Chapter 10

DRUGS

The first thing about drugs is this: forget everything you have been told so far. The fact is that if you are in a rush to find out whether all this book says is true, you can find out in less than five minutes with the use of certain drugs. For example, the drug DMT will, within seconds, convert the leader of the most atheist movement into a spiritual person; yes, the experience is SO strong and powerful that no one will argue it was anything other than spiritual in nature and out of this world. Ketamine — a drug that has been used by millions as a general anesthetic (perhaps even including you) — is guaranteed to change anyone’s concept of reality in less than an hour when used in a small dose. Then there are the drugs long used by shamans, such as hallucinogenic mushrooms and cacti; these have been used by shamans throughout history, and there are huge websites dedicated to them.

DMT: The Spirit Molecule, by Rick Strassman, M.D. — Ketamine: Dreams and Realities, by Karl Jansen, M.D., Ph.D.

Now, I am not telling you to go try any of these drugs; I am just letting you know that it is one more way of finding the truth. In order to short-circuit the process, Carlos Castañeda went through a brutal initiation using hardcore psychedelic compounds discovered by the shamans, such as peyote, psilocybin mushrooms, and Jimson weed. Don Juan would use these compounds to guide Carlos through an initiation into the higher worlds, with the idea that, eventually, the compounds would no longer be necessary for access. Carlos was especially resistant to his training, and so he “tripped out” many times before he got the message.

Yet there are plenty of non-drug ways of accomplishing the same thing. For example, the Binaural Synchronization techniques of the Monroe Institute represent a drug-free way to induce out-of-body and mystical experiences, using the properties of sound. And The Natural Mind: A New Way of Looking at Drugs and the Higher Consciousness, by Dr. Andrew Weil, M.D., is yet another book by a professional on how to use your mind to consciously create your health.

Our normal waking consciousness, rational consciousness as we call it, is but one special type of consciousness, whilst all about it, parted from it by the filmiest of screens, there lie potential forms of consciousness entirely different.William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience, 1902