Psychedelic Experience for Personal Benefit: Second Edition

By Robert E. Leihy

Marijuana is the largest cash crop in the United States in part because it safely satisfies the universal need for diversion and self transcendence. This book describes how it can also be harnessed for self exploration, situational analysis, personal growth, and creativity.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jul 10, 2014
• ISBN: 9781499042313

Robert E. Leihy

The author graduated from Purdue and the Johns Hopkins universities. He has had many years of formal scientific research experience as well as informal personal experience with both natural and synthetic psychedelic drugs. He has carefully and thoroughly explored the experience from both the psychological and the spiritual perspectives. This book summarizes his observations and conclusions regarding the benefits and the safety of the psychedelic experience including the experience provided by occasional sessions with mild legal marijuana. It also provides considerable useful structure for the experience itself and explains how it can be harnessed to work toward specific personal goals.

Book preview

PSYCHEDELIC

EXPERIENCE

FOR PERSONAL BENEFIT

Second Edition

Robert E. Leihy

Copyright © 2014 by Robert E. Leihy.

attribution: Nelson Mandela photo by South Africa The Good News / www.sagoodnews.co.za

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 06/30/2014

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Contents

Introduction

Safety

Cautions

The Nature Of The Psychedelic Experience

The Stimulated Intuitive Mind

Expanded Consciousness

Enhanced Perception

Self Analysis

Neuroplastic Space

Rational Imagery

The Inner Voice

Self Transcendence

The Path To Fulfillment

Refinement

Peace of Mind

Relaxation

Cosmic And Religious Experience

The Spiritual Definition

The Materialistic Definition

Ambiguity Tolerance

Neuroplastic Influence

Bad Trips

Summary

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Dedicated to my mentor, Dr. Stanislav Grof

Introduction

This essay is careful not to advocate the use of psychedelic drugs but to describe their effects, their possible uses, their safety, and cautions to be taken in their use.

I have been involved in the relatively new field of psychedelic drug research for much of my adult life, both professionally as an acting psychotherapist and also casually as an interested explorer. I have had the privilege of acting as ground control for well over two hundred people experiencing high dose LSD sessions: normal volunteers, mental patients, and alcoholics. Over time, my colleagues and I have experienced several psychedelic sessions ourselves at low to high dosage levels. I have personally explored these realms of consciousness carefully and thoroughly within myself and by talking with others from both the psychological and the spiritual perspectives. I think that this experience qualifies me as being knowledgeable in this area. This essay is in effect a summary of some of my observations and conclusions. I am in hopes that they are found to be useful to anyone seeking deeper relaxation and peace of mind with or without psychedelic stimulation, and to practitioners who assist others who are seeking the same sorts of things.

I also had the privilege of having Dr. Stanislav Grof (stanislavgrof.com) as my mentor many years ago. I am focussing on his concepts of the melted ecstasy, or the experience of perfect tranquility, and of the mental resolutions that clear the pathway to it.

In the past, psychedelic drug research has usually involved a low number of high-dose sessions. These have been found to be of value and interest, but when they are over they are over. In addition, they are very abstract in nature and not easy to remember or to put into practice in daily life. The insights gained in lower and moderate doses are much easier to remember and to practice, to cultivate, and to customize into daily life. In addition, the lower dose sessions can more easily be guided into chosen topics.

The general thrust of the essay is to show how psychedelics, including mild, safe, legal marijuana, can be used as occasional low to moderate dose training aids to stimulate the type of meditation that can lead to deeper relaxation, deeper peace of mind, clear rationality, and creativity. With these sorts of goals in mind, it is possible to train oneself like an athlete to reach a more contented, stress-free, and yet fully active state of being and lifestyle.

I symbolize Dr. Grof’s melted ecstacy as the Emerald City in this essay along with the Yellow Brick Road as the path of adventures leading toward it. Symbols of this nature can be very helpful in communicating the broader abstractions that are dealt with while experiencing expanded consciousness.

