(WATIVY) Ancient humans got high on purpose: Scientific evidence is everywhere across continents and has been for a long time. They just didn't want to talk about it.
The Chemical Muse uncovers decades of intentional academic misdirection and obfuscation (cover up) to reveal the long history of the widespread drug use in ancient Greece and Rome.
In the city-states that gave birth to Western civilization, drugs were an everyday element of a free society. Often, they were not just available, but vitally necessary for use in spiritual and religious ceremonies, medicine and healing, and war and violence campaigns.
Their proponents and casual users existed in all socioeconomic classes, from the common foot soldier to the emperor.
Citing examples in sacred myths, medicine, and literature, Dr. Hillman shows how drugs (psychedelic gateways to potential creativity or breakdowns) have influenced and inspired artists, philosophers, and politicians whose ideas have formed the basis for civilization as we know it.
Many of these ancient texts may seem well-known, but Dr. Hillman shows how timid, prudish translations have left biblical scholars and readers of the classics in the dark about the reality of drug use in the Classical world.
Dr. Hillman's argument is not simply "pro-drug." Instead, he appeals for an intellectual honesty that acknowledges the use of drugs in ancient societies despite today's conflicting social mores about them.
In our modern world, where academia and university life often get politically charged, The Chemical Muse offers a unique and long overdue perspective on the contentious topic of drug use and freedom of thought. More
The wandering ascetic (shramana) Siddhartha awakened in Bodh Gaya ("Enlightenment Grove"), Bihar (Vihar), but at that time there was no "India." That came into being when many disparate kingdoms and republics were untied under Buddhist Emperor Ashoka. Prior to the many mahajanapadas or "familial territories" (lit. "greater territorial clan footholds").
Soon after awakening (mahabodhi or "great enlightenment"), the Buddha (the "Awakened One") returned to his hometown in Central Asia, Kapilavastu (quite likely Bamiyan, according to Indian historian Dr. Ranajit Pal) and gained many Scythian/Shakyian/Saka followers, many who took up a life of wandering asceticism and followed him back to Bihar (Vihar'), so named because there were at one time so many viharas (Buddhist temples, monasteries and nunneries, and chaityas) across the land.
Technically speaking, "Buddhism" was born in Rajgir, India, where the great former-Brahmin Buddhist monk Maha Kassapa called together the First Buddhist Council to standardize and create a formal "religion" or "Eastern philosophy"
The only three connections of cannabis (ganja, marijuana, herb, flower, pot, weed) to Buddhism that we are aware of are indirect and not very connected to enlightenment, but some users of this plant treat them as if they are connected.
The first is possible but unlikely. Potheads are convinced -- either through wishful thinking, speculation, or some handed down mythology that got stretched to enhance cannabis' glorious reputation -- that when the wandering ascetic Siddhartha (the Bodhisatta or Future Buddha) was engaged in severe asceticism, he took less and less food until he was down to just one cannabis seed a day. This would have been a healthy choice because hemp is so incredibly nutritious, though not likely psychoactive.
Hempseeds are extraordinary because they are one of a very few plant sources of balanced Omega 3, 6, and 9 fatty acids plus a great source of protein.
To emphasize how dedicated struggling Siddhartha was to attaining Buddhahood, his austerities (tapas), penances, and asceticism are spoken of in the extreme to make a point. He ate a bowlful of grain (most often said to have been rice or sesame maybe mustard seed). Then regarding that as too indulgent, he took only a handful...until he took only a single grain a day. That didn't work to gain him calm, insight, or enlightenment, and he gave all of these practices up for the Middle Way that avoids extremes of hedonism and asceticism. He realized that jhana practice was the way to awakening/liberation, serving as the foundation of insight (vipassana, lit. "clear seeing").
The second is a curious omission in the Monastic Disciplinary Code (Vinaya and Pāṭimokkha and Pratimokṣa), such as one freely available translation by American Theravada monk Ven. Thanissaro Bhikkhu (abbot of Metta Forest Monastery, San Diego), which states and explains (with a backstory) all the rules Buddhist monks and nuns vow to live by.
