Nature (as in “the nature of,” “human nature,” etc.)
A belief is an opinion about the nature of reality based on a specific form of upbringing,
indoctrination, or reading of religious literature; it lacks direct experiential validation.
A successful scientific innovator who presents the species with a new technology for
changing human nature and human destiny is always in trouble with the politicians.
As objects become charged with symbolic meanings, they incorporate emotions, often of
a religious nature.
Because of the unique nature of the psychedelic state it is impossible to reach a real
understanding of its quality and dimensions unless one directly experiences it.
Discovery of one’s divine nature can lead to a way of being, on both an individual and a
collective scale, incomparably superior to what is ordinarily considered the norm.
Each molecule is a heavenly octopus with a million floating jeweled tentacles hungry to
merge. Driven by internal pressure, sexual in nature, towards union.
Every being is desirous for the fruits of action so long as it remains ignorant of its true
nature.
Experiential identification with inorganic matter is often accompanied by fascinating
insights of a philosophical, mythological, religious, and mystical nature.
Human experience is determined as much by the nature of the mind and the structure of
its senses as by external objects whose presence the mind reveals.
If we are ever to discover how we can best cooperate with the psyche, we have to allow it
to reveal its true nature to us.
In mental silence, we “look into our own Self-Nature,” we “hold fast to the Not-Thought
which lies in thought,” we “become that which essentially we have always been.”
It has a deep logic of its own and can be meaningfully related to a new model of the
universe and of human nature.
It is easier to change behavior if you understand the learned-game nature of behavior.
This sort of insight can be brought about by consciousness-expanding drugs.
It swings open the gates to vast new possibilities, providing us with information about the
nature of our lives that is quite revolutionary.
Knowledge of the true nature of existence is perceived as being ultimately more real and
relevant than all scientific theories or perceptions and concepts of our everyday life.
Liberation does not mean changing the world, but touching its true nature. (You can’t
liberate the world.)
LSD phenomena are extremely interesting material for a deeper understanding of the
mind, the nature of man and human society.
LSD stimulates an easy recall of events long buried in a patient’s subconscious and
striking insights into his own nature and the real world around him.
Man’s apparent destiny to seek an ever greater comprehension of the nature of reality
cannot be thwarted or suppressed.
Many LSD subjects reported unusual aesthetic experiences and insights into the nature of
the creative process; they frequently developed a new understanding of art.
My own belief is that these experiences really tell us something about the nature of the
universe, that they are valuable in themselves.
Mythology, the repository of a culture’s sacred history, reveals the relevance and
universal nature of the experience of death and rebirth.
One can conceive of this great total pattern as having a transcendent uniqueness over and
above the nature of its parts, that some might call its divinity.
Our academic community is predominantly consciousness-naive. Studies of human
nature and the human mind which omit non-ordinary states are clearly incomplete.
Our precious “self” is just an idea, useful and legitimate enough if seen for what it is, but
disastrous if identified with our real nature.
Recognition and exploration of these dimensions is indispensable for a deeper
understanding of human nature.
Since one’s true nature is already the Buddha nature, one does not have to do anything to
make it so.
The blinders are removed and the individual glimpses the nature of the process. This
revelation comes through a biochemical change in the body.
The Buddha nature is “within” oneself and is not to be sought outside (like going to
India).
The changes of consciousness have ontological relevance through offering valid insights
into the nature of human existence and the universe.
The choice of music has a strong structuring influence on the experience, even if we try
to adjust the music to the nature of the experience.
The content and nature of the experiences are authentic expressions of the psyche,
revealing its functioning on levels ordinarily not available for observation and study.
The early experimentation with LSD brought important new insights into the nature of
the creative process.
The effect on consciousness-expanding drugs will be to transform our concepts of human
nature, human potentialities, existence.
The mind is the key to life, for under illusion, it creates confusion and when clarified it
reveals the Buddha nature.
The motives for the hasheesh-indulgence were of the most exalted ideal nature, for of this
nature are all its ecstasies and its revelations.
The nature of creativity does not lie within the realm of natural science because science
deals only with regularities.
The nature of psychedelic therapy is such that the process itself automatically selects in
each session the material that is most emotionally relevant at the time.
The present spasm of control, power and murder is not human nature (though it may be
the nature of the ego).
The whole idea of purifying the mind is irrelevant and confusing because “our own
nature is fundamentally clear and pure”.
There is generally a dramatic redefinition of his or her concepts regarding the dimensions
of the human mind, the basic characteristics of consciousness and the nature of man.
To be awakened at all is to be awakened completely, for having no parts or divisions, the
Buddha nature is not realized bit by bit.
To believe that God is angry at sin and that His anger cannot be propitiated except by the
offer of a certain sum of pain is to blaspheme against the divine Nature.
To lead us away from the shallow view of human nature that is still prevalent today, we
must direct our gaze to the greatness that slumbers within.
Verbal communication and the symbolic structure of our everyday language seems to be
a ridiculously inadequate means to capture and convey its nature and quality.
We don’t see that human nature and “outside” nature are all of a piece. (They are
connected and united.)
We must look much farther than personal biography and the individual unconscious if we
are to even begin to grasp the true nature of the psyche.
You’ve climbed inside Einstein’s formula, penetrating to the ultimate nature of matter
and you’re pulsing in harmony with its primal cosmic beat.
A conceptual system that could account for at least the major observations of LSD
therapy requires not just a new understanding of the effects of LSD, but a new and
expanded model of the human mind and the nature of human beings.
A typical myth of the heroic journey begins when the ordinary life of the protagonist is
suddenly interrupted by the intrusion of elements that are magical in nature and belong to
another order of reality.
As all great musicians have insisted and as anybody who has listened to music with
understanding agrees, music has some kind of cognitive meaning. It does say something
about the nature of the universe. Beethoven insisted on this very strongly.
cosmological mysticism—It’s an ecstatic experience of Nature and Process which leaves
the subject with a sense of having acquired important insight into, as well as identity
with, the fundamental nature and structure of the universe.
Due in part to their ineffable and boundless nature, the divine domains are difficult to
describe, although poets and mystics of all ages have created beautiful metaphors to
approximate them.
If drugs can change the way in which the brain sees, hears, smells and assembles
meaningful form out of the chaos of sensation, they can also radically transform the
nature of sexual feeling.
Important emotional, psychosomatic or interpersonal difficulties that have plagued the
client for many years and have resisted conventional therapeutic approaches can
sometimes disappear after a full experience of a transpersonal nature.
In reality, all men are alike in their essential innocence— that the division of their natures
into the good and the evil is arbitrary or a decision of an independent spectator, none
other than our old friend, the isolated observing ego.
Individuals who experienced the phenomenon of ego death followed by the experience of
rebirth and cosmic unity seemed to show radical and lasting changes in their fundamental
understanding of human nature and its relation to the universe.
It is a direct and immediate awareness that we are dealing with something that has a
divine nature and is radically different from out ordinary perception of the everyday
world.
It is one thing to note that civilization as we know it has depended upon the ego concept;
it is quite another to assert that it must, as if this convention were somehow in the nature
of things.
It is unfortunate that federal and state legislatures rush into law prohibitions based on
ignorance of the nature of psychedelic drugs and on fear fostered by psychiatrists and
newspapers.
Language must never be taken seriously when it is used as being in any way the
equivalent of unmediated experience or as being a source of true knowledge about the
nature of things.
Maslow disagreed with Freud’s exclusive concentration on the study of neurotic and
psychotic populations. He pointed out that focusing on the worst in humanity, instead of
the best, results in a distorted image of human nature.
Much of the key information about the nature of rites is usually considered sacred; it is
kept secret and transmitted within small circles of initiates. If the material is revealed to
the external world, it occurs traditionally in various cryptic forms.
Mystics who believe that God is everywhere but is invisible to us due to our ego-centered
nature, will find it easy to believe that a drug that occasionally obliterates the ego can
also make God more visible.
Odd as it may sound, the ego finds that its own center and nature is beyond itself. The
more deeply I go into myself, the more I am not myself and yet this is the very heart of
me.
Peyote produces self-transcendence in two ways—it introduces the taker into the Other
World of visionary experience and it gives them a sense of solidarity with his fellow
worshippers, with human beings at large and with the divine nature of things.
Since psychedelic drugs expose us to different levels of perception and experience, use of
them is ultimately a philosophic enterprise, compelling us to confront the nature of
reality.
Some of the observations from non-ordinary states would require not only the revision of
our ideas about the human psyche, but of the traditional beliefs about the nature of
reality.
That transpersonal experiences can mediate access to accurate information about various
aspects of the universe previously unknown to the subject requires in itself a fundamental
revision of our concepts about the nature of reality.
The highest point of the experience is a moment of transcendence in which the user
passes out of the everyday world into a paradisiacal egoless state in which he believes he
has attained some ultimate revelation about the nature of mind and the universe.