Everyone is somewhere on the yellow brick road. Those nearest the Emerald City in the first place would tend to have pleasant, educational, and relaxing psychedelic experiences while those further away would tend to have more intense and frequent work to do. The work is almost always interesting and satisfying, so it more like a series of adventures than hard work. One can learn a great deal about himself and as such also of the rest of the human race. When it comes to such basics as as survival and well being, we are all just alike.

I might be misusing the terms somewhat, but one model could be that psychedelics stimulate the voluntary nervous system in terms of greater focussed attention on the body and its connection to the outside world while at the same time the involuntary nervous system can be encouraged to relax its tensions and cramps. With practice it becomes possible to control and reduce most of the tensions and the cramps almost down to nothing while still staying active in the outside world. I assume that a neurologist could determine if the same psychedelic process that reduces epileptic seizures is at work when one willfully reduces tensions in his body. In any case, the practice of relaxation on the inside and the practice of precision and efficiency in relating to the outside world are the tools or the guides for progress toward the Emerald City. Whatever gets in the way on the yellow brick road to tranquility are what can be worked on. Eventually the tension areas are reduced to the point where they are either resolved or can be bypassed. This process can be done with or without psychedelic stimulation, of course, but psychedelic stimulation makes it more vivid.

Not only is it possible to more easily identify and resolve mental tension issues, it is also possible to discover a variety of positive mental experiences and approaches to the physical world within oneself that in turn can be cultivated into everyday life experience. For instance, the mental experience of the concept of an inner source of positive energy is certainly a form of peace of mind, but it can also be extended into the area of going about one’s daily activities while holding the concept that the background of existence is a positive peacefulness. Having this extra degree of control over one’s life drama can be more profitable than buffeting about from pillar to post in the world while simply responding to stimuli. Being more able to grow good and new approaches within oneself is a pleasant skill.

A great deal can be done with expanded consciousness that is not yet common knowledge. Since marijuana is becoming more legal, it is less necessary to be a subject in a research program to take advantage of the psychedelic experience for personal exploration and benefit. It is a form of freedom to explore as one wishes rather than being disciplined by a formal setting. I believe that this freedom is very beneficial since only the individual knows what he wants or needs to explore at any given time. He can learn to regulate his dosage level in such a way as to arrive at exactly the level of abstraction that he wants to work on.

I like the general concept of a tension issue because not all tension issues are conflicts. It is possible to be bothered by low-order but persistent thoughts or moods. These sorts of experiences can also sometimes be brought to the forefront to be resolved with psychedelics, and one can also practice subduing them with deep relaxation and meditation. Peace of mind and relaxation are the goals in either case.

In August, 2013, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN’s multiple Emmy award winning chief medical correspondent, stated that after considerable research that he had reversed his opinion of marijuana. He now considers it as safe when used properly and as useful for a variety of medical illnesses including extremely severe and frequent epileptic seizures. I think that this presentation is a tipping point with respect to the current political and medical approaches to the marijuana issue. Directly after Dr. Gupta’s presentation, the comedy TV show Two Broke Girls presented marijuana cupcakes as being safe, emotionally uplifting, and a welcome relief from menstrual cramps. Perhaps the media has also reached a tipping point.

Being the largest cash crop in the United States, surpassing even corn and wheat, marijuana is clearly useful in safely satisfying the high universal demand for relaxation, diversion, and self transcendence that exists in all cultures. In the right dosage range, it can also stimulate focused and penetrating meditation on chosen topics. At the time of this writing medicinal marijuana is legal in the entire country of Canada.

According to Dr. Nancy Snyderman on NBC Nightly News, mothers are finding that it manages their children’s epileptic seizures. One lady that I talked to maintained that after going through all of the doctors and all of the expensive medications, marijuana was found to be the only medication that could level out the highs and the lows of her very severe bipolar disorder and that it did not interfere with her normal daily functioning. She was running a cash register while we were chatting. I am guessing that either she was very used to the experience or that she was using CBD, the extract from marijuana that does not stimulate mental activity. With higher doses, psychedelic drugs can also stimulate the experiencing and the living of awesome religious concepts and cosmic points of view and in this sense they could be considered as sacramental. It certainly appears that psychedelics, including marijuana, have some very positive potential uses.

