Beyond Our Wildest Dreams

“The art of peace begins with you.
Work on yourself and your appointed task in the art of peace.
Everyone has a spirit that can be refined,
a body that can be trained in some manner, 

a suitable path to follow.
You are here for no other purpose
than to realize your inner divinity
and manifest your enlightenment.
Foster peace in your own life
and then apply the Art to all that you encounter.”
Ueshiba Sensei, founder of Aikido

 

“Although the final breakthrough is not in our power,
yet we move toward this end
when we strive for the open mind.
Striving for this objectivity is a difficult movement,
it means leaving behind mental constructs & security blankets
that, until now, we never knew we had…
I know of no other path
than that of the open mind
which leads to this end.”
Bernadette Roberts, contemporary Christian mystic

 

    It's useful to practice sincerely asking oneself, 'How open-minded am I?' Most of us proudly insist that we're open-minded AND YET "can't" let go of our rigid, long-held ideas (personal/group ego) that keep our mind/heart/life/soul fossilized, and which make no sense at all spiritually or scientifically. When anyone challenges our rigid ego structure, we react aggressively, emotionally, "out of character," and - at the time - believe that our emotional over-reaction is justified & reasonable - life-saving even. After we've calmed down, we might be embarrassed about our weird, childish outburst. And yes, even elderly, well-educated professionals are prone to this. 

    Most of us are, to some degree, psychologically & spiritually wounded & stunted. But instead of recognizing this as a call for psychotherapy & deeper, more meaningful spiritual practice, we instinctively run & hide, angrily branding anything of depth & real significance "too deep, confusing, unscientific, unsubstantiated, subjective, etc," and sink back into the familiar grim 'ordinary unhappiness,' assuming that this is 'as good as it gets.' We simply cannot see when woundedness locks us into a 3-year old's level of maturity who yells, 'I hate you Mommy & Daddy! I'm running away from home now!'

    “We become disabled, unable to function in areas of our lives that evoke feelings we’ve never learned to tolerate. Turning away from this primary pain creates a second, ongoing level of suffering: living in a state of contraction & constricted awareness.” John Welwood

    “Are we training in how to distract ourselves from inner discomfort or anxiety? Are we training in numbing ourselves in the face of fear, or training in waking up? Training in opening the heart, or training in shutting down?” Gaylon Ferguson

    “We are no longer in a period of history when the inner journey is solely about our own liberation: it is about taking part in a global shift in consciousness. It is about preparing us to act, with compassion, on behalf of this planet & the beings around us." Lama Willa Miller

    I invite you to listen to : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yewNM9smrqo - a profound, 55-minute interview with Chris Bache PhD - an intelligent, brave, well-educated, wonderfully wise, well-balanced, grounded explorer of consciousness, with profoundly useful experiences to share with those who are on a meaningful spiritual journey. I base this on having watched at least 5 of his long interviews, and reading his impressive, well-written 2019 book, “LSD and the Mind of the Universe: Diamonds from Heaven.”
    Ervin Laszlo, in the foreward, states that readers "must be willing to entertain three premises:
    That there is an intelligence behind the things in the universe,
    That there is a purpose exhibited by this intelligence, and
    That it is humanly possible to access some elements of this intelligence and learn some of its purpose."

    Notice how Laszlo writes "entertain premises" - curious & open-minded as in serious science & serious spirituality. Bache does not recommend anyone else use high-dose LSD. My own interest is in how his carefully-conducted psychedelic-mediated experiences closely overlapped with & confirmed the spiritual experiences of past & present serious meditators / contemplatives - mystics, saints, as well as average meditators like myself.
    This interview provides ample opportunities to observe where you are open-minded - AND - where you remain stuck in your reactive, armored 'small self' / Eckhart Tolle's 'pain body.' 

