Haight-Ashbury in the Sixties/Haight-Ashbury in the Sixties (1996)(Rockument)(Disc 1 of 2)[Mac-PC].iso/mac/MAIN/TUNEIN/TUNEIN01.DIR/00406_Field_On Programming the Psychedelic Experience Part 1.txt

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On Programming The Psychedelic Experience
Part 1

   A psychedelic experience is a period of intensely heightened reactivity to sensory stimuli from within and without.  A "programmed" psychedelic experience is one in which the sequence and patterning of stimuli are not left to chance but are arranged in a predetermined manner.  Using programming we try to control the content of a psychedelic experience in specific desired directions.  The program is a voyage chart, a series of signals, which, like the pilot's radio, provides the basic orienting information required for the "trip."  The program need not be followed exactly, but it can be of great help in orienting oneself in unfamiliar territory or finding one's way if lost in rough weather.
   The idea of programming a psychedelic experience is based on a theory about the nature of the psychedelic effect.  The hypothesis, which was first put forward by Leary in the Harvard Psilocybin Project and has since been widely accepted by scientists working in the field of psychedelic research, is that the content of a psychedelic experience is chiefly determined by the two factors of set and setting.  "Set" refers to the internal state of the person having the experience;  his mood, expectations, fears wishes "setting" refers to the external conditions of the experience - the physical and emotional climate of the room, the relations of the voyager to others present, and particularly the attitude of the drug-giving person.  It is by now a well-known fact that psychedelic drugs may produce religious, aesthetic, therapeutic or other kinds of experiences depending on the set and setting.  This hypothesis accounts for the great variety of psychedelic experiences reported by investigators using different models (psychotomimetic, therapeutic, religious, aesthetic, etc.) and correspondingly different settings.
   One may object to the idea of programming a psychedelic experience on the grounds that it would tend to limit or restrict the experience.  To this the answer is that one can of course include as much "free" time on the program as desired.  For example, a minimum program might consist of a half-hour of re-entry instructions, with the rest of the time left open.  Furthermore, it should be remembered that the psychedelic experience, because of the extreme suggestibility of the voyager, is "programmed" anyway, by the stimuli to which he is exposed during the session.  In the majority of sessions the stimuli are either arranged by the drug-giving person or left to chance.  We propose a third alternative:  that the sequence of stimuli is worked out ahead of time collaboratively between drug-giver and drug-taker or by all the participants.  Such a procedure will tend to minimize the occurrence of paranoia induced by unexpected activities or manipulations.  The program also provides a series of anchor points for memory, so that the detailed sequence of the experience (which often goes beyond our usual memory mechanisms) can be reconstructed.  "During the Mozart piano concerto I relived an event from my childhood."
   In the last analysis the programming of sessions is entirely a function of experience and training.  Just as experienced pilots flying over familiar territory may not need radio information, so someone who through repeated experience and training has gained some control over the movements of consciousness may need less programming.  The psychedelic novice is whirled confusedly through neurological energy systems he cannot decode.  His mind is imposing primitive hit-or-miss interpretations, pleasant or fearful, on these new levels of perception.  The experienced voyager, trained to recognize non-symbolic patterns is better able to recognize and direct his awareness and better able to deal with the flow of stimuli, whether planned or accidental.
   It is an easily confirmable observation that the most successful, i.e. liberating and educational psychedelic experiences are those preceded by a period of withdrawal from external games and commitments.  The time immediately before the ingestion of the drug is particularly crucial from the point of view of internal preparation.  The content of consciousness at that time will dominate the subsequent experience.  Our studies have shown that if one feels depressed, anxious, or irritable, these negative emotions will be felt with great intensity during the session.  If one feels serene, trusting and detached from everyday concerns, the voyage will more likely be free and illuminating.
   The importance of preparing for a psychedelic experience, in both body and mind, can hardly be overestimated.  Physiologically, the most intense part of the session is when the chemical first begins to take effect.  If the voyager is not prepared for this moment of "take-off," much of the initial thrust will be dissipated in getting clear of the imprinted programs hooking us to externals (the Hindu sanskaras.)  Therefore the "higher" one can get before the session starts the better one is able to deal with the new powerful energies.  Quiet reading, relaxation, withdrawal, listening to music, meditation (with or without marijuana), walking, bathing--whatever methods are most effective should be used to produce a state of serene preparedness.
