Existence

A person discovers that we are spirit and exist separate from the body in another, an
eternal dimension.

Albert Einstein said, “…To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting
itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty…”

All the movement, all the energies, all forms, all happenings we must see as those in our
one and real self in many existences.

As domains of experience become more alien to us, we need greater and greater open-
mindedness even to conceive of their existence.

As well as being filled with resplendent divine light, the transcendental domains are often
described as existing beyond the ordinary senses.

At the extreme, the individual consciousness seems to encompass the totality of existence
and identify with the Universal Mind.

Because the ego never actually exists, those who are most captivated by its illusion are
still playing. They take it seriously and do not know that they are playing.

Consciousness awakens to its original condition and suchness, which is also the suchness
of all of existence.

Each level of energy which man has discovered outside exists within his body and is
available to conscious discrimination.

Entities like electrons and photons can exist as waves or particles, energy or matter. (It’s
like water. If it’s cold enough, it becomes ice and if it’s hot enough, it becomes gas.)

Following the ego death, individuals saw human existence in a much broader spiritual
framework.

Identification with the creative energy of the cosmos often inspires a new attitude toward
life and becomes the foundation for a new understanding of existence.

In the heart of each of us, a great potential exists for realizing truth, for experiencing
wholeness, for going beyond the shell of the ego.

In the psychedelic state, our mind seems to exist outside the scope of ordinary rational
consciousness.

In this state, the categories of space and time are transcended and subjects can perceive
themselves as existing outside of the usual space-time continuum.

Individuals occasionally report quite realistic recollections of their fetal existence. They
can feel like an embryo in the womb and have specific embryonal sensations.

Intensified light, intensified color and intensified significance do not exist in isolation.
They adhere in objects.

Into the Energy which exists before Matter and there in pure Energy, was All-
Knowledge.

It does exist and there is an intelligence and there is a planfulness and a wisdom and
power that you can tune in to.

It provides new levels of understanding of one’s own identity, the dimensions of being,
human life and existence in general.

It was these experiences that convinced me of the existence of a miraculous,
unfathomable reality that is hidden from everyday sight.

Knowledge belonging to Mind at Large oozes past the reducing valve of brain and ego,
into his consciousness. It is the knowledge of the intrinsic significance of every existent.

Knowledge of the true nature of existence is perceived as being ultimately more real and
relevant than all scientific theories or perceptions and concepts of our everyday life.

Lacking warmth and drive, many churches and religions have either passed out of
existence or have continued in a kind of institutional living death.

Literary genius is the near-magical use of words to bridge as far as possible the gulf
between the normal state of existence and the world I was then in.

LSD sessions can be seen as opportunities to confront the mysteries of the universe and
the riddle of human existence.

Memory may exist independent of the physical body maintaining a cogent form that can
be recognized by human faculties other than the five senses.

Most of us do not suspect the existence of another way of interpreting our perceptions of
the world around us.

Mythological figures literally come alive and assume independent existences. The same
is true about the landscapes and structures that make up the mythic world. (eyes closed)

Nothing exists except undulating energy and flowing consciousness upon which the
grasping mind imposes categories which have nothing to do with the energy-flow.

On the level of ultimate unity, consciousness totally awakens to its original condition
which is also the suchness of all existence.

One can connect with a state that feels eternal, understanding that one is at once the body
and also all that exists.

One must be tuned into the flow of the life energy and enjoy one’s existence; then the
value of life is self-evident.

One sees quite clearly that all existence is a single energy and that this energy is one’s
own being.

Our fault lies not in our lack of talent or potential, but in our refusal to believe that it
exists.

Place and distance cease to be of much interest. The mind does its perceiving in terms of
intensity of existence, profundity of significance, relationship within a pattern.

Previously pragmatic and materialistic individuals can develop deep interest in and
genuine appreciation of the spiritual aspect of existence.

Spirituality is a legitimate dimension of existence and its awakening and development are
desirable.

The beauty and mystery, the gaiety and exuberance which we see in nature and art exist
supremely and perfectly in God.

The changes in human consciousness spell the beginning of a new era such as has never
existed before—at least not in recorded history.

The changes of consciousness have ontological relevance through offering valid insights
into the nature of human existence and the universe.

The concept of human life as a life-and-death struggle for survival gives way to a new
image of a cosmic dance or divine play.

The consciousness is finally of universals, of essences constituting the ground of the
subject’s and of the world’s existence.

The divine Ground of all existence is a spiritual Absolute, ineffable in terms of discursive
thought, but susceptible of being directly experienced and realized by the human mind.

The divine Ground of all existence is not merely a continuum, it is also out of time
(beyond time, eternal).

The effect of consciousness-expanding drugs will be to transform our concepts of human
nature, of human potentialities, of existence.

The emphasis shifts from pursuit of complicated external schemes to appreciation of
simple aspects of existence.

The existence of the immanent and transcendent divine is not a matter of unfounded
belief but a fact based on direct experience.

The God externalized in Christ exists within the center rather than beyond the outer
boundary of our consciousness. (There is no outer boundary to our consciousness.)

The individual consciousness seems to encompass the totality of existence and identify
with the Universal Mind.

