By Sandra Nomoto
A Recap of Dr. Ball’s Keynote Speech During the 2020 Nonduality Global Summit
In late June, Spiritual Safari Media hosted the first global virtual two-day NonDuality Summit. Author, artist, and energy worker Dr. Martin Ball presented a keynote at the end of the first day entitled “Molecular Mysticism: Neurotransmitters as a Direct Route to Nondual Experience and Awakening.”
The focus of his talk was on a psychedelic commonly found in plant species like Ayahuasca called 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine, or 5-MeO-DMT, which he called the “God Molecule.” Unlike DMT, 5-MeO-DMT is said to provide more of a perspective shift, vs. inducing visual experiences.
Although I wasn’t able to listen to the other talks during the Summit, my understanding of the definition of “nonduality” they referred to is the sense of oneness that can be felt when one is on psychedelics. Dr. Ball introduced his talk by likening our collective experience of dealing with the pandemic to this nondual experience. He said that nonduality allows us to see the illusions of our ego, even though in reality we still need to deal with the fact that we can only control ourselves, and we have to live in a society that doesn’t operate under nonduality.
Neurotransmitters and 5-MeO-DMT
Dr. Ball talked about how all of our experiences are governed by neurotransmitters, or chemicals that reside in our brain. Melatonin is responsible for concocting dreams while we’re asleep, while serotonin is responsible for positive feelings, among other functions. What these molecules, including 5-MeO-DMT, have in common is that they contain the tryptamine molecule, which all mammals have.
The Nonduality Experience
Dr. Ball talked about there being several ways to intake 5-MeO-DMT, the most effective being smoking. Although he does not facilitate experiences anymore, he stressed the importance of working with a knowledgeable facilitator, especially if you haven’t taken 5-MeO-DMT before, or if you have a mental illness. It’s not something you want to try on your own at home.
Dr. Ball said that humans define themselves by what we aren’t. When we’re given serotonin, we might have access to our divine imagination, but saying “I’m seeing angels” or “I’m seeing God” is still defining the experience through our own lens; it’s not a nonduality experience.
Most people who take 5-MeO-DMT, he said, report that the experience is unlike anything else. Reality as we know it breaks apart, and begins to feel “infinite.” It feels like the ego is dying; Dr. Ball said that 5-MeO-DMT “breaks apart” the ego.
He called 5-MeO-DMT the God molecule because in his opinion, God is everywhere; it is the absolute “being” of nonduality. So ingesting 5-MeO-DMT can give us this sense of “being” everywhere and everything. This ability to know and experience nonduality makes us like God, or as close to it as possible.
Nonduality is not the same as “perfection,” Ball warned. It may be a chaotic experience, but he said that there is an order in chaos, and one should not take 5-MeO-DMT as a way to escape something, or to experience perfection.
He believes that 5-MeO-DMT exists so that we could access an experience of ourselves as being one with everything. Knowing more about who we are and being more of ourselves IS being God, he argued.
If what he said is true, that’s some molecule.
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