While the absorption of psychedelics by the machine is indeed disheartening, I think both you and the author of the UnHerd article may be throwing out the baby with the LSD laced bathwater. I agree that drugs are not the permanent path to spiritual enlightenment, but the right drug at the right time in the right context can be a postcard from the place you're trying to go. They can bring about an understanding that otherwise can only be gained by many decades of work, and may very well help one to find a path that is otherwise lost. I urge you not to discount them entirely without a deep and personal understanding of their effects.
mber- Fair enough. Though I am not without some understanding of the personal effects of psychedelics. And have witnessed their effects on others. This is, admittedly, unavoidably anecdotal. I have read on the topic as well. As a younger man, I was more than willing to be transformed chemically. Nothing much happened in that regard. I have had far more significant experiences out in nature, or listening to music. That some may find it to be otherwise is to be expected.
Nonetheless, I compare all that with the effects of the stronger commitment to the spiritual path as has been laid out for us and tested for a long time and this is the conclusion I have come to. To me there is no comparison. That's often the best we can do. I will let Ed (the author of the UnHerd article) speak for himself on the matter, should he see this.
But I am glad you have commented. Thank you. I hope you are well. -Jack
The explosion of the psychedelic industry over the last decade is fascinating. To see it go from sub culture to Amazon product shelves is just....trippy. If you want a clear example of how fast The Machine works here ya go.
The Machine colonized much of the world now its colonizing us on a psychic level.
I worry we are not a healthy enough culture to properly hold this new avenue of "saving grace." It does feel like the beginning of everyone being encouraged to take Soma. And who could fault people for wanting to?
JP- They build us a world so wonderful that they also offer us the means to escape it. They are like arsonists who also run the fire department. I don't think it is controversial to say that they have long sought to "hack" the unconscious to better control us. Maybe the will find it, though I hope not. Virtual reality will play a similar role in this process. And then wait until they really start making progress with genetic manipulation. Yikes.
Sometimes collapse seems like the more benevolent option. Though, no doubt, that would be miserable. There don't seem to be many avenues of resistance to this, though we aren't without recourse. Nonetheless, the decision to go ahead with all this seems to have been already made.
" But the fact that men spend so much time talking about nothing or telling each other the lies that they have heard from one another or wasting their time in scandal and detraction and calumny and scurrility and ridicule shows that our minds are deformed with a kind of contempt for reality. Instead of conforming ourselves to what is, we twist everything around, in our words and thoughts, to fit our own deformity." - Thomas Merton
I ‘just’ came across a passage I’d highlighted in Iain McGilchrist ‘The Matter with Things’
“ The conscious articulating mind, not knowing what is going on, prefers anything to accepting the truth of the matter – that we are getting along OK without its input.”
That I suggest is a rabbit hole potentially far more Enlightening than psychedelics :)
I’ve never taken psychedelics and I’m pretty partial to the view you’ve laid out. However, I wonder if it’s not better for our culture than the cold materialism that proceeded it. At least it breaks the atheistic smugness of absolute control. I wonder if (for us who believe) it’s not better to have to cut down trees than to irrigate deserts?
Zach- This is the question...how to irrigate the wasteland we have created? The wasteland of unending abundance (which may soon end) that we both need to survive and yet often seems to be killing us spiritually (and otherwise). That the megasystem itself is promoting psychedelics sets off something intuitive within me, and many of us, in opposition. Maybe too strenuosuly.
This is resonant with an ongoing discussion I have with one of the monks here at the monastery. I hold out some hope that things can be turned around and he doesn't. Some of us want to know, like Abraham haggling with God, how many righteous there would need to be in Sodom for it not to be destroyed. Others side with the avenging angels saying the whole thing is rotten and beyond repair. And is it just a matter that we are bent on destroying ourselves regardless? To the degree I hold out hope it isn't in any quick solutions but in slow, often painful, repentance and transformation. Whether that is enough, I have no idea. It's what we have to work with. Regardless of outcomes it can be done in joy and with beauty.
I’m appreciating the nuanced discussion on psychedelics. In many ways, I am excited about their growing popularity because I do think, in some cases, they might be helpful in healing people from conditions where the current standard of care isn’t working.
But I also share your concern with the psychedelic utopianism. I’ve heard psychonauts make claims that “if only everyone would try psychedelics” the world would be a better place. And some have trouble admitting that the same experiences offered by psychedelics, can be had through other means. I’ve had psychedelic-like experiences in both meditation and shamanic ritual that did not use any drugs.
My overall opinion is that psychedelics may have therapeutic and spiritual value for some people in some circumstances, but they are not humanity’s salvation.
Much like you, I am also wary of people who want to transcend the human experience -- however, I think this is sometimes a step some of us have to work through rather than be argued out of. Sometimes on the journey to deify-oneself, become enlightened, or fly over the rainbow, we encounter important lessons that ultimately bring us back to our humanness.
