Mushrooms and Mysteries

[Hagoth]

I'm so intrigued by this topic and people's experience with it. Who knows, perhaps, I'll become a member of the Divine Assembly perhaps?

All you have to do is put your name on the list: https://www.thedivineassembly.org/join
It's a $50 donation if you want to be a literal card carrying member: https://www.thedivineassembly.org/products

If nothing else, it's kind of fun to tell people, "My religion uses magic mushrooms as a sacrament."

There are members of TDA who do not use psychedelics, by the way. They are there for the community. I think what really blew me away about this community is how many members I hit it off with immediately, who are extraordinarily kind, sincere, interesting people. Most of them (I'm guessing 80%+) were devoutly LDS at some point. There's a wide age range too, but a surprising amount of gray hair.

[Hagoth]

The fungus doesn't have any alien or cosmic knowledge it will bestow upon you. Call BS on anyone who goes on one of these trips and comes back as some prophet that wants to tell the world how they should live their lives.

Amen, Brother. But it can bestow deep insight and knowledge that already belongs to you, that the little man at the control panel was keeping locked up.

I have come to the conclusion that the problem with religion in general is the ego-centric need for context, while unfettered spirituality should be almost entirely about personal experience and free of religious context. My son says "God is bottom-up," I say "God is verb, not noun."

The minute you start assigning meaning you derail the experience. The transformative axial mystics seem to have started with a simple message about the simplicity of being. Jesus' version was "the kingdom of God is within you." And THAT IS the message, in my opinion. But self-absorbed human brains just can't resist putting their own stink on it and cluttering up with gaudy embellishments and oppressively restrictions. We can't just accept a moment of enlightenment as a precious gift without immediately assigning it to a component of our belief system that supports the institutional goals (e.g. conformity, obedience, and the writing of checks).

Here is the entire doctrine of The Divine Assembly:

TDA’s one tenet is:
Each individual can commune directly with the Divine.

Our tenet recognizes:
-Worship needs no dogma
-Worship empowers us
-Worship connects us

They don't even define what "worship" or "Divine" mean. That is entirely up to the individual. Don't get me wrong, there's a good share of hippy, new-agey stuff that slips in, but it is the property of the people who hang it on themselves. For every TDA member that has those kinds of beliefs there is another that approaches it with a very pragmatic, no-nonsense mindset. And they get along great because there is no expectation of conformity. And they grow and learn from each other.

[stealthbishop]

I am really enjoying the book Changing Your Mind and I am still super curious. A little nervous of course. No plan yet but very curious. I've talked with DW about it and she's not exactly thrilled. I talked with her about her watching over me and she didn't like that idea.

[Ghost]

I've been curious about this stuff for as long as I can remember. My attitude eventually just became that I hope it becomes legal before I die so I can try it because I'm probably too risk-averse to ever try it otherwise.

Thanks for creating the thread. Interesting info.

[Hagoth]

I am really enjoying the book Changing Your Mind and I am still super curious. A little nervous of course. No plan yet but very curious. I've talked with DW about it and she's not exactly thrilled. I talked with her about her watching over me and she didn't like that idea.

Maybe she'll watch the How to Change Your Mind Neflix series with you. I think it's supposed to launch today.

ETA: I just checked and the series is available now. One episode each on LDS, Psilocybin, Mescaline, and MDMA

[Hagoth]

I've been curious about this stuff for as long as I can remember. My attitude eventually just became that I hope it becomes legal before I die so I can try it because I'm probably too risk-averse to ever try it otherwise.

Thanks for creating the thread. Interesting info.

Are you in Utah, Ghost? If so, you might want to drop by non-sacrament gathering. There are always some very nice and very interesting people to talk to.

Another NOM friend sent me this video. I don't agree with everything Terrence McKenna says, but I enjoy listening to him: https://youtu.be/1WXroiXWfcI

[Ghost]

I would do that if I lived in or near Utah, but no. I am almost certainly visiting Utah at some point this year, though.

Since I no longer voraciously consume Mormon-themed podcasts, the one I now listen to more regularly than any other is Sam Harris's Making Sense (formerly Waking Up). And he's had several episodes on this topic that I've enjoyed.

[stealthbishop]

I am really enjoying the book Changing Your Mind and I am still super curious. A little nervous of course. No plan yet but very curious. I've talked with DW about it and she's not exactly thrilled. I talked with her about her watching over me and she didn't like that idea.

Maybe she'll watch the How to Change Your Mind Neflix series with you. I think it's supposed to launch today.

ETA: I just checked and the series is available now. One episode each on LDS, Psilocybin, Mescaline, and MDMA

Fantastic! Thanks for the heads up!

[Hagoth]

ETA: I just checked and the series is available now. One episode each on LDS, Psilocybin, Mescaline, and MDMA

Oops, that's LSD, not LDS!!

[wtfluff]

ETA: I just checked and the series is available now. One episode each on LDS, Psilocybin, Mescaline, and MDMA

Oops, that's LSD, not LDS!!

The MOST PERFECT of all Freudian Slips!

[stealthbishop]

Are the mushrooms seeking me?

[Hagoth]

ETA: I just checked and the series is available now. One episode each on LDS, Psilocybin, Mescaline, and MDMA

Oops, that's LSD, not LDS!!

The MOST PERFECT of all Freudian Slips!

Yeah, yeah, a mission instead of a trip.

[Hermey]

Fascinating thread.

[Hagoth]

Fascinating thread.

Hi, Hermey!

[Hagoth]

In case you haven't seen it, the How to Change Your Mind series is now on Netflix. Definitely worth watching:

https://www.netflix.com/title/80229847

[Red Ryder]

Fascinating discussion!

I like the snow globe analogy.

I’ve had a few preliminary discussions with the wife about doing this and it always comes back to “hippy recreational drug use”.

I think I’ll get the Micheal Pollen book on audible.

[Hagoth]

“hippy recreational drug use”.

Yes, the Nixon and Reagan administrations ran very effective inquisitions.

Maybe you have seen Nixon advisor John Ehrlichman's explanation:

“The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”

Psychedelics came to be even more of a threat than cannabis once they realized that their initial CIA/FBI/Military attempts at using them as mind control substances turned out to have the opposite effect. Once they were added to schedule 1, they were blacklisted from laboratory research and federal employees were legally forbidden from being able to make any positive statements about them.

There's a hilarious recording of an FDA official in a senate hearing about the dangers of Marijuana where she is asked point blank whether alcohol is more dangerous than cannabis, but refuses to answer because she will lose her job if she answered truthfully.

[stealthbishop]

I watched the NetFlix series and I of course loved it. I was always curious about such things before but now knowing the history and how they had been used and it was helping people and then it was suppressed--it's all really fascinating.

I would like to look into these tools/medicines. I like at the end how he says that we need to look at indigenous cultures and how they used them for a model. They had experience with these things for hundreds or even thousands of years and they had wisdom in how to use them safely and effectively. Such as: The importance of set and setting. Ritual. Dosing. Having a guide who is experienced and trustworthy.

I really do want to be a part of this.

I definitely think the use of them is going to grow quite a bit.

[Hermey]

Fascinating thread.

Hi, Hermey!

I'm going to send you a text. I'd love to get together this week and catch up.

This thread and your holotropic breathwork thread are fascinating to me.

[DPRoberts]

I noticed today that TDA has a meeting planned this Sunday that I might attend.

ETA: the info on the meetup is in the newsletter email they send when you join.