Psychedelics, mysticism, and near death experiences - Curtis Childs from the Swedenborg Foundation

This week I am joined by Curtis Childs who is a follower of the mystic and philosopher Emanuel Swedenborg. Swedenborg was a prominent scientist of the 18th century who began to have visions which sound exactly like those exactly like those experienced when taking DMT or other psychedelic substances.
Curtis is host of a KZbin based around Swedenborgs teachings called Off The Left Eye, here is a link - / offthelefteye
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[@MOSMASTERING]

20 years ago I had the most profound experience I have ever had. An experience that is beyond human mind, beyond reality, beyond dreams or imagination. I took too much LSA (morning glory). I was with friends - I somehow got all their doses from the brew we made. Nobody else felt anything - but I got it all, the first scoop from the pot must have had everything floating to the top. Over the course of 30 minutes, I began leaving this dimension. Things started making less and less sense. I was no longer looking at people around me, their speech made no sense any longer. I was staring at things and seeing behind the veil of reality. Behind the curtain pulled in front of our eyes. I met God. An atheist. I could do nothing but get on my knees and cry for my forgiveness for doubting God's existence and flaunting my superiority with my pathetic ego. Like I was the pinnacle of evolution and intelligence. I was infinitely smaller and felt that in Gods presence. I understood.... everything. I was allowed to 'know' everything in that state of mind, because I'd never be able to take it back with me to my human brain. I needed to be infinite and stripped away, removed from our limited perspective of reality to have that knowledge. He destroyed me and then tasked me with saving the universe. I was in another place. The beginning of time. I knew that God had created the universe but there was a possibility that humans would develop an AI that would put us all into a torturous hell forever and destroy God. God - being everything, we are inside it. This would be unimaginable. All of reality being destroyed - unimaginable horror. I had PTSD for a year after that experience. No human is supposed to have that information but I was chosen because I was the only one capable of seeing patterns woven into reality - which would remind me of my mission. For months afterwards I would see coincidences and have flashbacks and reminders of the 'feeling' of being back there. The reminders were showing me where we we heading unless we stop artificial intelligence from taking over. Of course I'm aware of how all this sounds in hindsight. And clearly was an altered state where I was dreaming or hallucinating. It sounds schizophrenic, delusional, ridiculous, drug induced! But there are elements and sign posts in all subsequent trips on any substance that point me back to that thought process that takes me back there. I was an atheist before.. maybe I still am. But it was so jarring being absolutely sure of my beliefs then knowing God personally It destroyed my sense of self who I thought I was and what I believes and the nature of reality having a purpose instead of us being random ape descendants

[@EbonKim]

So glad this experience is shared in a comment on someone else's video, and not on your own channel where there's only a 56 second BBC quote video. All the nuances and details really come through.

[@Sprite_525]

I used to be an atheist too, and I’ve been told that technically I’m still not a “theist” if I don’t exactly ‘worship gods,’ but wow, I relate to your experiences. There’s almost NO DOUBT in my mind that “the veil of Maya”, or what Alford Huxley called “the filtered down brain” is genuinely happening during most of our lives, a “consensus trance” is what Terrence McKenna called it, I think. While I don’t worship any entities in particular, I took away a major respect for higher divine truths, and for years have slowly moved into a life that closely resembles the rules laid down for laypeople from Buddha, Ramana Maharshi, Jesus of Nazareth, even Plato here and there, etc.. Almost everyone I’ve met has had similar paths of development who seriously dove into meditation, psychedelics, or some rare NDE “life altering peak experience”

[@gado__]

@@Sprite_525 just so you know, his name is Aldous Huxley ;)

[@gado__]

Us being "random ape descendants" does not mean there is "no purpose". It simply means that it's unlikely there is an ultimate purpose that is independent of us humans.

[@MOSMASTERING]

@@EbonKim Okay. Yours is the strangest reply I could have imagined. Are you saying you want me to make a video describing it? I didn't think anybody would be interested in my drug story where I could easily be mocked for being high. I'm not a KZbinr. I'm just a random guy.

[@jimywebb23]

What an awesome collaboration 🕊️

[@AdeptusPsychonautica]

Glad you enjoyed it Jim 🙏

[@InnerLuminosity]

This was music to my ears. The more I know the more I DONT know ,💪

[@sneferuzefayawachuma]

This is so true about anything and so wonderful too I love it ❤️

[@MrBrindleStyle]

YES!! This is fab! Exactly why I am here. i have my own mind trip - and don't want to 'interfere' with that. But it does intersect.

[@amaziahyaohsharal9840]

I’m thinking that whenever your default network system goes offline in your brain, your Consciousness expands and you get these mystical experiences. For a small Fraction of people I think, that their default network just shuts off automatically or they unknowingly are inadvertently shutting the default network off.

[@jjaammee11]

I love you guys!! This is super awesome.

[@ishtarishaya]

An an "NDEr", then a meditating monk, and always someone prone to mystical and odd experiences, there does seem to be a great deal of overlap between my experiences ( many similar to Swedenbourg's, from the little I've read of his many volumes) and the experiences of my many psychonaut friends. I am at this point fairly convinced that the little beings that I am prone to calling Devatas are often the same as the "self replicating elf machines." An underlying golden geometry has become so frequent an experience, that it is as objective as anything else, and the experience is moreso. Many of these experiences we would term as "celestial perception" and though often very enjoyable, we usually treated them as a welcome biproduct with the deepening experience of the less showy pure awareness of Samadhi. What a lovely show :) I am glad this sort of conversation is happening.

[@EbonKim]

So glad you post comments on other people's videos, rather on your own channel that has no videos.

[@ishtarishaya]

@@EbonKim ha! indeed so!

[@Sprite_525]

Yes! I used to wonder why not everybody wants to know these things and why spiritual teachers don’t teach these things to everybody. Then I saw A popular Indian guru say why he no longer tells all people about the elves, devas, et cetera: because when he did, many people couldn’t live life anything like before - anything. and since some of these students were fathers or mothers, CEO’s, government officials, this abrupt shift rippled throughout many families and companies depending on them. Is the answer then to cover things? No. It’s inevitable that sacred knowledge spreads. But I think we could build a culture of people who help “smooth transitions” - not just trip sitters, or shamans etc.. But even philosophers, monks, and meditators willing to make conceptual & organizational frameworks that touch the actual structure of life _as it’s lived today_ .

[@sneferuzefayawachuma]

This sounds amazing I hope I can eventually learn to do this

[@DillonPeterson]

I wish people would stop speaking into existence the "self replicating ___. "

[@jamesosborne1286]

I've been watching off the left eye for many years. Swedenborgs writings make a lot of sense to me and have helped me develop my view of reality. I just started watching your channel a couple weeks ago, it was a treat to find this interview with Curtis.

[@scotscub76]

Your videos are so interesting. I'm considering a Rapeh ceremony now and even Kambo soon.

[@sneferuzefayawachuma]

I’ve tried both of these. I know rapé can be extremely spiritual but unfortunately for me it just hurts and makes me vomit lol. Kambo on the other hand I’m more in line with everyone else. It’s not a spiritual experience in the moment (during the ceremony) it makes you feel dizzy, hot and nauseous it’s very physical. However the spiritual effect comes later, after ceremony and taking a shower. It lasts a long time (several hours) and is the perfect way to start an ayahuasca retreat. It also helped me recover from the lingering malaise and fatigue from a serious bout of flu and completely fixed my jet lag in one day. I enjoyed it so much (the after affects rather than the ceremony which is more of an endurance thing) that I got my kambo scar filled in with tattoo ink and beneath the dot I had a little vine to represent aya and a tiny frog beneath that :) it’s my favorite tattoo 💚🐸💚

[@HoldenMcRoin69]

I really respect Curtis for having an interest in the matter without having a direct experience himself with divine intervention or personal psychedelic experience

[@sneferuzefayawachuma]

Same

[@AdeptusPsychonautica]

Indeed, I think it shows a genuine curiosity to understand these experiences from a scholarly perspective.

[@MrBrindleStyle]

yes. It doesn't really help broader learning if we all do the same 'thing'

[@Portugal_Pete]

Rob, I only recently found your channel, and I'm really enjoying the content! Seeing Curtis Childs as one of your guests was a thrill. Great discussion! Swedenborg's ideas are fairly new to me, and his descriptions of other worldly entities echoing a few of Terence McKenna's experiences keep me coming back for more. I've read that Emanuel Swedenborg was a serious practitioner of (holotropic?) breathwork techniques in his attempt as a scientist to understand the brain. He may have never tried plant medicines to induce trance states, but it's interesting that he studied botany and was know for his garden... I wonder what his familiarity with the traditions of the Noaidi, (Sami shamanism) might of been. Cheers!

