Before I ask my questions to you all, allow me to give you some background to why I'm asking about it.

Like the majority of people that I know, I was raised in a particular religion simply by coincidence of where I was born, in my case, I was raised United Methodist, I believed what the church told me for many a year, I absorbed every last detail of all the great things in the bible and the morals to be learned, I was even the church's acolyte for a while. However, unlike almost everyone I know as I got older, I began to read the religious texts for what they were, and not just the parts that the church suggested we read. The best quote I can use to describe my revelations is:

"Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived."
-Isaac Asimov

That along with a number of other reasons, which I won't spend my time on right now (you can send a private message if you really want to know) has compelled me to become an atheist until there is enough evidence is provided to convince me otherwise, whether it be from scientific evidence or personal experiences.

My questions to you all are, what sort of religious beliefs (or absence thereof) do you hold? Are you in the same religion that you were raised in(assuming you were raised in one)? And to wrap it all up with the questions that I really want to know your opinions on: Did your religious beliefs change upon your personal experiences with DMT? Did your experiences make you have a 'falling out' with your religion, or compel you to change to a new one, or did it reinforce your beliefs, or did it have no effect on your religiousness?

I do not want this to turn into an attempt to convert anyone, I also do not intend for anyone to become offended with this discussion, and as I do with my friends, I want everyone to just "agree to disagree" to avoid conflict, as this can be a touchy topic for a lot of people.

I'm an atheist. I am simply not convinced by any current argument of the existence of God, or the existence of supernatural phenomena for that matter, but convinced by the lack of evidence for any such proposition. The lack of evidence for the existence of God and the supernatural is in itself evidence for its non-existence, just the way the complete lack of evidence for my keys being in my right pocket, or the gnome sitting in my shed, is evidence that they are not there.

It all kinda becomes a question, to take an anology, of how many times you care to take a look in the closet in a childs bedroom because the child says there is a monster there. After taking a look in the closet a few hundred times and not finding any evidence for this claim, you will not come running dead serious with a gun in your hand when the child keeps saying there is someone there; you say, with irritation, "There is nobody in the closet! Now go to bed!".

Experiencing DMT has "shut" my mind more than it has opened it really, when it comes to God and supernatural things. One would naturally think otherwise, but after experiencing reproducible crazy shit after taking a drug it made me more skeptical. Initially I believed I tapped into some great Divine scheme, at some point aliens, or whatever, but as time went on and I got the experiences on a little bit distance I found it to be completely insufficient evidence to base any conclusion and beliefs on. Also, by constantly learning more science (I am studying physics), more about critical thinking, more about the history of science and history in general, I left my initial beliefs only to become skeptical and unconvinced by ideas I swallowed uncritically earlier. Now I remain open minded to the possibility, but yet skeptical and unconvinced. I'd rather focus my attention on science and day to day life, and just enjoy the DMT experience in and on itself every once in a while.

Besides, "Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?". Yes, that is enough. The universe is mysterious and beautiful enough without having to swallow highly doubtful and unreasonable claims about it as well.

Well I have been taking the opposite turn as a matter of fact.
I turned from an atheist into a pretty spiritual person, partly thanks to LSD. I haven't got much experience with DMT, but what it did is question my view of reality, and make me realize that is all pretty complex. All bigger than the human mind can grasp.
I pretty much disagree with the fact that one needs evidence from science to proove that the devine exists, because to me spirituality is more about feeling/experience than it is about understanding.
I don't think science will ever be able to come to a conclusion about what life is all about, and why we are here, but hey, who knows right
So I don't need science to convince me about anything that is related to spirituality. It is a process one goes through alone.
And everyone makes his own conclusions which I respect.

I much liked to read both posts. Thank you, very delicate and much frankly. Regrettably i not close to this subject and can not add anything profound.
If i can only ask beside Citta: That you may say about theories Resonance-Wave Interaction in surrounding us world with standpoint physicists? I heard that this theory very perspective and allows to combine and explain all phenomenons, all religions, magic, past, present and future in one integer understanding to realities. In Russia about this has in considerable detail written Victor Vensky (or Viktor Viennese - in English?) in its book MASK OF RAVEN -1 UNITED THEORY to MAGICS And THEURGY (the book was written 4 years at period 2006-2010 and nowhere was published except "underground" ) .
But except this books i heard that scientist physicists too consider this theory. Possible, this has certain popularity in Russia only? I do not know.
So, if you heard of this theories Resonance-Wave Interaction, that can give its concise commentary?
Beforehand much thanks!

