What are your insights about taking marijuana, LSD and other mind-altering chemicals to find the Self?
Those who want to ingest such things will offer brisk rationale for doing so. Most of that will center around the supposed expansion of consciousness from hallucinogenics. I find that strongly held beliefs, especially those that are militantly defended, raise more questions than answers.
I’ve not found those ingesting such things to ultimately be more present. More loopy perhaps, more sedate, more blissed out … perhaps. But not more present in their bodies and not more available to the world. It now seems apparent that the work of “old” yoga was to leave the body. But the state of the world today seems to mandate drawing the force into the body so that change can be effected in our world. Floating above it hasn’t helped us.
So to take them is one thing, to take them in the name of Yoga is another.
These chemicals have potential to alter and give experience of different conscious levels.
But there is a catch. Drugs have three parts 1) altered consciousness 2) sedative effect 3) damage to physical body
Your physical body cannot understand first part if you have not prepared it to sense subtleties. But it is very obvious that body will only sense sedative part of it which leads to addiction. Third part will be seen as a side effect without any doubt.
In short , there is no shortcut to get to the self so easily (at least for a contemporary man) else all addictive people would have become enlightened by now.