    “When I find myself full of fear or desire, I remember that I am dealing with a brain and nervous system that has been hard-wired for millions of years for these emotions. Then I apply one of my favorite mantras, ‘I’m perfectly human.’ When I sit in meditation as a human being rather than as an individual, I feel I am part of a collective effort on the part of our species to right itself, to find a new sanity. As Robert Thurman says of meditation, ‘It’s evolutionary sport.’ In the light of that big perspective, I thank you for being on my team.” Wes Nisker

    "contemplative practices allow the egoic mind to drop of its own accord, and for you to experience something greater – that direct experience of the vastness of which we are a part." Rabbi Rami Shapiro

    “Spiritual practices are methods that can begin to soften our stance toward our self, toward life in general, and to open us to what transcends the habitual. They are invitations to become intimate with the wisdom of silence and stillness.” Dorothy Hunt. “Ending the Search. From Spiritual Ambition to the Heart of Awareness.” Sounds True, 2018. 

 

Where Science and Sacred Meet

    As individuals & as groups, we cling to habitual opinions, beliefs & behaviors for decades past the time we became aware of irrefutable evidence in favor of far better alternatives. There are many reasons for this, perhaps most commonly, we're far more interested & invested in our comfort / status quo & our personal / group identity / ego than in truth eg 'my country - right or wrong.'
    And yet we look back and laugh at surgeons who in 1846 vigorously & effectively opposed the science proposed by Dr. Semmelweis that they must wash their hands before delivering babies & performing surgery. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/01/12/375663920/the-doctor-who-championed-hand-washing-and-saved-women-s-lives
    Winston Churchill quipped, “You can always count on the Americans to do the right thing after they have tried everything else.” Most of us are fiercely proud, quick to rationalize our behavior, despite all evidence to the contrary, AND desperately slow to change!
    But we CAN always CHOOSE to learn & evolve!

    Below is a short transcript of an excellent lecture by William A. Richards PhD, whose 2015 book, “Sacred Knowledge: Psychedelics and Religious Experiences” was described as: "An inspiring testament to half a century of scientific research and personal exploration into the responsible, beneficial use of psychedelic substances. William A. Richards's work is visionary, personal, and transpersonal, instilled with kindness, deep humanity, and quiet wisdom."

    “Psychedelics, wisely and responsibly employed, really are valuable tools in the exploration of consciousness, akin to the telescope in astronomy, or the microscope in biology. Sometimes I have felt like Columbus, having just landed in the West Indies with his primitive maps, and then having somehow been placed in a supersonic jet and shown the vistas of the entire new world, stretching far beyond the wildest fantasies of his imagination, and leaving him almost speechless, with a profound sense of awe. Sometimes, when sitting silently beside research volunteers, when their everyday consciousness has been transcended, and mystical experiences are occurring, it is no exaggeration to say that I humbly feel as though I am sitting beside the Buddha under the Bodhi tree as enlightenment is dawning, or sitting beside St. Paul on the road to Damascus, or beside Isaiah during his temple vision.
    What we are beginning to study here, on this frontier where science & sacred are meeting, truly is profound in its magnitude, its vivid intensity, and its potential relevance. With the best experimental designs we can devise, as we begin to probe this multifaceted field, we are at best novices with very limited conceptual tools and linguistic frameworks.
    I think of Alan Watts’ suggestion: that one reason we have tended to avoid this field of inquiry arises out of the taboo of knowing who you are. That we tend to fear too much knowledge about the mysteries of our own being.
    As I know many of you appreciate, it is common for volunteers, under the action of psychedelics in relatively high dosage, to report phenomena that do not appear to arise from their personal life histories, and that entail different perspectives on time & space. Experiences that call into question some of the most basic assumptions that undergird our normative consensual definition of reality, and the manner in which we customarily define ourselves [self-concepts], and orient ourselves in the world [worldviews]. As expressed by Thomas Kuhn, whether as scientists or philosophers, we really are in the midst of a major paradigm shift at this point in history.
    It is clear that there indeed is a multidimensional cartography of inner space, with many discrete alternate forms of consciousness, and they seem to form a continuum that is influenced by dosage, by personality structure, and the capacity to relinquish ego control, and by the growing edge of a person’s unique personal & spiritual development. Simply expressed, the continuum begins with mild alterations of perception; may deepen to unravel the psychodynamics of personal life; may deepen further to invite participation in visionary or archetypal dramas – the realm of mythology, as presented by Joseph Campbell and Carl Jung; and may deepen even further, into transcendental realms of awareness, in which the everyday self or ego is encompassed into unitive mystical dimensions of mind that usually are experienced as profoundly sacred & eternal. In addition to these stages, there are many unique states of consciousness, about which we know very, very little.
    Although we like to think spatially, and attempt to speak a language that may correlate to phenomena encountered in consciousness, with neuronal structures and biochemical activity, to some extent, it continues to make sense, at least to me, to stress that the experiential content of a particular foray into the world of alternate states is to be found not within the drug, but within the human mind itself. What the human mind is continues to remain a tantalizing mystery, especially as there is good reason to question the reductionistic philosophical assumptions that have tended to prevail in the community of Western scientists, in spite of quantum physics. It is time to take a fresh look at the writings of philosophers such as Henry Bergson, who viewed the human brain more like a television set that receives processes, limits, works with the information, than as a primary source of mental phenomena. Perhaps psychedelic drugs still may be understood simply as skeleton keys that provide access to other realms of human consciousness. The experiences reported, therefore, are not ‘in the drug,’ but rather in and through the mind of the person who is experiencing.
    Now there is a lot of ignorance & lore here, even among those who possess a reasonable personal cache of psychedelic experience. All too often, a person has taken a particular dose of a particular substance, had a particular experience, and then concluded that whatever occurred is ‘what that substance does.’ It is highly probable that even if the person took the same dose of the same substance at another time, there would be a different experience to report, even if it further revealed and extended the themes encountered earlier. The major substances with which I have worked appear to differ from one another not in terms of the experiential content they reveal, but in terms of factors such as required dosage, rapidity of onset and termination, and duration of action. If any particular molecule has a higher probability of facilitating a particular state of consciousness, that only will be established in time, as well-designed, double-blinded research projects are implemented. Does Mescaline produce more vivid colors? Does the DMT in Ayahuasca really produce more images of anacondas? Is the onset of Psilocybin more gentle than LSD? Only patient research will provide the answers we seek."
    Psychedelic Psychotherapy: Insights from 25 Years of Research - William Richards : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhbjKizniOU - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED 56 minute lecture

