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Spiritual experience through psychoactives |
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62%
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53 votes,
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0%
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In search of the ultimate high - Spiritual experience through psychoactives by Nicholas Saunders, Anja Saunders, Michelle Pauli, published by Rider, Random House, London, 272 pages, £12.99, ISBN 0 7126 7087 4) is a gripping book to read, an exploration of contemporary shamanism and spirituality around the world, from rave culture to sorcerer shamans, "drunk and surrounded by parts of the human skeleton". Nicholas and Anja visited tribes, mainly in Latin America and the Amazon region, in order to record their spiritual use of psychedelic drugs and to participate in their rituals.
'Their interest in Buddhism had been sparked off by their psychedelic experience'
The book contains instances of the many links between religion and drug-use. The authors took part in ayahuasca services run by the legalised Santa Daime church and by the Uniao de Vegetal, which both have their roots in Brazil. They also note that 40 per cent of Buddhist readers of Tricycle magazine in one survey confessed that their interest in Buddhism had been sparked off by their psychedelic experience. They relate that many of the early therapeutic LSD trips were taken by Anglican clergy, under the supervision of Dr Frank Lake, an Anglican clergyman who founded a school called Clinical Theology.
Nor do they ignore the dangers. In the last forty years, a dozen charges of murder or manslaughter have been brought against Bwiti leaders in Africa whose initiates have died during ibogaine initiation ceremonies. The suggestion is that a peak experience brought about by drug use needs to be grounded in further exploration subsequently, using meditation or other approaches - or, as expressed in Alan Watts's quote in the book: "When you get the message, hang up the phone. For psychedelic drugs are simply instruments, like microscopes, telescopes and telephones. The biologist does not sit with his eye permanently glued to the microscope, he goes away and works on what he has seen" - indeed in Vipassana (insight) mediation, experiencing momentary enlightenment is regarded as "corruptions of insight (bad trips) because of the unfortunate tendency to mistake them for the end of the path" leading to "inflated psychonauts" going around believing themselves to be enlightened.
The most socially innovative project in the book is described in the following passage by Nicholas Saunders about two Westerners who are trying to help undo the damage done by missionaries, by getting tribes that have been Christianised to take part in drug ceremonies conducted by shamans and healers from other tribes.
Yopo - rescuing a tribe from Christianity
We were invited to attend a full moon ceremony in a remote Penare village in Venezuela. For the past ten years, two remarkable men have been quietly collaborating on projects to preserve the traditional pre-Colombian spiritual and religious practices of the Aboriginal peoples of the Americas. One is an initiated medicine man and ceremonialist who has been learning shamanic divination and healing from traditional elders of tribes throughout Central and South America for over twenty-five years, while the other is a philanthropist who has devoted his life to the spiritual welfare of others.
'To empower the people to resist the forces of cultural destruction'
Their method is to catalyse ceremonial gatherings among native people by bringing together shamans, traditional healers, and native ceremonialists from different tribes. These gatherings last from one to five days and involve the use of visionary plants, purification rituals, songs, dances and prayers to heal individuals and communities, and to empower the people to face and resist the forces of personal and cultural destruction in their lives.
Missionaries have been responsible for much of the damage. They teach that traditional beliefs are wrong and demonstrate the superiority of antibiotics over the plant medicines used by shamans. This opens the way to persuading people to reject their shamanic culture. Missionaries then teach that traditional spiritual practices are evil, and frequently go on to attack other aspects of traditional culture as being contrary to the Ten Commandments.
This is how many missionaries worldwide have spread their message, and some have even done so with sincerity and compassion. The result has been to make people reject their own culture even when they have nothing else. Once their pride and self-confidence have been demolished, tribal people are far more easily exploited by governments, loggers and oil companies. This is not a thing of the past: we learned that the impending millennium had provided a goal for some missions to convert with increased zeal.
'We witnessed spontaneous sessions where people from one village taught songs and dances, while the others tried on loincloths'
In this particular village, the local missionaries are the New Tribes Mission whose stated aim is "To bring the gospel to every tribe". In doing so they had eradicated much of the Penare culture, including their traditional songs, dances and shamanic rituals, although the villagers still wore loincloths with breasts covered only by strings of white beads. Meanwhile other missionaries had persuaded villagers in a nearby village to dress 'decently' (in jeans and T-shirts) but had tolerated their songs and dances. These two groups were brought together along with several shamans from more isolated villages. The event was wildly successful and we witnessed spontaneous sessions where people from one village taught songs and dances, while the others tried on loincloths. The three-night festival may have undone several decades of missionary activity.
The shamans did not use ayahuasca in this region, but another two-part psychoactive called yopo (Anadenanthera peregnina) The first part, containing inhibitors, is the root of the same vine that ayahuasca is made from, which is chewed beforehand. The psychoactive component consists of the seeds of a common tree containing DMT, which are dried, ground to a powder and snorted. The components are equivalent to those used in ayahuasca, but instead of a gradual build-up the effect is sudden and intense.
We did not know the shamans or speak their language. We had been told to trust them. After about half an hour of searching for a suitable place we ended up in our own hut. We just waited to see what was going to happen and so did half the village, who gradually dropped in with great curiosity to see how these white people would handle the medicine.
The shaman opened a box, sprinkled some greenish-brown powder on a piece of wood and ground it with a pestle. Then, without further ritual, he demonstrated that we should snort the powder up both nostrils by simultaneously using a forked tube.
'It felt like splinters of glass hitting the back of my mouth'
It felt like splinters of glass hitting the back of my mouth, but I dutifully followed the mimed instructions to massage it into my nostrils and snort some more. Then I sat with my back leaning against a pole, took some deep breaths and waited ...
I saw the shaman and his friend having a conversation on their own, but also noticed that everyone's bodies were offset at about waist level. I was not aware of being under the influence of any drug; it was simply that their top halves were all shifted a bit to one side. That's odd, I thought, and closed my eyes. That was a shock. What I saw was the same whether my eyes were open or closed! Next I heard a male voice speaking to me in English. He was speaking clearly and softly right into my left ear and seemed absolutely real. What's more, he was giving me an important personal message, although later I was unable to recall any of it.
'Any fear quickly dissolved into sheer amazement'
I was no longer able to be the observer, and had no way of telling what was real: My normal state of reference had been undermined and this made me feel panicky ... I had been prepared to face my deepest fears: but not this! However, any fear quickly dissolved into sheer amazement. This probably lasted for some time, although I cannot remember the content, as I eventually regained enough consciousness to find my mouth hanging wide open and completely dried up inside.
With my consciousness back in control, I decided to explore where I was going, and to steer the course into introspection. There was no story line that I could follow. I shook myself and tried again, but the experience was all too fast and fragmented for me to get a handle on.
After some time it felt right to go out to see the dances of the Indians, which we could hear in the background. The moon and the stars were incredibly bright and a gentle peacefulness surrounded the village.
Nicholas Saunders
Nicholas Saunders died in a car crash in February 1998. A book with stories from his life, Nicholas Saunders - Social Inventor, is on the web (at www.globalideasbank.org/Saunders.HTML). Michelle, Anja and others help to maintain the website that he started (www.ecstasy.org).
Adapted from an e-mail to the Global Ideas Bank from Valerie Yule who writes: "Dr Peter Tod, a retired radiologist, has come up with the following ethical code".
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