I have been following last days' discussions first with sadness and now with hope. I have read most posts written here and in other fora and tried to digest them as best as I could.

I'm not American nor do I leave in the US, but the recent events are due to affect most everyone. Therefore I feel as engaged on this fight as any American here

Thus the idea of starting a foundation specific to our "common goal" is clearly one of the best possible routes to go. There are, however, problems. In the first place there are other organizations with similar goals (DPA, LEAP, MAPS, etc), and some of them would clearly embrace this cause. This might be good but may make the idea of starting another organization (foundation or not) irrelevant.

Thus, it is, as has been said, fundamental to state the aim and purpose of such endeavor as clear as possible, not only to guide and focus our goals, but also to differentiate ourselves from those other organizations, so to justify the existence of a new element on this fight for Liberty.

Then, what does in fact characterize our position in the contemporary space? I hope you will not judge me presumptuous for trying an answer. I'm conscious I'm a newbie here, but I tried to understand what is the most common point of view of the Nexus people, and actually the thing that kept me coming to read, learn and post (occasionally). When I analyzed it, the thing that kept me coming was the feeling of the Inner Religiosity of many posts and many members. Many times it just exudated from written paragraphs. This comes from the contemplation of a Divine Feeling that most users of such substances felt. As most know it is a Gnostic sentiment: Knowledge of the Divine by participation. This is pure Religion, a direct connection with the Divine.

If this Religious sentiment is the most common bond, why not seriously start thinking about a religion? As ron69 has mentioned in another thread, religion is the thing that can have the greatest forseen benefits if anyone is on trial. Furthermore, there are very strong legal precedents on the use of DMT beverages in Religious cults in the US and the World. The victories of the UDV in 2008 and the spectacular one of the Santo Daime Church in Oregon, as well as in every other place in Europe, may perhaps provide a better field for battle. Furthermore shielded by that immortal UN fax: (http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/ayahuasca/ayahuasca_law10.shtml), I think we might have a better chance of Win the War, once and for all.

Naturally that there are going to be difficulties. But if we believe that we have a common Spiritual cause, if we believe in the purity of our Intentions and the Sanctity of our Sacrament to reveal the Profound Divine Within, we may have more strength than we may imagine right now.

Check out The Jurema Way:
http://www.dmt-nexus.me/....aspx?g=posts&t=2670

My objection to the whole issue is the method ,not the goal.

Everyone can believe (key verb) into anything, hence laws have been devised at this time of the societal development to protect it : noone can or should prosecute you in anyway if you believe in a guy that was left to die in the cross and came back again, if you believe that the soul of your dead grandpa might reside in an ox,if you believe that stones and plants are deities,if you believe in a pantheon of a milion gods etc. Of course those things are subjective, the only thing one can have on it is not proof ,but belief and the word that the person that believes "feels it" because "he/she has seen" etc.

It saddens me though that this legislation has to be used as a loophole for psychedelics or anything to be acceptable,taking it to the realm of religion ,of the "unseen thus not proovable yet not disaproovable" -> Can i have the option of being a responsible adult with no religious/spiritual views whatsoever that can fully understand possible dangers and possible benefits and still use a psychoactive? Or am i forced to go under the umbrella of yet another church/religion/spirituality system?

In my ideal world one would just have to be responsible.No religion/spirituality/church needed to be involved.Heh, imagine also that if this becomes the way to go a.."heroin Church" ("The Church of Nod" or a "cocain church".Heh, hey heroin is their sacrament imagine a Jurema Way style card for heroin! Or in this case are people going to disagree about the choice of substance? Hmmm if it is so then...where is the religious tolerance you would want the goverment to show you in the DMT case?

I remember "Burnt's" comments and furstration before he left DMT-Nexus : he was more into the scientific side and considered it legitimate from a research and scientific point of view. Religion might be a powerful tool for legalising for some groups ,but still if lots of churches pop up -think of the worst case senario here- with lots of "mumbo jumbo" psychedelics could get even more discredited and a taboo subject.Its a doubled edged sword , and think that humans are capable for the worst and they actually achieve the worst many times :

Think of the existence of Entheogenic Liberty Foundation.The lit match in the petrol tank was thrown with the raid of BBB.But stop for a minute to think of the ethnobotanical vendor scene.

Could it exist without it being too obvious?
Could it do without so many advertisments everywhere and Googleads?
Could it have a lower profile that will both protect the seller and the buyer?

So why people have chosen such obvious ways and started marketing more aggresively those plants turning them into simple products? For many its easy money tending to a "drug consuming" crowd. I pose the above as "the whole scene could have done better but chose otherwise, on the side of shops for money and on the side of the customer for increased consumption".

I know most people will not agree or even feel angry. Give it a thought though,will ya?

As a closing comment/recap : Id much rather see legal pressure to prove that use of psychoactives is reasonable on a scientific,self-regulation,freedom of rights way rather that on a religious basis.

I already knew that. yet, the Jurema Way seems more like a justification for DMT consumption if ever one needed. I do not want to disrespect anyone, but It almost sounds like a "church of subgenius" (http://www.subgenius.com/) type of church, or a mock church. The certificates and badges are cute and well thought of but may convey a different message which may not be the one desired. Also, "Jurema Way" it's a difficult to justify name in a religious context, IMHO.

What I was suggesting was something different: A real religion, registered in several countries, were people could express their religion freely without fear of persecution. Something that one could embrace or not, but should never be a cover up. The Santo Daime and the UDV won because they are real churches, and members are very serious about their beliefs and practices, and the Courts ensured their liberty of cult as proclaimed in the US Constitution.

Could such a thing be created on the web? I've seen stranger things happen!



Both goals are laudable. Of course the first one is the ideal situation. However, even if that was true, a Spiritual Movement, different from the existing others, could be a very important thing to emerge from this messy state of affairs. Think about the benefits of having a Religion supporting people giving their first steps in the Sacrament! I myself really started my journey in the Santo Daime and I could not be more grateful!

Ah ,yes im not downplaying the personal significance of religion/spirituality at all!

For this and for other replies i have posted in the "Entheogenic Liberty Foundation" threads, i want to make clear that i am also a bit of a "Devil's advocate": i want to stimulate also discussion and thought,if this means that a little bit of critique in some ideas can help improve them.

"There is already a restaurant in town. Starting a new one is irrelevant"

It is not the same thing as a new restaurant. The case I'm arguing is more like a Political Party. Would you start a new Party if the ideals were the same, or very similar to the Democratic or the Republican Parties? There must be something that distinguishes the ELF (or whatever the selected name for such an institution) from all the others, and that distinction must be clear.

There is always a difference between organisations because of different individuals have different ideals and ideas on how to do things.