Can hallucinogens increase your spirituality?

Question

The only time I had a religious experience in my life (communing with dead ancestors) was the one and only time I tripped on acid. Is it possible that religious people have brain chemicals that make them trip 24/7?

Answer 1

I will only respond with two comments

1. Frank Foolscrow said when he was asked if he used peyote. "No. Wakan Tanka can take me higher than any drug." Wakan Tanka is the Lakota name for God.

2. My two cents is that a shaman that can't shamanize without being under the influence is not much of a shaman.

Answer 2

Tripping 24/7 would not be healthy, that would be more like being schitzophrenic than being a religious mystic.
Certain drugs can provide a gateway or taste of mystical experiences, but only that. If a person relies on drugs for their mystical experiences, they're not much of a mystic.
Most people, about 80%, have an area in the temporal lobes that has been called "the God module", which allows them to have mystical experiences under the right conditions. In some people this area may be more active than in others. It's probably a difference in brain wiring rather than brain chemicals.
I see some people have said overgenerailising things about Native Americans and peyote.
Peyote has traditionally been used in certain tribes of the Southwest but it is not certainly not universal to all Native Americans. The Native American Church, which uses peyote in their ceremonies, is a fairly new innovation, in the past century or so, and is a minority religion even within the minority culture. It is a pan-Indian practice, while most Indians practice a blend of Christianity and their own tribal beliefs.
From what I've seen and experienced, most Native Americans are far more likely to use non-drug means such as fasting and chanting to achieve altered states for spiritual purposes.
As far as I know, Native Americans have never used pot or marijuana for traditional ritual purposes. The other Indians, in India, have done this, as that plant is native there. But not here. The Native American ceremonial pipe uses tobacco, and from what I've seen, pot is often frowned upon, as an "insult to the pipe".
It's also a myth that "most people use only 10% of their brains". This myth is based on phrenology, the pseudo science of studying the bumps on people's heads as a clue to their minds. If it were true, head injuries would not be so disabling. Instead you'd often hear things like "he was lucky, the bullet hit the 90% of the brain that we don't use." However, the unfortunate fact is that serious head injuries are quite disabling, most of the time. In fact, studying people with head injuries gave early scientists clues as to which parts of the brain serve which purposes.

Answer 3

Are you still trippin? LSD is bad stuff ..and no its not a religious experience but let me tell you what door it opens..that door will leave you wide open to demonic presence and attachment. Not a good thing! You communing was with a fimilar spirit,they know how to imitate the loved ones we have and had. Yes its chemical so it will react with our own chemicals in the brain, and on some levels permanently. Please consider your Brain cells they are precious. A friend gave me some when i was eighteen,i think and man the devil saw that door open and i experienced things for years before i was delievered from what happen to me. watch out it only takes one bad trip and you may not come back the same!!! God be with you i hope you have strong person in your life to help you and to cast out what came in.

Answer 4

No. Any experience under the influence of a drug is a synthetic experience.
LSD in particular was actually developed by psychiatry to produce or simulate insanity and used in mind control experiments in the '50's long before they released it into the "drug" culture of the 60's.
Sprituality and "brain chemicals" ??? Besides religion and spirituality are not exactly the same thing. 2 different words that are not necessarily interchangable.

Answer 5

........

1.) There's a big difference between "tripping" and using very small, controlled amounts of narcotics. In Native American cultures, pot was used, to a SMALL EXTENT, to relax the mind and allow it to drift; it was meant to let you use more than 10% of your brain, a section that can handle and interpret mystic messages and the such.

2.) The reason that it's no longer used is because it was only meant to be a shortcut for beginners; there are methods of training, including meditation, that can unlock these areas for us otherwise. Those are used nowadays for even beginners instead of the narcotics due to the risk of addiction.

3.) It's the brain use, not the drugs. Stick to your faygo, funyuns, and gameplay regiment, and try to substitute meditation for whatever hasheesh you're trying to get. :P

Answer 6

Hallucinogens are a cheat. They can show you what's possible, but unless you can create your own pathways, you'll be unable to really control the situation. Once is enough. Now that you know what's possible, it's time for the work to begin.

Answer 7

I used LSD in a way that few I know of have: everyday for almost a year. The effect has become permanent. I no longer have "spiritual" experiences. LSD has helped me to become more rational, skeptical, reasonable in thought concerning the "supernatural". There were several years of living insane before beginning to live in a trip. It is reality that I have ended up with.

Answer 8

well im not tripping, everybody is a little throwed off in there own special way even if you have the life of the leave it to beaver, but some religions in mexico think the only way to meet god is to ingest hallucinogens from cactus juice

Answer 9

Chemical toxins may increase your sense of spirituality, just as they may increase your sense of being able to fly. But both are illusions. True spirituality is not something that can be produced biochemically.
.

Answer 10

Read Terence McKenna's
ideas on this subject ~
" Food Of The Gods "