Letting go is key in both meditation and psychedelics. Here's why.

I decided to buy a book about magic mushrooms in anticipation of my mild/moderate 1 gram (totally legal) psilocybin experience this coming Thursday.

It was a good choice, as I've enjoyed reading Michelle Janikian's Your Psilocybin Mushroom Companion: An Informative Easy-to-Use Guide to Understanding Magic Mushrooms. Well-written, practical, nicely researched.

Today I got to a chapter where Janikian talks about the relation between meditating and tripping on magic mushrooms. Since I've meditated every day for about 55 years, and used psychedelics (LSD, mescaline, psilocybin) quite a bit in college, I was struck by how "letting go" is a central aspect of both practices.

She writes about a psychedelic experience:

But according to researchers, the most important thing you can do is to approach the experience with an accepting attitude and open mind. Similarly, while you're actually under the influence of a psychedelic, the most important navigation skill is to relax.

It sounds simple -- too easy, even -- but relinquishing your control to the substance, to not resist its powers and just let go and see where it takes you, can be challenging.

...In one of the first trip manuals, The Psychedelic Experience, published in 1964, the main recommendation for tripping successfully still holds true: "Whenever in doubt, turn off your mind, relax, float downstream."

In fact, every psychedelic expert who has written on the subject has given this same advice in their own words.

Rick Strassman, author of DMT: The Spirit Molecule, and the first scientist to resume psychedelic research since prohibition, advises something very similar: "It is only through letting go that we find ourselves making the most progress... this surrender is the crux of a successful journey."

...Similarly, in The Psychedelic Explorer's Guide, James Fadmian gives more specifics on how to surrender: "Observe what is going on inside your mind and body, but do not try to control the flow of images and sensations. Allow your mind to take its natural course; relax and observe as your thoughts unfold without any effort. Affirm that all experiences are welcome."

Janikian then speaks about meditation:

This is where having a practice of meditation in your daily life can help you navigate the psychedelic space, because in meditation you learn how to relax your mind and let thoughts come and go without engaging them.

Our minds naturally rationalize and judge everything around us -- it's a safety mechanism to keep us alive, so it's completely unnatural for us to stop doing so, whether we're on mushrooms or not. While I'm terrible at meditating, I was still practicing before my latest psychedelic experience, and I was able to use that developing skill to stop resisting and rationalizing everything and, instead, relax and go deeper.

So if you find yourself being overly critical of your thoughts while you're tripping, try taking a deep breath, closing your eyes, and simply focus on your breathing.

For me, thinking "Teach me, I'm listening" helped me to stop rationalizing, judging, and planning everything, and just be in the moment. But sticking to the classic: "Trust, let go, be open," should do the trick, too. Before the trip begins, choose a mantra that encourages you to be calm, present, and accepting of the experience, no matter what it is.

So why is letting go so key in both meditation and tripping? The way I see it, in both cases there's a presumption, or at least a hypothesis, that our usual sense of living in a fractured reality is an illusion of sorts, since there is a wholeness lying largely unknown and unexamined outside of our habitual awareness.

An image comes to mind.

If reality is viewed as a vast, probably infinite, ocean, mostly we see ourselves as individual flecks of foam blown into the air from ocean waves by winds of cause and effect.

Though we do our best to unite with other flecks of foam through love, togetherness, mutuality, and such, there's always a feeling of "I am me, you are you, they are themselves."

But by letting go, by surrendering to a gravitational force that manifests when we stop being flecks of foam in constant motion, the resulting stillness can lead to a sense of being a wave thrown up by the ocean, yet in no way separate from the ocean.

That's the promise of meditation. That's the promise of psychedelics. To relax into a state of consciousness where me is seen as being not very different from thee -- meaning, everything that's usually viewed as being clearly other than me.

This sense of oceanic awareness can be very blissful. It also can be very scary, if the loss of individuality is experienced as something to be afraid of, rather than welcomed. 

Usually meditation brings about this sort of ego dissolution in a decidedly gradual manner. Psychedelics taken in high ("heroic") doses can produce ego loss rapidly. So the psychedelic explorer needs to prepare carefully, have a positive mindset, and ramp up doses to the heroic level in a series of experiences.

Jumping into a deep pool of water can be heavenly if you're a good swimmer. Or hellish if you're not. The good news is, each of us has the capacity to let go and swim in the unified ocean of reality. This may seem difficult, but more and more, I've come to believe that the difficulty lies within our belief that it isn't easy.

But maybe it is. After all, how tough is it to let go? Isn't holding on much more of a chore? After all, you're not trying to get somewhere. By giving up trying, the idea is to become what we always are, yet don't realize this because we're in ceaseless motion, always aiming to be somewhere else.

Comments

[manjit]

Bingo!

[s*]

Nice <3
I like to go meditate..
Thanks for telling this expierence.
It gives something good..
<3

[sant64]

In minds where reason should reside,
A fool's escape, a twisted ride,
Psychedelics paint the sky,
With colors born from every lie.

A dance of madness, visions spun,
Illusions where the weak succumb,
Chasing shadows, fleeting dreams,
Lost in vivid, senseless schemes.