The “mind seeking to know the mind” or the “self seeking to control the self” has been
defeated out of existence and exposed for the abstraction which it always was.

The mystic is able to enlarge his vision, to look more deeply into the unfathomable
miracle of existence.

The sixties scared the hell out of the culture because they showed another potential exists
for people.

The truth that the infinite is conscious is, like its very existence, beyond any objective
proof. (The infinite is alive.)

The ultimate reconciliation with the universe comes from the insight that the totality of
existence forms a unified field or network which is experientially available to each of us.

The universe and the human psyche have no boundaries or limits. Each of us is connected
with and is an expression of all of existence.

The verbal and analytic mode of perception has blinded us to the fact that things and
events do not exist apart from one another.

There exist hardly any perceptual, emotional or psychosomatic manifestations that have
not been observed and described as part of the LSD experience.

There exist societies that make liberal use of drugs to alter awareness, but do not appear
to have problems with them.

There exists an abundance of evidence to indicate that mind-changing drugs have
importantly affected the course of human history.

There is no ego, no enduring entity. The ego exists in an abstract sense alone, being an
abstraction from memory.

There is nothing but Mind. It’s not an existence, nor is it a non-existence. It is indeed
beyond both existence and non-existence.

They had transcendent experiences that have made them aware of previously hidden
areas of existence.

They think things are all right the way they are. They don’t even think anything EXISTS
beyond the TV-bullshit-money reality production.

We are so estranged from the inner world that many are arguing that it does not exist; and
that even if it does exist, it does not matter.

We are so out of touch with this realm that many people argue seriously that it does not
exist.

We have lost the art of playing with our life, the joy has gone out of it. Existence has
become an affair of deadly serious.

Western literature had almost no guides, no maps, no texts that even recognize the
existence of altered states.

Your consciousness extends beyond the language you know and the culture in which you
exist.

After such experiences, contemplation may take on new meaning for the Western man
who finds little time to ponder the meaning of his own existence and the philosophical
presuppositions upon which his religious, political, scientific, and ethical convictions rest.

Another kind of reality exists that we can call internal or nonordinary reality. It is
precisely that aspect of reality we are unconscious of when in the ordinary waking state,
and the unconscious mind is precisely that part of the mind that pays attention to it.

Certain drugs can produce in otherwise normal individuals deep mystical and religious
states. Matrices for such experiences exist in the unconscious as a normal constituent of
the human personality.

Each human being contains the information about the entire universe or all of existence,
has potential experiential access to all its parts, and in a sense is the whole cosmic
network.

Ecstatic and unitive feelings of belonging, infuse the individual with strength, zest, and
optimism, and enhance self-esteem. They cleanse the senses and open them for the
perception of the extraordinary richness, beauty, and mystery of existence.

Gem-like objects, bright, self-luminous, glowing with preternatural color and
significance, exist in the mind’s Antipodes, are seen by visionaries and are felt by all who
see them to be of enormous significance. (eyes closed)

Geneticists, we believe, make the chauvinistic mistake of assuming that DNA is a
process, rather than a living intelligence as old as life itself that can teach us the meaning
of existence. DNA designs and constructs the nervous system.

He may see and understand with unimagined clarity and brilliance various social and
self-games that he and others play. His own struggles in karma (game) existence will
appear pitiful and laughable.

If the answer existed within the conscious ego, the quest would never have begun. The
answer is found in those areas that were previously unconscious, those areas where the
body links and joins other bodies and the total energy continuum of life and ecology.

If you get with yourself, get with gravity, get with energy, following its line of least
resistance, you will discover that all the vibrations of nature are ecstatic, erotic or blissful.
Existence is orgasm.

In altered states of consciousness this new perception of the world becomes dominant and
compelling. It completely overrides the everyday illusion of Newtonian reality, where we
seem to be “skin-encapsulated egos” existing in a world of separate beings and objects.

In such states, the subject has a revelation of the significance and interrelationships of
many dimensions of life; he becomes aware of many levels of meaning simultaneously
and “understands” the totality of existence.

In the West, Nature has been completely isolated from the religious context in which our
ancestors used to view it. Our non-human environment and our own physical existence
have now become domains exclusively reserved for science. (What a mistake.)

Individuals who transcend the boundaries of ordinary reality and embark on the spiritual
journey, typically experience a dramatic change in their concepts of the dimensions of
existence.

Myths play a basic role in human existence, even for people who claim to live life wholly
“rationally”. Indeed, the myth for such people is that it is both good and possible to be an
unemotional intellect that controls everything.

New scientific findings are beginning to support beliefs of cultures thousands of years
old, showing that our individual psyches are, in the last analysis, a manifestation of
cosmic consciousness and intelligence that flows through all of existence.

Perhaps all men share the hunch that normal consciousness is a form of sleepwalking and
that somewhere there exists a form of “awakeness” from which one would not want to
return.

Spiritual feelings are associated with the dilemma of time and space, origin of matter, life
and consciousness, dimensions and complexity of the universe and human existence, and
the ultimate purpose underlying the process of creation.

The discovery of the hidden aspects of reality and of the challenges associated with them
adds fascinating new dimensions to existence. It makes one’s life much richer and more
interesting.

