amazingino said:
Sorry to interrupt your discussion but most of you seem to suppose that spirits come to us, did you ever think that it is the other way around?
It seems more logical to me that we are going towards them, or better yet, our perception is widened in order to perceive them thanks to active compounds in ayahuasca. We are the vehicle.
..equally, 'they' could be the vehicle for us..
..my concept of spirit is like the concept of 'manitou'..field related..as an example, if i am looking at a used car to buy, i will feel out it's vibe..it's history..different examples of exactly the same make of car have different histories..different 'manitou'..similarly, an individual molecule (or even atom in string theory) has a particular history..a 4 dimensional (or higher) field..the journey of that 'entity'..
..in my intro essay a while back i asked the philosophical question: "If i got your grandmother, ground her up, and extracted the DMT from her cerebrospinal fluid, would smoking that DMT be 'energetically' the same as smoking synthetic lab grade DMT?" ..so concepts of homeopathy (as mentioned by jamie), or karma are related, but i see it more as 'history'..
..the combination of other molecules (tannins) etc in a water brew may create a more complex 'poly-field' of the paths of these 'entities' through time & space..the spirit of the plant, which is more than one molecule..
actually, i personally believe plants have some form of consciousness which may survive physical change more easily than humans, but that's getting deeply subjective..
..and lets not forget what the plant DNA could subtly contribute to our internal information systems..DNA wouldn't make it through an NP extraction..there is the McKenna's theory of betacarbolines allowing changes in our DNA, particularly through sound activation..not as far fetched as it may initially sound..
If the latter is true, no need to question extraction methods, they are legit if the end result can help us travel to the right destination. IMO those are all SAME spirits/entities we see, they don't change because we use different substances or extraction methods to find them. They seem different because our perception is "widened" differently. The whole reality seems different depending on our perception of it.
..i'm kind of saying, as well, that our increased perception (via the CNS action) allows us to potentially sense such things more easily..
Also, do you know how much harmine/harmaline/THH 50g of caapi has? 1g? For me it is the ultimate proof that traditional extraction method is not the most efficient one: there is obviously something severely under powering the active compounds in it, something that is absent from pure extract. Something trying to prevent you from seeing differently. Food for thought
..
which traditional method? the 'deep-jungle' brews i mentioned earlier boils for 9hours or more..these brews are
strong..they are probably getting about 80% of alkaloid out, albeit with possible heat induced changes..
..full spectrum water brews have, on occasions, given me a much wider range of modes of vision than i have experienced usually with pharma..i do think the extra compounds actually contribute a little to the character..
..also, perhaps the 'traditional' technology of Ayahuasca is not simply 100% focused on DMT/harmine visions, and is attempting to create a more complex bioactive/medicinal brew..we, of the modern headspace, are often more obsessed with having to achieve high DMT levels to 'see' things which many indigenous people say they 'see' without psychedelics..
..but, jeez, those water brews (made well) have sure not prevented me from seeing anything..quite the opposite..maybe it's the individual human mind, and expectation, which can get in the way of seeing things..
many of the actual ayahuasqeros themselves would say that, with a traditional drink, it is diet and attitude which gets in the way of visions..they personally don't need much at all to get good effects..so i can't see any obvious proof of the ineffectualness of water brews..and the majority of people aren't going to achieve 100% alkaloid extraction efficiency even with the modern method..how good a cook are you?
some more food for thought..
.