“You must seek the grace of devotion with earnestness, ask for it with real desire, wait for it with patience and trust, receive it with thankfulness, keep it with humility, use it with diligence, and commit to God the time and manner of His heavenly gift. Above all, humble yourself when you feel little or no inner devotion, and be not too depressed or discouraged, for God often grants in one short moment what He has withheld for a long while. And sometimes He grants in due time what He delayed to grant at your first request.

Were grace always granted at once and to be had for the asking, the weakness of man could hardly support it. The grace of devotion must therefore be awaited with firm hope and humble patience. When it is not granted, or when it is withdrawn, regard this as due to yourself and your own sinfulness. Sometimes it is a small matter that hinders or conceals grace – if, indeed, it may be termed a small thing and not grave that delays so great a good. But once you have removed this obstacle, whether small or great, and have perfectly overcome it, you shall have your desire.

As soon as you shall yield yourself to God with all your heart, and seek nothing for your own will and pleasure, but place yourself without reserve at His disposal, you shall find yourself united to Him, and at peace. Nothing will afford you more joy and satisfaction than the perfect fulfilling of God’s will. Whoever, therefore, raises his intent to God with a pure heart, and disengages himself from all inordinate love or hatred of any creature, shall best be prepared to receive grace, and be worthy of the gift of devotion. For Our Lord bestows His blessing where He finds vessels empty to receive them. And the more completely a man renounces worldly things, and the more perfectly he dies to self by the conquest of self, the sooner will grace be given, the more richly will it be infused, and the nearer to God will it raise the heart set free from the world.

Such a person will overflow and wonder, and his heart will be enlarged within him, for the hand of the Lord is upon him, and he has placed himself wholly in His hand forever. Thus shall the man be blessed who seeks God with his whole heart; he has not received his soul in vain. When he receives the sacred Eucharist, he merits the great grace of divine union, for he does not look to his own devotion and comfort, but beyond all such devotion and comfort he seeks the honour and glory of God.”

Thomas à Kempis

Baptism is an initiation rite that uses water as the elemental symbol of spiritual purification.

The idea is that through baptism you are cleansed of your sins so that you can embark on a new spiritual life with a clean slate and a clear conscience. You are “born again” into a completely different mode of being. Symbolically at least, you are free of your besetting sins, whatever they may be.

You could say that the clinical use of psychedelics for the treatment of conditions such as anxiety, depression or addiction is a kind of baptism by fire. It is an intense form of therapy whose effectiveness depends on the direct confrontation of the sufferer with his or her deepest psychological issues. Sometimes, it seems that water just isn’t enough, as John the Baptist indicated in his famous prophecy:

“I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.”

Matthew 3:11

In the clinical context, it is primarily those issues around greed (addictions), fear and anxiety (a victim mentality) and depression and despair (inner demons) that the psychedelic therapists focus on. These are represented in the Tibetan Wheel of Life by the lower three realms, the hungry ghost or “addict” realm, the animal or “victim” realm and the hell or “demon” realm. The hope is that intense psychedelic therapy can go some way towards curing these seemingly intractable conditions.

In a spiritual context, there are also the higher three realms to take into account, namely the human “muggle” realm, the fighting spirit “muppet” realm and the heavenly “diva” realm. These must also be cleansed and purified before the neophyte can enter the Holy of Holies.

Conceited divas are not fit for the spiritual life:

“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.”

Mark 10:25

Revolutionary muppets are not fit for the spiritual life:

“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.”

Matthew 7:15

Reluctant muggles are not fit for the spiritual life:

“And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.

Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.

And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house.

And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Luke 9: 59-62

Neither muggle, muppet or diva, nor addict, victim or demon is fit for the spiritual life. However, these ego structures are burnt up by the miraculous effect of the Holy Spirit in a psychedelic baptism of fire. Then, and only then, is communion of the soul with God in the psychedelic kingdom possible.

There are therefore two stages in Shamanic Christian Zen training: Psychedelic Baptism and Psychedelic Communion. And you can only partake of the second once you have undergone the first. As Thomas à Kempis, always succinct and to the point, said, “the reason why so few receive inward light and freedom is because they cannot wholly renounce self.”