Christina- It certainly is a tangled issue. What is fairly clear is that we are heading towards legalizing and, to a surprising degree, normalizing psychedelics. I think most people will probably keep their distance, more or less. But a lot more are now going to give it a try. I am not convinced we are collectively prepared for what we are opening ourselves up for. Given the right conditions humans were made to heal and for contemplation, there is no need for rocket fuel. It's just that those conditions are much harder to come by, e.g., a rooted community, an ethical paradigm aka the pursuit of virtue, a set of stable, time-tested practices, a knowledgable and compassionate Elder/Elders. So in that absence, we go for rocket fuel.
I say, Festina Lente--make haste, slowly. But that takes diligence and patience, etc. Which is not nearly as alluring.
We shall see how this all goes. Thank you for your thoughtful comment. -Jack
Thank you so much , Jack, especially for the Hieromonk Damascene quote which blew my mind - He is saying, in that quote, what I have dimly fumbled, stumbled and staggered my way towards these last 20 years of retreat. It is by giving up my mind's need to 'solve' while at the same time opening my heart to god/flow/faith that I will be able to see everything from a different perspective - in fact new perspectives appear on an almost daily basis. It is not that the same situation isn't there in one sense, because clearly it is - it is just that it has actually transformed into something entirely different - the lead-heavy glueball has turned into a soap bubble, floating in the air. I have never heard of this chap before, but I googled him. His books on Amazon costs a bomb - can you recommend alternative access to his writings?
Anna- Christ the Eternal Tao by Hieromonk Damascene has been out of print for a while so the prices on Amazon are ridiculously inflated. It is now back in print but only available from the publisher. Thankfully, at a far more reasonable price. You can find it here:
Thank you, Jack. The Unherd article caught my attention because my Aunt had just been telling me that she tried this out in hopes it might heal her depression. She was disappointed that it did not. She told me that she found out after that for major depression one needs a higher dose. She is planning to attempt that in the future. She also heard that it might take repeated trips. Hmmm.... who is selling this to her? That was the first I heard of this whole trend.
Actually, in retrospect it wasn't. There has been lots of talk about mycelial networks that connect trees, communication between plants, and soil health measures that conserve these mycelium, such as no-till. Often in discussion of these fascinating properties of forests and soil there is made mention of the potential for mushrooms to replace plastics or bring enlightenment to modern people. I have noticed that for a couple years. I''m interested in the soil health stuff but the other claims are thrown in there under the heading, "mushrooms may save the world!".
I was surprised to read that Alduous Huxley promoted psychedelics, never having read his books. Because the drug soma from Brave New World is used in such a nefarious way as Paul Kingsnorth brought out recently, I was amazed to learn that he promoted the use of various drugs in his later life. He himself did not choose the savage reservation but went for LSD on his deathbed!?
So, are you friends with the author of that UnHerd piece, or was he interviewing you as an expert on mysticism and the spiritual path in preparing his article? It seems almost exactly like the Elvis example from your last post... using a drug induced state to bypass the fasting, seeking, suffering, or other effort required to get to a goal.
Clara- It struck me this morning that the assumption is that any internal affliction must be leapt over, or even pulverized if possible. Having had a tendency to depression myself throughout my life, and as much as I understand the desire for a magic pill, it is fundamentally a mistake. We turn depression into a chemical imbalance to be corrected, but this is short-sighted. My experience is that the more shortcuts I tried to take, the longer everything took. Sometimes the shortcuts simply made everything worse.
Our depression has something to tell us. It isn't easy or often pleasant to be with that and allow it to be resolved in its own time, but I know this is the better way. I think we are made to be healed and all our interference clouds the issue. I got out my copy of Unseen Warfare this morning. Something I have been talking about with one of the monks here. The four basic principles of which are as follows:
1. Never rely on yourself in anything.
2. Bear always in your heart a perfect and all-daring trust in God alone.
3. Strive without ceasing.
4. Remain constantly in prayer.
We suffer more because we are unwilling to suffer. We go to war externally because we are unwilling to do so internally. These seem to me as clear as the law of gravity. It is evident all around us. Or so it seems to me.
The way of the cross--and resurrection-- is a hard sell, to say the least. Particularly when the magic pill beckons...
Just thinking out loud here. I hope all is well. -Jack
Clara- My guess is that this whole DMT phase is only going to become more popular. It's Girard 101 mimetic contagion at this point. Plus I can only guess there are forces pushing this implicitly on people. There is too much prestige around it now--however false. And I can see how a certain strain of of the back to the land movement could get into this. If nature is the sole repository of wisdom--an ecosophia, yes?--that manifests itself in the very balance and beauty of nature, then it would make sense for us to find salvation there, even in the form of a mushroom. Nature is God, after all.
I am not always so sure that Huxley thought a Brave New World was a dystopia. Maybe that's unfair, but the thought has occurred to me.
