anyone else find it suspicious?

[Polymirize]

that once upon a time spiritual pursuit was a serious matter. A lifelong commitment. People would spend years meditating or contemplating god. Spirituality was a seed within everyone that could slowly be nurtured to flower after years of not only study, but also practice and internal awareness.

Now, anyone with an eighth of mushrooms and a fast internet connection can claim to be enlightened in a couple days.

[420 FMX]

that once upon a time spiritual pursuit was a serious matter. A lifelong commitment. People would spend years meditating or contemplating god. Spirituality was a seed within everyone that could slowly be nurtured to flower after years of not only study, but also practice and internal awareness.

Now, anyone with an eighth of mushrooms and a fast internet connection can claim to be enlightened in a couple days.

why is that suspicious? i think u need to get out more

[SyndicateJuggalos17]

why is that suspicious? i think u need to get out more

HAHAHAHA

its not at all suspicious, maybe peculiar

[Pass That Shit]

"Now, anyone with an eighth of mushrooms and a fast internet connection can claim to be enlightened in a couple days."

LOL
Paris Hilton didn't need either. Jail will also do the trick. :D

[afghooey]

Here's an excellent essay that centers around this very subject (psychoactives triggering spiritual experiences): The New Alchemy (http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/lsd/alchemy.htm)

It was written by the late theologian Alan Watts. In 1958 he was asked by a psychactric research group to take a certain psychedelic substance in order to see if it would induce a spiritual experience. He later repeated the experiment on himself several times. He then explained the results of these experiments in the essay (written in 1960).

If you like, I can take some excerpts from the text and post them here for discussion, since most people who browse this thread probably won't have the time or motivation to read through the whole essay (even though it's a very good read, IMO).

Also, if you're curious, you can find out more about Alan Watts here (http://www.alanwatts.com/aw_story.html).

[MajMike]

. . is when you live each moment in harmony with the world, understanding that you are enmeshed within it as surely as fly in a spider's web. It is not a single (or couple) flash(s) of insight, it is being at peace with existence and allowing that to permeate everything you do.

Most of all, it is something we must seek every day. There is no magic 'once you find it it's yours forever', it may become easier but we must still desire and seek it for it to be ours each day.

That is the journey of life, to grow in knowledge and personal understanding by experiencing all of life and learning everything one can. Each day we hope to be a slightly better person, with the goal of eternal progress.

[Polymirize]

Here's an excellent essay that centers around this very subject (psychoactives triggering spiritual experiences): The New Alchemy (http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/lsd/alchemy.htm)


Actually, I don't have a very fast internet connection. But if you understand these writings on anything more than a superficial level perhaps you could summerize?

[AtmanWalter]

that once upon a time spiritual pursuit was a serious matter. A lifelong commitment. People would spend years meditating or contemplating god. Spirituality was a seed within everyone that could slowly be nurtured to flower after years of not only study, but also practice and internal awareness.

Now, anyone with an eighth of mushrooms and a fast internet connection can claim to be enlightened in a couple days.

They could claim to be enlighted but i could also claim that a flaming monkey is comming out my ass, doesnt make it true. Makes me almost sick that kids even use the word enlightenment in everyday speech. Most Eastern traditions dont even permit its followers to talk about it unless they have reached a certain state where its within sight. Of couse in internet and psycedelic drugs are a great way to work on it but by no stretch of what the fuck ever is it a quick fix. Enlightenment if I may say so my self is simular to an intelectual psycedelic peak experience that is a everyday sate of being tied in with good intentions. Like MajMike said, its something we seek everyday. Some even believ that it cant be achived in a single lifetime. So be supicious about anyone who claims to be Enlightend.

[Polymirize]

Enlightenment if I may say so my self is simular to an intelectual psycedelic peak experience that is a everyday sate of being tied in with good intentions.

Why do you think that?

[AtmanWalter]

Well iv read alot into Eastern Traditions and aslo Ken Wilbers books which talk about evolution of the consoiusness and all that tied in with my own psycedelic experiences thats my asumption. After this year of high school im going to a zen mountain center for a year for just that purpose aswell so i might be a little more educated on it then :). The good intentions portion of my assumption is kinda the one thing you cant obtain through knowledge and therefor makes it that much more pure. But hey its only an assumtion from my own heap of impression that i call my mind :P lol

[Polymirize]

isn't it kinda easy to be enlightened at a zen mountain center?

Zarathustra had it all figured out until he decided to come down from his mountain...

[AtmanWalter]

Not sure easy would be the word but im sure it might come to easier. Zarathustra had some intresting stuff to say

[istar]

psychadelics can give you a glimpse of enlightenment but i'm pretty sure you have to put in some work on your own or else i'd be jesus by now:D

[PureEvil760]

I hav'nt heard of anyone on psychadelics claiming to be enlightened..can you put some references? Enlightenment is a simple thing that people just choose not to do. It is the moment where your perception is flipped inward, it is in no way automatically perminent.

[MajMike]

Many have claimed enlightenment from drugs over time. I believe the drugs may have opened a new door onto reality for them, but that true enlightenment is a journey, not a single experience.

Tim Leary
Humphrey Osmond
Aldous Huxley
Abbie Hoffman
and many others . .

All saw/see LSD as a mind-opening pathway, a catalyst for enlightening experiences, and I believe they are right.

P.S. We are ignoring also millenia worth of shamans, medicine men, etc., who have used peyote/mushrooms/etc to experience 'visions' to help guide them on their life journey.

[horror business]

Well I believe cannabis enlightened and continues to enlighten me, and salvia changed my life, spiritually, for the better. I've also done other substances that have "enlightened me" by giving me a reality check and a kick in the ass.

[AtmanWalter]

Iv felt extremely enlightend on shrooms, acid, or salvia. But i think its how we use the word. I can agree with horror business saying pot can enlighten you and can continue to, and the same with the medicine men and shamans of the ages. But the easter meaning of elightenment is a certain state of being achived after many years ( possibly lifetimes ) of spiritual practice, and is a much more perminant thing than a high.

[BlAzInIt4:20]

hahahehehahahah:thumbsup: