HaCKeRz KrOnIcKLeZ 3/HaCKeRz_KrOnIcKLeZ.iso/drugs/imprinting.guide

Amigaguide Document | 1996-05-06 | 17KB | 266 lines

           Using LSD to Imprint the Tibetan-Buddhist Experience
                          by Dr. Timothy Leary, PhD
              (A Guide to Successful Psychedelic Experience)
Having read this preparatory manual one can immediately recognize symptoms
and experiences that might otherwise be terrifying, only because of lack of
understanding.  Recognition is the key word.  Recognizing and locating the
level of consciousness.  This guidebook may also be used to avoid paranoid
trips or to regain transcendence if it has been lost.  If the experience
starts with light, peace, mystic unity, understanding, and continues along
this path, then there is no need to remember the manual or have it reread
to you.  Like a road map, consult it only when lost, or when you wish to
change course.
                            Planning a Session
What is the goal?  Classic Hinduism suggests four possibilities:
(1) Increased personal power, intellectual understanding, sharpened
    insight into self and culture, improvement of life situation,
    accelerated learning, professional growth.
(2) Duty, help of others, providing care, rehabilitation, rebirth for
    fellow men.
(3) Fun, sensuous enjoyment, esthetic pleasure, interpersonal closeness,
    pure experience.
(4) Trancendence, liberation from ego and space-time limits; attainment of
    mystical union.
The manual's primary emphasis on the last goal does not preclude other
goals - in fact, it guarantees their attainment because illumination
requires that the person be able to step out beyond problems of
personality, role, and professional status.  The initiate can decide
before hand to devote their psychedelic experience to any of the four
goals.
In the extroverted transcendent experience, the self is ecstatically fused
with external objects (e.g., flowers, other people).  In the introverted
state, the self is ecstatically fused with internal life processes (lights,
energy waves, bodily events, biological forms, etc.).  Either state may be
negative rather than positive, depending on the voyager's set and setting.
For the extroverted mystic experience, one would bring to the session
candles, pictures, books, incense, music, or recorded passages to guide the
awareness in the desired direction.  An introverted experience requires
eliminating all stimulation: no light, no sound, no smell, no movement.
The mode of communication with other participants should also be agreed on
beforehand, to avoid misinterpretations during the heightened sensitivity
of ego transcendence.
If several people are having a session together, they should at least be
aware of each other's goals.  Unexpected or undesired manipulations can
easily "trap" the other voyagers into paranoid delusions.
                                Preparation
Psychedelic chemicals are not drugs in the usual sense of the word.  There
is no specific somatic or psychological reaction.  The better the
preparation, the more ecstatic and relevatory the session.  In initial
sessions with unprepared persons, set and setting - particularly the
actions of others - are most important.  Long-range set refers to personal
history, enduring personality, the kind of person you are.  Your fears,
desires, conflicts, guilts, secret passions, determine how you interpret
and manage any psychedelic session.  Perhaps more important are the reflex
mechanisms, defenses, protective maneuvers, typically employed when dealing
with anxiety.  Flexibility, basic trust, philosophic faith, human openness,
courage, interpersonal warmth, creativity, allow for fun and easy learning.
Rigidity, desire to control, distrust, cynicism, narrowness, cowardice,
coldness, make any new situation threatening.  Most important is insight.
The person who has some understanding of his own machinery, who can
recognize when he is not functioning as he would wish, is better able to
adapt to any challenge - even the sudden collapse of his ego.
Immediate set refers to expections about the session itself.  People
naturally tend to impose personal and social perspectives on any new
situation.  For example, some ill-prepared subjects unconsciously impose a
medical model on the experience.  They look for symptoms, interpret each
new sensation in terms of sickness/health, and, if anxiety develops, demand
tranquilizers.  Occasionally, ill-planned sessions end in the subject
demanding to see a doctor.
Rebellion against convention may motivate some people who take the drug.
The naive idea of doing something "far out" or vaguely naughty can cloud
the experience.
LSD offers vast possibilities of accelerated learning and scientific-
scholarly research, but for initial sessions, intellectual reactions can
become traps.  "Turn your mind off" is the best advice for novitiates.
After you have learned how to move your consciousness around - into ego
loss and back, at will - then intellectual exercises can be incorporated
into the psychedelic experience.  The objective is to free you from your
verbal mind for as long as possible.
Religious expectations invite the same advice.  Again, the subject in early
sessions is best advised to float with the stream, stay "up" as long as
possible, and postpone theological interpretations.
Recreational and esthetic expectations are natural.  The psychedelic
experience provides ecstatic moments that dwarf any personal or cultural
game.  Pure sensation can capture awareness.  Interpersonal intimacy
reaches Himalayan heights.  Esthetic delights - musical, artistic,
botanical, natural - are raised to the millionth power.  But ego-game
reactions - "I am having this ecstasy.  How lucky I am!" - can prevent the
subject from reaching pure ego loss.
