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The League for Spiritual Discovery
MISSION, HISTORY, FREEDOM OF RELIGION, WHO IS THE LEAGUE?, VOICE IN THE WILDERNESS,
TWO WITNESSES, 12 APOSTLES, DISCIPLES
Mission
Advocates for the free pursuit of spiritual
enlightenment and religious practice by all persons, including those who use
entheogenic substances as a Sacrament
Colorado Proposition 122 – Access to
Natural Psychedelic Substances
The League strongly urges all Colorado
voters to vote “YES” on Proposition 122 on
the 8 November 2022 ballot. If passed, this
initiative would permit persons 21 years of age or older and Healing Centers to
legally use natural psychedelics (i.e., mushrooms containing psilocybin and
psilocin, ibogaine, mescaline, and DMT).
In a historic vote,
Colorado citizens approved Proposition 122.
The darkness of prohibition recedes as the Light of the Psychedelic Renaissance
shines.
History
Entheogenic substances (especially ergot derivatives,
mushrooms, peyote, and ayahuasca) have been used for religious and spiritual
purposes for millenniums. Whether
Aztecs, Greeks, or others: the ancients understood the power of entheogens. The Eleusinian Mysteries were predicated on
use of entheogens for achieving the transcendent experience of death and rebirth. The Vedic and Zoroastrian religions used Soma
and Haoma, respectively, the entheogenic source of
which is debated. Finally, John Marco
Allegro revealed that early Christianity was based on the Sacramental use of
entheogens. Early Christianity in
particular found itself subject to harsh persecution; consequently, coded
language was used to communicate the Sacrament while the moral Truths were carried
forward by the Church we know today.
Over time, the Christian Sacrament became a symbolic representation
rather than a substantive experience of God.
The original League for
Spiritual Discovery was founded in 1966 in the midst of
Governments’ and the public’s hysterical reaction to the explosion of
psychedelic (aka entheogens) use.
Admittedly, much of this use was outside the context of spiritual or
religious practice. Nevertheless,
legitimate religious use was prohibited as laws were hurriedly passed in
disregard for numerous studies that had shown the therapeutic and spiritual
benefits of psychedelics. The
prohibition laws were so expansive that they effectively shut down all research
into the potential benefits of entheogens.
The original League for Spiritual Discovery dispersed around 1968 after
persecution and arrest of numerous members.
Only recently has there been a relaxation of the
prohibition laws in some countries, enabling limited research to resume. Still, prohibition of religious use of
entheogens remains widespread with few exceptions, such as the Native American
Church, The Psychedelic Society
and various Ayahuasca groups. The League
for Spiritual Discovery accepts the Sacramental use of entheogens as an
essential practice and exercise of religion for those who freely choose such.
Freedom
of Religion
The United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 18 states:
“Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience
and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and
freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to
manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.” [emphasis added]
The United States Bill
of Rights, the First Amendment states:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the
press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the
Government for a redress of grievances.” [emphasis added]
Freedom of Religion is a Natural Right (with others
such as freedom of speech and assembly), a right endowed by our Maker from the
inception of Creation. In the beginning,
Freedom was absolute. In a free and just
world, government’s primary purpose is to secure our Natural Rights from those
that seek to infringe (e.g., criminals and power seekers) upon those rights
The United Nations, The United States, and other
countries have enacted laws/mandates that violate the rights of those that seek
to practice religions that use entheogenic substances as a sacrament. This violation of rights is generally argued
as necessary to protect society from the impact of dangerous substances.
This is a false argument. A truly free person owns one’s body and the
things one chooses to do with it (as long as the person harms no one else). In any religion, there have been those who
have gone to extremes, injuring or killing others. When persons justify such actions by their
religion, society (e.g., government) is justified in taking action against
those persons as a matter of protection of its members. However, actions of those extremists should
not nullify the rights of others to practice that religion.