 

 Neil Young, performing John Lennon's "Imagine"

 

Of Two Minds

     When feeling 'torn between' two very different yet seemingly valid choices, we might realize that "we are of two minds." We might have difficulty deciding between buying a nicer car for ourself - vs - help our adult child pay for much-needed renovations to their already heavily-mortgaged house.

    We operate at 2 very different but complimentary levels of consciousness:
        1) The common, default, symbolic egoic level (discursive rationality, personal-verbal processing):
            - ideal for: basic self-preservation, practical & scientific matters, manipulating the material world
            - our basic DOING mode – filled with talk & action
            - symbols = language (regular & “self-talk”) & images (real & imagined)
            - egoic = self-referential – centered around a separate “me, myself & I”
                (A quiet ego {“hypo-egoic”} is healthy & necessary; a “noisy ego” is problematic)

        2) A post-symbolic transpersonal level - known to meditators as “awareness”:
            - ideal for: life's most fundamental concerns: love, meaning, depth, values, aesthetics, constant change, aging, sickness & death
            - BEING mode – characterized by silence & stillness
            - post-symbolic = does not use language & images - these get in the way
            - transpersonal = having shifted from primarily egocentric separateness to primarily hypo-egoic, allo- & ecocentric (oneness) way of relating to life

    A healthy, balanced, meaningful life clearly requires that we learn to shift effortlessly between either level of consciousness, to most appropriately serve the needs of the present moment. This is an important skill we learn - directly, experientially - during meditation practice. https://jglovas.wixsite.com/awarenessnow/single-post/2016/03/22/two-levels-of-consciousness

     Our practice (formal sitting meditation AND informal normal daily life) is basically remember-ing to be intimate with our self, others, life itself. And we do this by learning to "let go of patterns in our mind & heart that violate love & violate openness.
    ... if we sit in meditative silence infused with love, the state of wonder, we intimately taste directly for ourselves for which no words can be found. That’s why we long for the experience to which our words are alluding to, and how to stabilize in it, and how to share it with people.” James Finley PhD https://batgap.com/james-finley/