Religions generally have four ways to remember God:

1. Prayer
2. Scripture
3. Ritual
4. Art

In Christianity, there are set prayers, such as the Lord’s Prayer, the Hail Mary and the Jesus Prayer, as well as petitionary prayers and “freestyle” prayers where God inwardly teaches the soul the right way to pray. The other three ways involve reading the Bible, especially the Gospels, attending a church service and/or taking Holy Communion and engaging in sacred art and music.

I have two other ways to remember God:

1. Mantras
2. Entheogens

I call my main mantra “The God Mantra” (see the blog post of that name) and I sometimes call psychedelics “entheogens”, which means “generators of God within”.

The distractions of everyday life make it difficult to keep your mind rooted in God, to practice the presence of God. It takes the same conscious effort as being in the here and now, or being aware that you are aware (Self-remembering). Ultimately these three practices converge in the same experience of Zen flow.

Religious people have access to the first four ways, and sometimes (Hindus and Buddhists for example) to the fifth. The rare religious believers with shamanic sympathies (or practicing shamans) who take psychedelics potentially have access to all six ways. SBNR (spiritual but not religious) people who take psychedelics have access to two or three at most, since they are unlikely to regularly attend religious services, read sacred scriptures or pray.

Non-religious people who take psychedelics may not have access to any of the ways, since they don’t regard psychedelics as entheogens, are unlikely to frame their experiences in an explicitly spiritual manner, and are unlikely to have powerful and compelling mystical experiences in the first place. (For some reflections on why this is so, see my post Why Naturalists Don’t Get High.)

Nominal Christians go to church once a week (usually less) and only occasionally read the Bible. They only pray in times of particular stress and mostly disapprove of psychedelics. So although they consider themselves to be religious, they don’t actually “remember” God very much at all. They are too busy with their lives. Their minds are on other things.

Religious, SBNR or atheist, most people don’t “know” or “remember” God at all. These are really just identity markers, which define people as members of particular social groups with particular views and tastes. Their predominant motivation in life is to be successful and respected members of their respective tribes.

Those who have had direct experiences of God or the Divine, however, have a very different motivation. They may have had one or several mystical experiences, but for them that isn’t enough. There is no resting on your laurels when it comes to the true, living God. The goal of the genuine mystic is to sustain the vision, to keep faithful to it, to keep the covenant and commandments, to remain in the presence of God, to pray without ceasing, to live a life of meditation and service, to worship, give thanks and praise, and do everything to the glory of God.

The Buddha taught that all suffering is ultimately caused by craving, tanha. He organised suffering into three types:

1. Suffering of suffering: birth, old age, sickness, death, coming across what is not desirable.

2. Suffering of change: not being able to hold on to what is desirable; not getting what we want.

3. All-pervasive suffering: general misery.

The general misery, or unsatisfactoriness, of the third type is related to our human-all-too-human failings and shortcomings. The Platonist in me recognises three types of “general misery”:

1. The inability to be good.

2. The inability to appreciate beauty.

3. The inability to apprehend truth.

Thus, when societies lose sight of the Good, the True and the Beautiful, the people suffer.

God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son.

The Bodhisattva so loved the world, that he gave up his only chance of Nirvana.

The problem child of the Enlightenment is worshipped like the golden calf. Instead of a calf, though, the idol of Modernity is a great big golden problem.

With great power comes great responsibility. And with great problem-solving capacities comes a whole lot of problems. The experimental cosmologist Brian Keating said that the greatness of science is that it makes puzzles out of mysteries. He also said (gleefully) that whenever a scientist solves a problem, she is just setting herself up to face an even bigger problem.

Scientists feed on problems. So do journalists and politicians. So do activists of all stripes. Even religious leaders bow to the graven image of the Golden Problem.

What is it that has filled the God-shaped hole in our hearts once filled with beauty and mystery?

Science. Politics. Economics. Social issues. Environmental issues. Health issues. Gender. Race. Class.