The most important reason for making the observations from psychedelic research
available to professionals, as well as the general public, is the revolutionary nature of the
observations associated with it.
The nature of the experience and of the process seemed to be incompatible with the
Freudian technique and required a more human approach, genuine support and personal
involvement.
The new emphasis was on recognition of spirituality and transcendental needs as intrinsic
aspects of human nature and on the right of every individual to choose or change his or
her “path”.
The recent convergence between mysticism, modern consciousness research and
quantum-relativistic physics suggest that psychedelic research could contribute in the
future to our understanding of the human mind and consciousness.
The wide historical and geographical distribution of transformative rituals focusing on
death and rebirth and their psychological relevance for individuals, groups, and entire
cultures suggest that they must reflect important basic needs inherent in human nature.
The wonder of LSD is that it can bring within the capabilities of ordinary people the
experience of universal love and the reality of our divine nature which was once possible
only to the mystics.
There may be tremendous visions of landscapes of an extra-ordinarily brilliant and
glowing nature, of architectures often encrusted with jewels and the landscapes too are
frequently recorded as encrusted with gems. (eyes closed)
Total awareness opens the way to understanding and when any given situation is
understood, the nature of all reality is made manifest and the nonsensical utterances of
the mystics are seen to be true.
Unusual states of consciousness, similar to those produced by LSD, occur spontaneously
in many dying individuals for reasons of a physiological, biochemical, and psychological
nature.
We are in need of a kind of philosophy or vision, an intellectual grasp of its nature and
recognition of its value, so that the psychedelic experience may be incorporated into our
lives as wisdom.
We came to believe, as a result of our own experiences and those reported to us by others
using psychedelics, that they had the potential to facilitate for the individual the
experience of major insights and problem solutions of an intellectual-emotional nature.
What we ordinarily take in and respond to is a curious mixture of immediate experience
with culturally conditioned symbol, of sense impressions with preconceived ideas about
the nature of things.
Wisdom, in contrast to knowledge gathered by empirical or rational investigation, is an
attribute of one who, by virtue of inner vision, understands the nature of illusion and
duality.
A successful scientific innovator who presents the species with a new technology for
changing human nature and human destiny is always in trouble with the politicians. A
philosopher who does his job well invariably upsets the hive and has to deal with the
forces set up to preserve the old order and prevent change.
All the arts, though they speak about us in our relationship to the immediate experience,
at the same time, tell us something about the nature of the world, about the mysterious
forces which we feel to be around us and about the cosmic order of which we seem to
have glimpses.
As many began to experience the kinds of images and symbols Jung ascribed to the
collective unconscious, as well as episodes of a classic mystical nature, this wave brought
strong supportive evidence for Jungian ideas and a powerful validation of the mystical
traditions of the world.
Consciousness after the ingestion of LSD manifests a characteristic qualitative
transformation of a dreamlike nature. It can transcend its usual limits and encourage
phenomena from the deep unconscious not accessible under normal circumstances. This
is frequently referred to an expansion of consciousness.
Large numbers of professionals have had the chance to experience transpersonal
phenomena in their own training sessions and have recognized their unusual and specific
nature. This set of data was one of the major heuristic streams that converged into
transpersonal psychology as a new and separate discipline.
Mainstream psychiatry and psychology in general make no distinction between
mysticism and psychopathology. There is no official recognition that the great spiritual
traditions that have been involved in the systematic study of consciousness for centuries
have anything to offer to our understanding of the psyche and of human nature.
Man has reached a crisis in consciousness within which he has the choice to continue in
the path of the growing technicalization of human nature or to enter upon an intensive
and comprehensive investigation of mind and its creative process in the pursuit of a
greater use of human potential and a deeper understanding of the nature of reality.
Only a rather few exceptional professionals have shown a genuine interest in and
appreciation of transpersonal experiences as phenomena of their own right. These
individuals have recognized their heuristic value and their relevance for a new
understanding of the unconscious, of the human potential and of the nature of man.
Our true nature is an aspect of a universal consciousness, Self, Being, Mind, of God. The
awakening to this true nature is the direct awareness that you are more than this puny
body or limited mind. It is the realization that the universe is not external to you. It is
experiencing the universe as yourself.
Psychology, man’s view of his nature, is always the last to adapt to a new world view.
From the standpoint of established values, the psychedelic process is dangerous and
insane—a deliberate psychotization, a suicidal undoing of the equilibrium man should be
striving for.
