Feeling much more awake on a psychic and spiritual level

Hahah yeah probly. Your alright neo we just don't agree on some things. Peace.

 

Believe me, when it gets bad enough Mother Earth will shake us off like a dog shakes fleas. Ever seen a tornado? an earthquake? Believe me it will happen if we don't start to take care of her....

 

Here windy, I wrote this following my Salvia experience. Maybe it will be of some use to you, to help you prepare. I tried to focus on the interior aspect of the experience. Obviously, it's beyond words, but it will give you some sort of idea of what to expect.

Short Lived Infinity

The silence roared over Allyne as she took and held in her dying breath, like a tidal wave of perplexity and confusion, undulating and slowly retreating as waves of understanding and perfect perception took their place. She looked around the room, and knew what it was like to be insane. Insane, in every sense of the beautiful word. What had moments ago been a dull and nonliving room had instantaneously been replaced by a static dynamic that was impossible to describe. She could feel the air buzzing, whispering in her ear. The patchwork of molecules that formed the fabric of existence tirelessly vibrated in their constantly shifting gridlock with all the intensity of a restrained nuclear explosion. She cleared the smoke from her lungs and stood up. Running her hands through her haphazardly strewn black hair, she started at the heavy tingling perception in her hands. As the sensation spread throughout her entire body, a knot of fear suddenly coiled up inside her belly, and she lowered her hands expecting to see her hair in them. There was none. "Energy", she thought. She shivered and it made her feel so comforted and alive, as if she were standing in a shower and warm water were running down her back, releasing the chills locked down deep inside. Vibrating as vividly as the rest of the room, she wondered how everyone could have deceived her this whole time. How could they have kept her from the truth, how cruel of them to leave her in such a deceived and ignorant state, when all of this was to behold; how could they? It would only be until roughly 30 minutes later that Allyne would realize that they themselves did not know. Turning to the closet on the far side of the room, she understood that she was facing God. A presence that functioned from all standpoints opened up to her, and Allyne realized she was having a conversation with herself from within herself and without herself. Her body hummed as the silence grew in volume; the universe opened up to her from every faucet and light poured into her innermost sanctuary from every corner of every junction of every synchronicity, all interwoven into a grand cosmic spell that threatened to engulf her in it's one-dimensional magnitude. Becoming her namesake, her pale face radiated as the stars, and she tilted her head back and closed her eyes, breathing and being. Extending herself, the heels of her feet left the ground and she balanced on her toes as a conflagration of horrible beauty casually swept it's way through the wasteland she had called her mind, leaving a fertilized ethereal landscape for life to begin anew. Sitting back down on the couch, she looked over at her friend, finally joining in her laughing as the last bittersweet revelation of life unfolded, and Allyne thought to herself, "I am".

 

Beautiful! Poetic! Thank-you!

 

Hmmm, I missed a bunch of this discussion...but for what it's worth, I once took an lsd trip in the middle of the woods and experienced a certainty that decay and death are as much valid parts of life as health and growth. And I'll offer a quote from Zen master Shunryu Suzuki: "Everything is perfect, but there is a lot of room for improvement."

I dunno nuthin about salvia, but I do know something about hellish experiences. I'll just offer a quote from Diogenes: "The way up and the way down are one and the same."

 

I dunno, windy...I do think you can get some valid spiritual experience with peyote, however...a large part of my eye-opening was the company I was with while under the influence of peyote. One guy was a "teacher," and he was obviously making an effort to show me some stuff - stuff I couldn't have seen without having the peyote to open my eyes.

 

Yes Zen...I believe you need a guide, a person with a lot of experience to guide you through it. I would never do this on my own (you were lucky to have somebody like that)

 

Alright, I had another very beneficial experience with Ketamine last night. I truly let go, welcoming all aspects of the trip, both good and bad. I was overwhelmed with the most amazing feeling of pure happiness I have ever experienced, and there were many messages in my trip. The first message that stuck out was that I should show the people I care about just how much I care, and it made me realise how sometimes I don't do that. The second message was that I have the ability to help people, and I should use it. The third was another good one.. Everything in life is like a trip, go with the flow, and don't worry when things come to an end.

I am going to read some more of Carlos Castaneda's books over the summer and do the best I can to help everyone around me. I can see this summer being a good one

-Matt

 

I am a huge Castaneda fan! I think I have read all of his books 'cept one. Over and over lol...

 

Ooh. I have only read "Journey to Ixtlan", my dad recommended me his books last year. I'm glad he did, that one book made more of an impact on me than any book has previously

I plan to start with his first book and read them all, I have his first 7 books. There are 9 in total right? 2 that were published after his death?

-Matt

 

I could be wrong but I thought there were 10. I also have a book written by one of Carlos' "witches"... Being in Dreaming by Florinda Donner...loved it!

