Originally posted by godisanathiest
Yeah, Shamen take them as part of their rituals
Interesting. LSD is also good for such spiritual exploration (in relatively small quantities). Either of these drugs can do in a few hours what your otherwise take years of concentration/meditation to attain (if one is so inclined).
A few years back I used schrooms to help a friend overcome her hang-ups and dire fears regarding christianity. She is a smart girl, spiritually inclined, but she had been raised Catholic and she just couldn't let go of the fear that was instilled in her as such a young age. It's not as if she actually believed it, logically she didn't of course, but still, that horrible fear (of hell) lingers even long after the mind has matured and can rationalize it to be the bullshit mind-fuck that it is. That's why the brainwashing starts at such a young age, if they waited till the kid is old enough to actually think (like around 8 or 9) then there's very little chance they'd fall for it enough to not completely dismiss it by the age of 12 or 13. Of course my friend, like me, was brainwashed from birth and as ridiculous as christianity now seems to most of us I can assure you that when you are trapped within in, feeling stupid for believing it and yet terrified not to believe, it's a very tangled web that can lead to a whole lot of metal disfunction, guilt, depression, fear, and self-hatred. She was experiencing these negative side-effects of being brainwashed and wanted to be free from them. So...
Before the trip, I explained to her something I call the "death of self". The drug has a tendency to push deep/spiritual people into a state of mind in which the self of the person melts together with the self of the universe. It's a death, but it's also a rebirth in the realization that we are a part of everything else that exists, so as the small self (ego) of the person fades into the universe, the larger self of the cosmos is experienced. Of course, this is all subjective bullshit, but what isn't? The lonliness of being perpetually separated from the world (which religions love to instill in people) is gone.
So the trip was basically a therapy session for her, and I was just acting as a guide to help her get the most out of it. Anyway, there was a point into the trip where she was laying in the sand and she said "I feel like I'm part of the sand, the air, and the stars." I provoked her more to let her self (ego) "die" and to be reborn as a new person and she had such an incredible experience. Finding her true sense of spirituality, she was able to finally look at the religion which was shoved down her throat in a new light from OUTSIDE of it, objectively, without fear, and she was able to let go of the fear, guilt, and sense of unworthiness which had plauged her since she was old enough to think.
It's been 3 or 4 years now and she has never recanted and now, like me, she finds a great deal of humour in the way she used to think (in terms of sin, hell, repentence, and all that simple-minded nonsense). The monster under her bed died that night and never returned. I cannot express the satisfaction I felt from helping her in this way. I, perhaps more than anyone, am keenly aware of how it feels to be held captive by your own mind by means of a scary theological system which serves absolutely NO good purpose and creates a whole lot of mental problems. Thus my desire to help others out of this trap, just as I was helped by someone else, just as he was helped, etc. It's a legacy which I'm happy to be a part of.
Therefore, based on such experiences, I conclude, if anyone is spiritually inclined and you want to escape the mental trap that religion has imposed on you, schrooms or lsd is the way to go. It can do in a few hours what would take months or years of self-exploration and de-brainwashing to attain. Think of it as a complete cure for irrational fears drilled into a person in childhood and a means by which a person can be completely honest with themself about spiritual/metaphysical ideas. It really works!
Now, who says all drugs are bad?
Satori
and there was pot involved - LOTS of pot - and then everything got REALLY screwy. My stomach starting flippin out and couldn't hang, so I knew I had to get to the bathroom but couldn't because my legs didn't seem to work. I honestly believed they wouldn't function if I tried to use them. 
"AHH! LET'S GET OUT OF HERE!" But, it's all good around your friends...it's those strangers that creep me out.
