To: alt.magick.tyagi,alt.magick.tantra,rec.drugs.psychedelic,alt.drugs.psychedelics,alt.psychoactives,alt.consciousness.mysticism,talk.religion.misc,talk.religion.newage,alt.religion.shamanism,alt.shamanism From: nagasiva@luckymojo.com (nagasiva) Subject: Re: Mysticism and Psychoactives 50000114 IVom endgamer71@hotmail.com (Endgamer): > ...drug use, particularly psychadelics, actually /supports/ and > gives basis to the use of ritual, in a very scientific and > provable fashion... my experience is that ritualized psychedelic usage has led me away from repeated experiences. other psychoactives seem to inspire repeated ingestion but less ritualism. > ...Ordinarily, ritual, from a scientific point of view, is > kind of self-justifying...the only real reason for it is to put > ourselves into a particular beneficial state of mind for > working, or to give respect to the beings we are working with, > both of which requirements only exist within our particular > "belief structure". a structural trigger mechanism is an important part of ritual, but a more important element of it is the focus and quiet which it makes possible and the chaos that may come into it through careful attention to detail. > But ritual in the use of psychadelics can be proved to have > a direct, positive effect on the experience.... depends on the person. I know one person for whom her first ritual psychedelic event was traumatic and nightmarish, lasting days, weeks, years into her life. she may never have recovered as far as I know. preparation is essential, self- insight doubly so. some are incapable (for whatever reason, though psychological imbalance at deep levels may be one factor) of engaging the psychedelic effects whether or not they are contained in ritual structure. > ...it structures it, it guards against bad trips and crashes, > and it can bring positive results (ie self-knowledge and > inspiration) out of an otherwise purely random experience... > the most scientific user of psychadelics will talk about > "set and setting", and the importance of structured practice > in taking hallucinogenics agreed, though I also think that repeated and persistent psychoactive ingestion is an indicator that they do not have the same transformative effect which is integrated to ordinary life that a nonritualized (and more gradual/subtle) set of experiences may engender. psychoactives are a means of enhancing or tweaking the inner perceptual filter. they can become an ALTERNATIVE to actively participating in one's external environment, leading to the acceptance of aesthetic apathy and even blindness. ritualizing this can result in a similar effect to ritualizing television viewing. it can leave the person bereft of an ability to appreciate beauty or interact with the real world. for this reason one's RESPONSE to the psychoactives ought, as you say, be treated scientifically with an eye toward extreme caution in reduction of habitual reliance upon the substances. Crowley, though he was a habitual imbiber himself and claimed, falsely, that he had overcome his slavery, was correct in his repeated encouragement that the aspirant set about BREAKING ALL HABITUAL BEHAVIOR PATTERNS (even after having set up some oneself for discipline). doing this once and then returning to it is not true success. only chaos can become a true indicator, and this depends upon numerous internal and external factors. habit breeds inattention, inattention is the first step to somnambulance. the Herd wants us sleep-walking so as to conform to its norms and support its ideals. the mage deprograms the hypnotic mechanisms around hir through whatever means available and rises in intentionality (thus freeing volition for true action). substituting one habitual program for another is not liberation, it is merely routinized hedonism (a lesser variety of the latter worthy pursuit -- intelligent hedonism requires a mystical progression and elements of pain to prevent comfort that lead to ignorance). nagasiva -- mailto:nagasiva@luckymojo.com (nagasiva); mailto:yronwode@luckymojo.com TOKUS: mailto:boboroshi@satanservice.org; http://www.satanservice.org/ notification: I may post any email replies; cc me if some response desired.