Why I Am No Longer Going To Be Using "Plant Medicines": Part 1

My name is Ben Greenfield and on this episode of the Ben Greenfield Life Podcast I've derived a great deal of benefit and personal insight and relationship enhancement and creative ideas from journeying with plant medicines, which made what I am about to share with you very difficult to come up with. Frankly, I thought because all the fruits of my use of plant medicines were nothing but good, that the ends justified the means. But I was wrong. I'm sorry. I was playing with fire and you might be too. And I'm about to tell you why. Faith, family, fitness, health, performance, nutrition, longevity, ancestral living, biohacking, and a whole lot more. Welcome to the show. Hey, how's it going? It's Ben Greenfield. This is a special two part podcast series that reflects a very important decision that I have recently made. The subject of this two part podcast series is plant medicines. And what you are about to hear in part one is why I am no longer going to be using plant medicines. The the the show notes for everything that you're about to hear, as well as a comprehensive article should you care to read the audio version of what I'm about to tell you can be found@BenGreenfieldLife.com plant MedPart1 that's BenGreenfieldLife.com plant Medpart the number one. Hopefully you can remember that. All right, well, so let's go ahead and just jump right in. On June 1, 2022, which at the time of this recording would be about a month ago, I reached one of the most important conclusions and subsequently made what I think could be one of the more important decisions that I've made recently in my life, I decided to completely stop using, endorsing, encouraging, extolling, promoting, praising or otherwise having any involvement with so called plant Medic. Now, before you roll your eyes and stop listening because perhaps you were never interested in plant medicines in the first place, or you think I must have had some kind of a bad trip on magic mushrooms or something, or you're convinced that plant medicines play a vastly important role in your own personal or spiritual or professional development and there's no way you'd ever come to the same conclusion that I recently have. Well, I'm asking you to please stick with me here. Please hear me out, because I have some very important things to say that I think the world desperately needs to hear right now. After a great deal of studying up on this topic and over the past decade experimenting with just about every plant medicine substance known to humankind, I strongly feel it's now my responsibility and as a man of faith as a Christian, my God given calling to share with you my newest thoughts on this matter. And frankly, there's absolutely no way I'd want to go to the grave without speaking my mind on this particular topic because it's important. So furthermore, the information that I'm going to share with you is going to be important because if you've glanced around lately, you may have realized that plant medicine seems to be taking the world by storm. So folks are now performing ayahuasca ceremonies in their New York City apartment loft and strolling through town with a DMT pen in their back pocket. You can't swing a dead cat by the tail without hitting some self proclaimed or otherwise certified so called shaman. Half the people you know are likely already experimenting with microdoses of LSD or psilocybin or Wachuma or something else. Ketamine clinics which may have their place are popping up right and left and unfortunately they're often frequented by folks simply using this substance, ketamine for escapism and recreation and not true trauma or addiction problems. Gym junkies and health enthusiasts are sneaking off on the weekend to explore themselves with iboga or something like it, often with some kind of self labeled shaman bro. MDMA therapy is lauded as the final, close to legalized solution for everything from PTSD to romantic couples therapy. There's a shockingly high likelihood the person standing next to you at a random museum or passing by you on a nature hike is dosed up on psilocybin or or San Pedro cannabis that's so potent in THC content it could knock you on your ass with one pole on a vape pen can be found on nearly every street corner now in most states. And even modern day evangelical Christians are considering the fact that as Brian Morescu, who's actually a friend of mine, writes about in his book the Immortality Key, early church growth was fueled by psychedelic spiced wines and mind bending fungus and drug induced heavily altered states of consciousness. And we should consider a return to these practices so we can finally commune with the divine and grow closer to God. Well, admittedly I am partially responsible for fueling this entire movement. What do I mean by that? Well, I've podcasted and I've written multiple times on the benefits of journeying with plant medicines. I've heavily promoted microdosing with plant medicines for focus or creativity or productivity or social outings. I equated cannabis and shrooms with coffee and wine and trust me, and I'll get into this, they're a bit different I own multiple investments, some of which I'll be exiting by the way, in ketamine clinics and cannabis companies and psilocybin research laboratories. I've encouraged couples in the same way that my wife and I have done many times to consider compounds like sassafras and MDMA and ketamine and lysergamides and beyond for enhancing sex or having highly bonding weekend getaways. And perhaps most interestingly, I've derived a great deal of benefit and personal insight and relationship enhancement and creative ideas from journeying with plant medicines, which made what I am about to share with you very difficult to come up with. Frankly, I thought because all the fruits of my use of plant medicines were nothing but good, that the ends justified the means. But I was wrong. I was wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong on this I'm sorry, I'm ashamed. I severely missed the mark. I was playing with fire and you might be too, and I'm about to tell you why. So where I want to start is here what I mean when I say plant medicines. Because before I delve into the nitty gritty details as to why I'm done with plant medicines, I think it's important to establish what exactly I mean when I say that word. So I'm specifically referring to chemical compounds, both synthetic and plant derived, that have the capability, even in relatively small dosages, to induce a rapid and dramatic altered state of consciousness or gnosis or metacognition or hallucinogenesis or any other similar