By Christopher M. Bache Ph.D.
Review by John Cowan
The summary statement from Amazon reviews:
“A professor of religious studies meticulously documents his insights from 73 high-dose LSD sessions conducted over the course of 20 years.” May I add that some doses were extreme. More were lighter. He intended to not fry his brain.
I found the book exciting, interesting, instructive, and an accurate description of a reality known only to a few.
His was not just a recreational dosage. Almost all of his LSD trips began with violent feelings of sickness. He vomited a lot. On the other hand, when after twenty years he finally ceased the discipline, he badly missed his contacts with the divine friend, lover, source. Love and joy had penetrated his soul in the events and then colored his daily life.
Does he write the truth? I am confident that he writes his truth. He does not lie.
On the one hand, much of what he experiences in his regimen is dogma in some religions, mostly eastern. Much is supported by other philosophers, psychologists, and mind-scientists. His studies and his teaching is in related fields.
On the other hand, while off in an induced dimension of mind, perhaps he simply experienced what all these people told him was there, because they told him it was there. As I learned from the book, there is a growing body of research that supports his endeavors. I also learned his methodology is to find a room in his home, be accompanied only by his psychologist wife, self-medicate, self-report. Not the stuff from which scientific confidence is generated.
I feel I learned somethings for the first time. Some were repeated but every time helps. I am not certain. But knowledge of this type is always partially a matter of hope.
Random examples of a little of what I learned, or relearned, or think a possibility worth holding in mind:
There is a universal mind, one mind and we are flakes of that mind. (Very common belief in eastern religion.)
My death will be a drop sinking back into the ocean. A joyful and relaxing ending to the struggles of psudo-individuality. (Again common to many, But remember this is not his thinking but his awareness!)
- There is a universal love seeking to break out in my heart and all hearts.
- If I am to be a growing boy, sometimes I will be in a bad state and that is necessary for the good that comes next.
What comes to us from without originates from within. (This is not a small statement, but a big deal, if true.)
- The essence, the “I,” learns only so much within the limits of one incarnation. So that which it has learned not be lost, the “I” reincarnates with trace knowledge of its past. (Not my belief, but too valuable a thought to trash. Interesting possibility.)
- My friend who always raises a fuss when others attack drug use because of the drug based awakening that started him is correct. It can be the starter. (But not for me, I’m chicken. I appreciate the peek under the curtain.)