“The only way to rewire neural patterns is to interfere with the neurotransmitter sequence at the synapse, thus retracting the old imprint and allowing for a new imprinting.” Leary, Infopsychology pp. 45
I thought that it was about time that I share a few thoughts on the use of drugs, specifically hash in the context of hedonic engineering. Firstly by way of disclaimer, drugs are dangerous, I am not endorsing their indiscriminate use, or promoting drug abuse. That said, they can also be useful, pleasurable, and of great assistance in the pursuit of higher consciousness. In consciousness expansion drugs are a tool, and like any other tool they must be used carefully in order to gain their benefit.
Hashish as a tool is uniquely suited for the hedonistic paths of enlightenment for two reasons; one, it greatly enhances sensual experience, and two, it loosens associations and pathways in the mind. The enhancement of sensual experience is desirable on its own, and this is the experience that most stoners are chasing. Brighter colors, stronger flavors, vibrant sounds, these are the initial pleasures for the user of any form of cannabis. The first time hearing great music while stoned on hash may seem like a religious experience in itself. Imagine the same enhancement of sensory input applied to great sex, which is easily transformed into a peak experience. These experiences can help to rewire the brain into a greater capacity for experiencing pleasure. This is where the second effect of hashish really comes into play, hinted at by the Leary quote above. Hash interferes with old patterns of conditioning while enhancing the ability to have rewiring peak experiences. This is a synergetic effect. Enhanced pleasure can rewire the brain by its own virtue but by ingesting hash we have also weakened our old bad conditioning. This is an extremely powerful combination, and once again needs to be used carefully. When used consciously and with precautions about what new imprints we are creating, hashish can be a tool for liberation. When abused, like anything else, its results become harmful. Smoking anything can cause cancer. Cannabis specifically can lower immune function, cause amotivation, and damage the brain. Hassan I Sabbah proved a thousand years ago that it could be used for sinister mind control, and in fact the word assassin comes from a corruption of hashishin. Sabbah used the re-imprinting capabilities of the drug to impose his own reality on his followers but, like the Tantrics, it is possible to use it to re-program our minds to perceive the higher reality.
In Tantric practice, hashish and other preparations of cannabis were not seen as central to the rituals of worship, but considered a useful if not strictly necessary preliminary. The most famous ritual of Tantra, The Ritual of the Five M’s, does not include ganga or hashish in the formal text, but it was almost invariably used before hand, both to loosen up the practitioners, and to enhance the experience. I believe Francis King and others have remarked that for the orthodox Hindu, the rite itself may have been impossible without the preliminary use of drugs to loosen their conditioning. They used it, as the modern hedonic engineer should use it, as a chemical tool to heighten consciousness.
Other drugs may produce effects of heightened sensory perception, and the loosening of association but are less useful for the hedonic engineer for a variety of reasons. LSD in particular is a powerful re-programming drug, but is less pleasurable, and its repeated use causes disorganization in the brain. William S. Burroughs for one thought acid made people “less competent.” Magic mushrooms as well, make colors brighter and loosen the pathways of the mind, but cause dissociation and hallucination. The experiences of these drugs are intense and detract from the meditative serenity that we are trying to attain with hedonic spirituality. They offer more of an illusion of transcendence than a spiritual experience. Their effects are produced largely by the introduction of chaos into the brain’s processes. These experiences may have their uses in the spiritual path, but the comparatively gentle effects of hashish are far more easily harnessed for positive development.
Aleister Crowley once attempted to categorize the hash experience according to his conception of the process of mystical development in an essay called The Psychology of Hashish, and ended up just comparing the effects of the drug to various states of meditation he had experienced. I think this is one of the few times in his literary career in which he sort of missed the point, and the fact that he published it under an alias may reveal that he was not to happy with that particular piece. The real power of hashish in mystical development is its ability to slingshot the user into a perception of a higher reality. When used in ritualized and extended sexual experience it loosens the bonds and makes it easier to have transcendent sex. I would imagine that it would similarly have the power to enhance any ritualized mystical experience, but for rituals that are fundamentally of a sensual nature hashish can be the last key for projecting the mind upwards into mystical states.
Photo from Morgan200’s Flickr stream
Came back across this Timothy Leary piece while researching for a post on hashish. It’s a great mash-up of twentieth century technology and Leary’s philosophy. I have previously used this piece in my own Mind (Dis)Control video mashups, which are unfortunately not available on-line due to many intentional violations of copyright in the finished films. The film below, however gives a good indication of the uses to which Leary thought technology should be applied. It is intended to be a psychedelic experience in itself, no drugs required. As the man says, “you might find yourself going in and out of a hallucinatory state…just relax and enjoy it.”
I came across this little web gem after taking a peek at some spirit radio experiments via boingboing. The gentleman above, E.J. Gold has developed SPIRIT RADIO TECHNOLOGY (caps fully warranted), in to all sorts of woo-tastic products available from none other than YOYODYNE Industries. Buckaroo Bonzai fans take note: The crystal radio amulets are my favorite but the SUPER BEACON is full of win at the low price of $2,250.00, that’s right all seven features of the SUPER BEACON for just over two grand, plus $30.00 shipping. I’m sure the spiritual effects of the black tourmaline and quartz crystals are worth far more than the twenty dollars worth of Radio Shack parts. E.J. Gold is my new hero. In the entrepreneurial or client-cult model of New Religious Movements this guy wins. The best cult leaders are part con and part truth seeker, and able to convince themselves of the truthiness of their hokum. Gold seems to have the routine down pat. Enjoy.
Wearing oh so virginal white, it your Met-Art Nudes of the Week!
Reuniting.info is an on-line community and blog that have grown up around the writings of Marnia Robinson, one of my favorite writers on sacred sexuality. She has a new book out, seen above, which oddly enough is an updated version of her previous book, Peace Between the Sheets. I haven’t read the redux yet but Peace was fundamental in developing my own ideas on contemporary sacred sexuality. Marnia advocates for non-orgasm in relationships for both partners, which I think is really her greatest contribution to the evolution of sacred sex in the west. Most of the teachings on this subject have ignored the downside of multiple orgasm in women, focusing on orgasm retention for men. Interestingly Marnia and her husband Gary Wilson have done a lot of research on the neurochemical effects of ejaculatory orgasm in men and women and come down firmly on the side of complete avoidance of ejaculation. Their book has a wealth of techniques to control orgasm and also advice for having healthy relationships. The on-line community seems very active and provides a forum for members as well as loads of information on various branches of sacred sex like Taoism and Karezza. If you are looking for a supportive environment for developing your own budding mystical sex energies I recommend a stop by.
Framed by nature, here are your Met-Art Nudes of the Week!
I came across this video this morning via Rob Bryanton’s imagining the tenth dimension blog, and really felt it was worth reposting here. A funny and concise intro to the problems of perception limited by individuality. It’s essentially an advertisement for an online school of Kabbalah, which looks interesting, and seems to have a lot of free content. I take issue with one minor point of the video and the school itself, in that they deny Kabbalah is a form of mysticism, preferring to label it a “science.” It’s an inwardly focused practice, and distancing the teachings from an accurate, but maligned label doesn’t change that. The goal of Kabbalah is the same as yoga, mystical union, and hence “IS” mysticism. A scientific approach would be outwardly focused like, building a rocket to fly to God, or using a microscope to locate the soul, inappropriate to the task at hand. We can build a metaphysic that links both approaches along a spectrum rather than denying either, but disavowing the mystical aims of Kabbalah is a disservice to those that are seeking the higher reality.
Two particularly striking beauties for these Nudes of the Week! courtesy of Met-Art