Problems.

Taking psychedelics in a clinical setting is serious. Taking psychedelics in a ceremonial setting is serious. Whether the intention is psychological or spiritual insight or healing, the therapeutic aspect is almost always at the top of people’s wish list. So we proceed cautiously and sensitively. We make sure everyone is safe and comfortable so they can take the inner journey into their troubled psyches in peace.

But sometimes the old skool way is the best. And when I say old skool, I mean old skool: hardcore rave, psy trance, techno, garage, jungle, dub. This is actually closer to the Shamanic Way. Why? Because it’s about energy.

The disease of modern Western civilization can be summed up in three words: TOO MUCH THINKING.

It can also be summed up in just two: INTERMINABLE ANALYSIS.

Or even in one: KNACKERED.

In The Birth of Tragedy, Friedrich Nietzsche describes two streams of human engagement with the divine: the Apollonian and the Dionysian. The Apollonian is ultimately about the mind and the Dionysian about the body and energy.

Shamanic energy accumulates with periods of intense stillness and concentration. Typically this involves playing or listening to music, singing, drumming or chanting. Or just listening to the rain. The Chilean transpersonal psychologist Claudio Naranjo calls this “form meditation”. It often has an intensely aesthetic element and so could also be characterised as “Apollonian meditation”.

The accumulated energy can then be channeled into what Naranjo calls “expressive meditation”. In traditional indigenous shamanic communities, this generally meant either dancing or fighting. The original Bacchanal was not a drunken orgy, but a “Dionysian meditation”.

This is what the early nineties rave scene was really all about, especially for those who knew what they were doing. It’s also what the sixties festivals were all about.

Although hedonistic and commercial forces took over and ultimately prevailed in both cases, this is not hedonism. This is “cutting off the green lion’s head” and “waking the baby dragon”. This is “the way of the peaceful warrior”, the “Mystic Shaman” turned “Warrior Monk”.

Remember God.

Parashiva Shiva Shakti.

Remember God.

Amun Ra Atum Ka Ba Gaia Jah.

Remember God.

Mystic Shaman Warrior Monk Philosopher King Friend.

Remember God.

Peace Love Goodness Beauty Truth Consciousness Bliss.

Remember God.

What is true practice?

The application of Great Faith.

Do not waste time.

Cease from erudition.

Avoid controversies, intrigues and debates.

You cannot argue with a sick mind, so don’t try.

Be unshakeable,

Immune from Project Doubt, Project Outrage and Project Fear.

Be steadfast,

Unswayed by the insinuations of Divas, Muppets and Victims.

Stand firm,

Unmoved by Project Greed and Project Normal.

Be yourself,

Free from the seductions of Addicts and Muggles.

Neither succumb to the Demonic temptation to destroy.

Be ever hopeful.

Shun Project Despair.

Have faith.

And what is the true essence of true practice?

The Bodhisattva Vow made in the heart of compassion.

“I had a mystical experience but still re-emerged a naturalist because what else was happening but the drug beautifully interacting with my brain?”

Someone tweeted this in response to my response to the Vice interview with Chris Letheby, Do Psychedelics Just Provide Comforting Delusions?

I replied, “Yes, that’s a common problem” and she came back with, “I don’t see it as a problem.”

Stale mate.

Is there a problem? Well, only if you want to be a mystic, that is, only if you want to continue having mystical experiences. Especially if you want to have them while sober.

But being a mystic requires hard work and commitment. It’s a perilous path. It could mess up your life. At any rate, it will turn it upside down.

Where does this path lead? It leads to a certain state of intimate connection with Reality, with the world and God. This state is precisely the mystical state, of which mystical experiences are brief glimpses. It is blissful, peaceful, blessed. It is like being in paradise.

The spiritual path, if followed faithfully to the end, leads back to that state of lost connection we seem to have lost somewhere along the way.

