Whether we are conscious of it or not, whether we acknowledge it or not, we are all religious in the sense that we have an ultimate good that gives meaning to our lives. The worship of this ultimate good, this summum bonum, is what constitutes our religion.

Do you worship mammon (money)? Then your religion is all about consumerism and material possessions, wealth and prosperity. Do you worship power and influence? Do you worship popularity and honour? Do you worship pleasure and gratification?

Whatever you worship is your god, is your religion. It may be that you worship several gods, that you are a “polytheist”. Some of these gods may be abstract values, some may be admirable historical personalities and great thinkers, some may be pop idols. In the Biblical view, they are all idols, all falling short of the only proper summum bonum, which is God.

But what is God? God is love. Not affection (storge), friendship (philia) or sexual attraction (eros) but the transcendent love (agape) which flows through them. Not care, fairness, loyalty, authority, sanctity or liberty, but the transcendent love which flows through them.

The summum bonum of a healthy soul oriented rightly (righteously) to God is love. The summum bonum of an unhealthy soul is pretty much anything else, even “mental health” or “psychological well-being”. This is the god of the modern religions of psychotherapy and personal development.

Psychological well-being is a human good, of course, but like wealth, power, honour or pleasure, becomes an idol when we worship it as our ultimate good. It eventually becomes a psychological trap, a “happiness trap” as Russ Harris put it, a god which is never satisfied, however many sacrifices we bring to its altar.

Just as affection or care are reduced and inadequate versions of the transcendent love of God, so is psychological well-being. It is a form of self-love, even where it tries to be more loving to others for the sake of psychological well-being. The motive is not love but health. At the extreme it breeds narcissism, “therapy narcissism” and “spiritual narcissism”.

This is a particular pitfall for mental health professionals, spiritual directors and shamans. In worshiping their own spiritual and psychological health, as well as the spiritual and psychological health of their clients, they lose sight of the true end, the true goal, the true aim, which is the love of God, pure and simple. Their self-concern eclipses their proper summum bonum.

“Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

1 Corinthians 10:31

The Ray of Creation proceeds from emptiness to plenitude through seven distinct levels:

Amun (emptiness)

Ra (energy)

Atum (matter)

Ka (life)

Ba (individual consciousness)

Gaia (planetary consciousness)

Jah (universal consciousness)

Here we have succinctly summed up the whole of existence, visible and invisible. All is contained within the One God, which is Jah, the Father, and all subsists in the One Tao, which is Amun, the Mother.

Amun is the Mother of the universe.

Ra is the Holy Spirit.

Atum and Ka are the Creation.

Ba is the Son.

Gaia is the Daughter.

Jah is the Father.

The four member of the Holy Cosmic Nuclear family are thus Amun (Mother), Jah (Father), Ba (Son) and Gaia (Daughter).

We can envisage the cosmic family schema more precisely and completely as follows:

Between Amun and Ra is the Mother.

Between Ra and Atum is the Holy Spirit.

Between Atum and Ka is the Creation.

Between Ka and Ba is Mind.

Between Ba and Gaia is the Son.

Between Gaia and Jah is the Daughter.

Between Jah and Amun is the Father.

Modern human beings exist primarily in Mind (between Ka and Ba) with a primarily scientific understanding of the Creation (between Atum and Ka). Only the spiritually awakened have any conception of the immanent and transcendent holy cosmic family, Mother and Holy Spirit within (Amun, Ra, Atum) and Daughter and Father beyond (Gaia, Jah).

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6)

The Son is both immanent and transcendent, which is to say, incarnate. He is the blueprint for spiritual human being. This is the Christ Consciousness (between Ba and Gaia) that gives access to the the Father and to the rest of the holy family. But the way is open only if we are in true, lively, spiritual communion with him: “Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.” (1 John 4:13)

To worship the cat god is idolatry

but to deny the cat spirit is iconoclasm.

o

The spirit of something is its essential nature,

its character or personality.

o

An individual cat has a particular spirit,

but it shares the spirit of catness with all cats.

o

More abstract categories

also have their own spirit.

o

The spirit of Englishness

is in this green and pleasant land,

o

in the English hymnal,

the sound of leather on willow and the lark ascending.

o

The list is not exhaustive,

indeed cannot be exhaustive.