Some Practical Recommendations:
The subject should set aside at least three days: a day before the
experience, the session day, and a follow-up day.  This scheduling
guarantees a reduction in external pressure and a more sober commitment.
Talking to others who have taken the voyage is excellent preparation,
although the hallucinatory quality of all descriptions should be
recognized.  Observing a session is another valuble preliminary.
Reading books about mystical experience and of others' experiences is
another possibility (Aldous Huxley, Alan Watts, and Gordon Wasson have
written powerful accounts).  Meditation is probably the best preparation.
Those who have spent time in a solitary attempt to manage the mind, to
eliminate thought and reach higher stages of concentration, are the best
candidates for a psychedelic session.  When the ego loss occurs, they
recognize the process as an eagerly awaited end.
                                The Setting
First and most important, provide a setting removed from one's usual
interpersonal games, and as free as possible from unforseen distractions
and intrusions.  The voyager should make sure that he will not be
disturbed; visitors or a phone call will often jar him into hallucinatory
activity.  Trust in the surroundings and privacy are necessary.
The day after the session should be set aside to let the experience run its
natural course and allow time for reflection and meditation.  A too-hasty
return to game involvements will blur the clarity and reduce the potential
for learning.  It is very useful for a group to stay together after the
session to share and exchange experiences.
Many people are more comfortable in the evening, and consequently their
experiences are deeper and richer.  The person should choose the time of
day that seems right.  Later, he may wish to experience the difference
between night and day sessions.  Similarly, gardens, beaches, forests, and
open country have specific influences that one may or may not wish. The
essential thing is to feel as comfortable as possible, whether in one's
living room or under the night sky.  Familiar surroundings may help one
feel confident in hallucinatory periods.  If the session is held indoors,
music, lighting, the availablility of food and drink, should be considered
beforehand.  Most people report no hunger during the height of the
experience, then later on prefer simple ancient foods like bread, cheese,
wine, and fresh fruit.  The senses are wide open, and the taste and smell
of a fresh orange are unforgetable.
In group sessions, people usually will not feel like walking or moving very
much for long periods, and either beds or mattresses should be provided.
One suggestion is to place the heads of the beds together to form a star
pattern.  Perhaps one may want to place a few beds together and keep one or
two some distance apart for anyone who wishes to remain aside for some
time.  The availability of an extra room is desirable for someone who
wishes to be in seclusion.
                           The Psychedelic Guide
With the cognitive mind suspended, the subject is in a heightened state of
suggestibility.  For initial sessions, the guide possesses enormous power
to move consciousness with the slightest gesture or reaction.
The key here is the guide's ability to turn off his own ego and social
games, power needs, and fears - to be there, relaxed, solid, accepting,
secure, to sense all and do nothing except let the subject know his wise
presence.
A psychedelic session lasts up to twelve hours and produces moments of
intense, intense, INTENSE reactivity.  The guide must never be bored,
talkative, intellectualizing.  He must remain calm during long periods of
swirling mindlessness.  He is the ground control, always there to receive
messages and queries from high-flying aircraft, ready to help negotiate
their course and reach their destination.  The guide does not impose his
own games on the voyager.  Pilots who have their own flight plan, their own
goals, are reassured to know that an expert is down there, available for
help.  But if ground control is harboring his own motives, manipulating the
plane towards selfish goals, the bond of security and confidence crumbles.
To administer psychedelics without personal experience is unethical and
dangerous.  Our studies concluded that almost every negative LSD reaction
has been caused by the guide's fear, which augmented the transient fear of
the subject.  When the guide acts to protect himself, he communicates his
concern.  If momentary discomfort or confusion happens, others present
should not be sympathetic or show alarm but stay calm and restrain their
"helping games."  In particular, the "doctor" role should be avoided.
The guide must remain passively sensitive and intuitively relaxed for
several hours - a difficult assignment for most Westerners.  The most
certain way to maintain a state of alert quietism, poised in ready
flexability, is for the guide to take a low dose of the psychedelic with
the subject.  Routine procedure is to have one trained person participating
in the experience, and one staff member present without psychedelic aid.
The knowledge that one experienced guide is "up" and keeping the subject
company is of inestimable value: the security of a trained pilot flying at
your wingtip; the scuba diver's security in the presence of an expert
companion.
The less experienced subject will more likely impose hallucinations.  The
guide, likely to be in a state of mindless, blissful flow, is then pulled
into the subject's hallucinatory feild and may have difficulty orienting
himself.  There are no fmiliar fixed landmarks, no place to put your foot,
no solid concept upon which to base your thinking.  All is flux.  Decisive
action by the subject can structure the guide's flow if he has taken a
heavy dose.
