Before I proceed I would like to mention that while this article may not not be safe for work (NSFW), It is entirely too wondrous not to tell. I must offer, primarily, that I am not advocating the use of anything. This article is more about the human spirit, or consciousness, than it is any substance.

This work is one of non-fiction. These are real events, and the names were changed to protect the innocent. We will call the subject of this narrative SWiM. This article may challenge anything you think you know. This is a story I have never formally told. I feel like it could be of some use. Look no further if you are ever feeling low, for you are more than you will ever really understand.

Before we go any further, a quick science lesson.

What is DMT, Exactly?

DMT, or N, N, Dimethyl-tryptamine is an extremely potent psychedelic substance found in many, many living things throughout nature. Even you! Yes, you. The person reading this article. It is produced in your Pineal gland. This pine cone shaped gland is about the size of a pea, and sits level with the eyes in the center of your brain where the left and right hemispheres meet.(2)

(Image Source: http://www.whale.to/c/pineal.html)

Widely known for it's responsibility of secreting the hormone melatonin; it has a variety of other functions as well. There is actually much more that we don't know about it, and the brain in general, than we actually do. Although, throughout our history, we have always had a widespread passion and curiosity about the Pineal gland. Commonly referred to as the "seat of the soul", the Pineal gland and the mystery surrounding it has been seen depicted in the ruins of ancient civilizations, dating back more than 5,000 years.

(Source: http://www.astrology-weekly.com/)

There are tons of theories to pour over. Most of them you might find interesting. They remain theories even now, 5,000 years later. DMT is not understood completely, but it is present in almost every living thing. It is responsible for the dreams you have, and for "Life flashing before your eyes", a phenomenon that occurs when someone has a near death experience. Although synthetically it may be a drug, endogenously, you manufacture and consume it nightly. (4)

Now, on to SWiM's Story..

So, SWiM is into many things. He is a sponge for knowledge. Absorbing all the interesting and fantastic things that life has to offer. After watching a documentary, (DMT: The Spirit Molecule, Rick Straussman)(3) he was sold on the experience. Solely to see for his self, that something such as this exists. He found a method of extraction, and went about on his quest to attain this substance. After a successful mission, it took a long time to work up the nerve to try it.

Article after article, experience after experience, he worked to learn all he can to satiate his curiosity without having to consume it. After all. he is no scientist. He followed the procedure to a T, making sure he read as carefully as he performed it. There was no way to prove that he was in fact successful. Still, his curious nature overcame him.

One boring day it occurred to him that it was still sitting there, atop the refrigerator where he left it. He thought about it for a long while before finally deciding that he would give it a try. SWiM took one full breath of the acrid smoke. Immediately disoriented, he fought to take another. Upon exhaling, the fatigue and disorientation consumed him. He just let go. With no choice other than surrender, his body went limp as he closed his eyes.

(Image Source: (http://www.uplift-connect.com/

When he came to, no longer was he here. The only thing he could feel was the sudden onset of anxiety as he looked around. There was nothing familiar. There was not so much as a landscape, even a horizon in view! SWiM has left Earth, literally, though not in the physical sense. Looking downward intensified his already overwhelming anxiety. He was expecting to see that he had a physical body, and what he saw was just the opposite.

Overcome by a plethora of existential questions, he thought to himself, "Did I die?" He can remember everything up until that point so vividly. The present moment he found himself in lacks terms to accurately describe it. He was dumbfounded. The only explanation he could tell himself is that he must have passed on. No dream he has ever had was a dream quite like this one. He wandered around for a time, pondering exactly what was going on, in search of the couch where his body lies.

With no concept of time, it was hard to estimate its passing.It felt as if hours, even days had passed. He wasn't sure of much. Yet, here he is still, anxious, afraid, and alone in some place other than the planet he was so accustomed to. It was then that something unlike anything he thought possible happened. A being came into view.

(Source: http://www.gameofroles.blogspot.com/)

This being approached SWiM, and held out an object. He recalls it the same way most recall a dream, "in bits and pieces." The object, he said resembled a diamond, but it was unlike any he ever saw. It floated just above the being's outstretched arm. The diamond-like-object was giving off its own, very bright, white light and illuminating the area around them. Then the being began to communicate with SWiM.

Obviously not from Earth, the creature, didn't use English to communicate. It didn't even use verbal communication. It projected feelings of calm unto SWiM. The anxiety was the most intense as he ever felt, despite the feelings and intentions of benevolence the creature was trying to share with him. He began asking questions.

"Did I die?"

"Where is the couch?"

"Where is Earth?"....

(source: http://www.pinterest.com/categories/photography/)

The creature pointed outward. And it was then that SWiM opened his eyes. He found himself safe, whole, and on the couch.

To his amazement, checking the clock, ten minutes is all that passed....

Just a Dream... Right?!

It took a minute for SWiM to gather himself. The memory of the recent events were almost impossible to hold onto. Just as your nightly dreams become fragmented upon awakening, so were these memories. He could feel them slipping away, elusive, he compares it to trying to catch smoke. He recited what he remembered. He said it out loud. HE TOLD EVERYONE. Although it is admittedly incomplete, it is his favorite story to tell.

He became fascinated with dreams, which in turn made him even more awestruck by what it was he had experienced. Reading and research taught SWiM that the brain recalls memories from what it has seen, learned, witnessed, and observed in order to build dreams. It draws from you declarative memory. (5) This came as a shock, because if this is true, then he had to have ACTUALLY been there, seen the being , and observed and communicated with it. He had no experience remotely close to this in his declarative memory.

The most notable thing of all, to him, was considering that he didn't have a body. Never in his wildest dreams was he convinced that the separation of the body and mind could occur. Even more amazing was that he felt so intact and alive after such events had apparently happened to him, and in a span of only 10 MINUTES!

Surely, this is a crazy story to digest... It was for myself as well.

I will leave you with one more thing before I end this article. Concerning the being..

If SWiM didn't take his body with him, and was in a place completely devoid of the tangible and physical matter he was so accustomed to, then why did the being have, or appear to have, a body? SWiM is convinced that it was something more than a dream, and that he encountered a higher intelligence. His best explanation is that the being projected itself as something familiar. Something he could, in a sense, recognize.

I never could argue with SWiM. This is unlike any dream I myself have ever had. If science is right about data being taken from memory to create dreams, then that means that the brain can not fabricate what it does not know to create the memories we so call dreams.

He never went back there to explore it any further. He said he didn't have to. Once was enough. He understands there are questions that can not be answered. He often wonders if he met his maker that day. He went as far as to say that the experience matured him some. One thing for sure, though, he no longer believes that God exists....

..HE KNOWS!!

DMT Bibliography

Internet sources:

(1)
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/3077505/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/how-brain-turns-reality-dreams/#.WYzzX7pFyUk

(2)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pineal_gland

(3)
https://www.rickstrassman.com/books/the-spirit-molecule

(4)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimethyltryptamine

Book sources:

(5)
"The Brain: What Everyone Needs to Know", Gary L. Wenk