I am not sure why he contacted me, as I am no expert on anything. I am trying puzzle this all out just like everybody else. But it was a good and interesting conversation to have. I think you are right and there is a theme emerging in all of this--the vast suffering that our aversion to suffering is causing. I am hoping to have more to say on that in a future post. I am working on that now.
I just read that Thomas Merton had a correspondence with Huxley. Apparently Merton had been a fan of his earlier writing, but became critical of Huxley's turn towards the psychedelic. Merton's later take on this issue:
"Drugs have appeared as a deus ex machina to enable the self-aware Cartesian consciousness to extend its awareness of itself while seemingly getting out of itself. In other words, drugs have provided the self-conscious self with a substitute for metaphysical and mystical self-transcendence. "
Providing the self-conscious self a way to extend itself while giving the illusion of self-transcendence - that seems like a pretty good summary of the pitfalls of this project.
That is perfect. As with many things, Merton nailed it 50-60 years ago. I think it goes quite well with how St. Sophrony saw similar attempts, psychedelic or otherwise.
Jan 25, 2023·edited Jan 25, 2023Liked by Jack Leahy
Booze, and pills, and powders/You gotta choose your medicine ~ Keith Richards. Timely and important essay you have written here. The age of Timothy Leary 2.0 is upon us. The Apple's temptation is still here as an offering. I am not different from any other person in sometimes wanting the quick fix and have, in the past, succumbed to it. It's a false idol. May we have the wisdom to "know the difference" and choose The Way.
Will- You are right, I think. Everything hangs on whether we have the wisdom to choose rightly. Things aren't looking so good as of late.
The interesting thing about Leary 2.0 is that what pretended, at least, to be a counter-culture is now being monetized by larger corporations. Though it seems that the government has long seen the potential for control in psychedelics. Whether it is good for *us* is a secondary question at best.
Like most things, psychedelics are often a shortcut to states that humans are capable of, unaided. In this way they seem similar to ready meals.
As for the direction of transhumanism my pet theory is that it ends in 2 versions of Homo Sapiens. One lives, suffers & knows joy in the world. The other lives in unbridled pleasure states for a lot longer, in VR.
Tomorrow's radicals are those who could afford to take it, but who ultimately refuse the fun option.
Hi Jack, hope things are well at the monastery. Thanks for another interesting article. I don’t know much about this medical psychedelic ‘industry’ and will read the article you recommend but in my experience taking psychedelics is like playing Russian roulette with your mind. Some people (Syd Barrett as a notable example) never make it back. I just agree with you: it is a dangerous mirage and not the true path to peace
Rick- All is well here. It's been cold lately, but I am grateful for the wood burning stove for sure. I can only agree. I don't think we know what we are opening ourselves up to in turning psychedelics into a kind of therapeutic tourism. It certainly looks like the decision has already been made. We shall see. I hope all is well with you. -Jack
It is a paradox I struggle to understand, let alone articulate. So I think your concern is a good one, and I share it. For example, how does one reconcile:
1. If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
and:
2. Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light
As a beginning of an answer I will give a perhaps inadequate analogy. Having participated in athletic activities there was a point where the maximum effort and struggle became at the same time an effortless state of abandon and selflessness. What is sometimes called the "flow state". I have experienced it enough times to know it. This is also true when I play music. One had to give everything...practice, practice, practice to the point, sometimes, of a kind of stupefaction in order to be able to play with freedom and ease. In those moments it was like something took over. In this there was great joy and freedom. But it never could have been reached without the suffering of practice and giving everything.
Jan 27, 2023·edited Jan 27, 2023Liked by Jack Leahy
Jesus embraced the cross for the joy set before him. The core and wellspring of self denial is turning from yourself as the center of reality to the Beloved Son, you find yourself oozing with sin so yes, you “deny yourself” and go to Jesus as the woman with the issue of blood did. Jesus said that the one who follows him will have the light of life, what’s not to like! The prerequisite is a deep recognition of need (labor, heavy laden, thirst, weariness) and then the subsequent recognition/revelation of Jesus as the accessible wellspring of life.
Thank you for the thought provoking essay. I’m interested in your view on the Orthodox notion of Theosis, or what Thomas Keating would call Christ Consciousness. Is the difference in that the transhumanist movement desires to merge with some false sense of proto-human-divinity, or something like that, versus the idea of union with Christ?
Nate- This is a big question. To me, Theosis is central and its loss/confusion of great detriment to Christian practice and understanding. Ironically, the word "transhuman" was coined by Dante in the Paradiso. It is the whole point. The secular transhumanists invert and parody this notion. Their version is a self-deification. This makes all the difference.
The telos of technology is the will to power rather than love. Do we have the wisdom to use this power well? I don't think so, certainly not without love, but maybe not even so. Rather it will be our undoing--one way or another. This is because technology not only increases our power (without wisdom) but makes us all increasingly omnipresent to one another. It only intensifies conflict and to the escalation to extremes.
