We do not posses imagination enough to sense what we are missing- Jean Toomer Reality, for us, is based upon

our senses; influenced by chemical and electrical impulses upon neurotransmitters. How we touch, smell, hear, see and taste the world around us coincides with how we perceived reality. When we enter alternate states of consciousness induced by dreaming, these same five senses are still applicable. That is why dreams feel so real as, pertaining to our senses, they are. We like to think in this day and age that we have a pretty concrete understanding of what reality really is. Since the dawn of our species there has always been the theory of the something more, an implicate world, a heaven above earth, a life after death. Most of these ideals these days have a strong tie to the religious and spiritual communities. In this research paper we will take a look at religious and spiritual experiences. How do we define them, and what affects do they have on us, and those ever burning questions: who are we? Why are we here? And what are we doing? In this paper I will discuss how do certain chemical compounds referred to as psychedelic drugs (hallucinogens) have a strong connection to these religious and spiritual experiences, on both a physiological and psychological basis, dealing with primarily the endogenous chemical compound called dimethyl-triptamine (DMT) which is related to spiritual, transcendental, and near death experiences (NDE). I will explore the content of my research on both spiritual and psychedelic adventures all the while illustrating the biological phenomenon that takes place during their encounters. This will shine light on how spiritual and psychedelic experiences are alike, and where this research is taking us (human beings as a constantly evolving species). For starters lets look at what constitutes as a religious and spiritual experience. These experiences can range from possible visuals, auditory resonance and physical sensation, to intellectual insight. Most of these experiences result in a feeling of transcendence: a connection

with the divine. Religious experiences are often seen as a private matter and are often directly influenced by their religious doctrines (evidential force of religious experiences). Spiritual experiences can be private but have been known to happen in large groups. While religious experiences more often then not take place within the confines of a sacred architecture, proliferated with religious symbolism, texts and works of art. (Handbook of Psychology and Religion) Spiritual experiences on the other hand seem to have nonlocality propabilities. It has been said that spirituality is the courage to look within and trust. What is seen and what is trusted appears to be a deep sense of belonging, of wholeness, of connectedness, and of the openness to the infinite (Krippner & Welch, 1992, p.6)(Soul Healing-1997 pg 29) Spirituality can have numerous beliefs and meanings as it is an experience solely based on ones evolution of their absoluteness with all. They can interoperate their experiences anyway they want but the shared view is that the precursor for spirituality comes with the realization of the connection we all share. Spirituality further explained by the discovery of inner space, a richly elaborated life connected to society and nature, woven into the culture of family, nation, and globe says Moore. Spirituality and soul are about connection and about acting out of awareness of that connection. (Soul Healing-1997 pg 32) Spirituality seems to have fewer walls so to say then religion. Its practice is based more on inner growth then worried about deities and specific doctrines. Belief is a common theme when religion and spirituality are talked about, as they both have within them their own belief system. The Belief system in religions seem to be the foundation or ground work for which the system/structure is built upon, where beliefs, although they play a role, hold less weight in spirituality. In Simon Reynolds book Generation Ecstasy he explores the spiritual phenomenon of raves and their growing popularity. Reynolds discusses how these ravers often refer to their experience as a spiritual one. He goes on to state that its not

religious in the conventional sense. It has more in common with mystical strains of Christianity, dispensing with priests and saying you can have contact with God directly, experiencing ecstasy and spiritual rapture. Theres the feeling of merging with the cosmos and being part of something bigger than yourself(For Many Ravers-1999) This experience of merging with all, the sense of connection with something divine, is truly an altered state of consciousness. If there is a common denominator one would draw to connect religious and spiritual experiences it would be the altered state of consciousness they seem to all experience. When drawing off the central factor of alerted state of consciousness we must first understand what consciousness is. Consciousness to this day refuses to be defined, but most commonly is referred to an awareness of the given moment. In Jill B. Taylors book My stroke of Insight she describes in simple matters of how our brain works. She goes onto describe that the right hemisphere learns kinaesthetically; through the movement of our body. It receives information in the form of energy as it flows in simultaneously through all our sensory systems and then explodes into compilation of what it is like to be in the present moment, pertaining to our five senses. The left hemisphere, on the other hand, thinks more linearly as it focuses on passed and future events rather then the present moment. Jill. B. Taylor goes onto to share her experience of having a stroke, in which she gained great spiritual insights. While in the washroom, after experiencing intense pressure behind her left eye one morning, she had a profound experience when her left hemisphere shut off line due to a haemorrhage, allowing her to experience pure consciousness courtesy of her right hemisphere. During this profound experience she could no longer distinguish from where her body begins and ends as she states that all she saw were atoms and molecules all the while detecting an abundance of energy. This type of experience definitely