o

The spirit is not in the list,

but it animates the list.

o

To worship Englishness is idolatry

but to reject the spirit of Englishness is iconoclasm.

o

An idol is opaque like a stone statue

but an icon is semi-transparent like stained glass.

o

The idol points to itself

but the icon points beyond itself.

o

Paganism tends to idolatry

and monotheism tends to iconoclasm.

o

But this perennial feud is instantly over

as soon as you understand

o

that icons point to the spirit

and that all spirits are part of one spirit.

o

Monotheistic iconoclasm is worship of God the Father

without the Holy Spirit.

o

Animistic idolatry is worship of the Holy Spirit

without God the Father.

o

Those who worship both are the true children of God,

in communion with Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

The finger should be unerring and straight.

The sky should be cloudless and clear.

The moon should be full and bright.

o

The finger is pistis.

The sky is kenosis.

The moon is gnosis.

o

Christian Zen Shamanism

Is the psychedelic lunar cycle

Of pistis-kenosis-gnosis.

What the mind hears as music, the body feels as vibration:

The bass below the belt, the mid-range in the torso, the high notes in the head.

Good music is healing for both body and mind,

Especially when psychedelically sensitized.

My poetry is jamming your machine

It broke the photo-copier, I’m to blame,

With pictures copied from a world unseen.

o

My poem is in the works -I’m on the scene

We free my verse, and I confess my shame,

My poetry is jamming your machine.

o

Though you berate me with what might have been,

You stop to read the poem, just the same,

And pictures, copied from a world unseen,

o

Subvert the icons on your mental screen

And open windows with a whispered name;

My poetry is jamming your machine.

o

For chosen words can change the things they mean

And set the once-familiar world aflame

With pictures copied from a world unseen

o

The mental props give way, on which you lean

The world you see will never be the same,

My poetry is jamming your machine

With pictures copied from a world unseen

o

Malcolm Guite

The pre-ceremony meditation includes a mantra based on Jewish Kabbalah. It is a simplified version with seven elements, which differ very slightly from the traditional meanings:

Keter (Divine Light)

Hokhmah (Insight)

Binah (Knowledge)

Da’at (Wisdom)

Chesed (Love)

Gevurah (Restraint)

Yesod (Virtue)

The basic idea is the same: the first sefirot (emanation) from the transcendent Godhead is an influx of divine light. This works its way down the human organism via the remaining sefira, enlightening both mind and body in the process.

In my version, the first sefirot is located at the the third eye chakra. This is Keter, the divine light. The other six sefira are arranged in two down-pointing triangles. The upper triangle is made up of Hokhmah, Binah and Da’at, with Hokhmah at the left shoulder, Binah at the right shoulder and Da’at at the heart chakra. The lower triangle is made up of Chesed, Gevurah and Yesod, with Chesed at the left hip, Gevurah at the right hip and Yesod at the root chakra.

These two triangles represent analogous processes, whereby the exuberant, superabundant energy of the divine source of light and life is channeled into the human realm.

Hokhmah represents the influx of insight in the form of thoughts and visions. These are extremely compelling because of the divine charge they contain. However, they can be easily misunderstood and can lead to grave errors and delusions. Therefore we need the balancing force of Binah to correct the errors and curtail the excesses of Hokhmah. The result of the interplay of Hokhmah (insight) and Binah (knowledge) is Da’at (wisdom).

Chesed represents the influx of love in the form of emotions and sensations. These are also extremely powerful because of the intense energy released. Unchecked, they can overwhelm the usual bounds of human affection, friendship and eros, sweeping away all boundaries in a tsunami of “free love”. This can lead to emotional and sexual abuse, both of oneself and of others. Therefore we need the disciplined restraint of Gevurah to contain the love and channel it in a healthy and nurturing direction. The result of the interplay of Chesed (love) and Gevurah (restraint) is Yesod (virtue).

Psychedelic Christian Zen is all about the cultivation of holiness, wisdom and virtue, represented by the three archetypes Mystic-Shaman, Philosopher-King and Warrior-Monk. In the Tree of Life meditation, Keter represents holiness, Hokhmah-Binah-Da’at represents wisdom and Chesed-Gevurah-Yesod represents virtue.

Don’t worry, don’t be scared, don’t be anxious, don’t be afraid.