I'm surprised at how often I find that there's a sort of 'false substitute' aspect of so much of the 'spirituality of the machine'. Without discernment, what's offered sort of looks like what we are created to seek, and can become a trap. So, self-worship, but of the 'highest self' (and thank you for the astute St. Sophrony quote!) vs. self-emptying worship of God. Trans-humanism instead of humanity trans-figured through following Christ. Chemically induced (or technologically manipulated) ecstatic states vs. mystical graces that emerge spontaneously in prayer. Even 'the internet will unite us' vs. a spiritual communion of people through the mystical body of Christ. The list could go on and on....
The will to power - and through human control, vs. the way of love and letting go/ of control - that does seem to be the real difference between the two paths.
The serpent's old, false promise 'you shall be as gods' (if you just take control of your destiny, over and above listening to God). It seem s that it was itself just a slight twist, of God's desire for us to radiate the divine image and likeness in the world - but through self-surrender and humble acceptance of our smallness in the divine immensity. The desire for divinity - it's both the most natural and edifying human drive, to come home to rest in God, and potentially the source of the greatest evil, to try and self-create a divinity of our own making/control....
Mark- This is it exactly, isn't it? I think of the devil being called "the ape of God". It is in creating a parody that seems so close to the real Way, even *more* real than the real way that we will allow ourselves to be fooled. It tells us there is an easy way, a shortcut one that will be, in the end, so much better than the often painful path of kenosis and surrender. It's difficult not to make the easy and false choice. The wrong choice is big business and very profitable. There are forces at work seeking to make it as alluring as possible. But it is literally a dead end.
I think about what you all are doing in forming a lay contemplative/prayer community. This is a model that others can learn from. It may not be possible to escape these negative forces entirely, but there are many benefits to be had from whatever distance one can find. I feel it out here for sure in that in even a small buffer from the world creates different possibilities. I don't know if you have any interest in writing about the nuts and bolts of forming similar communities, but I, for one, would be interested.
That sounds about right - we are offered the 'false equivalent' that looks like the Way, and then as a bonus it's sweetened to appear easier/faster/more convenient. Then add to that the promotion that comes when it is profitable to the powers that be.... Narrow indeed is the way that leads to life! (Mt 7:13-14)
Yes, it has become much easier for us to live in a place of spiritual integrity in a small community environment. We've very small, but it doesn't take much to become a little 'world' that can function in a different way than the dominant culture. Trying to run the race as an individual in the midst of the world seems like a much more difficult task.
Thanks for the encouragement with the writing - I do hope to do some more writing on the practical aspects of our project. Our long-term hope has always been to do this in a way that could be replicable by others, though I honestly don't spend that much time thinking about it while we're still in the formation stage ourselves.
Thanks for the great reply. I wholeheartedly agree with your assessment of the telos of technology. I suppose that sums it up...there are sort of two competing teleological visions of humanity. One leads up, the other leads down, but not in the way it would seem on the surface view. Thanks again. I’m really enjoying your writing.
You might want to read the chapter on "Psychology and Psychedelic Experience" in American Mysticism: From William James to Zen by Hal Bridges. I was fortunate to be in Professor Bridges' seminar on mysticism at UCR many years ago. His thoughtful reflection on drug use and genuine spirituality has not lost any of its power. I'd be interested in your thoughts about his views.
Diana- Thank you for the reference. It looks like psychedelics as a mainstream replacement for a genuine spiritual path is only going to grow. We are all likely going to have to deal with the consequences in one form or another. It looks like American Mysticism is out of print. I will see if I can find any versions floating around the internet.
Lupo- It is a quote from St. Sophrony's book, His Life is Mine. I came across it this morning in my (obviously) go-to book, Christ the Eternal Tao. You can read it in context here:
Lupo- I completely agree. I am slowly working my way through his latest book on Hesychasm. There is so much good to absorb, so I am taking my time. At some point, I hope to get to his book on Monasticism as well. -Jack
While the absorption of psychedelics by the machine is indeed disheartening, I think both you and the author of the UnHerd article may be throwing out the baby with the LSD laced bathwater. I agree that drugs are not the permanent path to spiritual enlightenment, but the right drug at the right time in the right context can be a postcard from the place you're trying to go. They can bring about an understanding that otherwise can only be gained by many decades of work, and may very well help one to find a path that is otherwise lost. I urge you not to discount them entirely without a deep and personal understanding of their effects.
mber- Fair enough. Though I am not without some understanding of the personal effects of psychedelics. And have witnessed their effects on others. This is, admittedly, unavoidably anecdotal. I have read on the topic as well. As a younger man, I was more than willing to be transformed chemically. Nothing much happened in that regard. I have had far more significant experiences out in nature, or listening to music. That some may find it to be otherwise is to be expected.
