Spirituality Studies 10-1 Spring 2024 55 Samuel Bendeck Sotillos alarmed, or enraged. Equally, something experienced as pleasant can become associated with intense joy. One of the therapeutic outcomes of entheogenic therapy is the adoption of a more flexible mindset that is less defensive and reactive. According to a sage from the Chinese tradition: “To set up what you like against what you dislike – That is the disease of the mind” (quoted in Conze 1959, 171). Entheogenic therapy allows for a “passage to the mind’s antipodes” (Huxley 1990, 86) and fosters “an exteriorization and magnification of the conflicts intrinsic to human nature” (Grof 1976, 6). It is in this expansive state that we can navigate difficult thoughts and emotions, so that we may see our lives in light of a greater plenitude. In this way, psychedelics can provide a unique opportunity to exercise a greater range of cognitive flexibility. Once a person has completed entheogenic therapy, a sense of fear can sometimes arise concerning the loss of what one has learned during the treatment. Within sacred psychology, it is understood that the spiritual gifts that come to us from above cannot be claimed as ours. A large component of any spiritual practice is the requirement to remember what we are continually prone to forget in our earthly sojourn. This is another reason why entheogenic therapy needs to be rooted in sacred soil. Grof (1980, 89) writes, “[p]robably the single most important element determining the nature of an LSD experience is the feeling of safety and trust on the part of the experient”. When understood metaphysically, this notion becomes more complicated. The question of invulnerability cannot be answered merely on a physiological or psychological level. Like all forms of healing, the spiritual dimension needs to be recognized. The mantra I am here, you are here – you are safe in a therapeutic context does not conform to traditional forms of healing, because there is always so much more taking place when this process is undertaken properly. 10 Trauma, Entheogens, and the Self A desacralized world is a formidable impediment to knowing ourselves and the world around us. It is the immanent Spirit within each of us that can guide and heal humanity. This has been acknowledged by some authorities: “the God within them knows what’s wrong with them and provides them with whatever they need which I don’t know anything about and they don’t even know anything about. They don’t know what their real needs are. All they know is what their wants are” (Stolaroff 2022, 14). Entheogen therapy can help us see through the separating veils imposed by our benighted self. As Cohen (1972, 205) explains: A new awareness of one’s relatedness to others and to the universe is strengthened because the reality of these feelings is totally accepted. One’s concept of self is drastically altered. The hopeless, sinful derelict is now an identity with meaning and worth… A break is made between the miserable past and the hopeful future. When researching trauma, it becomes apparent that “your wound is the darkness of your [note: spiritual] states” (Rūm 1926, 175) and – while healing ultimately comes from within – its source is transcendent and Divine: “Recognise that… [note: healing of the wound] proceeds from the ray: do not regard it as [note: proceeding] from your own constitution” (Rūm 1926, 175). Trauma can consume a vast portion of our soul, but it can never completely obscure our integral connection to the Spirit that is our primordial nature. The ability of entheogenic therapy to aid in the clear examination of our anguish is described by William V. Caldwell (1969, 190): Much of the problem of psychedelic therapy is the healing of the deepest psychic fissures which drain off so much of our psychic energy. Once a patient has healed one, he feels an immediate, dramatic relief. He does not come in a week later saying he feels generally better; the moment it happens his face relaxes; his whole mind seems suddenly to unfold in ebullient joy. Some of the happiest experiences of therapy come from the resurgence felt when these scars of the mind are healed. The importance of paying attention to the somatic manifestations of trauma in the body is key to any mental health treatment, especially entheogenic therapy. Grof (1980, 156) elaborates on how this can benefit the person undergoing treatment: At the time when the effect of the drug is decreasing it is important to engage in verbal exchange with the subject, to get detailed feedback on his or her emotional and psychosomatic condition. If at this time he or she is experiencing discomfort, such as depression, anxiety, blocked aggression, feelings of guilt, circular thinking, headaches, nausea, muscular pains, intestinal cramps, or difficulties in breathing, this is the time to suggest active interven-
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