All Is One: Understanding Entheogens and Nonduality

101 Pages·2012·0.42 MB·English

by  Martin W. Ball

All is One
Understanding Entheogens and Nonduality
by
Martin W. Ball, Ph.D.
© 2012
Martin Ball
Kyandara Publishing ISBN: 978-1-105-73714-5
Legal Disclaimer:
This work is intended for educational and philosophical purposes. The author is
in no way responsible for the actions or choices of readers.
Preface
The following is a collection of recent writings of mine pertaining to the topic of
nondualism and entheogens. It is offered here as a mini-ebook as an expression
of my personal meditations and realizations on this most interesting and timely
topic. This project was inspired by a recent request by the editors at Reality
Sandwich to put together a mini-ebook for them following up on an interview I
formerly published with Rick Strassman about his research on DMT. I quickly
put something together for them, and liked the idea of releasing a short ebook so
much that I thought I’d put out one on my own. This is the result.
Since my own awakening, and subsequent transformation, through the use of
powerful entheogenic tools in the spring of 2009, I’ve found myself continually
returning to the topic of nonduality and the role that entheogens can play in
personal awakening and transformation.
Prior to my awakening, I had considered myself a spiritual seeker, always on the
look-out for what might be the truth of being, and willing to consider virtually
any propositions about the nature of reality that seemed plausible from my
perspective and experience. I was on a hunt for truth, and was very eager to find
it, especially when I hit a point in my life when I admitted to myself that I wasn’t
happy, and that it was up to me to do something about it. I took up the challenge
of the deep responsibility to be myself, something I realized I only allowed in
limited and compartmentalized aspects of my life. In many ways, I had sought to
conform to what I thought I should be, and that included my idea of being a
“spiritual seeker.” It is quite a challenge to authentically be yourself when you
don’t know who or what that self is.
It took a great deal of challenging my ego to come to an authentic understanding
of myself. When the dam broke, it broke full force, however, and though my ego
is still a part of me, the grip it formerly had on me has been forever shattered.
Now, I use my ego as something of a social outfit – something that facilitates
“normal” interaction with others, but I know full well that it isn’t me, and I
slough it off at the drop of a hat, as situations require. And, because I’ve freed
myself from my ego’s grip, my true energy shifts and flows with dramatic ease
and regularity. I’ve learned how to go with it, regardless of what my ego may or
may not think. I’ve discovered within myself the knowledge I needed to truly be
myself, and it wasn’t at all what I expected or thought it might be like from my
myself, and it wasn’t at all what I expected or thought it might be like from my
study of different spiritual traditions such as Buddhism and shamanism. My own
awakening and transformation didn’t conform to anything I had previously
learned or considered a possibility. Needless to say, I was quite surprised, and
the transition wasn’t an easy one. But it was fully worth it.
It’s a bit of a paradox, knowing what I know now. What I’ve learned is
fundamentally beyond what language can communicate, but that doesn’t stop me
from attempting to communicate about it as best, and as often, as I can. While I
engage in this activity purportedly for the benefit of “others,” in truth, I do it
because it’s simply what feels authentic to me. I do it because I want to. I find
pleasure in sharing the truth with anyone who might be searching it out, and the
act of expressing myself is its own satisfaction. What people take from what I
have to share is entirely up to them. It’s also all I really want to talk or write
about – at least at the level of my presentations to the public. The result is that
since the spring of 2009, I’ve been saying pretty much the same thing over and
over again in different mediums: books, articles, videos, music, interviews,
individual counseling, my podcast, my forthcoming novel, Beyond Azara, and
now, this mini-ebook.
It all boils down to the fact that once you know what you have to say, what else
is there to say?
My goal, at this point, is to simply tell it like it is. And I tell it like it is based on
what I’ve learned within myself. If you’re acquainted with my work, especially
my post-spring 2009
work, most of what is written here will be review, though some of the specific
writings will likely be new to you. If this is your first time reading my
conclusions about entheogens and nonduality, well, just relax, don’t take it
personally, and keep an open mind.
I only bite when
necessary.
I hope that the interested reader finds the following collection both illuminating
and stimulating. Part I is a new overview of the topic of nonduality, the nature of
the ego, and the energetic actions of entheogens, specifically 5-MeO-DMT,
which I regard as the apex of entheogenic tools. Part II features two selections
from my forthcoming novel, Beyond Azara, where I’ve taken the ideas described
in Part I and illustrated them through fictional narrative.
Part III is the product of a whim I had one day a few months back to write an
operator’s manual for the human vehicle from God’s perspective. It’s sharp, but
also funny. Life is a game, after all, so it’s best to enjoy things with a sense of
play. Lastly, I wrap things up with some verse about awakening sleepwalkers.
Because this is a collection of independently written pieces, there is some
overlap and
repetition of ideas from one section to the next.
Big ideas are worth repeating, however, and
often require it. I’ve arranged the readings in the order that I think is most
instructive, but they can be read in any order.
Enjoy, and good luck!
Martin Ball
-
Another version of you!
Ashland, Oregon, Spring, 2012
Part I
Nonduality, the Ego, and Entheogens
Introduction:
Throughout the ages, mystics, gurus, and sages have proclaimed, “All is One.”
What,
precisely, does this mean? Does that mean that all religions, spiritualities, and
belief systems are equally reflective and expressive of universal truth? Are all
truths equally valid and worthy of respect and acceptance? If not, upon what
determinations are some truths to be accepted as genuinely true and others as
false?
Or oppositely, are all truths merely conventions, devoid of any genuine truth-
value or validity? And how does one begin to go about addressing these
questions, and from what perspective? Why is it even relevant to proclaim that
All is One?
What’s the point?
Is saying that All is One just another belief itself, and no more factual than any
other grand statement about the nature of reality? Or is there something
genuinely true here, and if so, what is it, and what does it mean for any given
individual?
