Wow, what excellent, thought provoking replies!
aloneits said:
My white light experience was also an ego death experience. There was no I. There was only the white light.. "I" was everything.
Although the experience only lasted a few minutes time meant absolutely nothing and it could of easily been eternity. When I returned to my body and saw it had only been 8 minutes I was completely awestruck. I didn't sleep that entire night and spent a couple hours saying "What the fuck. That is impossible." over and over again. It is a completely indescribable feeling. I was also left with the distinct feeling that this light was always inside me and this was not just a drug experience. I immediately *knew* it...
Thanx for sharing your enlightenment. I completely agree, an eternity can exist within a single second transpiring, so how long are we really spending in these transcendental states of consciousness? Outside of the parameters of time, who can truly say?
The light is often perceived in people's near-death experiences. Not just spiritually inclined folks but regular/normal folks, as well. So too, embracing the psychedelic journey puts the subjective witness of our dream of reality, into this range of death or the extinction of our ego (even if temporarily). Naturally, ego-death precedes the vision of
The Light, as our mind is caught (frozen like a deer in the headlights), for a brief moment in time. :shock:
This opens up our preceptory awareness to something beyond our conceptual mentality, lingering in our periphery. Frankly, our mental fixation and our addiction to qualifying experience, are the single biggest barriers to this phenomenon being seen. As dawn surely follows nighttime, when we can stop our mind, we can shift our awareness to alternate levels of being. And yes, I believe that we all feel that when we have this light experience, we
remember that we have always been this same light, internally. IMO, it is a fundamental aspect of our soul's anatomy.
joedirt said:
Ultimately for me psychedelic sessions are used to help propel me along my path by helping me feel as though my life does have a purpose because I'm intimately connected to every other atom in the universe.
I also think it's neurological...but that doesn't preclude the fact that I think it's still a mystical experience. Make no doubt though..it is biological in origin. You put a drug into your body and it binds with your brains receptor sites and induces the experience...or perhaps you learn to tap this mechanism via deep meditation or what not. Either way it is neurological.
Honestly the need to fix it into some little box is an attempt by our scientific based society to try and describe and explain everything away IMHO. The experience I had is simply beyond any explanation.
At best I think many people experience is a vision of white light...which is pretty amazing, but it's not the same thing I experienced. This really isn't something that you see. The world white light is kinda of a misnomer. Not to be all cliche, but I don't really have words for it, but I prefer the Tibetan Buddhist word, 'clear light' over white light.
I'm certainly not saying that they don't arise spontaneously in people because obviously they do. I just think it's a lot more rare than claimed. I also think it is more likely to be accessed by those that do practice meditation...again it's just an opinion. People that have had this experience tend to relate it as a pinnacle life experience that was strong enough to effect a significant change in their lives...for instance in your case starting to practice up Kriya Yoga. I was also pulled to Kriya yoga from psychedelic experiences, but my Samadhi happened while practicing Kriya Pranayama on shrooms.
Nicely written, Brother. 8)
OK, so we can all reasonably come to some mutual consensus, that our perceptions are shaped by our neurochemistry. You are what you eat, right? Sages, shamans and contemplative mystics have spent millenniums devising various methodologies to alter their own brain-wave patterns, mental focus and the content of their interior awareness. Who could deny that this is a process that must naturally navigate itself through our neurological pathways? You nailed it spot on.
Truthfully, we cannot accurately put this phenomenon into the proper language, as we do not have the appropriate wording to classify any of this data. Arguably, the Vedantic Rishis had a specific system of terminology, by which to put these experiences into linguistic format. Without a doubt, it's really quite a fantastic and extremely specific system. Still, I personally do not want to have to continuously borrow from these Sanskrit terms, despite their beauty and intelligence. The very same ideas can and will find their place in our 21st century, western vernacular. I believe we are collectively on the cutting-edge of discovering this new language. Albeit, initially in small circles.
Like yourself and
alonits, my psychedelic experiences forged the way for my involvement with Kriya Yoga, Sufism, Surat Shabd Yoga, Advaita and eventually the emptiness of Zen. Let's face it, we all want to have this kind of spiritual eclipsing 'naturally' and without the need for any psychedelics. It would still, likely be an activation based on chemical and neurological stimulation... but it would intentional and consciously directed by our own mind's comprehension of the interior mechanics of these mystical states.