Nonetheless, I compare all that with the effects of the stronger commitment to the spiritual path as has been laid out for us and tested for a long time and this is the conclusion I have come to. To me there is no comparison. That's often the best we can do. I will let Ed (the author of the UnHerd article) speak for himself on the matter, should he see this.
But I am glad you have commented. Thank you. I hope you are well. -Jack
The explosion of the psychedelic industry over the last decade is fascinating. To see it go from sub culture to Amazon product shelves is just....trippy. If you want a clear example of how fast The Machine works here ya go.
The Machine colonized much of the world now its colonizing us on a psychic level.
I worry we are not a healthy enough culture to properly hold this new avenue of "saving grace." It does feel like the beginning of everyone being encouraged to take Soma. And who could fault people for wanting to?
JP- They build us a world so wonderful that they also offer us the means to escape it. They are like arsonists who also run the fire department. I don't think it is controversial to say that they have long sought to "hack" the unconscious to better control us. Maybe the will find it, though I hope not. Virtual reality will play a similar role in this process. And then wait until they really start making progress with genetic manipulation. Yikes.
Sometimes collapse seems like the more benevolent option. Though, no doubt, that would be miserable. There don't seem to be many avenues of resistance to this, though we aren't without recourse. Nonetheless, the decision to go ahead with all this seems to have been already made.
I hope you are well. -Jack
In other words we are in the midst of a total and non optional deconstruction and reconstruction of reality.
" But the fact that men spend so much time talking about nothing or telling each other the lies that they have heard from one another or wasting their time in scandal and detraction and calumny and scurrility and ridicule shows that our minds are deformed with a kind of contempt for reality. Instead of conforming ourselves to what is, we twist everything around, in our words and thoughts, to fit our own deformity." - Thomas Merton
Further to my earlier remarks
I ‘just’ came across a passage I’d highlighted in Iain McGilchrist ‘The Matter with Things’
“ The conscious articulating mind, not knowing what is going on, prefers anything to accepting the truth of the matter – that we are getting along OK without its input.”
That I suggest is a rabbit hole potentially far more Enlightening than psychedelics :)
Amen.
I’ve never taken psychedelics and I’m pretty partial to the view you’ve laid out. However, I wonder if it’s not better for our culture than the cold materialism that proceeded it. At least it breaks the atheistic smugness of absolute control. I wonder if (for us who believe) it’s not better to have to cut down trees than to irrigate deserts?
Might be even worse. Who knows
Zach- This is the question...how to irrigate the wasteland we have created? The wasteland of unending abundance (which may soon end) that we both need to survive and yet often seems to be killing us spiritually (and otherwise). That the megasystem itself is promoting psychedelics sets off something intuitive within me, and many of us, in opposition. Maybe too strenuosuly.
This is resonant with an ongoing discussion I have with one of the monks here at the monastery. I hold out some hope that things can be turned around and he doesn't. Some of us want to know, like Abraham haggling with God, how many righteous there would need to be in Sodom for it not to be destroyed. Others side with the avenging angels saying the whole thing is rotten and beyond repair. And is it just a matter that we are bent on destroying ourselves regardless? To the degree I hold out hope it isn't in any quick solutions but in slow, often painful, repentance and transformation. Whether that is enough, I have no idea. It's what we have to work with. Regardless of outcomes it can be done in joy and with beauty.
I hope you are well. -Jack
🙏🙏🙏
I’m appreciating the nuanced discussion on psychedelics. In many ways, I am excited about their growing popularity because I do think, in some cases, they might be helpful in healing people from conditions where the current standard of care isn’t working.
But I also share your concern with the psychedelic utopianism. I’ve heard psychonauts make claims that “if only everyone would try psychedelics” the world would be a better place. And some have trouble admitting that the same experiences offered by psychedelics, can be had through other means. I’ve had psychedelic-like experiences in both meditation and shamanic ritual that did not use any drugs.
My overall opinion is that psychedelics may have therapeutic and spiritual value for some people in some circumstances, but they are not humanity’s salvation.
Much like you, I am also wary of people who want to transcend the human experience -- however, I think this is sometimes a step some of us have to work through rather than be argued out of. Sometimes on the journey to deify-oneself, become enlightened, or fly over the rainbow, we encounter important lessons that ultimately bring us back to our humanness.
Christina- It certainly is a tangled issue. What is fairly clear is that we are heading towards legalizing and, to a surprising degree, normalizing psychedelics. I think most people will probably keep their distance, more or less. But a lot more are now going to give it a try. I am not convinced we are collectively prepared for what we are opening ourselves up for. Given the right conditions humans were made to heal and for contemplation, there is no need for rocket fuel. It's just that those conditions are much harder to come by, e.g., a rooted community, an ethical paradigm aka the pursuit of virtue, a set of stable, time-tested practices, a knowledgable and compassionate Elder/Elders. So in that absence, we go for rocket fuel.
I say, Festina Lente--make haste, slowly. But that takes diligence and patience, etc. Which is not nearly as alluring.