term bandied about these days. And this is important, and this is a qualifier that have or are chemically related to compounds that have a tradition of use for things like spiritual divination and journeying, witchcraft, sorcery, shamanism, the occult, white magic, black magic, and any other forms of what is called pharmacia. And I'll explain that term more later on. So this includes nearly all psychedelics, also known as hallucinogens or psychotropics, which are a class of psychoactive substances that are capable of producing significant changes in perception, mood and cognitive processes. And while the list I'm about to give you might not be exhaustive when it comes to some of the more popular plant medicines or derivatives being used these days, I'm specifically referring to lsd, lsd, LSA and other so called lysergamides, psilocybin, magic mushrooms, shrooms, et cetera, huachuma, peyote, San Pedro mescaline and other such amines typically found in cacti, ayahuasca, ketamine used Recreationally, not medically, but recreationally. Cannabis, again, used recreationally, not medically, you know, for things like pain or cancer or insomnia or something like that. MDMA, MDA, Molly, ecstasy and the like. DMT5MEO, DMT, et cetera. A lot of these dimethyltryptamine derivatives, ibogaine, iboga and derivatives of that. And then even combo, even combo I think will fall into this category. So please note that a lot of those substances, I just told you, they have both the capability to alter your state of consciousness in a dramatic and undeniable fashion and, and a tradition of use across many cultures, both ancient and modern, for spiritual divination, for sorcery, for magic, for witchcraft, for shamanism, etc. That doesn't mean the list I just gave you is exhaustive. There's dozens and dozens of other compounds, both synthetic and natural, that have similar consciousness altering effects. But the list I just gave you mostly includes the plant medicines that seem most culturally pervasive these days and most capable of shifting your state of consciousness quite rapidly and dramatically. Now, there are a couple of important caveats here. First, I'm aware of a few little known synthetic compounds without a history of dark spiritual practices that do shift the brain in a way that merges left and right brain hemispheric activity while allowing you to remain in a fully lucid state. These are, these are so called clarogenic substances, and I don't currently consider those to fall under the same category as anything else I'm describing to you, like divination or escapism or addiction, et cetera. But those type of clairegenic substances are few and far between. They're not very popular. Discussion of them I think would be best saved for a, for a future podcast or article. And at the time of this recording I'm still kind of researching the history and potential efficacy or benefits of those type of compounds. But at this time I don't consider those to fall under the category of what I'm talking about now. Second, I've seen substances like ketamine and iboga, for example, offer significant healing benefits for people with addiction or PTSD or trauma or TBI or concussions, et cetera. And that's most likely due to the neurochemical and neural rewiring effects of such compounds. And I won't deny that there may be a specific time and place for targeted use of those compounds in a very precisely controlled medical set and setting. Although, as I'll tell you later, there's still great potential for those substances. To be abused and for them to serve as a replacement for, say, a trusting God. The simplicity of salvation, of sin and shame and freedom from all burdens and past history of shame and trauma through a belief in Jesus Christ. Like, I think that a lot of people are missing the simple, simple message that there's an easier way to deal with shame and trauma than just popping pills. Okay, Now I realize that you, the educated plant medicine enthusiast or educated chemists might say, well Ben, what about stuff in the average westernized pantry that could get you high if you consume enough of it? Like, say like nutmeg, you know, the psychoactive prison drug or coffee, which is obviously a big one, or kratom or cava or the St. John's wart growing in my backyard, et cetera, et cetera. And yes, stuff like that could certainly get you high, but you have to use a crap ton of it. And it's not the same, for example, as LSD or psilocybin, for which just like the tiniest dosage calculation error can send you to the moon and beyond. And with these common household plant medicines, you'll usually get super nauseous and horrifically sick before you even get remotely close to say, an altered state of consciousness. Which is also why most of those type of compounds have very little history of being used for things like spiritual divination or sorcery, et cetera. They have built in mechanisms that keep them largely fenced into the boundaries of say, culinary use, increased energy levels or non psychoactive medicinal usage. Now the same could be said for so called Bible based plant medicines like saffron or Cassia or cinnamon or mastic or Costas or Spikenard or Agarwood. Now, unless specifically blended, which I've actually done to commune with the divine in a notably altered state of consciousness, like hot boxing with the stuff in a charcoal incense burner in a sauna, like I actually did and now don't feel like I had any business doing. It's quite difficult to get sufficient, sufficiently high from those type of compounds too. I mean, like, you know, cinnamon and frankincense. It's, it's tough to get high on unless you're, you're doing some, some pretty intense chemistry. You, you might also say, well wait, Ben, couldn't you also get high on your own supply via activities like breath work or, or like tantric sex or orgasm? Isn't that doing the same thing as plant medicine? Well, not really. In inducing a state of altered or elevated consciousness by triggering the production of your own endogenous chemicals not only takes a lot of dedicated hard work like blood, sweat and tears, like 60 minutes of intense focused breathing or hours of Tantric sex or a very focused mind emptying, you know, Eastern style meditation, but it comes nowhere near the high induced by the plant medicines listed above, particularly when it comes to to the rapidity of onset. Now I would, however, for the reasons that I'll that'll state shortly, avoid even using those type of activities, you know, like breath work or tantric sex, as a sort of spiritual divination. Right, like getting high on holotropic breathworks. You could pray better, or