The use of entheogenic substances as a religious
sacrament by an individual, in and of itself, harms no other person. Acts of those who use such substances that
harm others (body or property) are justifiably subject to restriction by
society. However, the harm must be real,
not simply that society or someone “feels hurt”, or “feels bad,” “feels
threatened” or is “scared.”
Many people believe their religion is the one true
religion. They are entitled to their
belief and practice. They are not,
however, morally entitled to restrict the religious belief and practice of
other peoples.
The League for Spiritual Discovery advocates for all
persons seeking God in all forms and ways.
The Truth shall set us Free.
Who
is the League?
We have no membership application. No identification cards. No list of members. No sworn oaths. No dues.
No organizational structure.
We are free individuals, united in embracing our
Natural Right to practice our chosen religious beliefs.
We, the Disciples of Truth, are scattered across the
globe. We seek to righteously fulfill
our religious beliefs, but are persecuted instead. But we have seen the glory of Heaven and,
therefore, know enlightenment is found in our Holy Sacrament. We have tasted the Divine Fruit and know its
Heavenly Flavor. We have seen with the
Divine Light the glory of Creation: that we are all connected by the Holy and
as yet undetected energy and matter that permeates the universe. We understand the highest values are Truth
and Love. We are grateful for the gift
of Consciousness; that we may perceive Truth and experience Love, both giving
and receiving.
We are as the early Christians, scattered, with
differing practices and customs, no common liturgy or sacred text. But we are united in the knowledge that we
need neither an earthly shepherd, nor governing or religious authority to
achieve spiritual enlightenment: the Kingdom of Heaven. We are free to seek Truth and Love.
A
Voice in the Wilderness
Philologist and Dead Sea Scrolls scholar - author of The
Sacred Mushroom and the Cross that revealed early Christians used coded
language in their texts, including the New Testament, to communicate the true
nature of the Holy Sacrament – entheogenic substances that he proposed was the
psychedelic mushroom. This revelation
was immediately condemned by religious and academic authorities, resulting in
severe ostracism and ruin of his career.
The passage of time and more careful scrutiny has provided greater
acceptance for his interpretations, especially those related to the use of
entheogenic substances by early Christians and the coded words used to refer to
such use.
“Thousands of years before Christianity,
secret cults arose which worshipped the sacred mushroom—the Amanita
muscaria—which, for various reasons (including its shape and power as a drug)
came to be regarded as a symbol of God on earth. When the secrets of the cult had to be
written down, it was done in the form of code….”
Comanche Warrior Chief turned Peace Prophet after
revelation with the Sacramental Peyote Medicine; he was an instrumental leader
in the foundation of the Native American
Church. As a Peyote Roadman (Guide),
he advocated the traditional Native American Half-Moon Ceremony (Tipi
Way). Regarding the Peyote Sacrament, he
said:
"The White
Man goes into his church and talks about Jesus. The Indian goes into his tipi
and talks with Jesus.”
A Mazatec shaman who lived in southern Mexico; she
introduced R. Gordon Wasson to the Sacred Mushroom (Psilocybin), who publicized
the experience in a 1957 Life
magazine article titled Seeking the
Magic Mushroom. Her willingness to permit R. Gordon Wasson to
participate in the Velada (healing ritual) which uses
the Psilocybin Sacrament and is considered a purification / communion with the
Sacred, resulted in the introduction of the Sacred Mushroom to the western
world.
There is a world beyond ours, a world
that is far away, nearby and invisible.
Twelve
Apostles
Psychiatrist, LSD researcher and author of The
Beyond Within: The LSD Story; he provided the LSD for the deathbed
psychedelic experience of Aldous Huxley.
“LSD hints to us that there is an area
of the mind which could be called ‘unsane,’ beyond sanity and yet not
insane…This is perhaps where all the superlative efforts of humanity come from,
not only of art but of science....”
Poet and author, notably of Howl, he helped spread
the Word about LSD with Timothy Leary and participated in Acid Tests with Ken
Kesey.
“Everything is Holy! Everybody's Holy!
Everywhere is Holy! Every day is in Eternity! Everyman's an Angel!”
Chemist who discovered the effects of LSD on 16 April
1943; three days later, on 19 April 1943, he purposely ingested LSD, in the
first “acid trip.” This date has become
known and commemorated as “Bicycle Day,” as he rode home from his lab on a
bicycle while under the influence.
Author of LSD My Problem Child: Reflections on Sacred Drugs, Mysticism and
Science, he considered LSD “medicine for the soul.”
“You, my dear friends, and millions all
over the world who now commemorate the 50th birthday of ergot's child, we all
testify gratefully that we got valuable help on the way to what Aldous Huxley
said is the end and the ultimate purpose of human life--enlightenment, beatific
vision, love.”
Author and psychedelic drug proponent, he wrote of his
first psychedelic experience in The Doors of Perception, where he
ingested mescaline (psychedelic obtained from Peyote) under the supervision of
Dr. Humphrey Osmond. His final book was
the fictional utopian novel Island, where the people take a
psychedelic drug (Moksha medicine) that leads to enlightenment and induces a
nirvana like state of liberation from the death and rebirth cycle. He provided a copy of the book to Albert
Hofmann inscribed “To Dr. Albert Hofmann, the original discoverer of the Moksha
medicine, from Aldous Huxley.”
“God isn't the son of Memory; He's the
son of Immediate Experience. You can't worship a spirit in spirit, unless you
do it now. Wallowing in the past may be good literature. As wisdom, it's
hopeless. Time Regained is Paradise Lost, and Time Lost is Paradise Regained.
Let the dead bury their dead. If you want to live at every moment as it
presents itself, you've got to die to every other moment.”
Author and Psychedelic drug proponent, his novel One
Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest was partially inspired by his psychedelic
drug use. He was the leader of the Merry
Pranksters that organized Acid Tests using the LSD Sacrament in the San
Francisco Bay area during the 1960s; immortalized in Tom Wolfe’s book The
Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.
“When we first broke into that forbidden
box in the other dimension, we knew we had discovered something as surprising
and powerful as the New World when Columbus came stumbling onto it.”
Clinical Psychologist and Psychedelic researcher at
Harvard University, he was an advocate for the use of psychedelics for
spiritual enlightenment. On 19 September
1966 he founded the original League for Spiritual Discovery that used LSD as
its Sacrament. LSD was made illegal in
California on 6 October 1966 (with the rest of the world
following shortly thereafter). The
League disbursed around 1968 after persecution and arrest of members. Timothy Leary co-authored (with Ralph Metzner and Richard Alpert) The Psychedelic Experience
as a guide for the safe use of entheogenic substances, emphasizing the
importance of set (proper attitude of mind) and setting (supportive
environment). The book is based on the
revelation that the psychedelic experience parallels the death and rebirth
experience.
“‘Turn-on’ meant go within to activate
your neural and genetic equipment. Become sensitive to the many and various
levels of consciousness and the specific triggers that engage them. Drugs were
one way to accomplish this end. ‘Tune-in’ meant interact harmoniously with the
world around you—externalize, materialize, express your new internal
perspectives. Drop out suggested an elective, selective, graceful process of
detachment from involuntary or unconscious commitments. ‘Drop-Out’ meant
self-reliance, a discovery of one's singularity, a commitment to mobility,
choice, and change. Unhappily my explanations of this sequence of personal
development were often misinterpreted to mean ‘Get stoned and abandon all
constructive activity.’”
An Ethnobotanist, he was an advocate for responsible
psychedelic use, especially in plant form, and author of the book Food
of the Gods. He was an expert on
shamanism and called the “intellectual voice of rave culture.” He proposed the “stoned ape” theory of
evolution which hypothesizes that the use of psychedelics was instrumental in
the mental development of homo sapiens.
“If the words ‘Life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness’ don’t include the right to experiment with your own
consciousness, then the Declaration of Independence isn’t worth the hemp it was
written on.”