There are major rules, lesser rules (which might be described as "minor"), and many more miscellaneous rules of etiquette. Which is which is not completely obvious.
When Ananda was told by the Buddha that after his passing into final nirvana, the monastic order (sangha), could democratically vote to alter or abandon the "minor rules" but not the others. Ananda did not have the presence of mind to clarify by asking which were which, so the historically-based Theravada tradition chose to keep them all. But Buddhist Councils debate, argue, and attempt to define or redefine them, even on occasion voting to modify or better explain them. For instance, maybe in the past monastics walked or were driven, but today a rule might be relaxed to allow them to drive.
Among arguably "minor" rules is a rule that monastics can smoke [such as tobacco], but what exactly they would have been smoking in those days is not thoroughly specified. They can smoke something. So a monk or nun might smoke hemp leaf, THC-containing weed, or herbs and flowers and grass and think that no violation (of the rules they live by as laid down by the historical Buddha) is taking place.
(It may well be that cannabis was not very powerful back then so that it made little difference). Smoking weed would be taking a risk because one of the biggest rules incumbent on all Buddhists is the Fifth Precept to "abstain from intoxicants that occasion heedlessness," namely beer and liquor.
The way the rules are classified is by way of seriousness and their consequences. As regards the most serious, there are FOUR "defeat offenses" (parajikas). This is a little odd because these four are the Five Precepts with one exception. The only one left out is the fifth, consuming intoxicants, getting high, taking a substance that occasions heedlessness (which mean breaking other rules through neglect, indifference, lack of mindfulness, or the ignorance that comes from being high a.k.a. tripping balls). Isn't it odd that getting intoxicated does not rise to a "defeat" offense but all the others do? Because of intoxication, one is likely to commit any of the other offenses, including the defeat offenses of sex, stealing, killing, or lying [about attainments] that immediately and irrevocably lead one to lose one's ordination as a monk or nun for this lifetime.
Texts describe the preparation of soma by means of extracting juice from a plant, the identity of which is now unknown and debated among scholars. The ancient Historical Vedic religion's soma and Zoroastrianism's haoma (Avestan, name of the drink and plant) are not exactly the same [7].
There has been much speculation about the most likely original botanical.
Some accounts, such as those from practitioners of yogic Ayurveda, Siddha medicine, and Somayajna, identify the plant as "Somalata" (Cynanchum acidum) [8].
Some researchers have proposed candidates including:
[Into this or as a later substitute, it is believed cannabis was steeped in mare's milk kumis, perhaps a "poor man's soma."]
So legendary is soma in the West that The Doors of Perception author Aldous Huxley used it as a central ingredient in his novel Brave New World, suggesting that the word refers to a psychoactive, entheogenic, psychedelic substance similar to mescaline, derived from cacti like peyote and San Pedro. But these might only be substitutes for the real thing because the character Linda tries mescal (the psychedelic protoalkaloid mescaline) and peyotl (peyote) and longs to get back to the World State and real soma.
The society described in Brave New World keeps its citizens peaceful by various methods, including the constant consumption of the soothing, happiness-producing drug "soma."
Zoroastrians use a soma to this day, identified as the plantephedra, whose effects mirror the descriptions found in the Rig Veda [a pre-Hindu Brahminical text of great importance to Hindus].
The old Vedic religion was the belief system of some of the Vedic Indo-Aryan tribes, the Aryas (Aryans) [14][15], who migrated into the Indus River Valley region of the Indian subcontinent [16].
[To be clear, the word Aryan, "noble," came to designate "enlightened" in Buddhist usage rather than being any kind of reference to race, ethnicity, or "Iranian" usage from which it originally derived.]
The Indo-Aryans were speakers of a branch of the Indo-European language family, which originated in the Sintashta culture and further developed into the Andronovo culture, which in turn developed out of the Kurgan culture of the Central Asian steppes [17].
The Vedic beliefs and practices of the pre-classical era were closely related to the hypothesized Proto-Indo-European religion [18, Note 1] and show relations with rituals from the Andronovo culture, from which the Indo-Aryan people descended [14].