emptying your head during meditation so you could hear the voice of God better, or attempting to experience God through sex or something like that. So, so that's what I'm talking about when it comes to definitions and a few important caveats. Hopefully that's all clear and now we can proceed with why exactly? I am saying I am done with plant medicines. Now that we've established definitions, I'm going to tell you why I'm done with plant medicines. But I'm only going to scratch the surface of everything you really need to know to fully grasp the gravity and the seriousness of this matter. The full and pretty shocking history of the evil behind many of these plant medicines and why the growing popularity of plant medicines likely threatens to be the biggest, most dangerous battle that the Christian church in particular is going to face over the next few decades. You must, must, must read a book called Pharmacia written by author Robert Oram. It's a pretty inexpensive paperback or Kindle and it'll take, I would say the average reader like a few short days to go through. My twin 14 year old sons have a copy of the book and they read it in about a week. So not, not that tricky to get through. And I am going to try and eventually get the author on my podcast. Haven't been able to hunt him down so I can delve into that book with him for you. But for now I'm going to give you the executive summary. But read that book pharmakeia by Robert Oram if you have a chance. And I'll link to it too if you go to BenGreenfieldLife.com plantmed part1 BenGreenfieldLife.com plantMed part the number one. I'll link to that book and anything else that I that I talk about in this episode. So anyways, here's, here's where, where I want to start. I am a Christian. I don't think that's that's a news flash for anybody. But I also kind of have this unique flavor, meaning that I have an extensive history of using and justifying my use of plant medicines for personal and professional and spiritual exploration. And it was, it was during a recent Bible reading session that actually read a passage in the Bible that I've read many times before. But for some reason this time something kind of stirred in my soul and made me pause and reread it. And then I made a mental note to research what it really meant. And the passage was from Galatians 16:25 in chapter five. And it goes like this. So I say, live by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the spirit and the spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They're in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you're led by the spirit, you're not under the law. The acts of the sinful nature are obvious. Sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, idolatry, witchcraft. And by the way, that's pharmacia. When it says witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissentious factions and envy, drunkenness, orgies and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God, but the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. Against such there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the spirit, let us keep in step with the spirit. All right, that Greek word pharmakia, I mentioned them just now. It's a noun and depending on the context, it refers to the medicinal use of drugs. The medicinal use of drugs along with magic spells, poisoning somebody, or the use of drugs and sorcery, which is the medieval term for occult magic. And here's the thing. The only way the word pharmacia is used in the Bible is indeed in reference to occult magic. That includes the use of drugs. Now, throughout the Bible, God repeatedly condemns all forms of idolatry like witchcraft, occult, magic, sorcery, etc. Nor does he work through them as some modern day practitioners of so called white magic using plant medicines attempt to do. Like you know, these Christian shamans who are out, you know, battling dark forces, you know, with their version of drugs against the evil dark magic, shaman's evil version of drugs. Now, with regard to drug use specifically, the fact that the Bible flat out condemns pharmacia in both the Old and New Testaments does not necessarily mean it's not possible for God to communicate through somebody at any time, through any means, including when they're journeying with plant medicines. The fact is God can commune with anyone at any time through any means. For example, God could call a drunk to sober up while that drunk is in a state of alcohol induced stupor and subsequently call that drunk to repentance. But that doesn't mean one should therefore drink in order to communicate with God. It simply means that God can use that sinful situation to reveal himself to a person and ultimately lead that person to repentance and salvation. And I won't deny there's many folks I know, dozens of them them who have come to know Jesus or thrown aside any threads of atheism as a result of experiencing an intent plant medicine trip that showed them our human capabilities of evil, made them feel God's presence really heavily, or made them aware of their need for Christ's love. But in the same way, we shouldn't justify God speaking to someone in a drunk state or alcohol stupor as a way to recommend that one should drink to excess with a goal of connecting to God. We shouldn't necessarily justify the use of these forbidden fruits of pharmacia, namely plant medicines, traditionally using the occult, witchcraft, pagan rituals, oracle practices, divination, etc. To commune with God. In other words, God could speak to us at any time and he doesn't need us to be in an altered state of consciousness in order to effectively do so. Especially if that altered state of consciousness involves using methods that are strictly forbidden in the Bible because of their great potential to open the portal of influence from dark and deceptive spirits other than God. And that should be an important news flash for any modern day Christian or pagan mystic. You don't need drugs to talk to God or hear his voice or seek his direction. Just imagine if you did. Like billions and billions of people across nearly any third world country would be banned from commuting with their creator because they just can't afford a shaman session or a heroic dose of psilocybin. Therefore, access to God can only be attained by the select few, those chosen to journey in the spiritual world and come back with a special message for the rest of all the people. And though that form of divination may have been a practice like in ancient Jewish religion, like the Levites going into the holy of Holies prior to the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. That's just