Subjects were advised to “turn off” their analytic faculties, to relax and accept whatever
form of experience came their way, to refrain from attempting to control the sequence or
nature of the events. The declared aim was to stop using one’s cognitive and perceptual
processes in the familiar way and to heighten the likelihood of discovering new ways.
The human mind is not limited to biographically determined elements of the Freudian
unconscious; it has no boundaries or limits and its dimensions are commensurate with
those of the entire universe. From this point of view, it is more correct to see human
nature as divine than as bestial.
The inner experience of the spiritual Self and its intimate association with the personal
self, gives a sense of internal expansion, of universality and the conviction of
participating in some way in the divine nature. In the religious traditions and spiritual
doctrines of every epoch one finds numerous attestations on this subject.
The most direct challenge to the principles of mechanistic science are phenomena from
transpersonal experiences, such as “the relativity and arbitrary nature of physical
boundaries, nonlocal connections in the universe, memory without a material substance,
nonlinearity of time, and consciousness associated with inorganic matter.”
The most lasting value of the drug experience for me appears to be a number of
convictions, most of them religious in nature, which are so strong that it makes not one
iota of difference whether anyone agrees with them or not. (When you know the truth, no
one can talk you out of it. The truth is the truth.)
The nature of consciousness is ultimately the only problem worthy of total intellectual
effort. It is the concern of all the world’s philosophies and religions. (Actually, the nature
of consciousness is not a problem. The problem is society’s lack of understanding about
it.)
This richness of gem-like qualities, which is found in the visionary World, does explain
many very strange facts about certain types of art and many facts about the curious,
uniform quality of religious traditions, folklore traditions, traditions of the nature of the
Golden Age and After Life, which are found all over the world.
To men and women who have had direct experience of self-transcendence into the mind’s
Other World of vision and union with the nature of things, a religion of mere symbols is
not likely to be very satisfying. The perusal of a page from even the most beautifully
written cookbook is no substitute for the eating of dinner.
Transpersonal experiences can involve conscious experience of other humans and
members of other species, plant life, elements of inorganic nature, microscopic and
astronomic realms not accessible to the unaided senses, history and prehistory, remote
locations or other dimensions of existence.
Unbiased systematic study of this material would lead to changes in our understanding of
the human psyche and of the nature of reality that would be as far-reaching and radical as
those that were introduced into physics by the theories of relativity and the quantum
theory.
We remain ignorant of our true nature—our eternal Self. It was that Self that I longed to
discover. In order to get in touch with the ground of my being, I had to strip away the
accretions of prejudices and preconceptions that cluttered up my psyche, making it
impossible to see what was really there.
You have to pass beyond everything you have learned in order to become acquainted
with the new areas of consciousness. Ignorance of this fact is the veil which shuts man
within the narrow confines of his acquired, artificial concepts of “reality,” and prevents
him from coming to know his own true nature.
If an experience could not be expressed in words, he told the class, it could not exist. He
was very sure of himself and obviously unwilling to be contradicted. But a few weeks
before, when I had tried mescaline for the second time, I had an experience that certainly
felt ineffable to me. There seemed to be no point in trying to convey anything of its
nature to Professor Whatnough. (That was Andrew Weil, about a Harvard professor.)
If the intellect by nature cannot understand life, it follows that the intellect by nature
cannot understand death. Its view of death results from the fact that it looks only at the
parts, not the Whole. If it would look as the Whole, it would see immediately that life is
immortal. The esoteric doctrine would be that it is precisely our insistence on personal
immortality which makes us blind to our actual immortality.
In the transpersonal domain, where psychological and spiritual growth are one,
psychedelics appear to be powerful tools for the investigation of consciousness; they
could enable us to expand our understanding of the human mind and the nature of
creative consciousness. A willingness to question our assumptions and to keep an open
mind with respect to potential benefits and potential hazards is essential.
LSD is a unique and powerful tool for the exploration of the human mind and human
nature. Psychedelic experiences mediate access to deep realms of the psyche that have
not yet been discovered and acknowledged by mainstream psychology and psychiatry.
They also reveal new possibilities and mechanisms of therapeutic change and personality
transformation.
Modern consciousness research has confirmed the basic thesis of perennial philosophy
that the consensus reality reveals only one aspect or fragment of existence. There are
important realms of reality that are transcendental and transphenomenal. The impulse in
human beings to connect with the spiritual domain is an extremely powerful and
important force. It resembles, in its nature, sexuality.
