This is Part 3 of a 3 part series on my first ayahuasca experience. I strongly suggest reading the first two parts as they lead up to this final post. Part 1 available here covers what ayahuasca is, its effects and my knowledge of the ceremony before I first drank it.
Part 2 is available here and covers the journey that led me to the experience in this article. There will also be audio files further describing the journey coming soon.
I'll skip straight to my journey, other than to say this was a closed group of people in Ireland, some of whom have a lot of experience with the medicine. I was the only first timer present that night. We sat in a circle on couches and armchairs, each with a basin and roll of kitchen tissue at our feet. I had a brief discussion before hand with the person organising the medicine to arrive at a suitable dose for my first time.
Soon it was time for a brief talk about ayahuasca, suggestions such as try to stay in the room, where the toilet was and so on. We were encouraged to try to keep the medicine down for forty minutes if possible, this gives it time to be fully absorbed into the system and do its best work. From my preparation I knew that vomiting was likely, or purging as it is called, and heard mixed descriptions of the taste. There would be music played loudly throughout (although I was barely aware of it), more tribal or didgeridoo, specially selected to take us on a journey, so the end of the fifth track would indicate forty minutes. There is no dancing, little or no talking, people observe their own inward journey.
This was an incredible, demonic experience, incomparable to anything I had ever previously encountered.
This is Part 2 of a 3 part series on my first ayahuasca experience. Part 1 available here which covers what ayahuasca is, its effects and my knowledge of the ceremony before I first drank it.
Part 3 you can find here. There will also be audio files further describing the journey coming soon.
I would say I've felt driven to be free for all of my life. At times a burning desire to understand life and to experience the expansion of mind beyond this physical reality. Despite much contemplation, around twenty four years of meditation, ten of which I practised twice daily, never missing a meditation, I've meditated on trains, planes, in toilet cubicles, any quiet space I could find to keep to my daily discipline. I've practised all manner of techniques on releasing stress and furthering my spiritual evolution: EFT, Ho'oponopono, Native American Sweat lodges, Floatation Tanks, Energy Healing, different forms of yoga, many forms of meditation, spiritual retreats in different parts of the world, taken courses on philosophy, Gnosticism, astral travel, among others, received many sessions of massage, Craniosacral Therapy, acupuncture... and on and on it goes. All have been helpful to some degree, they got me over a hump perhaps to continue on in search of deeper fulfilment and a number I continue to practise regularly to this day. I’ve always asked questions, got easily frustrated with life and bored with the day to day as I see it. I was bored with life long before I hit my teens. Never sure if I was just doing it wrong, or on a different path in search of a different experience than what we are bombarded with in today's society. I've found it much harder to trust my own voice and direction, something that is changing with age, than to find the path that is best suited to me.
I began to explore the possibilities of multiple realities coexisting simultaneously.
This is Part 1 of a 3 part series on my first ayahuasca experience. Part 2, in this link, covers my own personal journey to arrive at this point and Part 3 covers my hellish experience.
Ayahuasca is a vine found in the Amazon jungle known to have healing powers and has been used by native peoples for thousands of years to heal the mental, physical and spiritual. I have heard it referred to as the Vine Of Death or the Vine Of The Souls, I’ve also heard it called Snake Medicine, the point being a snake sheds its skin. In the Amazon jungle ayahuasca is not considered a drug. The shaman consider it medicine and either refer to it as Mother Ayahuasca or simply as the medicine. It has been described as being of the hallucinogenic family such as magic mushrooms or LSD/Acid although some shaman prefer to not compare these. People are normally asked have they previously tried acid and how were their experiences. I had tried acid, and had very paranoid dark trips. Of the selection of drugs I've used in my life (before getting sober, covered in Part 2), acid was the least enjoyable, so I made a decision to stay away from it.
I will take you to hell, but I will bring you back to the light.
In the past few weeks I've had a few interactions with people who "hate money", consider it "evil", think it "creates greed, poverty, hunger". They see the cronyism and banking/political corruption and blame this on money. There is indeed plenty of corruption in the world and many systems that are more destructive than beneficial. But money itself simply is not one.
"Lack of money is the root of all evil" - George Bernard Shaw
This is a subject that I find very interesting lately, and not for the reasons you think, but because I think it shows signs of having enormous potential for waking people up, it is the present Flat Earth movement. Whether the earth is flat or round is irrelevant for this article, whether the people investigating it are as educated or more so than our renowned scientists, NASA etc is also irrelevant. I will not discuss any of the flat earth theories here, that is not the purpose of this article, the point is to observe how people react when presented with new information. I'll leave a few introductory links at the bottom for anyone who is curious.
A number of Flat Earth You Tube videos approaching 500,000 views at time of writing.
If you missed it, here is Part 1 of this post from last week.
To follow on from last weeks post on Free Markets this week I wish to cover two things briefly: The myths about a Free Market, and how economically less free countries fare compared to freer countries.
The most overused myth about the Free Market is that it caused the financial collapse, but as I covered last week the financial markets are the most heavily regulated in the world, thus they ain't free. There was other reasons for the collapse, far from too much freedom, but networks of corruption and cronyism. A free market is when there is absolutely no regulation where two people, or companies can trade freely without government interference.
Venezuela where 36 Trojan condoms cost $755
For the past few years we have been told repeatedly by politicians and the media that the Free Market has caused the economic recession. Giving the markets, or banks to be more precise, too much freedom to do business resulting in them mismanaging money and going broke, so we're told. That they were bailed out by governments is another days discussion, the question today is: were the banks operating in a Free Market in the first place? Do We live in a Free Market?
A completely free market is a form of a market economy where buyers and sellers are allowed to transact freely (i.e. buy/sell/trade) based on a mutual agreement on price without state intervention in the form of taxes, subsidies or regulation.
A few times people have seen my views to empower people, as a hatred of people. So I am forced to take stock and have a look at myself and my perhaps flawed thinking. Here I try to understand: Why I hate the poor.
Because I think all citizens, especially the poorer members of society having near half of their income taken forcibly from them by the state via income tax and VAT, I am called 'crazy'. I think people spend their own money best. Now how this equates to ‘Why do you hate the poor?’ I can't quite grasp.
Regardless of what the law says, I trust individuals with their own money more than proven incompetents.
Anything that ruffles the feathers of mainstream media and politicians I have to support. The days of monopoly corporate, or state sponsored news and propaganda are drawing to a close, I hope, perhaps that’s the reason there is panic from governments the world over to control the Internet, to reduce our access to alternative media. Mainstream media is about ratings for the empire and fame for reporters all facilitated by drama. It is important to realise, mainstream news is not news, the delivery chosen is not intended as news, it is intended as entertainment. There is more money in entertainment. The highs and lows of emotions, the release of chemicals in the brain has been described as an addiction that keeps us tuning in and distracts us from any effective solution or alternative.
We need a thinking questioning population.
This is a simple question, and there is no ‘wrong’ answer. The purpose is to help us find any inconsistency in our beliefs. The question is: Do you believe in freedom? Ultimately this question boils down to ‘do you want peaceful adults to be free to make their own choices?’
Now many will of course think 'No, I don't want people free to make their own choices.' Well, although I disagree with you, I do respect you for having the awareness to make that statement.
You cannot create equality by treating people unequally.
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