Apparent Communication .... Parts 9-11
This is a continuation (and the completion) of the article “Apparent Communication with Discarnate Entities Induced by Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) Parts 6-8”. This article was first published in1992 in Thomas Lyttle (ed.): Psychedelic Monographs and Essays, Volume 6. The numbered references are given here.
9. The "Elves"
Hyperspace, as it is revealed by the use of DMT appears to be full of personal entities. They are non-physical in the sense that they are not objects in the three-dimensional space to which we are accustomed. Some of the beings encountered in the DMT state may once have been living humans, but perhaps such "dead souls" are in the minority among the intelligent beings in that realm.
In his classic The Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries [21] W. Y. Evans-Wentz recorded many tales provided to him by local people of encounters with beings, variously called fairies, elves, the wee folk, the good people, the gentry, the Sidhe, the Tuatha De Danann, etc., who inhabit a realm normally beyond our ken. The belief in this order of beings was firm among the celtish peoples of Brittain and France at the time Evans-Wentz conducted his studies (c. 1900), but has since been largely supplanted by the beliefs instilled in the public by the rise of physical science and technology. Evans-Wentz collected numerous reports of elf-sightings, such as the following (which is part of an account given by a member of the Lower House of the Manx Parliament):
I looked across the river and saw a circle of supernatural light, which I have now come to regard as the "astral light" or the light of Nature, as it is called by mystics, and in which spirits become visible. ... Into this space, and the circle of light, from the surrounding sides apparently, I saw come in twos and threes a great crowd of little beings smaller than Tom Thumb and his wife. All of them, who appeared like soldiers, were dressed in red. They moved back and forth amid the circle of light, as they formed into order like troops drilling. ([21], p.113.)
Reviewing his data, Evans-Wentz writes:
We seem, in fact, to have arrived at a point in our long investigations where we can postulate scientifically, on the showing of the data of psychical research, the existence of such invisible intelligences as gods, genii, daemons, all kinds of true fairies, and disembodied [i.e. deceased] men. ([21], p.480.)
He then goes on to quote an earlier researcher:
Either it is we who produce these phenomena [which, says Evans-Wentz, is unreasonable] or it is spirits. But mark this well: these spirits are not necessarily the souls of the dead; for other kinds of spiritual beings may exist, and space may be full of them without our ever knowing anything about it, except under unusual circumstances [such as a sudden change in brain chemistry]. Do we not find in the different ancient literatures, demons, angels, gnomes, goblins, sprites, spectres, elementals, etc.? Perhaps these legends are not without some foundation in fact. (Flammarion [28], quoted in [21], p.481.)
Evans-Wentz concludes ([21], p.490) that a realm of discarnate, intelligent forces known as fairies, elves, etc., exists "as a supernormal state of consciousness into which men and women may enter temporarily in dreams, trances, or in various ecstatic conditions," such as, we may add, the condition produced by smoking DMT.
I suggest that the faerie world studied by Evans-Wentz and the space into which one may enter under the influence of DMT are parts of a common higher-dimensional space which transcends and encompasses consensus reality as understood at present.
This hyperspace, or metacosmos, has the knack of arranging for things to happen at the right time and place and for the right purpose, though how this happens is not always clear.
10. DMT and the Death State
Who are we and how did we get here? Clearly we are personalities who develop in connection with our physical bodies. But are we personalities who have our origin in this physical development? Or do we originate as hyperspatial entities who become associated with bodies (perhaps several levels thereof) for the purpose of acting in what appears to us (once incarnated and functioning) as the ordinary world? The answer may be a combination of both. It may be that a personality must first come into existence in connection with a body but that, once developed, it may separate from that body, and perhaps subsequently become associated with a new body. Or it may be that intelligent entities, most of whom were never human, can come into existence as beings in hyperspace by virtue of a creative power associated with the origin of hyperspace itself. In the more poetic words of an Irish seer, they may "draw their life out of the Soul of the World" ([21], p.65). In other words, come to exist as fragments of the World Soul.
DMT appears to allow us to leave our three-dimensional bodily organisms and enter into hyperspace where we can function (for a short period of earthly time while our brain biochemistry is altered) as disembodied personalities, able to communicate with other discarnate personalities. In fact it may be that this is what happens to us when we die. In death, however, unlike in the DMT trance, you can't return to your body. Once your body is destroyed, or is damaged so that it cannot function as a channel for your will, then you have entered hyperspace and you will remain there indefinitely or until association with a new body becomes possible (which may be quite a while).
