Fire Kasina Meditation: A Non-Drug Method for Inducing Mystical Experiences

Psychedelics are typically the fastest and most reliable way to induce mystical experiences. These are the types of experiences that people often consider highly meaningful, and which they credit with causing a range of psychological benefits. However, there are also non-drug ways to induce these types of experiences, which many people will feel more comfortable…

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Understanding the Risks of 5-MeO-DMT

5-MeO-DMT is widely considered to be the most powerful psychedelic. This is not due to the dosages needed to reach intense altered states – technically, the most potent psychedelic in that respect is LSD, with Salvia divinorum being the most potent naturally occurring psychedelic, given that active doses of Salvinorin A are as low as…

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Nitrous Oxide: A Gas With Mystical, Antidepressant, and Addictive Potential

Nitrous oxide (‘laughing gas’) is a colourless gas with sedative, analgesic, euphoric, dissociative, and (if the dose is right) mystical effects. When used recreationally, the gas comes in canisters, known as ‘nangs’ in Australia and New Zealand, with other street names for the gas including ‘whippets’ (or ‘whippits’) and ‘hippy crack’. There is both a…

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‘The Universe is Love’: On Spiritual Metaphysics and the Problem of Evil

In spiritual circles, a common metaphysical belief is that ‘the universe is love’, or something to that effect. Another way of phrasing this view is that the fundamental force in the universe is love, the universe is governed by love, or, as the Jesuit mystic Teilhard de Chardin opined, “The physical structure of the universe…

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The Portrayal of ‘Ecstatic Agony’ in Hellraiser (1987) and Martyrs (2008)

I recently rewatched the horror classic Hellraiser (1987), and as well as finding it better on the second watch, I was fascinated with its portrayal of the ‘ecstasy of agony’ or the ‘agony of ecstasy’ (which we could also call ‘ecstatic agony’). I’m currently working on a book on the subject of ecstasy, and despite…

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