The experiential insights from unusual states of consciousness suggest the existence of
intangible and unfathomable creative intelligence aware of itself that permeates all realms
of reality.

The fact that we could not explain part of our human experience in the existing paradigm
seemed to indicate that the paradigm needed re-examination rather than to justify
dismissal of the evidence.

The foundation or “ground” of our existence and awareness can’t be understood in terms
of things that are known. We have to speak of it through myth, metaphors, analogies,
what it’s LIKE, not what it IS.

The possibility of consciousness after death was rejected not because it contradicted
clinical observations, but because the concept was incompatible with existing scientific
theories.

The sensation of relationship is the impulse underlying the great religious traditions of
the world—the sensation of basic inseparability from the total universe, of the identity of
one’s own self with the Great Self beneath all that exists.

The spiritual dimension is a key factor in the human psyche and in the universal scheme
of things. Becoming aware of this dimension of our lives and cultivating it is an essential
and desirable part of our existence.

The subject confronts figures from mythology with a shock of recognition, seeing in the
figures now revealed as inhabitants of his own deep psyche, enigmatic bearers of ancient
answers to the riddle of existence. (eyes closed)

The vision-producing drugs have a long history. As far back as knowledge of man exists,
there have been stories of herbs, roots, brews and potions to be eaten, drunk or smoked to
change in some way the state of consciousness.

There exists a range of energies and awarenesses beyond the imprinted symbols of
rational thought which can work with a rapidity and efficiency beyond the workaday
conceptual processes.

There exists inside the human nervous system, inside our cellular structures a tissued,
biochemical memory-bank. The person who stumbles onto this inner room sees and
knows exactly what has been seen and known by visionaries of the past.

Understanding comes when we liberate ourselves from the old and so make possible a
direct, unmediated contact with the new, the mystery, moment by moment, of our
existence.

Unlike Freud, Jung was aware that his findings were incompatible with the existing
philosophy of science and required an entirely new paradigm. (Jung was a friend of
Albert Einstein.)

Wise men throughout history have told us again and again, in legends and myths,
aphorisms, poems and allegories that there exists within us a source of direct information
about reality that can teach us all we need to know.

Words such as joy, ecstasy, grace, beauty, just don’t exist in the psychiatric vocabulary.
The poor psychiatrist has been given the sad task of looking for pathology and is usually
bewildered when he comes face-to-face with the more meaningful experiences of life.

ancient and Oriental religions and philosophy—It has become increasingly clear that
these systems of belief reflect profound understanding of the human mind and of unusual
states of consciousness, embodying knowledge that deals with the most universal aspect
of human existence, and thus is highly relevant for all of us

Any serious scientific theory has to be an attempt to organize the existing facts, rather
than a product of speculative extrapolation. It has to be based on observations of the
universe and not on the beliefs of scientists as to what the universe is like or their wishes
about what it should be like to fit their theories.

Could it be that the universe is, in the final analysis, just a divine play of consciousness
where all natural laws are ultimately arbitrary, and where any one of us, at any time, can
somehow access any material that ever existed or will exist for anyone, anywhere,
unfettered by the illusions of matter, space, and time?

experiences of other universes—The strange and alien worlds that LSD subjects discover
and explore in this type of experience seem to have a reality of their own, although not
within the range of our cosmos; they appear to exist in other dimensions, in universes
coexistent with ours.

For us, a proposition is either true or false, a or not-a, God exists or does not exist and
countless gallons of ink and blood have been shed in disputes stemming from this kind of
rigid either-or logic. Indian and Chinese thought, as well as mystical and psychedelic
experiences, lead one to a logic of levels, rather than of propositions.

I see consciousness and the human psyche as expressions and reflections of a cosmic
intelligence that permeates the entire universe and all of existence. We are not just highly
evolved animals with biological computers embedded inside our skulls; we are also fields
of consciousness without limits, transcending time, space, matter and linear causality.

Identifying with the consciousness of the Universal Mind, the individual senses that has
experientially encompassed the totality of existence. He feels that he has reached the
reality underlying all realities and is confronted with the supreme and ultimate principle
that represents all Being.

In the final analysis, only the creative principle of Cosmic Consciousness exists. Only it
takes physical form. From this point of view, the entire universe is a divine play of one
Supreme Being. Anyone who grasps this concept will see that karmic appearances are
just another level of illusion.

In this type of experience, subjects get involved in wild adventures in strange, alien
worlds that have reality of their own, although not within the range of our cosmos. These
universes seem to exist on other levels of reality or in other dimensions, parallel with and
coexistent with ours.

It is a complex revelatory insight into the essence of being and existence. This insight is
typically accompanied by feelings of certainty that such knowledge is ultimately more
real and relevant than our concepts and perceptions regarding the world that we share in a
usual state of consciousness.

It is here that we look beyond the belief that consciousness exists only as a result of our
individual lives. As we come to terms with the concept of the transpersonal realm, we
begin thinking of consciousness as something that exists outside and independent of us,
something that in its essence is not bound to matter.

It shouldn’t be this difficult to accept logically that there are many realities and that the
most exciting things that happen are not at the level of our routine perception and, for that
matter, that the most complex communications, the most creative processes, exist at
levels of which we are not ordinarily aware.

