John Harris Today the psychedelic drug discussion is less about LSD and mushrooms than the ethnobotanicals, the most ubiquitous and popular being Ayahuasca, Now this is a fascinating phenomena with many spiritual levels and asks questions that transcend mere 'recreational' motivations. Indeed an entire industry-Ayahuasca Tourism-has grown up over this phenomena with characters like Terrance KcKenna, publications like Realit Sandwich, and popular personalities like Joe Rogan all popularizing it. Like 'Mescalito' Ayahuasca is said to have its' own nature spirit which appears as the same being to different 'seekers'.And it is precisely this 'spiritual' notion of seeking which evokes the subject of the 'spiritual' religious practice of using 'sacramental' botanicals to contact higher beings and worlds, practices which are very old indeed. Like 'Mescalito'-the spirit of Peyote, South American shamans claim specific 'spirits' behind the Ayahausaca plants. When asked 'How these particular plants could ever be identified amidst the tens of thousands of plant species in the rain-forrest, the shamans explain that the particular 'beings'-the nature spirits behind the plants simply 'communicated' with them.
Of course this dovetails with the Ethnic practices and rituals across the globe and raises the questions about the role of these substances in culture and in the larger cosmic perspective. Use of psychedelics bypasses the classical prerequisites of most spiritual paths/sciences. One need not practice a life of selfless morality, contemplative meditation, diet etc., etc.Yet these practices are ancient and speculation such as McKenna's 'Food of the God's', which postulates man's higher consciousness as deriving from apes (or cavemen) accidentally ingesting psychedelic mushrooms, thereby starting the development of 'the human mind.' Although this is 'kooky'-extreme-the context of these substances being used for millenia is valid and deserves study both academic and contemporary-existential.
One major question/concern which comes to mind given any discussion of psychedelics id the question of damage to the subtle 'astral' organs of perception, the Chakras Steiner has stated that undertaking exercises to develop these organs, (which is a central task to the evolutionary cycle of karma and reincarnation) without the proper preconditions of an altruistic and reverent frame of reference will cause the organs to develop into a caricature of what they should be, resulting in a twisted, inaccurate form of clairvoyant perception which leads to confusion and illusion. The evolutionary damage dome by this improper development can actually require additional lifetimes to 'repair', indicating the danger inherent in these practices. This, of course, begs the question about the ethnic anthropological rituals which have used these substances as a central part of their cultures and in concert with 'nature spirits' who, apparently, are benevolent.
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