By His Grace and Blessings I write ….
Rabia (a Sufi Saint) was searching for her keys outside her home when a passerby enquired as to where she had lost the keys. Rabia instantly replied that the keys were lost inside the house but she was searching them outside becasue it was so dark inside. The passerby laughed and declared her insane. This is not a problem of Rabia. This is the problem of our modern day lives and perhaps we may not realize it considering it as sheer foolishness. Rabia was referring to journey inside where lies the real treasure troves of our lives while we try to blindly and frantically search it outside. Keys to the divine are inside us and there is no point in searching them outside of us.
Since when around 40,000 years ago man is said to have gained consciousness, efforts have been underway to search the source of this consciousness. However, the experience shows that the advent of modern civilizations and thousands of years of progress has actually brought us farther from this source. Somewhere, the priorities of existence have changed and the man seems to have forgotten the real purpose of life. An attempt will be made through this series of articles to examine our journey towards consciousness and the linkages between consciousness and the God substance. This God Substance that is being referred to here are the naturally occurring plants which have an hallucinating impact on human brain and have been found to alter the states of consciousness. These substances have not only been found to have an extraordinary effect on human creativity but have been found to have a huge potential for healing the diseases of mind and body. They are cumulatively called Psychedelic substances in modern day psychology. My main focus in this series will be raising questions and then look for the possible available explanations in the literature and learning from experiences of the masters and practitioners of the psychedelics and clinical psychology. The series will also throw some light on how the modern day societies in their blind pursuit of greed and power have a lost the respect for this traditional wisdom and how corporatization of every aspect of human lives have made life unsustainable on the planet. How Baazar(Market Economies) have deeply entrenched into our lives and life from birth till death has become a race in generating profits, fulfilling greed, inflating egos, accumulating power, spreading lies, hatred and jealously, war and disease, destruction of climate and environment and so on so forth. This series will also explore the limitations of modern day sciences in understanding the concept of consciousness and how the tools of modern science and technology are utterly inadequate to delve into this longest unresolved mystery of life known called “Human Consciousness”. I will try to throw some light as to how the wrong priorities and value systems of modern day societies has brought the humanity to the brink of extinction not only physically but psychologically as well. We are at the crossroads and it is our last opportunity that we walk the right path before everything comes crashing down. In order to better appreciate this discussion, let’s start raising some questions and try to address them as we progress. This exercise will be a journey of a spiritual traveler by looking inside through the prism of Godly Substances…
The question that will become the core of this discussion can be summarized as below…
What is this God Substance and what is Psychedelics?
How does Psychedelics alter states of consciousness?
Does this altered state of consciousness can make for a better society and sustainable world?
What is the relationship between Samadhi , consciousness and Psychedelics?
What is the relationship between Spirit and Psychedelics?
What is the scientific evidence available in support of Psychedelics?
Are there any limitations to Psychedelics?
Where does psychedelic as a form of treatment stand vis a vis tolls of modern clinical psychology?
Why the modern science unable to admit the psychedelic treatments as a main form of treating the illness of modern man?
Who are Shamans or these traditional healers?
How various ancient cultures account for psychedelic substances and their uses?
Is this traditional wisdom under threat of extinction under the greed of market forces unleashed in its name ?
What impact have these substances have over human physiology and psychology?
There may be more questions depending on the curiosity of the reader and with a cooperative effort of all, I will try to address them in due course of time. Some of the questions are likely to be clubbed together wherever it is feasible to find a single answer to them. Before I proceed any further I have a quote for thought…
“In oneself lies the whole world and if you know how to look and learn, the door is there and the key is in your hand. Nobody on earth can give you either the key or open the door except yourself”.
What is God Substance or Psychedelics?
Psychedelics is a word of Greek origin which means Mind Manifesting implying that psychedelics can develop unused potential of the human mind. Psychedelic are hallucinogenic class of drugs whose primary action is to trigger psychedelic experience via serotonin receptor agonism, causing specific psychological, visual and auditory changes, and altered state of consciousness. Major psychedelic drugs include mescaline, LSD, psilocybin, and DMT. Studies have shown that psychedelics are physiologically safe and don’t lead to addiction. These substance have been found to assist with treating patients with depression and alcohol addiction , and also nicotine addiction .
Psychedelics have a long history of use in traditional medicine and traditional religions for their perceived ability to promote physical and mental healing . They have been found not only to cure the diseases of human mind but also give an experience in divinity which then forever alters the consciousness. These naturally found substances have been known by various name in various cultures like Tree of Life by Egyptians, Vine of the Soul by Amazonian tribes and Soma by Vedas in India.
The research on psychedelics started in 1950’s and continued up to 1980. However, due to misuse of psychedelic substances and also under corporate conspiracy the research projects on psychedelics were given up at Harvard and other leading Universities of the time. There has been a renewed interest in study of psychedelic and their medicinal and spiritual benefits since 2010.
By His Grace I will continue…….
Dr. Seema Chaudhary