The psychedelic guide is literally a neurological liberator, who provides
illumination, who frees men from their lifelong internal bondage.  To be
present at the moment of awakening, to share the ecstatic revelation when
the voyager discovers the wonder and awe of the divine life-process, far
outstrips eartly game ambitions.  Awe and gratitude -rather than pride-
are the rewards of this new profession.
                The Period of Ego Loss or Non-Game Ecstasy
Success implies very unusual preparation in consciousness expansion, as
well as much calm, compassionate game playing (good karma) on the part of
the participant.  If the participant can see and grasp the idea of the
empty mind as soon as the guide reveals it -that is to say, if he has the
power to die consciously- and, at the supreme moment of quitting the ego,
can recognize the ecstasy that will dawn upon him and become one with it,
then all bonds of illusion are broken asunder immediately: the dreamer is
awakened into reality simultaneously with the mighty achievement of
recognition.
It is best if the guru from whom the participant received guiding
instructions is present.  But if the guru cannot be present, then another
experienced person, or a person the participant trusts, should be available
to read this manual without imposing any of his own games.  Thereby the
participant will be put in mind of what he had previosly heard of the
experience.
Liberation is the nervous system devoid of mental-conceptual redundancy.
The mind in its conditioned state, limited to words and ego games, is
continuously in thought-formation activity.  The nervous system in a state
of quiescence, alert, awake but not active, is comparable to what Buddhists
call the highest state of dhyana (deep meditation).  The conscious
recognition of the Clear Light induces an ecstatic condition of
consciousness such as saints and mystics of the West have called
illumination.
The first sign is the glimpsing of the "Clear Light of Reality, the
infallible mind of the pure mystic state" - an awareness of energy
transformations with no imposition of mental categories.
The duration of this state varies, depending on the individual's
experience, security, trust, preparation, and the surroundings.  In those
who have a little practical experience of the tranquil state of non-game
awareness, this state can last from 30 minutes to several hours.
Realization of what mystics call the "Ultimate Truth" is possible, provided
that the person has made sufficient preparation beforehand.  Otherwise he
cannot benefit now, and must wander into lower and lower conditions of
hallucinations until he drops back to routine reality.
It is important to remember that the consciousness-expansion is the
reverse of the birth process, the ego-loss experiencee being a temporary
ending of game life, a passing from one state of consciousness into
another.  Just as an infant must wake up and learn from experience the
nature of this world, so a person must wake up in this new brilliant world
of consciousness expansion and become familiar with its own peculiar
conditions.
In those heavily dependant on ego games, who dread giving up control, the
illuminated state endures only for a split second.  In some, it lasts as
long as the time taken for eating a meal.  If the subject is prepared to
diagnose the symptoms of ego-loss, he needs no outside help at this point.
The person about to give up his ego should be able to recognize the Clear
Light.  If the person fails to recognize the onset of ego-loss, he may
complain of strange bodily symptoms that show he has not reached a
liberated state:
1. Bodily pressure
2. Clammy coldness followed by feverish heat
3. Body disintegrating or blown to atoms
4. Pressure on head and ears
5. Tingling in extremities
6. Feelings of body melting or flowing like wax
7. Nausea
8. Trembling or shaking, beginning in pelvic region
   and spreading up torso.
The guide or friend should explain that the symptoms indicate the onset of
ego-loss.  These physical reactions are signs heralding transcendence:
avoid treating them as symptoms of illness.  The subject should hail
stomach messages as a sign that consciousness is moving arouns in the body.
Experience the sensation fully, and let consciousness flow on to the next
phase.  It is usually more natural to let the subject's attention move from
the stomach and concentrate on breathing and heartbeat.  If this does not
free him from nausea, the guide should move the consciousness to external
events - music, walking in the garden, etc.  As a last resort, heave.
The physical symptoms of ego-loss, recognized and understood, should result
in peaceful attainment of illumination.  The simile of a needle balanced
and set rolling on a thread is used by the lamas to elucidate this
condition.  So long as the needle retains its balance, it remains on the
thread.  Eventually, however, the pull of the ego or external stimulation
affects it, and it falls.  In the realm of the Clear Light, similarly, a
person in the ego-transcendent state momentarily enjoys a condition of
perfect equilibrium and oneness.  Unfamiliar with such an ecstatic non-ego
state, the average consciousness lacks the power to function in it.
Thoughts of personality, individualized being, dualism, prevent the
realization of nirvana (the "blowing out of the flame" of fear or
selfishness).  When the voyager is clearly in a profound ego-transcendent
ecstasy, the wise guide remains silent.
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