Questions on Kava and the Soul - Spiritual perspectives of our favorite root

[Krunkie McKrunkface]

I am convinced that religions really do exist. There's a church just down the road from my house!

Now are they true? I don't think so, but I'm not going to argue with people over it. Living in the deep south, I've learned that there are two things you NEVER want to get into an argument over: college football and religion.

where I used to live in West Africa people valued religion highly and would have as many as possible. My own experience shows you can experience the benefits of religion without the religion having to be true, so I don't worry about it. Also, pretty much any religion will do, choose the one that fits your personality and lifestyle.

FWIW, I am a low-church Anglican mystic. Seriously, it's a thing, has been for almost 500 years. The most famous one was the poet John Donne. Our most famous book is "Practical Mysticism: A Little Book for Normal People," available free online http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/21774 . It's about the least mystical thing you could ever imagine, though. Bit of a misnomer. It's more like being an atheist who believes in God, just to be obnoxious about things. Oddly, I've never met another low-church Anglican mystic. It's not like we gaggle.

 

[kastom_lif]

That's pretty cool! Definitely a mellow and wise style of Anglicanism.

Although, if it weren't for some of my distant ancestors taking English Protestantism too far, they may have never been transported to the new world involuntarily. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monmouth_Rebellion). No, really. Beats what happened to some of the others. My farther has a super-weird last name, and they _all_ seem to come from Somerset. Just think... if things had gone differently I might be drivin' me combine harvester down to sunny Weston-Super-Mare, or working as an Eddie Stobart driver, hauling the finest pet medicine for @Edward.

 

[muddywaters]

I been thinking the same thing lately. Even different herbs to me have different personalities that blend with their function. Like they've been put here for that specific purpose with physical life. They are the blessings of earth and when used correctly can cure any bodily ailment or bring more harmony to it's inhabitants. Kava has definitely shown to me that it has it's own spiritual intelligence in the way it interacts with the ego, subconscious, and soul. I find what it does overall is it brings forth what is actually going on in there. It's gentle though and doesn't force itself anywhere, it just goes "this is how you feel and this is why" and it teaches you about the world around you based on what you learn about yourself and how you interact with it if your quiet and listen. If not it still really can put a hold on letting your ego get out of control and humbles you a bit through that stillness it brings as pleasurable as it can be. It allows less vision from the flesh and more from the soul level. If you indulge too much it may give you a slap on wrist and tell you to be more careful next time. Where to compare things, the pleasure of alcohol is relentless, it allows you to get out of control, contaminates the soul while it cuts it off to a large degree, and doesn't care how much it destroys in the process where the only teachings will be harsh short lessons on what happens if your too careless and self centered with what you enjoy. It has also shown me what's really bringing more chaos into my life and what I need to let go of or point me in the direction I need to move to feel more open to life. It seems to know the intent you have when you consume it but also doesn't seem to care much because of its gentle nature and does it's thing where if your really out of control it sits you down has a talk with you. If it doesn't need to do much, it just lets you enjoy without judging you even if it knows what's going on in your head. It knows human nature and consciousness and understands enough to not be that petty and punishing.

 

[Intrepidus_dux]

I particularly like kava before therapy and think it’s a fabulous idea.

Also just drinking kava by myself is a therapy season on its own. I’ve sorted through and healed so many things with kava. It also helps me take some time to mull over things before taking action. If the point of contention is no longer upsetting after a few shells, then I know I can just let it be. If whatever the problem is, still upsets me, I know then to take action.

When I present kava to friends for the first time, I do tell them I believe it’s a spiritual root that is very loving and meant to bring people together in peace to bond.

 

[Squanch72]

Awesome thread, sadly I can't write such deeply intelligent posts as on here. So I will try from a layman's angle.
I had been following an atheistic lifestyle with a deep loathing of organized religion, too much religion will kill you kind of thing I guess. In my early twenties I had some wonderful psychedelic experiences that made me feel something more, and those thoughts stayed tucked away in the back of my mind since.
I stumbled on to Kava due to lifelong anxiety that was getting deeply out of hand due to chronic sinusitis/daily migraines. What happened after steady daily use aroused that psychedelic spirituality in the back of my mind. It slowed me down and forced me to be in the moment during kava sessions. Then the vivid dreams that were corrective in nature, you are not looking at the correctly, you are judging them too hard, etc. started to happen. This led me to wonder about consciousness more and more. Then I found Yerba mate and then the corrective vivid dreams kicked in more and the ego was getting trimmed down fairly regularly. I definitely believe in plant teachers now, but that also boggles my mind, are some plants, all plants, conscious? What is consciousness, is it the universe, is it in our brain, do we have a consciousness receiver in our brains. Were the beginnings of religions right and then got commercialized and used a way to enslave women to their men, and poor to the rich? Yadda Yadda. Does becoming middle age make you question these things if you never did before, automatically, or is it the plant teachers? I now associate the word psychedelic with plant teachers, or mental door openers to consciousness, so I voted Kava as inherently psychedelic. Because the term psychedelic now means much more that watching the moon turn into a woman's face during a wonderful LSD trip(as epic as that was), it means digging in deeper to me, and working down that ego through corrective teachings that don't normally come to my mind or dreams prior to Kava and Yerba mate.
I have sat in my yard on a pristine weather day, during a Kava sesssion, and slipped so easily into a meditative state(which I struggle at normally) and the world came alive, I felt the vibrations of the life of other nature flow around and mingle with me.
So now my free thinking times are consumed with the bigger questions and to continue listening to the Kava, it seems to know more than I do.