I my own journey, I had been exposed to Buddhist meditation through Asian martial arts, as a mere slip of a boy, aged 16 years old. By this time, I was a regular marijuana smoker and I found the two where quite compatible, based on my understanding at the time. When I was 17 years old, I took up the popular meditation practice of
TM (Transcendental Meditation), so I had been training my concentration and internal focus for a little over three years, before my first overpowering symbiotic immersion within
The Light.
LSD had been the catalyst. I had the awakening of kundalini, perception of the activation of my chakras (psychic energy centers) and witnessed a flood of white light into my forehead. This light pulled my awareness into my crown center and I had my first taste of Samadhi, without any prior knowledge of this state of mind even existing. so, it was not a case of anticipation of projection, it was totally experiential. Later on the serious study would ensue. This journey of awakening will never end, as it has no beginning. :idea:
I believe that the length and duration of sacred medicines like LSD, mescaline and psilocybin, facilitates the gradual attunement to this level of being, yet, from my own experiences... DMT caused it almost instantly! I wouldn't rule out any 'enlightenment' under it's powerful rush. In my own case, I meditate deeply for a decent amount of time, prior to lift-offs. For myself, this makes the transition practically seamless (it's just a matter of degree and intensity).
I fully agree with your description that
seeing the light is not just an optical reception, it is a deep understanding of the spiritual essence, the unfathomable nature of the Divine. It is an awakening of our realization that we are that same insubstantial force as the unseen source of our being. We are created by God as
gods ourselves and therefore, we are free to return to our original face, our inherent Omnipotence. The light is the prototype, the blue print and template for all existence, consciousness and being. We exist is an infinity of light. Sometimes we are gifted with the vision of this enlightenment. We are birthed of this indivisibility and we return to this indivisibility. Just as naturally as inhaling and exhaling.
I do make one distinction from your wise assessment. The light is something I certainly do see. Not with my optical orbs, rather with my mind's eye, my
singular eye. As the reference is to the
EYE, not the idea or insight, we must consider why this thought form has had such an marked impression upon our species. The Eye of Horus was the ancient Egyptian symbolic translation of this luminous humanoid center of awareness and it is absolutely something which accompanies a vision of brilliant white light.
Inspired by Dr.s Timothy Leary, Richard Alpert and Ralph Metzner's 1964 spin on the Tibetan Book of the Dead,
The Psychedelic Experience. I began to research the actual Tibetan Book of the Dead and the Egyptian Book of the Dead. For quite some time, I have favored the expression,
The Clear Light of the Void. In terms of mindfulness, the light is exceedingly clear and reflects a sublime degree of clarity (to the witness of the phenomenon).
Still, when I have had my Samadhis, my Satoris, my Divine Raptures... they have been precipitated by the vision of an exponentially brightening point of blinding white light. This draws my awareness deeper into it's essence and propels my awareness into the crown of mind, the Godhead. The Omniself, if you will? This shatters any self-referencing or individuated subjectivity. As awareness expands beyond the limitations of self, immersing with the emptiness... no description can follow.
This can be reasonably be called a
whiteout experience, as it is the total immersion within this great light. For when all is light and no darkness exists in our consciousness, how can one discern any light distinct from the continuum of lightness? Within this eclipsing of consciousness, a field of undifferentiated energy is perceived without the involvement of self. This is beyond the parameters of subjectivity, so nothing can be spoken about it. This insubstantial emptiness resides in the heart of everything, as nothingness. Truly a paradox! This plane of being is most certainly, the Clear Light of the Void.
Not exactly
white, as in the description of it's color... for it's radiance contains all colors equally. Out of this 'whiteness', emanates the rainbow fractal patterns, which so proliferate the psychedelic experience. To be completely honest, the degree in which I literally SEE this light, is based on my symbiosis with psychedelics or extreme sadhana (spiritual exercises, controlled breathing or sensory deprivation). It will no doubt be quite the same when I die physically?
So as you stated, the combination of Sacred Medicine and meditation, pranayama and asana... invokes a profound peak experience in one's sentient lifetime. We are all practicing the present moments continuous unfoldment. We are forever basking in the light of this brilliant intelligence, this radiant Indivisibility. :idea:
