“When all are one and one is all.” ~ Robert Plant, “Stairway to Heaven”
Since the Netflix docuseries “Aaron Rodgers: Enigma” came out, I have had patients ask me if they should try working with plant medicine to help treat their traumas. And some patients have asked me to help them integrate what they experienced after they have worked with plant medicines such as ayahuasca and ibogaine. If you haven’t seen it, the Netflix series follows New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers on his spiritual journey, including his participation in plant medicine ceremonies in Costa Rica.
The first thing I recommend is to read the Upanishads and literature on Advaita Vedanta. Personally, I recommend Christopher Isherwood’s translation of “Shankara’s Crest-Jewel of Discrimination” along with lectures and books by Alan Watts. Although the Hindu tradition is worlds away from Central and South America, the Hindu concept of Brahman helps people understand what they experience when working with plant medicine. Brahman is beyond our minds’ conception as well as any language: the word “Brahman” is just a symbol for something ineffable. The best definition I heard of Brahman in graduate school was “that without attributes.”
What Is Maya and How Does It Relate to Human Perception?
In Hinduism as well as Buddhism, everything that we perceive through our five senses and chunk into narratives is “maya” — illusory and ephemeral. However, human consciousness craves certainty and permanence and appears to be incapable of fathoming reality as it might be actually occurring “out there” in the universe. Scottish psychiatrist R.D. Laing controversially posited that people suffering from schizophrenia had the most accurate perceptions of reality, but for a non-schizophrenic to surrender to that amorphous vastness is usually quite overwhelming. Our minds seek sure footing; when the ground beneath our feet shifts, we are usually quite perturbed.
We do not understand the limitations of human consciousness, what it can comprehend and what it cannot, which is the problem with assimilating the effects of plant medicine. For example, it is impossible for you to imagine infinity. You may have in your mind what philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein called a “placeholder,” such as an image you once saw of the cosmos or a skyscraper, but the finite mind cannot conceive the infinite; it is constricted by categories of consciousness such as space, time, causality, etc. But what if those categories don’t exist “out there”? What if they’re simply our creations?
Why Does the Concept of Non-Dualism Help Integrate Plant Medicine Experiences?
The phrase from the Chandogya Upanishad that best describes what I am describing is “Tat tvam asi,” which is often translated as “Thou art that,” “You are that,” “You are G-d,” or “You are the universe.” This is why understanding “non-dualism” (Advaita) helps people integrate the experience of working with plant medicine: the truth under our perceptions is that our “Self” (capital “S,” higher self, Atman) or “soul” is identical and united with supreme reality. Essentially, Atman equals Brahman; however, humans are trapped in maya, what we perceive through our five senses and chunk into narratives. Plant medicine can liberate us, for a short time, from those traps.
Our mind’s inability to comprehend that the concept of an individual self is “maya” and that we are really all interconnected in one infinite matrix is why many people have trouble integrating what they experienced when they return to their quotidian, individual, ego-based existences. In our bodily incarnations, after we experience traumas, our minds create defense mechanisms in order to help preclude future traumas. This is where plant medicine has helped people such as Aaron Rodgers transcend those traumas — because if we can grasp that we play a role in creating the selves that we inhabit, then we can choose to release the defenses that are inhibiting us from living fully.
