PSYCHEDELICS - Sciencemadness.org

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____________________________________________________ Psychedelics
being more accurate than the word "hallucinogenic," which
was then in common use.
More important than the state of awareness that many developed,
it seemed that insights attained during this experience
could be applied to the problems of everyday life and
their solution. Most interesting to us was Dr. Osmond's observation
that the psychedelic state seemed often to be very
similar to the mystical state, in the study of which we were at
that time engaged.
Correspondence with Dr. Osmond brought additional in-
formation and the names of others who were doing research
with these psychedelic substances. All were most helpful in
sharing with us the results of their work and advising us as to
the best ways in which to proceed with our own investigations.
At that time we found that we could obtain peyote, a cactus
that grows in the southern Rio Grande Valley. It seemed ef-
fective in inducing, in much greater depth, a type of aware-
ness or mystical experience that some of us had already ex-
perienced, to a lesser degree, as a result of using other
spiritual disciplines.
By "mystical experience" is meant here a state of conscious-
ness in which the individual finds a oneness with the uni-
verse, and feels unconditional love for God, his neighbor, and
himself. All are realized as One. It is not unlike the state of
one who is deeply in love. In Eastern terminology this is called
Self-realization, liberation, enlightenment, or satori. The
Christian may call it a vital experience of God, or coming to
know Christ. The psychologist may call it the creative integra-
tion of the personality around a deep center. By whatever
name it may be called, it seems to those who have experi-
enced it to be the way toward the actualization of our ulti-
mate potential as human beings, toward the identification as
that Life, or Divinity, which is the reality of each living being.
In the early days of our exploration of these deeper levels
of consciousness, one of our group experienced a very marked
change in his outlook as a result of the peyote sacrament.
Prior to this he had been an atheist, but after his participa-
tion in the sacrament he said, "I have experienced God! I
know that reality is there, that it is desirable above all things,
and that it is attainable. Now I am willing to take the path of