Lama Govinda says that to Tibetans, the attempts of modern psychologists, who try to
“prove” extrasensory perception by scientific methods, would appear crude and
laughable: one might as well try to prove the existence of light which is visible to all but
the blind.

LSD subjects often arrive at the conclusion that no real boundaries exist between
themselves and the rest of the universe. Everything appears to be part of a unified field
of cosmic energy, and the boundaries of the individual are identical with the boundaries
of existence itself.

Only when the ordinary perception of the material world is transcended can
consciousness connect with the heavenly regions. For those who have had the privilege of
such experience, the existence of heaven, God and celestial beings ceases to be a matter
of belief and becomes self-evident reality.

Plato tells us that beyond this ephemeral and imperfect existence here below, there is
another Ideal world of Archetypes, where the original, the true, the beautiful Pattern of
things exists for evermore. It is clear where Plato found his Ideas; Plato had drunk of the
potion in the Temple of Eleusis and had spent the night seeing the great Vision.

The formless, dimensionless and intangible cosmic consciousness can best be described
as Infinite Existence, Infinite Awareness and Knowledge, and Infinite Bliss. However,
any words refer primarily to phenomena and processes of the natural reality and are,
therefore, only pitiful attempts to convey the essence of this transcendental principle.

The goal of psychoanalysis, Freud said, is to replace the extreme suffering of the neurotic
patient with the normal misery of everyday life. An alienated, unhappy, and driven
existence dominated by excessive power needs, competitive urges, and insatiable
ambition can still fall within the broad definition of mental health.

The modern term for the direct experience of spiritual realities is transpersonal, meaning
transcending the usual way of perceiving and interpreting the world from the position of a
separate individual or body-ego. There exists an entirely new discipline, transpersonal
psychology, that specializes in experiences of this kind and their implications.

The person feels a deep connection with the innermost spiritual core of his or her being.
The illusion of the individual self fades away and the person enjoys reunion with his or
her divine Self, which is also the Universal Self, the cosmic source of all existence. This
is a direct and immediate contact with the Beyond Within, with God.

The prime characteristic of cosmic consciousness is a consciousness of the cosmos, that
is, of the life and order of the universe. Along with the consciousness of the cosmos there
occurs an intellectual enlightenment which alone would place the individual on a new
plane of existence, would make him almost a member of a new species.

The reports of LSD subjects who have experienced episodes of embryonic existence, the
moment of conception and episodes of cellular, tissue and organ consciousness abound in
medically accurate insights into the anatomical, physiological and biochemical aspects of
the processes involved.

The term spirituality should be reserved for situations that involve personal experiences
of certain dimensions of reality that give one’s life and existence in general a numinous
quality. C. G. Jung used the word numinous to describe an experience that feels sacred,
holy, or out of the ordinary.

The whole world has been completely misunderstood: for it has been looked at with a
spotlight called consciousness so narrow in scope that it was all but impossible to see
how things are actually related. But only in that relationship do things have their meaning
and their beauty, as well as their existence.

These experiences clearly suggest that, in a yet unexplained way, each of us contains the
information about the entire universe or all of existence, has potential experiential access
to all its parts and in a sense, is the whole cosmic network, as much as he or she is just an
infinitesimal part of it, a separate and insignificant biological entity.

Transpersonal experiences can involve conscious experience of other humans and
members of other species, plant life, elements of inorganic nature, microscopic and
astronomic realms not accessible to the unaided senses, history and prehistory, remote
locations or other dimensions of existence.

We are largely cut off from this Deep. The stress on ego controls, rationality, focusing
outwardly rather than inwardly, have prevented us from hearing the full range of
dissonances and harmonies of human existence. Our present lives are empty, lacking in
depth, substance and direction.

A superior religion goes beyond theology. It turns toward the center; it investigates and
feels out the inmost depths of man himself, since it is here that we are in most intimate
contact, or rather, in identity with existence itself. Dependence on theological ideas and
symbols is replaced by a direct, non-conceptual touch with a level of being which is
simultaneously one’s own and the being of all others.

As knowledge of the existence of mind-expanding plants and chemicals dawned upon the
consciousness of Western man, swift reevaluations of our attitudes toward certain so-
called “primitive” tribes became necessary. It became apparent that some of these
cultures had preserved the key to higher knowledge which the civilized world had
relegated to the status of myth.

Elements of plant consciousness can be accompanied by philosophical and spiritual
ideation and insights. Several subjects, for example, have pondered over the purity and
unselfishness of plant existence and have seen plant life as a model for ideal human
conduct; unlike animals and man, most plants do not kill and do not live at the expense of
other organisms.

If an experience could not be expressed in words, he told the class, it could not exist. He
was very sure of himself and obviously unwilling to be contradicted. But a few weeks
before, when I had tried mescaline for the second time, I had an experience that certainly
felt ineffable to me. There seemed to be no point in trying to convey anything of its
nature to Professor Whatnough. (That was Andrew Weil, about a Harvard professor.)

In most preindustrial societies and ancient civilizations, there have existed powerful
rituals designed to transform and consecrate individuals, groups, or even entire cultures.
These transformative events, termed rites of passage by anthropologists, are of
fundamental importance to the discussion of the experience of symbolic death and
rebirth.

