A spiritual experience fueled by LSD? (not religious)?

Question

Are such claims valid according to how you define spiritualism? If not a spiritual experience, then what?

I met a gentleman who had an interesting outlook on spiritualism and his personal spiritual life. He admitted to me it all came to him during an acid trip. His conclusions made some sense too. What's your opinion on such revelations?

ryan s: Sorry, that's not my tale to tell. A person's spirituality is a very personal thing in my opinion. It is not my place to discuss someone else's.

I was more curious on everyone's view of using a hallucinogenic and the experience that followed.

Answer 1

All I can say is that when I have been on LSD I definitely had some pretty amazing thoughts and ideas. I felt an incredible ability to understand myself and my friends and honestly people in general. It was really weird. I felt enlightened :o)

Answer 2

Brings up a question sorry for answering a question with a question.

What if the drugs just open a part of the brain and you sense things see things that normally you wouldn't. LSD for instance pretty much gives you a one track mind. You could focus on any one thing intensely. Vision is somewhat interesting. But what I mean to say what if just opens / allows something in the body to sense see things you just can not see sober do to inhibitions, there are no such thing as ghosts spirits things not there cause I cant see them. But when you are on a type of drug those go away hence the possibility of sensing or seeing
things you never had before. Then why don't two people share the same experience, well genetics. For a headache I can take 2 Advil where you might only need 1, we are all different so we all get effected differently. Maybe similar but always different.

Just an idea.

Answer 3

Lsd Spiritual Experience

Answer 4

I had a good friend that was a very promising guitarist. He took about 20 hits of acid one day. During this he had a "Bad Trip" and met Satan. Satan told him he was going to hell.

After he sobered up he cut his hair, burned all of his concert shirts and rock posters. Traded his electric guitar for an acoustic one and joined the church. He broke off his friendships with our entire group because we lived the life that led to satan.

He went insane. I believe he already had a mental problem that was magnified by the LSD experience. He wasn't able to handle it and lost it.

Do I think it's legit - no - but it will seem that way to the person having the experience.

Personally - I have taken a lot of LSD - I never had one religious type experience, never had a "bad trip" and never once endangered myself or others.

LSD is one of those things that greatly magnifies what is already there in the brain. If someone has a religious experience it is because the seed was already there.

Answer 5

Many cultures use psychedelic substances to help open one up to transformative spiritual experiences, so certainly it's 100% valid.

Now, that doesn't mean that drugs are the be-all end-all to having these experiences. They can certainly evoke them, but there are ways to have these same experience without them - and that should be the goal if one is pursuing a spiritual practice. The drugs should be a tool to be used in moderation with the goal to move beyond the need for them firmly maintained.

Also, in the cultures that utilize these drugs, they are in a very controlled environment, with an experienced "guide" (usually the spiritual teacher) there to control the atmosphere and help monitor the trip, providing help and perspective as needed. The people who take the trip are prepared for the voyage through various kinds of spiritual practices that allow them to use the trip to have a meaninful experience, rather than just an entertaining one.

That being said, certainly alot of people that just took psychedelics for entertainment ended up having valid spiritual experiences. Myself included. If I wasn't at a place now where I simply cannot use these kinds of substances, I would be more than happy to take them in a more focused state with the pure intention of using the experience to gain spiritual insight. But I have many other ways to have those kinds of experiences now. And I do sometimes use marijuana for meditational purposes, which is much milder in effect, but nonetheless opens the mind to a wider/different perspective.

Answer 6

I believe a person can have a false religious experience with LSD. Actually its a demonic experience, the bible says Satan can come as an angel of light. Hallucinogenic drugs are from the demon pharmicia.

Answer 7

There is an interesting experiment that was done using psilocybin mushrooms. The people in the experiment hadn't done drugs like this before and most of them were religious people. Two thirds of them rated it as an extremely spiritual experience.

Everything we do alters our mind, if we can take a drug that changes our perspective it should enhance our empathy for differing viewpoints, and in a way, isn't that what spirituality is really about?

Answer 8

I think that they're valid . LSD does do what it's makers claim it will do. Acid along with other psychedelics can and will take you to some rather interesting and spiritual places ; some of which you would never want to return to.
Required disclaimer
it is not the intention of the author to promote the use of illegal drugs rather it is the intention of the author to share information .

Answer 9

It's well-known that certain drugs, notably LSD, can reproduce the phenomena of "religious ecstasy." The drawback is that the person who takes this kind of "shortcut" may not be properly prepared for the experience.

It's also fairly well-known that certain of the ancient mystery cults used to use hallucinogenic substances in their rites - but the initiate wasn't allowed to partake until he had been ritually prepared. Of course, some people are bound to be driven off their rockers anyway by such an intense experience.

Answer 10

One time when I was doing mushrooms I swear I was able to see my life so clearly. It was scary and horrible. I don't think we are suppose to look at our lives in the way I was. It did change me though.
For some reason I decided I was going to move to Mexico and teach kids how to speak English and live on the beach in a hut. I have no idea why a hut, but that's what I was going to do. lol I lived in San Diego, so moving to Mexico is something I have always wanted to do.
(I also watched Natural Born Killers. I don't recommend it.)

Answer 11

The engine will run on ether as well as gass the problem is it will blow the head gasket if you continue to use that high an octane of fuel .
Better to use the Bible it's cheeper and causes less brain damage..