not how God works anymore. And there's nowhere in the Bible that says we have to use drugs or plant medicines to effectively dialogue with God. And claiming that is necessary actually reminds me a little bit of a chapter in John 10:1 which says whoever enters not by the gate to the sheepfold, but comes up from another place is a thief, a robber. As Jesus says later in that chapter, I'm the door. By me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture. So in other words, the only element necessary for eternal life and constant daily union with God is a relationship with Jesus Christ achieved through a robust prayer practice, Bible reading, life rich in the spiritual disciplines of worship, fasting, meditation, silence, etc. And not some calendared session for a plant medicine journey so that you can go delve into the depths of your consciousness and dissolve your ego and divine what God has to say to you. So why the heck would God not want us, his precious creations, to use drugs like this? Well, here's why. When, when you have an out of body experience and you delve into altered states of consciousness, you're entering a spiritual world, a kind of fourth dimension. Anybody who journeys with plant medicine will affirm that's the case. I've been there many, many times myself. Okay. It's totally real. It's not a figment of your imagination or a chemical soup of serotonin and other neurotransmitters. Tweaking some dials in your brain, you can literally see entities and talk to spirits and see with great lucidity ancient sacred geometrical forms. You can relive epigenerational experiences and trauma from your ancestors and you can even encounter bright blinding lights that many claim is actually God. Though please note that Lucifer, AKA Satan, literally translates to light bearer. And that's just something to think about. So that's what these plant medicines are supposed to do. And they do it quite well. Hence their strong history in pagan practice. Practices for being used for things like astral travel, shamanic flight, drug induced out of body experiences, calling upon spirits, angels and demons, distance healing, casting magic spells, possessing human bodies with spirits of other creatures and beyond. And I know several shamans who have converted to Christianity who describe traditional plant medicines as having this slight dark edge to them. As though something lurks in the intelligence of plants that has great potential to open a vulnerable human brain up to intent that potentially negative spiritual influences. I mean, for example, drug laden balms comprise of compounds like ergo, an early form of lsd, and hallucinogenic chemicals in belladonna, which is nightshade, or henbane, or mandrake or jimson weed. Those are the original witches brews. And to distribute these drugs with maximum effectiveness, witches from the 1300s to the 1600s would borrow a handy technology from their home, a broom. And they would specifically take the handle, the broom, dip it into the salve, and apply the broomstick rectally or vaginally for a very fast and effective induction of a plant medicine journey, during which they would then be equipped to astral travel and cast spells and possess people and call upon spirits. That kind of makes you think a little bit differently about a popular Halloween costume, much less taking a weekend heroic dose of LSD as a noble excuse to, you know, find yourself in an intense act of self improvement. That's not what these things were originally used for. And see, all of these methods easily can allow Satan or any other demon to imitate God's very rare practice of taking people out of body to deliver to them prophesy, prophecies or messages or visions. Now unfortunately, the false prophecies and misleading messages and visions such spirits can create can be quite convincing deceptions. Especially because, as you'll find if you ask any 1960s era hippie or modern day plant medicine enthusiasts, the typical message one receives when in these states of altered consciousness is one of love and light and human connection and all sorts of gooey feel good come togetherness that might seem mighty fine, but the ultimate end result is a human being getting convinced that we can all fix the world all on our own and that we either don't need God's help to do it, or we're one with God and basically we're God ourselves. Which is a pretty big slap in the face to the almighty Creator and a pretty big thumbs down to any need for God to have sent his beloved and innocent son Jesus to be beaten and tortured and brutally and unfairly murdered on a cross for our sins. Because instead, all we need is love, baby, you know we're good enough all on our own. We're inherently decent folks capable of choosing our own morality and no death on a cross was necessary at all. Heads up, you made a mistake, God. And all we need is our own inherent goodness and a bit of magic mushrooms to change the world, hold hands and sing Kumbaya around the campfire into all of eternity. Based on this understanding that all forms of occult magic are demonic and can lead us down a path in placing our trust in something much different than God. You can hopefully now better understand why the Bible might forbid use of such plant medicines, like in Deuteronomy 18:1012, which says, Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, which is pharmakia, or cast spells, or who is a medium or spiritist, or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord. Now, the early fathers of plant medicine, they knew all this. Like, for example, consider this somewhat troubling anecdote from Timothy Leary's autobiography, in which he and Aldous Huxley are having a chat while journeying on psilocybin. Now, Timothy Leary was an American psychologist and an author known for his strong advocacy of psychedelic drugs like LSD and Aldous Huxley. Larry's mentor was a British novelist who repackaged drugs like mescaline as a means to spiritual growth and social evolution. And so they're chatting and here's what it says. The question that haunted our work in these early days was how could we introduce these methods for mind expansion to society? I raised this issue with Aldos Huxley one day at the Harvard Faculty Club. Why don't I come over to your place tonight? He said. We'll take the drug and ask our expanded brains that question. So around sunset I built a fire while Eldos stacked the books he had brought with him on a coffee table, then stretched himself out on the couch and we each took psilocybin. And for the next three hours we listened to music. Bach, Mozart, African drums, Indian chants, Ravi Shankar. Occasionally we