As someone who has accepted the nondual nature of reality, I personally feel
that it is worthwhile, and to individuals’ benefit, to sort out the above, and
related, questions. I came to what might be considered a radically nondual
perspective on the nature of reality, not out of philosophical study or intellectual
discernment, but rather, through direct, immediate and unmediated experiences
of the fundamentally unitary nature of reality.
My answers to the
questions I’ve posed here are therefore personal and reflective of what I’ve
learned, first and foremost, about myself. However, I also consider the
conclusions I’ve reached to be universal, for they are nondual, and as such, are
conclusions about the nature of the whole, and the individual’s relationship to
that whole, and therefore applicable to all perspectives.
In what follows, I will do my best to spell out what the statement “All is One”
both does, and does not, mean. Many of my conclusions may seem surprising to
interested readers, as a great deal of what I’ve learned does not agree with many
of the claims and views espoused by supposedly “enlightened” masters and
“wisdom” traditions. Through my own awakening, and subsequent
transformation, I’ve discovered that a great deal of what passes for universal or
transcendent wisdom is more accurately understood as projections and
attachments of the ego, though genuinely insightful nuggets are often buried in
the dross. For this reason, I have taken to articulating my own description, which
I call “The Entheological Paradigm”; it is a nondual description of the nature of
reality as a unified, energetic, conscious system. While it has certain features in
common with many wisdom traditions, it disagrees with a number of
fundamental propositions of virtually any and all traditions, and therefore needs
to be addressed as its own description that is not derivative of any other tradition
or system of nondual wisdom. As a paradigm, what is intended is an exemplary
model, as the term paradigm suggests.
In being
entheological, it addresses the nature of God as being internal to individual
experience rather than positing some transcendent, all-powerful being at a
dualistic level.
As a working model for the nature of being and reality, the Entheological
Paradigm must be able to account for all appearances. For example, if, as I
propose, all of reality is one unified system, I should also be able to account for
why there is apparent separation and plurality.
Traditional mystical systems have answered the conundrum by proclaiming that
all appearances of diversity and separation are fundamentally illusory, and
therefore, not real. Enlightenment in such traditions is characterized as a process
of overcoming illusory perceptions and conceptuality, often coupled with
various moral, ethical, and ritual prescriptions for generating “enlightened”
behavior in individuals.
In such traditions, realization of enlightenment is also characterized as an
“escape” from dualistic materiality, whether that be the Moksha liberation of
Hindus or the extinguishing Nirvana of Buddhists.
While strains of Hinduism, and virtually all of the various forms of Buddhism,
claim to be promoting nondual views of the nature of reality and being, from the
radical nondualism of the Entheological Paradigm, they fall short, and still
largely promote dualistic views. At times in the discussion below, comparisons
with Hinduism, Buddhism, and other religious and spiritual traditions may be
highlighted in order to further explicate and explore relevant ideas. This is not
meant as an overarching critique of such traditions, however, and points are only
offered for comparative purposes.
Understanding Nondualism: the Basics
At the most fundamental level, nondualism means the experience of the lack of
distinction between “self” and “other” as relative poles of oppositional identities.
Essentially, virtually all “normal” perception and experience is dualistic in
nature in that individuals experience and perceive themselves (whatever that
may be) as distinct and separate from other people, events, objects, and beings.
For example, as I sit here typing on my computer and writing these words, there
is the perception and experience that whatever “I” am is different from the
is the perception and experience that whatever “I” am is different from the
computer that “I” am typing on, and also distinct from the words on the
computer screen, and certainly distinct from anyone who might be curious
enough to read these musings.
In other
words, it is completely normal to experience the “self” as different from the
“objects” of experience and perception. When I turn off my computer, “I” don’t
turn off. The computer must be different from me. It is not myself. It is other
than me.
Nondualism is not something that can be simply understood or accepted
intellectually as it is not about a belief or an intellectual proposition. Genuine
nondualism only comes as a result of direct and immediate nondual experience.
For example, intellectually, I could accept the fact that the computer and I are
both made of atoms, which are themselves made of more fundamental sub-
atomic particles, which are packets of vibrating energy. When contemplated at
that level, the computer and I are both made out of the same “stuff,” and
intellectually, I could accept the proposition that we are “one” in that sense.
Furthermore, I could also add in the knowledge that both the computer and I
received our necessary molecules and atomic structures from the remains of
exploding stars, so again, we are similar in that the identity of our constituent
parts share a similar origin. Going back even further, I could accept that all
material components of the universe generated from the singularity of the Big
Bang and are therefore identical at that level, as well. However, none of these
intellectual propositions will necessarily change my experience of seeming to be
an individual sitting at a computer that is, by all ordinary appearances, not
myself. Intellectual knowledge itself, even if meditated upon for years, will not
necessarily alter my fundamental perspective of who or what I believe myself to
be. It’s perfectly possible to “know” or “believe” that All is One, but that doesn’t
make it an experiential reality. It is merely an intellectual proposition and still
locked into dualistic dynamics of thought.
Intellectual knowledge is insufficient for generating genuine nondual experience.
It is for this reason that most “mystical” traditions that promote a nondual view
of being also claim that other methods are generally required for the generation
of nondual experiences within individuals.
Many proclaim that intellectual, philosophical, and even scientific study, can be
useful in understanding nondual experiences, but are not sufficient in and of
themselves, and sometimes, such as with Zen Buddhism, might even be regarded
as getting in the way of nondual realization, given the ego’s propensity for
attachment, projection, and conceptualization. In many respects, generating