Reddit reviews The Antipodes of the Mind: Charting the Phenomenology of the Ayahuasca Experience

I wouldn't say its just some kid with a 'wild imagination.' I think its more than that. Many alien abduction cases report a face coming through a wall, and talking to the 'victim.' Others report small children inside the bedroom, or even a glowing orb or energy that moves around within the bedroom. It sounds nutty but I read into it and I do believe there is some unexplained phenomenon going on.

Please watch Dr. Karla Turner's lectures on this phenomenon. Sadly she died in 1996 of a fast acting cancer. She was 48.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32PIKN7eQhU

John Mack, Pulitzer Prize Winner and Harvard psychiatrist, stated that it was not the 'imagination of the victim' but a real phenomenon. Sadly he died in 2004 while walking alone by a drunk driver.

Interview with S. African children seeing UFO and alien beings

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3fR3jTiPc8

Interview with John E. Mack (from ThinkingAllowedTV)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-U1WecFObQw

Also, the chemical DMT, which is naturally secreted in your brain, particularly your pineal gland, can give an onset of visions, transporting you to another dimension. Please look into Dr. Rick Strassman's work 'DMT: The Spirit Molecule.' Ancient cultures used to drink 'Ayahuasca,' a DMT based plant mixture that Amazonians used in order to be in an altered state of consciousness (ASC). While in this state of consciousness, people report meeting with 'alien entities,' elves, fairies, praying mantis, seeing alien worlds, as well as common visions.

For example, people totally unrelated, disconnected from each other, are seeing the same visions such as 'jaguars,' 'being in a hospital room with advanced machinery, accompanied by a tall Praying Mantis (8ft).' Other visions include black people dancing around a fire, as well as seeing a vision of a Roman era boat filled with slaves manning the oars.

Book recommendations on Psychonautics

Aldous Huxley's 'Heaven and Hell and Doors of Perception'

http://www.amazon.com/Doors-Perception-Heaven-Hell-P-S/dp/0061729078/

Benny Shannon's 'Antipodes of the Mind'

http://www.amazon.com/Antipodes-Mind-Phenomenology-Ayahuasca-Experience/dp/0199252939/

Dr. Rick Strassman's 'Inner Paths to Outer Space'

http://www.amazon.com/Inner-Paths-Outer-Space-Psychedelics/dp/159477224X/

follow up question:

During my first ceremony, the first thing that happened to me was that I felt an extremely comfortable, mother-like vibe, and I knew I would be okay. After reading http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0199252939 , I learned that is extremely common for people to encounter (mama ayahuasca) their first time. Did you have a similar feeling? Just a comfortable, euphoria, a motherly vibe?

Thanks I have alwasy had my ears and eyes open to those folk you mention. I recently read Antipodes of the Mind as I have alwasy been interested in Ayahuasca worth a look maybe even a purchase?

Still yet to get to Food of the Gods and the Spirit Molecule both worthy reads Im sure. Cant get enough of Alex Grets art either.

So this doc looks perfect for me. I think someting is telling me to go hunting for mushrooms this year. There is still so much to learn, its wierd how this mind state or way of life runs alongside my normal 9-5. I wish I could devot more time to these studies!

Well, I never said I believe that the songs actually communicate with the spirits or heal anyone. I can state however that shamanic singing can OBJECTIVELY modulate the experience of a group of people on Ayahuasca.

Over the course of a given ceremony, Icaros directly control the 'journey' of everyone participating. The shamans employ different Icaros at different times for different effects. Some of them bring you 'up' some of them bring you 'down'. Some of them them encourage introspection, some laughter, and still others intense visualization or body effects. They do this group modulation with intention and know exactly what they're doing.

If you don't see how something like that is possible, then yes, we do need to agree to disagree for now and I suggest you get some education. :)

Hey. It is not cool to downvote people for trying to have a discussion and for offering valid counter-points. Tom921992 raised an interesting and relevant question. If that makes you feel bad, perhaps examine why you felt that way? No need to be insecure. With, or without a definition of spirit, Aya is still Aya. Also, Happy Cake-Day, OP!

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I think it depends on what you define a 'spirit' as. Westerners love to anthropomorphize things. We want our spirits to be visible, coherent, and lucid -- like meeting another human being, only as spirit. If you detach from your axis and explore this school of thought, you realize how many pre-conceived filters and biases you have running on-top of your experience.

While aiding Ayahuasca ceremonies in Peru, many people pose these questions. It is often phrased as: "Is this really happening to me, or is this just my imagination?" The imagination is the container where these experiences take place. You are imagining what you are seeing. That does not invalidate or reduce your experience.

A spirit is a different being. A practitioner or an explorer might abstract these sensations into a form that is understandable and communicable. It is always a reductive process. But, if you want to meet a plant spirit, the imagination is the membrane in which a non-human entity converses with a human entity. Its form, approach, and discourse is going to be unique to the observer.

As a takeaway, I think it is important to realize that the best anyone can understand about Ayahuasca is Ayahuasca plus them. In no way can we explore and understand the medicine and the experiences without our own spirits present. In this way, a true objective scientific analysis is a major challenge. The debate will become epistemological in short order.

If you are interested in some deep reading, I would recommend The Antipodes of the Mind by Benny Shannon. This is a hard-science book. It is an rigorous phenomenological analysis of Ayahuasca experiences over many years, in many different contexts. Another way to philosophically approach Ayahuasca and its experiences is through that of Platonic epistomology.

Enjoy your journey!

This is a book about a large-scale scientific study that showed that about two-thirds of participants encountered alien higher intelligences and accessed other dimensions on ayahusaca:
https://www.amazon.com/Antipodes-Mind-Phenomenology-Ayahuasca-Experience/dp/0199252939

I too have had that experience, many many times. And again, I recommend that anyone interested in the truth breakthrough on DMT rather than listening to this internet troll. peace.

If you find it you can read Benny Shannon’s The Antipodes of the Mind: charting the phenomenology of the ayahuasca experience

It deals exclusively with what you describe your post

http://www.amazon.com/Antipodes-Mind-Phenomenology-Ayahuasca-Experience/dp/0199252939

and

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=4392361&page=1#.TrzoWUPiHqE