Ancient Wisdom

How Big Pharma is preventing the massive shift in medicine and wellbeing. Also, a simple cure for depression called Vision Quest.

By Richard Markosian

Today, Big Pharma, Big Tobacco and Big Alcohol, all billion-dollar industries, are undergoing a sea-change in their market share and growth potential due to the re-emergence of ancient technologies and medicine. This is a story that the main-stream media isn’t covering much because so much of Big Media gets so much of their money from these Big Corporations. But low and behold, we are not beholden to big corporate power, so we can fill you in on what is happening. Mushrooms, cannabis, and potent potions such as Ayahuasca were once used by ancients to reveal the inner wisdom of the human psyche and help participants understand their greater purpose in life and their place in the universe. Authors such as Aldus Huxley realized that this ancient power was being neglected in our modern world back in the 1940s. Still, nearly all of these substances were banned in the early nineteenth and twentieth centuries, mostly due to the ubiquitous unprofitable nature of these substances. The Hurst corporation saw that cannabis was banned as a federally controlled substance, as the widespread production of hemp threatened the paper mills William Randolph

Hurst controlled for his media empire. That was in 1937, and that law has stuck, despite the fact that there is conclusive evidence of the medicinal value of cannabis in the treatment of myriad ailments including epilepsy, chronic pain, GI issues, and even asthma. Still, the wheels of the federal government move incredibly slow. But the medical treatment picture is changing so rapidly that patients and doctors are finding loopholes to allow for these ancient remedies to regain some of their prominence. Ketamine is a substance now widely used to treat depression and anxiety. The chemical compound offers a similar experience to what is offered from psilocybin mushrooms. While psilocybin mushrooms were banned, despite the fact they have few medical risks, Ketamine has always been legal as a popular anesthetic. But Ketamine is an inferior treatment to psilocybin in many ways, and so underground treatments and clinics offering real psilocybin are forced to operate in the shadows. While it’s exciting that so many patients who have suffered from “cures” that have been foisted upon us by Big Pharma and by doctors have been fraught with side-effects are finally getting phased out to some degree, it’s clear that the Big Powers don’t want to see these changes happen too rapidly. They are the ones working in the back rooms ensuring that the competition doesn’t get a leg up on their revenue streams too soon. In the meantime, for those suffering from depression, there is a remedy that offers almost no side-effects, and is almost certain to work wonders, is less costly, and might only result in a suntan and some weight loss. Utah Wilderness retreats offer delinquent teens access to this cure. It’s the concept of reconnecting people with nature by spending several days in the wilderness.

The Ancient Practice of Vision Quest

It turns out this tactic of returning a person to their essential nature is not new. The Native Americans called a similar practice a Vision Quest. The basis upon which a Vision Quest works to treat all sorts of disorders originates from the power we can harness by tapping into our own psyche and brain chemistry. A traditional Vision Quest might require a spiritual guide, but these parameters aren’t required to obtain a result. Mostly it requires the courage to engage with nature to a degree which is outside of our comfort zone: leave home cell phones, pack just enough water and food. Eat and drink very sparingly or attempt to fast and witness the changes that occur in your mind. The reason this works is because when we are persistently motivated by our deeply-biologically-seated instincts and desires: hunger, thirst, stimulation, sex and sleep, we are merely acting out our most basic internal brain mechanisms, which always believe more of everything is the answer. Satisfying our ego 100% of the time will result in depression 100% of the time. This mode of being ignores our souls and consciousness. “Man cannot live on bread alone,” said Jesus. Even my dogs get depressed when we don’t visit the mountains. Depression and anxiety are running rampant in our society today. Why? Because most of

us are completely out of contact with our true nature and our souls. When we deny our carnal desires and engage instead in fasting, devotional prayer and renunciation, a simple exchange occurs: by sacrificing some comfort such as food and stimulation, we receive in return a greater sense of spiritual well being and an elevated consciousness. The idea of sacrifice was integral in all ancient cultures. Sacrifice is something fundamentally lost in our modern culture today. Some Christian still practice Lent, and some Muslims practice Ramadan, but a few days backpacking in the wilderness takes this a step further. Trading comfort and pleasure for discomfort, and living for a few days outside closer to nature, we become better acquainted with our true spiritual essence and gain greater insight into our more meaningful purpose for living here on earth, in this particularly strange era. It might seem counterintuitive, especially with how we have been programmed to always believe that greater comfort is always better. But indeed, through discomfort of our flesh, the temporal nature of our being moves to the forefront, and we feel better connected with our souls, God, fellow man, and the earth. Why is it that anyone who has suffered from long-term illness always feels a renewed appreciation for life? Because only through discomfort do we gain this appreciation. Certainly, chemicals (especially natural chemicals and ancient remedies) can also offer and achieve similar results in providing an ego-diminishing spiritual awakening, but our brains are indeed chemical factories. And our brains can produce all of the same effects found in the most popular chemical agents. Cannabis, psychedelics, and psilocybin mushrooms can induce epiphanies and provide insight into our own pain and depression, but so can fasting and long walks in the desert or in the forest, preferably alone for extended stretches. This most ancient of all wisdom might sound too basic, too simple, and too difficult for our complex world and our modern era, but you will never know until you attempt your first Vision Quest. Try backpacking for even just a day or two or three in the San Rafael Swell, or Goblin Valley. Eat and drink sparingly and witness your depressed mind awaken in bliss and a state of awe over your surroundings. The inhospitable desert contours, sun-and-wind polished rocks, and prickly cacti find few takers, and this is to our great benefit. The rattlesnakes, scorpions and lizards have been dramatized and characterized into being our enemies, but they want nothing to do with us. This is the place where truth and meaning are born. Where did Jesus, Moses and Buddha find their sanctuaries? It was in the inhospitable regions in the desert; we have plenty of this in Utah. Depression is disconnection. We are disconnected from our origins. The ancients are calling us. It’s time we answer the call of the billions of humans who came before us by spending some time among them in the sand, dust and wind from whence we came, and where we will ultimately end up. “Finding yourself” is a trite phrase. Find unity, purpose, meaning and connection in the wilderness.