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The Doors of Perception
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Rune
288 posts

Re: The Doors of Perception
Nov 16, 2005, 19:53
"drug experiences are just that, drug experiences. "

>>Is that just spiritual snobbery though? It might be harder work to experience mystical things through meditation, dancing etc alone - but that doesn't mean to say people aren't experiencing something important about Reality or Other Worlds just because they use chemicals from plants (rather than ones they've concocted themselves). Surely?<<

I don't think it's spiritual snobbery. Sorry, I should have made it clear it wasn't just an uninformed opinion picked from thin air. There's a Buddhist centre not far from here some of the monks have grown up in the UK and took part in the drug culture before becoming monks. I asked them whether they thought it was possible to reach the same states as their meditations by using drugs and they all said no, the experiences were totally different. Based on that small piece of research then I'd say certainly, drugs will give people altered states of consciousness and meaningful/spiritual/mystical experiences, but they are not reaching the <i>same</i> destination/plane/state as Buddhist Monks which is what was originally stated.

>>Maybe when Bob from Swindon (or whatever) isn't having a mystical experience if he takes some ayahuasca he got from the local hippy shop. But when a member of an amazonian tribe takes some as part of a culturally approved and recognised ritual in the rainforest, and he's expecting to meet some ancestors and sort out a few points of importance - are you saying that's definitely just a 'drug experience'?<<

No, Bob from Swindon gets the 'just a drug experience' if he takes it alone and without guidance.

The member of an Amazon tribe takes the same thing but the difference is his experience is focused with intent to achieve an objective. Often he will have someone guiding him who knows his intent, whether by drum, flute or rattle or something else, to make his experience happen.

I've spoken to a couple of people who have taken ayahuasca in a group and have been 'taken on a journey by a Medicine Man' and they said their visions/hallucinations/experiences semed to somehow follow the rythm of his drum or rattle, he could speed their experience up, slow it down and seemingly control their emotions and although they each had individual profound experiences, they felt the medicine man was controlling what they experienced and how, "rather like a stage director" one of them said.

Ah, Huxley, I did Brave New World for O level and Island for A level. Island is one of the very few school set books I've re-read as an adult.

Rune
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Re: The Doors of Perception (Rhiannon)		 Replies:
Re: The Doors of Perception (PeterH)
Re: The Doors of Perception (Hob)
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