SELF - KNOWLEDGE AND USE OF THE AYAHUASCA MEDICINE

Erik Hendrick Carpio
Director of the Sapan Inka Project 
Cusco - Peru.  2009

During our experience with the therapeutic use of the Ayahuasca medicine, we have learned that, in many cases, that medicine proved to be a most useful tool for the exploration and knowledge of nature itself. But, we have also learned that, in order to use that tool with the intention of knowing nature, science is necessary, which allows us to broaden our consciousness. Therefore, in order to broaden our self-knowledge, there is the necessity for scientific psychological knowledge. To get deeper into self-knowledge, good will is not enough or only wishing to do it, but rather, one must possess a specialized knowledge; for example, in order to design and build a building, one needs knowledge in architecture and engineering. In the same way, for self-knowledge, one requires a broad study of human psyche.   

Self-knowledge is very important because it allows us to get closer to the fundamental stratum; to the human being´s essential nucleus in which dwell our instincts and pre-existent dynamic factors which determine the ethical decisions of our consciousness. Self-knowledge means: To achieve the greatest possible knowledge of the individual´s totality; get to the point that the human being might clearly know which is his / her capacity to do good deeds and also know how much evil and atrocities he / she is capable to produce.   

Self-knowledge allows the individual´s psychological development or growth which allows him / her to have the capacity of self-observation and know that, within each one of us, there are dark areas and others that are luminous, that is, reason and irrationality. However, it is important to indicate that this development process is a phenomenon which, in order for it to undergo a satisfactory evolution, must take place spontaneously. In reality, this process has two aspects: On one hand, it is a phenomenon which produces itself within the individual, in a subjective way and is one of integration. But, on the other, it also is essentially an objective relation phenomenon and what is certain is that one cannot exist without the other, whether it is one or the other that stands out most. The totality does not constitute a perfect state, but rather, integrity.

The aim of this process is to activate consciousness; that is to say, the act of making conscious, contents projected up to then. Through that dedication, one achieves, little by little, the knowledge of the other human beings, as well as that of oneself and thus, realizes the differentiation between what one really is and what is being projected within him / herself or what one believes of him / herself in fantasy.   

One must clearly understand that this process is originated by nature and that it is the impulse that can lead to a broader and vaster consciousness and therefore, the human being must voluntarily be at its service. What this process finally implies, is the union of consciousness or the self´s personality, with the personifications of the unconscious and from there on, this results in a new personality which, in the end, is not a third party, but rather, the two together. According to Jung´s analytical psychology, that new personality is designed by the One-Self concept. In order to comprehend this concept, it is useful to draw a parallel with the personal and cosmic existence of the Hindu Atman´s phenomenology. The One-Self is subjective and objective at the same time; it is I and not I; it is individual and collective. It is a concept that can only be expressed by means of symbolic designs and which indicates the union of opposites as a "unifying symbol". These symbolic designs arise in an empirical manner during dreams or spontaneous fantasies and the visions produced by the use of entheogens substances, are related with themes of "mandalic" (of mandalas) nature and are visible in the drawings and paintings of whoever lives the experience. It is important that this process should take place in a spontaneous way and one never ought to impulse anyone to go through it, as the initial psychic correspondence is a dark state of disorientation, during which one undergoes dissolution of consciousness and there is an analogy with the schizophrenic state. That dissolution generally lasts for a long period of time and along with it, one experiences a constant disorientation of    one´s consciousness. This is why, during this state of awareness of the collective unconscious or psychic non-I, there is great risk for latent psychoses to be stimulated. Dissolution and disorientation bring along a state in which one loses control and free impulsivity takes over; a soulless state in which affections and fantasies of different kinds predominate.         

The aim of the therapy with entheogens substances and for us, especially with Ayahuasca and San Pedro, in these cases and in this sense, is the strengthening of consciousness. 
Normally, we stimulate people towards a spiritual activity and comprehensive mastering of their spirit´s confused mass. We have observed that, through that comprehension, the unconscious becomes integrated and little by Little, a new and more elevated point of view appears which substitutes as much the conscious as the unconscious. The unconscious state reaches a critical point of maximum depth; a state of blackness which is followed by an illumination from up above (POST TENEBRAS, LUX or After Darkness, Light) and thanks to that light, one understands the true sense of the union of opposites.    