Also discussed is how at higher doses the broad cosmic and religious concepts can sometimes not only be conceptualized symbolically but vividly experienced. Psychedelic experience makes the pure essence of these sorts of concepts much more vivid and as such are welcome to people on the spiritual quest. The symbols attributed to these concepts can remain in memory after the experience has ended and can act as rational reminders of them.

After over 50 years of exposure to the area, I personally have not heard of a single case of violence, inappropriate sexual behavior, or even a car accident attributable specifically to the psychedelic experience itself. This is certainly not the case with alcohol or meth. Nor have I heard of a single case of liver damage, rotted teeth, or any other physical damage even after long-term use. If there are any problems of this nature, they must be mild and rare. The major effects of psychedelics are relaxation, meditation, and creativity. The various synthetic and naturally occurring psychedelic drugs are absolutely non-toxic and non-addicting. Back in the 1960’s a gentleman whose name I do not remember took LSD every day for a month and then stopped completely in order to see if there were any aftereffects or addictions. There were none. Beside their apparent usefulness, this class of drugs appears to be statistically extremely safe.

Any naturally-occurring drug that is both safe and that at the same time that provides significant physical and mental health benefits can honestly be classified as a healing herb or even as a godsend.

The high demand for drug-induced diversion and self transcendence is world-wide and has existed throughout history. Overuse of these drugs, certainly including alcohol, has led to much tragedy as exemplified by the myth of the mermaids who lured sailors to crash their ships onto the rocky shores. To the extent that safe psychedelics can satisfy this demand, they will be a blessing. A few preliminary findings already indicate that alcohol abuse and crime in general are reduced in neighborhoods that have medical marijuana distribution centers.

Satisfactory levels of deep tranquility, focussed attention, and other positive states of being can be found and cultivated with or without any drugs at all, and practicing to achieve them is a meaningful challenge and satisfying lifestyle. The practice is similar to that of the practice of any other type of skill. Psychedelic drugs can help to reveal some of these positive states of consciousness and can make their practice much more vivid. Having some concrete targets to move toward is much more efficient than random exploration.

The training aid approach to the use of psychedelic drugs could be used, within reason, by people at all levels of mental maturity. Even well-adjusted fully-functioning people have plenty of room to explore in such areas as the philosophical and the religious. People who already use a psychedelic primarily for diversion and pleasure could continue to do so but to add a dimension of personal benefit to their experiences. This technique could also be combined with conventional psychotherapy if so desired. There would be more material to work with, it would emerge by itself, and both goals and blocks to progress would become more vivid. Because psychedelics can be used very effectively to help train the body in deep relaxation, I am guessing that psychotherapeutic techniques similar to systematic desensitization would be effective in the treatment of phobias and similar tension issues. Since the psychedelic experience tends to be somewhat euphoric on the average, formal psychotherapy as well as personal exploration can become both pleasant as well as useful and interesting.

Since psychedelic experience is essentially a stimulation of intuitive thought, low and moderate doses of a psychedelic drug can be used for simple recreation, deep relaxation, deep meditation, self analysis, situational analysis, heightened perception, and expanded consciousness. Higher doses, with a few precautions, can be used to vividly explore cosmic and religious concepts. All of this can be done in the comfort and safety of a recliner without even a hint of a hangover.

Stimulated meditation is an appropriate phrase to describe the mental processes resulting from a low to moderate dosage. A single topic becomes more vivid and long-lasting. Associations will tend to remain focussed on the topic at hand rather than jumping from topic to topic. The intuitive nature of the experience provides what could be called more experiential depth to what is being considered. Broader perspectives provide what could be called larger building blocks to the thought process. The intuitive mind will tend to provide "tension