   If the session involves more than one person, the participants might plan the voyage together.  They would make selections of music to be listened to, they would record readings on tape, they would establish simple basic codes for contacting each other during the session.  These shared activities will build rapport and reduce tendencies towards isolation and paranoia.  It is sometimes helpful to prepare a kind of time-sheet of the sequence of tape-recorded messages or musical selections.  The reason for such apparently naive procedure will be obvious to anyone who has tried to manipulate equipment while in the midst of an intense LSD experience:  it is simpler to merely look up what to do next, than to get involved in decision-making, which can lead to interminable distracting deliberations.
   In most psychedelic sessions there is one person who acts as guide.  This should be the person with the most experience.  He will assume responsibility for the sending of the various messages, whether verbal, musical or visual, which have been agreed upon.  If there is not one person with more experience than the others, it is probably better to have a "ground-control," that is one person who does not take the psychedelic and takes care of the mechanics of changing records, keeping off distractions, etc.
   The importance of specifying such roles clearly and explicitly is recognized by the Indians of the Native American Church, who in the several centuries of their use of the peyote cactus have developed a ritual which is followed essentially unchanged in all peyote ceremonies.  The following quotation is taken from a description of the Navajo Peyote ritual given in testimony before the Navajo Tribal Council:
   "To run a Peyote meeting they need four people.  The first one and the man in charge of the whole thing they call the Road Chief.  The second man is Drummer Chief, who does a lot of drumming.  The third man is the Cedar chief, and he is in charge of taking powdered cedar and sprinkling it in the fire during the meeting.  The fourth man is Fire Chief, and he takes care of the fire at night and watches the people as they come and go and takes care of the door."
   The two predominant sources of sensory stimulation are vision and hearing, and it is therefore not surprising that oriental psychological schools of consciousness-expansion have developed powerful and elaborate techniques for controlling and channeling sensory awareness in these two spheres.
   The yantra is a visual map of the path of consciousness.  The literal Sanskrit meaning is "instrument" or "engine."  We have mentioned the preparation of an outline of the psychedelic program, which is a primitive form of yantra.  At our present level of ignorance about states of consciousness it would probably be premature to devise more complex yantras, but in the Hindu and Buddhist (especially Mahayana) systems they play an important role.  There are maps representing in great detail the various focal points of consciousness (chakras) in the body.  According to Mircia Eliade, "the yantran is an expression, in terms of linear symbolism, of the cosmic manifestations, beginning with the primordial unity."
   The Peyote Indians also have their form of yantra.  Before the meeting, a crescent-shaped altar (called "moon" by the Indians) is prepared of sand or clay.  "A shallow groove, extending from tip to tip along its crest, represents the "peyote road" over which thoughts and visions travel to and from God."
   A special form of yantra, the most commonly used, is the mandala (literally "circle").  A mandala is a machine for exploring inner space; its purposes are cartographic, linguistic, not aesthetic.  Its usual form is a rectangle enclosing a circle of series of concentric circles.  Basically, the mandala is a device for centering visual consciousness, thereby protecting it against distractions, making it "one-pointed."  The process is to fixate the center, keeping one's attention on the whole field, and then stage by stage to bring attention more and more towards the central point.  If awareness remains one-pointed during this process of centering, all mental energy is finally focused on the central spot, and one can then pass through that to the next dimension.  The various symbolic figures on the mandala, with letters, colors etc., serve as additional anchoring points of associations.  The idea is to get as much of the mental contents on to the two-dimensional surface, so they can then be transcended through the central point.  "By mentally entering the mandala, the yogin approaches his own "center", and this spiritual exercise can be understood in two senses:  (1) to reach the center the yogin re-enacts and masters the cosmic process, for the mandala is an image of the world;  (2) but since he is engaged in meditation and not in ritual, the yogin, starting from this iconographic support, can find the mandala in his own body."
