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HE MOST IMPORTANTaspectof learning how to learn is to

immerse oneself completely andwithout reservation into the Knower.

For within each of is that unimagin-able place, our Real Self, known by avariety of names in various times andcultures, listed by Stan Grof: Brahman,Buddha, the Cosmic Christ, Keter, Allah,the Tao, the Great Spirit, and manyothers.1This Self, which dedicatedexplorers find to be intimately connectedto every aspect of the Universe, seems to

hold infinite knowledge. From thisperspective, if we have become totally free,vast knowledge is available.

To become one with this Self, onemust become free of all attachments,conceptualizations, judgments, invest-ments, reifications,2and unconscious

barriers, until the mind can be heldperfectly still without distractions. Mindtraining and disciplining as taught by theBuddha, Hindus, and other wisdomtraditions are valuable procedures toaccomplish the required state of quies-

cence. A powerful tool for accelerating thisprocess is the informed use of psychedel-ics. Informed use includes preparation inunderstanding the nature of psychedelicexperiences and possible outcomes, deepintention, and integrity in the form ofhonoring the experience and the commit-ment to put what one learns into effect inones life. It may take a number of experi-ences at varying dose levels and settings toachieve a glimpse of the Ultimate Self.

A common experience for those whopenetrate deeply into the levels madeavailable by psychedelic experience is therealization that we are all One, that we areall intimately connected through the lifeforce that manifests in every living thingand every aspect of the universe. This

being so, we can understand the Buddhistprecept that our own ultimate realizationdepends on committing ourselves to thehappiness and welfare of all sentient

beings. I have personally found that myown adverse judgment of certain individu-

In a lot of the responses sent

in by MAPS members, a

central theme was that the

creative influence of the

psychedelic experience has a

spiritual aspect to it. The

connection to God allowed

access to creativity. It isnt

surprising. Before one builds

a house, one must have the

ideato build a house. The

non-material world of

thought transforms into the

material world of objects

through creative action taken

based on that thought. If one

considers that a primary

purpose attributed to God is

the creation of everything

a seeming unfolding of

nothingness into

somethingnessthen it is

perfectly reasonable to

believe that psychedelics, by

acting as a conduit to the

transpersonal realm, can

allow people to harness the

same type of creative force

that brought about existence

itself. In the following paper,

Myron Stolaroff elegantly

presents ideas that are

clearly shared by many.

als puts a definite lid on my own develop-ment.Sri Ramana Maharshi, according to

Ken Wilber,3is arguably the greatestGuru who ever lived. He has stated thatthe only reason we are not enlightened isthat we do not know that we are alreadyenlightened. While this is no doubt true, Ihave in my own some forty years ofpsychedelic exploration, enhanced byTibetan Buddhist meditation practice,uncovered a vast variety of conditions thatseemed to form barriers to this realization.

Some of these are listed in the secondparagraph above. While I have foundmeditation practices extremely valuable,and an important factor in deepening andincreasing the profundity of psychedelicexperiences, I have found properlyconducted psychedelic experiences to bethe most powerful aid in rapidly resolvingthe obstacles that separate us from fullrealization. But it is well to remember thatexperiences alone, as influential andvaluable as they may be, may not accom-plish completely freeing the mind without

dedicated application of newfoundwisdom. An excellent way of focusing,clarifying, and applying learned wisdom isthrough a good meditation practice.4

All the following factors promoteeffective psychedelic application: prepara-tion, intent, honesty, set and setting, aqualified guide, experienced and dedicatedcompanions. As interior obstacles areresolved and transcended, one sinksdeeper into the intimate, priceless connec-tion with our inner Being. As one developsproficiency and the ability to hold themind steadily focused, one can discoverthat the most promising activity is tosearch out, encounter, and then maintainthe connectedness with the Heart of ourown being. For me, this has led to the mostsatisfactory outcomes.

I do not want to create the impressionthat this is a simple thing to accomplish. Ihave found this kind of straightforwardsurrender very difficult to achieve andmaintain, often because we resist the

t

Learning Howto Learn

Myron Stolaroff

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feelings or experiences that sponta-neously wish to arise. It may takeexploring with different attitudesand occasionally focusing ourattention on various considerations,especially if we are prone to gettingtense by trying too hard. Things thatmay work in one situation may notwork the next time, and a freshapproach is required. And since weare all different, results may wellvary considerably from person toperson. For it is fresh, unmediated

experience that we are seeking. Justreading this information or hearingsimilar ideas and concepts fromothers will not accomplish theobjective. We each in our own waymust seek out how to best discoverand maintain this priceless connec-tion. For myself, I have found thatsimply being still and just being isextraordinarily difficult.

