I want to start out by saying that I agree with Michael in that true spiritual growth can be a tricky business. The ego can have a million fingers, all in disguise it seems. There are traps and pitfalls and blind alleys that even very realized folks can wander into, lost for months or years until someone more experienced throws them a rope. But the beginner doesn't need to worry about those things. The beginner needs to sit on the cushion and see for the first time and watch their breath...
Michael’s appeal to doctrine is narrow minded and laughable. I would gladly wipe my bottom on the paper doctrine of the International Order of the Sufis and I think that Nasreddin would have a chuckle and understand exactly where I was coming from. That is only paper and paper is made for wiping bottoms. I have actually taken psychedelics. I know what the experience was for me. I don't need the International Order of the Sufis to tell me what is and what is not a genuine spiritual experience. I have my own spirit! I may be stupid from here to Sunday, but I have enough awareness to understand some very basic things about the nature of my own spirit, mind and ego.
Your post started off well, and I was preparing to give it a like until you strayed into bottom-wiping territory. Let me say first that I have no idea whether or not the International Order of Sufis is a genuine school: I only say that that particular statement reflects my own views on the subject of the use of psychedelics, and certainly comports with what I have studied about Sufism.
You may have noticed that the quote grants that drugs can bring a certain amount of insight, but that ultimately they are counterproductive. I am glad if using psychedelics opened your mind and hope that subsequently other kinds of researches have led you in fruitful directions. Maybe as an initial eye-opener, there's some merit in them, but my view is that beyond that they lead one down the wrong path and may eventually dull rather than sharpen the capacity for spiritual growth.
People seem to have the idea that Sufism is "classical", almost frozen in aspic. On the contrary, it's an extremely adaptive and organic thing. And some Sufis have actually tested out psychedelics to see how the experience compares with experiences gained through Sufi practices: the verdict is that the former are counterfeit. As to Sufi practices, those constantly evolve: ones that were effective in, say, mediaeval Turkey, like dervish whirling, aren't effective any longer; in fact, just like psychedelics, they may now be counterproductive. That's one aspect of Sufism's organic nature, showing how it is adapted by those competent to do so according to the particular constraints of time, place and people.
There's no substitute for reading Idries Shah on the topic. He wrote many books, but the seminal one is his "The Sufis", available on Amazon. You say psychedelics opened your eyes; well, that book is what opened my eyes some 40 years ago. It's quite astonishing, and will help people see how confusing things are these days: people aren't able to make out the characteristics of religion/cultism and distinguish it from spirituality, or how conventional religion can be of use as a stepping stone towards spirituality, at some stage to be discarded or interpreted in unaccustomed ways.
Loneshaman, I love ya ta bits and on many issues we are of one mind. I don't want any animosity between us, so on the issue of psychedelics we're going to have to agree to differ. We'd be here till kingdom come if I chose to deconstruct what I see as the fallacies in the points you have made, and it wouldn't achieve much. So to you and to Chuck, I make a offer. If you haven't read "The Sufis", I will happily let you each have a copy for free so long as you will agree to read it cover to cover. You may discover, as I did, that it's more than a book: it's an organic, living entity with the capacity to change people. If you want to take me up on this, please raise a private conversation so I can make the arrangements.