I have written this essay to address a problem I feel is prominent in the entheogenic community. I do not speak of any specific people neither in here nor anywhere else. It is only intended as a push in the direction of integrating the entheogenic reality with the physical one, to avoid being trapped between two worlds. Take it from someone who knows.

I have recently seen quite a number of people in the entheogenic community showing characteristics that are the exact opposite of what consumers of these substances are thought to stand for. While the consensus is that entheogens provide an extraordinary ability to gain insight and wisdom, healing, and create a happier life, some people seem to not gain this positivity. To the contrary, these individuals seem to be depressed, filled with hate and in some instances even delusional. It may be that I have just not seen it as clear earlier or it may be that it is a growing number of such cases. I do not know. The bottom line is, however, that this phenomenon really is happening. I therefore asked myself, how could this be?

Entheogens provide us with an extraordinary ability to see the existence from other angles. One may get in contact with another side of our existence, feel and see elements otherwise hidden. Entheogens even allow us to contact entities, whether they are aliens, spirits, gods, demons, personalized structures of one’s own mind, or simply plain fantasy. What they really are is debatable, as it is with all subjects of possible paranormal origin. It is likely to be as many belief systems, as many “truths”, in the world as it is humans, which leaves us at the conclusion that we really can’t say anything firm about these encounters. Your truth is as true to you as my truth is to me, let’s leave it at that.

Whatever these experiences may or may not be, they are certainly something totally out of the ordinary. They provide us with a great ability to see the world from a different angle. This is something mankind could gain tremendous from, and indeed have done throughout history and continues to do so today. However good this may sound, it’s not all flowers and teddy bears. Getting into contact with this other side of reality provides us with real challenges as well as real treasures. When we experience life from what may be described as a non-physical point of view, it is easy to loose attachment to one's physical body. While this may not be a negative thing if done with the intention of being aware of both the non-physical and physical reality of existence, thus creating a more wholesome picture of existence, some people seem to go too far.

The peoples in question seem to forget, or wish to forget, that they have a physical body, even in the daily life. It seems to be a tendency of living in the reality of entheogenic experiences, without giving much thought to the existence here and now. They seem to despite the physical reality and everything that comes with it. I don't blame them, for it is much to be unsatisfied with in this physical reality of ours. Even if it is a world filled with hatred and fear, and even if the physical existence gives us intense limitations, it is where and how we exist. We do live on this physical place in space and in this exact time. That is not really something we can do anything with, all we can do is giving every effort in creating this reality to be as blissful as possible.

It is of no use to let the worries in the world affect us. To the contrary, we who have seen the wonders, should do everything in our powers in order to integrate this wonderful side of existence into everyday life. This is only obtainable by living both in this physical existence and in the non-physical existence, not by living in just one of them. It is a good idea to look at yourself like a tree: A tree have leaves that stretch for the sun, but also roots that stretch deep underground for water. Both is equally important, without one of them the tree would not survive. The same goes for you. You need both to stretch for the skies and to ground yourself to this physical place.

Everybody working with entheogens should therefore take time to ground themselves. Every experience should be properly thought through and integrated, so what has been experienced may provide positivity in your everyday life. Extra time should be used to ground oneself before and after the experiences. This can be done with easy meditation techniques, or with something as simple as gardening work, cooking or talking to friends and family. By doing such, you will be able to live in the two realities of our existence, thus maintaining a healthy mind in both of them. You will have your feet on the ground while you at the same time are flapping with your wings. The tree will blossom.

With love and respect for my fellow travelers,
Evening Glory

I understand that you wrote this specifically to address those members of the commuity who need addressing, but I also think the thoughts expressed in in the essay could evolve to be much more than that. They are essential cautionary words, which apply to the feelings of, I believe, many of us.

It would be so easy to let go of some of the more catted-up aspects of life on earth at the moment for a more selective focus on the timelessness of the other realms, but you're right, it's not good. And it is a desire that lurks in many... even if it's realized in only a few.

Being one of the many in whom the desire only lurks, I think it's nonetheless important to keep these thoughts posted on the figurative wall. And I think if you generalized more the idea expressed, as you do in the last paragraphs, rather than aim them, this would be a handy document to keep around.

Thank you for your kind words. The idea of grounding is not something new, but I feel it is a lack of understanding of this concept among some members in the entheogenic community. That is why I aimed it directly to entheogen users. It is a good idea to integrate this concept in your life no matter if you are interested in entheogens or spirituality or not. I like the idea of writing a more generalized essay on grounding, but that is really a subject you can find thousands of books on.