Myth is obviously a kind of non-logical philosophy; it expresses in the form of a story or,
very often, in the form of some visual image, or even in the form of a dance or a
complicated ritual, some generalized feeling about the nature of the world and of man’s
experience in regard to it. Myth is unpretentious, in the sense that it doesn’t claim to be
strictly true. It is merely expressive of our feelings about experience.
One frequently sees geometric patterns of multi-colored abstract lines that are visionary
in nature. Although such patterns are often more clearly visible when one’s eyes are
closed, they may be seen superimposed upon objects in the external world when one’s
eyes are open. These abstract patterns are generally three-dimensional and constantly
change in a steady, rhythmic flow, resembling the view through a kaleidoscope.
One of the major problems of LSD psychotherapy was the unusual nature and context of
the psychedelic experience. The intensity of the emotional and physical expression
characteristic of LSD sessions was in sharp contrast to the conventional image of
psychotherapy, with its face-top-face discussions or disciplined free-associating on the
coach.
Psychic realities experienced during altered states of consciousness are an intrinsic part of
the human personality that cannot be repressed and denied without serious damage to the
quality of human life. For the full expression of human nature, they must be recognized,
acknowledged and explored, and in this exploration, the traditional depictions of the
afterlife can be our guides.
That famous “revival of religion”, about which so many people have been talking for so
long, will not come about as a result of evangelistic mass meetings or the television
appearances of photogenic clergymen. It will come about as a result of biochemical
discoveries that will make it possible for large numbers of men and women to achieve a
radical self-transcendence and a deeper understanding of the nature of things.
The image of human nature on which this approach is based is closer to Hindu
philosophy than to Freudian psychoanalysis. Behind the barrier of negative instinctual
forces associated with early biographical traumas, there exist vast transpersonal realms of
the superconscious mind and a system of positive universal values not dissimilar to
Abraham Maslow’s metavalues.
The makers of our Constitution undertook to secure conditions favorable to the pursuit of
happiness. They recognized the significance of man’s spiritual nature, of his feelings, and
of his intellect. They knew that only a part of the pain, pleasure and satisfaction of life are
to be found in material things. They sought to protect Americans in their beliefs, their
thoughts, their emotions and their sensations.
The new data are of such far-reaching relevance that they could revolutionize our
understanding of the human psyche. Some of the observations transcend in their
significance the framework of psychology and psychiatry and represent a serious
challenge to the current Newtonian-Cartesian paradigm of Western Science. They could
change drastically our image of human nature, of culture and history, and of reality.
The reality and concrete nature of these experiences, as well as their convincing quality,
presented for a while a very serious conflict for the “scientist” in me. Then, all of a
sudden, the resolution of this dilemma emerged; it became clear to me that it was more
appropriate to consider the necessity of revising present scientific beliefs than to question
the relevance of my own experience. (That was Stanislav Grof.)
Those who argue that LSD-induced spiritual experiences cannot be valid because they are
too easily available and their occurrence and timing depend on the individual’s decision,
misunderstand the nature of the psychedelic state. The psychedelic experience is neither
easy nor a predictable way to God. Many subjects do not have spiritual elements in their
sessions despite many exposures to the drug.
To be able to face all of the challenges of psychedelic therapy, the therapist has to have
special training that involves personal experiences with the drug. Because of the
extraordinary nature of LSD states and the limitations of our language in describing them,
it is impossible for the future LSD therapist to acquire deeper understanding of the
process without first-hand exposure.
Transpersonal experiences, especially in psychedelic experiences, do not always occur in
a pure form. Embryonal experiences can occur simultaneously with phylogenetic
memories and with the experience of cosmic unity. These associations are rather constant
and they reflect deep intrinsic interrelations between various types of psychedelic
phenomena as well as the multileveled nature of the LSD experience.
What we ordinarily take in and respond to is a curious mixture of immediate experience
with culturally conditioned symbol, of sense impressions with preconceived ideas about
the nature of things. And by most people the symbolic elements in this cocktail of
awareness are felt to be more important than the elements contributed by immediate
experience.
When someone asks me to describe an experience of LSD, I try to explain: “Well, say
one has a pie of many pieces and each is of a different flavor. Someone asks you what
kind of pie it is. Because of the nature of speech, you can only speak of one flavor at a
time. To give a list of the flavors doesn’t capture the essence of the pie, which can be said
only if you could say all the different pieces at once”.
You have to go out of your mind to use your head. You have to pass beyond everything
you have learned in order to become acquainted with the new areas of consciousness.
