In today’s Solidarity Fridays episode, Kyle and Joe have a discussion about spirituality and spiritual development.
Joe was rubbed the wrong way by a podcast he recently listened to where a previously very psychedelic-oriented Qabalist said that psychedelics didn’t really help with spiritual growth. This leads to a discussion built on many questions: what is spiritual development? What is enlightenment? Does drug-taking always need a set intention based on growth? Do “I need a break from bullshit” or “I want to have fun with my friends” count as intentions? And who are we worried will discredit or judge us for having those be our intentions or keys to spiritual development?
They also touch on religion and their embedded spiritual goals, the importance and power of the communal aspect of some of these experiences, the community that church brings to people and what’s changing as more people move away from religion, hypnosis and the dangers of inaccurate or entirely fabricated “memories,” the importance of diversifying your tools for growth, the trouble in trying to define shamanism, the problems with therapists and facilitators bringing their own frameworks into sessions rather than letting clients define their own experience, and the unfortunate passing of the Fungi Academy’s Oliver Merivee (fundraiser link below).
Lastly, they remind us that there are only a few spots left for the upcoming Navigating Psychedelics for Clinicians and Therapists class, which begins on January 7th. If you’ve been considering taking the class, what better time than the new year to take that step? Time to leave 2020 behind and step into 2021 with purpose!
Happy New Year!
Notable Quotes
“The thing that had me keep coming back to breathwork is that sense of community. And I think a lot of people start to find their community in these medicine spaces and ayahuasca circles and whatnot, because you’re having an experience together and being able to explore and share that, and sometimes these are so vulnerable and so deep experiences- you’re together with a bunch of strangers and you feel like you just shared things or experienced things that you never really experienced with the closest people in your life. And somehow, that creates a sense of meaning or connection that is hard to find elsewhere. It’s interesting to really kind of view the community or community aspect as part of spirituality, in a sense.” -Kyle
“It’s interesting to hear people have these experiences and then have a facilitator say, ‘Yes, that’s what happened to you.’ How do you know? I don’t know. I’ve had plenty of these past life experiences and I have no idea if that was actually real.” -Kyle
“Of course this is a complicated topic, and really messy. We wouldn’t have this many episodes of the podcast if it wasn’t.” -Joe
Links
Shamanic Qabalah: A Mystical Path to Uniting the Tree of Life & the Great Work, by Daniel Moler
Psychologyconcepts.com: The Fallacy of Misplaced Concreteness
Oliver Merivee (founder of the Fungi Academy)’s Memorial Fundraiser
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Navigating Psychedelics
