14

Volition and Will

Volitional effects of the DMT and prophetic states manifest in alterations in the ability to willfully interact with one’s own body and mind, as well as with the outside environment. This category is not as clear-cut as the ones we have already covered because direct effects on other functions may indirectly elicit what appear to be explicitly volitional ones. That is, the will to do or think something may exist, but not the ability. In the DMT state, for example, a volunteer may have wished to move, but somatic effects, the immobility that DMT usually caused, precluded doing so. Similarly, the cognitive effect confusion may indirectly impact volition in that one is simply too confused to direct one’s will. Nevertheless, I will include examples of these types of indirect volitional effects in this chapter because they appear primarily volitional.*86

There are a limited number of volitional effects in the DMT and prophetic states. They concern movement, speaking, and overall self-efficacy. As in the other categories, the beings play a significant role.

MOVEMENT

Cannot Move

DMT

In her visions, Brenda’s “nonphysical” self was unable to move through a distracting curtain of colorful light: The most intense part of each trip was spent tangled up in these colors (DMT, 214).

Karl commented on how the beings affected him: One of them made it impossible to move (DMT, 188).

PROPHECY

Ezekiel also cannot pass through a visual obstacle: a stream I could not cross . . . a stream that could not be crossed (Ezek. 47:5).

Forced to Move

DMT

I previously noted how Cassandra felt something physically grab her hand and yank her. Here, Robert described a similar sense of a being moving his “self ” passively: This thing sucked me out of my head and I was taken into space, a black sky with a million stars (DMT, 189).

PROPHECY

God moves Moses passively at the beginning of the Mount Sinai revelation: Moses was drawn to the thick cloud where God was (Exod. 20:18).

Ezekiel provides a fascinating and baffling observation regarding what appear to be volitional characteristics of the beings. These are effects of the will of one set of beings, the Chayot, on the impulse to move in another set of beings, the Ofanim. Note that the word for spirit*87 in these verses may also mean will or disposition.

Each in the direction of its face[s]*88they would go; toward wherever there was the spirit to go, they went. . . . When the Chayot go, the Ofanim move by their side, and when the Chayot were lifted from upon the earth, the Ofanim were lifted. . . . To wherever there was the spirit to go they would go, to there the spirit would go. The Ofanim were lifted opposite them for the spirit of the Chayot was in the Ofanim. When they moved, they moved, and when they halted, they halted. And when they were lifted from upon the earth, the Ofanim were lifted opposite them, for the spirit of the Chayot was in the Ofanim. (Ezek. 1:12, 19, 20–21)

SPEAKING

Cannot Speak

DMT

In Ken’s vision of the crocodiles, he noted that in addition to their pinning and immobilizing him: I couldn’t speak (DMT, 252).

PROPHECY

God tells Ezekiel: I will make your tongue cleave to your palate and you shall become mute (Ezek. 3:26).

David describes how God indirectly, through emotions, effects a similar outcome: You grasped my eyes and I was agitated and could not speak (Ps. 77:5).

Forced to Speak

DMT

Many volunteers excitedly began to describe their experiences while still under the influence of the drug but after peak effects had resolved. They seemed to feel a pressure to share, as Cleo’s enthusiastic inarticulateness demonstrated: I had the expectation that I would be going “out,” but I went in, into every cell in my body. It was amazing. It wasn’t just my body . . . themselves . . . themselves . . . it’s all connected. Oh, that’s what I did. Okay (DMT, 237).

PROPHECY

One theory of how prophecy works is that God simply compels one in a prophetic state to speak by putting words into one’s mouth. The person acts as nothing more than a mouthpiece for God. Some of the examples below reinforce that notion by explicitly excluding any contribution from the human speaker.

When God promises to raise prophets among the Hebrews after Moses dies, He says: I will place My words in his mouth; he shall speak to them everything that I will command him (Deut. 18:18).

Balaam the gentile prophet is keenly aware of his inability to affect his own utterances: Am I empowered to say anything? Whatever word God puts into my mouth, that shall I speak (Num. 22:38).