Sakka in Christianity: St. Michael
According to Anthony, the Old Indic religion probably emerged among Indo-European immigrants in the contact zone between the Zeravshan River (present-day Uzbekistan) and (present-day) Iran [19].
It was "a syncretic mixture of old Central Asian and new Indo-European elements" [19], which borrowed "distinctive religious beliefs and practices" [11] from the Bactria–Margiana culture (BMAC) [11].
This syncretic influence is supported by at least 383 non-Indo-European words that were borrowed from this culture, including the god Indra [Sakka] and the ritual drink Soma [12]. According to Anthony:
"Many of the qualities of Indo-Iranian god of might and victory Verethraghna were transferred to the adopted god Indra [Sakka of the Sakas], who became the central deity of the developing Old Indic culture.
Indra was the subject of 250 hymns, a quarter of the Rig Veda. He was associated more than any other deity with Soma, a stimulant drug (perhaps derived from ephedra) probably borrowed from the BMAC religion. His rise to prominence was a peculiar trait of the Old Indic speakers [20]." More: Soma (drink)
Strain Hunters; Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson, Amber Larson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit
Ultimate wisdom from 131-year-old Yogi Raidas Baba
(The Himalyan Yogini) Aug. 18, 2024: यह एक आध्यात्मिक चैनल है। साधु - संतो की सेवा हेतु आपसे सहयोग राशि अपेक्षित है। अगर आपको वीडियोज पसन्द आ रहे है तो वीडियोज को ज्यादा से ज्याद Share करे, like 👍 करे और, comment अवश्य करे lUPI ID: himalyanyogini@oksbi. Queries will be replied [to] on donation basis only. You can do superthanks or upi.
How to sit for hours in meditation
Is there a way to stand up? - Do yoga.
Posture of Meditation (Johnson)
(Guru Pashupati) Jan. 24, 2024. [(WQ) Here is excellent advice on proper posture. Sitting flat is not the solution. The wandering ascetic Siddhartha Gautama would go to the foot of a tree, make a seat for himself out of kusa grass covered in cloth or leaves and sit in delight for long stretches in peace. Did he do yoga poses? He might have. He certainly walked up and down mindfully for circulation and exercise, walking for alms in the morning, going into seclusion in a pleasant forest grove. Posture is vital for ease of breathing and movement of chi (prana) along the meridians. And lymph needs to move, which is by movement. Here Guru Pashupati is merely pointing out the proper angle, which is not a stiff 90 degrees but a relaxed and elevated position such that the knees are lower than the waistline. The mind has more to do with it (because when the mind is alright, the body is at ease and natural) but the body can help or hinder. Mind-body in harmony is the way to progress.]
Samadhi with Paramahansa Yogananda?
He was very short so always positioned to compensate for that in photos
Commentary: What shall we eat and when?
Ultimate Yogini Jen Love H.
(WQ) India has amazing beings, even today in this Decadent Age (Kali Yuga). There are breatharians, fruitarians, yogis living in the Himalayan foothills in caves surrounded by snow. How is it possible? Breath control is one secret, which is achieved by concentration (samadhi) and breathwork (pranayama).
An important way to begin is purification. Fresh local seasonal fruit in the morning is very purifying (cleansing) for the body because the enzymes are intact and appropriate for the weather. Unfortunately, in the US we have access to everything all the time, and it is neither seasonal, local, nor in its original state because it is kept in suspended animation through refrigeration in the unripe state, ripened artificially with gas and few nutrients that would have been present in naturally ripened pieces.
The people of an area benefit from fruit from that area more than exotic fruit. But due to the altered sugar content of most commercial fruit, we are getting Frankenfruit instead of the work of Mother Nature. If breatharianism is real, fruitarianism (eating only fruit, which may be defined as anything that grows from a plant the eating of which does not kill the plant, so bean, pulses, legumes, and the like may be included).
How would it be possible to live on breath alone? It is not oxygen that is meant by "breath" but rather prana supplemented by sunlight, which through yogic exercises is converted to amrita from under the tongue. These may be practiced with risk under an experienced teacher. To do it otherwise will only wrap us in our assumptions and limited knowledge, dooming us to failure.