Post DMT I believe more than ever that the gods from various religious texts don't exist, Is there something out there I dunno but the answer sure doesn't lie in the rantings some crazy man wrote 1000's of years ago.

I'm lucky that I was brought up without any religious doctrine imposed upon me and have been free to make up my own mind. I remain deeply suspicious and sceptical of all organised religions and I want no part in them, I think they are responsible for much of the suffering and division of Man. I'm pretty sceptical by nature having studied science and have always leaned towards atheism. However my quite recent and first full DMT breakthrough was personally very important to me. A unique experience that no amount of previous drug or DMT or life experience could have prepared me for. Words are a pretty poor and shallow medium to make an attempt at description of this, but it was by far the most terrifying, magical, alien, bizarre, deep and beautiful experience of my life. The power of the experience, what I experienced and what I was shown, I really can't describe well at all. But it was very, very profound indeed. It made me revise my atheist stance to some degree... I'm not saying I believe in a power, or God, or whatever label you want to use...I'm just stating that now I am open to the possibility of something, whereas before I wasn't. This alone is a BIG deal for me, a game changer. I've no idea how the tools of science would attempt to measure the power or validity of this experience, and I'm not sure science as is stands now is capable of this. But for me this doesn't in any way detract from what I experienced.

I was raised in a very strict mormon household but i was always a black sheep and hold none of the same spiritual beliefs as my family. The optimist in me wants to believe that there is life after death but the realist in me can't see how it would make sense. DMT has taken all metaphysical beliefs i had and scattered them across my brain. After i started doing spice i can no longer answer questions that i had never even bothered to ask before. I no longer have a sense of identity. I guess i left it in hyperspace a while back. But i would say that spice has made me shift more from atheist to agnostic. I still believe however that organized religion is immoral and counterproductive to a better society.

I was raised in a Roman Catholic household. Prayer before and after dinner and going to church on Sundays were the accepted standard. Around the age of 12 to 14 I started questioning my religious beliefs and slowly concluded that the Christian god didn't exist. Around the age of 18 I became an atheist and I actively sought out religious people and attempt to debunk their, what I considered ridiculous, beliefs.

I had a great interest in religion and mostly finding flaws in the doctrine and attempting to debunk it. I even worked as a voluntary barkeeper for a while in a student pastorate and had a lot of good discussions about religion. Due to this I grew milder towards religious people, I understand they used religion to deal with their mortality and a way to give meaning to their life.

It wasn't until I started doing psychedelics that I completely turned around. I became what I like to call an APTHEIST: It's impossible to determine whether or not a deity / deities exist so it's pointless to fight over it with people. I honestly don't know, so why would I waste my time debating or convincing people of this? It's quite possible that our universe is a building block(like an atom) in another universe and that every single one of our atoms contains a whole universe. We simply can't know for sure, so to me it seems like a futile thing to worry about or fight over. However, I do understand more than ever that other people find strength in the concept of religion and I find it rude to attack them on it.

So yes, psychedelics have had a great impact on my views of religion.

I had a moderate catholic upbringing. After I shook it off, I spent time defining myself as an atheist. Then, I slowly realized that I was an atheist only in practice -as a common sense reaction to the utter toxicity of the monotheistic dogma.

But once I expanded the boundaries of "religion" well beyond christianity, islam and judaism, the only reasonable stand for me was agnosticism.

Psychedelics complicate the whole picture. Now I cannot tag myself easily, never mind my skeptic mindset. I recognize truths in mythologies, that someone aptly called "facts of the mind". I agree with some gnostic concepts like the pleroma, I relate to a lot of taoist ideas, and I appreciate some buddhist practices.

It would be easy to completely jump into either wagon, but I doubt I will ever be able to do that wholeheartedly. If entheogens taught me something, is the provisional nature of all belief.

Was raised Methodist, switched to Episcopalian in my early teens... looking back, I have always been on some kind of quest for god/higher power etc (but not dogma - I seek experience).

I discovered mushrooms and LSD @ 18 but at that point in my life I was young and dumb and although I held them in higher regard than most people, I still used them in profane ways. They didn't really push any spiritual buttons in the ways I was using them... but I would say they expanded my mind and helped me to think, somewhat more, outside the box.

