about that notorious CIA psychedelic experiment

 there is a trend among "holistic" types to use hallucinogens to cure depression but also to expand their "creativity" (See previous post).

Most conspicacy theorists or listeners to C2C are aware of the notorious CIA psychedelic experiment:

but a similar experiment was done in the 1990s that got less publicity.

and yes, like the wuhan lab that let lose the present day Covid epidemic, it was funded by the US Government.

DMT: The Spirit Molecule: A Doctor's Revolutionary Research into the Biology of Near-Death and Mystical Experiences By Rick Strassman 

 A clinical psychiatrist explores the effects of DMT, one of the most powerful psychedelics known. • A behind-the-scenes look at the cutting edge of psychedelic research. • Provides a unique scientific explanation for the phenomenon of alien abduction experiences.

 From 1990 to 1995 Dr. Rick Strassman conducted U.S. Government-approved and funded clinical research at the University of New Mexico in which he injected sixty volunteers with DMT, one of the most powerful psychedelics known. 

His detailed account of those sessions is an extraordinarily riveting inquiry into the nature of the human mind and the therapeutic potential of psychedelics. DMT, a plant-derived chemical found in the psychedelic Amazon brew, ayahuasca, is also manufactured by the human brain. 

In Strassman's volunteers, it consistently produced near-death and mystical experiences. 

Many reported convincing encounters with intelligent nonhuman presences, aliens, angels, and spirits. Nearly all felt that the sessions were among the most profound experiences of their lives. 

 Strassman's research connects DMT with the pineal gland, considered by Hindus to be the site of the seventh chakra and by Rene Descartes to be the seat of the soul. 

DMT: The Spirit Molecule makes the bold case that DMT, naturally released by the pineal gland, facilitates the soul's movement in and out of the body and is an integral part of the birth and death experiences, as well as the highest states of meditation and even sexual transcendence. 

italics mine. Of course you would know that it was not about enlightenment but about sex. Yet in both eastern and western religions (e.g. John of the Cross) the fact that meditation/prayer can increase the sexual urge is known: Which is why those seeking God will purify themselves by prayer and fasting and even bodily mortification to stop the temptation. 

But in "fake" religions, when this point is reached, often the guru who is pushing enlightenment goes on to sexually exploit his or her followers. Mohammed "married" a pre pubescent girl. Joseph Smith had polygamy.  Marciel seduced his seminarians. And I won't even go into the exploitation by gay priests, which is diabolic. Pagan religions often used drugs to induce visions of god, but they also had temple prostitutes (great is Diana of the Ephesians... Diana was a virgin goddess, but the one in Ephasus had a necklace of testicles and her temple was a place of prostitutes).

then we come to this part:

Strassman also believes that "alien abduction experiences" are brought on by accidental releases of DMT.

Some fundamentalist Christian books note that UFO abductions etc are probably diabolic in origin. And I have noted earlier that many use the person's imagination (so in the 1960s they had examination by an X Ray machine, but in the 1990s they were put in a tube, e.g. CT scan, and often needless stuck in them as in biopsies or similar to experience to get eggs for In Vitro fertilization). And then there is the Tolkien professor, who in his discussion of medieval literature notes that elven abduction resembles today's alien abduction tales.

The AmerIndians believe that there is "the other side", but again one does prayer and fasting and even "flesh offerings" for a spirit quest. And Mother Katherine Drexel once attended a ceremony and took a dose of the mushroom: She did not hallucinate but compared it to the state of deep prayer after receiving the Eucharist. But she did not repeat the experience. And my friend who took it said essentially the same thing, but her tribe did not use this practice so she was cautioned not to do it again by her tribal shamen. I think the reason is that the traditional use was rare, and associated with a huge group of people praying, but in the newer versions they use it for the high, not to seek God.  

One could say the same with meditation/Tm/Yoga/ scientology. Is it being done with humility, guided by a wise teacher, to seek the deity/enlightenment, or is it being done for health/wealth/ happiness? Yet even seeking "enlightenment" has a problem: One Buddhist who converted to Christianity said he did so because in Buddhism you only seek your own enlightenment, but Christians seek to help others.

The concept that there is a God, even the vague God of eastern religions, and that there might be bad spirits out there "on the other side" is known here in the East. (ever watch K dramas? The Tale of the Genghi?). But those concepts are missing in the modern secular mindset, which seems only to seek one own's egotistical desires.

and this has implications to the entire society, especially as these bozos are pushing these thing on their patients:

If used wisely, DMT could trigger a period of remarkable progress in the scientific exploration of the most mystical regions of the human mind and soul

Malachi Martin's book on exorcism has two cases of men taken over by the "other side": One a priest who wanted to expand Christianity, the other a secular professor who had some innate ESP powers (found in about 5 percent of the population) and had an experience where he gave "permission" to something to expand his powers. Ironically, this professor studied meditation with an Eastern Guru, but when he reached the deep point of enlightenment, the guru refused to have anything to do with him: When asked why the Guru said: Well, when you meditate, the teacher slowly opens the lotus and when it is open completely, puts the treasure of englightenment inside and then closes the petals. But when your lotus was opened, I could not do it because you had already put evil there. And the Guru never meditated with him again.

One of the problem of the ancient pagan religions is that they did no incorporate ethical living. But of course, a person seeking the deity or enlightenment would have the ethics of God written in his heart. But ironically, in the ancient world, where too many of the temples had deteriorated into corruption, those seeking to live an ethical life sought the guidance of philosophy.

I have no experience with modern Eastern religions, but my Hindu friend's husband became an atheist because of the corruption of the local Hindu priests, and one does note in the history of Korea, that both the Buddhist and later the Confucian temples were closed by the government again for corruption: the former for helping the Japanese invasion of 1600 and the latter in the nineteenth century for their corruption.

So corruption of religion is not limited to the Vatican or the rich Protestant preachers. Indeed, one can see how this neopaganism that does not have any roots in the past can easily destroy the ethics of an entire society, since theses ideas stress personal (selfish) enlightenment to obtain power (often phrased as "creativity").

Sigh. 

Now I shouldn't condemn them too much, but pray. But alas I am hit with a major dry spell in prayers, and with the virus, haven't been to church in over a year, and our shutdown ,which was being lifted, is now back on, so no Easter duty for me.

Sigh.