It is important to emphasize that the Buddha taught that it is not possible to become enlightened by diet alone. If it were, those who restrict themselves to this or that would be there. And they are not. However, diet is crucial. On one occasion a group of Buddhist wandering ascetics living a distance from the Buddha could not make progress in their meditation. They came to ask the Buddha about it, who recommended they eat from a variety of the eight flavors of food.
This was an ancient system to ensure a variety to get all their nutrients: hard and soft, salty and sweet, astringent and umami, spicy and mild might be those eight. The point is that by being offered a variety of greens and things, they got those nutrients and made quick progress. The idea that one could advance by strict fasting or only eating sesame or hemp, this rice or that, a single plant, leaf, or root, this was a mistake to avoid.
As for eating meat, that is a whole discussion in itself because asking for it or commending is approving of killing, and this cannot be in line with the Buddha's guidance. Wandering ascetics do not directly choose what is offered; that is the privilege of the donors. But tacitly, of course, by welcoming somethings and being less than enthusiastic about others, they make their likes and dislikes known. This seems like a form of asking, which is disallowed.
For sitters of all traditions (Will Johnson)
The point is not to be an imposition. The larger point is to eat like travelers across a desert -- not to beautify, enjoy, savor, play, or treat it as a trifle. Food is medicine. Another amazing thing about the Buddha's guidance for wandering ascetics in his Dhamma-Vinaya (Doctrine and Discipline) is intermittent fasting.
Monastics are not ordered to go without food. They can eat every day and should to maintain their health and vitality. But these meals are spaced in such a way that they are limited to eating only between dawn and noon. The whole rest of the time is for proper digestion and cleansing in accordance with the body's cycles. The body needs to intake (eat in moderation), assimilate (digest), and eliminate (cleanse). When these are in balance, health is excellent, and the mind/heart is restrained and not allowed to become a hindrance.
One can, therefore, see why as householders we have so many problems with food: overeating, craving and eating the "wrong" (processed, ultra-processed, sugary, salty, spicy, depleted, fried, stale, burned, out-of-season, fatty, empty) foods, eating at all times, eating in excess, engaging in extreme diets, failing to fast (which allows the body to shut down the digestive system to clean it out), and not taking enough water, vitamins, and perhaps most importantly the micronutrients (72-92 trace minerals) needed for vibrant health.
(Rajada's World) "Soma: The Psychedelic Origins of Religious Experience"
Altered states of consciousness? The first ever monthly Universal Quest Salon (universalquest) was held on Sunday, August 23, 2015, in Conference Room 2 inside the India International Centre IIC). Founder, filmmaker, and inner-explorer (psychonaut) Raja Choudhury gave a talk and presentation followed by an open Socratic discussion in the company of Dr. Singh and friends, exploring how India's religions (and most religions of the world) have their origins in the psychedelic (entheogenic and sometimes hallucinogenic) experiences of shamans (priestesses and priests), seers, and mystics and how Soma became a sacred and integral part of Indian religious life even after its hallucinogenic use was abandoned with the evolution of advanced forms of Yoga and other inner-techniques.
Confusion and Denial: Historical Attempts to Identify the Soma Plant, Part 1
We can trade these worldwide
(On Paradise Earth) The exclusive use of poetic and metaphorical language to describe the soma-plant [the secret ingredient in the drink known as amrita or Greek ambrosia] in Vedic hymns is one of various explanations for the failure of modern linguists to ascertain the botanical identity of India's famous "plant of the gods [devas]."
Yet, related uses of symbolic and iconographic imagery in mythical literature during classical time periods provide additional evidence on which to base our general impressions of the plant itself, its habitat preferences, and the manners in which the plant was employed during libation ceremonies.
Isn't it strange that what we call "LSD" or "acid" is actually a mushroom (ergot fungus)? Now science distinguishes plants and fungi, but people do not. From ancient times, mushrooms were just very strange plants popping up. So might an ingredient have been contaminated rye or barley?
Harvard doctor (Wm. Hurt) becomes obsessed with Altered States
Scholarly efforts have yet to settle on an agreeable determination of the soma-plant's identity.