Therefore, this self-knowledge and psychological growth process is a modification of the inner feeling; the birth of a new superior spiritual essence in a human shape, which invisibly occurs within the individual; it is like a feeling of being substituted, but not dismissed. It is as if all of  life´s issues would start to be lead by an invisible central place. It is a consciousness undoing phenomenon thanks to which one goes from experiencing a subjective "I live" to an objective "It lives me", such as it is expressed through the Christian religious language: "Now, I no longer live, but Christ lives within me". This new state is experienced as more elevated as the previous one, just as if one would really be freed from constraints. All in all, it is a feeling of reconciliation with what generally takes place.     

In the medical practice, we believe that the important thing is the result; that is, healing. There are different medical traditions in different cultures in the world, like the ayurvedic medicine in India or the Chinese traditional medicine and the Andean traditional medicine. We don´t think that the existence of these medical practices disqualifies the use of the Occidental medicine, as these are simply different cultures, cosmovisions and purposes. Still today, in the Andean and Amazonian cultures, the function of the use of master plants allows the healing medicine man to diagnose and give the adequate treatment to each illness. We think that there is the possibility of searching for a holistic medicine; that is to say, a medical practice that might be capable of integrating the medicine of the world´s different cultures. On the other hand, we are not saying that the scientific study of the biological functions should disqualify the study of the human soul. On the contrary, we think that, in order to broaden our knowledge of the human being, both studies are necessary. A normal person lives all the time with his / her body. However, in order to know how it works; for example its respiration, it is necessary to undertake scientific studies on how the respiratory system functions or let´s say, which organs intervene in it. In the same way, the human being lives with his / her soul. But, in order to know how it manifests itself and how it works, it is necessary to undertake studies about it.        

Getting to this point, it is important to point out that the soul is not a consequence of physiological processes and specifically, of the nervous system. However, it is important to highlight that the soul passes in time through the organic substrate and biological inheritance of millions of years of evolution. The soul includes a broad dominion of conscious and unconscious psychic phenomena and is supra-personal. The soul manifests itself within the individual, as well as in a collective way. In essence, the soul is an autonomous power of the unconscious that goes beyond the individual´s conscious will. The soul is a human factor. When we talk about the soul, we are not referring to a philosophical and comprehensive conceptual purpose of an individual metaphysical substance, but rather, we refer to a phenomenological conception of the soul. The soul manifests itself through mnemonic images; for example, in dreams and visions. These images do not pertain to an individual´s physiological personal history, but they are rather part of humanity as a whole; for example, a vision of a transparent pyramid in the center of which there is a radiant light and from which emanates a voice of divine nature or images of demon-like beings amidst infernal landscapes of fire. How can these visions be explained or interpreted by the neuro-physiological functions? One can explain or interpret the reasons for the existence of the images, but not their nature, essence or function. The knowledge and comprehension of the soul is what allows giving a therapeutic treatment; for example, how to get a human being out of his / her sensation of living in a state of confusion and darkness. The aim of medicine is to heal the human being, as much physically as spiritually.        

From our perspective, one of the aims in the use of master plants as instruments to develop self-knowledge and inner growth is to get to the ego´s dissolution. Entheogens substances give us the possibility to observe ourselves or look at ourselves and therefore, have the capacity to separate ourselves from our false self or ego. A danger in the irresponsible use of entheogens substances is that they open doors to powerful occult forces of the collective unconscious that can flood the conscious self and have it under their control, giving as a result a personality inflation which manifests itself as egocentrism, mythomania or megalomania. Since thousands of years, in the Oriental philosophy, there were techniques to avoid this personality inflation, such as meditation, yoga or the search for the middle path in Taoism. This is why, in the ancestral use of Ayahuasca, the ICAROS used by the Master Healer are very important, as they serve him / her as maps so as not to get lost in the archetypical images that are experienced during the modified state of consciousness. We believe that entheogens substances are medicine and like all medicine, they must be administered by a physician or a specialist in the matter.