In the transpersonal realm, we experience an extension of our consciousness far beyond
the usual boundaries of both our bodies and our egos, as well as beyond the physical
limits of our everyday lives. The more I have explored this realm in my own research, the
more I am convinced that these experiences in transpersonal consciousness can include
the entire spectrum of existence itself.

Loss of self may be experienced as an actual death and rebirth, undergone with anguish
and joy of overwhelming intensity. In some cases, the culmination is a mystical ecstasy in
which for an eternal moment all contradictions seem reconciled, all questions answered,
all wants irrelevant or satisfied, all existence encompassed by an experience that is felt to
define the ultimate reality, boundless, timeless, and ineffable.

Modern consciousness research has confirmed the basic thesis of perennial philosophy
that the consensus reality reveals only one aspect or fragment of existence. There are
important realms of reality that are transcendental and transphenomenal. The impulse in
human beings to connect with the spiritual domain is an extremely powerful and
important force. It resembles, in its nature, sexuality.

Most of our colleagues in the psychology department couldn’t take the brain-change
work seriously. They couldn’t admit that our new subject matter even existed. Altered
states of consciousness simply didn’t exist as a category in the psychology of that time.
It was the familiar tunnel vision that has always narrowed the academic mind. (That was
Timothy Leary at Harvard.)

Once people have experienced the spiritual dimensions growing in their lives, they often
learn that their lives without it were futile and impoverished. Previously, they may have
managed adequately but unhappily, unaware of the seemingly endless realms that have
since enormously enriched their existence. They discover that spirituality is a necessary
element that enhances their lives and sense of well-being.

Our ordinary Newtonian-Cartesian consciousness can be invaded with unusual power by
various archetypal entities or mythological sequences that, according to mechanistic
science, should have no independent existence. The myth-producing aspects of the
human psyche will portray deities and rituals from different cultures that the subject has
never studied. (eyes closed)

Previously almost-depressed individuals typically emerge from a successfully integrated
LSD session with elevated mood, joyful appreciation of existence, enhanced self-esteem
and self-acceptance and greater capacity for meaningful human relationships. Their inner
life is enriched, they are more open and they show an increased appreciation of beauty in
nature and art.

Psychedelic drugs released new forces into the consciousness of millions of people.
These forces might be seen as good, evil, or morally ambiguous; they might be regarded
as coming from within, as an upsurge from the unconscious mind, or from beyond, as a
revelation from other planes of existence; or some way to reconcile these interpretations
might be sought.

Rather than being from two distinctly different realms with discrete boundaries,
consciousness and matter are engaged in a constant dance, their interplay forming the
entire fabric of existence. This is a notion that is being confirmed by research in modern
physics, biology, thermodynamics, information and systems theory, and other branches of
science.

Socrates tells us that there exists an ideal world above and beyond the world of matter.
“In this other earth the colors are much purer and much more brilliant than they are down
here…The very mountains, the very stones have a richer gloss, a lovlier transparency and
intensity of hue. The precious stones of this lower world, our highly prized cornelians,
jaspers, emeralds and all the rest, are but tiny fragments of these stones above”.

The formless, dimensionless and intangible principle that an individual can perceive as
the Universal Mind is characterized by infinite existence, infinite awareness and
knowledge and infinite bliss. Any descriptions and definitions, however, necessarily use
words that we associate with the phenomena of the three-dimensional world; they are
therefore incapable of conveying the essence of this ultimate transcendental principle.

The image of human nature on which this approach is based is closer to Hindu
philosophy than to Freudian psychoanalysis. Behind the barrier of negative instinctual
forces associated with early biographical traumas, there exist vast transpersonal realms of
the superconscious mind and a system of positive universal values not dissimilar to
Abraham Maslow’s metavalues.

There is no form of energy on this planet that isn’t recorded somewhere in your body.
Built within every cell are molecular strands of memory and awareness called the DNA
code, the genetic blueprint that has designed and executed the construction of your body.
This is an ancient strand of molecules that possesses memories of every previous
organism that has contributed to your present existence.

There exists ample evidence that the transcendental impulse is the most vital and
powerful force in human beings. Systematic denial and expression of spirituality that is
so characteristic for modern Western societies can be a critical factor contributing to the
alienation, existential anxiety, individual and social psychopathology, criminality,
violence and self-destructive tendencies of contemporary humanity.

Those who were previously convinced that death was the ultimate defeat and meant the
end of any form of existence discovered various alternatives to this materialistic and
pragmatic point of view. They came to realize how little conclusive evidence there is for
any authoritative opinion in this matter and often began seeing death and dying as a
cosmic voyage into the unknown.

Under conditioning, it seems impossible and even absurd to realize that myself does not
reside in the ego alone, but in the whole surge of energy which ranges from the galaxies
to the nuclear fields in my body. At this level of existence “I” am immeasurably old; my
forms are infinite and their comings and goings are simply the pulses or vibrations of a
single and eternal flow of energy.

When we experience identification with the cosmic consciousness, we have the feeling of
enfolding the totality of existence within us, and of comprehending the Reality that
underlies all realities. We have a profound sense that we are in connection with the
supreme and ultimate principle of all Being. In this state, it is absolutely clear that this
principle is the ultimate and the only mystery.