Ignorance of this fact is the veil which shuts man within the narrow confines of his
acquired, artificial concepts of “reality” and prevents him from coming to know his own
true nature.
In addition to the Freudian “individual unconscious,” there is also the “collective
unconscious,” which contains the memories and the cultural heritage of all of humanity.
According to Jung, the universal and primordial patterns in the collective unconscious, or
“archetypes,” are mythological in nature. Experiences that involve the archetypal
dimensions of the psyche convey a sense of sacredness—or “numinosity,” in Jung’s
terms.
The individual tuned into this experiential area usually discovers within himself or herself
genuinely positive values, such as a sense of justice, appreciation of beauty, feelings of
love and self-respect as well as respect for others. These values, as well as the
motivations to pursue them and live in accordance with them, appear on this level to be
intrinsic to human nature. They cannot be satisfactorily explained in terms of
compensation.
Who has the right to control your mind? To explore it? To use it? With the invention of
consciousness techniques, a new kind of freedom faces a new kind of control. People
want to explore and develop their minds, and psychedelics are an efficient way to do so.
This desire is part of human nature, but law and social ignorance block the way. I propose
that we recognize a general human right: the right to explore, control, and develop one’s
mind.
All things are in reality the Tao or the Buddha nature.
By intuitive wisdom, he sees into the nature of reality.
Consciousness is chemical in nature and changes as chemistry changes.
Deep insights of a personal, social and philosophic nature take place.
Enlightenment is the discovery of our own true nature.
I would describe the experience as a conversion experience of the most radical nature.
If you come to know the nature of the mind, then you also come to know the truth.
Individuals gain profound insights into the nature of religion.
Man has received from heaven a nature innately good.
Men do not become what by nature they are meant to be, but what society makes them.
One gets to one’s nature and to one’s basic roots in Nature.
Playfulness is the very nature of divine wisdom.
Psychedelic experience is by nature private, sensual, spiritual, internal, introspective.
Spicing up the chemistry of the cortex will alter the entire nature of human experience.
The nature of LSD phenomena is holographic, multileveled and multidimensional.
The nature of the infinite is not to annihilate limitations but to love them.
The nature of the one reality must be known by one’s own clear, spiritual perception.
The nature of these visions is often paradisal.
The psyche is governed by unconscious forces of an instinctual nature.
The very nature of inwardness is to be mysterious, immeasurable and unpredictable.
Unforgettable revelations about the nature of reality occur.
Your true nature is consciousness.
A major revelation was that of the spiritual nature of trees, the obedient benevolence of
trees.
All forms, all structure, manmade or organic, were seen clearly in their molecular and
particle nature.
He achieved fuller and clearer recognitions of the nature of reality, of man and of his own
higher nature.
He found the whole experience exhilarating for having given him insights into his psyche
and the nature of existence that he hadn’t thought himself capable of achieving.
I thought how trivial and absurd the things were that tied me to my conventional
existence. I had such great insight into the nature of things.
The precious stones and jewels appeared to have a much deeper meaning than being just
things of beauty. The green light emanating from them was of a spiritual nature.
Blake saw visionary landscapes “articulated beyond all that the mortal and perishing
nature can produce” and “infinitely more perfect and minutely organized than anything
seen by the mortal eye.”
I realized that it was not up to us to dictate what the human psyche should be like in order
to fit our scientific beliefs and worldview. Rather, it is important to discover and accept
the true nature of the psyche and find out how we can best cooperate with it.
“Know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” were the words that seemed best to
capture the nature of my experience. I felt free to be exactly who I was, free of fear and
social constraints, and filled with love and compassion for all beings.
Never has greater beauty immersed me in its flood. I was so lost in its waves, so
separated from myself, so disembarrassed of my ego, that odious appendage that
accompanies us everywhere, that for the first time I understood the nature of existence.
The possibility of transcending boundaries between self and other, the illusory nature of
ego, the interdependence of opposites, the relative nature of dualism and the resolution of
paradox in transcendence became clear.
With great emotion, he announced that “this is of vital importance to me” and that he
“absolutely must get to the bottom” of what he felt was being disclosed to him about his
own nature.
People came out of these sessions reeling with awe, overwhelmed by experiences of
oneness with God and all other beings, shaken to the depths of their nature by the
grandeur and power of the divine life-energy processes going on within their own
consciousness.
It was as though a veil had been stripped away and certain things had become suddenly
self-evident. I realized that there was just one force in the universe. There is only one
energy and that is consciousness. And there is only one consciousness, one mind, and we
are, in fact, one with this, which means we are all one. I felt this was a revelation of the
true nature of reality.