We shall see how this all goes. Thank you for your thoughtful comment. -Jack
“The rocket fuel” point is a good one!
Thank you so much , Jack, especially for the Hieromonk Damascene quote which blew my mind - He is saying, in that quote, what I have dimly fumbled, stumbled and staggered my way towards these last 20 years of retreat. It is by giving up my mind's need to 'solve' while at the same time opening my heart to god/flow/faith that I will be able to see everything from a different perspective - in fact new perspectives appear on an almost daily basis. It is not that the same situation isn't there in one sense, because clearly it is - it is just that it has actually transformed into something entirely different - the lead-heavy glueball has turned into a soap bubble, floating in the air. I have never heard of this chap before, but I googled him. His books on Amazon costs a bomb - can you recommend alternative access to his writings?
Anna- Christ the Eternal Tao by Hieromonk Damascene has been out of print for a while so the prices on Amazon are ridiculously inflated. It is now back in print but only available from the publisher. Thankfully, at a far more reasonable price. You can find it here:
https://www.sainthermanmonastery.com/searchresults.asp?Search=eternal+tao&Submit=Submit
The book is a treasure, which has afforded me too many insights to count.
I hope you are well. -Jack
Thank you, Jack. The Unherd article caught my attention because my Aunt had just been telling me that she tried this out in hopes it might heal her depression. She was disappointed that it did not. She told me that she found out after that for major depression one needs a higher dose. She is planning to attempt that in the future. She also heard that it might take repeated trips. Hmmm.... who is selling this to her? That was the first I heard of this whole trend.
Actually, in retrospect it wasn't. There has been lots of talk about mycelial networks that connect trees, communication between plants, and soil health measures that conserve these mycelium, such as no-till. Often in discussion of these fascinating properties of forests and soil there is made mention of the potential for mushrooms to replace plastics or bring enlightenment to modern people. I have noticed that for a couple years. I''m interested in the soil health stuff but the other claims are thrown in there under the heading, "mushrooms may save the world!".
I was surprised to read that Alduous Huxley promoted psychedelics, never having read his books. Because the drug soma from Brave New World is used in such a nefarious way as Paul Kingsnorth brought out recently, I was amazed to learn that he promoted the use of various drugs in his later life. He himself did not choose the savage reservation but went for LSD on his deathbed!?
So, are you friends with the author of that UnHerd piece, or was he interviewing you as an expert on mysticism and the spiritual path in preparing his article? It seems almost exactly like the Elvis example from your last post... using a drug induced state to bypass the fasting, seeking, suffering, or other effort required to get to a goal.
Clara
Clara- It struck me this morning that the assumption is that any internal affliction must be leapt over, or even pulverized if possible. Having had a tendency to depression myself throughout my life, and as much as I understand the desire for a magic pill, it is fundamentally a mistake. We turn depression into a chemical imbalance to be corrected, but this is short-sighted. My experience is that the more shortcuts I tried to take, the longer everything took. Sometimes the shortcuts simply made everything worse.
Our depression has something to tell us. It isn't easy or often pleasant to be with that and allow it to be resolved in its own time, but I know this is the better way. I think we are made to be healed and all our interference clouds the issue. I got out my copy of Unseen Warfare this morning. Something I have been talking about with one of the monks here. The four basic principles of which are as follows:
1. Never rely on yourself in anything.
2. Bear always in your heart a perfect and all-daring trust in God alone.
3. Strive without ceasing.
4. Remain constantly in prayer.
We suffer more because we are unwilling to suffer. We go to war externally because we are unwilling to do so internally. These seem to me as clear as the law of gravity. It is evident all around us. Or so it seems to me.
The way of the cross--and resurrection-- is a hard sell, to say the least. Particularly when the magic pill beckons...
Just thinking out loud here. I hope all is well. -Jack
this is a great summary: "We suffer more because we are unwilling to suffer. We go to war externally because we are unwilling to do so internally. "
Clara- My guess is that this whole DMT phase is only going to become more popular. It's Girard 101 mimetic contagion at this point. Plus I can only guess there are forces pushing this implicitly on people. There is too much prestige around it now--however false. And I can see how a certain strain of of the back to the land movement could get into this. If nature is the sole repository of wisdom--an ecosophia, yes?--that manifests itself in the very balance and beauty of nature, then it would make sense for us to find salvation there, even in the form of a mushroom. Nature is God, after all.
I am not always so sure that Huxley thought a Brave New World was a dystopia. Maybe that's unfair, but the thought has occurred to me.
I am not sure why he contacted me, as I am no expert on anything. I am trying puzzle this all out just like everybody else. But it was a good and interesting conversation to have. I think you are right and there is a theme emerging in all of this--the vast suffering that our aversion to suffering is causing. I am hoping to have more to say on that in a future post. I am working on that now.
