Journeys into the bright world

In this respect, however, it is questionable whether one should practice meditation for the purpose of achieving liberation (or is it escape?) from the toils of earth. Is it not possible that the greater goal of meditation is to become a more self-fulfilled human being and a more compassionate server of mankind? My impression, drawn from years of promoting reincarnation therapy, is that the effort to be free from the mundane world often backfires. In one town, for example, I met an enormously fat twenty-year old American girl who had absolutely no concern in life except for sitting at the feet of her Hindu guru and meditating five hours daily. In her former existence she had been an East Indian ascetic who had despised the wiles of women and the cravings of flesh. Hence, this spirit was now lodged in the body of an exceedingly fleshy woman. There had been no escape whatsoever, but rather a demand for total confrontation, a demand which she still refused to recognize.

A similar issue arises in the cases of those who tell me they have "transcended" their horoscopes. An astrological chart is an assignment sheet, not a liability to be overcome or set aside. The High Self has voluntarily taken on the task of working with this particular energy pattern in order to utilize the resources given. Like it or not we are in this school for souls and have certain lessons to master before graduating into the larger life of the cosmos.

A curious sidelight on this issue is cast by a study of the Rig-Veda which is the earliest religious document of India and a seminal influence on Hindu philosophy. This scripture is a compendium of 1028 hymns dating back to the second millenium B.C. and possibly much older than that. Of these verses 120 are devoted entirely to the glorification of a plant called soma. According to the extensive research of Robert Gordon Wasson soma was a mushroom possessing psychedelic properties. His now widely accepted thesis is presented in a scholarly work entitled Soma, Divine Mushroom of Immortality, (Harcourt, Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1967). In any event, we know for certain that East Indian mystics down the ages have made extensive use of mind-expanding substances. To a far greater extent than is commonly realized, the shamans, sorcerers and magi of other eras and areas have also been "opened up" by psychedelic potions in keeping with ancient and honorable traditions.

To me, it came as a revelation to realize that the whole concept of samadhi probably arose in the first place out of the kind of experimentations in which Howard and I were now engaged. We were merely rounding a higher turn of a well traveled spiral, and were in exceedingly good company.

Despite this incontrovertible historical evidence there is no doubt but that professional religionists will resent the assertion that fifty milligrams of colorless liquid can produce a result that hitherto has been attained only as the end product of a life of austerity and sacrifice, and usually not even then. Orthodox psychotherapists of various hues may also find their monopolies threatened. Even if ketamine can be proven to be entirely safe, these and other critics are bound to complain that it is "unnatural."

Here again, we are faced with the question of what may or may not be natural-which is to say, what does nature intend for us to be and become. When we stop to analyze the issue it appears that the yogi in his cave, the monk in his cell and the nun in her convent are using methods hardly less artificial to augment the quality of their consciousness. Fasting, sleeplessness, self-flagellation, isolation, sensory deprivation, physical and mental stresses and breathing exercises which increase the carbon dioxide in the blood merely resort to other means to alter body chemistry. In virtually every respect these ascetic practices are both more extreme and more dangerous than ketamine therapy.