In the book of the dead, the psychedelic experience is split up into 3 parts - in bardo thodol there are 3 bardos. A bardo is roughly translated as a transition of some sort. The bardo thodol is the bardo of death.
The first bardo is the period of ego-loss or non-game ecstasy. The second bardo is the period of hallucinations. The third bardo is the period of re-entry.
from the book:
** "Games" are behavioral sequences defined by role, rules, rituals, goals, strategies, values, language, characteristic space time locations and characteristic patterns of movement. Any behavior not having these nine features is non-game; this includes physiological reflexes, spontaneous play, and transcendent awareness. It is beyond words, beyond time and beyond self. There are no visions, no sense of self, no thoughts.
"Liberation is the nervous system devoid of mental-conceptual activity" Realization of the voidness, the unbecome, the unborn,the unmade, implies buddhahood, perfect enlightenment--the state of the divine mind of the Buddha. It may be helpful to remember that this ancient doctrine does not conflict with modern physics. The theoretical physicist and cosmologist, George Gamow, presented in 1950 a viewpoint which is close to the phenomenological experience described by the Tibetan lamas.
If we imagine history running back in time, we inevitably come to the epoch of the “big squeeze” with all the galaxies, stars, atoms and atomic nuclei squeezed, so to speak, to a pulp. During that early stage of evolution, matter must have been dissociated into its elementary components. . . . We call this primordial mixture ylem.
At this first point in the evolution of the present cycle, according to this first-rank physicist, there existed
only the Unbecome, the Unborn, the Unformed. And this, according to astrophysicists, is the way it will end;
the silent unity of the Unformed. The Tibetan Buddhists suggest that the uncluttered intellect can
experience what astrophysics confirms. The Buddha Vairochana, the Dhyani Buddha of the Center,
Manifester of Phenomena, is the highest path to enlightenment. As the source of all organic life, in him all
things visible and invisible have their consummation and absorption. He is associated with the Central Realm
of the Densely-Packed, i.e., the seed of all universal forces and things are densely packed together. This
remarkable convergence of modern astrophysics and ancient lamaism demands no complicated explanation.
The cosmological awareness- and awareness of every other natural process- is there in the cortex. You can
confirm this preconceptual mystical knowledge by empirical observation and measurement, but it’s all there
inside your skull. Your neurons “know” because they are linked directly to the process, are part of it."
In my own words...all things evolved together and what we know as the big bang did not simply just happen but is something still happening; we even can see this through the expansion of our universe. Your DNA evolved from a process of expansion and it is very intimately connected to all of existence! The neurons firing off within your brain ARE the big bang still happening. You can experience this yourself if you learn to quiet the mind...psychedelics are a chemical key to unlock your intrinsic ability to do so!
Our minds are constantly thinking even when we do not realize it, we label all things even down to shapes, colors and angles. You cannot perceive your reality without mentally conceptualizing what you are experiencing. The mind does this automatically and it is supposed to do it that way!
You were not born with your mind already doing this of course, when you were a newborn you had no concept of anything. You did not know light from dark until your eyes opened for the first time. That may even be the very first concept your brain learns and coincidentally enough it is a very deeply fundamental part of many ancient belief systems. The yin and the yang, or the darkness and the light. It is even very deeply rooted in many tribal societies creation stories...a lot of them came from out of the darkness, into the light.
To learn to silence the mind while on psychedelics takes special training and very unique understandings. It also takes self work and self love...if you have reservations about things you have done and deep down you think of yourself as a "bad" person, you may very easily slip into negative and frightening visions. Also if you have had certain traumas you may become frightened and think that what you were experiencing was some sort of conspiracy against you. The silencing of the mind can even last a mere second before a person slips into the second bardo period of hallucinations. The book talks of "good karma" as your own internal ideals about yourself and your life; as well as your intentions.
The book refers to the moment of non-game ecstasy as ego-loss and dying consciously. Many people who have had very deep psychedelic experiences say that they felt like they were dying and many people say they know they experienced what happens when you die. There are times where people under the influence of psychedelics truly believe they are dying and end up freaking out because they were not prepared. Even those most prepared do not go into it lightly when that part of the experience overtakes them.
This should also serve as a word of warning to those who wish to partake in psychedelic experimentation of their own...having a death experience is one of THE MOST PROMINENT themes of psychedelic experiences. If you are not ready to confront death, mortality and your life traumas, you may want to refrain from the use of any psychedelic substances.
Next time I am going to be discussing what the book refers to as, "the clear light of reality" and my take on what it means and more of what the book has to say about how to recognize the moment of ego loss and experience the silent mind!
Thank you for reading!! <3 Kimber