My Twitter friend was in Paradise during the time of her psychedelic-induced mystical experience. Then she was back in hard “reality”, the reality of hard soil and hard labour (in both senses of the word). Did she, like Eve, eat fruit from the Tree of Knowledge? One bite is all it takes to be banished from the Garden of Eden, and the simple thought, “it’s just a drug” is a pretty good bite.

But she doesn’t see it as a problem. Presumably she’s fine not living in Paradise. But there are those who do see it as a problem. The writers of Genesis, for example.

Personally, I have dedicated my life to trying to solve this problem and to finding my way back to the Garden. Why do some people long for this return? Some people listen out for the clock to strike thirteen, like Tom in Tom’s Midnight Garden. And some people refuse to count beyond twelve. Why?

Who knows? It’s a mystery. It seems that not many are called, and even fewer are chosen. And there is absolutely nothing I can say to convince those who still re-emerge as naturalists that what they experienced is in any way real, that mystical experiences are more than just “comforting delusions”.

The testimony of the saints and mystics throughout the ages won’t do it. Jesus won’t do it. Buddha won’t do it. Rabbis, priests and imams won’t do it. Sadhus and bhikkhus won’t do it. Without metanoia, without a change of heart, there is no God, Nirvana, or Enlightenment, no Garden of Eden, Kingdom of Heaven or Pure Land. There is only, occasionally, “drugs beautifully interacting with the brain”.

Religious people don’t need drugs though. They seem to get their mystical experiences through prayer, meditation, fasting and engagement with the powerful symbols and artifacts of their religion, with poetry and music, sacred spaces and magical rites, smells and bells and stained glass windows. A naturalist would say, “what else is happening but religion beautifully interacting with the brain?”

For naturalists, religion itself is one great “comforting delusion”. The mystical psychedelic experience is just an extension of the general delusion. From a purely metaphysical point of view, however, the naturalist “God Delusion” claim is unverifiable and unfalsifiable. It isn’t a scientific claim, but a philosophical one. And, as I pointed out in my previous blog, Comforting Delusions, naturalism is far from a philosophically unassailable position. In fact, it has run into a whole host of internal contradictions and logical inconsistencies, making it currently the weakest metaphysical option on offer. David Bentley Hart even goes so far as to call it a “philosophy of the absurd”:

“Naturalism, as I have said repeatedly, is a philosophy of the absurd, of the just-there-ness of what is certainly by its nature a contingent reality; is it, simply enough, an absurd philosophy. As I have also said, however, there is a certain circularity in that claim, inasmuch as naturalism, if it is true, renders all reason debile; so it is possible to believe that what has the appearance of absurdity may in fact be the reality of things, even if one cannot consistently act upon that belief, or even conceive  what it would mean. I at least, am willing to grant naturalism its proper dignity as a kind of pure, unreasoning faith: absolute fidelity to an absolute paradox. Theism has nothing magnificently wild and rhapsodically anarchic to offer; the faith it supports depends at some point upon a consistent set of logical intuitions, and so lacks the sheer intellectual brio of that sort of madly, romantically adventurous absurdism. In a few of my more purely passionate moments I find myself a little envious of materialism’s casual audacity and happy barbarism.”

In any case, the typical naturalist claim that psychedelic mystical experiences don’t count because they are nothing but “the drug beautifully interacting with the brain” is also unverifiable and unfalsifiable. An equally possible explanation is that the drug opens a channel whereby some portion of the “divine” beautifully interacts with the brain. And this is much closer to how it actually feels.

The same can be said of all spiritual disciplines and techniques. Prayer doesn’t “beautifully interact with the brain”, but opens a space within which the devotee can commune with their God, with the transpersonal “spirit” beyond the usual limits of the mind. Psychedelics, like prayer, meditation or yoga, especially when taken in a spirit of piety and devotion, are about opening channels of communication between worlds:

“Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”

Isaiah 40:3

If you think it’s more like creating beautiful colours by mixing reactive chemicals in a test tube, you have a severely limited understanding of the extraordinary potential of these sacred plant medicines. You will be unlikely to make straight a highway for God, and your naturalist worldview will end up being self-confirming. This is why, as I argue in a previous blog, naturalists don’t get high.