecy, then I think it fails in its essential objective, and certainly we'll have trouble making it stick. Every age recognises itself in the symbolism, but like Nostradamus, one can read it and ask "and your point is?"
But if we treat it as psychodrama, then it is applicable at all times, and everywhere, because humanity is essentially the same. So we can look at the world and see it according to the symbology of revelation, or we can look in the mirror, and see the symbols of our own struggle, and now I realise I'm right with Earl's first post when he said:
The seven seal spoken of to me represent the traditional 7 chakra system in Hinduism whereby as spiritual realization advances, each of the 7 chakras are engaged and in the process of opening to allow the flow of Divine grace to come through, the individual often faces the personal demons" associated with each chakra that require the purging I spoke of.
He and I would no doubt nitpick over the terminology – my Christocentrism says that the chakras can be aligned 'in a twinkling' if God so wills, and no amount of alignment will induce the 'flow of Divine Grace' if God so wills ... but no doubt that's not quite what he's saying, nor is what I've said quite how the Divine works ...
... I would also say the seven-headed dragon is us, too ...
... In fact in one discussion I had, I was of the opinion that 'mystical experience' enables one to look down, as far as one can see up, and looking down, into the depths of the naked psyche, is not something to be entertained lightly, and why many are apparently denied a mystical experience ... it's not that they can't handle God, it's that they can't handle themselves ... and that's what ascetic training is all about ... we're into shaman territory again.
... and again we're into why the monasteries, east and west, have kept quiet about psychodynamic technique and prayer ... and why there have been significant casualty figures among those who journey to India etc., seeking 'enlightenment' at the hands of those who are, perhaps, not so clued in as they purport to be.
In the words of W.C. Fields, "Never give a sucker an even break."
Thomas