changed her life as she entered an alternate state of consciousness, which she called Nirvana. (My Stroke of Insight 2008) Consciousness is prominently based on conscious; a word that has Latin origin (conscius) meaning knowing with others, participating in knowledge, aware of (Morris 1981, 283; cf. Barnhart 1988). These alternate states of consciousness can be deemed as any other state other then waking consciousness. Different states we can subject ourselves to can be induced by exercises such as meditation, prayer, and drugs. There has been a great deal of interest in the effects some substances have on our consciousness. From Timothy Learys inquiry into the therapeutic, spiritual, and emotional benefits of the drug LSD to Rick Strassmans insights and clinical research on the endogenous drug di-methyl-tryptamine (DMT), self induced alternate states of consciousness and their personal benefits is certainly not a new proposal. The human use of psychedelic drugs predates written history. Archaeologists have discovered numerous ancient images of mushrooms sprouting from human bodies and resent discoveries of prehistoric northern European rock art that strongly suggests the influence of psychedelic altered states of consciousness. (Spirit Molecule pg 21) Terence McKenna, a writer and philosopher along with numerous other titles, and Ronald Siegel, a psychiatrist and research professor at the University of California, suggest that our apelike ancestors imitated other animals by eating things that caused unusual behaviour. If this was the case then they possibly discovered the earliest mindaltering substances. (Spirit Molecule pg 21) Some authors consider that psychedelics played a role in our fascination and interest with early hominid mouth sounds. (Spirit Molecule pg 21) Freudian psychoanalysis was developed by Sigmund Freud in the 1890s and allowed the analysis of psychological functions and behaviours to be analysed like never before. Although Freud himself was attracted to mind-altering drugs, he took interest in less psychedelic ones such as

cocaine and tobacco. (Spirit Molecule pg 23) In the 1938 Albert Hofmann (a Swiss chemist) was working with ergot, a rye fungus where he stumbled across lysergic acid diethylamide, more commonly known as LSD. His initial direction in the research was to find a drug that might help stop uterine bleeding after childbirth. Since LSD had little effect on the uterus of laboratory animals it was shelved. He only discovered its powerful psychedelic properties years later. Although DMT was synthesised by this time, its psychedelic properties were still yet to be discovered. It wasnt until 1946 when O. Goncalves, isolated DMT from a South American tree used for psychedelic snuff by the aboriginals, published his findings in Spanish, the first written work on DMT. The first English-language paper written on DMT was in 1955 by M.S. Fish, N.M. Johnson, and E.C Horning. In all these works they were well aware that DMT was a piece of the puzzle of the plants psychedelic effects but they did not know if DMT by itself was psychoactive. Finally Hungarian chemist and psychiatrist Stephen Szara stepped on the scene. Initially Szara was interested in LCD as he was going to begin his own study into the chemistry of consciousness, but the Swiss drug company was unwilling to risk this powerful psychedelic falling into the hands of a Communist. Szara switched his focus to DMTs presence in psychedelic Amazonian snuffs and with many failed attempts at swallowing DMT, in 1956 Szara injected himself with DMT and soon realized that this was the secret. By 1965 a research team from Germany declared in the British science journal Nature, that they had isolated DMT from human blood. In 1972 the Nobel-prize winning scientist Julius Axelrod reported finding DMT in human brain tissue, which led to additional research finding that DMT was also found present in human urine and cerebrospinal fluid. This was a finding of a huge magnitude as DMT became the first endogenous (compound made in body) human psychedelic. DMT and other chemical compounds, agents, hallucinogens, entheogens, and the several other names they have been

given posses the ability to shift ones mind into a completely different state of being, and allow ourselves to situate our attention inwardly into our psyche. Lets now get better acquainted with the Spirit Molecule DMT (R. Strassman).

Before we understand what DMT exactly is we must first take a short walk thought on the two psychedelic drug families; Phenethylamines and the Tryptamines. Mescaline (methoxylated amphetamine) a naturally occurring chemical mostly found in the peyote cactus of the American Southwest and MDMA, the active chemical compound in Ecstasy are probably the most common of the phenethylamines. Although phenethylamines belong to the psychedelic family they have very weak psychedelic effects, rather they induce the user in a state of love and connectedness. Hallucinations very rarely occur in MDMA and a large amount of mescaline (300-600mg) is needed for it to have hallucinogenic affects. As with most phenethylamine family oriented drugs, tolerance occurs after repeated use, a trait that is not found with the tryptamines. Tryptamines are commonly found in plants, fungi, and animals. Tryptamines are chemically related to the amino acid tryptophan, present in our diet and one of the 20 standard amino acids as well as an essential amino acid. Components of tryptophan are used in structural or enzyme proteins, as well as found in naturally produced peptides. (Premenstrual Dysphorias: Myths and Realities pg 74) With this being said tryptophan is essential to our survival as its a significant building block. Serotonin or 5-hydroxy-tryptamine contains one more oxygen atom than does tryptamine, and possesses no psychedelic affects. It is rather a monoamine neurotransmitter primarily found in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, large constricted blood vessels and the central nervous system (CNS). Serotonin stretches across a wide range of functions as they control our appetite, sleep, memory and learning, temperature regulation, mood, behaviour

