Introduction to Entheogenic Religions/Spirituality (Shamanism/Animism)

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The use of plants to connect with the Divine for the purpose of enlightenment my be expressed in an entheogenic religion or form of spiritual worship. Entheogens have been present in religion and forms of spirituality in some of the world’s oldest forms of religion and spirituality dating back more than 12,000 thousand years.  It spans the globe and exists in every part of the world. It is the focal point of many major and minority religions.  Many religions and forms of spirituality use plants as a means to elevate themselves to connect with the Divine for the purpose of enlightenment.

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The Church of Cognitive Therapy is a worldwide multi-worship community of entheogenic practitioners from many religions and spiritual paths. The animist belief is, all things are animated by a universal "Divine Life Force", which unites various global religious and spiritual practitioners. We adhere to the religious or spiritual use of entheogens. It is no different from being a christian and attending a multi-denominational christian church. We believe in the sacred unity of all human beings. The Church of Cognitive Therapy recognizes the religious and spiritual use of entheogenic sacraments, which are used to connect with the Divine for the purpose of enlightenment. The church’s primary influences are global indigenous forms of spirituality, which use entheogens as doorways to the Divine. The church’s main goal is our spiritual quest for enlightenment through spiritual cognitive therapy, holistic healing, shamanism, entheogenic religious/spiritual sacrament, and social practices. 

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Church of Cognitive Therapy is a spiritually oriented community. We are not here to pervert or commit blasphemies to any sort of doctrines or dogmas but to use all available documented resources to help us establish a spiritual connection to the Divine, ourselves, and the universe we live in.  Establishing a spiritual connection to the Divine is our first step towards enlightenment.

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Entheogenic plants are and have been spiritual teachers throughout mankind’s existence on this planet.  Many religions and forms of spirituality were and are directly related to the spiritual use of entheogenic plants.

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Entheogen, noun

En = Within, Inner

Theo = Divine, God

Gen = Becoming, Creating

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Entheogen “The term means literally 'becoming divine within', and can be seen as the user realizing that the divine infuses all of the creation, or specifically that the entheogenic plant is itself infused with the divine. It is not a theological term, makes no reference to any deity,”  

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Entheogens are spiritual comforters, teachers, and provide existential intelligence. When used in a positive way they will yield positive results.

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My story

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R.I.P. My brother Larin 11/11/89. I have shared this story with a few of you and now I am sharing it with whoever reads this. He was an extremely loving and positive inspiration to hundreds of people who had the pleasure of knowing him while he was alive. He was an Eagle Scout and varsity athlete in several sports and one of the world's best fishermen. He was accidentally killed in a hunting accident by a bullet that passed through a deer's neck and ricocheted off a rock sending it up the mountain and striking him in the head most likely killing him instantly. My father Larry was the other hunter and he eventually passed away 12 years later from a brain tumor on 12/09/01 and we lost another of the world's best fishermen.

 

I was out of the country in Brazil as a missionary for almost 2 years when this happened so I did not get to say goodbye; however, at the exact time of his death, I felt part of my heart rip out of my chest through my esophagus. At the time I was bestowing the gift of the Holy Ghost on a member I had just baptized and the entire congregation felt it. At the time I was not sure if it was a positive thing or a negative thing. I found out two days later and was on a plane the next day so I could be home for my family and attend the funeral. The next time I would see my brother was on a metal table as a lifeless corpse. I suffered from extreme deep depression and PTSD for many years after. I know I was not the only one suffering because of his loss.

 

I was also in the Army National Guard at the time and I was not activated like all of my other Guardsmen and women because of being the last surviving son and could carry on the family name. Believe me, I wanted to go to war because in my mind that was the fasted way to reunite with my brother if killed in combat. In 1993 I suffered a life-threatening illness that almost took my right leg and put an end to my service after almost 9 years.

 

I did not seek traditional psychological help, but I did seek non-traditional help through spiritual avenues and shamanic sacraments, which help me connect to the Divine for enlightenment purposes such as the one I was seeking a remedy for. The spiritual use of Ayahuasca, Cannabis, Peyote, and Psilocybin Mushrooms help me in my spiritual journey of self-discovery. Almost 9 years after his death a traditional peyote ceremony helped me to re-align myself spiritually, accept his death, and guide me in a spiritual direction, which would later lead me to overcome my depression and learn how to successfully manage my PTSD so it no longer managed me.

 

In 1997 still suffering tremendously from his death, but thanks to the spiritual use of cannabis I was able to somewhat maintain. I was still lost to who I was so I decided to throw up my hands to the heavens and universe. I decided to go hitchhiking and start a journey of self-discovery, which led me to numerous places one of which was Toas New, Mexico. There I was ordained a Reverend in the ULCC by a fellow veteran Ras Tafari Reverend Bustamante. I left there and moved further south to Quartzsite Arizona where I met a Vietnam veteran named John who taught me about cognitive therapy. I took what the Divine had blessed (enlightened) me with and transformed it into a ministry and church (2003) designed to help others especially combat veterans overcome depression and learn to manage their own traumatic experiences (PTSD), hence The Church of Cognitive Therapy (COCT Ministry). 

 

Here you can find out more information that may help you on your spiritual journey of self-discovery and help find some non-traditional beneficial therapy too. If you are suffering from depression or PTSD and nothing else has helped, maybe you are seeking help in the wrong places. Traditional psychiatry and psychology would have you take synthetic psychotropics (man-made psychedelics) to manage your depression and PTSD by delivering a constant drip of serotonin or dopamine to your brain to keep you constantly happy. This is not natural and if you stop taking them you will spiral into manic depression and darkness for at least 90 days until your brain can start to begin manufacturing its own serotonin or dopamine again. Synthetically derived psychotropic medications for depression are void of the natural divine life force that exist in all living and naturally occurring substances, thus over-all delivering ultimately a negative reaction.

 

Big Pharma and the Psychiatry industries have manipulated people into taking these drugs because they know you can't simply quit them without there being *drastic consequences such as suicide, mass murder, and so on. If you find yourself in this situation please do not quit and try to self-medicate without first consulting a professional doctor and a professional spiritual practitioner.

 

Feel free to contact us anytime if you need assistance and we will do our best to help you facilitate your spiritual journey of self-discovery. If you are tired of the chaos in your life, then it might be time to seek a spiritual remedy. A spiritual path is not necessarily a religious path and can be sought by the religious and non-religious. God bless you in your journey and help you find your happy path.

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The Church of Cognitive Therapy as a Spiritual Path

and Entheogenic Religion

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Ultimate Ideals

We believe the bona fide use of entheogens as *entheogenic sacraments are vital in transcending the physical world to the spirit world.  Partaking of entheogenic sacrament establishes a personal elevated spiritual connection to the Divine and the Universe for the purpose of receiving individual enlightenment pertaining to one’s own sense of being (past, present, and future), purpose in this life, acceptance of death, and personal relationship to the Divine.

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*Entheogenic: “The term means literally 'becoming divine within', and can be seen as the user realizing that the divine infuses all of the creation, or specifically that the entheogenic plant is itself infused with the divine”.

 

Metaphysical Beliefs

We believe that entheogenic plants are *animistic. It is through our entheogenic connection to the Divine that we gain a spirit-to-spirit connection to these plants, thus allowing us to inhabit the spirit world through which we can gain spiritual knowledge pertaining to our past, present, future, and personal spiritual relationship to the Universe.

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*Animism: “The term animism is derived from the Latin word anima meaning breath or soul. The belief of animism is probably one of man's oldest beliefs, with its origin most likely dating to the Paleolithic age. From its earliest beginnings, it was a belief that a soul or spirit existed in every object, even if it was inanimate. In a future state, this soul or spirit would exist as part of an immaterial soul. The spirit, therefore, was thought to be universal.” by Alan G. Hefner and Virgilio Guimaraes

 

Moral and Ethical System

We believe in a *karmic system of negatives and positives. Good and Evil can be manipulated to seem like one or the other; however, negatives and positives remain the same and are not so easily manipulated. “You reap what you sew “and “what goes around comes around” are good examples of the Karmic system we believe in.

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We believe that positive thoughts create positive actions and negative thoughts produce negative actions. The use of entheogenic sacrament being infused with the Divine, used in a positive way, creates positive thoughts, therefore, creating positive actions. We believe that it is the absence of the Divine that creates negative thoughts; therefore, creating negative actions.