Where the symbolic dramas unfold, the individual finds facets of his own existence
revealed in the person of Prometheus or Parsifal, Lucifer or Oedipus, Faust or Don Juan
and plays out his personal drama on these allegorical and analogic terms or he finds the
means of attaining to new levels of maturity through his participation in rites of passage
and other ceremonies and initiations. (eyes closed)

With the advent of modern science, the notion of acceptable reality was narrowed to
include only those aspects of existence that are material, tangible, and measurable.
Spirituality in any form was exiled from the modern scientific worldview. Western
cultures adopted a restricted and rigid interpretation of what is “normal” in human
experience and behavior and rarely accepted those who sought to go beyond these limits.

With the Hebrew-Christian universe, God, the Absolute itself, is good as against bad and
thus to be immoral or in the wrong is to feel oneself an outcast not merely from human
society but also from existence itself, from the root and ground of life. To be in the wrong
therefore arouses a metaphysical anxiety and sense of guilt, a state of eternal damnation.
(This, of course, is absurd brainwashing, a vicious con game.)

If the potential exists for the upheaval of a person’s “change of life flow,” then it is
unprofessional, if not criminal, to fail to advise him of this potential outcome. And if you,
yourself, as the investigator, are uncertain of the potential ramifications of such an
experiment, then you are remiss in exposing others to that which you are not personally
familiar. One must personally know the experience to understand properly another’s
experience.

The old paradigms of in psychiatry have now outlived their usefulness and are impeding
progress. Instead of repressing observations because they do not conform to established
ways of thinking, we should try to formulate new paradigms. A paradigm should not be
confused with an accurate description of reality. It is a useful organization of existing
data, a temporary conceptual tool that should be replaced when it no longer serves its
purpose.

A new way of thinking reorganizes existing observations.
A newer and fuller significance of individual human existence will be revealed.
Above the normal life of problems, there exists a second, higher timeless world.
All creatures have existed eternally in the divine essence.
All things are without independent reality since they exist only in relation to other things.
Consciousness has the potential to reach all aspects of existence.
Each object exists in infinite perfection.
Existence is basically a kind of dancing or music, an immensely complex energy pattern.
Existence is no longer a riddle to be solved but a mystery to behold.
I exist at every form of energy and every level of consciousness. (So do you.)
I hope that some of the joy which I have felt in just existing can stay with me.
It is a certain comprehensive insight into the essence of existence.
It is an illuminating insight into the very essence of existence.
It opens a religious vista or fulfills a sense of meaning in existence.
Mythic reality exists!
Spirituality is an important dimension of existence.
The entire spectrum of transpersonal experiences is commensurate with existence itself.
The entire universe exists nowhere but in this sizeless and timeless present moment.
The glory and wonder of pure existence belong to another order.
The human psyche appears to be essentially commensurate with all of existence.
The individual seriously questions the meaning of his or her life and existence in general.
The levels on which we exist are infinite.
The LSD experiences do not fit any existing theoretical system.
The real self exists on after the death of the body.
There can be direct acquaintance with the intrinsic strangeness of existence.
There is a new peace in my life, as well as an appreciation for the beauty of existence.
We can explore mythological and other realities that we previously did not know existed.
When the mind is stilled, psychological time ceases to exist.

He found the whole experience exhilarating for having given him insights into his psyche
and the nature of existence that he hadn’t thought himself capable of achieving.

He had broken through the boundaries of his everyday consciousness to enter a world that
he had previously not even imagined could exist.

He saw objects in a new light; they disclosed their inherent deep, timeless existence,
which remains hidden from everyday sight.

I began to fall in love with her as my hand warmed to hers. Warm hand, warm mind,
warm world, after an Eskimo existence.

I existed “in” these dimensions of being, as I had transcended not only my ego, but also
the dichotomy between subject and object.

I knew that my Self outlasts physical death and that my essence, the me that is eternal,
exists without form.

I realized that I was dead and that I was in the place which is the aboriginal base of all
existence.

I thought how trivial and absurd the things were that tied me to my conventional
existence. I had such great insight into the nature of things.

I was overjoyed—filed with wonder and delight. I knew the reasons behind existence,
time, space, goodness, pain—and I rejoiced.

It occurred to me how strange it would be if some inkling of this state drives one mad as
if the mad person knows this state exists and not being in it drives him mad.

The exquisite beauty of this tree was like a window in which you could see the existence
of this Other World.

The whole of my being and the world’s existence and history had suddenly made
complete sense to me.

How easy, I kept saying, to turn whatever one looked at, even a human face, into a pure
object, an object of the most magical beauty, strangeness, intensity of thereness, of pure
existence.

I saw that we were part of an enormous sinewy archetype, a monstrous rooted and
branching phenomenon, the primordial life force. I could see the buds opening constantly
to new existences and whole colorful worlds.

I was lifted entirely out of the world of hitherto conceivable being and invested with the
power of beholding forms and modes of existence which on earth are impossible to be
expressed.

LSD had flipped consciousness out beyond life into the whirling dance of pure energy,
where nothing existed except whirring vibrations and each illusory form was simply a
different frequency.

Old things have passed away, all things have become new. It was like entering another
world, a new state of existence. Natural objects were glorified, my spiritual vision was so
clarified that I saw beauty in every material object in the universe.