[@jamesstaggs4160]

I don't know about anyone else but if I knew how to have out of body experiences I'd be shouting it from the rooftop and trying to teach anyone that would listen how to do it as well so we could put some of the "are we more than our brains" type questions to rest. It's difficult to contain knowledge from humanity once it's out there so the fact that it's not common knowledge that we could leave our bodies kinda says it's not real. Alot of people claim to have done it but they don't seem to be trying to spread the "how" part of it. I've been searching for proof or ways to access the "spirit world" my entire life and although I've had some odd experiences none were so solid I could say I know there's more than the physical. I'm not the only one and with so many dying for proof or a connection you'd think that if beings exist on the "other side" they'd be contacting us.

[@aresrin]

I get the sense that the metaphysical really follows it's own flow, and if you try to force it into a box that your left-brain can quantify and reproduce you'll wind up with nothing. It's kind of like wanting to capture an ocean wave by bringing home a bucket of salt water. That said, there are certainly plenty of techniques for inducing Out of Body experiences if you are willing to put in the effort. I've had the most luck with the Senses Initiated Lucid Dreaming technique developed by Cosmic Iron, which is known for generating occasional OBEs as an unintended side effect of lucid dreaming practice. I've had maybe half a dozen OBEs this way. cosmiciron.blogspot.com/2013/01/senses-initiated-lucid-dream-ssild_16.html?m=1 If you want to have intentional Out of Body experiences Astral Dynamics by Robert Bruce seemed to me to have the most clear instructions and well designed techniques, though I didn't have the willpower to maintain the practice myself.

[@honkhonk5181]

There are plenty of people spreading the how part. Isn’t that what the whole astral projection community is about?

[@jimywebb23]

Monroe Institute

[@wicky4473]

Fascinating conversation, loved every minute of it. It just shows how much common ground there is between people even though they have such different starting points.

[@Jay_Hendrix]

You mention how during psychedelic experiences you see a world of pure narrative meaning, where every element of your life is assembled to perfectly explain your place in the universe. I like to call that phenomenon hyper-contextualization. It's like when you're trying to break loose a bolt, but it's really really stuck. So you're fighting and fighting, sometimes for your whole life leading up to that point until it finally breaks, and then everything suddenly snaps into place and you get this surge of understanding how all the tension building to this point was meant for this release. It was all by design and you weren't just fighting in vain.

[@dimitrishow_D]

i do low dose DMT a lot and i agree its meaning...its like im assesing and talking to my or maybe even another consciousness on a deep level...like it shows me what going on in my mind and then i can asses it and choose to continue or let go....for example last time i smoked i saw all kinds of stupid youtube videos i had watched that day and "it "said is this what u want in your mind...thats why i love the low doses it gives me a nice meditive state without being afraid of reality breaking apart in front of my eyes...which is fun i2 dont get mewrong lol but i feel the low ones give me more benifit the big ones are rollercoaster rides

[@HoldenMcRoin69]

Very interesting you said this, it seems a lot of people are starting to realize the benefits microdosing DMT can have, it really helps my mind calm down and helps me focus on my breathing while also adding an extremely profound psychoactive effect… I used to think every time one did DMT the point was to shoot for a break through experience but the more I’ve used the substance the more I realize breakthroughs are not something to take lightly because they really do shock your psyche and make you question your reality and if you don’t have like minded people to talk to about these things you can feel very isolated in a world that seems to care more about material possessions than their own souls

[@dimitrishow_D]

@@HoldenMcRoin69 lol yes i once told my girlfriend how i died and my room decended into the Underworld and that i was the lord of the Underworld telling myself i was a idiot for doing This and coming back there ..while hè created my LIFE to escape IT...hahha the look on her face was priceless and i never shared any stories again lol

[@dimitrishow_D]

@@HoldenMcRoin69 a full breaktrough where u see ur arms stretch insanly long while your room turns into legoblocks and then falls apart and then are meeted by scary jesters telling u hahha i have been waiting for u a longgggg time is not something u want every week lol..not saying the experiences are always scary but shit that's like russian roullete..the small doses are more gentle andif u make IT changa u can do IT for hours if u wish

[@sneferuzefayawachuma]

I’ve also managed to microdose DMT a couple times and it helps with meditation a LOT. It’s hard for me to get the dose right though I often take too much and trip out sometimes even had accidental breakthroughs lol. But the few occasions I’ve felt an altered state WITHOUT everything going all “DMT-y” I’ve had the best meditation experiences. I’m trying to find the discipline to meditate more so that I can become good at it. I’m very novice at meditation would love to be able to achieve altered states without drugs.

[@darbydelane4588]

Love our Curtis!