After telling of frequently seeing spiritual beings enveloped in shining light, one of Evans-Wentz's informants says:
In whatever country we may be, I believe that we are for ever immersed in the spiritual world; but most of us cannot perceive it on account of the unrefined nature of our physical bodies. Through meditation and psychical training one can come to see the spiritual world and its beings. We pass into the spirit realm at death and come back into the human world at birth; and we continue to reincarnate until we have overcome all earthly desires and mortal appetites. Then the higher life is open to our consciousness and we cease to be human; we become divine beings. ([21], p.84.)
It now seems possible, by the use of the psychedelic tryptamines, to venture into the death state before we die, and to accustom ourselves to that state. This is the path of the shaman and the spiritual warrior. At death, when the transition is finally and irrevocably made, the psychedelic explorer will enter a realm he or she knows from previous experience, and will, hopefully, not be swept away by fear and ignorance.
11. Further Research Needed
The idea that there might be a realm inhabited by alien beings able to communicate with humans in an intelligent manner, and that these beings may be contacted through the use of a laboratory product, is sufficiently bizarre that some may be tempted to reject it unthinkingly. Modern-day common sense certainly rejects the possibility entirely, but a scientific approach to the subject requires suspension of common sense in favor of an unbiased study of the available data. In this case the rawest data available consists of the reports of those who have had direct experience of the DMT state.
Further research is needed to distinguish among the possible interpretations presented in Part 7, or to provide a basis for other interpretations. Basically this means further human explorations of the DMT experience, with articulate reports on the experience. This would allow us to begin to determine what are the common characteristics, in humans, of the experience induced by smoking DMT. Do all subjects eventually experience (apparent) contact with alien beings? How is this contact related to dose and method of administration? In what form(s) do the entities (tend to) appear? How often are cases of human-alien communication reported? What is the content of this communication?
As an aid to further research in this field I have compiled a bibliography of publications, mostly articles concerning DMT.
A psychedelic explorer who makes a committed study of DMT (especially if smoked or administered i.v.) will before long find themself dealing with that which transcends ordinary imagination (having left reason far behind). This may challenge the courage of the explorer, as is well described by D. M . Turner, who confirms that sometimes one approaches the experience with trepidation. However, it may be that we have yet to fully understand what is the best mode of contact with the DMT realm (which may prove to be oral ingestion in combination with harmaline), and once this question has been answered it may be possible for explorers to enter this realm without encountering the fear and dread which earlier explorers have reported. Contact with alien entities in other worlds has long been reported from non-Western and pre-modern societies. Such reports are usually presented in the context of a particular mythology or cosmology that makes it difficult to relate them to a modern scientific view of the world. This may mean, not that these reports are false, but that our scientific view of the world needs to be extended. A scientific attitude - that is, an open and questioning attitude to the advancement of knowledge, one which does not shun any repeatable observation regardless of how bizarre it may seem - is not inconsistent with the discovery of intelligent, non-human entities in a higher-dimensional realm. If they are there, and can be contacted reliably, let us see what they have to say.
The full article is available on the Serendipity flash drive (a.k.a. memory stick, readable on any PC and Mac with a USB port). Please consider purchasing a copy (go here for that or here) to support the author, Peter Meyer, still publishing his writings on psychedelics 30 years later (see here). You can also make a donation, and see links to his other websites there.
As said above, “Further Research Needed” Since the time that this article was originally written (c. 1990) not much research was done for about 20 years (because of prohibition), except for the pioneering work of Dr Rick Strassman at the University of New Mexico. Recently there appeared an especially informative article by Andrew Gallimore (a developer since 2015, with Rick Strassan, of extended-state DMT research). In 2019 a Centre for Psychedelic Research was established at the Imperial College London with funding of more than £3 million. Looks like the elves (and less friendly entities) will be receiving many visitors from now on.
This 4-part article was formerly published on Peter Meyer’s website Serendipity. It is now available only here and on the Serendipity website on flash drive (whose contents are readable on PCs and Macs which have a USB port). Please support him by purchasing a copy of this flash drive (a.k.a. thumb drive or memory stick). Or copies of all three of his flash drives.
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