“When all is one and one is all.” ~ Robert Plant, Stairway to Heaven
Since the Netflix documentaries Aaron Rodgers: Conundrum When it came out, I was asked by patients if they should try working with herbal remedies to help their healing. traumas. And some patients have asked me to help them integrate what they experienced after working with herbal medicines like ayahuasca and ibogaine. If you haven’t seen it, the Netflix series is on New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers’ page. spiritual travel, including participation in plant healing ceremonies in Costa Rica.
The first thing I recommend is to read the Upanishads and literature on Advaita Vedanta. I personally recommend Christopher Isherwood’s translation of Shankara’s Crest-Javali. Discrimination” Along with lectures and books by Alan Watts. Although the Indian tradition is far from Central and South America, the Indian concept of Brahman helps people understand what they experience when working with herbal medicine. Brahman is beyond our consciousness, as well as in any language: the word “Brahman” is simply a symbol of something that cannot be described.
What is Maya and how does it relate to human perception?
In both Hinduism and Buddhism, everything we perceive through the five senses and is divided into narratives is “maya” – illusory and temporary. However, the human mind craves certainty and permanence and seems incapable of grasping reality as it may actually be happening “out there” in the universe. The Scottish psychiatrist RD Laing said that people with schizophrenia have the most accurate perception of reality, but it is very difficult for a non-schizophrenic person to surrender to this amorphous expanse. Our mind seeks a sure footing; When the ground under our feet shifts, we are usually very disturbed.
We do not understand the limitations of the human mind, what it can perceive and what it cannot perceive, which is the problem with mastering the effects of herbal medicines. For example, you cannot imagine infinity. You may have in your mind what the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein called a “gauge,” like a picture you once saw of the universe or a skyscraper, but a finite mind cannot imagine the infinite; it is limited by the categories of consciousness such as space, time, causality, etc. But what if these categories don’t exist “out there”? What if they are our creations?
Why does the concept of dualism help unify the practice of herbal medicine?
A phrase from the Chandogya Upanishad that best describes what I am describing is “Tat tvam asi,” which is often translated as “Thou art thus,” “Thou art that,” “Thou art Gd,” or “Thou art.” Therefore, the concept of “non-dualism” (Advaita) helps people to integrate the experience of working with herbal medicine: the truth beneath our perception is that our “I” (capital “S”, higher self, Atman) or “soul” is united with the same and higher reality. In essence, Atman is equal to Brahman; however, humans are trapped by maya, which we perceive through the five senses and divided into narratives. Herbal medicine can free us from these traps in no time.
The inability of our minds to recognize that the concept of individual self is “maya” and that we are indeed interconnected in one infinite matrix is why many people have trouble integrating what they experience when they return to their individual, private, ego-based existence. When the body incarnates, after experiencing traumas, our mind creates defense mechanisms to help prevent future injuries. This is where herbal medicine has helped people like Aaron Rodgers move past these traumas – because if we can understand that we play a role in creating the self we live in, we can choose to let go of the defenses that keep us from living fully.