In my 20s I decided that all religion was bullshit and became decidedly athiest or at least agnostic.

By my mid thirties I couldn't ignore that seeking feeling any more... that feeling that there had to be more to life and started reading and finding out as much about religions as I could - but not from the standpoint of the dogmas created by their institutions - from their "founders" and as far as I could find, their origins.

About 3 years ago I began meditating and adopted what might be seen as kind of a Hindu path although to compare it to your average modern day Hinduism isn't really fair. Though I describe myself that way, I have a love for the "founders" of all world religions and feel that they all point the same direction with a different looking finger. At any rate, I haven't looked back or regretted this choice at all.

About a year and a half ago I got back into psychedelics and have been presented with deep experiences that have, at least for me, really backed up many of my spiritual feelings. In fact, I just had a rather profound and synergystic mushroom/spirituality experience this past weekend. Before getting back into them, I didn't feel they had any place in spirituality. Then I met DMT. My mind changed and while I don't see psychedelics as spiritual engines or even fuel... I do see it as a fuel booster/enhancer.

All this being said, I don't really ever talk about this unless asked and as far am I'm concerned whatever people think, in terms of spirituality and religion, is correct for them and their own business unless its hurting or limiting other people and their ability to be free and happy.

Baptist upbringing, agnostic at heart.

Thank you for sharing all of your experiences and opinions so openly, it would appear that there are quite a few out there who have similar situations as me. I have had a shroom experience that I've been debating over whether or not it was spiritual or not, I haven't tried DMT yet, still working on my setting to improve.



I must agree with you, I believe that spirituality should on a more personal level, I can remember once back in high school before I switched to full on atheist (I was agnostic at that point) my girlfriend at the time invited me over to her church, so being polite and still open to the idea of a god I went with her, it was Episcopalian, and what a mega church it was, with over a thousand people packed into this cookie cutter steel building with a cross on top, listening to a single man tell everyone what to think about certain topics, singing the same lyrics over and over and over (I literally counted 32 repeats of the same verse), not to mention there was at least 5 people who during the 3 HOUR ceremony stood up and spoke in tongues. That was one of the many events that kicked me clear out of organised religions for good, also didn't help my relationship with my then girlfriend as she tried harder after that to convert me... but no matter, my present girlfriend now is WAY better, she agrees with me on so many more things, a considerably stronger connection, she's the one.

I was never raised under any religious umbrella. I was raised in a family in the country away from the cities. Parents are still together and have always been really calm and collected and always taught me to do good for others and myself..which in their opinion..and mine...that's all you need for your "religion". From early on til now i've always kept an open mind...but on the other hand...always questioned. I was an avid reader of physics and the sciences early on to come to my own conclusion that this reality is far much more mysterious and beautiful than I could ever comprehend....completely humbling. Then from there I started to follow Shulgins works, Metzner, Lily, Dennis Mckenna, etc. Something inside me just drew me to plants and the workings of the human mind...kinda a side-spawn of all my followings of physics and the sciences.

After reading much of all their works I became fascinated with psychedelics/entheogens from about thee age of 15 up until now..which I'm 25 now. Had my first psychedelic experience when I was 16 on an eighth of some homegrown mushrooms outdoors by a fire. That night propelled me into this never-ending-quest (that most of us seems to be on) to find out more about myself and this life and what it has to offer. When I was 21-22..I first tried dmt. Completely solidified how little I know and how little we ALL know. Left me completely humbled. I rarely do it anymore...maybe aya once a month and changa maybeee once a week.

My ultimate belief is that this physical reality we're in is as real as anything else but yet is only a SLICE of our perceptual framework so-to-speak. But I think there is that underlying creative force that embodies everything...from a plant...to a rock...to me and you...and that essence never dies..never will. We live the illusion so well...so convincingly. And i believe that reality is far weirder, wilder, and more beautiful than we could ever imagine in the physical. I think this train will never stop.

My current book-of-choice..by far..the Bhagavad Gita. tat-tvam-asi

Man, everything is conscious, to some degree. Consciousness seems possibly the fundamental level of, like, stuff. There's even people who love to create scientific models (quantum this and morphic field that) to describe this, but they use lotsa words! Lots of 'em. And they like to argue to prove themselves right. What a bore.