Be cool. Take inspiration from the saints and martyrs.

There is nothing to fear but fear itself.

Take courage my heart.

Stay steadfast my soul.

“Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

This is the first and great commandment.

And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

(Matthew 22:36-40)

Christianity can also be boiled down to two other commandments: repent and believe.

Repentance opens us up to the possibility of forgiveness, which Christians believe will be freely given to those who truly repent. Human beings are not perfect – we are careless, we make mistakes, we do stupid things, we are selfish and blind, we hurt ourselves and others. We’re only human. But if we are unrepentant, we are unforgiven. We carry a heavy weight of existential anxiety, the existential anxiety of guilt and condemnation.

The weight of our guilt is proportionate to the weight of our sin, the weight of our accumulated karma. This is not just an abstract idea. The body remembers. It carries a toxic “body of sin”, a “pain body”. Whether or not we are “more sinned against than sinning”, the trauma of sin is in us. It creates discomfort and disease. It cries out for healing. It cries out for release and purging, for detox and purification.

Each of the four gospels begins with John the Baptist’s call to repentance and the symbolic cleansing rite of baptism with the promise of an even more powerful cleansing to come:

“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)

But modern secular people have forgotten how to repent and how to be cleansed of their sins. Liberalism has put paid to both sin and repentance and has pathologized guilt, which it claims can be treated with psychotherapy and psychiatric drugs. However, no amount of therapy or drugs can expiate the existential anxiety of an unrepentant soul. Liberalism is so deeply ingrained that even Westerners exposed to ancient shamanic traditions close their ears to the plant medicine’s clarion call to repentance and reformation, however much they may purge.

Another major source of existential anxiety, according to Paul Tillich, is doubt and meaninglessness. This is a problem in its own right, which can result in the despair of a full-blown existential crisis, and even suicide. However, in its less acute form, it also has negative consequences. Where there is doubt, there is vacillation and relativism. There is no motivation to do the right thing, no moral conviction, no firm resolve. There is no compelling reason to not sin again, nothing to prevent you from creating more bad karma.

The forgiveness that comes with repentance clears you of past transgressions and emotional baggage. The righteousness that comes with belief restrains you from committing further transgressions in the present. Love forgives. Faith guides. These are two of the Christian virtues, dealing with the existential anxiety of guilt and condemnation in relation to the past and the existential anxiety of doubt and meaninglessness in relation to the present. The third is hope, which deals with the existential anxiety of fate and death in relation to the future.

“And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13)

Psychedelic Christian Zen has three “moments”: gnosis, pistis and kenosis, which form the three stages of a psychedelic cycle of knowledge:

Kenosis

(Purification)

/oooooooooo\

Pistisoooo<-ooooGnosis

(Dalliance)oooooooo(Perception)

Kenosis is the temporary suspension or bracketing of all interpretative theories and models, gnosis is direct experiential revelation or insight and pistis is the processing and integration of this direct perception into one’s existing model of reality. Kenosis empties the mind of preconceptions, prejudices, assumptions and biases in order that fresh gnosis can occur as clearly and cleanly as possible, and better modify and refine our evolving pistis.

This cycle of knowledge is a simplified version of the scientific method. The “purification” is the clearing necessary for scientific objectivity and neutrality, the “perception” is the scientific experiment itself and the “dalliance” is scientific hypothesis-testing and theory-building. In the psychedelic setting, kenosis (purification) is the preparation before a trip and pistis (dalliance) is the integration after a trip.

However, these three “moments”, kenosis, gnosis, pistis, also form the basis of a spiritual method:

Gnosis

(Communion)

/oooooooooo\

KenosisooooooooooPistis

(Meditation)oooooooo(Prayer)

Here both meditation and prayer aid communion with the spirit of the plant medicine and the Great Spirit beyond. A successful, transformative trip requires both presence of mind (meditation) and effective self-soothing (prayer). This is most powerfully achieved through self-emptying (kenosis) and faith (pistis).

On the other hand, powerful psychedelic experiences, especially mystical ones, strengthen and deepen the meditation and prayer life of the individual post-trip. It is a virtuous cycle, wherein meditation and prayer produce a stronger psychedelic communion and a stronger psychedelic communion produces stronger meditation and prayer, peace and love, zen and faith.