When the ‘08 presidential election was happening, I read a lot of news, I became a sort of Obamaholic, wanting to read anything about the inspiring man and his plans. A month after the election is over, I’m in retreat, not thinking about Obama or politics at all and a few times I’ve woken up in the morning having dreamed about him and petty political scenarios.  Something is going on here, obviously all the news reading had some sort of lasting effect on my mind, otherwise I wouldn’t be processing it in my sleep.

Powerful movies and video games also seem to have this hang-over affect on the mind. Sometimes after watching a movie, I’ll go to bed and the whole dream world will be filled with the theme of that movie. The same occurs when I work many hours on the computer just before going to bed. My dreams are often a strange version of the computer world.

All of these examples are to illustrate that all of our actions in fact have an effect down the road. These are strong examples, but it can also be quite subtle as well.

Even everything we think matters. When I first heard this taught in a Buddhist course, I’m not sure I believed it, but I was shocked at the idea of it. Now, years latter, after having pondered it, I believe it to be true.

Extreme examples always popup, so lets address one. If the thought of killing someone arises, does that matter? Should I be afraid of my thoughts? No, not really. I think the main point is that thinking in certain ways for prolonged periods of time can actually change our way of being. The more emotionally charged these thoughts, and the longer periods of time, the stronger the effect.

An example, I do a lot of work for non-profit groups. In the beginning of projects I often think, ‘how wonderful I am helping out this great group’ but there is also another thought, ‘oh and I’m making an income as well.’ The project begins with joy, but as my mind dwells again and again on the money I’m making, near the end of the project I sometimes think, ‘I’ve worked so hard on this, and got paid so little.’ What happened was that over time, I unconsciously cultivated the selfish thought about money over and over again, subtly. In the end my altruistic attitude changed to a selfish one solely due to this seemingly innocent thought.

What are we in the moment other than a culmination of everything we’ve ever done and thought.

The more we do or think something, the more we are creating the momentum for that to happen again in the future. It is subtle, but over time it is surely true. I think we can all accept this as true, the more I am an angry person, in time, I just become more and more like that. This is true for all states of mind. The momentum does not stop on its own, it is a never ending cycle that fuels itself. When things get too hot, or a catastrophe occurs, only then do we change our ways.

Do we start with a fresh slate when were born and does all of this end when we die? The Buddhist would say no; there is some continuity of mind between each lifetime we live. Does that mean we have a soul, that ‘I’ am going to come back? Not really, the teachings say that it is just the moment to moment stream of consciousness that continues, and in that contains all our habitual tendencies. (There is no enduring self that continues or fundamentally exists. But it is not a nothingness either, as there is this clarity of awareness always with us.)

It took me many years to come to terms with believing in reincarnation, and it was only through the scientific evidence by Prof. Ian Stevenson that I now lean towards it being true. He documented thousands of cases around the world of young children who remember past lives. Some of the most striking evidence involve children with birth marks that match the death wounds of the previous incarnation. In another article I’ll go into depth on this subject.

The above description of the continuity of mind between lives I can begin to understand and accept-if I’m a very desirous person in this life, then I shall be as well in the next, or at least choose parents that have that trait which then reinforce it in me over time.

What I have had a difficult time accepting is the Buddhist idea of karma where something that happens to me in this lifetime is the result of something I did many lifetimes ago. Notwithstanding the potential social misunderstandings of this teaching, (i.e. being poor or sick is one’s own fault because of something one did in a past life) I still could not understand exactly where those actions are stored. None of the descriptions made any sense to me. The teachings say they are kept in the store-house consciousness, the eight consciousness, well where exactly is that?

Only after having my world view shaken by a number of ayahuasca ceremonies in Peru did I begin to get a glimpse of what it might all be about. The most profound experiences, and the most transformative are largely beyond words. But they led me to start to trust that everything is a divine unity. Time, which seems linear to us now is in fact not linear, rather it is merely an appearance, illusory.