But many conjectures and hypotheses on the issue have been proposed over the last two centuries, with many specialists favoring the plant's identification as an Ephedra species from the arid steppes of Central Asia.
Nevertheless, from a strictly botanical perspective, most if not all previous proposals on soma's identity are questionable at best.
This video explores some of the latest hypotheses and considers their unlikely relevance to soma's enigmatic nature and identity.
[It surely had to include a strain or variety of cannabis, perhaps referring to more than one brew (elixir), the way ayahuasca is composed of different sets of ingredients that have the same effect so are all simply called ayahuasca, yage, caapi, or natema.]
On Paradise Earth, April 13, 2023; Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
Duncan Trussell deleted himself from existence on 5-MeO-DMT: Tales from the Trip
Peter Griffin says, Don't do Toad. (Family Guy)
(Animated) WEST HOLLYWOOD, California - Duncan Trussell had his mind annihilated, dry-erased, extirpated, voided when he smoked too much 5-MeO-DMT (aka "The Void" or Sonoran toad venom).
ABOUT Tales from the Trip: Don’t have the time, the money, or the connections to take drugs with famous comedians? Tales from the Trip is here to help. Go on an animated psychedelic journey with funny people as they recount their scary, hilarious, and sometimes dangerous experiences with DMT, acid, shrooms, Salvia divinorum, Molly (MDMA, Ecstasy), and more.
There is no ego, so is Toad mental medicine?
It's always fun to answer this easy question about drugs, whether they are natural entheogens or industrial waste synthetic chemicals. The answer is easy. Look at people who have taken these drugs. Do they look and behave like enlightened individuals, rational, sensitive, and aware of their surroundings? Or are they space cadets with ticks, quirks, and loopy tales from beyond?
If, for example, LSD were the answer, hippies would be well-adjusted spiritual leaders, and "Jim" from TAXI would be his bright Harvard self with depth and clarity.
Let's front. These are our stage egos.
"Man, I hallucinated I was Fat Happy Budda, like all rotund and bald, and like giving out candy to kids from my sack. It was supremo. Totally recommend it." Is this the person to take advice from?
What the heck was that? Were we dreaming?
Another person, gardening in the Plant Pharmacy, cobbles together experiences and joins them with reflection and insight, realizes anything might advance one toward awakening, not because of the experience so much as the response to experiences.
Anything might ignite an expansion, an opening of the heart or mind. What happens happens because of the state of mind. Set and setting are vital, mental state and environment. Ready for a near-death experience? Toad is like an NDE. Ready to meet GOD (Brahman)? Imagine a meditation experience before we're ready for it, before we're settled, steady, calm, and tranquil.
Psychedelic Experience (Leary)
Advice? Proceed with caution. Have a shaman at the ready. This is not a game and nothing to play with. The stoned ape did not enjoy its rude awakening. Looking back, it was good that it happened, but to do it again, take precautions or do not call it "journey." It's just reckless recreational psychonauting punishable by death (or near-death). Follow with integration or expect to sound half-baked for years.
#TalesFromTheTrip #DuncanTrussell
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Credits:
Live Action, Video Directors: Greg Washburn/Nik Kazoura. Animation Director: Grant Lindahl. Editor: Nik Kazoura. Lead Animator: Ben Luce. Lead Animator: Jasmine Soompholphakdy.
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Fooladi Fitness (YouTube, April, July, 2023); TEAM YOGA, Wisdom Quarterly
Esoteric Secrets of Semen Retention🪬
(Fooladi Fitness) The practice of semen retention (SR) goes far beyond the general surface level self-improvement stuff we see online.
Celibacy (brahmacharya) is a limb of Raja Yoga.
This sacred art of inner alchemy has been widely talked about in many great ancient texts by mystics [talking about the Spirit Molecule DMT or amrita, ambrosia, soma and haoma, lifeforce energy called prana, which moves as idaandpingala of kundalini, anointment or the Kristos (the "Anointed One") Gnostic version] and philosophers of the past through art and allegorical symbolism.
As we begin to decode the deeper esoteric secrets of this practice, we come to realize how truly profound this sacred secretion is when it comes to uncovering the more metaphysical secrets of this reality while on the road to self-mastery...
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