 

It was hard for me to come to a conclusion to write anything at all in this regard, and then if to write, what to say? I'll do so only because taking a trip with a faulty map may lead one into bad situations, as well as good perhaps. I recently saw a documentary about Castaneda which was quite disturbing, I'd heard a lot of controversy around him but nothing I felt was conclusive and I'd always kept an open mind. I still believe his work has much to offer, however, this piece pretty much closed the case in disfavor of him for me. I'll post the link, watch it if you like, it's not my place to say one thing or another when it comes to anther's path, but I would personally feel remiss if I didn't say anything at all.

Carlos Castaneda And The Shaman. Tales From The Jungle

 

Yes, there has been alot of controversy surrounding him. I have been swayed one way and then the other over the years. I must say I did learn alot from his books and leave it at that. Unfortunately I don't have sound on my computer so it would be useless to watch the documentary. Is there a corresponding article I could read?

 

I'm not sure of an article quite like this film. I would try and write an synopsis, in fact I did just try but I erased the little I wrote because I don't think I can do the film justice. It goes quite in depth, interviews with his wife and son, people who belonged to his spiritual group, fellow anthropologists who knew Castaneda and worked with the same tribes he speaks of in his writings, people who have done a lot of research based on the books etc. It also focuses on Castaneda's group itself, especially in it's later years before his death and the relationships he had with the "witches."

It was rather shocking for me to watch, I'd not invested greatly in his work and idea's, but I did have a soft spot for them, so it hurt a little to watch this, just to warn anybody who might also find the film disturbing. However, if you are interested in his work and wonder what the controversy is about, it is well worth watching if you can manage it.

Basically, I now see the worth in his work only as I would see worth in any fantasy fiction, some teachings can be garnered but one should not take the work itself to be based in any kind of real life events. Since spiritual work will alter your very reality, if you are influenced to heavily by questionable material you could land yourself in serious trouble.

I guess I repeated my previous post a little, but I wanted to further clarify my thoughts and feelings on the matter. I would be good to hear anybody else's opinions if they watch the film.


It was great to hear your doing well Royaltramp, I had wondered about you. Showing people how much you truly care for them is one of the greatest things you can do, so I'm glad you got this message, many people go through whole lifetimes without this knowledge, or at least without putting it into practice. As far as spirituality goes I think it's one of the best practices you could engage in; my two cents at least. Tell me, do you still have the great sense of spaciousness?

 

I've read almost all of Castaneda's books too many times to count over the last 35 years or so. I even wrote to him through his publisher, Simon & Schuster, but received no reply.

I'm in a unique position, as is windy, for that matter - I have lots of "supernatural" experiences of my own to compare to Castaneda's stories. I haven't seen the documentary you linked to, evolove, however I've read an in-depth expose of Castaneda that put lots of doubt on his veracity. And the article gave me serious pause - in fact I was so disturbed by it that I started a thread about it on this forum to get the views of others.

One person who responded called the article a character assassination piece, which made me see it in a slightly different light.

Certainly there is a lot of evidence that Castaneda was not being honest about a lot of things...however one could point out that from a certain standpoint, such dishonesty was wholly consistent with the "sorcerer's world" he described, particularly with regard to the "stalking" behavior of a Nagual, or leader of a sorcerer's party.

As it happens I have also had some powerful spiritual/psychic teachers who have behaved so much like Castaneda and his description of his teachers' behavior that it makes me seriously wonder if maybe there is more truth to Castaneda's books than the exposes would have us believe. Furthermore there are so many aspects of experiences described by Castaneda that coincide in many details with my own experiences that it's hard to dismiss him.

My spirit guide Deanna, who behaves remarkably like the Nagual Don Juan on many occasions, told me once, "Logic has nothing to do with anything." I've seen enough through my own eyes to know that spiritual machinations tend to look like complete nonsense to someone who is intent on logical explanations for everything.

At the very least, Castaneda's books can help open people's eyes to things that do in fact exist to an extent that I can at least partially verify. Beyond that, all of us have our own individual paths to walk anyway - as the investment companies say, "Past performance is not a guarantee of future results."

 

Yes I agree wholeheartedly Zen. Especially.... "Logic has nothing to do with anything. I've seen enough through my own eyes to know that spiritual machinations tend to look like complete nonsense to someone who is intent on logical explanations for everything."

 

I've already watched that, however it's not the validity of what he says that comes into question, it's simply the lessons he teaches. I've learnt a lot from his books, and it doesn't bother me whether he made it up or not, because there are a lot of useful life lessons in there.

I don't know the exact quote but there's a passage in Journey to Ixtlan where Don Juan tells Carlos that he lied to him. Carlos asks why, and Don Juan says that sometimes in order to teach someone something, you have to lie in order to get them to understand.

 

Read Zen Flesh, Zen Bones - and THEN tell me Castaneda was full of shit - if you can.

The subjugation of the ego is not necessarily "nice" or "polite." Sometimes you need to be really, really, screwed before you start to see the light.

Have a problem with that? Ask "God" for help with it.

LOL

LOL

LOL

 

u been drinkin?

 

LOL

Does it show that much, Neodude?

Yeah, I've been drinkin. Sometimes that's the only time I feel free to say what I think.

Whuddya think?