The religious people call it "god" and actually fight over it and make up laws to regulate our behavior. Not much fun at all.


Man, I'm a poet, a psycho-naught and a mythology enthusiast. I just blaze up and trip out on it. And don't get me wrong: there's poetry in the scientific models and the religious cosmologies are inherently mythological...

And all that stuff is fun when you don't take it too seriously or get too convinced that any of it is real.

Endogenous releases of DMT could be responsible for instances of "geniune religious experience" such as seeing entities, ect. Because it is released in your body at night, and can be induced by meditation. I also think everything encountered is subject to our own interpretations. So once the experience is felt, people feel the need to spread certain definitions and beliefs that form religious ideas. This is the only way I can think of religion beginning from an authentic origin.

But if your interested in "religiousness" DMT will let you feel something that many people could describe as a religious experience, also the most intense and foreign experience that you cant even conceive of. I too was directed to follow a certain religion and decided not too, I can honestly say that there is experience out there that is inconceivable in a normal state.

I find this falls closely to how preachers like to explain things as inconceivable, and I never felt anything close to a religious experience from practicing religion.. but ive done dmt once, and wow... I have no religion to spread from my experience but a deep respect and love for myself and a sense for the connection between all things, realizing when matter is broken down its all the same thing.

Love and respect :]

I was raised in the Episcopal church, but my family wasn't fundamentalist at all. My father is actually more of a universalist than anything else, so that is what I mainly absorbed as a child. Christianity never really had much of a hold on me, and I have been mostly on the atheistic side for most of my life.

However, I began getting really interested in Islam after finding a copy of the Qur'an in my mothers books. I'm not even sure why she had it, but it was strange how much I felt a draw to the Book, it more-or-less lit a fire in my mind. This was at age 15... After about a year of reading the Qur'an and doing some study about Islam and the Prophet Muhammad (saws) I decided to begin praying the Muslim prayer and converted to Islam. I practiced for almost two years, when something changed in me and I had a "dark night of the soul". I rejected Islam in practice, although never fully in my heart, and started back on drugs - some of the hardest drug use I've had was during this period primarily opioids and then DXM very heavily as well as some meth/amphetamine and others...

It continued like this until I started using more psychedelics... they basically awakened something that had been asleep in me and I became a "spiritually inclined atheist" as I oxymoronically called it... Each psychedelic that I used seemed to bring up a different portion of my spirituality... mushrooms gave me insight on cosmic functions and the history of life, cactus awakened me to the visions of the ancients, ayahuasca gave me insight into the "code" of the physical world and that physical reality is in some very real way made of "Words". Jurema gave me the history of mankind and some intimations of the Oneness of existence... All this leading up to DMT and pharmahuasca... Vaporized DMT is too hard to really quantify what was given to me, basically an affirmation of the shortness of life and the eternity of being... as well as the reality of hell-space... finally, pharma was the first to bring up Islam again... I had a vision of the Ahl al-kisa (the people of the Mantle, the people closest to the Prophet Muhammad (saws), I literally saw their faces... beautiful noble Arab faces... I was filled with such peace as I have never felt before... for the first time in my life I "knew" that the Universe was all unfolding according to a plan, and that all was well. It's very hard to explain, but I guess for the first time I "submitted", the meaning of being a Muslim...Submitted to the nature of the universe, and that is the source of all peace...

Needless to say, this is probably unique to me, due to what was already in my heart... I feel that DMT could magnify whatever spiritual inclination one already has... but I find it to be amazing how it really helps me see the universe as it is in Islam, and not be afraid. Fear was my main reason for abandoning it in the first place, I could not grasp how we can be free while Allah has foreknowledge of all events, that everything is in his hands and He has written it all in a "book" (I think of the "code" that Ayahuasca shows me in everything)... All that gave me fear, I couldn't submit to that! But DMT has shown me how it really is, that it is nothing to be afraid of and that it is something to rejoice in... it's very hard to explain you have to see for yourself I suppose but it is wonderful to me...


It should be stated that I have not reverted fully to Islam... I feel love for it in my heart but that has not yet translated in following the 5 pillars... therefore I am not a MUSLIM as of now... partially I am afraid that my wife will never understand and leave me over it (she is a strong anti-monotheist due to a fundamentalist Christian upbringing) but that will not stand in the way of faith blooming in my life forever it is just something that I have to work out...


