The intersection of science and spirituality can be elusive – as a lot of answers offered by spirituality are often dismissed by science.
So while science is busy doing the heavy lifting of proving how the brain responds to psychedelics, spirituality offers its own intriguing, otherworldly perspectives.
In this video, I want to introduce you to the work of a psychiatrist whose journey through both science and spirituality led to some astonishing insights.
Watch: Are you a Mystic? Or perhaps one in training?
Transcript
So the best way I think to start this off is by introducing you to the work of David R. Hawkins.
He was a modern day psychiatrist who died in 2012 and was often referred to as a mystic. If you wanna know more about Mystics, I did a recent video about that titled, “Are you a Mystic or one in training.”
Anyway, Dr. Hawkins left us a huge body of work around the intersection of what I’ll call mental health and spirituality.
And his crowning achievement, I believe, is a classic in the field of the study of consciousness called the map of consciousness.
And through a range of research he gauged the vibration of various emotions – so the map or chart looks like this … going from the lowest of low emotions, that of shame, which is self doubt, a sense of deep unworthiness, moving up through depression and sadness and fear and anger,
And then getting into the higher vibrational range – we’re talking about love and joy and peace where life becomes progressively more and more effortless – right into pure consciousness, which he called enlightenment.
OK, you got an idea of that. So, Dr. Hawkins had a lot to say about psychedelics and why people feel so good in using them. And he reported that the reason for that is that psychedelic drugs sedate – his word, “Sedate” – these lower levels of consciousness, and when you let go of the lower levels of consciousness emotions, like shame, depression, sadness, fear, anger – when you let go of them you move into those higher vibrations of love and joy and peace.
And Dr. Hawkins describes it as if the psychedelics blot out those lower vibrational energies and now you can experience the reality of who you really are.
So you take a psychedelic and experience those higher vibrations during your journey, right? But the issue is how can you do it without the hallucinogen and let go of those lower levels of consciousness on your own.
And during a psychedelic journey, you may very well believe that you have reached new heights, but once you’re no longer under the influence, the effects can be very uneven and what your experiencing or what you’ve experienced or learned during your psychedelic journey can slowly slip away – and you’re back to where you started and that is enmeshed in those lower vibrational emotions. Follow me?
Dr. Hawkins believed that you can get a taste of what these higher vibrational states are like during psychedelic trips, but you need to do something more to crystallize it in your life. And it was his suggestion that that’s not going to happen during a psychedelic journey! In his words, “You can’t transcend the world until you master it”.
And what he describes is the process of letting go of those lower vibrational difficult emotions, which, in doing so, he says, evolves your soul.
See, Dr. Hawkins very much walked that line between Western science and spirituality, I mean, he was a psychiatrist and used spiritual teachings and traditions. And evolving our soul is the nature of human consciousness and the purpose of our life here.
And I see many people who do regular psychedelic journeys because they long to be in that transcendent space.
And there is a very real movement in the psychedelic community putting an emphasis on integration after the psychedelic journey – that is, you know, digesting what you learned about yourself during a psychedelic journey, grounding it, and taking it out into your world… into your relationships, moving toward crystallizing the changes.
And I’m glad that’s happening because, you know, I believe it’s pivotal to using psychedelics for emotional healing – as a lot of people are doing.
I do use psychedelics in my work, that is psilocybin most of the time and often cannabis as well. I find these plant medicines can be an important addition, a tool, to the release work that I teach in Emotional Liberation. Participants always have the option of experimenting with both cannabis and psilocybin in this work … but it’s always ancillary, that means it’s optional to the Emotional Liberation method.
Cannabis is always a good go-to because it’s legal in many places and so my students and clients have easy access to it, unlike psilocybin. And cannabis is clean. When you can get it legally, it’s been tested for contaminants and additives and the biggest benefit is that cannabis is extremely safe.
If you take too much, you just sleep it off – so it’s easy to experiment with… you know, next time, do it differently. Perhaps, less THC and more CBD or, for heightened results, more THC.
This inner exploration I believe is a pioneering path toward awakening in this century or, called enlightenment, as Dr. Hawkins said. My favorite is doing this exploration in community –as we have the opportunity to leverage the energetic strength of the group for deep, individual inner work. And that’s why I create gatherings in my coursework and retreats for our awakening community.
So what’s your take on what I’m saying? Perhaps you’re a psychedelics devotee or you’ve been there and you have moved on. Dropped down to the comments section and let me know.
I’m Becca Williams and I want you to lead your most magnificent life – and I want to help you do that.