I was talking to some friends about trying DMT, and as exciting as it sounded i was most curious about the religion that there is behind it. Seeing as google cannot find any legit sites explaining, i figured id give this a try. any information anyone would like to share?

Afraid I have not done too much research into it, but start researching Ayahuasca and the indigenous populations that use it for religious purposes.

Religion needs to die.

With DMT, you don't need a religion.

Hyperspace goes beyond religions.

Religion is obsolete.

Agreed

Institutionalized religion in it's current form, yes.

However religion as a spiritual journey, with guides to answer any questions you may have I believe is very much a part of the human culture and very useful.

A spiritual leader should be a guide to those who ask for assistance in their own personal spiritual path.

If it were not for my friend, who answered my questions, and taught me the respect for psychedelics I have, I might not have been able to follow the path I have.

She taught me to respect them. Something I might not have done otherwise. I went from weekly using MDMA/Other club drugs at nightclubs as a way to "have fun", to using almost only psychedelics for spiritual, self-reflective and universe exploring purposes.

Despite her hesitancy, and insistance that I find my own way, she helped immensely on my path by explaining that and the respect you must have for them.

===============

HOWEVER, it seems the original poster was more interested in the cultural history of this plant... if I'm not mistaken?

If not however, yes, heed these people's advice. It is a spiritual self discovery, not a religion. If you have a guide, they can be helpful, but they can only show you the door and teach you to respect it. It is up to you to make your own path with your discoveries.

Lot's of people don't like the "R" word seemingly because it is tightly bound with stereotypical dogma, mandatory guilt, servitude to super-powered invisible beings and wasting a Sunday. I believe there is a strong link between psychedelics and spirituality. Perhaps we should just call it Nexus?

cker

I suppose that connotation is a linguistic anomaly that is just foreign to me. Definition I adhere to is below.



I've always associated religion with spirituality quite directly, as I've read about -many- religions, including the very open/tolerant pagan religions of old.

Back when Christianity was a cult rather than a religion, they were accused of killing their god and drinking his blood (eating the crackers/drinking the wine ritual), and were considered highly intolerant for not believing other people's god's existed.

Religion can be open, and tolerant. However it must by necessity be a polytheistic religion of some sorts, in order to accept the fact another religion's ideals, gods and principals or spiritual beliefs exist for other people.

Are you talking about the Church of the Santo Daime? There's also another Ayahuasca church called the Uniao do Vegetal (UDV for short. It means "Union of the Plants". There is loads of information available. Just google those terms.

Here we go again with shunning of "religion" - an unexplained word which rings many different connotations in each of us, to the point where the word is obsolete and not the thing itself...

There is a wide range of beliefs surrounding DMT - open-mindedness - is the nature of the people who are drawn toward it. You can read many individual accounts... but with this "thing" - let's call it - you smoke the substance and start trying to work it out for yourself.

There is a wide range of beliefs surrounding Jesus Christ - these came about in such a time that the word Christianity summed it all up and thing specific thing was called a religion... a system of beliefs...

We all have our own systems of belief & non-belief but the word religion sounds horrible because of it's associations with previous futile belief systems

But I suppose that in your search for knowledge of the "DMT Religion" - You've read these replies and I'm sure your starting to paint a nice picture Welcome...

Adrenalinechaser69,
Pardon my manners and welcome to Nexus. You have stumbled upon a very independent group of people with widely varying opinions on the question you raised. You can read some past discussions here: religion thread There are other similar threads elsewhere.

Apoc mentioned the UDV church that has gained legal rights to use Ayahuasca in the US and is practiced widely with origins in South America. Regarding smoked DMT, a formal religion doesn't appear to exist even though it is accepted as a spiritual tool by many. My response to your post was terse and I hope not off putting. I think there's plenty of room for more discussion of this topic and I welcome your comments.

Heart-Mind sez: leaders?>>> O_o
Heart-Mind sez: you are your guide

Peace and Love

Heart-Mind sez: leaders?>>> O_o
Heart-Mind sez: you are your guide

Peace and Love

OneAllOne, I agree with you but it sure is nice to have a community to share and support.

I'm pretty loose with the meaning of the "R" word. Perhaps we should call ourselves a cult?

(Just joking....really. Classical cults contain leaders who exert heavy control over members. Given that, I would say that many traditional religions have historically functioned as cults). I'll settled down now...

The CSP website has a nice description of the attitude of a spiritual guide here: spiritual guide

Temple of the True Inner Light

http://psychede.tripod.com/

The CSP is a wonderful organization for those seeking more depth to the psychedelic experience in relation to spirituality.

I hope this ends right now. It's something too good to be called religion, cult or whatever.

Religion and spirituality are not the same thing. IMO religion's main purpose is to limit and control ones spiritual path.

DMT can be a very spiritual experience and may even be able to free one from the bonds of religion!

While this is true, they are also both subjective.

[quote=EquaL Observer]Here we go again with shunning of "religion" - an unexplained word which rings many different connotations in each of us, to the point where the word is obsolete and not the thing itself...

Very pertinent observation Equal Observer.

To take this point a little further, I would love to know how any of the contributors to this thread would 'define', as it were, the term "spirituality"?

Words, as with most things, do have the capacity to evolve in meaning; this coupled with the inherent alterations in tone or flavour they impart is further confused when the 'inheritance' of such words involves translations from one language to another.In this case the languages involved include Hebrew, Latin and Greek-each of these steps, IMO, alters the gist somewhat.

Corpus, William James wrote about defining religion in his 1902 book 'The Varieties of Religious Experience'. In his view religion arises from the formalization of spiritual experience.

James wrote:
Religion, therefore, as I now ask you arbitrarily to take it, shall mean for us the feelings, acts, and experiences of individual men in their solitude, so far as they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatever they may consider the divine. Since the relation may be either moral, physical, or ritual, it is evident that out of religion in the sense in which we take it, theologies, philosophies, and ecclesiastical organizations may secondarily grow.

This fits with my personal view. For me the best religious formalization would not have to provide answers but rather evoke questions. Changing ones perspective with respect to the world is a powerful way of seeing what might be questioned.