garden of the heart

We have a religion that declares the good go to heaven and the wicked go to hell. Christianity is a religion of the righteous mind. The mind creates polar extremes. The mind delineates and creates the objectification which makes the world come alive.

The name for the sacred cactus of the Andes, Huachuma, means no head. The idea is that with no head, you have no mind. The ideal state to be in with Huachuma is to turn off the mind, relax, and float downstream. When I have done such a thing, I have felt a cosmic love like no other. A state of bliss with a recognition to live within the heart with love for all is the only way to live. The experience is profound to the core, and I have wondered why when I am no longer in the medicine I can't return to this exquisite Garden of the divine feminine? I am being led in the direction of the path of the heart; to live my life in the way that Huachuma has shown me.

When you fully engage the mind with Huachuma, he takes you to heaven and then drops you into hell. It's quite the roller coaster ride, and hey, I always liked the amusement park, especially the newest ride ever summer which was undoubtedly another iteration of the roller coaster. Man, I fully rode the Huachuma ride. Sometimes I can be thick, and it's fortunate plant medicines have patience if there's a glimmer of hope in the patient. The course will be re-run until you get it. I started seeing what grandfather was showing me and then the last few times I have drank the medicine I understood. I still engage the mind, but I know when to shut it down and I see what the medicine is teaching me. I called the blog post about the understanding "Heaven or Hell." I figured it out.

Ayahuasca had a similar progression of showing me the darkness within which I kept stubbornly objectifying. She sent me on quests to slay the dragon, only to get an inkling I was that dragon. The repetition of darkness taught me courage and the warrior spirit has served me well. It was when I spent a few evenings with Magic Mushrooms that it became laughingly clear I was the very darkness I spent years in conflict with.

Early in the Book of Genesis, God tosses Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden and places a cherubim with a flaming sword at the eastern entrance to the Garden. The two ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. This tree activates the mind and creates a world of duality. The sword of the cherubim now guarding a return to Eden twirls in all directions, preventing access to the forbidden Tree of Life. It's quite the interesting puzzle. How do you get back into the Garden? Remember, the entrance is the eastern gate. The Israelites head east in search of returning to paradise. They find Jerusalem upon earth, but ultimately, the holy city causes more suffering. Though Jerusalem manifests the Garden, it becomes clear the location is not physical. What's the answer to the riddle? It's simple! You can't head east to return to an eastern gate. You have to go west. West is the left-hand path. It's the path of the heart. Walking westward to the eastern gate with no mind will allow full access back into the Garden. We build into our cultural language structures words that steer us towards the right-hand path, right? Are you righteous? The left-hand is sinister! Being a contrarian to the prevailing culture will help you immensely upon your journey.

I've created this world as the ultimate challenge. I have placed many obstacles in the path which will take me away from the heart. I clearly see the path of the heart and I know it is the way towards what it is I'm seeking. I intuit the number of souls who find the path are very few though it's really not all too difficult. We are wired to physically look for answers and thus we think the Garden of Eden, the Kingdom of Heaven, Nirvana, or whatever moniker you wish to give this place is a location of a reward you will be given if you are a good person in this lifetime. Instead, I discovered it's all here and now. The Garden is accessible through the heart. The path of the heart is obscured by the mind. Heading east to return home to a metaphorical Jerusalem will still trap you. The return will be futile via the glory of the right-hand path of the sun. The cherub with the twirling and flaming sword who guards the return to the Garden is sidestepped by entering the heart space, bypassing the cherubim mind, and taking the left-hand path back home.