OoOook.. Sorry, I think I just misunderstood who your intended audience was, or you misunderstood who the audience I suggested you intend was. I thought you were referring to a specific number of ungrounded entheogen users, and my response was that you should write this to ALL entheogen users, even the grounded ones, because we all need to keep it in mind.

I wasn't suggesting the general public!

Very good point, and very well made. I agree with you wholeheartedly - it is a challenge for all of us, not to become confounded by the wonders, to remember to clean out the monkey cage and enjoy our time here on this plane. Essential.

Thanks for sharing this, EG - it's important, and said with much gentleness and love.

Namaste

Oh, I see! It is intended both for the ungrounded members of the community, both here and elsewhere, as well as for the seemingly grounded ones. What made me write this was the realization that many entheogen users don't have their feet on the ground, but it can very well be applied to everyone else in the community, something I tried to point in the direction of in the last paragraphs. I very much appreciate your thoughts!

I think it is the balance of both worlds that makes it all work.
Strong grounding in this world can help you go further and have a more meaningful experience in the other. I know from experience.

Taking a break from it is never a bad thing.

Thats a good message EG, and I particularly like your sig....

Fear less, hope more; Eat less, chew more; Whine less, breathe more; Talk less, say more; Hate less, LOVE MORE, and all good things will be yours!


I would like to think most people in the enthogenic community would share the centering/grounding concept as a main goal in life, but life ( and the rush of time upon us all,) does push folks this way and that so that such goals are not as high priority as perhaps they should be. ( myself included.)

Yet it is a goal we should all seek to achieve.

Imagine living in a body that constantly hurt. Maybe then you would understand why some of us are hateful and depressed. We're not all perfect little psychedelic creatures. Some of us are permanently physically fucked and have to deal with this on a momentary basis until we disappear.




It is the complete opposite of forgetting where you are. It's the painful menacing reminder that you are here right now and you have to deal with this and there's nothing you can do about it except accept every moment and do your best to be the positive happy person that everyone wants and expects you to be. Imagine that for a second...

I found this extremely relevant to my own experience, and experiences I have shared with others.

Edit: I just want to add that I truly love everyone here and am so grateful for all the time everyone takes to share deeply personal experiences. If anyone ever needs to talk, I will happily hold space and listen... conversational grounding.

Another thing I've found grounding recently is to read any and all of the psychedelic literature I can get my hands on. It is so reaffirming to know that there are others who have blazed the trail. I am burning to connect right now... That roots me, too...

Just what House said - although in my case it's not the body but rather the soul that seems to be trapped in darkness.

Anything I do, I cannot get rid of the negativity I carry with myself. I see the positive side, the light, but it feels as if I were not destined for that. Which makes me angry and sad.

I found the roots of the tree you are talking about only once in my life. It would be time for a rejoice. That's why I'm here: to prepare for that, in the hope that I can solve this problem of mine forever.

Thank you for your excellent answer! You do have a very good point. But look at it like this... When you do have a body that constantly hurt, you have two choices: You may identify with the physical pain, including the pain in your thought of yourself, into your ego. You then become a person filled with pain, not only physical, but also mentally.

You may also say that okay, I do have this pain, it is nothing I can do with it and it is fucking killing me, but will I allow it to do that? Will I allow a negative element I have no control over to take control of my life? Will I allow a part of my physical reality control my non-physical reality? Will I really let any part of anything control me in any way, except for the part that is the essence of myself, which is pure love?

Of course, this is much easier to write than to achieve in real life. I sincerely understand one hundred percent that it is extremely hard to deal with constant pain. But if it wasn't hard, then nothing wonderful could come out of it. There is no such thing as light if darkness does not exist. The challenge is to try and let this physical pain which you do have, not let take control of who you truly are.

While living in the pain may seem as living in yourself, it really isn't. It is living in a dark emotion which really isn't a part of your essence. Sure, it is a part of your physical body, but not a part that you may do anything with. Therefore it is of no use to live in it. Not one single element of positivity can come from identifying with your pain, even if it is a very hard thing to achieve not identifying with it. I wish you all the best, my brother!


It seriously made my eyes watery to read this. I know many people that also seem to believe their soul is trapped in darkness. I also once was one, and from time to time still are. It is a very hard challenge. Let me put it to you as clear as possible: Not one human soul is trapped in darkness. Not a single one. Every human soul is made out of pure love, of pure light. It is the structures above your soul which may be trapped in darkness. This can have numerous reasons and you will meet numerous different explanations from different people.

