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Past hallucinogenic use affects current meditation practice... ?
My husband is not a Buddhist, but he has agreed to meditate with me. Today we practiced metta together. I found myself really relaxed, of course and experiencing metta within me. I asked him about his experience and he said that he felt something, a line, at the top of his head entering into his heart/chest area.
He went to a yoga class with me once, and expressed the sense that he had had an out-of-body experience while we were resting in shavasana. He saw himself from bird's eye view, resting on the yoga mat. He claims to have had other, similar experiences a few times in his life. I have never really experienced anything like this. The best I can hope for when I meditate is a feeling of deep serenity that I take with me into the rest of the day.
My husband has had fairly extensive experiences with magic mushrooms, LSD, and other hallucinogenics. I dabbled a little with salvia, but not extensively, until I decided it was not for me.
My husband is drawn to altered states, via alcohol and other substances. I am not. I like to feel "grounded". I think my nervous system is too sensitive to glean anything from substances. I would like to reach these higher states of meditation, whether it's astral travel, OBE... or just a deeper connection with the divine. I know that grasping is counter-productive-- I have seen it in my daily life. In any case, I know that drug use is not the way to achieve these states...
but I'm curious what bearing my husband's drug use has had on his ability to commune with universal consciousness.
Any thoughts?
He went to a yoga class with me once, and expressed the sense that he had had an out-of-body experience while we were resting in shavasana. He saw himself from bird's eye view, resting on the yoga mat. He claims to have had other, similar experiences a few times in his life. I have never really experienced anything like this. The best I can hope for when I meditate is a feeling of deep serenity that I take with me into the rest of the day.
My husband has had fairly extensive experiences with magic mushrooms, LSD, and other hallucinogenics. I dabbled a little with salvia, but not extensively, until I decided it was not for me.
My husband is drawn to altered states, via alcohol and other substances. I am not. I like to feel "grounded". I think my nervous system is too sensitive to glean anything from substances. I would like to reach these higher states of meditation, whether it's astral travel, OBE... or just a deeper connection with the divine. I know that grasping is counter-productive-- I have seen it in my daily life. In any case, I know that drug use is not the way to achieve these states...
but I'm curious what bearing my husband's drug use has had on his ability to commune with universal consciousness.
Any thoughts?
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Comments
not only that lsd since it does expand awareness can bring about a shit ton of insight into the workings of reality. you may find how all things are marked with emptiness. you might find that there is only this moment. you might find how a thought alone is what separates heaven and hell.
but like all things lsd is just another experience. the goal is to integrate these things into meditation and throughout our whole human experience. whether it is taking drugs to see some new perspective or doing yoga.
i'll be honest with you. lsd has truly propelled me into spirituality, but i've quit using lsd a long time ago. it was the start but not the means, and goal. after a couple trips you may get all you need out of lsd.
it is very easy to get addicted to lsd. and truly the things you learn on lsd you will forget, so in essence it is like a toy us use to play with consciousness. but nevertheless it can lead to some very interesting insights that you are going to forget hahaha. also not everyone should take lsd, since it can totally fuck your mind up. if someone ever asks me if they should take lsd, i usually tell them not to unless they have a good head and emotional heart. but even then the results are not predictable and how you use such experiences can prevent you from actual practice. but it can also help in practice. for instances prior to using lsd i did not know of the energy systems in our body. so in essence lsd has given me a lot of confidence in certain areas of my practice. but again these are all hinderances towards awakening. because awakening it awakening to what is. all the methods work to make the soil ready and at the end we have to throw away all the soil and everything. from there out of grace does awakening occur.
note: i am not advocating lsd. i am just sharing information. lsd is an illegal drug and ownership of it can land some serious jail time.
if you're interested check out this site:
http://deoxy.org/8brains.htm
Timothy leary breaks down the evolution of consciousness and how it relates to drugs.
wish you luck!
I'm all for the freedom to chose, but meditation still beats w-e can came from drugs.
stick to meditations folks, it is cheaper and less harmful. oh and also you have more control and no jail time if you get caught. unless our culture decides to ban meditation. LOL.
http://newbuddhist.com/discussion/11072/benefits-of-out-of-body-experience-astral-projection/p1
i don't know enough about AP/OBE to be able to offer very good advice, but it is my understanding that your focus is slightly different than it is in traditional meditation. i am practicing AP at the moment (have not succeeded yet), and the techniques are different and therefore give you different effects in your body. for example, my body doesn't give me sensations of vibration during my regular meditation. perhaps your husband's focus is slightly different? if he enjoys the effects of drugs, then he might be welcoming these feelings and seeking them out.
drugs are empty. it's all about how and why you use them.
The owners here almost booted me in anger, it is a credit to them they have not. Others have when I called them on the carpet regarding obvious lack of depth of knowledge.
The guy I learned meditation practice from was hand picked by the dalai lama, invited to dharmsala by him... the DL signed up to be the guys primary teacher of this practice and requested he teach it in the USA. That was years after the DL ordained him as a Tibetan monk and after he translated several ancient and modern texts into English from Tibetan. He now has a big paid for retreat center in Phuket Island in Thailand.
He is vigorously anti drug of any kind any time. He also grudgingly acknowledges psychedelics CAN provide a temporary coarse approximation of a samadhi like experience. If you are ready for authentic 24/7 samadhi and vipassana being completely clean and free of all substances is necessary. It will require every shred of inner capacity to marshal innner resources.
Most westerners live in a mental state that is too agitated and unstable to get to samadhi. Psychotherapy "lubricated" by properly controlled psychedelic use can greatly accelerate becoming mentally stable and "clean" enough to , with great instruction from a well trained teacher and good motivation,
Samadhi and vipassana are the capstone, the final polish, on a larger process of growth. Drugs of any kind do not mix with authentic attainment of deeper meditative states. Sometimes they greatly accelerate getting ready , at least for us westerners who are too unstable.
I tried DMT recently as well with quite wonderful results. I am not looking for the visuals or any of that sort of thing, but an exploration into those state of consciousness. My experience was ineffable and resulted in a feeling of peace and calm unlike anything I have ever felt. My partner did the DMT after me and we shared our experiences. His resulted in a fear of death, while mine resulted in a loss of fear surrounding death. One could almost say I gained a fascination with death by western standards. I feel emotion around death, but when I see death, that gut reaction I had before is gone. It hasn't left me since.
The end result of all this is me pursuing the buddhist practice resulting in a sense of control of my "self". With drugs it is about submission to the experience that is going to be given to you. At first I was mistaken in thinking that this applies to mediation and life in general, but I have since realized that is the downfall of drugs (aside from the obvious escapism aspect). It is about absolute control of various aspects of being. Not control of everything, but selected informed control.
Comments, corrections, and criticism are always welcome.
so they are highly unpredictable in that the subject and environment totally make the experience.
so it is all about set and setting and a great way to accelerate your own psychosis! hahaha be careful people!
hahahahaha