Can Mind Altering Drugs Aid In Psychic Development?
(This is an excerpt from a University Of Metaphysical Sciences course at www.umsonline.org, please feel free to visit the school website)
In the 1960’s and 1970’s the field was wide open for experimenting with drugs in laboratory situations, LSD in particular. Many psychics participated in these experiments, but the experiments proved that mind altering drugs inhibited psychic development in the long run. While they may have produced extraordinary perception journeys, they did not assist in psychic training, nor did the psychics perform as accurately as they did without the psychotropics. Many of the psychics who participated in the experiments in an ongoing format fell ill or lost their psychic abilities in the long run. It seems that the drugs inhibited the particular faculties that the psychic centers use.
On the contrary, those who had never had psychic abilities, yet took the drugs, suddenly had awakenings of their psychic abilities. If they only took the drug a few times, and then no more, their psychic abilities could grow, whereas those who continued to take the drug lost the abilities as quickly as they appeared. In conclusion, it was found that while psychedelics might trigger psychic abilities in a person who had no experience with such things, continued use shut these facilities down in the long run.
Dr. Hanz Holzer says in his book Are You Psychic? (1997), “As the years went on, the dangers of drug-taking had become apparent. Many psychics who had taken even small amounts of LSD in the hope of having extraordinary psychic experiences became ill, and had to discontinue the practice.” It does seem that there is a price to pay when taking hallucinogens in an ongoing basis. While it may be exciting in the short run, the long run does not seem to pan out.
Another argument I would like to personally offer against using drugs to attain psychic experiences is that your psychic abilities will open when they are meant to. Psychic abilities are the result of rising kundalini, and might be thought of as mini kundalini experiences themselves.
Mental institutions are filled with people who have had kundalini experiences that they were not able to understand or incorporate. There are many who are hallucinating, but do not realize that they are simply seeing the spirit worlds and do not know how to live in both worlds in a functional way. When using psychedelics, you can create the opening of the kundalini too early in your spiritual growth and suddenly find yourself in a state of unbalance emotionally, mentally and spiritually. It is important to let the kundalini open your psychic centers in a way that is not harmful to you. This can only happen in a natural way without coercion or force from outside of yourself. Psychedelics can make some people very crazy, and they don’t know who they are until they have tried it, but then it may be too late. (Another issue is that the dosage cannot be determined since most of these substances are obtained from illegal and unregulated sources, and an accidental mega dose can be quite detrimental.)
This is not to say that psychedelic experiences and mind altering journeys are not useful in some sense as far as educating a person that there is much more to reality than meets the eye, but that is where it should stop. In the long run these substances shut down the brain’s functions. It is a trick to think that you are entering higher states of consciousness when using these substances, and this is what the great attraction is. One could think of it as the cheater’s path to enlightenment, but the ultimate truth is that eventually it leads to insanity and self-delusion rather than enlightenment. It really is a peek at what it possible with the mind. Then it is up to you to find your way to it through natural means, such as meditation, spiritual growth and bringing your attention fully into the present.
I (Breese) can tell you from personal experience that these states of mind are fully possible without the mind altering substances, and that this is the true goal. A person who is fully in the present, has trained the psychic centers and is able to perceive on the deeper levels than what meets the eye, and has a fully opened heart goes far beyond where these substances can take us. These substances are only the tip of the iceberg, but spiritual discipline will show you what lies far beyond that. Yes, it takes more work, it takes more time, and it takes great vigilance, but the rewards are great and the experiences are truer and deeper. Also, there is far more lucidity and clarity, without the imbalance that psychedelics create. The mental imagery that comes from psychedelics comes from an alteration of bio-chemicals in the body. This can be done without the drugs as well, and you can train yourself through meditation. In closing on this argument, I leave you with a statement from Dr. Hanz Holzer’s book Are You Psychic? (1997): “While these altered states may mimic authentic states of bliss or even ecstasy, they are nevertheless due to interference from outside agents rather than to genuine contact with another dimension.”