People come to psychedelic ceremonies for many reasons. They want insight. They want healing. But most of all they want magic. Life without magic is unbearable for magical beings.

Some may have a genuine psychedelic breakthrough and glimpse the source of all magic and all existence. This is the beatific vision, moksha, awakening, apokalypsis.

Then the veil descends once more and the cloud of forgetting obscures the light once again. But a trace remains, a distant memory of seeing and believing.

Now the spiritual work is no longer about seeking, but about remembering. Now it’s all about unforgetting, anamnesis.

Kenosis is anamnesis. We remember to be here now. We remember to be more zen.

Gnosis is anamnesis. We remember the beatific vision. We remember what is behind the veil.

Pistis is anamnesis. We remember the timeless teachings that flow from kenosis and gnosis.

Lord, help us to remember. Grant us anamnesis. Give us this day our daily bread. Grant us pistis; grant us kenosis; grant us gnosis.

Pistis is our daily bread. We read the scriptures every morning on arising and every night before bed. We read a chapter from a book on the reading list every day.

Kenosis is our daily bread. We live a life of meditation, a life of mindfulness and self-emptying. Every-day zen. Every-minute zen.

But gnosis, as the gnostic psychedelic apocalypse, is our monthly bread. Humankind cannot bear very much reality.

The Holy Spirit is none other than the love of God.

God is … ZEN.

If you don’t get it, God is … PARASHIVA SHIVA SHAKTI.

If you still don’t get it, God is … AMUN RA ATUM KA BA GAIA JAH.

If you still don’t get it, God is … KETER HOKHMAH BINAH DA’AT CHESED GEVURAH YESOD.

If you still don’t get it, God is … PEACE LOVE GOODNESS BEAUTY TRUTH CONSCIOUSNESS BLISS.

If you still don’t get it, read my book.

If you still don’t get it, read the books on the reading list.

If you still don’t get it, meditate and pray.

If you still don’t get it, meditate, pray, and take magic mushrooms.

If you still don’t get it, don’t worry about it. Great is the mystery of faith.

Neither a journey to the East, nor a journey to the West, South or North.

Neither a journey to the stars, nor a journey to the centre of the Earth.

Neither a journey to the Pure Land, nor a journey to the Promised Land.

The Way of the Holy Mushroom is neither a royal road, nor a Roman road.

It is an endless cycle of gnosis, pistis, kenosis.

It is a washing machine of the soul.

O God, make clean our hearts within us.

And take not thy Holy Spirit from us.

Kenosis occurs when you realize that you are full of yourself and need to empty yourself. It is the precondition and preparation for Gnosis and Pistis.

The following actions and expressions point to the process of kenotic self-emptying and ego dissolution:

Dieta, purga,

Neti, neti,

Nada, nada,

Amun, mu.

Relax

In the Great Way of Absolute Non-Resistance.

Give up everything;

cut all ties.

Let go and let God.

Turn on with gnosis; tune in to pistis; drop out of Babylon.

Turn on with gnosis; tune in to pistis; drop out of Babylon.

Turn on with gnosis; tune in to pistis; drop out of Babylon.

What do psychedelics do? Good question. There is a neurological answer, a phenomenological answer and a metaphysical answer. The neurological answer has to do with the 2A receptors in the brain. The phenomenological answer has to do with altered mentation, visuals and visions. Here I will give a metaphysical answer.

Psychedelics open the channels between transcendent Parashiva, beyond all horizons, and immediately given conscious awareness, Shiva. Shiva comes from Parashiva (the Son is from the Father), but under the influence of psychedelics, it comes trailing clouds of glory.

The influx of spiritual energy (for want of a better term) from the infinite wellspring of life and light that is the Godhead (Parashiva) charges the consciousness of the shaman (Shiva) to such a pitch of intensity that every object of awareness (Shakti) is charged with the grandeur of God.

Thus Shakti is received by Shiva in wonder, awe and beauty, and with a sense of inexhaustible sacredness. All things disclose the Holy Spirit, and are revealed as profoundly numinous and holy.

Alternatively, the influx of spiritual energy fails to find its way from Parashiva to Shiva and Shakti, but is diverted and hijacked by the ego, the psychological mental construct we call our “self”. In which case, the super-charged, hyper-active ego produces a plethora of confused thoughts and feelings, sometimes resulting in hallucinations, fantasies, delusions, anxieties and paranoia.

If you can put your ego to one side, and get out of your own way, then, and only then, will psychedelics do what they were sent to do – sanctify you and the world.

Successful talking therapies clarify issues and produce insight. They help bring unconscious patterns of thought and behaviour into the light of consciousness, where they are processed and resolved, ideally to the point of closure. It’s a bit like tidying up the mess in your house and putting it away neatly in drawers. Or like a lawyer working through a heavy case load, one “case closed” after another.

Unsuccessful therapy just moves the mess around in interminable analysis. It ends up being “all talk” and loses sight of the fact that it is a means to an end, which is peace and quiet. (See the blog post Cynical Clowns and Fearful Bores).

Thinking, talking, reflecting, ruminating, analysing, are essential to understanding ourselves and the world. This is the specialty of the left brain hemisphere, and it is a big part of what makes us human. It is also an essential component of growing up and of being mature and responsible adults. However, when we rely too much on our thinking, we are in danger of getting lost in a dream world of mental representations and fabrications. We are in danger of “falling asleep”.

This is why Ken Wilber talks about growing up and waking up. Talking therapies helps us to grow up, but we need to look elsewhere if we want to wake up. We need to look to spiritual practices and to religion. Specifically, to meditation and prayer.

Psychedelic ceremonies are hot-houses of intense experience and sensory overload. Where quiet sitting (zazen or centering prayer) help us to wake up by gently shifting our attention from our habitual left hemisphere ruminations to right hemisphere mindfulness, psychedelics help us by brutally shaking us awake. And it’s often a rude awakening.

The psychedelic experience is not for the faint hearted or for the big headed. As the old cliché has it, the only way out is through, and the only way through is not by the way of thinking, but by the way of meditation and prayer.

Let your mantra be watch and pray (Matthew 26:41)

On earth and in heaven,

Be more zen.

In the deepest pit of hell,

Be more zen.

In sickness and in health,

Be more zen.

In joy and in dread,

Be more zen.

In all things,

Be more zen.

Every EUREKA! moment is a drop of gnosis in the ocean of pistis and in the sky of kenosis, even when it feels like it’s the final drop that will finally swallow the moon.