Spirit Grooves Blogs

Published on November 8, 2014

Before some of you run out and drop acid to enable your meditation practice, think again. I suggest that you look two ideas right in the eye, as scary as that might be for some of us. And this first idea comes with a warning, so please take it in:

The primary thing that psychedelics did for me, that had never happened before, is that they gave me some actual "realization" that was not just another experience, but something that came and that never went away, even though it was only a taste or glimpse.

In that time of insight I understood, experienced, and finally realized the basic fact why our dualistic form of perception makes the Self so invulnerable to penetration, i.e. that what we see out there in the world and take verbatim as "real" is in fact very much a product of the likes, dislikes, bias, and prejudice that we hold "in here," in our own views and as a result of our own karma. In other words, the subject "me" in here and the "them and you" outside of me (and over there) are not a true dichotomy, not really separate at all, but are integrally related, one to another – a working unity. In other words, dualisms are an inconvenient fiction.

I realized this in real-time on LSD and it remains with me to this day. Most important, that realization punctured the prophylactic bubble of the Self and provided a differential, just like the calculus of the same name, such that the mind immediately became workable for me and I immediately begin to work it, and have ever since. This was an incredible break-through after a life lived without any true insight into my own condition!

As scary as the thought of "mind-altering" drugs are, and they can be scary, the term mind-altering is a misnomer. Psychedelics alter our perspective and view of the mind, not the mind itself. This is why this topic of psychedelics is so shunned and difficult to entertain for many, and well it should be. The power of the shaman resides there, but also, without guidance, these drugs can easily be (and often are) very dangerous. And psychedelics are no substitute for the gradual results of mind training, but they can provide an authentic glimpse into how the mind works such that we are inspired to work it.

And here is the warning: Yes, some of what I experienced on LSD was what might be called recognition (something akin to realization), a glimpse at how the mind actually works. But even for the greatest yogis (and I was not one of those), recognition is not something that is the end of anything, but just the bare beginning of something, like: real mind training.

I then spent the next decade or so trying to balance what I realized on LSD. I had some parts of the puzzle, but not the big picture that I needed. I would find out later that the greatest sages, the Mahasiddas themselves, point out that we cannot do this on our own. Period, with no wiggle-room. Recognition of the mind's true nature requires a teacher to point out the true nature of the mind to us, and to work with us. It was not until I set out to find such a teacher and to submit to the practices they instructed me in that all of the puzzle-pieces begin to fall into place, at least enough to satisfy me.

So yes, psychedelics can open the mind and even offer some glimpse of realization. I can attest to this. But that taste will never (not EVER, if you would believe the Mahasiddhas) resolve itself into what is call "recognition," much less enlightenment, WITHOUT having the actual nature of the mind pointed out to us by an authentic master, someone who actually holds that realization in actuality. This is not true just because I say it; I say it because the great Siddhas say it is true.

I beat around in the bushes for decades trying to complete the puzzle that LSD introduced me to. And while that introduction was authentic and provided me with the staying power to keep looking, it was not until I found the Tibetan Buddhists, teachers like the Ven. Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and my root teacher the Ven. Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche, that I could go further in my practice. Until then I was just one more acid-head who had seen something true, but who was unable to put the pieces together into a coherent picture that I could live with and by.

A glimpse or realization (some light at the end of the tunnel) is what I needed to keep going in my mind practice and my search for authenticity, but it has to be tempered by an authentic teacher, at least in Vajrayana Buddhism. And now for the second point, the preparations for realization, and this is true for all realizations, whether psychedelic or achieved through meditation:

Preparation is imperative! Without it, nothing will happen, except perhaps some experiences. The group mind of those of us who became more aware in the 1960s had been prepared by the mindset of the 1950s in which we grew up, just like a pendulum swings from one opposite to the other. I have talked enough about that in previous blogs. Let me give you an example of preparation.

In the Tibetan mind training, I was surprised to learn when I got to the training for Mahamudra meditation (which like Dzogchen and Maha-Ati, are said to be the pinnacle of the Tibetan meditation tradition) to be told to go and practice again (and more) what was the very basic beginning thoughts that first attracted me to Buddhism, what are called "The Four Thoughts That Turn the Mind Toward the Dharma."

These four thoughts were what first interested me in the dharma and now they were the preparation for the highest form of mind training taught by the lineage. And here they were introduced once again to set the stage for learning Mahamudra properly. That was a surprise. For those who don't know them, briefly the "Four Thoughts That Turn the Mind" are:

(1) This human life we have is precious.
(2) Life is impermanent and death is certain.
(3) The Law of Karma is unavoidable. Our every action has a result.
(4) This cyclic world of ups and downs in inherently undependable.

As the Ven. Chögyam Trungpa personally pointed out to me: all four of these thoughts must be kept in mind simultaneously to create the proper circumstances for real insight to occur. This is what is meant by "preparation."

I happen to love and treasure the Four Thoughts, so I jumped in and spent several years going deep into them once again, aided by Mother Nature. The laws of nature are often called the "Lama of Appearances," a true teacher, just like a living lama is a teacher. But this training was fueled by very special circumstances that threw me out of my normal self and into the void of what is beyond the self. Without being thrust into that sense of uncertainty and emptiness, nothing much would have happened, so take note.

And to point out to you just how special those circumstances were for me, consider this. For one entire summer, from the end of May until late fall when it was too cold to go out much, unless it rained or something else required my presence, I was outside in the meadows and woods watching the sun come up. I did this for something like five or more months. There I was, just out there, in nature, soaked by the dew and breathing in the morning brisk air, before dawn (or close to it), watching the sun rise. For me that was VERY unusual, because prior to that time, I can't remember when I was outside watching the sun rise even once, much less every day for half a year!

My point here is that the circumstances around any kind of recognition or realization have to be, for us, special to the point of unavoidable. We are pushed beyond the ordinary and through a door or passage we would not otherwise pass through. There is a mental, emotional, and spiritual environment that has to come together like a perfect storm to make realization possible. Please don't ignore this requirement. Prepare for it. You too can consider the Four Thoughts that turn the mind away from our everyday distractions.

The same desperation and lack of satisfaction with the world that led to many of the Sixties generation taking LSD is not dissimilar to the kind of special state we have to be in to break-through in meditation practice. And, as I found out, there are different ways to arrive at this state. One of them is to deeply consider the Four Thoughts That Turn the Mind. Another, for me, was the particular circumstances that my life took on that led for me getting serious enough to actually get some insight. And I was contemplating the Four Thoughts all that time.

I swear that we are all walking around as if we are going to live forever, which should be a clue that we may have to, but in what form? For me, popping that bubble of the Self and coming down to where the rubber meets the road was essential for my mind training. So there you have my two points:

One, that with or without psychedelics like LSD, we will need an authentic spiritual guide in the flesh to assist us in our realization.

And two, just dropping acid or practicing without coming up with the perfect storm of seriousness that something like the "Four Thoughts" can provide is not enough.

These two have to be combined, the sobering from the Four Thoughts and a spiritual friend or teacher who has authentic realization. These are my two-cents.