Which drug do you think is essential for spiritual developent?

Which drug do you think is essential for spiritual development?

Before i describe my own experience, i would like to clear up something. Many could think that this should be posted in any other forum as the main topic is centered in drugs. But i thought it would work better here, as i am asking this sincerely , and maybe not too many people take this question seriously and i feel that it definetly belongs here. Anyway if you people think it should be moved elsewhere, just tell. (well, those are just my thoughts).

And for aswering my own question, I personaly find psychedelics to be EXTREMELY USEFUL in the revelation of some of the inner truths that i perceive as the main point of existence. In the other hand. , i don´t feel the same thing about weed, even if it is clearly a psychedelic. Actually, i am frightened of the effect it has on me, cause for the last five years it has given me hellish highs, which only confused and depressed me (used to love the high back in the day). But anyway, i still feel like weed has a very important function in the self-discovery, in the spiritual path, something paradoxical as i cannot enjoy or relax if i am baked. Does this make any sense? Anybody similar thoughts or or opinions about this?

By the way, which substances do you find more mind expanding?

Some have been very useful to me, but I can't validly claim any essential for others.

many are useful
none are essential

I don't think any drug is essential for spiritual development. Although I'm fond of reminding people that drugs and spirituality have an ancient relationship that's worth preserving/restoring, I'd also venture a guess that the majority of people who've ever reached enlightenment have done so entirely without the help of drugs.

I think any drug used immoderately will hinder spiritual growth, since this fosters attachment and fixation.

Marijuana definitely helps with introspection, and getting A BIT beneath the surface layer of life. I don't think it's useful on its own, though, for most people.

DMT is of great value to a spiritual seeker who is brave and secure with himself, I think. It requires little 'extra' in the way of set and setting, to drive home the message that what we perceive on a day to day basis is not all there is to reality.

But the one that takes the cake, I feel, is ketamine. I just don't get why people (at least in the northeastern US) see this drug as dirty and sketchy, and for dirty and sketchy people. To me, it's unbelievably profound. Features include complete loss of the boundary between yourself and the rest of the world, travel to other realms to live out whole other lives, meetings with entities, and ineffable feelings and realizations that language fails miserably to capture. The beginning of a ketamine trip always begins with the thought, I think I'm getting to the bottom of what all this is about. Then layer upon layer of 'me' is stripped away, until I'm left with nothing but pure consciousness, pure 'suchness'. Then the journeylike parts begin. Highly recommended, and very safe for occasional use.

All and none of them.

Its only another state of mind.

I've always found a little lsd with some ketamine, peppered with dmt, and hash throughout, will usually hit The Spot.

they point you in a kinda direction, but reliance on them is distracting from the goal.

I agree all and none. Since no one mentioned Salvia yet I mine as well. I had a nice experience on it a few years back and it often is a memory I come back to quite often. The only way I can tie 'other drugs' into the grand scheme of things is there ability to let you realize just how fragile life is and how destructive negative forces can be if you allow them to be.

Salvia experience

Peace,
Seedless

entheogens help, but you don't NEED them

it may just be a quicker route

I've been a monk for 5 years now and can testify that no drug is required for spirituality.
Drugs may only take you so far on the path, to be given up once they've shattered mundane perception... then it's up to you.

Be true to yourself.

But since you're asking, DMT, imo, summons the most profound and, dare I say, helpful realisations. Anything else is childs play.
I only suggest this since you're going to take something anyway, otherwise I'd advise yoga & mantra meditation. =)

Here's a nice story:
You're climbing a mountain but can't see the top, the goal. It's covered with clouds. You're struggling upwards. Then you ingest some psychedelics... The clouds part, the sun shines down and you can clearly see the goal!! But unfortunately at the same time you're sliding back down the mountain.

And another:
A monk was given LSD as an experiment. The monk had this to say: 'It gives you a window view of the mountain.. but now you have to climb it.

Peace.

EDIT:
Ah, fuck it.

heroin or fent patches most likely

^ Surely you jest. I don't dig opiates, but the effect I've seen them have on other people is typically anything but spiritual growth.

Ayuasca

Mushrooms in a deep nature environment, with other people present on a nice day - given good mood and proper state of mind. Not essential, but noteworthy.

I don't think any drug is essential for spiritual development.

I'm not a spiritual person, but I'd think that most drugs actually hinder spiritual development.

It all depends on how you use your drugs or how you view them.
I find that opiate addiction can suck away someone's soul slowly but surely.
This of course presupposes that they have a soul.
Once they realize that they have a soul and that they are losing it in a pathetic fashion, that should set them up for spiritual development.

This might be silly on my part, but in my opinion it would be equally as silly to think that simply ingesting a drug would lead to any sort of development.
It's not just the drug: it's the drug, the environment, and how the person reacts to the drug and its after effects.

Essential.. hardly..

But i can definitely admit to certain substance's opening up windows and pathways for spiritual development depending on what the individual is already seeking in life. I was already seeking a higher truth, enlightenment and complete understanding of self when i had my first breakthrough experience on DMT, which collapsed the duality of nature we experience into one. This lead me towards kundalini meditation and a completley different way of viewing myself and situations.

I was looking for this before ingesting the drug, it just had to be shown to me in such an intense and overpowering manner in order for me to fully accept it and realize it. And it still took me many many months to integrate that experience.. I know alot of people who smoke DMT who are far from spiritual.. it depends on what your already seeking out, which the drug can aid with.

CoffeeDrinker said:

It's not just the drug: it's the drug, the environment, and how the person reacts to the drug and its after effects.

Click to expand...

malakaix said:

it depends on what your already seeking out, which the drug can aid with.

Click to expand...

You guys make a good point. Drugs are just tools, after all. What any tool 'does' is simply a function of what the wielder aims to accomplish, along with how skillful he is at wielding that tool, and how good a choice that tool is for the job.

Also depends if someone is prepared to get shot into hyperspace or not. I don't think DMT would be an enjoyable high if you have never even tried THC before, your body might go into shock or worse...

At least some practiced monks endorse biochemical spiritual paths. Here's an interesting excerpt from an article about a sannyasin Hindu monk smoking DMT. All his years of sober meditation didn't get him anywhere near where DMT took him, and the dogma he absorbed as a monk actually seemed to get in the way of accepting the experience.
http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/dmt/dmt_journal5.shtml

Drugs are tools that can expedite many projects in life to radical degrees, spiritual or not, so long as their use is focused and the experiences and integration is handled judiciously. Just don't use a jackhammer to do your your interior decorating. I also think they may make possible extremely insightful and novel experiences that cannot be had any other way simply because achieving such states sober is physiologically near-impossible.

I don't know about spiritually, but salvia has been the most philosophically prolific drug I've ever used (and I've used a lot).