In this highly provocative podcast, Christopher Bache discusses his 40-year journey exploring LSD as a practice, and entheogens as an actual path. Twenty years taking 73 high-dose journeys into the nature of mind and reality, and twenty years digesting what he discovered. Chris talks about the difference between spiritual awakening and cosmological exploration during his adventure in consciousness, the promise, the peril, and the pain. What is the risk of “high-altitude sickness,” and are psychedelics a short-cut to enlightenment? How valid is “chemical mysticism,” and how do you know what you experience is true? What about replicability – would someone else experience the same things over twenty years? Andrew introduces the notion of entheogens as a form of tantra, where body (in this case chemistry) is as important as mind. When the body/mind opens to this degree, what does one do with all the energy that is released, and can that much energy be dangerous? Trungpa Rinpoche said that “LSD is super-samsara.” But can the heightening of samsara be used in an “al-chemical” way to accelerate the transformation into nirvana, bringing unconscious processes into the light of consciousness? Chris bravely shares intimate stories of his 73 sessions, the intense and often painful purification, the revelation, the vision, and the vast potential. Is this modern-day shamanism? Can anybody do this? What is the role of meditation in preparing and stabilizing this kind of journey? Can LSD show you the “species mind,” and even the “mind of the universe”? Is there a universal intelligence guiding things, and a final purpose (teleology) to creation? As a professor of religion, Chris discusses how his sessions showed him a new form of education, where one
becomes the object of study. How about the risk of sharing this intimate journey, and the bigger risk of alluring others into it? This conversation with a rare individual, possessed with a penetrating intellect, a generous heart, and disarming humility is one of the richest interviews ever offered on this podcast. Be prepared to have your mind blown open, and your heart expanded to the limits of the inner and outer cosmos.
About Christopher M. Bache Ph.D.
Christopher M. Bache is professor emeritus in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Youngstown State University where he taught for 33 years. He is also adjunct faculty at the California Institute of Integral Studies and a Fellow at the Institute of Noetic Sciences. An award-winning teacher and international speaker, Chris’ work explores the philosophical implications of non-ordinary states of consciousness, especially psychedelic states. Chris has written four books translated into six languages: Lifecycles – a study of reincarnation in light of contemporary consciousness research; Dark Night, Early Dawn – a pioneering work in psychedelic philosophy and collective consciousness; and The Living Classroom, an exploration of teaching and collective fields of consciousness. His latest book is LSD and the Mind of the Universe: Diamonds from Heaven.