waved reassurance to each other or murmured of bliss. Eldol sat up, lanky, legs crossed, and looked at me quizzically. So you don't know what to do with this bloody philosopher's stone we've stumbled onto? In the past, this powerful knowledge has been guarded in privacy, passed on in the subdued metaphorical obscurantism of scholars and mystics and artists. But society needs this information, I said passionately. My anti elitist button had been pushed. These are evolutionary matters. They can't be rushed. Work privately, initiate artists, writers, poets, jazz musicians, elegant courtesans, painters, rich bohemians, and then they'll initiate the intelligent rich. That's how everything of beauty and culture and philosophic faith, freedom has been passed on. We fell into silence. The fireplace, through dancing colors around the room, meadow of serenity. Huxley's eyes were closed. A beatific smile played around his thin mouth. Suddenly he clapped his hands against his bony leg. Your role is quite simple. Become a cheerleader for evolution. That's what I did, and my grandfather before me. These brain drugs, mass produced in laboratories, can bring about vast changes in society. This will happen with or without you or me. All we can do is spread the word. The obstacle to this evolution, Timothy is the Bible. Read that last sentence again. The obstacle of this evolution, Timothy is the Bible. Okay, so both these guys fully realized that plant medicines had great promise to be an incredibly powerful force to take people away from God and to instead place an idolatrous belief in exogenous, mind altering compounds that were traditionally used to summon spirits and demons. Now, worse yet, Huxley's original advisor was the evil Aleister Crowley, who is arguably the most famous and infamous occult musician of all time. He recurred to himself as the Great Beast 666 and the media of his day named him the wickedest man in the world. His teachings on magic are widely used in modern day Satanism and he's venerated by Satanists, witches, occult magicians and rock musicians to this day. Now Huxley's books even reek eerily of words that Satan himself speaks in the Bible when tempting Adam and Eve with the forbidden fruit. For example, in his book the the Doors, he promoted a view of drug use that is the polar opposite of the biblical one, literally saying, did God really say you must not do drugs? In his book Heaven and Hell, he claimed drugs are a way to experience heaven and that there actually is no real hell, claiming you will not surely die. Sound familiar? If you read the Bible, it might. Both these books argue that partaking of the forbidden fruit of Pharmakia could result in a personal transformation very much like that promised by the tempter in the Garden of Eden, including the phrase, when you eat of it, your eyes will be open and you'll be like God. Wow. Perhaps the demonic origins of these plant medicines is why things can go terribly wrong when people use them, I'll give you a few examples of the extremes of what can go wrong when humans pursue an altered state of consciousness via compounds and chemicals. And though the examples I'm about to give you may seem to directly contradict the relatively innocent and peaceful experience one could have in a proper set and setting with precisely controlled doses of, say, psilocybin or ketamine or mdma. I would be remiss not to point out what can eventually happen when humans place their trust and infatuation in drugs and altered states of consciousness rather than God alone. For example, in the 9th century, the legendary Norse warriors known as the Berserkers would use hesbain or henbane, it's called, or hallucinogenic mushrooms, to drive themselves into a raging, murderous frenzy before their battles. And then they kill everything in sight, men, women, children, and animals until the drugs finally wore off. In 2014, after taking a drug cocktail of ketamine and cocaine, a Swiss art dealer, Bennett Von Vertes, beat his friend Alex Morgan to death with a giant candlestick because he was hallucinating that Morgan was an alien. And that might seem far fetched, but I have seen people come out of ayahuasca trips, men in particular, and cut their own genitals off, just basically under hallucination. Okay. Darla Heist, a mother of three from Virginia, was recently deceived this way. When she was high in meth and marijuana, she felt aliens invade her body and then became convinced they were going to abduct her six year old daughter. So she shot her daughter with a shotgun to send her to heaven instead. A quarter of the people who commit murder and rape and assault in the US are high on drugs at the time. And of course, the violence that drug cartels and trafficking gangs frequently engage in is horrifically barbaric. I'm not saying that, you know, MDMA is the same as, like cocaine trafficked by a drug cartel, but I'm just using this as a point to show what happens when people begin to get obsessed with all these mind altering compounds. In Mexico, these cartels kill soldiers who fight against them. They kill politicians who oppose them. They kill journalists who write about them. More than 33,000 people were murdered in Mexico in 2018, and most were killed by cartels. That's 90 murders every day. Mexico is quickly becoming a narco state. Its murder rate is five times higher than that of the U.S. in Brazil, the use of crack is so widespread that dealers and addicts have taken over large swaths of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Those areas are known as the cracklands. There's 7 million heroin addicts. In Russia, 250 of them die from overdose every day. In Yemen, 90% of the adult men chew an herbal stimulant called khat every day. So khat and hashis and amphetamines are pouring into Saudi Arabia, despite the fact that convicted smugglers are publicly beheaded in accordance with Islamic law. Australia has the highest per capita population of drug users in the world due to the use of Ecstasy or mdma. Thailand is battling this epidemic of methamphetamine abuse for decades. Meth related crime is so rife in the Philippines. The Filipinos overwhelmingly support President Rodrigo Duterte's recent killing of thousands of dealers and addicts. In 2002, police officers in LA found a man standing naked in the street, covered in blood, staring up into the sky. They discovered he had brutally murdered his female roommate after they'd taken PCP together. And she had teeth marks on her face and her chest was torn open and her internal organs were exposed and one of her shoulder blades was torn off and her lungs had been chewed on and medical examiners