    • Many fear & rigidly resist change, resolutely clinging to their egoic (illusion of) control. It's very easy to identify completely with ego, misinterpreting any shift from this as life-threatening.
    • Some evolve / mature to high levels without any apparent formal practice.
    • Many are helped by meditation practice - watch Louise Kay's video below.
    • Some “break down to break through” via severe trauma followed by post-traumatic growth. Severe trauma, particularly when it involves "moral injury", can also result in PTSD.
    • Some experience severe psychiatric (existential) difficulties requiring therapeutically-administered entheogens - watch: "How to Change Your Mind" Michael Pollan’s 4-part documentary on Netflix.
    Taking these medicines under optimal conditions (“set & settings”) as illustrated in this documentary, helps “lift the veil” between our ordinary egoic mind & how things actually are (“ultimate reality”). At the same time, these medicines also diminish or eliminate fearful resistance to this fundamental shift in consciousness. Of course the patients with OCD, existential terror, etc in the film felt the urgent need to transcend their current troubled state, which certainly encourages bravery & curiosity.
    I have no personal experience with any of these medicines (entheogens), but recognize that they can provide access to the same path that serious meditators have patiently traveled for thousands of years.

Louise Kay's wonderfully gentle, skillful, very practical approach: 

 

Ego - Destruction and Repair

     "... the ego is a contraction. Love is expansion, a feeling of spaciousness.” Jean Klein

     I invite you to notice what emotions arise in you, as you read the following. When our ego feels threatened - and it doesn't take very much at all - we react as if our life were at risk! AND we externalize - project BLAME outside of ourselves - in this case, the authors of these quotes and or myself. One mark of spiritual maturation is, instead of projecting, examining what OUR contribution is to our frequent emotional 'tempests in a teapot.' We'll never be able to fully control our external environment, however, our internal environment is FAR more cooperative!

     “I define awakening as ‘an experience of clarity, revelation, and joy in which we become aware of a deeper (or higher) level of reality, perceive a sense of harmony and meaning, and transcend our normal sense of separateness from the world.’
     Awakening experiences occur when we temporarily transcend our normal state of being – or, more strictly speaking, our normal self-system. The structure of our normal self-system – with its strong sense of ego, firm boundaries, and automatic perception – dissolves away, like a tent swept away in a wind. This can happen in times of inner relaxation and stillness, when our normal thought-chatter fades away and there’s a higher level of energy inside us, infusing our perceptions and enabling us to perceive the world more vividly. This is why awakening experiences are often generated by contact with nature, meditation, watching or listening to arts performances, and other sedate, mind-quieting activities.
     Alternatively, our normal self-system may be temporarily swept away as a result of intense stress and psychological turmoil. In fact, my research shows that intense psychological turmoil – perhaps caused by loss, failure, divorce, or bereavement – is the most common trigger of awakening experiences (with contact with nature, meditation, and watching or listening to arts performances following closely behind). Turmoil and stress can be like an earthquake, breaking down the structure of the normal self and allowing a more expansive and intense state of being to unfold.”
     Steve Taylor. “The Leap. The Psychology of Spiritual Awakening.” New World Library, 2017.

     “The loss of self is the essence of trauma.” Gabor Maté MD   

 

     As a consequence of trauma, a relatively healthy sense of self is lost and replaced by an armored "false self" or "noisy ego". Healing trauma involves carefully letting go of the heavily-defended, armored false self, leaving behind a more authentic sense of self or "quiet ego." This requires gentle patience, perseverance and ideally, expert professional help. (Dr. Gabor Maté Interview - The Tim Ferriss Show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9B5mYfBPlY)

     Another term for awakening may be a genuinely revelatory mystical experience - "the revelation that the socialized ego, historical persona or religious identity is not all we are.” (Jeff Kripal) Most of us are so completely identified with - completely lost within - our own stories, that it usually takes something radical to at least briefly "part the veil" so we can have a brief peak at the way things actually are. Awakening experiences, as mentioned in a previous blog (http://www.johnlovas.com/2021/03/fascinating-overlap.html) can also be induced by entheogens - the fastest, most radical pathway to awakening. I personally have never tried any entheogens or other psychoactive substances. The specific effect of these powerful drugs is highly dependent on "set & setting": safe, supportive healing environment, medical expertise & healing intention.