The acid took me directly to my lucid, “higher self.” It was as though I’d arrived at my
true nature: sincere, clean of purpose, and more useful and wonderful than I’d ever felt in
my life. I can’t fathom what it was that made me feel so “perfect” and “enlightened” or
what specific obstacle the chemical had overcome to enable me to feel so wholesomely
fabulous. I felt a sweeping reassurance that everything was all right after all.
For the first time, I understood the meaning of “ineffable.” There seemed to be no
possibility of conveying in words the subjective truth of my experience. A veil had been
lifted from my inner vision, and I felt able to see, not just images or forms, but the nature
of truth itself. The doors of perception were so cleansed, they seemed to vanish
altogether, and there was only infinite being. Krishnamurti’s characterization of truth as a
pathless land seemed an appropriate description of this domain.
The perennial philosophy and the esoteric teachings of all time suddenly made sense. I
understood why spiritual seekers were instructed to look within, and the unconscious was
revealed to be not just a useful concept, but an infinite reservoir of creative potential. I
felt I had been afforded a glimpse into the nature of reality and the human potential
within that reality, together with a direct experience of being myself, free of illusory
identifications and constrictions of consciousness.
He answered a question as to the nature of nondual reality with a “thunderous silence.”
I felt overwhelmingly tuned in to the “true nature of things.”
I penetrated into the true nature.
The nature of the infinite was realized by the mind.
The nature of the infinitude was realized by the mind.
The nature of things became clearer and clearer.
They became aware of the nature of the unconscious.
This wisdom was of a mystical nature.
a distinct increase of interest in religious matters, involving spirituality of a universal
nature
a historic movement that would inevitably change man at the very center of his nature,
his consciousness
a new model of the psyche, new understanding of emotional disorders and of the
therapeutic process, new insights into human nature and the nature of reality
an illuminating insight into the transcendent and eternal spiritual nature intrinsic to
human consciousness
experiences of a mythological, mystical, archetypal, historical, sociopolitical,
anthropological, or phylogenetic nature
experiences visits to other realms of reality, many of which are fantastic and
mythological in nature (eyes closed)
far-reaching insights into one’s own self and into one’s relationship with others, an
insight into “the nature of the universe and the purpose of life”
higher levels and states of mind that lead to the realization of one’s divine nature and God
consciousness
jars one free of mental ruts, allowing old problems to be seen from new angles, accessing
higher levels of information, some of which were spiritual in nature
perceptions of a mystical nature that may present themselves in a variety of symbolic
forms
psychedelics a powerful tool to cut through conditioning, to bring a person to direct
understanding of their own true nature, and the nature of the universe
psychedelics, that they had the potential to facilitate for the individual the experience of
major insights and problem solutions of an intellectual-emotional nature
psychedelics—the potential to facilitate for the individual the experience of major
insights and problem solutions of an intellectual-emotional nature
recognition of spirituality and transcendental needs as intrinsic aspects of human nature
and the right of every individual to pursue his or her own spiritual path
that branch of metaphysics termed ontology or the metaphysics of Being: the study of
life’s essential nature
that psilocybin had the potential to facilitate major insight of an intellectual-emotional
nature
the awe that comes when the veil is torn from your eyes and you see the nature of the
energy process you’re involved in
the depth of realization that became available when I let go of my preconceptions about
the nature of the universe
the ecstatic experience of a mystical nature—the ultimate source from which the strength
of religion flows
the fine sensations which spread throughout the whole tissue of my nerve fiber, each
thrill helping to divest my frame of its earthly and material nature
the mystery of the nature of the relations between visionary experience and events on the
cellular, chemical and electrical levels
the need for a radical revision of our basic ideas about the human psyche and the nature
of consciousness
the rich and comprehensive nature of emotions and sensations involved in these
experiences
the recognition that all these radiances are the emanations of one’s own mind in a state of
perfect tranquility and serenity, a state in which the mind reveals its true universal nature
the unusual nature and power of the material that emerges from the depths of the
unconscious
those Other Worlds of transcendental experience where the soul knows itself as
unconditioned and of like nature with the divine
to break down ego defenses and induce a “transcendental experience” which seems to be
almost always religious in nature
to shift one’s attention from the abstract to the concrete, from the symbolic self to one’s
true nature
unusual insights into the nature of various emotional disorders and ways of detecting and
healing them
confronts us with the undefined nature of our cosmic existence, leads us backstage to
make us aware of the artificiality of our cultural values, and then shows us a world