found pieces of her flesh in the man's stomach. And again, like those of you who have been blissed out on psilocybin might be totally laughing and thinking I'm blowing this way out of proportion. But I realize, like I risk a slippery slope fallacy by giving you some of these experiences examples. But I'd be remiss not to point out what happens when people misuse and abuse drugs. And if these things become widely available due to people like me, you know, telling people they should have a pantry full of psilocybin, like, I don't think it's a good idea. Now less related to the drug war and more related to the sexy world of plant medicine's New Yorker cover story. And I'll link to this@BenGreenfieldLife.com PlantMed1 they have a recent multi episode podcast story on shamanic sex scandals and sexual abuse within the plant medicine world and traumatic experiences in the Amazon and beyond, and rampant use of esoteric hallucinogenic compounds. And look, I realize you might think these horrors, which include just a brief glimpse of a few examples of what happens when plant medicine goes wrong, are just what happens when bad people take drugs and that good people or Christians who use these type of compounds are protected by the blood of Christ and are only going to open themselves up to a divine mind expanding heavenly experience in which they more directly experience God. It's not true. I was deceived. This was the case. And so I got on my knees in a fully sober state to seek God's wisdom and I followed his voice and I finally buckled down and fully educated myself on all this. And the problem is that when you're in a drug induced altered state of consciousness, you're directly at risk of being heavily influenced or even possessed, not by good spirits like angels or God or Jesus, but also by bad spirits like Satan and demons and at that point, things can go downhill fast. And worse yet, you can be deceived that everything is all right because all you've experienced up to that point is love and light and pure bliss. But when we venture into the spiritual world by using drugs, none of us are immune because, as first Peter 5:8 says, we are to be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. And when you're laid flat out on your back and deep into plant medicine with your tongue lagging out the side of your mouth, your entire world wobbly, your vision cloudy and your brain flooded with chemicals that completely dissociate you from reality, you are a veritable sitting duck for spiritual influence, both good and bad. It's a dangerous enough state to be in that we're warned repeatedly in the Bible to avoid using drugs to commune with the divine, no matter how pure our intentions might be. When immersed in a plant medicine induced altered state of consciousness, you really have no way of knowing whether the voices and insights and downloads you're getting are from the light side or the dark side. When you're on your knees, fully sober and awake in prayer or meditation or fasting or worship or study of scripture, you do know. But when you're taking the easy route out of popping pills to experience God, you just don't know. You're in too vulnerable and confused a place to truly discern right and wrong, light and dark, angels versus demons, or God versus Satan. And I fully realized this all seems kind of weird and spooky. But the fact is we actually live in a weird and spooky world. And the question I have for you is, which side of the weird and spooky world are you going to be on, the light side or the dark side? And look, I personally got lucky, or more appropriately, providentially spared. I spent many years engaged in the use of plant medicine without experiencing any demonic possessions or bad trips or violent outbursts or anything of the like. All my plant medicine experiences actually seemed to solidify my faith and bring me closer to God and closer to others. And that was how I justified it. But the fruits of an action doesn't necessarily mean the action is right. Like, if my wife and I decide to adopt a polyamorous open relationship and it seems to solidify our marriage and make our relationship happier, that doesn't mean it's morally right. And similarly, if I shoplift milk from the grocery store to feed the poor is still stealing, right? The fruits don't justify the action, I was deceived. I was playing with fire. See, I didn't need any of these compounds to develop a stronger faith or a stronger marriage or a stronger personal professional life. I got caught up in the modern day infatuation of discovering oneself, dissolving the ego and becoming a better person through the use of plant medicine. Yet had I spent more time sober, awake, alert, fully conscious, chopping wood, carrying water, doing the hard work on my knees, praying to God instead of flat on my back slobbering on psilocybin, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt I would have achieved the same or better results because that's what I'm doing now. But without the risk of demonic influence while in an altered state of consciousness. Instead of relying on the power of the spiritual disciplines of prayer and worship and scripture and meditation and silence and solitude and fasting and the like, I instead took the easy pill popping route and I abused drugs. All with the excuse that it was all for the noble purpose of building my faith and only seemed to produce good fruits. So how could it be bad Now? The fact is, like so many others who are dependent on and intrigued with plant medicines these days, I was placing my faith in something other than God and using dangerous exogenous substances to attempt to divine and experience God in a fuller sense. Had I kept on this path, I guarantee that at some point me or my wife or my innocent young sons would have eventually opened up a big portal to potential demonic influence. It actually scares the hell out of me how close I probably got many times without even realizing it. I was in sin. I was ignorant of the troubling history and spiritual potential of these mind altering compounds. But as the saying goes, ignorance of the law is no excuse. So even though I seems to be experiencing a great deal of benefit and personal and professional growth through my use of plant medicines, I'm not wishing that experience upon anyone else. Nor am I endorsing what I did is right. See, God draws straight in crooked lines. I strongly feel the reason he allowed me to fall into sin via my use of plant medicines is so I could come out of that journey with a strong, experienced voice to cry out from the rooftops like I'm doing right now, that you don't need these chemicals, they're dangerous. You can achieve far, far more by just dropping to your knees in prayer and reading the Bible every single single day. Sober now. Interesting. The Bible also teaches that the end of this age, such drug use as I've just described will eventually encompass the Entire earth. Like in Revelations 21:8, Jesus says he's going to sentence the pharmacos to eternal torment. When he says, I'm the alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. To him who's thirsty, I'll give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God, and he will be my son. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, which is pharmacos, the idolaters, and all liars, their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. So the booming popularity of plant medicines painted in the noble light of science, therapy and mind expansion. We seem to be getting dangerously close to that point now, wouldn't you say? Like, even if you're not a Christian, the idea of a large majority of the human race getting the equivalent of slobbering drunk multiple times per year to find themselves while risking spirit possession, violence, psychosis and the like ought to make you just a bit nervous and cautious about this surge in popularity. And yes, I know you could say the same about guns or knives or dynamite or anything else that has the potential to be dangerous. But the uniqueness of plant medicines is their ability to put you not only at a physical risk, which when plant medicines are used responsibly, is not really a big deal, I don't think. But more importantly, at a significant spiritual risk. Though many can commit horrific atrocities with firearms, none of which I would endorse or encourage, you don't actually risk getting attacked by dark spirits when you handle or fire a gun. It's all physical. But you do carry this risk when you journey. As Matthew 10:28 says, fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul, fear him, which is able to destroy both soul and body. In hell, weapons kill the body, but mind altering drugs can kill both the body and the soul. Okay, so somebody has to put their foot down. Somebody has to stop this madness. Somebody has to point out what could eventually happen if we continue down this road. As Aldol Huxley and Timothy Leary themselves noted, the only thing standing in the path of plant medicine taking over the world and replacing people's faith in God is the Bible. Now look, like I said, I have gotten away relatively unharmed and probably better for it personally and professionally with pretty robust use of plant medicines, but I was playing with potentially deep and dark fire. Furthermore, my life's purpose statement is to love God through prayer and worship. And to love my family by preparing and providing. Obviously, I can't exactly do that if I've made it a regular part of my lifestyle to be flat on my back, hallucinating in a shaman's den, vomiting, pissing my pants, slobbering and seeing visions. The reality is that through the hard spiritual disciplinary work of prayer, worship, biblical meditation, devotions, study, silence, solitude, fasting and the like, both you and me can experience all the benefits that a modern day psychonaut would seek through plant medicine, but without the extreme risk. But the spiritual disciplines are the hard, straight and narrow path, right? They're far more difficult to traverse than the wide, easy and increasingly accessible path of popping a pill, sipping a medicine brew, getting an intramuscular injection or munching on a magic truffle. However, which do you think makes you ultimately leaner, faster and stronger, with greater character? A gastric bypass surgery or stuffing your mouth a little less, you know, hill sprints or steroids in your butt cheek? Calf implants or hardcore barbell squats? An intramuscular ketamine injection and a hit on a DMT vape pen. Or dropping to your knees fully sober to seek God's direction. Hopefully I'm making my point once again. As 1st Peter 5:8 says, Be sober minded, be watchful. Your adversary, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Hard to be sober minded and watchful. When you're tripped out on plant medicines, the devil is there, masquerading as an angel of light and waiting to pounce. By journeying and seeking drug induced altered states of consciousness, you're laying yourself out in front of his lair like a wounded rabbit in a trap. You're vulnerable, you're exposed, and even if you're a Christian, you're in a very dangerous place. Now, interestingly, when I made this decision on June 1st to swear off these plant medicines, it was a full on heart yes. Now, here's what I mean. You might be familiar with a book by Derek Sivers called Hell yeah or no, what's worth doing if you haven't read it or heard of it, you've no doubt been introduced at some point in your life to a saying that was directly influenced by the book. Namely, if it's not a hell yes, it's a no. Now, for the most part, I think this is a pretty good bit of advice to live by, especially when making important, important decisions or weighing the prioritization of the many opportunities that inevitably come the way of most of us humans these days. However, the part that Derek and this saying largely leaves out is the consideration of seeking God's wisdom and discernment in any decisions, large or small, that we might make. Now, lately I've been making a point to come to God to guide my decision making. So what does that process look like? Well, it requires constant daily dialogue and union with God. All right, don't wait to come to God when you have some massive life changing decision to make. Instead, worship God daily, praise God daily, talk to God daily, pray without ceasing. And yes, that means talking to God and speaking with him about any decision you make. An excellent book about this is called Walking with God by John Eldridge. Ask God for the direction, even the small things, like what should I play with my kids tonight? Or what song should I learn on the guitar or piano? Or how should I dress for this particular social function? And perhaps most importantly, make space in your busy life to slow down and listen to God daily. After all, in the Bible, God meets with Elijah. But in First Kings 19 describes that it required silence, right? It says, there was a great wind so strong it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks and pieces before the Lord. But the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind, an earthquake. But the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake, a fire. But the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire, a sound of sheer