WARNING: Extremely long post. Only read if...............

Drugs are no means of genuine spirituality. Why? Because "experience" is not spirituality. Just as the body and the material realm are "external", so too are the astral and soul realms. Those realms are fundamentally the same "thing", only at different levels of vibration. Just like ice, water, and steam. Ice is just more manifest than water and steam, more dense and more "material". Water is more material than steam. But fundamentally, all 3 are the same "thing"...

At the most, drugs should only be experimented with briefly, as they can show that there is more depth to the mind than most people think. Once that is seen, they should be dropped completely. Even then, it would still be best to never bother with them in the first place. They can temporarily "awaken" you to astral and soul realms, or deeper depths of the mind, but becoming aware of those things is not "spirituality". All it is is learning more about the external "world" in which we function.

A very common misconception that people have is that psychic phenomenon or "visions" or whatever, equate to spirituality. This is not so. All of those things are only external experience. They exist only in the ever-changing realm of the "non-me". ALL experience is a constantly changing movie on a screen. That is the "non-me". The "me" is the watcher of the screen.

This is a problem many people run into with various meditation practices and yoga, especially kundalini yoga. Why especially kundalini? All of these practices can lead to psychic phenomenon as a result of "feeding" various centers through concentration, but kundalini yoga is more especially prone to (even designed to) open mass amounts of psychic energies. Yes, this might be an opening to "what we're really capable of", to energies and abilities that most people aren't aware we have ... but the thing is, people equate this opening of psychic phenomenon with "spirituality". This is a huge stumbling block as far as the path to REAL spirituality goes. Getting caught up in these things only delays the realization of the real "me". This is why many genuine gurus/enlightened people are very adamant about not bothering with psychic powers and experiences, to just discard them and not pay much attention to them.

None of those experiences are necessary for genuine spirituality. What do I call genuine spirituality? The cultivation of that pure awareness that leads to the direct realization of itself. The process of getting disentangled with the ever-changing, external, "non-me". Everything you need is already here, right now. The only tool that is needed is *YOU*. It makes no difference whether you're functioning on a material, astral or soul realm. There are countless beings in all the realms, there are Gods and deities that are no more "enlightened" than humans. That is proof enough that those realms do not equate to "spirituality". To become "enlightened" (I hate even saying that word), you do not need "spiritual experiences" or psychic powers or any of that nonsense. To become enlightened is simply to see and remember the witness of all experience. In every experience, whether it's of a material, psychic, or soul nature, if you look closely enough... very closely... you will see that the experience is separate from "me". There is the phenomenon of experience, and then there is the pure undisturbed witness that makes the awareness of that experience possible. The witness is forever uninvolved in the experience, and that witness is the eternal "me".

Real spirituality is the rememberance of that "me" in all experience. No deeply profound spiritual insight is necessary. People think "enlightenment" is something big and amazing and huge... but that's just the ego's fantasy. It's really not big. It's the most simple thing in the world, and it can be realized through the most simple experiences. While eating, reading, bathing, taking a dump, looking at a flower, picking your nose... whatever. Infact those simple experiences are far better for practicing awareness than "big" so-called spiritual experiences are. The simple things are far less distracting, far less overwhelming. When it's simple and quiet you can better differentiate between "me" and "not me".

Whether eating quietly or seeing grand visions of other realms, both are only external experience. Both exist "out there". One is just a lot more distracting than the other.

Here is a simple technique, the only technique that is needed for spirituality. It will not lead to great "spiritual experiences". It will only lead straight to YOU.

First, the understanding: the seer is never the seen. The witness is never the witnessed. If it is seen or observed, know that it is in the realm of "not me".

Second, the application: Go through all experience, all phenomenon, all thought, all attachment, applying this "not me" to it. This is a process of dis-identification, of disentanglement. This pulls you out of all the clutter and puts you into yourself. See *ALL* experience as "out there" in the external. None of it is the pure "me"

But it will be hard at first, due to the veil of delusion and attachment. Start first with the most external, and then progress in stages deeper and deeper. Start with things external to the body. Your cars, money, relationships with other people, clothes, home, food, etc. See them as "not me" and become unattached. Also see analyze the concept of ownership -- it is only an idea that the ego places on things. "This is mine" is a false concept, and only leads to attachment to external things. Hold an orange in your hand, and ponder... "How can this be mine? It is over there, completely separate from me. It is obviously not ME. It is only sitting there in my hand."

Once you're free from strong attachment to external "things", move on to the body. Use the same process. Observe and analyze the body intently. Search every nook and cranny in the body for "me". Can you find it anywhere? Ask yourself "Where am I?" and then search. Start with the fingers, the toes, move to the limbs, the lower abdomen, the upper chest, the neck, and finally the head. The head is where most people feel the "me" is, only because western culture is so focused on thinking and intellectualizing. But just look and see for yourself. Feel. If I can feel and experience the head, where am I? This leads to the next stage: the mind. Thought. Astral and psychic phenomenon. Go through the same process with these things, always moving deeper and deeper, to the core of the ego, the whole feeling of individuality. Always searching for the "me", and always remembering that if it can be observed, it is not "me".

This can be practiced at any time, in any circumstance. As I said, the only tool needed is "you". This will bring you home. This is the real "Soul Medicine"

--James