And Jeremiah describes his inability to resist the pressure to speak: I labored to contain [God’s prophecy] but was unable (Jer. 20:9).

SENSE OF CONTROL

Volitional effects may extend beyond specific functions such as movement and speech to a more general sense regarding how much one feels in control of oneself as a whole. Feelings of decreased self-control are much more common than those of a heightened sense of control in both the DMT and prophetic experiences.

Decrease of Control

DMT

Sean: I think I’ve learned what it’s like to die, to be completely helpless in the throes of something (DMT, 223).

Chris: I try and program it and I go in with an idea of what to see, but I just can’t (DMT, 191–92).

Several volunteers felt that they had received a mission, something that the experience had imposed on them. Cal reported: I feel a responsibility, being conscious of what I need to do. I felt the words come to me, “Teach, learn.”

Dmitri: Somehow we had a mission. . . . Their work definitely had something to do with my presence. Exactly what remains a mystery (DMT, 197).

Occasionally, a volunteer reported feeling that the beings manipulated his or her physical makeup. By doing so, the effect of the DMT encounter would continue to influence the passive volunteer. Rex stated: The thought came to me with certainty that they were manipulating my DNA, changing its structure (DMT, 206).

William similarly noted: The machine felt as if it was rewiring me, reprogramming me (DMT, 194).

In addition, recall Ben’s experience of the cactus beings inserting a rod under the skin of his forearm, presumably to continue influencing him after his session.

PROPHECY

A common phenomenon in the prophetic state is the sense that God “happens upon” someone and initiates the experience, instead of it occurring as a direct result of one’s own efforts.

God tells Moses how to explain the origin of Aaron’s and his mission to Pharaoh to release the Hebrews from Egyptian bondage: YHVH the God of the Hebrews happened upon us (Exod. 3:18).

Similarly: God happened upon Balaam (Num. 23:4).

Jeremiah is resigned to his inability to resist God’s commands: You enticed me, YHVH, and I was enticed; You overcame me and You prevailed (Jer. 20:7).

God commands Ezekiel: Do not be rebellious . . . open your mouth and eat that which I give you (Ezek. 2:8). Ezekiel’s response: So I opened my mouth, and He fed me this scroll (Ezek. 3:1–2).

God informs Ezekiel of how He also will force upon him a fundamental change in his nature, a sort of rewiring: I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put into your innards. I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh (Ezek. 36:26).

Samuel tells Saul that when the latter encounters the band of prophets: The spirit of YHVH shall pass over you, and you will prophesy with them and be changed into another man (1 Sam. 10:6).

Increase or Maintenance of Control

The maintenance of “ordinary” self-control in the face of the overpowering DMT or prophetic experience may be noteworthy in and of itself.

DMT

Cleo commented on her ability to direct her will: Then the patterns began. I said to myself, “Let me go through you” (DMT, 237).

Brenda: A pulsating “entity” appeared in the patterns. . . . It was trying to coax me to go with it. At first I was reluctant (DMT, 213).

In one of the rare examples of a volunteer feeling a greater sense of control, Sean described: I felt like something of a god: “Put away that sound! Remove the feeling of needing to pee!”

Elena’s paradoxical comment suggested feeling more in control by having lost control: I didn’t have to wonder what to do next (DMT, 241).

PROPHECY

Isaiah describes how he maintains his decision-making power during his initial prophetic call: I heard the voice of my Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here I am; send me” (Isa. 6:8).

Zechariah experiences a complex vision of the Temple’s High Priest, the Satan, God, and God’s angel. At a certain point, Zechariah commands an angel, representing a greater sense of efficacy than normal: I said, “Let them put a pure turban on his head.” And they put a pure turban on his head (Zech. 3:5).

SUMMARY

While volitional effects occupy a relatively small portion of our comparators, robust and convincing similarities exist between the DMT and prophetic states in this category. These include modifications in the ability to influence movement and speech, as well as more global effects on self-efficacy and self-control.