Chapter 19: Cosmic Consciousness in Perspective

In the early days of the psychedelic subculture, no guidance to the psychedelic experience (other than prohibition) was offered by any of the western religions or western science, while esoteric Hinduism and Buddhism appeared to offer not only an understanding of cosmic consciousness but very detailed roadmaps of how to do it. In particular, they offered spiritual practices that promised to develop one's consciousness to be permanently cosmic rather than having to rely on the ingestion of a strong psychedelic to provide a temporary experience. Besides, drug ingestion did not guarantee a cosmic experience every time, each journey involved an uncomfortable battle with one's ego, a drug induced high was considered unnatural, and the forces of prohibition were intense. Many westerners sought out a guru from the East who could provide them with a permanent, natural, legal high.

According to the ideas in this book, cosmic consciousness is associated only with the connective mode of sentience, so the Hindu and Buddhist ideas of a gradual spiritual development towards permanent cosmic integration would entail the end of one's architective sentience and the end of one's architective existence. Although these religions offer an understanding of cosmic consciousness, they are on a par with western religions in that their promises also come at the price of one's earthly existence (and in fact many explicitly seek it - not meaning suicide, but the termination of one's participation in a cycle of reincarnation).

This book suggests that a continuing architective existence is not incompatible with cosmic consciousness as long as the trappings of architectivity are not permitted to distract from experiences of cosmic consciousness. That is, we may validly enjoy both without having to sacrifice either. But since cosmic consciousness can only be experienced in the connective mode of sentience, a life that includes both modes requires that our experiences of cosmic consciousness be temporary, enjoyed in bouts interspersed between periods of architective normalcy. Cosmic consciousness is a valid human, earthly experience, but as a human it cannot be an uninterrupted, permanent flow of cosmic awareness.