These experiences, or glimpses into the nature of reality, are just that, glimpses. During these times, one is in an intense state of hyper-awareness, there can be an overwhelming amount of energy in the body and in the world. One has trouble staying focused on one thing as these overwhelming energies push us around like a ball on an open ocean. But in this experience, there can be vivid glimpses into the multi-dimensional nature of reality: that all things are made of vibrating energy, that all things are in fact a great perfection, that there is a spirit world filled with divine entities. There is more too, but much of what is experienced is forgotten, as it is just too much to bring back. The term Great Mystery is quite apt for this experience. (Granted, this only happens one in every ten ceremonies, it’s not always that intense.)

If time is just an appearance, not solid like we experience it, then the greatest problem in accepting past life karma is gone. There is no need for a place to store the karma if time is illusory. We do actions, and these actions have an result, a fruition. For us in the illusion of time it can seem like much later, but as things are a unity, it is much simpler. An action causes an effect which may seem like it is in the future, but when looked at as a unity, it is all just happening in the radical now.

This fundamentally different view of existence might also explain how fortune tellers can predict the future. But never 100% as we still have free choice in every moment.

Do we always have to experience the results of our actions? The teachings say that if we remain ignorant, then yes, but through practice these past seeds can be purified. I have also experienced powerful energetic purging in ayahuasca, which seems to be a similar thing. Many people have reported that after a powerful purge, they are free of something they did not even know they were holding on to.

Over the years having studies many Buddhist teachings, I have never believed any of them until I had the experience or evidence that it was true. That has made things hard, and progress slow for a while, but in the end, every single thing that I doubted has shown itself to be true to me. There are still a few more left that I continue to doubt-all in the esoteric tantric teachings-but I’m staying open.

So everything we do matters, whether moment to moment, day to day, after many years or even over lifetimes. This is the basic teaching of karma, and I encourage everyone to look and see if it is true.

A strange buddha mandala I discovered under a temple in Shikoku, Japan

When I was  young, I recall being reprimanded for taking apart my aunt’s toaster—I just wanted to understand how it worked. Now I find myself attempting to do the same thing with reality itself. How is it all put together, what is it’s nature, how does it work?

I’ve never been that interested in a philosophical approach because I think one could easily get lost in a spiral of thoughts. I’m more interested in an experiential approach supported by a healthy skepticism. Over the years, I’ve come to realize that this search in intertwined with a spiritual journey. And the more the journey continues I realize that the spiritual journey of self transformation is actually the most important thing. Nevertheless, I can’t help but wonder: what is it all about. 

In my search I have come across three powerful, distinct ways of understanding: meditation, science, and entheogens. (The term entheogen refers to mind altering substances used in spiritual ceremony. I hesitate to use the term psychedelic because of it’s connection with the drug culture of the 60s).

I learned meditation in the Buddhist tradition, and this practice has changed my life, softened me and helped me to understand my own mind. I see the buddhist teachings, mainly the mahamudra and dzogchen teachings as a pinnacle of understanding the nature of consciousness. I believe the great masters of the past and living ones today understand the nature of mind, and perhaps therefore reality, in a more complete and holistic way then any others on the planet. But they are not masters in other fields such as science, culture, politics, etc. (Ken Wilber will be the first to point that out). 

Entheogens have played an important part of my understanding of myself and reality as well. I still maintain a healthy skepticism that altered states of consciousness could be just hallucinations. However, I am struck with the remarkable similarities between the wisdom gained from entheogenic experiences and the sacred writings of the world’s major religions. When I see futher similarities between the entheogenic experience and the latest multi-dimensional string theories of modern physics, my doubt in my own experience as hallucination diminishes. There is also the ineffable feeling I have sometimes in an ayahausca ceremony that the experience is ‘more real than real’. 

I’d like to look at how these entheogenic experiences relate to religion and science. A common realization in an altered state of consciousness is that all is one, everything is light and energy. This can easily accepted by most religions as well as science.  In ayahuasca one might have a visceral experience that there are multiply dimensions of reality. Does this correlate with the latest versions of string theory that posit 10 or 11 dimensions of reality? Another common insight is that time is an illusion. Physicists have no problem seeing time as moving in both directions; as well this is a core understanding of mahayana buddhism.

In addition to physics and religion being largely in accord with the radical entheogenic experience, traditional cultures around the world have teachings which are also in agreement. For example, the wisdom of the Native American Indians, the south american shamans, the Australian aborigines all point towards a lucid, vibrant, world of magic, and energy, not just a solid world of objective matter. 