Thanks for all who read this post! It is something dear to my heart and I hope this is a tolerant enough place to accept it!

I'm afraid I have to respectfully disagree with this quote:

"Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived."
-Isaac Asimov

I'm wondering if Isaac Asimov spoke Hebrew....because the original old testament was written in Hebrew....The bible as we know it today is nothing more than a gross misinterpretation of the original text.... So I doubt Isaac "properly" read the bible.

For example, words like God, Jesus and HEaven are all "made up" words..
God's real names have been kept somewhat hidden from mainstream knowledge

Ever hear of people saying Jesus is the son of man? this is a mistranslation
what it is supposed to say is Yeshua is the son of Adam

Correction...Old Issaac, he did speak hebrew...but his parents were Jewish....so I'm pretty sure he's just missing the point...And was probably never introduced to Kabbalistic interpretations.

I was questioning my religious beliefs long before DMT was on the scene. Its hard not to when you see so much injustice and abuse stemming directly from the church - and think that this has been going on for 2000+ years! Something inside of me became deeply suspicious of such rigid, dogmatic organisations.

I realised that worshiping at a church is not my thing, particularly when I wasn't sure if there even was a God. I did not need to go down that route to have a rewarding spiritual life. But the questions kept on nagging - why are we here? what is my purpose? etc - the usual growing up, wanting to find answers to things that really didn't have one specific answer. So with that in mind I will try to answer your questions as best I can:

what sort of religious beliefs (or absence thereof) do you hold?

God, for me, is the energy or driving force behind the universe. I frequently commune with DMT which helps me to connect to this mighty force - which is also present inside us. It just needs a little coaxing I do not subscribe to any one religious doctrine, how ever I do take on board and incorporate certain techniques, teachings and customs from many, for instance prayer and meditation. I also celebrate Christmas and easter, but do not consider myself Christian as such - they are great holidays for seeing loved ones, which makes them sacred enough for me.

Are you in the same religion that you were raised in(assuming you were raised in one)?

I was raised Church of England (Protestant), how ever I do not consider myself a follower of this religion.

Did your religious beliefs change upon your personal experiences with DMT? Did your experiences make you have a 'falling out' with your religion, or compel you to change to a new one, or did it reinforce your beliefs, or did it have no effect on your religiousness?

Seeing as I am not religious, no. How ever certain beliefs (which are always subject to change) have been reinforced, while others have been dropped. I had 'fallen out' with my religion long before hyperspace, and was not compelled to go back to it, or find another to replace it once I had experienced DMT fully. I have since how ever become more interested in Buddhist philosophy.

Psychedelics and particularly DMT have opened me up and stripped away a lot of unnecessary garbage that I was attached to. For a while I was torn between how I wanted to live, and how others perceived me / expected me to be. That no longer matters to me. turns out those worth their salt will stick around any way, regardless of the things you enjoy. I have also learned that material things are often inconsequential to our happiness.

Now - DMT has thrust me into the presence of something so enormous, so mysterious, so powerful, so beautiful, so glorious, so terrible, so mindblowing that I can only describe it as Divine - decades of Church and religious education have never connected me to the Divine in the way that this 'drug' has. It opened me up, spilt my contents everywhere and humbled me by showing me just how small I was, and yet how interconnected everything and everyone really is. It made me appreciate my existence like nothing else. It taught me to keep my mind open and go with the flow. It showed me DEEP states of meditation that I would probably never have experienced unless I devoted my life to that path, it showed me unimaginable love and ecstasy and fear beyond anything life has thrown at me so far, and I feel stronger for it. DMT for me is a portal to the mysterious and divine, and I can go there any time I want, I don't need some corrupt organisation to help me get there.

Hope that answers your questions!

Getting into the Hebrew origins of christianity; I found their Original god Yahwe pretty interesting and I wonder why they worshiped a god whom they gave mainly negative characteristics. Also I found the huge influence of persian Zoro-astrianism on the Hebrews something that fundamentally shaped Christianity, definitely something to think about if you believe the bible is fact. I simply find these things interesting. It shows that we build and adapt religions to suit our needs, in the beginning of civilization many rulers attempted to create religions that managed their people and suited their needs in order to maintain a healthy state. in short I guess I could apply this to any religious text and find interesting things about how they all originated. Nothing is face value only a certain way of describing something.