Near Death Experiences

Why I Am a Mystic

An article in AlterNet.org headlined Near-death experiences bear an uncanny similarity to ketamine trips takes the materialist’s view that NDEs are something neurological rather than mystical. Such a profound experience can be discounted as the brain’s last gasp before all goes black. People who have actually had the experience don’t usually take that view. They say they no longer fear death. I never had a NDE but I had an acid trip that was just as convincing to me as the NDEs have been to those who have had them. Interesting that the article says exactly that: NDEs are the same thing as some psychedelic experiences. I don’t think that the fact that people experience at death the same thing others have experienced from a drug invalidates the experience. But our society tends to be leery and dismissive of drug experiences. I, on the other hand, am pro-drugs. Of course, some are good and some are bad. You have to know what to expect from a drug and use it intelligently. I consider myself blessed to have had my mystical experience. I totally understand why people who have had NDEs consider them valid.

My own experience was had when I was tripping on Acid and having sex. I had recently “taken the Knowledge” from Guru Maharaj Ji, more commonly known as “the fat 14-year-old guru.” It had disappointed me. It was like being forced into a narrow box. But I told myself it was like a seed that would grow. I went back home. Home was a hippy commune I was living at. I had a boyfriend or a friend. I wasn’t sure which. I dropped the acid. Upon coming on to it, first, I felt some fear and started to flee from Mike, the guy I was with. He went after me. I turned around and saw him and then realized that whatever I ran away from would chase me until I confronted it. In fact, whatever chased me had to be what I was afraid of. I blurted out, “It’s the part of me that doesn’t love myself that can’t love you.” Then, instead of frightening, he looked oppressed. I saw him as a forlorn baby. And I realized I could love him. “But if I give into it, will I disappear?” I asked. “No,” he said. “It’s even better.” We started climbing a hill to the tipi where we slept. The climb was hard. Tiring. “But is there no rest?” I cried. “There has to be,” he answered. “I couldn’t be with you all the time,” he said. BTW, he wasn’t tripping.

We reached the tipi and kind of fell together. Instead of feeling effort, I knew that energy was now flowing through us. It got more and more intense until everything turned into white light. “This is what gurus know and we beg them to reveal. But they can’t because we’re just not ready to know it,” the thought flashed into my consciousness. It was total responsibility. I knew I was alone because I was the entire universe. It was scary. Heady.

“So this is what the gurus know and we beg them to tell us. They can’t because we are not ready to accept it. Total responsibility. That’s it.” I was alone because I was one with everything — everyone.

Like when a spinning top stops and the pictures on it gradually emerge from the blur of motion, Mike and I slowly emerged from the light. I saw our figures ennobled now. Like Greek gods on Mount Olympus.

I never doubted the truth of my experience. While different in details from a NDE, it is in essence the same thing: a look at a Truth deeper and more profound than our everyday knowledge.