Observations placeholder
Hindu monk tries DMT
Identifier
005728
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
A description of the experience
Timothy Leary – High Priest
Immediately after my return the drug was administered to the Hindu monk. This dedicated man had spent fourteen years in meditation and renunciation. He was a sannyasin entitled to wear the sacred saffron robe. He had participated in several psychedelic drug sessions with extremely positive results and was convinced that the biochemical road to samadhi was not only valid but perhaps the most natural method for people living in a technological civilization.
His reaction to DMT was, however, confusing and unpleasant. Catapulted into a sudden ego loss he struggled to rationalize his experience in terms of classic Hindu techniques. He kept looking up at the group in puzzled helplessness. Suspicion. Reproach. Defiance. Promptly at twenty-five minutes he sat up, laughed sheepishly, 'What a paranoid trip! I really got trapped'.
The lesson was clear. DMT, like the other psychedelic keys, could open an infinity of possibilities. Set, setting, suggestibility, temperamental background were always there as filters through which the experience could be distorted.