Evident is the - inescapable axiom of life
We must delve into the, “Pits of Hell,” to then rise to “The Heights of Beauty.”
Why do I declare this an axiom? Well, this phenomenon spans time and space. It is seen at a biological, psychological and spiritual level. In my estimation, and in the estimation of many others, for this idea is by no means novel, this phenomenon is a metaphysical reality.
When we draw close to such a reality, we draw close to the truth, to an axiom.
Biologically, muscles do not grow without first tearing down pre-existing muscle fibers. Agony in the gym, reparation with proper rest and nutrition and then strength.
Psychologically, changing one’s default mental or neural pathways often requires an agonizing amount of discipline and consistency. Or an excruciating amount of suffering before extrinsic substances are chosen or a miracle imparted, see “My Peanut Butter Story.”
Changing the mind means changing synaptic connections between neurons, neural bridges if you will. Imagine a group of engineers deciding to change all roadways in any given city, deconstruct them then form alternative routes. One, this would require a lot of resources and energy. Two, imagine the memo not being received about roadway changes. Everyone would head out on their typical routes to work, school or the grocery store. Typical routes might even be taken for several days until it dawns upon the driver, “ah, roadway alterations, must take-new-route.” Altogether, a lot of energy, consistency and recall is required until the city is running smoothly again.
Without an epiphanizing intervention, the brain too requires a lot of cellular resources, reminders, action or consistent neurochemical “accessories” (drugs) until all roads in the pre-frontal cortex no longer lead to doubt, negative cognition, addiction but instead…to positivity and faith. A lot of resources before one's default mental patterns are changed.
Yes, what about said epiphanizing interventions, what about miracles and psychedelics?
A pungent enough gust of God or sip of the brew seems to require little discipline and little work to change one’s neural pathways. However, the thesis is not, the pits of discipline or the pits of work before the heights of beauty, it is the pits of hell, which to me includes any form of suffering, discipline induced or other, then the heights of beauty.
Miracles imparted which bring one out of any form of hell, let alone a psychological one, often, if not always, seem preceded by intense suffering, irrespective or perhaps respective of discipline. Take Job for example, okay enough said. Take St. Thérèse Lisieux who stated in lamentation of her own psychological torment…
“It would be quite impossible for me to tell you what I suffered for nearly two years. All my thoughts and actions, even the simplest, were a source of trouble for me; I had no peace till I had told Marie [her sister] everything, and this was most painful, since I imagined, I was obliged to tell absolutely all my thoughts, even the most extravagant. As soon as I had unburdened myself, I felt momentary peace, but it passed like a flash…My extreme sensitivities made me almost unbearable. All arguments were useless. I simply could not correct myself of this miserable fault.” (1).
After two years Thérèse’s antagonizing suffering lifted. She described a God explicable moment in which her soul was filled with light, strength and bravery (1). It sounds as though the neurons responsible for Thérèse’s dreadful, anxious and overwhelmed thoughts were unwired. In their stead, by means of no discipline or drug but instead God’s grace, the neural loops responsible for peace, strength and order seemingly nestled in Thérèse’s brain. Psychological hell, a miracle, then the heights of psychological beauty.
To the latter, “epiphanizing intervention…” psychedelics.
Yes, it does seem relatively easy to waltz into the retreat center, derobe your Chopard sunglasses, shake the shaman’s hand or bow in their presence, whichever the protocol entails, then prepare for the ritual.
We need to be honest however. The process of wealth accumulation, no easy task. The process of wealth accumulation via literal ritualistic, or more soulfully quiet, money worship might make the process logistically easier. However, money worship wears two thorns, the pursuit of thorns is always followed by suffering. All to say, much like the pre-mircale pattern, though their lucrative exterior would have you read otherwise, some form of suffering brings the wealthy, and most definitely brings the veteran, to Peru, Brazil or LA for a psychdelic retreat.
Put simply the psyhcedlic itself seems easy enough to consume, bring to lips, sip, swallow. However what has led an individual to take a psychdelic intervention in the first place is likely some form of suffering.
Since I am referring to ayahuasca, I will say the process of consuming is actually not that easy, one, it is well reported that the ayahuasca brew does not taste good. People often vomit or defecate in resposne to the compounds within the brew themsevles or as a result of physically regurgitating a psychological experience exacerbated by the compounds consumed (2). People report profoundly facing fears, intense emotions, the deconstruction of previous beliefs, coming to terms with prior traumas all encompassing an ultimate re-construction of the ego (2, 3, 4).
While ayahuasca might be a shortcut to changing one’s mind instead of through reading, contemplating change allowing prayer, meditation or silence to trancend the mind to a new reality, it does not mean that the belly of the beast, the pits of hell, are not faced before the heights of psyhcolgical beauty.
Finally, to the demonstration of this pattern at a spiritual level, which itself cannot be separated from the biological or psychological but nothless Buddha did not achieve enlightenment in a day and Christ did not resurrect without first trudging up Golgatha, cross in hand.
Buddha did not achieve elightenment without first suffering, both in seeing it in others and then facing it himself. Siddhārtha saw the sick, the old, the dead and the holy which initiated his decision to leave his lavish life and pursue peace (5). He rigoursly abstained from pleasures, most notably fasting himself into skin and bones. I speculate his rigorous behvairos to be more scrupulous since Siddhārtha partook in them for years without ahciving peace. Scrupulosity being self-denial launched from agnoizing self-reliance rather than self-agape love. Eventually, the clouds lifted, yes sitting under the fig tree, Siddhārtha remembered the peace he expereinced as a child and much like St. Therese of Liseux his story reads as though the physiological pathways responsible for dreadful, weighty, self-reliant self-denial lifted and in their stead peace, enlightentment. After becoming child-like, out of hell came the heights of enlightened beauty and Siddhārtha was reborn as Buddha.
A forty day dessert barren, temptation filled walk was not enough. Ridicule, attempted shaming, browbeating, as an understatement, and three days of death was enough, was required. Hell, carrying one’s cross, death of self before the heights of beauty, before the resurection. Without Golgatha there is no Christ.
So when buried in the ground, suffocating under the firmament, entirely suffering, just know you are not alone, there is nothing wrong with you. You are but a human experiencing reality, the inescapable reality of life, the truth. When we draw close to truth we draw close to God for God, in part, is the Truth. God is both the author and possessor of this reality, the alpha and the omega, this axiom is both the beginning and the end, it is written into our life before we even live, and our life becomes a testament to this reality as the life of Christ testified the same truth,
So hold on, for it is not death that is the axiom but life and death. If the former is true, “we must delve into the, “pits of hell,”then the latter is also true, “to then rise to “the heights of beauty.” If you are in your hell, hold on long enough, when grace prevails, rise up with it and you too will experience the “heights of beauty.”
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