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

They may be reacted to with wonder, amazement, humor, veneration, love, disgust, fascination, horror,
delight, fear, ecstasy.
Like a computer with unlimited access to any programs, the mind roams freely. Personal and racial
memories bubble up to the surface of consciousness, inter-play with fantasies, wishes, dreams and external
objects. A present event becomes charged with profound emotional significance, a cosmic phenomenon
becomes identical with some personal quirk. Metaphysical problems are juggled and bounced around. Pure
“primary process,” spontaneous outopouring of association, opposites merging, images fusing, condensing,
shifting, collapsing, expanding, merging, connecting.
This kaleidoscopic vision of game-reality may be frightening and confusing to an ill-prepared subject.
Instead of exquisite clarity of many-levelled perception, he will experience a confused chaos of
uncontrollable, meaningless forms. Instead of delight at the playful acrobatics of the free intellect, there will
be anxious clinging to an elusive order. Morbid and scatological hallucinations may occur, evoking disgust
and shame.
As before, this negative vision occurs only if the person attempts to control or rationalize the magic
panorama. Relax and accept whatever comes. Remember that all visions are created by your mind, the
happy and the unhappy, the beautiful and the ugly, the delightful and the horrifying. Your consciousness is
creator, performer and spectator of the “retinal circus.”
If the guide senses that the voyager is in or seems to be in the “retinal circus” vision, he may read to him
the appropriate instructions ==|==>> INSTRUCTIONS FOR VISION 6: “THE RETINAL CIRCUS”.
Vision 7: “The Magic Theatre”
If the voyager was unable to maintain the passive serenity necessary for the contemplation of the previous
visions (the peaceful deities), he moves now into a more dramatic and active phase. The play of forms and
things becomes the play of heroic figures, superhuman spirits and demigods. [In the Tibetan Handbook, this
is described as the vision of the five “Knowledge-Holding Deities,” arranged in a mandala form, each
embraced by Dakinis, in an ecstatic dance. The Knowledge-holding Deities symbolize “the highest level of
individual or humanly conceivable knowledge, as attained in the consciousness of great Yogis, inspired
thinkers or similar heroes of the spirit. They represent the last step before the “breaking-through” towards
the universal consciousness - or the first on the return from there to the plane of human knowledge.”
(Govinda, op. cit., p. 202.) The Dakinis are female embodiments of knowledge, representing the
inspirational impluses of consciousness leading to break-through. The other four Knowledge-Holders,
besides the central Lord of Dance, are: the Knowledge-holder abiding in the earth, the Knowledge-holder
who has power over the duration of life, the Knowledge-holder of the Great Symbol, and the Knowledgeholder
of Spontaneous Realization.] You may see radiating figures in human forms. The “Lotus Lord of
Dance”: the supreme image of a demi-god who perceives the effects of all actions. The prince of
movement, dancing in an ecstatic embrace with his female counterpart. Heroes, heroines, celestial warriors,
male and female demi-gods, angels, fairies - the exact form of these figures will depend on the person’s
background and tradition. Archetypal figures in the forms of characters from Greek, Egyptian, Nordic, Celtic,
Aztec, Persian, Indian, Chinese mythology. The shapes differ, the source is the same: they are the concrete
embodiments of aspects of the person’s own psyche. Archetypal forces below verbal awareness and
expressible only in symbolic form. The figures are often extremely colorful and accompanied by a variety of
awe-inspiring sounds. If the voyager is prepared and in a relaxed, detached frame of mind, he is exposed to
a fascinating and dazzling display of dramatic creativity. The Cosmic Theatre. The Divine Comedy. If his
eyes are open, he may visualize the other voyagers as representing these figures. The face of a friend may
turn into that of a young boy, a baby, the child-god; into a heroic stature, a wise old man; a woman, animal,
goddess, sea-mother, young girl, nymph, elf, goblin, leprechaun. Images of the great painters arise as the
familiar representations of these spirits. The images are inexhaustible and manifold. An illuminating voyage
into the areas where the personal consciousness merges with the supr-individual.