mapacho the great teacher

Smoking Mapacho, as I have written about before, is a meditation cheat in that it acts as a laxative for the mind and allows you to enter a state of no mind, which makes it easier to connect to universal consciousness as opposed to our individual self-centred and limiting consciousness. The nicotine within tobacco is also a central nervous system stimulator which over time is developed a tolerance. When I first started smoking, it would give me a rush after smoking just one puro, so much so I’d have to sit down, close my eyes, and hang on for the ride, as it was pretty intense. Eventually because of tolerance, I’d have to smoke quite a bit to get to this state and in truth it is pretty hard to smoke a lot of Mapacho over a short period of time. I eventually found a snuff that would achieve this result with a few quick snorts up the nose. It burns, causes an evacuation of the sinus cavities, and sneezing, though worth it when done out in nature. It’s hard to do this in polite company though! This past weekend I learned something about myself and Mapacho. Don Howard would always tell us to "lean into it" and finally I decided to lean into smoking Mapacho. After smoking a couple I just pushed past my block of not wanting to smoke more and continued puffing on a few more. I felt some of the familiar energy I feel with Huachuma return in the form of CNS agitation and I closed my eyes. I saw red, it was peaceful and eventually the red changed to green. Then on to purple, mimicking the rising power of the kundalini as it pierces through the chakras. I felt the vibrations and I opened my eyes and everything was sharp, the birds were chirping, and the splashes of green on this spring day were popping.

There was a lesson being taught to remember to embrace all these varied states of consciousness: the red representing the passion and desire, the green the inclusiveness of the heart, and the purple the higher spiritual state all we seekers try to achieve. It’s a big reason why I consider Alan Watts the greatest spiritual teacher of all. You see Alan was well versed, educated, and understood all the spiritual traditions, yet he didn’t promulgate one specific teaching, nor did he follow or join any of them. He resisted the siren call to become whatever and remained true to the wisdom that the answer is found within and once you discover that truth you don’t need a crutch. Not only that but he didn’t fall for the spiritual trip and think he could become a holy man. Instead, Alan embraced all of it and revelled in his humanity. He drank heavily, tripped on LSD, smoked like a chimney, ate the finest food, divorced and remarried, and had a scandalous affair all the while a practicing minister. In spite of all that or most likely because of it, he recognized that each and everyone one of us was it and there was nothing you really need to do, whether that be angling for a reward in the afterlife or trying to shed karma for past misdeeds.

Mapacho reminded me to keep looking within and all the answers will be waiting. Continuously, the progression of consciousness within has now been red, green, and purple mimicking a set up of my mesa that symbolizes the lower, middle, and upper world crossed with the power of the feminine and the masculine. All is eventually reconciled in the centre; the axis mundi where we stand face to face with the truth. Everything that sums as self presents itself as unquestionably connected. As you look into the mirror whom do you see? Do you see just a lonely and powerless being or do you see it all?