You can get all the expansion of mind you need through self-education and discipline. The most spiritual beings among us abstain from any substance that disrupts their mental/physical components.

That said, such substances are handy tools and I hope some day soon the world wakes up to the fact they are not just idiot poison.

this has always been a niggling point with me.

you can attain states through self-discipline and practice
you can attain states through building a relationship with another entity (anumal.. plant..)
but one is not a substitute for the other, you can and should do both.

'spiritual' people who shun healing plants or guiding spirits have probably not had a dialogue with them. it is something that must be practiced just as yoga must be practiced.

the only one who decides the merit of these states is the self...

Precisely.

I tend to view it like so (in the sense of... glimpses of enlightenment achievable through entheogens) :

It is as if, when we take entheogens in order to find... whatever we want to find (our intent)... we, as humble little souls possessing minor "enlightened knowledge" are getting thrown into a PhD program with members (entities) of much higher intellect discussing, and often times attempting to SHARE, such profound things (ideas, truths, KNOWLEDGE, anything and everything of benefit to any one of us) with each other, and we are attempting to make sense of it all, to find resonance, in hopes of slowly becoming what you hope to be, or achieve (once again, your intent).

When we are thrown (maybe catapulted is a better way to put it ) into this program, we are only able to [SOMETIMES] gain bits and pieces of a bigger picture. By continually using this method to find 'enlightenment' (once again, very general term here), we use these bits and pieces to slowly accumulate knowledge here and there, by doing our best to integrate what we perceive (thanks to entheogens) of this incredibly profound PhD program. This method is akin to trying to learn calculus with only basic math skills (2nd or 3rd grade level).

To achieve such profound knowledge and 'enlightenment' in our daily lives [without the help of any entheogens], we must, at a snail pace, take many, many classes, to ultimately reach this "PhD program". We then are able to fully understand the courseload, as it is no longer a courseload... but rather your life, encompassing every aspect of it. This is when true knowledge is gained.

I'm simply using education as a metaphor.

Graham Hancock: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxSffcy21Bc

check it out. just three quick minutes.