Spiritual warfare and drugs...

[Perry]

Hello everyone,

Here's a question that I've wondered about for quite a while. It comes in two parts.

First off, do you think it's possible that certain pharmaceuticals can open us up to the spiritual realm? Many cultures have used so called entheogen's in their religious practices. I have a friend who, when he abruptly quits taking his medication, as he sometimes does, exhibits some really weird behaviors that have, to my thinking, all the ear-marks of spiritual influence... (and not the good kind).

Second, if the answer to my first question is "yes", what does this imply with regard to the physical/biochemical processes of brain function and our interaction the spirit realm?

[disclaimer: In no way am I suggesting or promoting the use of any such drugs. I don't use them, wouldn't advise the use of them, and would be extremely reluctant to imbibe any mood-altering pharmaceuticals, even at the advice from a physician.]

[TK]

I have been rather interested in this question since listening to "coast to coast" radio program driving back late from vacation a while back.

A guy named Graham Hancock was the guest, and he was talking about research he had done with various shamans in different tribes that used a certain drug called Ayahuasca in their trances. The very strange thing is that everyone who takes this drug has the exact same experience -- a vision of a "mother goddess" in a lush garden that supposedly reveals secrets to mankind. It was Hancock's theory that this drug perhaps opened up access to REAL dimensions-- and not merely a hallucinatory vision. This is why everyone has the same experience in taking this drug-- they are gaining access to a real dimension.

Now, I have no intention of taking Ayahuasca to meet the mother goddess. Nonetheless, the concept is interesting, and quite a bit disturbing to say the least.

TK

[Perry]

Hi TK,

That's interesting. I couldn't help but wonder, as I read your post, how many of these individuals, as they're given this drug, are told, "everyone who takes this drug has the exact same experience -- a vision of a "mother goddess" in a lush garden that supposedly reveals secrets to mankind." My suspicion is that they all are... and then, surprise surprise, that's exactly what happens. To really test this you would need a sort of double-blind experiment. Frankly, I would avoid any kind of experiment with this kind of drug. Having said, that, I'm not at all familiar with Graham Hancock, and it may well be that he did indeed set up proper control groups as he conducted his studies. If that is true, then these results are very intriguing indeed.

[TK]

If i remember correctly, when he visited these various tribes, some in south america, some elsewhere, the various shamens that used this particular drug (i guess it can be found in indigenous plants) described this particular vision. I don't remeber it being controlled testing-- but he found it intriguing that shamens far apart from each other described the same vision.

I dont know much about Graham Hancock either-- he has various books on Amazon.com-- the one that deals with this topic is "Supernatural: Meetings with the Ancient Teachers of Mankind."

TK