     “There’s nothing wrong with the ego. The ego has been demonized by a lot of different new age communities and spiritual teachings. Just the phrasing, the association of the ego is quite negative. But the ego is just the construct that allows you to navigate in this realm. The ego is the vessel builder that actually allows you to engage in any particular way.
      But what’s happened as we move through life is that we experience some sort of painful experience, that isn’t allowed to complete its full cycle and properly discharge, as it would if it wasn’t inhibited, it gets stored in the system, and then we develop what’s called a compensatory action or behavior. And that’s what we build our personalities, our identities on top of. We’re actually armoring up so that we don’t need to go back to that sensation that was inherently overwhelming, which felt like if we felt that thing, we would die. And so we develop all these coping mechanisms to avoid these things that we carry inside of us. And that becomes our personality, that becomes our identity. And that’s what I call your consciousness structure.
     And so we have to actually disassemble that structure. And as we disassemble that structure, all of those suppressed and repressed aspects of ourselves actually come up - they surface to be felt, and to be expressed, and to be discharged. And then we’re left in kind of a fluid place, where we can now craft a new consciousness structure, a new vessel that can carry, guide and direct consciousness in a different, liberated way. And when you’re coming back from the non-dual space, it’s like you can witness the construct building itself again, block by block, very very rapidly, as the mind, and the emotion, and the armoring, all comes back and solidifies again back into a cohesive whole – maybe with a few pieces altered, with some energy released. And it’s in this discombobulated state that the integration really happens, because you come back a new person. ‘OK, how do I exist in the world now, from this new vantage point, without all of the armoring, defense mechanisms, and the coping strategies, and the behaviors that I had carried up until this point? How do I actually craft a new identity?’ And that’s really where the work begins.
     As the ceremony comes to completion, the rest of the ceremony of life begins. And this is one of the main things that is important to communicate, which is tied to what we were describing before about the potential pitfalls of the ceremonial spaces, is that these realms – not just bufo or 5 MEO DMT, but with any psychedelic or plant medicine, they’re not meant to be separate from the rest of life. They’re actually meant to reveal us to ourselves, so that we can actually live in a more optimized, more holistic, more integrated, more whole state of being. They (plant medicines) are teachers that are teaching us how to be human. And they have existed on this planet far longer than we have. Mushrooms are actually our ancestors. (There’s an interesting documentary “Fantastic Fungi” on Netflix.) Mushrooms are revealing us to ourselves so we can live in an optimized state.
     It’s fascinating when you start observing this not only in yourself, but also in others. You come to see that every person’s identity is a construct, not just an idea, but as an actual reality. Every personality is actually just a construct. It’s just a combination of stories, which is one of the reasons why I respect the work that you do so much, about actually going into the mythos – the myths that actually generate and create and supplement the human experience. Because every single one of us is just a combination of stories. And these medicines really ask us to consider ‘Who am I, when I remove all of my stories? What is left?’”
     A Psychedelic Guide to Healing Trauma - Deus Fortier (The Impeccable Man) The Mythic Masculine (1hr 50min podcast) : https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-mythic-masculine/id1487709630?i=1000532409278

The Storyteller - Inuit whalebone carving from: Donald Kalsched "Trauma and the Soul" 2013

 

Healing - Slow and Fast

     Different circumstances can profoundly change life for the better:
     1) Awakening;
     2) Near death experiences (NDEs);
     3) Post-traumatic growth (PTG); and
     4) Entheogens.

     1) Those who practice meditation seriously, seamlessly incorporate a mindful way of being into the fabric of daily life. The more wisely one practices meditation, the more one progressively awakens to a qualitatively different, wiser, kinder, more joyous relationship to oneself, others, life itself, that is independent of society's usual markers of happiness such as wealth, power, fame, and even physical health. This transformation - like becoming a parent - cannot be fully appreciated intellectually, only directly experienced.
     We tend not to notice the negative influences our culture has on us, and so most people simply follow the herd and avoid thinking outside the box - watch the short video (bottom of this page).
     Rodney Smith. "Awakening. A Paradigm Shift of the Heart." Shambhala, 2014.