silence. And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the case of the cave. And then there came a voice to him and said, what are you doing here, Elijah? So these days when I'm seeking God, I shut down my headphones and my music and my audiobooks, my podcasts, my phone calls and my text messages and my notifications. And I make space usually in the morning. And then I lay my decisions before God. What should I choose? God. Who should I talk to? God. What should I eat? God. Is this right for me? God. Does this honor you? God? If God says yes. And it's truly a heaven. Yes. Which is better than hell? Yes. If your experience is anything like mine, it's not a shout or thundering voice you hear, but just the sensation that your heart feels clean and light about the decision that you made or will make. And a feeling as though a weight has been lifted from your chest and a burden removed from your back. And you feel a peace and a subtle knowing that you've made the right decision. And that's what a heart, yes, And a heaven, yes, from God should feel like. So go to God for every decision that you make, whether large or small, and you will, with practice and dedication, learn to do discern his voice. So what I'm getting at is this. The very second I made the decision to forego plant medicine and to generate the information you're listening to right now, I felt as though an enormous burden had been lifted off my back, and I felt a sensation of righteous freedom from bondage I hadn't experienced in years. I began making other decisions in life that were based on trusting God and following his law no matter what, because I had removed from my life a glaring example of not trusting God fully. I expect you're going to feel the same shift if you're currently using plant medicines and you decide to take this step along with me. You might even notice if your experience is anything like mine. And I'll cover this more in part two, that you might start to question the regular usage of other chemical attachments you might have in life. Not swearing them off, but definitely questioning how you're approaching them, like caffeine or nicotine or kratom or kava or microdose or anything like that. But we'll address that more in part two, the microdosing marijuana, stuff like that. I want to summarize though, where we're at right now. Look, I'm quite self aware I'm being a bit preachy and I'm speaking quite a bit to Christians like me who have at some point placed their faith not in God alone, but also in mind expansion using plant medicines. But please, please, please realize even if you're not a Christian, you're playing with fire. Even if you don't believe in demons and a spiritual world, or that you can somehow be physically, mentally or spiritually harmed by plant medicines, you're still putting yourself at risk of being influenced by dark forces. And you might think I'm being silly and overly dramatic, but I'd rather speak up and say my piece on this matter than keep my mouth shut and eventually see a lot of people get hurt and place their faith in something other than their dear Creator. And furthermore, if you're a Christian and you're feeling convicted listening to this, please know that any guilt or shame you have stirring up in your soul about substance, substance use or abuse can all be laid down at the foot of the cross by just asking God for forgiveness and placing your trust instead in the free salvation offered through a belief in Jesus Christ. And once you discover the peace and the love and the joy that you can only get through trusting in Jesus and crying out to God in a fully sober state when you need help, direction and insight, you'll find your desire for plant medicines and altered states of consciousness begin to fade away. The world actually becomes a more beautiful plant place, and you embrace the realities of both pleasure and pain. Because there's nothing, nothing but Jesus that can replace the eternal hole in your soul that you're trying to fill. Nothing. I'm going to address this a lot in Part two, but in the meantime I'll link to an article here in part one at BenGreenfieldLife.com PlantMedPart1 to a little bit more about this simplicity of just placing your faith in Jesus. How much easier everything gets when you do that now. Also, as I mentioned earlier, I barely scratched the surface of everything that I've learned, especially in the past several weeks, about the shocking history of plant medicines and the extreme risks of dabbling with drug induced altered states of consciousness. And so, if I've even remotely piqued your interest, you must, must, must read the book Pharmakia by author Robert Oram, if it's still available on Amazon after I release this podcast. And then finally, within the next one or two weeks, I'm going to give you part two. It'll be a little less lengthy, but in part two there's a few unanswered questions I want to tackle for you, like microdosing. You might be surprised what I have to say about that. The use of plant medicines in smaller amounts for sensory enhancement, for activities like sacred hunting or sex. The recreational and responsible use of marijuana, like hitting a vape pen at the end of the day instead of having a glass of wine. Let me address my thoughts on that and any of the loops I have in close based upon what you've just listened to. But in the meantime, I would imagine you might have something to say. So I promise I'll read all the questions, all the comments, all the feedback. I'll do my very best to respond. Trust me. I'm very aware that there's a big shift from what I've said in the past about plant medicines, but it's an important shift because this is a battle for your soul. Okay? These are not just little chemicals we're talking about. There's a battle for your soul and it's important. So leave your questions, leave your comments, leave your feedback over@bengreenfieldlife.com plantmed1 and then I'll be bringing you part two quite soon. Thank you so much for listening and I'M glad I was able to fill you in today. So until next time, I'm Ben Greenfield signing out from BenGreenfieldLife.com have an amazing week. More than ever these days, people like you and me need a fresh, entertaining, well informed, and often outside the box approach to discovering the health and happiness and hope that we all crave. So I hope I've been able to do that for you on this episode today. If you liked it, or if you love what I'm up to, then please leave me a review on your preferred podcast listening channel, wherever that might be, and just find the Ben Greenfield Life episode. Say something nice. Thanks. Thanks so much. Means a lot.