Although the amazing geometrical hallucinations experienced under the influence of DMT are sufficient in themselves to command attention among students of psychedelics, the really interesting part of the experience is the apparent contact with alien beings. Since some may feel reluctant to admit possible existence of alien beings getting in contact with DMT-modified humans, we should consider all hypothesis that might explain the observations, or at least, be consistent wth them.
Several questions can be distinguished. Firstly, there is the question of the independent reality of the entities. Subjects report experiences of contact with communicating beings whose independent existence at the time seems self-evident. These experiences are not described as dream-like. If the entities have an existence independent of the DMT-influenced subject, then a realm of existence has been discovered which is quite other than the consensus reality which most of us assume is the only real world.
Such a discovery of "a separate reality" would directly challenge the foundations of the modern Western view of the world. I was tempted to say that it would be the most revolutionary change in our understanding of reality since the fish crawled out on land, but this would be overlooking the fact that the world view of the modern West is a comparatively recent invention, stemming mainly from the rise of materialist science in recent centuries. Earlier cultures had, and non-Western cultures still have, more expansive views of the extent of reality.
Secondly, regardless of whether the entities are independently-existing or have no existence beyond the experience of the subject, what are they seen as and seen to be doing? What is happening, for example, when some subjects ... report seeing thousands of these entities simultaneously? [read that report] Even more interesting is the phenomenon of communication, or attempted communication, which many subjects report.... Some subjects also report seeing the entities communicating with each other, in some kind of mutual exchange -- but of what?
Thirdly, the matter can be approached from the point of view of neuropharmacology. What exactly is going on when those DMT molecules get in there among neurons of the brain, causing it to function in what appears subjectively to be a radically different manner?
Listed below are eight suggested interpretations of the DMT experience which imply answers (true or flase) to some or all of the questions raised above. Some of these, like the experience itself, are bizarre, but at this stage any idea should be considered since in this matter the truth (to paraphrase J.B.S. Haldane) probably is not only stranger than we suppose but stranger than we can suppose.
These hypotheses can be expanded and are, or course, vulnerable to objections. No doubt other hypotheses are possible. These matters wll not be resolved until we have more data to test these and other hypotheses.
- There are no alien entities at all; it's merely subjective hallucination. The DMT state may be interesting, even extremely interestng, but really there are no independently-existing alien entities to be found.
- DMT provides access to a parallel or higher dimension, a truly alternate reality which is, in fact, inhabited by independently-existing intelligent entities forming (in the words of Terence McKenna) "an ecology of souls".
- DMT allows awareness of processes at a cellular or even atomic level. DMT smokers are tapping into the network of cells in the brain or even into communication among molecules themselves. It might even be an awareness of quantum mechanical processes at the atomic or subatomic level.
- DMT is, perhaps, a neurotransmitter in reptillian brains and in the older, reptillian parts of mammalian brains. Flooding the human brain with DMT causes the older reptilian parts of the brain to dominate consciousness, resulting in a state of awareness whch appears totally alien (and sometimes very frightening) to the everyday monkey mind.
- A non-human intelligent species created humans by genetic modification of existing primate stock then retreated, leaving behind biochemcal methods for contacting them. The psychedelic tryptamines are chemical keys that activate certain programs in the human brain that were placed there intentionally by this alien species.
- The realm to which DMT provides access is the world of the dead. The entities experienced are souls, or personalities, of the departed, which retain some kind of life and ability to communicate. The realm of dead souls, commonly accepted by cultures and societies other than that of the modern West, is now accessible using DMT.
- The entities experienced are beings from another time who have succeeded in mastering the art of time travel, not in a way which allows materialization but in a way which allows them to communicate with conscious beings such as ourselves.
- The entities are probes from an extraterrestrial or an extradimensional species, sent out to make contact with organisms such as ourselves who are able to manipulate their nervous systems in a way which allows communication to take place.
Excerpts from Psychedelic Monographs and Essays #6, Apparent Communication with Discarnate Entities Induced by Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) by Peter Meyer (now online)
