Traduzido artigo: Ayahuasca: A Universidade Gaia por Ralph Miller (Português)

Article by Ralph Miller

For 20-years I raised a family and worked as a travel agent. In recent years I have conducted workshops in Brazil using an ancient plant 'medicine' or brew which has been used in Amazonia for thousands of years by indigenous tribes. The brew is called Ayahuasca and contains the very powerful psychoactive and visionary substance called Dimethyltryptamine (DMT). DMT is found in all living things including humans.

When I discovered Ayahuasca, I guess I remained being a travel agent; but am now showing people how to make inter-dimensional journeys instead.

DMT is likely produced in the pineal gland, and recent research indicates that the pineal will produce DMT in large amounts at least 2 times in the life of a human; at birth and at death. Perhaps it heralds the entry and departure of the soul. Persons having 'near death' experiences ... seeing bright lights ... seeing portals ... seeing religious icons ... are most definitely experiencing the effects of DMT.

The visionary process of Ayahuasca also has the effect of allowing a person to resolve and heal spiritually, psychologically, emotionally and physically. The brew is referred to as "entheogenic" which means "god generated within".

It seems likely (my personal belief) that the brain of humans is in some manner atrophied, and that the shamanic process of re-introducing DMT using Ayahuasca has the effect of 'switching on' the pineal in an extraordinary manner. Other studies have been conducted that suggest that post-Ayahuasca brains are literally 're-wired'.

DMT molecules are similar to Serotonin molecules, and bind to the same receptor sites in the brain. This is extraordinary because like Serotonin, DMT is a unique key which naturally fits this 'lock' in the brain.

In the diagrams below you can see that the structures of DMT and Serotonin are very similar. They are both bind to the same neuro-receptors in the brain.

Ayahuasca in a very interesting and complicated brew made from two Amazonian plant species; a leafy bush called Psychotria Viridis (P Viridis) and a vine called Banisteriopsis Caapi (B Caapi).

P Viridis is a plant source of relatively large amounts of DMT, which is the primary source of the visionary/entheogenic experience. However DMT is inactive when administered orally because it is destroyed in the gut by the digestive enzyme Monoamine Oxidase (MAO).

B Caapi contains only mildly psychoactive alkaloids, specifically Beta-carbolines (Harmine, Harmaline and Tetrahydraharmine) which act as Serotonin re-uptake inhibitors, as well as have pro-Dopamine properties. Serotonin and Dopamine are two human hormone-like substances which are powerful neurotransmitters and create alertness as well as cause a person to be in a psychologically receptive state. Additionally these alkaloids also act as powerful MAO inhibitors.

The interesting thing about Ayahuasca is that while DMT is inactive when taken orally, the MAO inhibiters in the brew allow the DMT to remain intact, and pass the blood/brain barrier.

So you have DMT bonding to receptor sites in the brain, which produces visions, while the pro-Serotonin and pro-Dopamine properties of the brew create a state of alertness and receptivity.

Also, the physical healing properties of Ayahuasca are extraordinary to say the least. Ayahuasca is being looked at as a possible effective treatment for Parkinson's disease, for example.

As early as 1928 a natural substance called Banisterene was used successfully in the treatment of Parkinson's disease. Banisterene is also an old and well-known plant product called Harmine. Harmine is the most pronounced Beta-carboline component of Ayahuasca.

Sadly the use of Banisterene fell out of favor as a Parkinson's treatment, as the pharmaceutical industry was evolving into the study of synthetic drugs that were patentable, and losing interest in natural products that were not patentable.

Even more interesting is that many of the experimental drugs being used today to treat Parkinson's disease which can be found listed by the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry contain strong MAO inhibitors, as well as have pro-Dopamine properties.

In his book, "The Cosmic Serpent", Jeremy Narby comments, "Here are people without electron microscopes who choose, among 80,000 Amazonian plant species, the leaves of a bush containing a...brain hormone, which they combine with a vine containing substances that inactivate an enzyme of the digestive tract, which would otherwise block the effect. And they do this to modify their consciousness. It is as if they knew about the molecular properties of plants and the art of combining them, and when one asks them how they knew these things, they say their knowledge comes directly from [the] plants."

Ayahuasca is the University of Gaia. Nature reaching out to humans.

The 'school' metaphor is actually not a metaphor at all. Ayahuasca is all about learning. During an Ayahuasca ceremony, you start in one place and you end in another place. The next ceremony brings you back to the place where you left off. Class begins at 9pm … the bell rings … and "mother-Aya" gives the lesson for the day!

Generally speaking the lessons are universally profound. The healing and consciousness expanding properties of this plant-teacher bring us to a vastly greater experience of who we are. Ayahuasca facilitates the resolution of a human being.

Resolving the human condition requires a greatly expanded consciousness around two fundamental questions. Where am I? And, who am I?

One of the lessons of the Ayahuasca experience is a greatly expanded perception of what we have grown used to calling reality. The veil is lifted. We perceive 3-D for sure. But our perception expands beyond that to encompass a vastly greater reality that 'contains' 3-D. This expanded reality, or perhaps the 10-D or multi-D reality is not constrained by the timeline or even by causality.

The perception of 10-D is not only something that you become acutely aware of; you are also somehow encoded with the memory of it. Long after the Ayahuasca experience is over, you remember the way back to the extraordinary stillness of this place that you already inhabit. You inhabit it as your higher self.

I mentioned the question of, "Who am I?" Humans employ their best wits in order to live out their lives; to overcome insecurities; to mask their pain; and to gain status and acceptance. Sadly the true 'self' of an individual is almost universally hidden. We define who we are by what status we have, what we do or who we are married to.

The integration of self with Higher-self is a natural consequence of expanded perception. From this integration emerges the true self. The fully functioning 'visionary brain' strips away the fear-based, ego issues that plague the human condition. The mask of our pretend-self becomes irrelevant. It no longer becomes necessary to impress others or to be ashamed of who we are. We become resolved in our humanity and our divinity. It is not a thinking thing. It is a knowing thing. This knowing is a timeless experience of our hearts.

The heart center expands. We move into a new human experience that is quite adept with the subtle feelings of heart. Compassion, intuition, extrasensory perception, vulnerability, "realness" are all the result of a bringing into balance of the feminine intuitive heart, with the masculine analytical brain.

Recent research about the heart itself reveals that the heart contains a large neurological system that in effect acts as a 2nd brain. This "heart-brain" functions coherently with the brain as it sends massive amounts of information to our brains. The heart communicates to the brain via the limbic system within the brain. The pineal gland (responsible for DMT production) is adjacent to the limbic system.

Consensual reality is a masculine, logical, cognitive experience. We react to events based on stored data, which we use to make decisions. The brain alone cannot deal with the timeless multi-dimension.

The experience of the multi-dimensional reality is a feminine, intuitive experience that is not constrained by cause and effect or by logic. The re-activation of an atrophied brain; the re-wiring of our minds, again brings balance.

Many people believe (hope) that humanity is at the very doorstep of an extraordinary shift. This 'shift' is really about the return of the Goddess energy. Healing is coming to humanity from nature; from mother-earth; from Gaia. It is about the return of the feminine.

The spirit of the earth or Gaia is literally working with humans towards a conclusion to this age and the advent a new one. Nature is working towards healing herself.

Terrance McKenna said, "It is one thing when you become interested in the plants (Ayahuasca) and it is another thing when the plants become interested in you." Somehow the mystery of this shift is contained in the fact that the plants are sentient. They have a collective consciousness.

Some plants nourish us. Some plants are used to heal our physical bodies. And some plants are medicines for the soul. They teach us the way back to the divine within us. They infuse our consciousness with the consciousness of nature.

In the book "Holographic Universe" by Michael Talbot, he writes, "We are indeed on a shaman's journey, mere children struggling to become technicians of the sacred. We are learning how to deal with the plasticity that is part and parcel of a universe in which mind and reality are a continuum, and in this journey one lesson stands out above all others. As long as the formlessness and breathtaking freedom of the beyond remain frightening to us, we will continue to dream a hologram for ourselves that is comfortably solid and well defined."

The real problem with humanity is that we have forgotten. Over the ages we have agreed to live in a prison. We have forgotten who we are, and we have forgotten the eternal landscape that we inhabit.

Ayahuasca is here to change all of that.

© Ralph Miller 2003