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*Karma: The Sanskrit word Karma (or kamma in Pali) literally means action.  Karma means "deed" or "act" and more broadly names the universal principle of cause and effect, action and reaction that governs all life past, present, and future. Karma is a law in Hinduism which maintains that every act done, no matter how insignificant, will eventually return to the doer with equal impact.

 

Comprehensiveness of Beliefs

We believe our connection to the Divine through entheogenic sacrament provides us with a spiritually firm foundation in which we can deal with life as a human-being in a positive way.  In life, there are *traumatic experiences that shape our lives. We believe the connection to the Divine through the entheogenic sacrament provides us with enlightenment (knowledge) to deal with these experiences in a positive way.

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*Trauma:  A serious injury or shock to the body, as from violence or an accident,  an emotional wound or shock that creates substantial, lasting damage to the psychological development of a person, often leading to neurosis,  an event or situation that causes great distress and disruption.

 

 

Accoutrements of Religion;

 

Founder, Teacher, Counselor

The Divine is the fountainhead of spiritual knowledge, which is available to all who seek it. Reverend (Rev) Ras Lion is the organizer of the Church of Cognitive Therapy (COCT Ministry) and is a Ras Tafari Minister, Teacher, and Counselor.

 

Important Writings and Oral Traditions

We recognize all sacred writings and Oral Traditions in their correct translations that document the use of entheogenic sacraments in religion and forms of spirituality.

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Gathering Places 

Our gathering places would include buildings and nature.  Our gathering in natural places where everything is in its natural order is an essential part of the over-all entheogenic positive experience.

 

Keepers of Knowledge

We use a virtual Internet Sacred Text Archive in which all members can obtain information concerning subjects of interest.  Our keepers of knowledge would include ministers, reverends, priests, shamans, and specialized teachers. 

 

Ceremonies and Rituals

Our rituals and ceremonies include marriage, a celebration of the dead, and the shamanic practice of using entheogenic sacraments, which may or may not be under the direction of a professional practitioner.

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Structure or Organization

We maintain the idea that where three or more are gathered, one being a professional spiritual practitioner constitutes a congregation.  We have many congregations and do not limit ourselves to just one gathering place.

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Holidays and Festivals

Most holidays and festivals are centered around the solstices and equinoxes such as Entheogenic Passover, Holi, and Day of the Dead.

 

Diet and Fasting

Non-mandatory 3-day Detoxification once a year before Entheogenic Passover and special healing ceremonies.

 

Appearance and Clothing

Clergy (priest, shaman, reverend, ministers) must have designated garments for performing certain ceremonies and rituals.  

 

Propagation

Our propagation is propagated through our website and our ministers. Sharing knowledge is essential in obtaining the correct tools to live a harmonious life between the physical world and the spiritual world.

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Community Creed

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We believe, first and foremost, everyone is a human-being. Everything else is extra. The extra is the good and bad in all of us.

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“When we learn to love one another without prejudice and discrimination, then we will know what it means to be human-beings”. (Rev Lion)

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Human is a subtitle to being. Human is the physical and the being is the spiritual. It is the goal of the Church of Cognitive Therapy community to help all of us come in contact with our inner-being, upon doing so, we discover our own spirituality and relationship to the Divine.

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Discovering our own spirituality gives way to enlightenment. It is amazing how many people think achieving enlightenment is near the end of our human experience. Enlightenment is only the beginning.

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Life, through experience and education, has a way of placing chains and shackles upon us. These chains and shackles are oftentimes misguided information. This misguided information is responsible for what is called cognitive distortion.

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Cognitive distortion exists because we allow it. We educate ourselves with distorted philosophies passed down from generation to generation. These distorted philosophies are responsible for the chaos that we find in our society today. These distorted philosophies are the reason for the breakdown in morality and ethics in our society.

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The Church of Cognitive Therapy cannot impose beliefs on anyone; however, we can give them the correct tools to aid in their personal discovery.  Our hope is to help others come in contact with their own inner-being and establish a spiritual connection to the Divine. Finding our inner-being may take the peeling off of many layers. We often need the help of visionary entheogenic sacraments such as cannabis, peyote, psilocybin mushrooms, amanita muscaria, or ayahuasca to open our minds to receive the Divine. These sacraments need to be taken with great care and reverence.

