QUESTION:
I am very curious to hear your take on natural psychedelic substances. Why is it that people feel a stronger connection to the Source—or begin sensing it for the first time—after an initial experience, or is there more to the story?
LEE’S ANSWER:
Psychedelics alter the spectrum of perception, and as the mind ventures beyond its habitual range, it loses its grip on the situation. While our ordinary awareness is confined to a narrow frequency, psychedelic influence triggers various shifts depending on the circumstances.
Direct observation takes over when the rational mind is disoriented. In this state, information often bypasses the ego’s filters and habitual beliefs, leading to a raw interpretation of things "as they are" rather than how they are typically masked.
However, once the state wears off, the filters return and distortion sets in, making it difficult to remember the experience as it truly was. This initial "epiphany" often leaves a deep mark, creating the illusion that repeating the process is a shortcut to "understanding Existence."
Yet subsequent experiences only create further "perceptual rifts," often shattering the picture into a multitude of puzzle pieces with no one left to assemble them. After all, the "sober mind" inhabits an entirely different world. It starts to rationally divide itself into "the observer of oddities" and "the normal self," which is why an attachment to psychedelics carries the risk of "psychic fragmentation."
You must realize that no insight truly works for you unless it is applied in practice. No matter how much you watch a pianist play, your own fingers will never learn the instrument without effort. Personal practice is indispensable.
The point is that your current life is the practice itself! How you think, how you speak, and how you make decisions—these are all ways you practice realizing the Self. If a psychedelic experience isn't immediately integrated into this practice, it either remains a "beautiful dream" or merely produces mental special effects, often leaving the person a philosopher detached from reality.
The most profound knowledge is that which you are implementing in your life at this very moment.
