Christianity and Ayahuasca
So a person who reads about Ayahuasca and has some experience with it wanted to know how to fit it into his basic Christian beliefs. I believe his beliefs were of the good Christian spehere--credo--rather than of the politics. So this was my answer.
X: Thanks for writing. You speak of Christian roots; I was a catholic alter boy for 6 years, rebuilding homes for the poor, bringing meals to the infirm and reading to the elderly every week. Ayahuasca fits in wonderfully to that tradition I think: God is God: God made some good shit. Ayahuasca is one of the good shit things God made to help Man get a glimpse of what God is capable of. And a tool to help man.
So no sweat there. I was listening to a tape of my teacher, Julio (now dead) today. It was riveting, despite, or because, of the vomiting, the jokes Julio made, the little children laughing in the background. Riveting. My eldest, who only drank once (full dose) with Julio, and subsequently with me a few times, could not stop listening. Julio changed the world when he sang and healed wonderfully with his ability to shift and balance energy.
Ayahuasca is very sacred in the right hands. It's a way to link communication with the spirit of man to the spirit of things we normally call inanimate: rocks, planets, space, as well as the animate, but normally unavailable world of animals, insects, rivers, trees, all flora and fauna and blood and deep secrets and love and fear and all the rest of the muck that makes up this universe. And the Christian God--and Hindu God and whatever God you believe in or just the plain old spirit that's huge, whatever you call that Spirit--made it all and so must love it all. So there is no conflict. Loving a child is loving God. Loving a tree is loving God. I'm sure you understand.
So I'll try to answer a couple of things for you, even though you didn't spell out what you want answered. So ask away and I will try my best to help. Know beforehand that I'm woefully inadequate to the task.
Peter G
5 comments:
Hey Peter-
To some of us, modification of our Christian beliefs is crucial in order to be able to "hang onto the old rugged cross" faced with new more pantheistic information which seems to come with the ayahuasca experience. On one had we know that Christ is the great physician who cast out demons, healed the sick and pointed us to a world within that he was willing to die for believing that he--and that we should also believe, is the son of God. Ayahuasca is said to be "the great medicine," since many miracles are attributed to it. Some shaman say, I've read, that it isn't the tool but the mechanic you should praise for fixing your car. So maybe only the shaman can cure?
Spirits and things are common in the world of Christ and also in the Amazonian ayahuasca journeys. I believe that much of the New Testament has been edited, for example excluding the "Gospel of Mary" and probably the true Jesus will always remain a mystery, but do you have any guideposts or stories your could share which could shed light on this area?
I know that the experience seems an authentic conversation with "the divine," how have you dealt with these issues?
Wherever a system exists by principles founded on opposites (it is this way, not this way), Ayahuasca will eliminate the dualism and present a visionary episode in which x and y are not an either/or but a both/and.
from Fishers of Men by Alan Elenbaas
Hi! I would absolutely love to listen to your teacher's tape, if you still have it, or have it uploaded.
I'm really very serious about following Christ, and have a great desire to stay in line with his will & teachings. I have an interest in ayahauasca, as well as spiritual healing, but it's just such a tough area to broach. It seems like most, if not all, of my Christian friends would say that such things are crazy or demonic.
This has lead me to my personal fascination with knowledge of self and the universe we inhabit. I share my experiencesShaman And Ayahuasca, opinions, and information I have come across with the world.
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