     2) “A near death experience (NDE) is a profound event that (10-20% of) people experience when they are near death, on the threshold of death, or sometimes are afraid they’re about to die. They include such things as a sense of leaving the physical body; going through some type of tunnel to another realm of light where they encounter a loving beam of light; they often go through a life review; & at some point may see other entities such as deceased loved ones; & then at some point they choose to come back to their bodies or are told to come back. But the entire experience is infused by a sense of peace & well-being, which is in stark contrast to the near-death state where they’re terrified usually, & in a lot of pain.” Bruce Greyson 

     3) "Post-traumatic growth (PTG) typically refers to enduring positive psychological changes experienced as a result of adversity, trauma, or highly challenging life circumstances."
     Eranda Jayawickreme et al. “Post‐traumatic Growth as Positive Personality Change: Challenges, Opportunities, and Recommendations.” Personality 89; 1: 145-165, 2021.
     Elizabeth Lesser. “Broken Open. How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow.” Villard, 2005.

      4) Entheogens are psychoactive substances that alter perception, mood, consciousness, cognition, or behavior for spiritual development or other sacred contexts en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entheogen. There are increasing reports in scientific journals of agents such as ketamine, which when administered by trained medical personnel in supportive, controlled settings, can elicit remarkable alleviation of severe, previously treatment-resistant depression; lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and psilocybin can eliminate extreme fear of death (thanatophobia) among the dying, etc.
     The powerful healing effect of these drugs is highly dependent on "set & setting": safe, supportive healing environment, medical expertise & healing intention.
     Krystal JH et al. "Ketamine: A Paradigm Shift for Depression Research and Treatment." Neuron 2019 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2019.02.005
     Mackenzie Blomstrom, Andrew Burns, Daniel Larriviere & Jennifer Kim Penberthy (2020): "Addressing fear of death and dying: traditional and innovative interventions." Mortality, DOI: 10.1080/13576275.2020.1810649
    Michael Pollan's book “How to Change Your Mind. What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence.” Penguin, 2018. - AND - his 2022 (4-part) Documentary “How to Change Your Mind" on Netflix both EXCELLENT & HIGHLY recommended!

     Of these four, meditation-facilitated awakening is the most gradual, gentle, and most directly under the participant's own guidance. This is an alternative life path, chosen by those who seek a more deeply meaningful, heart-centered quality of life than the mainstream egocentric competitive / adversarial materialistic lifestyle. Serious, long-time meditation practice markedly reduces fear of aging, sickness & death, which in turn allows us to appreciate & enjoy life more deeply.
     The other three tend to involve recent or impending severe trauma as a potential wake-up call.
     All four can result in a radically positive, stable change in the participant's personality, self-concept, worldview, and overall quality of life. All this happens WHILE clearly facing & lovingly embracing ALL of "life's 10,000 joys AND 10,000 sorrows" - THIS is radical intimacy! THIS is "healing into wholeness." THIS is what is meant when a person is healed, despite not being cured. THIS is the BEST a mortal human can be.

     To our ego (the role of which is our physical survival & passing on of our DNA), physical death is "unacceptable." Yet, the most basic law of nature is that everything changes constantly, we all become sick, grow old and die. So, if we are ready & able to prioritize our sanity & happiness, we prioritize maturing well beyond basic egocentricity.

     "Suffering is caused by identification with egoic consciousness." Adyashanti

     "the ego-shell in which we live is the hardest thing to outgrow." D.T. Suzuki

     Especially if you fear death - and most of us do - I HIGHLY recommend this wonderful book - you will feel much better about death AND about life!:
     Bruce Greyson. “After. A Doctor Explores What Near-Death Experiences Reveal about Life and Beyond.” St. Martin’s, 2021.

     "The more you understand, the more you love; the more you love, the more you understand. They are two sides of one reality. The mind of love and the mind of understanding are the same.” Thich Nhat Hanh

 

Bud Light 2010 Ad - Crashed Plane "We're gonna be okay!!!!"