(including sexual and hallucinogenic behaviour), cardiovascular function, muscle contraction, endocrine regulation (hormone secretion), and depression. (Serotonin: The Neurotransmitter for the 90's) DMT (di-methyl-tryptamine) is quite similar in its chemical structure to serotonin as it contains one less oxygen atom and two more methyl groups, the simplest psychedelic when related to its chemical compound. As previously mention DMT has been located in human blood, brain tissue, a cerebrospinal fluid. Yet we still know very little about this naturally occurring chemicals purpose.

In the 1950s commonalities were being drawn from experiences induces by psychedelic influences to those of practitioners of traditional Eastern meditation. Timothy Learys research into the psychedelic compound LSD was making waves until the escape of the drug from the laboratory in the 1960s which led to an onslaught of the media linking LSD with suicides, birth defects, and murders. (Spirit Molecule pg 26) Soon after that the United States Congress passed a law making LSD and other psychedelics illegal. It seemed as if the therapeutic study of psychedelic drugs was lost forever until a man by the name of Rick Strassman steps onto the scene in the 90s. R. Strassman, M.D., a clinical associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University Of New Mexico School Of Medicine conducted a clinical research study from 1990 to 1995 on the powerful psychedelic known as DMT. He injected sixty volunteers with DMT and recorded their blood pressure, heart rate, secretion of hormones produced by the pituitary gland, and other underlining effects. The majority of DMT experiences recorded from R. Strassmans research showed that the volunteers were overcome with a feeling of separation from mind and body, intense psychedelic visions and overpowering emotions. DMT, unlike other drugs and chemicals, seem to have a special relationship with the brain. Due to its

serotonin heritage it is able to have an influence on a array of serotonin receptors within the brain. One of the most fascinating abilities that DMT possesses is its qualification to be transported across the blood-brain barrier. This blood-brain barrier is like a strict bouncer at a club. It only allows the purest forms of fuel to reach the brain tissue: simple sugars or glucose such as amino acids required for maintaining brain proteins. It could be that special access that allows DMT to be such a fast acting psychedelic. Effects with DMT can be felt within 30 seconds and last anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes with the peak of the response occurring in and around 2 minutes. In the volunteers the physiological effects were similar to the fight and flight response as blood pressure and heart rate rose significantly. Strassman even got to a point where he could predict how intense the volunteers sessions were by the rise in their blood pressure. The DMT also triggered a rise in every pituitary gland hormone R. Strassman and his team measured. Chemicals like the endogenous morphine-like chemical beta-endorphin, growth hormone, vasopressin and prolactin, which scientists believe are two compounds that are linked to the feelings of bonding and comfort with other members of the species, , and a powerful, allpurpose stress steroid similar to cortisone called corticotrophin. Of all the biological factors that R. Strassman and his team measured the only one that did not increase was the pineal gland hormone melatonin, which brought forth more questions then answers for R. Strassman. The volunteers on the other hand did not feel the sudden rise of hormones in their body; rather it was within their minds, where visions, thoughts, and emotions defined their experience. Lets now explore the case reports R. Strassmans research presented in his book DMT: The Spirit Molecule. Similar to spiritual and religious experiences, DMT induced experiences were limited to the volunteers own mental and physical processes. Of course, as in experiences of a religious and spiritual manner we are put in a position to interoperate these events any which way we

please, but when it comes to a psychedelic adventure of the DMT magnitude most volunteers did not explain their experiences pertaining to any such deity or ideology, as this happens in so called religious experiences. Their reports consisted of mostly the experience their senses had in these alternate realms. At the beginning most volunteers experience an intense, rapidly developing rush throughout the body and mind. Many volunteers inadvertently blurted out Here we go just prior to their proverbial transition to the cosmic plane. Volunteers often compared this feeling to a freight train, ground zero, or a nuclear cannon. (Spirit Molecule pg 146). Just as in many spiritual experiences volunteers felt a loss of their physical self; I no longer had a body, one volunteer expressed, my body dissolved- I was pure awareness.(146) Along with intense feelings of unification, visuals in these DMT induced states consisted of imaginable and unimaginable things. From tremendously intricate tiny geometric colours (Spirit Molecule pg147), DNA double helices, and inner workings of machines, to contact with human and non-human entities, there was a lot to digest during these experiences that seemed to transcend time and space. Volunteers seemed to get the most out of their experience once they learned to relax and give into it. Ones that seemed to be more uptight and concerned seemed to either consciously or sub-consciously fight the experience, turning it into a less pleasurable one. This was the case with Andrea as she explains I never really left my body. I fought it all the way. I thought I was going to die. I didnt want to die. I was afraid. (Spirit Molecule pg 255) Most of the volunteers experienced both a low dose DMT session followed by a large dose, usually in the following day, with a handful of volunteers dropping out due to their displeasure with their low dose experience. One of R. Strassmans youngest volunteers at age 22 was a girl named Cassandra. Although she had a tough past that seemed to still linger in the shadows of her psyche, as she was raped by her step father at the age of 16 leading to the