   The mechanism of the mandala can also be understood in terms of the neurophysiology of the eye.  Gerald Oster, in his recently published study of the effect of LSD on perceived Moiré patterns, concluded that "all vision has a circular pattern superposed on it and LSD reveals the presence of this screen via the moiré effect.... Histological studies of the human fovea (the point of fixation on the retina) reveal that it consists entirely of cones...each of which is connected by individual nerves which lead to the optic nerve via the "blind spot" of the eyeball.  The nerves lie in front of the cones, i.e. the light received is intercepted by a layer of nerve fibers.  These nerve fibers would be expected to curve out and around the fovea to produce a screen consisting of curved lines which can be approximated as a figure consisting of concentric circles."  In other words, the mandala is a depiction of the structure of the eye, the center of the mandala corresponding to the foveal "blind spot."  Since this "blind spot" is the exit from the eye to the visual system of the brain, by going "out" through the center you are going in to the brain.  The yogin finds the mandala in his own body.  The mandala is an instrument for transcending the world of visually-perceived phenomena by first centering them and then turning perception inward.  The use of the mandala during a psychedelic session depends of course entirely on the subject's previous familiarity with it from prior meditation and visualization.  Buddhist adepts do not hesitate to spend years mastering the content of a single elaborate mandala.
   The use of mantra, or sound vibrations, plays an analogous role in the auditory sphere, and similarly depends on previous acquaintance.  The use of mantra is the most widespread psychedelic method in present-day Hinduism and Buddhism.  Usually the spiritual teacher (guru) gives his disciple a mantra to work with.  This may be the name of a particular chosen deity, a complex formula or incantation analogous to Christian prayer, or simply a syllable (sometimes call bija-mantra OM has no "meaning," as a word, but is is the word, or Logos, or vibration which lies at the root of everything and can be used to tune into the common cosmic energy process.
   The mantra has through previous practice a network of associations - emotional, intellectual, spiritual - connected to it, which are invoked when the mantra is repeated.  It is a way of centering consciousness on one stream designed to lead you out of the conceptual maze.  In a psychedelic session with a European-born initiate into one of the Tibetan Buddhist orders, we had the opportunity of observing the efficacy of mantric practice.  This man, in spite of his lengthy and excellent preparation through the Buddhist practice, was overwhelmed by the power of the LSD experience and got caught in terror and confusion.  He remembered his mantra, given him by his guru, but could not speak it, having lost contact with his vocal apparatus.  His wife, who was present, spoke the mantra repeatedly into his ear, where-upon, after a few minutes, he regained his composure.  Thereafter, he toppled once or twice again, but each time was able to pull himself back to central focus using the mantric safety-cord.
   The Peyote Indians also know the use of sound to guide their ceremonies.  "The Road Chief sings the opening song which is always the same and three others which he chooses for himself.  Then the Drummer Chief sings and the Road Chief drums.  Now the drum and rattle, staff and sage go around the room and people sing and drum in pairs."
   It is obviously inappropriate for the Westerner to adopt Eastern mantras as they are; if they are used, they would have to be modified.  Here again we stand on the threshold of the scientific re-discovery of the relationship of sound to consciousness.  Psychedelic voyagers have to develop their own mantras in a pragmatic, experimental way, using sounds, rhythms, words or phrases that are meaningful and that work.
   The use of visual and sound patterns to program consciousness may seen esoteric and far removed from our everyday experience.  Actually, every person brought up in any tribal culture (including our own) has been taught a wide variety of such techniques for programming his consciousness.  The American flag, the Christian cross, the Star of David are familiar yantra-like symbols.  The Lord's Prayer, the words "I love you" are mantric incantations.  The sad fact is that most of the consciousness-directing devices we routinely use are ineffective as true yantras or mantras because they tie us to externals, materials, to self-centered artificial game-consciousness.  Effective spiritual or psychedelic yantras and mantras are those which release us from the local games, direct and guide our consciousness to meta-cultural, meta-self levels.

OTHER SENSE MODALITIES

   The use of incense to direct consciousness is an almost universal practice in all forms of religion and all systems of meditation.  The Peyote Indians pass sage around and people smell it and rub it on themselves.  The organ of smell and associated brain areas are probably among the oldest in the evolutionary sense.  Smells trigger off very basic, instinctual, pre-cultural impressions, and are therefore well suited for psychedelic programming.