With such an overwhelming weight of evidence pointing towards a more fluid, illusory nature of reality. I start to ponder that maybe it is my dualistic, materialistic world view that might be in error. To question what one has believed in for one’s whole life is a difficult thing to do.

So what is the nature of reality? For me, understanding this is a work in progress, and will be until the day I die (and perhaps beyond). But for now, my working understanding is this: The foundation or substrate of reality is consciousness and from this unfolds information, energy and then matter. This view comes buddhist philosophy and practice, theories of William Tiller and others as well as my own personal experience.

Each retreat center and/or shaman would have their own page. Like a wiki, anyone can contribute to that page (as long as it stays civil) and at the bottom, people are welcome to post comments, have discussion, and even rate their experience (ie. value, authenticity, comfort, personal care, etc). These pages could be categorized by country, location, style, etc. And the site could include other types of authentic shamanic retreats such as san pedro, peyote, mushrooms, etc.

My feeling is that the good places, whether obscure or popular would be easier to find, and the duds would be easy to avoid. in time it might even make shamans a little more accountable, knowing there is a public place where people can air their experiences.

i don’t see this site replacing sites like ayahuasca.com with its excellent articles, or erowid with it’s valuable information, nor replacing tribe.net with its vibrant community. I see this new site as being a place where newcomers (as they will continue to increase) can find a safe place to experience shamanic openings, and experienced people to make new connections.

Anyone interested in helping plan this out and help run it? I can help build and manage it. But it needs a solid few people behind it for it to work. (I’ve also wanted to do this for eastern gurus, but never got around to it.)

Ayahuasca Retreats

If you are interested in participating in ayahuasca ceremonies in peru, here is a list of people that I can recommend:

• ayahuasca-wasi.com – Diego has beautiful ceremonies and workshops in the sacred valley
• ayahuascacircle.com - Antonio has excellent ceremonies in his beautiful center in the amazon
• chinchilejo-tours.com – If you’re going to Iquitos look Alan up, he can recommend trusted shamans there 

Some friends that are also working with the medicine that have websites; good people: shamanic-explorer.com, nixipae.com, spiritmedicine.net, I’ll expand on this list as time goes on to include more traditional ayahuasceros.

Ayahuasca related websites and forums

• forums.ayahuasca.com - very active ayahuasca forum
• ayahuasca.com - Lots of excellent articles here
• Ayahuasca.tribe.net

I plan to update this post in the future with more details.

Good articles on Ayahuasca

• The Walrus – Plants with Soul - How a mind-bending plant-based drug made its way from the Amazon jungle to the US Supreme Court

Other Resources

Ayahuasca Conference: I’ve not been, but this looks like a really good yearly conference in Iquitos:
soga-del-alma.org.

more to come…

When I saw the bizarre designs of the Nazca and Paracas inspired pieces, I was shocked with how they were perfect depictions of the ‘energy beings’ that one experiences on ayahuasca. The owner told me that they were not his designs, but they were copied from traditional Nazca pieces. My immediate idea was that these ancient people used the sacred plant medicine and from their visions, they created this incredible art. Things get even more interesting.

The Nazca are the same people that made the lines in the desert that can only be seen from the sky. They are also the people that elongated their skulls. All these seems to point to a relationship with aliens. There is also recent research by Rick Strassman and others that point to the similarities between the DMT experience (the ingredient in ayahuasca tea that produces the visions) and stories of alien encounters. 

Doing bit more research I found out that images of the cactus San Pedro (known as Wachuma in the Quechua language) are found in ceramics of these cultures, along with images of shamans. The active ingredient in San Pedro is mescaline, known to produce equally powerful visions sometimes similar to ayahuasca.

So my theory is that the Nazca people were taking San Pedro cactus, having profound visions that led them to their bizarre art and practices. With a little more evidence that theory could be accepted by academia, (and perhaps already is.) But I have an even more radical theory, that the Nazca people were actually in contact with alien-like beings – the ones depicted in their pottery – via the hallucinogenic cactus. And these aliens exist in other dimensions of reality beyond our familiar world of space and time, and they are as real (or as unreal) as ourselves.

(Note: This post was updated on Aug 24, 2009 to include the San Pedro Cactus.)