Yet I firmly believe this to bethe highest prize. Having achievedan on-going connection or realiza-

tion of our True Self, we are free todirect our attention wherever wewish. It is from this perspective thatany object of attention is seen in itsclearest light, in its truest aspects, inthe most meaningful connectionswith other aspects of reality. It isfrom this perspective that thegreatest creativity flows forth. Bylearning how to maintain thisconnection, we have truly learnedhow to learn.

Notes

1. Grof, S. 1998. Human Nature and the Nature of Reality:Conceptual Challenges from Consciousness Research,

Journal of Psychoactive Drugs30(4): 351.

2. To reify, as used here, is to invest some concept or ideawith the power of the mind so that for us it becomes trueor real. Such reifications then become barriers whichinterfere with our direct perception of Reality.

3. Wilber, K. 1999. One Taste, p. 223.

4. An excellent book covering the essentials of a goodmeditation practice is Wallace, Alan B. 1999. BoundlessHeart: Cultivation of the Four Immeasurables. Snow LinePublications.

Robbins RantsTomRobbins is the author of numerous books, including

Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates ,Still Li fe with Woodpecker,

Skinny Legs and All, Even Cowgirls Get the BluesandAnother Roadside Attraction .

THE TIN CAN was invented in 1811. The can opener was not inventeduntil 1855. In the intervening 44 years, people were obliged to accesstheir pork n beans with a hammer and chisel.

Now, the psychedelic can opener, the device that most efficientlyopens the tin of higher consciousness, was discovered thousands of yearsago and put to beneficial use by shamans and their satellites well beforethe advent of what we like to call civilization. Yet, inconceivably,modern society has flung that proven instrument into the sin bin, forcingits citizens to seek access to the most nourishing of all canned goods withthe psychological equivalent of a hammer and chisel. (Im referring toFreudian analysis and the various, numberless self-realization tech-niques.)

Our subject here, however, is creativity, and I dont mean to suggestthat just because one employs the psychedelic can opener to momentouseffect, just because one manages to dip into the peas of the absolute with alightning spoon, that one is going to metamorphose into some creativetitan if one is not already artistically gifted. The little gurus who inhabitcertain psychoactive compounds are not in the business of manufacturinghuman talent. They dont sell imagination by the pound, or even by themicrogram. What they ARE capable of doing, however, is reinforcing andsupporting that innate imagination that manages to still exist in a nationwhose institutionsacademic, governmental, religious and otherwiseseem determined to suffocate it with a polyester pillow from WalMart.

The plant genies dont manufacture imagination, nor do they marketwonder and beautybut they force us out of context so dramatically and

so meditatively that we gawk in amazement at the ubiquitous everydaywonders that we are culturally disposed to overlook, and they teach usinvaluable lessons about fluidity, relativity, flexibility and paradox. Suchan increase in awareness, if skillfully applied, can lift a disciplined,adventurous artist permanently out of reach of the faded jaws of medioc-rity.

The impact of psychedelics upon my own sensibility was to dissolve alot of my culturally-conditioned rigidity. Old barriers, often rooted inignorance and superstition, just melted away. I learned that one mightmove about freely from one level of existence to another. The borderlines

between reality and fantasy, dream and wakefulness, animate and inani-mate, even life and death, were no longer quite as fixed. The Asianconcept of interpenetration of realities was made physically manifestand this served to massage the stiffness out of my literary aesthetic.

Unbeknownst to most western intellectuals, there happens to be afairly thin line between the silly and the profound, between the clear lightand the joke; and it seems to me that on that frontier is the single mostrisky and significant place artists or philosophers can station themselves.Im led to suspect that my psychedelic background may have prepared meto straddle that boundary more comfortably than those writers who insiston broaching the luminous can of consciousness with a hammer andchisel, and, especially, those who, spurning the in-CAN-descent alto-gether, elect to lap their watered-down gruel from the leaky trough oforthodoxy.