[@TG22222]

I know it's beside the point, but I'd love to see Curtis introduced to the e-mesh, and hear his trip report. Can't imagine how it would be for someone who has believed in this same spiritual realm for so long without experiencing it. Edit: just got to the point where you touch on it

[@AdeptusPsychonautica]

Yeah he has his reasons, but for sure it would be interesting 😀

[@lgd4247]

You stumbled some articulating your point, and reiterating Curtis input. Overall, interesting and enjoyed your psychedelic takes on things.

[@pittounikos]

In Swedenborg's Heaven and Hell there is a are a few passages that are very very similar to what the hippies in the 1960's said about the feeling when you are High you are There, but then you come back and you crash etc. I say the 60's because I feel the narrative has changed slightly from back then. Just my personal insight from what I have read. Anyway, my point is a reader from the 18th century will completely miss the psychedelic parts of Swedenborg's writings. Another passage is a reminiscence by a maid who was interviewed years after Swedenborg died. She said when Swedenborg was making noises in his room she knocked on his door. She reported Swedenborg's eyes seems to be on fire (I forget the actually words), but I came away feeling Swedenborg's eyes, pupils were very big, were what shocked the maid. An old maid from the 18th Century has never seen dilated pupils like that and so got freaked out? Again something an 18th Century reader will miss but we moderns will feel we know. Like, being high and your pupils dilate? Who knows, maybe the unreadable parts of Emanuel Swedenborg are not ready for us today but in 100 years time the reader will recognise and say, of course.

[@jkhdabomb]

Love the atmosphere of open and thoughtful discourse on spirituality. Excellent conversation! Thanks for sharing Rob. Would love to see more like this.

[@irelandssons]

Hey brother I cannot obtain the e mesh vape set up in the u s. I am considering trying a dab rig the oil burner has been a bad experience so far

[@sneferuzefayawachuma]

Ask Minty love he’s the expert on vape tech 😉 kzbin.info

[@sepuste]

IMO, DMT and NDE experiences are not that similar. Sure, there are occasions where the two experiences sort of overlap, but 99% of both experiences have only in common that you visit unknown places and make contact to beings that seem to "belong" to those places, or, sometimes, that simply interact with you on your way to those places. But very few NDEers see geometric, constantly self-shaping geometries and weird-looking and acting beings and DMTers (I created this word on the spot :D ) very seldom, if not never at all, meet dead relatives. It seems to me both experiences MAY be driven by DMT, but in the case of NDEers there must be also something else going on, because, as I already said, they overlap in very very limited occasions and accounts.

[@MintyLoveDMT]

Agreed, the descriptions of the common NDE factors, as factored by Raymond Moody in the 1970s don't convincingly match those of a DMT trip, at least not the ones that I typically experience.

[@jamesstaggs4160]

If it's all real I'd imagine DMT would take you to different places according to whether it was your body that released the DMT during death or an NDE or you put DMT in you from an outside source.

[@user-vs1cm8nv5i]

they are very, very different, r/NDE

[@joegibbskins]

My own take is that it doesn’t matter if these are psychological experiences or experiences of objective reality. If the latter is true, great. If the former is true, for all purposes the experiential and the psychological are reality until I die and the lights go out. There’s the old Pascal’s wager where believe in God because if you die and you are wrong who cares but if you are right you get to go to heaven - I have an alternate take. Believe or don’t believe based on how it helps you handle your life. If you are someone prone to nihilism and despair like I am, belief can help you order things in importance and has practical benefits for living. If you are someone who grew up with a religious trauma and these concepts were used to hurt you and cause you harm now, then don’t believe and free yourself from them.

[@teddysmith9578]

Do you also get this calming almost sleepy effect when you return from a breakthrough? It's like a mix of just waking up from a great nap and just having had amazing sex.

[@AdeptusPsychonautica]

I do find it quite calming as if its levelled out my brain, but I wouldnt describe it as sleepy. If anything it makes me more awake

[@WSmith_1984]

@@AdeptusPsychonautica From my experience/experimentation, I believe psychedelics break down the barrier between our conscious and subconscious mind, allowing our conscious mind to experience our sub conscious thoughts, feelings and memories..... however I also believe in our subconscious mind we can access the universal consciousness...... One of my first truly breakthrough experiences, during my own experimentation was this..... the words/feeling/communication I was experiencing, felt as if they were coming from someone/something/somewhere else....... """"" Hey we've been waiting for you....... don't be scared...... don't be scared....... your family is here with us..... you don't really know him well, but he's family, he's family...... it's (then proceeded to tell me a name)""""" 3 days later I was with my mum and we were talking about our family and extended family, I was asking if any of my older family members have caught and been effect by the c v..... at first she said no.... then after a short pause she said my cousin..... with the same name I was told 3 days before had been in a coma for 4 days with pneumonia and died the day after my experience......... I was gobsmacked and instantly began to feel an incredibly sadness this was the most profound experience of my life......... I was a hard-core atheist before this....... now I have a new found sense of........ enlightenment amazement, fascination and desire to discovery the world to which is there but we cannot see, not in our normal state anyway. Peace, power and freedom to all the psychonautics out there.......