The LSD voyage goes out far beyond one’s small private history. My trip was back
through the cycle of being, which, if Jung’s collective unconscious really exists, as I
could now swear that it does, is the recurring history of you and me, all of us.

Every object in the room was a radiant structure of atomic-God-particles. Radiating.
Matter did not exist. There was just this million-matrix lattice web of energies.
Shimmering. Alive. Interconnected in space-time. Everything hooked up in a cosmic
dance.

I experienced a thunderbolt of ecstasy and my body dissolved into the flow of matter or
energy of which the universe is made. I was swept into the core of existence from which
all things arise and into which all things converge. Here there is no distinction between
subject and object, space and time, or anything else….

I felt that I was part of some intricate, unified network that was all-inclusive and eternal
and I felt that in that place I would continue to exist in some form forever. My belief in
the finality of death was undermined by an event that was so real it could not be denied
and I could no longer believe that death was the end of everything.

I had come to the conclusion, with all the feelings that I had at the time, that I was
more—more than I had always imagined myself, not just existing now, but I had existed
since the very beginning, from the lowest form of life to the present time, and that that
was the sum of my real experiences.

I was not I any more but a consciousness that encompassed a vastly broader spectrum
than I ever dreamed of. It doesn’t last, but once you have known it, you can never forget
that it exists. When the experience becomes integrated into your life, the fear of death
disappears— and we can only truly begin to live when we no longer fear death.

She saw the session as a very important event in her life. She felt as if she had begun a
completely new chapter: “I have been EXISTING all these years; I started to LIVE this
past Friday. I honestly feel that I am a new person, with a completely new mind. Even my
body feels different; I am pain free.”

“This is an experience of life itself, of existence,” I fairly shouted with unintelligible joy
at my state. It was one of exultation, wonder and awe, amazement over Being. I laughed
until tears came to my eyes. “This is fantastic! Beyond words!” That is was—and is—and
ever shall be.

I kept getting visions of this “golden dawning” of consciousness in man which would
enable us to get things whole, to see life’s miracles, to know that indeed all is in
everything from blade of grass to man and woman. It was a vision of some ideal
existence in which there was only the sense of wonder and all fear gone, of a certain state
of being that was there not to be judged, but simply to be.

The world slowly formed…life evolved…the world aged…man evolved…man
aged…thought pulled itself together…slowly…slowly…no way to hurry it along…slowly it
got around to me, sprawled on my back, staring open-eyed into the sun, on a beach at Big
Sur, and them…wham…and I slid right out of existence again, back to the beginning…for
eternities, until I fell into time again and saw the illusion of ocean-sky-sand.

During the experience, I felt I understood what mystics throughout the ages have claimed
to be the universal truth of existence. I had an academic background in philosophy and
comparative religion, but I realized that mystical teachings had now taken on an added
dimension. My perception seemed to have shifted from a flat, two-dimensional
intellectual understanding of the literature, to a three-dimensional sense of immersion in
the mystical reality.

Everything in this universe appeared to be conscious. After having had to accept the
possibility of fetal consciousness, I was confronted with an even more startling
discovery: consciousness might actually pervade all existence. My scientific mind was
heavily tested by this possibility until I realized that although many of these experiences
were incompatible with our common sense, they were not necessarily out of the realm of
science.

He moved into a world that existed in the deepest recesses of his consciousness.
His ego dissolved and he became all of existence.
I ceased to exist, but could have “looked back on my ego” and answered questions.
I felt that I existed throughout a vast extent of space.
I slipped back into forever where I didn’t exist.
I was elevated to a higher level of existence.
I was entering into another dimension of existence.
I was overwhelmed to find myself still in existence.
LSD opened up paths of thinking that I never knew existed.
She had experienced the unity of all existence.

a continual dance involving the whole cosmos—the basis of all existence and of all
natural phenomena

a cosmic adventure in consciousness aimed at solving the riddles of personal identity,
human existence and the universal scheme

a deep awareness of the fact that such profound transpersonal states reveal authentic
dimensions of existence

a primordial emotional state where subject-object relationships no longer exist and one is
part of, not apart from, one’s environment

a process of experiencing Essence in such a way that it illuminated all of existence, a
kind of flight TOWARDS reality

a process of purification, the onset of enhanced psychic sensitivity giving access to the
hidden and highest potentials of human existence

alarm clocks sufficiently powerful to wake us from the sort of sleepwalking existence
which nowadays passes for “normalcy”

an existence of peace and equanimity, a state of well-being and wholeness—transcending
all fear of death

an object of the most magical beauty, strangeness, intensity of thereness, of pure
existence

astonishment at the absolutely incredible immensity, complexity, intensity and
extravagance of being, existence, the cosmos, etc.

