It may seem that nothing new can be said on this topic after Ram Dass and Ralph Metzner. Yet the theme is vast and has many pros and contras as reflected in one of the recent issues of "Gnosis" magazine. (Winter 93, No 26.)This article is an attempt to look at psychedelics from the point of view of somebody who measures everything by one criteria: will this bring me permanent and stable peace and happiness? Or is it interesting and fascinating but has nothing to do with liberation from suffering? (This attitude might seem narrow but regarding other aspects I refer the reader to a significant body of literature.) I believe that longing for permanent contentment is an unconscious motivation behind all human actions; however, it's amazing how difficult it is to really accept that nothing external can bring us lasting happiness.
There is a big difference between actually experiencing that everything is One and intellectually reminding yourself of this truth. If your present state is that of anxiety due to some stress, recalling a profound psychedelic experience you have had won't bring you back in bliss. It seems like certain qualities such as transcendental insight or unconditional love are state specific, meaning you naturally have them when you are in expanded state of consciousness, and you inevitably lose them when you return to an ordinary state. From this point of view, the goal of traditional spiritual practice is not only achieving the altered state but stabilizing or better to say abiding in it.
Of course, all this does not in any way contradict or deny the role of psychedelics as "door - openers" or initial catalysts for many people. It rather calls for realization that chasing after another and another beautiful psychedelic experience leads nowhere, because these experiences are impermanent just as everything else.
Many people may say "Of course", I know that I am not the body!, but this is only intellectual; unless one had a direct experience, the unconscious self-representation is indeed of "I" to be the body, which lives at this address, works on this job, married to this person, etc. The real degree of identification with the body is revealed only through the intensity of fear people have when the body is threatened in disease, physical trauma, or sudden bankruptcy. Of course, all this does not mean that the body itself is the cause of problems. The body should be taken care of. These notions of Advaita Vedanta rather point out that there is no end to suffering unless one experientially realizes that s/he is the boundless ocean of pure consciousness, and the body is just an object equal to all other objects inside this ocean. Psychedelics are invaluable in this matter because in significant doses they can give a direct experi Medicine in Tucson, notence of conscious existence without the body. Mushrooms, DMT and ketamine in large doses are especially helpful. Repeated out-of-body experiences lead to loosening this deep conscious and unconscious identification with the body. One of the spiritual masters said that genuine spiritual practice has no other goal than experiential discovery of something in us that can not be taken by death.
Ramana Maharshi pointed out that another direct path (besides self-inquiry) is total surrender of ones life and world to God. From the meditators perspective, unreserved surrender places ones mind in the position of detached observer of not only the world but of ones own body, emotions and thoughts, since they also belong to God. But as it is difficult to be totally detached in everyday life, so in psychedelic experience there is always a certain degree of habitual repulsion from the unpleasant and attachment to the pleasant. In many cases what people call surrender to the action of the psychedelic is, in fact, emotional involvement in experience with clinging to bliss and aversion to fear. What matters is not what we experience (because all experiences are impermanent) but how we react to it. From this perspective, psychedelics offer a unique possibility and a chance. When usually solid reality melts and begins to move, when irresistible flow of energies dissolves perception of the body, when emotions fluctuate from bliss to unbearable fear, when every moment gives birth to the new world of images, it's a chance to realize that all this is happening by itself, beyond your control. So what can you possibly do? Nothing. Just relax and observe, witness.
Attaining the stable inner position of a detached witness of your own emotions and thoughts is in itself a difficult and high achievement. However, there is a stage beyond that. If I can disidentify and observe all these fleeting manifestations, then, who am I? In the ordinary state of consciousness, attention is usually fixed on this or that object (including thoughts); in psychedelic experience, when everything is changing so fast, it's easier to relax minds habitual grasping and turn awareness on itself. The problem is that we are usually so fascinated or terrified by the experience itself, that we never ask ourselves "Who is that who is aware of all this?"