I hope all is well with you and the family. -Jack
I just read that Thomas Merton had a correspondence with Huxley. Apparently Merton had been a fan of his earlier writing, but became critical of Huxley's turn towards the psychedelic. Merton's later take on this issue:
"Drugs have appeared as a deus ex machina to enable the self-aware Cartesian consciousness to extend its awareness of itself while seemingly getting out of itself. In other words, drugs have provided the self-conscious self with a substitute for metaphysical and mystical self-transcendence. "
Providing the self-conscious self a way to extend itself while giving the illusion of self-transcendence - that seems like a pretty good summary of the pitfalls of this project.
FYI, I saw this at: https://churchlifejournal.nd.edu/articles/a-requiem-for-attention/
That is perfect. As with many things, Merton nailed it 50-60 years ago. I think it goes quite well with how St. Sophrony saw similar attempts, psychedelic or otherwise.
Booze, and pills, and powders/You gotta choose your medicine ~ Keith Richards. Timely and important essay you have written here. The age of Timothy Leary 2.0 is upon us. The Apple's temptation is still here as an offering. I am not different from any other person in sometimes wanting the quick fix and have, in the past, succumbed to it. It's a false idol. May we have the wisdom to "know the difference" and choose The Way.
Will- You are right, I think. Everything hangs on whether we have the wisdom to choose rightly. Things aren't looking so good as of late.
The interesting thing about Leary 2.0 is that what pretended, at least, to be a counter-culture is now being monetized by larger corporations. Though it seems that the government has long seen the potential for control in psychedelics. Whether it is good for *us* is a secondary question at best.
Thank you. -Jack
Like most things, psychedelics are often a shortcut to states that humans are capable of, unaided. In this way they seem similar to ready meals.
As for the direction of transhumanism my pet theory is that it ends in 2 versions of Homo Sapiens. One lives, suffers & knows joy in the world. The other lives in unbridled pleasure states for a lot longer, in VR.
Tomorrow's radicals are those who could afford to take it, but who ultimately refuse the fun option.
Hi Jack, hope things are well at the monastery. Thanks for another interesting article. I don’t know much about this medical psychedelic ‘industry’ and will read the article you recommend but in my experience taking psychedelics is like playing Russian roulette with your mind. Some people (Syd Barrett as a notable example) never make it back. I just agree with you: it is a dangerous mirage and not the true path to peace
Rick- All is well here. It's been cold lately, but I am grateful for the wood burning stove for sure. I can only agree. I don't think we know what we are opening ourselves up to in turning psychedelics into a kind of therapeutic tourism. It certainly looks like the decision has already been made. We shall see. I hope all is well with you. -Jack
I think it’s in large part the work of abandoning self-consciousness
As you say, entering’flow’
I’m about 50% sure
When I think about it ;-)
To be slightly provocative- isn’t there Something of The Elder Son in demanding we all slave away?
It is a paradox I struggle to understand, let alone articulate. So I think your concern is a good one, and I share it. For example, how does one reconcile:
1. If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
and:
2. Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light
As a beginning of an answer I will give a perhaps inadequate analogy. Having participated in athletic activities there was a point where the maximum effort and struggle became at the same time an effortless state of abandon and selflessness. What is sometimes called the "flow state". I have experienced it enough times to know it. This is also true when I play music. One had to give everything...practice, practice, practice to the point, sometimes, of a kind of stupefaction in order to be able to play with freedom and ease. In those moments it was like something took over. In this there was great joy and freedom. But it never could have been reached without the suffering of practice and giving everything.
At the moment that's the best I got! -Jack
Jesus embraced the cross for the joy set before him. The core and wellspring of self denial is turning from yourself as the center of reality to the Beloved Son, you find yourself oozing with sin so yes, you “deny yourself” and go to Jesus as the woman with the issue of blood did. Jesus said that the one who follows him will have the light of life, what’s not to like! The prerequisite is a deep recognition of need (labor, heavy laden, thirst, weariness) and then the subsequent recognition/revelation of Jesus as the accessible wellspring of life.
Enough :)
We never get beyond 65% certainty, unless we’re deluded :)
I am 83% sure that we never can get more than than 65% certain.
And, did you know, that 37.2% of all statistics are completely made up!
🤣
Saint Sophrony rocks!
Thank you for the thought provoking essay. I’m interested in your view on the Orthodox notion of Theosis, or what Thomas Keating would call Christ Consciousness. Is the difference in that the transhumanist movement desires to merge with some false sense of proto-human-divinity, or something like that, versus the idea of union with Christ?
Here’s a clip of Keating on the subject:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cwTsEhm0CBI
Forgive me if you’ve already discussed this, I’m fairly new to your Substack.
Nate- This is a big question. To me, Theosis is central and its loss/confusion of great detriment to Christian practice and understanding. Ironically, the word "transhuman" was coined by Dante in the Paradiso. It is the whole point. The secular transhumanists invert and parody this notion. Their version is a self-deification. This makes all the difference.
