Psychedelic Drugs
The English author Aldous Huxley experimented with psychedelic drugs, notably mescaline, and wrote about his experiences in the book 'The Doors of Perception' and 'Heaven and Hell'. His basic philosophy is that the brain blocks out a large part of the huge range of sensory information that constantly bombards us and when you take a psychedelic drug it prevents that part of the brain working properly.
It has certainly been noticed that people subliminally take in what they don't concentrate on consciously. I've pointed out that advertisers use this to impress a product name on our subconscious. Imagine this situation: you are working on the computer or reading. In the background the radio or TV is on and they mention a particular word that triggers something in you. It could be your girlfriend's name or a topic of interest to you. You look up from your work and listen to the TV. You absorbed the sounds from the TV subliminally but your brain was still processing all the information and sifting it to ascertain what should be brought to your conscious attention. The same thing happens when you're asleep. You may sleep through loud thunderstorms and the neighbours arguing but you wake up with the alarm clock or when someone says your name.
I've mentioned that a lot of what is called psychic phenomena take place at levels of perception outside the range of what we are usually aware of. Our senses do, or at least can be trained to detect frequencies outside of our normal perception and we do take in this information subliminally.
The question arises; if we filter out this information subconsciously then does it influence our behaviour? Advertisers use this to influence our buying patterns, in fact supermarkets are arranged in order to influence us in a number of subtle ways and I've mentioned how when you live in close proximity to other people you take in their thought patterns subconsciously.
When you take certain psychedelic drugs the filter stops working and you are exposed not only to outside subliminal influences, but also to your own subtle thought processes that you are usually blind to. I've mentioned before what I call the Impressions. Usually we are cut off from these until after we die but when under the influence of these drugs you are exposed to them in all their rawness. For many people it is more than they can take.
When the native Mexican's take the Peyote mushroom they prepare for it by fasting for three days beforehand, and they take it under the guidance of a shaman who can guide them through what could otherwise be madness. Often they come in contact with a spirit guide. These spirits are not in our plain of existence and operate at a different frequency, consequently the brain filters them out but under Peyote they are brought into consciousness.
It's been said that psychedelic drugs take you to a strange world. You don't know the way there or the way back and you don't understand the language. The mystical process guides you there so you know the route in and the route back, and teaches you the language.