They claim to reject a higher plane,
And say that ideas unreal give them pain,
So how to explain them toxifying their brain
With pills that will only leave them just the same

Mushrooms, acids, pills that gleam,
A nightmare cloaked in fragile dream,
The promise of enlightenment,
Intoxication is merely time misspent.

For in the depths of altered state,
The fabric of the mind’s innate,
Is torn and tattered, logic spurned,
And clarity can’t be discerned.

Oh, fools who chase the spectral light,
That indulgence is far from reason’s sight,
In search of truth, an enchanting prism,
They take the low road of chemical narcissism.

[sant64]

Tribalism ever overshadows Transcendentalism.

Everyone thinks they're open-minded, everyone thinks they're rational. But really, the truth that everyone chooses has more to do with tribal allegiance than anything else.

This is especially true in religion. I was watching a video where a Sikh guy was praising his religion for being so open-minded and accepting. Sikhi doesn't want you to change your religion, he said. Sikhi totally respects all religions. If you're a Muslim or a Christian, Sikhi doesn't ask for your conversion, but for you to be the best Muslim or Christian you can be.

This sounds wonderful. Then I go to another video, about a Sikh who tells of his conversion to Christianity. The guy doesn't say anything bad about Sikhism mind you. I note the video has over 500 downvotes, and comments such as "You need to change your name from Singh!" What happened to that Sikhi acceptance? Another video I saw tells the story of a guy who converted out of Sikhism; his Dad not only disowned him but tried to kill him.

Don't think I'm picking on Sikhism here. I've noted that Protestants, Catholics, Muslims, and Hindus all share the same dynamic of parents who lose their minds if their child leaves the true faith. The greatest sin is to leave the tribe.

And why not? It's written right into the scriptures. If you're not with the program, depart from me ye cursed. Salvation is a privilege of membership. Hence, one kind of initiation or another. Branded. You're in our tribe, you're one of us now! Oh, how we love you brother, but you'd better stay with the tribe, or by God we'll hate you.

[Appreciative Reader]

Yep, look forward to your report on this experiment, Brian. Good luck!

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manjit, as always, pleasure reading your recent comments in the other thread.

You know, you might consider writing more extensively about your own experiences when under the influence as well as after. That would make for very interesting reading!

Where I take issue with your shroom-ing is the part where you go all cock-eyed over the interpretation of it. Remember: all it is is your brain doing things. No serendipities, no entities, no synchronicity, nothing. You make the elementary error of imagining flying winged horses exist, just because you've hallucinated such. Meditators sometimes/often make this same juvenile mistake, particularly those following theistic traditions. That sort of thing might be understandable in pre-scientific ages, but there can be no justification for holding on to that kind of weird belief systems today.

But that it is just the brain doing things, is plenty! If truly this can help us see first-hand the insubstantial-ness of our sense of self, then that's of immeasurable benefit, absolutely! That, and all the other psychological benefits that apparently accrue, those as well.

As far as just your experiences with psilocybin, as opposed to your extravagant interpretations of and around them, like I said if you'd consider writing more extensively about them, the experiences themselves, during and after, then you'll be assured of at least a few readers --- at the very least, two of us, and likely more --- who'd be very interested in what you have to say.

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(You'd suggested to me, in the past, that I should try this myself. I'd been very sure then I wouldn't, not wanting to go out of my way to endanger my lucidity and sanity. ...Since then, I've discussed and read about this far more extensively, and I'm coming around to agreeing with you that the risk is minimal, if ingested judiciously. And I agree, the evidence seems to suggest this thing isn't addictive, again when consumed judiciously. Even if not immediately, but I'm coming around to seriously considering doing this thing myself, going forward. Regardless of what one might encounter when one does, however, and regardless of how appreciative one might be of the subjective benefits: subjectivity is just that, and it is objectivity that is the best guide to consistently and reliably apprehending reality.)

[Appreciative Reader]

Just now reread the recent discussions on psychedelics, particularly Brian's recent posts (obviously), and the comments by James and manjit.

Agreed 100℅, studying similarities between the experiences generated from the use of psychedelics, and those generated by mystical practices including meditation, would make for a very meaningful work, this kind of research. And also a detailed study of psychedelics within mystical practices, like some traditions use.

(Actually, maybe such research already exists? If anyone's aware of such, you particularly manjit, and Brian obviously, or anyone else, maybe you could point it out here? As far as the latter, I've already read a good bit of Castaneda, as well as "left hand" Tantra. While all of that is fascinating, I guess what I'm asking about now is focused studies/reports/discussions on how exactly, in factual detail, psychedelics-fueled "experiences", during and after, correlate with meditation-et-al-fueled-but-sans-drugs "experiences". Both within individual traditions, and/or across traditions.)

[Appreciative Reader]

Come to think of it, manjit, you might discuss your own first-hand experiences before and after using psilocybin, if you like, focusing on similarities and differences you've noticed. That might make for a great starting point for a broader discussion around this.

[Jim]

We chase the highs throughout our lives. Drugs,Sex and Rock n Roll highs reminds us of those glorious worlds we came from. The worlds where every step is ecstasy.
Meditation is the doorway as are mushrooms among others. Neville Goddard has a easy meditation tech in his video on youtube called- the Unalloyed. The tech is after the 35 min mark and is so easy. No 3 hr meditation marathons needed. Make yourself comfortable and wait for the liquid golden light.