without limit
persecuting men who are merely attempting to experience that part of their nature that
they feel most entitles them to regard themselves as human, namely, their encounter with
Ultimate Reality or what they call God
“stimulates the mystical faculties in human nature” far more powerfully and in a far more
enlightening way than alcohol and, what is more, it does so at a physiological and social
cost that is negligibly low
the mistake of persecuting men who are merely attempting to experience that part of their
nature that they feel most entitles them to regard themselves as human, namely, their
encounter with Ultimate Reality or what they call God
a conversion experience of the most radical nature
a direct, unlimited understanding of the divine nature
a new direct insight into the very Nature of Things
a profound transcendental experience of an ecstatic and integrated nature
a profound transformative experience of a transcendental nature
a releaser of profound religious experience of an ecstatic and mystical nature
a restoration to my own nature through contact with Nature
a sense of sacredness and of ultimate insight into the true and real nature of existence
an exciting new vision of the cosmos and human nature
becoming aware of her goddess nature
being an object—insights into the nature of the object, how the object “feels”
dazzling, glorious and radiantly awesome, the radiance of your own true nature
disclosed the nature of reality to him
divine in nature
eidetic images of a religious nature (eyes closed)
experience their own divinity and attain profound insights into the nature of reality
facilitating a deep transformative experience of a transcendental nature
feelings and perceptions of a religious nature
in touch with a deeper truth about reality and the nature of existence
in touch with the true nature of the universe
individual gains profound insights into the nature of religion
insight into the nature of their problems
insight into the transcendent nature of human consciousness
insight that the process is healing or spiritual in nature
insights into the nature of human existence
its power to stimulate the mystical faculties of human nature
knowledge of creation’s true nature
new glimpses into the nature of reality
new ideas of human nature the vehicle for the coming revolution
new insights or revelations of a transcendental nature
new philosophical and spiritual insights into the nature of reality
new spiritual feelings of a cosmic nature
our deepest and true nature
our deepest and true nature, the divine within
our higher nature, the spiritual aspect of our being
our true nature—our eternal Self
our true or original nature
perceiving the nature or meaning of real objects
perceptions of an erotic nature and rich sexual symbolism
realized the Buddha nature of all creatures
recognition of one’s own divine nature and insights into the universal order
recover the lost or hidden dimensions of our nature
reveals the frozen nature of the artificial stage-set men call reality
revelations concerning the nature of the universe itself
seeing into one’s nature
stimulates the mystical faculties in human nature
that in these chemicals the evolutionary acceleration of man’s spiritual nature is at hand
the communicative nature of the visions
the creative transcendent nature of the experience
the cyclic nature of the cosmos—the cosmic clock
the discovery of the vibratory nature of the universe
the divine nature, an expression of Pure Being, an expression of the divine joy
the ecstatic experience of a mystical nature
the essentially religious nature of the experience
the extraordinary nature and scope of the psychedelic experience
the finite nature of all goods less than the infinite itself
the forgetting of man’s divine nature
the illusory nature of all human roles
the inexhaustible richness of the divine nature
the mind’s unborn, unvanishing and unconfused nature
the multileveled nature of the LSD experience
the mystical nature of love
the mystical nature of many experiences in nonordinary states of consciousness
the mystical nature of the universe
the nature and flavor of the psychedelic experience
the nature of LSD phenomena, multileveled and multi-dimensional
the new image of reality and of human nature
the organismic nature of the universe
the original or true nature of the mind
the overwhelming immediate nature of the experience
the plastic-doll nature of social reality and social ego
the positive nature and potential of peak experiences
the radiance of your own true nature
the realization of one’s inmost nature
the religious-ontological nature of the psychedelic experience
the revelation of some deep mystery about the nature of God
the spiritual nature of man
the spiritual nature of visionary phenomena
the transcendent nature of visionary experience
the true nature and meaning of existence
the undefined nature of our cosmic existence
the universe seen as the overflow of my own inmost nature
the unusual nature and context of the psychedelic experience
the whole attitude of letting the mind alone and trusting it to follow its own nature
this insight into the nature of things
this new image of reality and of human nature
to observe the neuroelectric nature of consciousness
to obtain insights into his or her true nature
transcends himself by becoming conscious of the ignored aspect of its own nature
unusual experiences of a spiritual nature
visionary states of a religious or mystical nature
visions of a sexual nature
when the human nature is united with the divine
your divine nature