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234 * THE SESSIONS LSD, first opened the doors to a new reality for them. It was the pursuit of stabilizing, strengthening, and broadening their initial psychedelic flash that led them to the discipline of a communal, meditation-based ascetic life. Naturally, I wondered if psychedelic drugs could speed up and sim- plify attainment of sublime states of mind free of the "side effects" of institutional practice, such as ritualistic behavior and withdrawal from the everyday world. The answer that did emerge from our New Mexico research was com- plicated. Yes, psychedelics could induce states similar to mystical experiences; but no, they didn't have the same impact. Even more reveal- ing than these relatively straightforward answers was my Buddhist community's reaction to even asking and discussing these questions. How- ever, I am getting ahead of myself. In order to establish the close similarities between spiritual experience and what is possible with the spirit molecule, I will first review briefly the features of a mystical experience. The three pillars of self, time, and space all undergo profound trans- figuration in a mystical experience. There no longer is any separation between the self and what is not the self. Personal identity and all of existence become one and the same. In fact, there is no "personal" identity because we understand at the most basic level the underlying unity and interdependence of all existence. Past, present, and future merge together into a timeless moment, the now of eternity. Time stops, inasmuch as it no longer "passes." There is existence, but it is not dependent upon time. Now and then, before and after, all combine into this exact point. On the relative level, short periods of time encompass enormous amounts of experience. As our self and time lose their boundaries, space becomes vast. Like time, space is no longer here or there but everywhere, limitless, without edges. Here and there are the same. It is all here. In this infinitely vast time and space with no limited self, we hold up to examination all contradictions and paradoxes and see they no longer con- flict. We can hold, absorb, and accept everything our mind conjures up: