Timothy-Leary-The-Psychedelic-Experience-The-Tibetan-Book-Of-The-Dead

you had been used to seeing them before. There is a penetrating sensitivity. But you are on a different level.
Your ego grasp is not quite as sure as it was.
The karmic hallucinations and visions have not yet started. Neither the frightening apparitions nor the
heavenly visions have begun. This is a most sensitive and pregnant period. The remainder of the experience
can be pushed one way or another depending upon preparation and emotional climate.
If you are experienced in consciousness alteration, or if you are a naturally introverted person, remember
the situation and the schedule. Stay calm and let the experience take you where it will. You will probably
re-experience the ecstasy of illumination once again; or you may drift into aesthetic or philosophic or
interpersonal enlightenments. Don’t hold on: let the stream carry you along.
The experienced person is usually beyond dependence on setting. He can turn off external pressure and
return to illumination. An extroverted person, dependent upon social games and outside situations may,
however, become pleasantly distracted (colors, sounds, people). If you anticipate extroverted distraction
and if you want to maintain a non-game state of ecstasy, then remember the following suggestions: do not
be distracted; try to concentrate on an ideal contemplative personage, e.g., Buddha, Christ, Socrates,
Ramakrishna, Einstein, Herman Hesse or Lao Tse: follow his model as if he were a being with a physical
body waiting for you. Join him.
If this is not successful, don’t fret or think about it. Perhaps you don’t have a mystical or transcendental
ideal. That means your conceptual limits are within external games. Now that you know what the mystic
experience is, you can prepare for it next time. You have lost the content-free flow and should now be
ready to slip into exciting confrontation with external reality. In the Second Bardo you can reash and deeply
experience game revelations.
We have just anticipated the reactions of the naturally mystical introvert, the experienced person, and the
extrovert. Now let’s turn to the novitiate who shows confusion at this early stage of the sequence. The best
procedure is to make a reassuring sign and do nothing. He will have read this manual and will have some
guidepost. Leave him alone and he will probably dive into his panic and master it. If he indicates that he
wishes guidance, repeat the instructions. Tell him what is happening. Remind him of his phase in the
process. Urge him quietly to release his ego struggle and drift back into contact with the Clear Light.
Preparation and guidance of this sort will allow many to reach the illuminated state who would not be
expected to recognize it.
At this point, it is necessary to inject a word of benign warning. Reading this manual is extremely useful,
but no words can communicate experience. You are going to be surprised, startled and delighted. A person
may have heard a detailed description of the art of swimming and yet never had the chance to swim.
Suddenly diving into the water, he finds himself unable to swim. So with those who have tried to learn the
theory of how to experience ego-loss, and have never applied it. They cannot maintain unbroken continuity
of consciousness, they grow bewildered at the changed condition; they fail to maintain the mystical ecstasy;
they fail to take advantage of the opportunity unless upheld and directed by a guide. Even with all that a
guide can do, they ordinarily, because of bad karma (heavy ego games) fail to recognize the liberation. But
this is no cause for worry. At the worst, they just slip back to shore. No one has drowned, and most of
those who have taken the voyage have been eager to try again.
Even those who have familiarized themselves with the road maps and who previously have had illumination,
may find themselves in settings where heavy game behavior on the part of others forces them into contact
with external reality. If this happens, recall the instructions. The person who masters this principle can block
out the external. The one who has mastered control of consciousness is independent of setting.
Again there are those, who although previously successful, may have brought ego games into the session
with them. They may want to provide someone else with a particular type of experience. They may be
promoting some self goal. They may be nurturing negative or competitive or seductive feelings towards
someone in the session. If this happens, recall the instructions. Remember the unity of all beings. One to
me is shame and fame. One to me is loss or gain. Jettison your ego program and float back to the radiant
bliss of at-one-ness.