Shamanic Journey, Spiritual Competition & Psychonauts
I’m not an expert on Shamanism, nor am I a stranger to it. In my experience, the most satisfying aspect of Shamanism is that it doesn’t seek answers, it seeks connection to innate knowing. This can lead to answers or guide one to better questions.
It becomes about transforming knowledge into wisdom through experience.
A Shamanic journey can be undertaken for any number of reasons. Sometimes the intention is healing or communication with a specific spirit or “energy.” The question I’m raising here is; how are journeys brought on by psychotropic drugs or entheogens different from journeys brought on more naturally, such as with a drum or rattle or via trance-work?
Of course the biggest argument for using drugs is that it’s “old school.” Ancient tribes used hallucinogens to journey and commune with the spirits for the betterment of the tribe. What isn’t addressed often is the fact that anthropologists who have spent time with these tribes tell a different story.
While it is true that many of the Shamans rituals involve a drug induced altered state, most do not. In the vast majority of the Shamans workings, simpler tactics are incorporated to achieve an altered state. So, in reality, in the very, very old days, the OG Shamans did it both ways.
Of course, we don’t live in those times any longer and things are very different now, especially when it comes to drugs. In the 60’s, despite its lack of the compound DMT (Dimethyltryptamine), which is a component favored for Shamanic journeys, LSD was used by many in the same way Shamans use peyote or ayahuasca.
It could even be speculated that the rise in interest in Shamanism in the United States coincides with those original psychonauts, Ken Kesey and his Pranksters, the Grateful Dead, Alan Ginsberg, Terrance McKenna and Timothy Leary among others too numerous to list.
The purists will tell you that LSD experiences don’t compare, the “purists” being those who claim to be Shamans or those elitists who are constantly playing the “my psychotropics can beat up your psychotropics” game.
It’s an ego based game where drug choice, dosage and length of journey, among other things, are all laid out and measured. It’s also a waste of energy and time. Since it’s become trending and intentions are blurred to so many, ego plays a larger role than ever, ironically in something that teaches how to properly handle ego.
As to comparing an LSD experience to a DMT experience, I would only ask, why? Why compare? If a purist were to take LSD they might get absolutely nothing out of it since they go into it expecting nothing. After all, if you don’t think you have anything to learn, you won’t learn anything. A journey is only as good as the person who is taking it, no matter how their feet found the path.
Interest in Shamanism has had its ebb and flow over time. Somewhat more recently there has been an upsurge in the use of ayahuasca to induce a shamanic effect. Ayahuasca is most commonly associated with Peru where it has been used for centuries.
However, many people from all over the world are now going on retreats, many held in the U.S, where the sole purpose is to gather together and ingest ayahuasca to induce elevated spiritual awareness. That is the goal with any psychotropic journey, however, where mysticism or spiritualism, call it what you like, are concerned, ego can be a formidable distraction.
Some people attend very expensive retreats where they attempt to journey using entheogens or by listening to a drumbeat or rattle. Workshops, lodging and meals included for these gatherings can run up a hefty bill. Now I don’t mean to meander from the main point here but there is a reason for bringing up the cost of these events.
There are those who seem to believe that the more you pay, the more spiritual you are or the more valid your experience is. This in spite of the fact that that type of thinking only serves as evidence that the retreat “didn’t take.” One cannot purchase enlightened awareness.
Prominently displayed bobbles aren’t a sign of enlightenment either. That’s a bit critical, a lot of the bobbles are pretty. However, I think most people have met the type of person who wears them like a badge of sorts. People who wear them loudly, they can’t wait for you to notice them, or better yet, ask them about their symbols.
At the end of the day, people just want to be heard, now more than ever they shout into the abyss instead of talking to each other.
I suppose that like everyone, my own experience is the only one I can speak to. I’ve done my fair share of entheogens and certain clichés come with the territory. I was reading different books than I used to read and found interest in things I hadn’t been interested in before.
Then there’s the music. Jim Morrison said, “I believe in a long, prolonged derangement of the senses to attain the unknown. Our pale reasoning hides the infinite from us.” And William Blake said, “If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, Infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro’ narrow chinks of his cavern.”
Like so many before me, I took it upon myself to bust out of my cavern, and entheogens were definitely an aid in that. I used psychotropic drugs to achieve the unknown, and it took. As to the “Doors of Perception,” I blew them right off the hinges until not a speck of saw dust remained.
A lot of it had to do with my environment at the time. I am a better person for having had the experiences I had, a more aware person. However, the real work starts when the drugs wear off, or for some, when the over-priced retreat is over. Once back in the hum-drum of “the real” how does your new awareness hold up?
When you’re no longer in that warm embrace, the cocoon of the like-minded, or you don’t get a gold star every time you have a gold thought that sparkles and shines in a sky so colorful just for your special being, are you still living what you know?
People feel compelled to validate their experiences. If they attach validation to numbers, like the amount of dollars they spent to jump through the number of circles before getting to the “inner circle,” or the number of levels they had to ascend to claim some obscure title, that’s groovy, largely ineffectual, but groovy.
It’s no different than the number of microdots or the number of grams in your dose for the people who take entheogens. Again, I can only speak for myself, but I can say this, once the doors have been blown from the hinges, once you know where your being guided, how long will you allow the drugs to prevent you from getting there?
The word “intent” is a once simply defined word that has achieved buzz status these days. The idea is that if intent is clear, much is possible. How that plays out in the spiritual world may not be the same as how it plays out in the physical world.
I have always said that in an infinite universe, there are infinite possibilities. If a person has a strong enough intent to grow spiritually by paying a lot of money, or taking copious amounts of drugs, maybe they can, they’d just have to keep paying and/or stay high all the time.
Sounds self-limiting to me.
In the end, it all boils down to truth. I think it was Gandhi who said, “My life is my message,” those are fine words to ruminate on when considering one’s own intent and its manifestation, not to mention whether it manifests every day, only when it’s convenient or only when others are watching.
It’s never too late to be authentic.
