I wouldn't say that Buddhism and especially Hinduism (which means "the beliefs of India" literally and whose scriptures such as the Mahabhrata and Bhaghavad-Gita are about 5000 years old or so) literally "sprouted out of psilocybin mushroom cults," but based on what I learned in Inroduction to Non-Western Religions in college, our professor did say that SOMA's chemical identity was according to current academic religious conventional wisdom *probably* psilocybin-containing mushrooms. However, there is admittedly no way to prove or know this assertation for sure; it is simply the conventionally held belief among relgious academicians based on an educated guess.
My professor also taught us that Buddha actually died from eating poisonous mushrooms by mistake, although what kind of reference I could give to buttress this assertion I don't know. He was said, however, not to be angry with the person who gave him the bad shrooms but rather accepted his death peacefully.
But, back to the original topic of this thread, my assertion or thesis statement is that, yes, the psychedelic experience can indeed in certain individuals lead to eternal, spiritual (transcendental) insights or truths regarding the nature of God, life, man, and the universe, and furthermore, that these revelations or kernels of truth often resemble the teachings of the far eastern belief systems of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Taoism. After all, absolute truth is absolute, no matter how it is derived or from what source.
I will give two real-life examples to back up my thesis, both involving two individuals other than me under the influence of two different psychedelic drugs who had profound spiritual experiences that mirror teachings of the far east AND who did not and may still not know to my knowlegde of this similarity between their experiences and eastern teachings.
The first example involves an old friend of mine who smoked DMT and was engulfed in a loud, powerful, guttural OM sound, which he said was the sound produced by the birthing of new souls, which he was doing. He did not know until I told him that OM is the primordial sound of creation according to eastern teachings. I do not consider these two events to be a coincidence, but if you do as you are welcome to, remember that the probability of this particular combination of these two letters, O and M, in one syllable and occuring in two different incidences in a row is 26 times 26, or one in six hundred and seventy-six which can also be expressed as a 0.00147929 probability.
The second example I shall give comes from Ann Shulgin's "Spiritual Crisis" chapter from PiHKAL, which she wrote after ingesting 30 to 40 mg of
3,5-dimethoxy-4-methylphenethylamine hcl, a mescaline analogue. She gradually, over a period or days and then weeks, began to get higher and higher until she came into contact with a sentient, seemingly uncaring being of infinite intelligence and knowledge who simply was and simply observed and recorded everything that happened without caring about it emotionally or passing judgement. That is, Event A either occurs or does not occur, that is all, and is then analyzed and recorded for posterity. This being's indifference actually angered Ann, but little did she know--and for all I know, still doesn't know--that what she was coming into contact with bares an uncanny resemblance with what the Hindus call the Atman, or Impersonal Absolute, who watches and records everything that happens, has happened, or ever will happen and records the occurrence in the Akashic records and which I also first learned of in university before having read PiHKAL.
Miracles can and do happen, and I should know, because I've experienced several, some of which actually, believe it or not, saved my life, but they are easy to overlook and impossible to prove by human means or standards. Luckily, miracles are self-evident when they occur and, furthermore, need no proof of their existence. Like erowid says, "you cannot deny the experience of another."
I agree with Student's assertion that the means by which one struggles to achieve union (or, literally, "yoga") with the Divine (or God the Unnamable, Jehovah, Allah, etc.) are less important than the actual attainment of enlightenment, which seems to me to be an infinitely long process. Although popular culture would have us believe that going to the local gym for a fee and dancing with a group along with recorded music is what yoga is, in reality this form of aerobics yoga is or (can be) merely one form of yoga or union with the divine. There are many paths to go from Point A to Point B.
Other forms of yoga include knowledge yoga, love or devotion yoga, and karmic (or action based) yoga, and yes, for some, psychedelic or stimulant drug yoga. A combination approach can also be used, and since people have differing innate skills, proclivities, and abilities, different people will get different results from a given attempt to achieve enlightenment. For example, every time I have or had taked LSD, I experience extreme realizations of usually unsettiling truths about myself, reality, and God that I have always subconconsciously known but have somehow managed to repress. This process can be quite rewarding in the long run.
Dancing all night to bass filled, pulsating house music while under the influence of MDMA has also been a source of spiritual fulfillment for me, although admittedly of a different, more pleasurable nature, and stimulants such as methamphetamine especially can facilitate prayer, fasting, and meditation and as such are also in my opinion useful adjuncts in the quest to become closer to God, that is, more nearly enlightened. Remember, Hinduism teaches us that pleasure in and of itself is not inherently bad, just lowly (that is, there are higher aims to be had, but only after one has sated the lower desires).
I have had numerous supernatural experiences while under the influence of LSD, IV cocaine, and methamphetamine. I know that some people, such as Rhodium, have taken tons of 5-HT2a agonists and never had a spiritual experience, but this fact does not preclude its occurance elsewhere. I think you have to have absolute faith in something first before God reveals much to you, perhaps. At any rate, there is no cure for skepticism.
Because society and the people who compose it have such a low tolerance for too much truth at one time is why, I believe, compounds such as LSD have to be controlled in society's eyes. There is, I know, a whole universe out there which we cannot legally now explore but which will, eventually, I believe lead to a new Golden Age when it does become more widely practiced, a place where God and man are closer together and infinite bliss, knowledge, and life is there for the having.
Hinduism teaches that essential every human being wants three things: infinite being, infinite joy, and infinite knowledge, and furthermore, since that is what we want, then that is what we will eventually get. I believe that certain drugs can and will help us achieve these goals.
Related Quotes:
"Some people lose their faith because Heaven shows them too little. How many people lose their faith because Heaven shows them too much?"--Xorcist.
"Let the mind use the physical as planned."--the Wu-Tang Clan.
"The Tao follows only itself."--Lao Tzu.
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