Journeys into the bright world

Since ketamine is so effective an analgesic agent it may also serve to relieve some of the physical and mental anguish of the actual death process. There are times when it is a noble thing to be one of the pain-bearers of humanity. Sorrow and suffering are necessary for growth because it is so often easier to feel deeply sad than to feel deeply happy. Intense grief drills holes that are later filled by joy. In this sense our traumas are like earthquakes that shape the seas, lakes and riverbeds of earth. But it is the harmonious flow of feelings that nourishes the soil and brings forth flowers of love. Since the world has already known so much misery it may be that by now it is ready for a medicine that can simultaneously soothe the bodies and gladden the hearts of those who are ready to move on into a new cycle of experience.

For many people the fear of death is not basically a horror of pain, or even of the unknown, as much as a sense of depression at the thought that the personality they have worked so hard to perfect will be rudely obliterated. The loss of this disposable wrapper seems so fundamentally wasteful, such a deterrent to achievement, such a blot on the escutcheon of divine beneficence that it throws suspicion upon the whole cosmic scheme-or Schemer.

However, in the course of a deep ketamine experience both body and ego are washed out. All that has formerly been associated with the self is totally gone-yet identity remains. An individual can then realize beyond any shadow of a doubt that there is some part of his being that functions continuously. Thus he takes a giant step" toward the realization that he can live very well apart from the encircling snares of this world's illusions. Indeed, if he continues to rehearse his ultimate metamorphosis he may even come to suspect that he is already as firmly anchored in that other world as in this one. Then what we call death becomes only a way of walking over a bridge that has already been partially constructed, and that can be yet further improved.

Spiritual. Many people yammer at God and call it prayer. Others blank their minds and call it meditation. There are, however, ascending levels of prayer and meditation, of invocation and evocation, which reveal themselves naturally during the ketamine experience. Many of these states seem to have a validity far above and beyond doctrinaire interpretations; they simply don't lend themselves to quibbling. That is, if a group of people are enjoying a sunbath they don't have to argue as to whether the sun's rays feel good.

All ecstasy is linked to the experience of unity-^to synthesis, synergy, the resolving of antitheses and the blending of opposites. In the transcendental realm where everything relates to everything else we all seem to be swimming together in the same sea of living energy and to arrive at a consensus with regard to universal principles. As Alan Watts expressed it in The Joyous Cosmology:

I can find no essential difference between the experiences induced, under favorable conditions, by these chemicals arid the states of 'cosmic consciousness' recorded by R.M. Bucke, William James, Evelyn Underhill, Raynor Johnson, and other investigators of mysticism.

Owing to this unanimity, a growth of mysticism in the West might bring a better understanding of the "inscrutable" East. To a large extent a more syncretic attitude is already arising as offshoots of Hinduism, Buddhism, Zen and other oriental sects spring up in the Western world. Unquestionably this new appreciation of oriental philosophic attitudes has been encouraged by the widespread use of psychedelic substances.

It may not be possible to "prove" such concepts as the existence of the soul, the presence of an evolutionary purpose in nature, or the redemptive power of love. It does appear, however, that the means have been given whereby any openminded observer can experience such verities for himself. Above and beyond all else, the way is being cleared for people en masse to cultivate the ability to perceive the workings of the divine plan which sorts out the muddle of mundane circumstances and to delight in the wondrous panoply of creation.