Behold this Day

For those of you that have an interest in researching alternative health or spiritual options, this might be of interest.

A while ago David Crews wrote "The Joy of Disillusionment"- a disertation on the trials and triumphs he went through leaving a Christian Fundamentalist life much the way I had experienced. His writings on this are located here.

I wondered why he chose to believe in a total end of life & conscienceness and wrote to him with my query.

I was delighted when he wrote back. It seems that he has rather mellowed out and gained a new understanding of the dynamics of life and what forces are at work in the universe. David recently made a trip to the rainforests of Peru to do research on the spiritual plant called Ayahuasca. To those who are knowledgable about Aya, it is revered as a spiritual guide within, and the spirit of the vine is Mother Ayahuasca.

A short excerpt from his website:

"This is a condensed journal from my personal experiences in the Peruvian Amazon in 2006. I had traveled to the greatest forest on Earth to partake in the sacramental use of a shamanic “Teacher Plant” – the highly psychoactive and complex brew known as Ayahuasca, the “Vine of the Soul.” This “tea” from a specific plant mixture has been used for thousands of years for healing and visioning purposes by the indigenous peoples of the Amazon basin from Brazil, to Columbia and Ecuador, and especially in Peru.Although extremely powerful, and notoriously difficult, unpleasant, and challenging to work with (including a horrific taste and powerful purging), Ayahuasca is a safe way to see incredible beauty and encounter mystical realms and spiritual entities that are otherwise difficult for Western people to experience. For me, it was a journey to see for myself what I might make of such realms, visions, and entities – to try to determine What Is Real and what might be simply illusion or masterful creativity.
Working with Ayahuasca is an adventure of the body and spirit. For me, it was an INTENSE set of experiences – one that challenged my physical body through difficult diets, strong physical exertions, and often, extremely uncomfortable conditions.___ – But that was the easy part.It challenged my mind and spirit on levels that can only be described asawesome and unexplainable.
We worked with a master shaman - a healer named Don Rober, and we had the excellent guidance and teaching of our host, Howard Lawler, also a shaman, who is revitalizing many of the other ancient shamanistic traditions of South America.
Shamanism is the oldest spiritual practice of humankind. The essence of shamanism is personal, direct experience and expression – not relying on anyone’s testimony or doctrines about spiritual or mystical encounters.
In 1951, Carl Jung wrote:"In psychology, one possesses nothing unless one has experienced it in reality. Hence, a purely intellectual insight is not enough, because one knows only the words and not the substance of the thing from the inside."
Ayahuasca is the world’s most direct and powerful form of shamanic experience, and I had been desiring and planning to work with it for almost a decade. Now, at last, I had come to Iquitos, Peru, in the heart of the great selva or jungle. My hosts for this trip were to prove impeccable in their set and setting and in the preparation and the personnel for this great adventure of the soul."

A fascinating read! I encourage you to enjoy it.

Credit: David P. Crew- jaguarfeather.com