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Cultures from the past to the present have used cannabis and other entheogenic sacraments for spiritual purposes. Many cultures claim religious entitlements to entheogenic sacraments. The Church of Cognitive Therapy claims entitlements to entheogenic sacraments, which may include cannabis, peyote, psilocybin mushrooms, amanita muscaria, or ayahuasca for social, cultural, religious, physical, and spiritual growth.

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Our community believes that Entheogenic sacraments are a human right given to us by our Creators, "for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

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We believe in the right to free religious and spiritual expression so long as we don’t inflict harm or ill will towards our fellow human-beings or ourselves.

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We believe in the unity of all religions and spiritual paths. The Church Of Cognitive Therapy will always strive to be a community-oriented community. All forms of religion and spirituality are protected by Divine Law.

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We believe our use of entheogenic sacraments is necessary and vital in discovering individual spirituality and achieving a connection with the Divine for personal enlightenment. The sacrament has an integral part to play in our personal and social spirituality.

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“Therefore those skilled at the unorthodox are infinite as heaven and earth, inexhaustible as the great rivers. When they come to an end, they begin again, like the days and months; they die and are reborn, like the four seasons.”(The Art of War)

 

Idaho v. Cordingley Law Reviews

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SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY PUBLIC LAW REVIEW [Vol. XXXIV:335]

 

OLD WINE, OLD BOTTLES, AND NOT VERY NEW CORKS: ON

STATE RFRAS AND FREE EXERCISE JURISPRUDENCE

By MARK STRASSER

 

C. Cordingley

 

At issue in Idaho v. Cordingley (254) was whether Cordingley’s possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia was protected under the Idaho Free Exercise of Religion Protected Act (FERPA).255 Cordingley had founded the “Church of Cognitive Therapy (COCT), established specifically for the use of marijuana as a ‘sacrament,’”(256) and he argued that his religious exercise was substantially burdened by Idaho law.

 

The Idaho appellate court explained that the “legislative history of the FERPA makes it clear that in adopting the statute, the Idaho legislature intended to adopt the ‘compelling interest test’ contained in its federal counterpart, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), which the United States Supreme Court held in City of Boerne v. Flores . . . was invalid as it applied to states.”(257) The plaintiff had to show that he was engaging in a religious exercise and that the challenged state law substantially burdened that exercise. (258)

 

At issue was not whether Cordingley’s beliefs were sincere or even whether the Idaho law substantially burdened the activity associated with those beliefs. (259) Instead, the issue was whether the beliefs at issue were “religious” or purposes of the Idaho statute when Cordingley had admitted that “the Church of Cognitive Therapy is not so much a religion as it is a companion to religion.” (260) As such, it provided a way for people to “become spiritual or enlightened, but it [did] not have a comprehensive belief system with the trappings of a religion.” (261)

 

When analyzing whether the burdened practices qualified as religious, the court cited to Ballard and Thomas, but also cited Yoder’s attempt to distinguish between the religious and the merely personal and philosophical. (262) The Idaho court denied that it was trying to be extremely restrictive with respect to what constituted a religion, instead suggesting that should there be “any doubt about whether a particular set of beliefs constitutes a religion, the court will err on the side of freedom and find the beliefs are a religion.” (263)

 

To determine whether the beliefs at issue constituted religious beliefs, the court used a multifactor test. “Under this test, to help determine whether a particular set of beliefs qualifies as ‘religious’ under the RFRA or its state equivalent, a court examines the extent to which a party’s asserted ‘religion’ (1) addresses ‘deeper and more imponderable questions’ of the meaning of life, man’s role in the universe, moral issues of right and wrong, and other ‘ultimate concerns’; (2) contains an ‘element of comprehensiveness’; and (3) the ‘formal, external, or surface signs that may be analogized to accepted religions.’” (264)

 

The court found that the church met the relevant criteria to some extent. (265) However, because some of the factors were not met and because “COCT is singularly focused on the use of marijuana to a degree that has consistently been found not to be indicative of statutorily recognized religious practice,” (266) the Idaho appellate court found that the practices at issue were not religious and thus did not qualify for enhanced protection under the Idaho statute.

