Journeys into the bright world

In ancient times the roles of physicians and priests were often synonymous. Evolved cultures raised magnificent temples of healing, while on the tribal level the medicine man was also the community shaman or spiritual guide. Traditionally the shaman is a person who can enter a trance state in which he apparently dies and then returns to life. He knows how to navigate the inner spaces of being and commune with higher intelligences, and can use the information thereby gained for the good of his people. The shaman's altered states of consciousness are often induced by the judicious use of psychedelic substances.

It is time now for the public to realize that shamanism is an honorable profession. With the increasing use of ketamine as a medical sacrament the demand for para-pharmaceutical personnel who can reformulate the shamanic ideal in modern terms is bound to be insistent. Much new thinking will have to be done if the leaders of humanity are to mend the splits that threaten to undermine our divisive civilization. People absolutely must be made to realize the futility of trying to alleviate bodily ills without also considering an individual's psychological, sociological and spiritual condition. Consequently, the pressure is on for a reformulation of the healing arts in holistic terms.

We believe that samadhi therapy is naturally adapted to this holistic trend inasmuch as it works simultaneously on the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual nature of man. Since ketamine is a consciousness-expanding drug it should be dispensed by a special kind of shamanically oriented therapist-one who can take an integrative view of a man and the universe because he himself has learned to see clearly. As long as qualified people are permitted to develop this shamanic vision we can hardly draw the upper limits of ketamine's regenerative potential for man and for the planet.

9: Cautionary Notes

It was the distinct impression of the observer that most of the patients who had received ketamine experienced a sense of well-being which supplemented the analgesic effect of the drug in such a way as to give increased relief from postoperative pain. This observation, coupled with the comments of the volunteers that they had experienced a pleasant psychic experience, tends to suggest that this drug has a definite potential for being abused, and that clinicians should be aware of this possibility.

– "Analgesic Effects of Ketamine Administered in Sub dissociative Doses," by Max S. Sadove, M.D. Anesthesia and Analgesia, Volume 50, No.3, May-June 1971.

Several of our comrades were incredulous. "Why do it?" Why blow this beautiful set-up for all of us by provoking unnecessary opposition? Here you are, married to a successful physician, able to relax and enjoy the reputation you've already earned. If you want you can spend the rest of your days taking ketamine with no hassle, and write about it as well. But if you bring your therapy sessions out in the open you'll be jeopardizing his career and your own peace of mind."

Why indeed? Perhaps the answer is that anyone who dabbles more than a toe in the ocean of truth can no longer go on living for himself alone. One of the first effects of most psychedelic agents is the obliteration of the differences between what is inside and outside one's own head, with the result that the cosmos is experienced as a matrix of interpenetrating forces. We are here as co-creators of the world in which we live, and that means that we can serve ourselves only by serving others. Intellectually, most of us admit the truth of this golden rule, just as we know that it is desirable to express love and enjoy the grandeur of nature's continual striving for perfection. But in the higher dimensions of meaning, where samadhi is the soul's native element, it is as natural for an illumined individual to want to spread the light as for the sun to shine.