Understanding DMT Entities, Elves and other Hallucinations

Humphrey Osmond

Romancing Chaos

The word Psychedelic was coined by LSD enthusiast Humpfrey Osmond in and effort to change the perception of LSD from a deliriant that induced schizophrenia, to a drug that had medical potential.  

The term "psychedelic" is derived from the Ancient Greek words psychē (ψυχή, "soul") and dēloun (δηλοῦν, "to make visible, to reveal"),translating to "mind-manifesting". wiki

 

"It was on this term that Osmond eventually settled, because it was "clear, euphonious and uncontaminated by other associations."This mongrel spelling of the word 'psychedelic' was loathed by American ethnobotanist Richard Evans Schultes, but championed by Timothy Leary, who thought it sounded better. Due to the expanded use of the term "psychedelic" in pop culture and a perceived incorrect verbal formulation, Carl A.P. Ruck, Jeremy Bigwood, Danny Staples, Jonathan Ott, and R. Gordon Wasson proposed the term "entheogen" to describe the religious or spiritual experience produced by such substances." From Wikipedia:

The irony is that an insurance salesman and a bunch of humanities teachers don't realize that the 60's music scene recreated the Ancient Mystery religions, and the negative associations can't be eradicated by changing the name evidenced by the Leary crowd.Thinks about this: we go from a medical term, Psychotomimetic, meaning inducing psychosis, to Psychedelic, meaning mind manifesting, to Entheogen, meaning the religious or spiritual experience produced by the plant substances.  And this occurred in the span of about 25 years.

  

The gatekeeping researchers think that you can change a name and you change what it is, but a rose by another name is still a rose.  Psychedelic drugs are dangerous, but can have amazing results for us.  Romanticizing the experience through language is negligent and the equivalent to false advertising by snake oil salesmen. One such huckster everyone loves was Terrance McKenna.

St. Terrance McKenna

In high school (c. 1985-89), I read Carlos Castaneda and William Burroughs, so when I came across McKenna, I found nothing original in his work. I found his work a regurgitation of both Castaneda and Burroughs. Furthermore, rather than demystify the drugs through his experiences, he choose to continue the mystique by describing his experiences as True Hallucinations. A land of elves and fairies with gifts to give us, if we only reach out to them;"the gnomes have found a new way to say hooray".  So taking drugs allows you to "see" a world of imaginary creatures?  To see aliens?  Devils or Angels? Maybe.

Maybe its neuroplasticiy at work? Maybe the molecules in the psychoactive drugs are just realigning your brain's sensory perceptions and linguistic model of the world?  Maybe, all the hallucinations are part of an epigenetic process where your body is going through a genetic change?  Maybe that includes scanning your junk DNA for genetic code?  Maybe that junk DNA has memories of your families history going back to a single cell organism? Maybe your life as a sperm? Or egg? Maybe even the memory of your birth?

Alien Abduction

Being born is one of the most traumatic experiences a person goes through, and you may even have a memory of it.  Most of us are familiar with the Alien abduction scene in a movie. A helpless person is dragged under an bright light by green beings who then perform experiments on them.  

Seems to me like a vague memory of being born in a western style hospital.  A baby pops out of the birth canal, high on many hormones, including DMT. Their eyes cannot yet focus, but they see a green being- think the grey/green color of scrubs worn by doctors.  They also wear eye protection as well. So I assume to a newborns unfocused eyes a doctor in a surgery outfit would look like an alien. Furthermore, the baby is put through a series of tests or experiments. And if you're a boy, you get the tip of your dick cut off.  

Imprinting- the blank slate, brain as printing press

So, imagine you have a flashback to your birth? Wouldn't you describe it as an alien abduction?  And this brings up the notion imprinting.  What ever language it is that someone exposes you to is the language you are going to use.  What I'm getting at is, if you read Terrance McKenna, you might might describe your psychedelic trip to a wonderland of elves and gnomes.  

I did drugs before I read any of these people. And I did them out of boredom, at first.  My friends and I would take some LSD and just go do something - like go to the beach or downtown LA at 2AM.  We would just trip.  We never saw elves or fairies or aliens.  It was just trippy- more like mind melting. 

I liked the experience so much that I wanted to learn more.  Information was hard to come by back then and you could find books at places like Tower Records, and used bookstores   My best luck would be at thrift stores.  Carlos Castaneda's books were there, found the Doors of Perception, and I would even find a paperback on LSD.  But the most influential book was the Danny Sugarman biography of Jim Morrison, No one Here get out alive.  After reading that and listening to the Doors, I stated to think of Breaking on through to the other side.  Or thinking of becoming the consciousness of a fly after reading Castenada's The Teachings of Don Juan. 

Acid is used to clean printing presses  

Now, that brings me to the concept of LSD being called acid.  Albert Hoffman named his ergot extract, Lysergic acid after the legendary Lycurgus, the Spartan law giver- the father of Ancient Greek laws.  So what Hoffman was saying with his name was -- LSD could dissolve laws. Oh, and Lycurgus made his citizens take an oath not to change the laws until he returned from a mission- he never returned.  Acid is also used to clean printing press plates.  So Hoffman knew that his drug was inducing some sort of breakdown of the the brain's imprinting. And he would know this a a chemist, or an alchemist, the terms are inscribed on the Alchemical symbol of Baphomet,  Dissolve; coagulate. THEY have  known for millennia  that these drugs break down a person's concept of reality, change it, then form a new Reality. 

Psychoactive substances induce neuroplasticity

I know as teacher that it gets more difficult to learn as we get older because our  brains become hard wired.  Around the age of 25, our brains' sort of stop developing.  Your prefrontal cortex starts to engage more, but you start becoming set in your ways- its hard to change and learn new things, (especially as the planning part takes over.) And this is where psychedelics can really beneficial because it's really the probably the only way to induce change in brain short of near death experience. 

Here's the thing.  We know now almost everything these molecules do to our brain, and how they alter our chemistry.  We know exactly what is going on from MRI/s, brains scans, blood tests, experiments on rats, so why would we continue to use such vague, misleading language to describe the effects these drugs? And if we change the language associated with these descriptions to include the negative, and neuroplastic, and epigenetic effects, then maybe we can use the substances more effectively as a society. 

Neurogenesis at the very least

One of the most interesting things psilocybin mushrooms have been proven to do is induce neurogenesis. They literally cause the growth of new neurons in our brains.  So instead of describing these experiences as divine or seeing aliens, maybe we can think of these molecules as inducing neuroplasticity, epigenetic changes, and neurogenesis, and maybe being conscious of the experience is all you are experiencing.  

So before you go looking for aliens or elves, just know that these are mostly hobgoblins of the mind. Maybe there are invisible creatures we can see while under the influence, I just haven't had any of those experiences myself, and neither have my close friends.  But we've all experienced telepathy, deja vu, and synesthesia-like experiences.  I think if you approach these drugs in more scientific way you can avoid becoming insane looking for god, or elves, and instead just find yourself. 

Think about it and let me know what you think?