development of post traumatic stress disorder she was willing to take part in the study as she frankly expressed that I want to see what DMT feels like. Due to her constant flash backs hindering her ability to build trustworthy relationships and thus making it hard for her to move on, R. Strassman was put a little on edge as he didnt want her to replay any rape themes during here DMT sessions. Cassandras low dose of DMT was mild and pleasant so she decided to return the following day for her non blind high dose. She relates a month later to R. Strassman that coming down last month from the big dose, I really felt in my body for the first time in my life. I usually live in my head. I remember that feeling, it was therapeutic. (Spirit Molecule pg 170) As Cassandra comes down from another one of her high doses of DMT she expresses that she felt the presence of others. They were kind to me, nice and caring. They seemed small, as if they could enter my body and mind in that space. There was a total sense of losing my body. She goes on to share views that If everybody did this every day the world would be a much greater place. Life would be a lot better. Cassandra sums up her experiences with DMT as the height of meditation, accessing inner power and inner strength.DMT is far better than any therapy ever was for me. All therapy reminds me of is how bad things are. On DMT I saw and felt myself as a good person. (Spirit Molecule pg172-73) When dealing with the spiritual and religious implications of a psychedelic compounds, or more commonly referred to today as an entheogen (connection with divine), one must compare the shift of world views and outlook on life after they have undergone their experience. Not all volunteers experienced such grand insights immediately after their dose of DMT but Strassmans follow up calls to the volunteers revealed that their experiences, no matter how profound or dull, only held the spiritual weight one attributes to them. To gain a further understanding for spiritual and religious experiences we can turn our attention to how we perceive reality itself.

Early in Carl Jungs career he became convinced that the dreams, artwork, fantasies, and hallucinations of his patients often contained matter that could not be explained as products of their past. The Swiss psychiatrist concluded that myths, dreams, hallucinations, and religious visions all spring from the same source, a collective unconsciousness that is shared by all people. He called these images/hallucinations archetypes as he believed they had ancient resonance. (Holographic Universe-1991) This collective consciousness, a feeling of interconnectedness with all matter, seems to take us back to the revelations ones had under the influence of DMT. Now with the powerful psychedelic such as DMT, insights into the unseen were non comparable to most of the generic religious and spiritual experiences ones encounter. But they do seem to share a commonality of separateness being nothing more than an illusion. In conclusion the effects that a volunteer experiences while under the influence of DMT are quite profound. The question there in lies, does the participant gain anything from his or her psychedelic experience? In Most of R. Strassmans volunteers people found themselves in complete awe of their experience. Some carried on their old ways and others transcended their new found insights into their daily lives. Putting aside personal experiences lets look at the collective whole. What does this all mean? Why does our body naturally create one of the most powerful psychedelics? Why is DMT freely allowed to pass through the blood-brain barrier? Why are these alternate states of consciousness, whether through religious rituals, meditation or DMT all have common underlying factors? And where does this all fit in with where the new field of quantum mechanics is taking us? Was Jill Taylors psychedelic experience during her stroke a peak into the subatomic world? When it comes down to it we are inevitably asking the same basic questions. Who are we? What are we doing? And why are we here? At the end of all this research I believe we are here to grow, evolve, and explore both inner and out worlds. As

a biological organism we are quite fascinating. We have the ability to detect electromagnetic waves and convert them into visuals, the movement of the hair like fibres within the inner ear turns vibrations into sounds, our four receptors located on our tongue give us our ability to taste, hundreds of receptors located in our nose pick up air born molecules that generate our sense of smell while the neural receptors on our skin have the ability to sense a variety of pressures giving us our ability to touch and experience the world around us. We are indeed an astonishing species, but dare we say that theres a possibility our senses are underdeveloped? Could there be molecules too small for us to sense? Frequencies that we are not able to tune into? Time will only tell.

Sound when stretched is music, movement when stretched is dance, mind when stretched is meditation, life when stretched is celebration- Ravi Shankar