GaryN wrote:Good video there, soulsuvivor. What are we really capable of? Proof perhaps that we need only meditation and no substances. However, it seems that throughout history, substances
were used to assist in an awakening.
Researchers claim that Siddhartha ate only hemp for six years prior to becoming the Buddha in the 5th century BCE. Cannabis continues to play a significant role in the meditation ritual of Tibetan Tantric Buddhism, and has been a practice since 500 BCE when cannabis was regarded as a holy plant.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_ ... f_cannabis
I smell a conspiracy. Or am I paranoid? It looks like the present day ban on the use of consciousness altering substances is to prevent us from realising our full potential, not to protect us from harm. What use enlightened slaves?
Siddhartha lived with the Sadhu, the eremites for years. They smoke chillum until today. This isnt exactly religious use of ganja, rather a way to deal with hunger and physical stress. Much like the people in the Andes chew coca leaves to deal with the physical stress.
Usually the shaman is using substances. He rarely offers them to the patient. The patients world is disturbed, he wont be able to interpret the impressions of the herbs properly.
In Neo-Esoteric terms people say that a persons energy flow may have blocked parts. Using substances to weaken and remove the blockade is barbaric brute force. Only one out of 10.000 or less require the use of a power herb.
Conspiracy ? Maybe a bit. But it doesnt matter. The "herb effect" is the herbs effect, not yours. It has not much in common with a true awakening. In shamanic terms the herb is pulling you into its world. This motion of the focus is what we experience as flush. The experiences you may have are from the herbs domain. This may help to loosen you focus, but thats just one simple step far away from your real awakening. The 2nd Chillum then is just a rinse and repeat.
Hermann Hesse shows this quite well in his book Siddhartha. After he found enlightenment he realizes that his many years with the Sadhu didnt help him a bit, the meditations didnt help him, because the path was in him and not outside of him.
Herbs are healing power, not religious power. There may be herbs to heal your sickened spirit, but feeding the spirit with herbs is rather what Obi-wan would call "the dark side of the force".
I also observed that the "serious" herb users waste a lot of time when trying to re-engineer the old and true rituals. It is much better and time effective to find a traditionalist and learn.