The telos of technology is the will to power rather than love. Do we have the wisdom to use this power well? I don't think so, certainly not without love, but maybe not even so. Rather it will be our undoing--one way or another. This is because technology not only increases our power (without wisdom) but makes us all increasingly omnipresent to one another. It only intensifies conflict and to the escalation to extremes.
I hope you are well. -Jack
That's well said, Jack
I'm surprised at how often I find that there's a sort of 'false substitute' aspect of so much of the 'spirituality of the machine'. Without discernment, what's offered sort of looks like what we are created to seek, and can become a trap. So, self-worship, but of the 'highest self' (and thank you for the astute St. Sophrony quote!) vs. self-emptying worship of God. Trans-humanism instead of humanity trans-figured through following Christ. Chemically induced (or technologically manipulated) ecstatic states vs. mystical graces that emerge spontaneously in prayer. Even 'the internet will unite us' vs. a spiritual communion of people through the mystical body of Christ. The list could go on and on....
The will to power - and through human control, vs. the way of love and letting go/ of control - that does seem to be the real difference between the two paths.
The serpent's old, false promise 'you shall be as gods' (if you just take control of your destiny, over and above listening to God). It seem s that it was itself just a slight twist, of God's desire for us to radiate the divine image and likeness in the world - but through self-surrender and humble acceptance of our smallness in the divine immensity. The desire for divinity - it's both the most natural and edifying human drive, to come home to rest in God, and potentially the source of the greatest evil, to try and self-create a divinity of our own making/control....
Mark- This is it exactly, isn't it? I think of the devil being called "the ape of God". It is in creating a parody that seems so close to the real Way, even *more* real than the real way that we will allow ourselves to be fooled. It tells us there is an easy way, a shortcut one that will be, in the end, so much better than the often painful path of kenosis and surrender. It's difficult not to make the easy and false choice. The wrong choice is big business and very profitable. There are forces at work seeking to make it as alluring as possible. But it is literally a dead end.
I think about what you all are doing in forming a lay contemplative/prayer community. This is a model that others can learn from. It may not be possible to escape these negative forces entirely, but there are many benefits to be had from whatever distance one can find. I feel it out here for sure in that in even a small buffer from the world creates different possibilities. I don't know if you have any interest in writing about the nuts and bolts of forming similar communities, but I, for one, would be interested.
I hope all is well. -Jack
That sounds about right - we are offered the 'false equivalent' that looks like the Way, and then as a bonus it's sweetened to appear easier/faster/more convenient. Then add to that the promotion that comes when it is profitable to the powers that be.... Narrow indeed is the way that leads to life! (Mt 7:13-14)
Yes, it has become much easier for us to live in a place of spiritual integrity in a small community environment. We've very small, but it doesn't take much to become a little 'world' that can function in a different way than the dominant culture. Trying to run the race as an individual in the midst of the world seems like a much more difficult task.
Thanks for the encouragement with the writing - I do hope to do some more writing on the practical aspects of our project. Our long-term hope has always been to do this in a way that could be replicable by others, though I honestly don't spend that much time thinking about it while we're still in the formation stage ourselves.
Thanks again for an illuminating piece.
Blessings, Mark
Thanks for the great reply. I wholeheartedly agree with your assessment of the telos of technology. I suppose that sums it up...there are sort of two competing teleological visions of humanity. One leads up, the other leads down, but not in the way it would seem on the surface view. Thanks again. I’m really enjoying your writing.
Thank you for the excellent article.
You might want to read the chapter on "Psychology and Psychedelic Experience" in American Mysticism: From William James to Zen by Hal Bridges. I was fortunate to be in Professor Bridges' seminar on mysticism at UCR many years ago. His thoughtful reflection on drug use and genuine spirituality has not lost any of its power. I'd be interested in your thoughts about his views.
Best wishes, Jack!
Diana- Thank you for the reference. It looks like psychedelics as a mainstream replacement for a genuine spiritual path is only going to grow. We are all likely going to have to deal with the consequences in one form or another. It looks like American Mysticism is out of print. I will see if I can find any versions floating around the internet.
I hope you are well. -Jack
Jack, where is that quotation of St Sophrony from?
Brilliant piece BTW, thanks very much.
Lupo- It is a quote from St. Sophrony's book, His Life is Mine. I came across it this morning in my (obviously) go-to book, Christ the Eternal Tao. You can read it in context here:
https://sttimothy-toccoa.org/files/Wediscussion/The-Jesus-Prayer-Sophrony-Method.pdf
I hope all is well. -Jack
Thanks, Jack. For what it is worth, I have found Archimandrite Zacharias' books to be nectar; he was a disciple of St Sophrony.
Lupo- I completely agree. I am slowly working my way through his latest book on Hesychasm. There is so much good to absorb, so I am taking my time. At some point, I hope to get to his book on Monasticism as well. -Jack