What I can tell you, is that the way to go for attacking this problem is by focusing on the thought that you indeed are pure love. Of course this is a very hard task to do when one feel lost in the darkness, which only makes it an even more important thing to do. You should really start meditating while focusing on this exact thought. If you get overwhelmed by the dark feeling, tell yourself that this feeling originates not from the true self, but from structures in your ego that need to be washed out.

By focusing on your essence, you will after time be able to wash these structures out. It will take time, it will be hard, and you will feel like giving up. Exactly because of this, you should do it. When you do come out of this, you will feel reborn in a way not possible to describe with words. I advice you to take lessons in some eastern techniques, buddhist meditation, kunlun, or even yoga. Search, and you will find the answer. It is there, believe me. I have walked the same path.


Oh, and please note, this thread was NOT intended for anyone specific in here, it really was intended as a gentle push for a large number of people.

honestly..no offence but until someone has been there its gunna be hard for them to understand..when you are so sick..too sick to work or even go out most of the time, watching the people who were apparently your freinds turn away from you..its a hard thing to see past. I know becasue I have been there and it taught me alot about how shallow the magority of people really are.. The world becasme this place where I was nothing more than an annoyance and noone really cared.

Its so easy for others to sit and say this or that from the outside..but its like night and day..one is theory the other is reality. Theory sounds nice and all but its hard to keep at it when you have the rest of this society and their expectations surrounding you.

I eventaully got somewhat better and learned that people dont mean to be so naive and selfish..they just dont really know, becasue they are not me. All they saw was some 23 year old kid that stopped going out and comming around etc, and couldnt possibly understand why. I wanted people to be able to aknowledge what I was goign through instead of critisize me, so whether or not they can do that, I want to give others that same level of acceptance that I want from them.

Well, as stated, I was that exact guy you are describing. It IS possible. It is just damn hard. It takes a long time of following one's own path, but the path does end a wonderful place.

yeah its possible, doesnt mean everyone else will ever understand though..and thats the hard part. I mean..theres a point where I just learned that in order to get better, I had to just let all those people who werent really my freinds drop away and not mind. The next year and a half was really lonely and it felt like metaphorical death..I had droppd out of college cus I was soo sick to go every day, could barely work and sat at home most of the time..the only people that ever came around was my best friend and his gf.

But it was just a part of what I had to learn in life. And I learned alot. It was as important as psychedelics in teaching me a vital lesson.

Great thread and much appreciated.

I've found physical exercise to be very grounding and also while meditating imagine roots coming out of your feet deep into the ground.

And one thing. There will always be a billion people that don't understand you. And we just have to accept that and move on. There are a lot of things in this life that we need to accept and it can make you go crazy sometimes. I've had my share of both physical and mental pain and darkness through my life. What helped me the most to cope was God or what ever you want to call it. This higher force that led me the way out of hell. Today I pray to be of use for this higher force. Serving others is a powerful way to get out of your crazy head and forget your misery. And then good things start to happen.

I'm very lucky to be alive today 'cause I've flirted with death several times through life. Today I'm generally very happy and I have a wonderful wife and a daughter that means everything to me. I have my up's and down's but I know where to reach for help. Pain can be a valuable teacher.
And don't inflict pain upon others. What comes around goes around.

Thank you for the wonderful words. I am very much aware that there is a vast number of people that don't get what I'm saying, and I am fine with that. Or, I don't like it, but that is just how it is. I do, however, think it is important to point out that what I have written here also may apply to people who are not spiritual. Every advice given here is a very good advice for anyone, no matter if they are spiritual or not.

Sometimes it occurs that people see things that they can't un-see. Then, for whatever reason, very unskillful responses arise. This is extremely unfortunate, because more suffering arises from everybody when levels of delusion and hatred and depression (those are linked together) increase. How can we as a community strive to make more situations arise where people have skillful responses to things like this?

Not that I'm suggesting that the above paragraph explains all of the problems that you have mentioned. Far from it. But I think that's one of the significant sources of trouble among entheogen users -- they don't know what to do when certain things happen, or they don't actually do the things they supposedly know they should. How can we help prevent this from occurring? I don't yet have answers, but I'd like to ask the question in the hopes that answers can be created.

Yeah, that is an excellent point! Sometimes we see things we are not supposed to see at the current stage of our existence or spiritual development. Some people handle this well, others do not. I don't believe there exists any good solution to this other than taking time in grounding oneself to this life on this planet in this time.

Perhaps I have not explored all the vaults of dmt nexus enough, but I have not yet come across delusional or hateful people. Everyone's been nice, and sane so far. Can you point me toward some of the threads, or which boards these phenomenon seem to occur? Just wondering what kind of thoughts are out there.