I think that the mystical experience can often be understood within such a framework. — Jack Cummins
I did read and enjoy several books by Carlos Castaneda in my youth, although I never saw the experiences described as relevant to my life. — T Clark
A little peyote goes a long way.... — Valentinus
I think that the question is really how genuine the ones on hallucinogenics are? — Jack Cummins
Maybe my notion of 'mysticism' is too mundane or prosaic for this new(er) age?...the mystic is able to see beyond the ordinary world, into the infinite. — Jack Cummins
Y'know, I suppose now, the everyday dao (wu wei) or that it is (Witty) or musical jubilation (Freddy) aren't "mystical" enough it seems. IIRC, hallucinogens – entheogens too – are just revolving "doors" through which you bring back out only what you've brought in, just stranger now – or less familiar – if you're paying attention. "Derangement of the senses"? Yeah, okay. But "the real trip" estranges the familiar and your everyday (a little or a lot depending upon dosage, purity, setting & mindset) and greets "faces" who "come out of the rain" ... Shamanism, you mentioned, only seems needed where sleepwalking is a chronic sickness & superstitions run rampant, that is, where folks have learned too well (due to religious indoctrination / prohibitions, social or political taboos, lack of courage, etc) to become completely inattentive to their moment-to-moment lives. So, are you experienced? not necessarily stoned ... :fire:Perhaps 'mysticism' is waiting for sudden revelations as a way of life. — 180 Proof
:flower:It is better to travel well than it is to arrive. — Buddha
I think that the question is really how genuine the ones on hallucinogenics are? — Jack Cummins
'He who imagines that he can violently and forcibly climb into the higher worlds is greatly mistaken.' — Jack Cummins
And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. — Matt 11.12
I feel "hallucinogenics" is a loaded term and immediately discredits and devalues a person's experience with, what I prefer to call, psychotropics. — TheMadFool
Do plants "know" something we don't? — TheMadFool
Fair enough. I rather like 'entheogens' but nobody knows what it means. I'm always impressed that Albert Hoffman, who sythesized it, lived until 104. (I've written an instrumental track in his memory called Bicycle Day. I think, regrettably, that Leary was a rascal, though. ) — Wayfarer
My second-ever book, I think, was Politics of Esctacy. Don't think it has stood the test of time well, but it's got some scintillating ideas in it.
(Although based on that Wiki page, Leary was tame by comparison — Wayfarer
The consensus in the scientific community and by extension the popular view of these mental states is that they're episodes characterized not as a catching glimpses of a different facet of reality but as instances of losing touch with reality — TheMadFool
Don't you think great, powerful, master works of art afford "glimpses of a different facet of reality" by, like intense orgiastic sex or deep prolonged meditation or, in fact, psychotropic trips, loosening – even weakening – the grip of everyday reality on us? — 180 Proof
ecstasy - ex outside of; stasis - ‘business as usual’. — Wayfarer
ecstasy - ex outside of; stasis - ‘business as usual’. — Wayfarer
:fire:ecstasy - ex outside of; stasis - ‘business as usual’. — Wayfarer
My preferred - idiosyncratic - notion is 'ecstasy' rather than 'mysticism'; ecstatic practices - what Iris Murdoch calls unselfings - rather than mystical, or spiritual, exercises (i.e. union with (some) 'transcendent' X); ego-suspending via everyday living (i.e. encounters (à la Buber) - sleep, play, prayer, meditation, or contemplation via [ ... ] and/or hallucinogens) rather than ego-killing via ritualized ascetics (e.g. monasticism, militarism, etc). Not religious, not spiritual, not mystical - but I am (an) ecstatic. — 180 Proof
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