[@dimitrishow_D]

lol i accidentaly joined scientology in amsterdam years ago...i would love to share that weird ass experience

[@sneferuzefayawachuma]

Please do lol. How do you accidentally join Scientology lmao. Or was that a joke? Please share if it wasn’t!

[@AdeptusPsychonautica]

This I gotta hear! When I was in the UK in January I had nothing to do one night and ended up walking past the Scientology center in Manchester. I was considering going in for a personality test just to see how it turned out, but I decidedly I couldnt be arsed.

[@dimitrishow_D]

@@sneferuzefayawachuma no its true i was looking for a job never heard about Scientology Saw a add on their building looking for a translater whent in and got a "job" took me about two weeks some brainwashing attempts and weird en counters to realise i had to get the fk out haha..IT was easy tho when i got my paycheck...they gave me 8 euro's for the week after 6 days 10 hours a Day...but they had a solution i could get a second job🤣🤣🤣

[@sneferuzefayawachuma]

@@dimitrishow_D omg lmao. Glad you got out safe! Thanks for sharing man

[@dimitrishow_D]

@@sneferuzefayawachuma maybe ill make a video one Day describing the details of how they tried to brainwash me and how weird IT was...but in short IT was as above

[@relativeparadox9567]

I feel the pain you must have felt during that infection.

[@AdeptusPsychonautica]

Thanks mate, it sounds worse than it felt, but it was definitely an inconvenient bit of timing 🙂

[@dimitrishow_D]

Ah soon we Will all find out ..when the Nukes start flying....love u guys

[@AdeptusPsychonautica]

At that point it will be too late to come back and talk about it 😵‍💫

[@dimitrishow_D]

@@AdeptusPsychonautica dont worry we Will meet in the waiting room im the purple And green jester 🥳😅

[@WSmith_1984]

@@AdeptusPsychonautica From my experience/experimentation, I believe psychedelics break down the barrier between our conscious and subconscious mind, allowing our conscious mind to experience our sub conscious thoughts, feelings and memories..... however I also believe in our subconscious mind we can access the universal consciousness...... One of my first truly breakthrough experiences, during my own experimentation was this..... the words/feeling/communication I was experiencing, felt as if they were coming from someone/something/somewhere else....... """"" Hey we've been waiting for you....... don't be scared...... don't be scared....... your family is here with us..... you don't really know him well, but he's family, he's family...... it's (then proceeded to tell me a name)""""" 3 days later I was with my mum and we were talking about our family and extended family, I was asking if any of my older family members have caught and been effect by the c v..... at first she said no.... then after a short pause she said my cousin..... with the same name I was told 3 days before had been in a coma for 4 days with pneumonia and died the day after my experience......... I was gobsmacked and instantly began to feel an incredibly sadness this was the most profound experience of my life......... I was a hard-core atheist before this....... now I have a new found sense of........ enlightenment amazement, fascination and desire to discovery the world to which is there but we cannot see, not in our normal state anyway. Peace, power and freedom to all the psychonautics out there.......

[@moesypittounikos]

Swedenborg is the biz!

[@CiciBaNpowa]

Let me explain my NDE. I was dead 6 times. Every time I dyed after I fell and got hit in back of my head. First time was when I was around 9 years old. Last time was 3 years ago. Every time while I was dead, my soul would leave body and slowly drifts up in air. I could see woman trying to bring me back to life, I was shouting at them, I could hear them speak whit other persons by my body. But I never saw my dead body on the ground. Floating in ghost form is so scary. Because. As soul leaves body, every thing looks like dream. Like in astral world. But if soul gets too far away from body, at some time, it gets in realy fast sky river for souls and then, possibility to bring you back is gone. Soul is gone, body is dead. 2nd girl that bringed me back from dead by dead, did event realy fast and at that time I lost half of life, not full life. 6 times I was dead and I lost 5.5 lifes.