   Taste and touch sensations can also be explored during a psychedelic session in a more or less systematic fashion.  The chemically "tuned" receptors will reveal undreamed of dimensions of sensory communication.  One might prepare a series of different textures and foods.  The so-called "left-handed" path of the Tantric system of yoga was based in part on the systematic exploration and mapping of sensory experience in all modalities, including the sexual.
   Kinesthetic programming is the basis of the concept of mudra, or gesture.  The mudra, which is particularly important in Japanese Buddhism, conveys a basic emotional-devotional attitude which can be very powerful in centering, calming the flow of experience both in oneself and in others.  For example we may mention the mudra indication "fear not," which is made by the right hand facing palm outward at the level of the breast.  Similarly, the right hand turned palm outward, fingers pointing down, signifies the granting of wishes, compassion, benevolence.  The hands resting in one another is the classic gesture of meditative repose and inner peace.   Of course, Westerners may prefer to develop their own mudras;  particular groups of explorers may have their own special code.
   It is best to discuss the details of psychedelic session programming by way of specific examples.  The content of the program will depend on the purpose or goal of the session.  We will consider six examples - diagnosis, therapy, intellectual understanding, aesthetic appreciation, interpersonal communication, self-understanding or self-development.
   (1)  The purpose of the experience may be diagnosis.  Among the Indians of Mexico and South America who use psychedelic mushrooms, vined or cactuses, this is usually the paramount reason.  R. Gordon Wasson, in his excellent paper on "Ololiuhqui and the Other Hallucinogens of Mexico," gives a transcription of a verbatim account of the ritual using morning-glory seeds.  In the Zapotec villages the ritual centers around the Blessed Virgin, indeed the seeds are called "seed of the Virgin," and the beverage is administered by a young girl of seven or eight years if the patient is a man, a boy if the patient is a woman.  The ritual is very simple:  the child simply stays with the person to hear what he will say.  The patient remains on the bed.  "He should not talk until the next day.  And so everything is revealed.  You are told whether the trouble is an act of malice or whether it is illness."  In modern terms, the experience is used to diagnose whether the illness is psychosomatic or organic.
   Diagnosis could also be more general than simply medical.  A person may wish to diagnose his life situation.  In this case he would write down or tape-record before the session a series of questions that he would like to have answered, and arrange to have them read some time in the re-entry phase of the session.  The disadvantage of such verbal formulations is that they come from the pre-psychedelic mind, and hence often do not touch the significant points.  Frequently a person in the psychedelic session will laugh at the ridiculous questions he thought so important beforehand.  If the patient is in psychotherapy, then of course the therapist would be at hand to ask questions, as described for example in Constance Newland's book Myself and I.
   The Mexican curandera's account quoted above contains the very valuable piece of advice to abstain from talking during the next day.  One of the prime sources of confusion in psychedelic sessions is in the premature attempt to rationalize or "explain" the experience.  Often a person will settle for some theoretical formulation that temporarily allays hit "cognitive anxiety," but effectively shuts him off from further direct conformation of the new impressions received.  Ideally, the voyager should have at least a whole day more or less alone, or at least in a relatively game free environment, to thoroughly absorb and assimilate the experience.
   (2)  Closely linked with the first type of session is one whose purpose is therapy or behavior change.  In our own research we have based the technique of behavior change on the game model of human behavior.  Following this model the two key concepts in changing behavior are coaching and feedback.  Suppose a convict wants to learn to stay out of prison.  We try to have him coached by an ex-convict who has stayed out of prison.  We give him back any information we get on his progress.  For example, in a project run at the Concord Reformatory in Massachusetts, prisoners took psychological tests of "normal adjustment" and were told what the results were.  A few weeks later they would take the test again, to see if they could "improve" their score.  David McClelland and George Litwin of Harvard University have shown that scores on a test of "need for achievement" can be reissued through coaching and feed-back, and that actual achievement (academic, sensory-motor) also inceases following such change.  Using similar techniques, Frank Barron and Timothy Leary have shown how art-students can be made more creative.  Synanon and Alcoholics Anonymous are based on the same principles.