Psychiatrist and Psychedelic researcher into the
medical benefits of entheogens; he coined the term “Psychedelic” in
correspondence with Aldous Huxley.
Author of the article Peyote Night (published in Tomorrow
magazine), he recounted his experience using the Peyote Sacrament with the
Native American Church.
“To fathom hell or soar Angelic, just
take a pinch of Psychedelic.”
Botanist and Educator at Harvard University;
considered the father of modern ethnobotany; a leading expert in the study of
the use of entheogenic substances by the indigenous peoples of the
Americas. He co-authored The
Plants of the Gods: Their Sacred, Healing, and Hallucinogenic Powers
along with Albert Hofmann and Christian Ratsch.
“…a sophisticated mushroom cult existed
in Guatemala 3500 years ago. Early Spanish
chroniclers wrote…of the Aztec, Teonanacatl [“Sacred Mushroom” or “Gods
Flesh”], eaten ceremonially for divination, prophesy, and worship….”
Chemist and Psychedelic researcher; referred to as the
“godfather of Psychedelics” for his extensive research and use of rational drug
design. He developed the Shulgin Rating
Scale (measures the subjective effect of Psychedelic substances at a given
dosage). He introduced MDMA (Ecstacy) to psychiatrists and psychologists, including
Psychologist Leo Zeff, a pioneer in the underground psychedelic therapy
movement. Co-author of Phenethylamines
I Have Known And Loved: A Chemical Love Story
and Tryptamines
I Have Known And Loved: The Chemistry Continues that comprehensively
reports their study and personal experience with Psychedelic substances.
“The most compelling insight of that day
was that this awesome recall had been brought about by a fraction of a gram of
a white solid, but that in no way whatsoever could it be argued that these
memories had been contained within the white solid. Everything I had recognized
came from the depths of my memory and my psyche. I understood that our entire
universe is contained in the mind and the Spirit. We may choose not to find
access to it, we may even deny its existence, but it is indeed there inside us,
and there are chemicals that can catalyze its availability.”
Advocate of LSD use, he was the first private
individual to mass produce LSD, producing over one million doses. A key supplier of LSD for Acid Tests, he worked
as a sound man for the Grateful Dead. He
also provided LSD to the Beatles during their filming of Magical Mystery Tour.
“One of the ideas that developed…was
that the psychedelics…were some sort of important hormone-like substance which
was necessary to the human race, like the various hormones which the body
produces
within its structure. Unlike these
hormones, there are others, perhaps you could call them "planetary
hormones"…Healing plants are part of this category. The ones which alter our state and perception
of the universe around us are no less important to our development as
enlightened entities than those which heal our bodies.”
Author and Ethnobotanist, he made significant
contributions to understanding the historical use of entheogenic
substances. His publications include Soma:
Divine Mushroom of Immortality and The Road to Eleusis: Unveiling the Secret of
the Mysteries (co-authored with Albert Hoffman and Carl A. P. Ruck)
that proposed the Eleusinian Mysteries used Ergot (source of LSD) as a
Sacrament to achieve enlightenment and rebirth.
The book introduced the term “entheogen” as an alternative to
“psychedelic.”
“Ecstasy!... In common parlance…ecstasy
is fun… But ecstasy is not fun. Your very soul is seized and shaken until it
tingles. After all, who will choose to feel undiluted awe, or to float through
that door yonder into the Divine Presence? The unknowing vulgar abuse the Word,
and we must recapture its full and terrifying sense….”
Other
Disciples
There are many more Disciples of Truth in addition to
those above who are worthy of mention.
They are known and unknown; lost and found; dead and reborn. We are scattered across the earth, practicing
our religion in the darkness of society’s ignorance, waiting for the day when
we may freely practice our religious beliefs in an open, enlightened world.
MISSION, HISTORY, FREEDOM OF RELIGION, WHO IS THE LEAGUE?, VOICE IN THE WILDERNESS,
TWO WITNESSES, 12 APOSTLES, DISCIPLES
The League for Spiritual Discovery
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