aware of this other dimension of existence, an existence that we have long since relegated
to oblivion

blindness to divine Reality—complete ignorance of the reason and purpose of human
existence

changes in consciousness, changes in our ways of feeling our own existence and our
relation to human society and the natural world

developed an affirmative attitude toward the totality of existence and a general
acceptance of whatever happens in life as being ultimately all right

discovery of one’s true identity and of the dimensions of one’s being that connect the
individual with the entire cosmos and are commensurate with all of existence

experiential identification with the primordial Emptiness, Nothingness, and Silence,
which seems to be the ultimate cradle of all existence

freeing oneself from distractions that interfere with the perception of higher realisms or
more beautiful aspects of existence

had a very real insight that their existence is part of an intricate, interconnected cosmic
order

insightful knowledge or illumination about being or existence in general that is felt at an
intuitive, nonrational level and gained by direct experience

instilling a sense of meaning in his personal existence and a feeling that since there is
meaning in life, there is meaning in death

revealed the glory, the infinite value and meaningfulness of naked existence, of the given
unconceptualized event

sound a vibration of sound/silence, the whole universe, existence, a vibration of
solid/space

that unitary state of divine harmony, an existence in which only the sense of wonder
remains and all fear is gone

the breakthrough from everyday existence to a spiritual dimension, the leap from the
human to the superhuman

the creative energy and intelligence of the universe as pure consciousness, existing
beyond time and space

the discovery of archetypal and mythological realms or entities that seem to have
existences of their own (eyes closed)

the discovery of the existence of shades of inner meaning one would not normally credit
with the capacity for signifying so much

the existence of these elements in the human unconscious and the possibility of
experiencing them consciously in a vivid and realistic way

the existing absurd situation in which almost no serious professional research is being
conducted in an area where millions of people have been experiencing on their own

the infinite moment when we immersed ourselves in the waters of our deepest selves, one
with the universe, the rhythm, the energy, one with the pulse of existence

the intolerance of science for such phenomena, her denial either of their existence or of
their significance

the truth of existence as intuited by clear vision, free from the constricting distortions of
partial perceptions

these gleams and flashes of the highest awareness and hence, also of the “highest mode of
existence”

this exceptional state of the spirit and of the senses which can be termed paradisiacal as
compared with the hopeless darkness of ordinary daily existence

to experience a new mode of existence and consciousness as far beyond our present mode
of existence as ours is beyond that of an animal

what Aldous Huxley called “perennial philosophy”, an understanding of the universe and
of existence that has emerged again and again in different countries and historical periods

an all-too-natural wild and satisfying, defiantly brave psychedelic religious pioneer
existence, backed by smiling Buddhas and holy Christian martyrs all giving me the nod
and the go-ahead

freedom from the learned cultural mind, the freedom to expand one’s consciousness
beyond artificial cultural knowledge, to move from constant preoccupation with the
verbal game, the social games, the game of self, to the joyous unity of what exists beyond

the experience of the Void, of the primordial emptiness, nothingness and silence which is
the ultimate source and cradle of all existence, the “uncreated and ineffable Supreme” (It
can’t be described, so they call it the Void.)

a higher level of existence
a profound awareness of the mystical dimension of existence
a scientific world view incorporating the mystical dimensions of existence
a sense of sacredness and of ultimate insight into the true and real nature of existence
an awareness of another layer of existence
an entirely new way of looking at reality and our existence
an infinite mode of existence understood as the divine
areas of perception capable of revealing the true basis of our earthly existence
beyond life, existence, you, me, everything
charged with all the meaning and the mystery of existence
could lead to a fuller and more satisfying way of existing in the world
discover true meaning of our existence
discovered that “I” exist independent of social ego
discovery of the spiritual dimensions of existence
existing on higher planes of consciousness and higher energy levels
feelings of cosmic bliss associated with undisturbed embryonal existence
gleams and flashes of the highest awareness and the highest mode of existence
in touch with a deeper truth about reality and the nature of existence
insights into the nature of human existence
introduced to the realities of religious existence through drugs
may reveal possibilities of experience which the subject did not know existed at all
merging with energy flux, seeing all life forms as physical waves, existence as energy
nonordinary states of consciousness that mediate access to all other aspects of existence
philosophical and spiritual dimensions of human existence
profound insight into the ultimate secrets of existence
rebirth into a new or higher order of existence
recognition of the spiritual dimensions of existence
spiritual liberation, revelation of the ultimate truth, oneness of all existence
states of consciousness that point to the existence of another kind of reality
the dance and wonder of existence
the drug experience a means to a fuller existence, to a life more innately human
the enormous joke of existence
the existence at the heart of things of a divine serenity and good will
the existence of creative cosmic intelligence
the existence of vast reaches of mind beyond our conscious, rational mental processes
the existing vacuum in the study of consciousness
the experience of our own existence as living organisms rather than as personalities
the intensity of existence which animates every object
the living mystery and inexplicable marvel of mere existence
the mysterious primordial emptiness and nothingness that contains all existence
the newly revealed fabric of existence
the spiritual dimension of existence
the true nature and meaning of existence
the undefined nature of our cosmic existence
the underlying unity of all existence
the universal immanence of the transcendent spiritual Ground of all existence
to a clearer, more integrated way of existing than I have ever known
to cut through the daze and dope of mindless existence and wake us up
to distinguish the clear light of truth from the illusory states of unenlightened existence
to enter into a new mode of existence
to expand existing senses to their fullest potential
to explore the range, the extent of my mental existence
to know that you exist on a multiple of levels
transcends the world of matter and earthly existence
visions of perfect existences
where time as we know it has no existence