 

Yet, it is difficult to reconcile this approach with the approach taken in Ballard, where the beliefs of the “I Am movement” (267) were not examined with respect to whether they incorporated “ultimate ideas” or constituted a “moral or ethical belief structure” or even whether the “comprehensiveness of beliefs” entitled the group to be designated as religious. The Ballard Court noted that “[r]eligious experiences which are as real as life to some may be incomprehensible to others,” (268) and that the fact that certain experiences are “beyond the ken of mortals does not mean that they can be made suspect before the law.” (269) Further, a set of beliefs that is described by the adherents as a “companion to religion” (270) would seem to be religious even if not providing many desired metaphysical answers, precisely because it was to be understood in light of other beliefs or belief systems.

 

That said, it was fair for the Cordingley court to point out that the United States Supreme Court has not always espoused deference to the claim that particular views are religious. (271) The Yoder Court suggested that it is permissible to distinguish between the religious and the philosophical, (272) although the Court provided no guidance about how to perform that task beyond saying that Thoreau’s views were not religious. (273) The failure to say more was regrettable, if only because many of such analyses will be subject to one of the dangers mentioned by the Ballard Court—permitting the trier-off act to decide whether a particular set of beliefs is religious or, perhaps, sufficiently profound or comprehensive opens the door to a potentially unsympathetic trier-of-fact subjecting a set of avowedly religious beliefs to very critical examination. (274) While Yoder might have been trying to protect the diversity of religious belief,(275) it has been used to exclude belief systems from qualifying as religious.

 

 

Foot notes

245. Id. (“[T]he church does not dispute that the taking would serve a public purpose.”).

246. Id. (“[The church] asserts that the county has failed to show a reasonable necessity for

the taking and is in violation of the Florida Religious Freedom Restoration Act (FRFRA).”).

247. Id. at 1166 (“The pastor testified that he did not know where they will go if the church is

taken, and he has no other place for holding religious education.”).

248. See id. at 1168 (“[The] church’s insistence that a specific church building for holding

worship services is fundamental to religious exercise.”).

249. Id. (“Our supreme court expressly rejected any definition of substantial burden other

than that compelling conduct or that forbidding conduct. By no stretch does an otherwise valid

condemnation fall within these limits.”).

250. Christian Romany Church, 980 So. 2d at 1168.

251. Id.

252. Id. at 1167.

253. Cf. Guru Nanak Sikh Soc. of Yuba City v. Cnty. of Sutter, 456 F.3d 978, 981 (9th Cir.

2006) (“We find that the County imposed a substantial burden on Appellee Guru Nanak Sikh

Society of Yuba City’s . . . religious exercise under RLUIPA because the stated reasons and

history behind the denial at issue, and a previous denial of Guru Nanak’s application to build a

temple on a parcel of land zoned ‘residential,’ to a significantly great extent lessened the

possibility of Guru Nanak constructing a temple in the future.”).

254. Idaho v. Cordingley, 302 P.3d 730 (Idaho Ct. App. 2013).

255. Id. at 731 (“Levon Fred Cordingley appeals from the district court’s intermediate

appellate decision affirming the magistrate’s denial of his motion to dismiss the possession of

marijuana and paraphernalia charges against him on the basis his right to religious freedom under

the Idaho Free Exercise of Religion Protected Act (FERPA).”).

256. Id. at 732.

257. Id. at 733.

258. See id. (“To establish a prima facie RFRA claim, a plaintiff must present evidence

sufficient to allow a trier of fact rationally to find the existence of two elements. First, the

activities the plaintiff claims are burdened by the government action must be an ‘exercise of

religion.’ Second, the government action must ‘substantially burden’ the plaintiff’s exercise of

religion.”) (quoting Navajo Nation v. U.S. Forest Serv., 535 F.3d 1058, 1068 (9th Cir. 2008)

(internal citations omitted)).

259. Id. at 734 (“[I]t was undisputed that Cordingley’s beliefs were both sincerely held and

substantially burdened by the applicable controlled substances statutes.”).

260. Cordingley, 302 P.3d at 734 (citing the district court opinion).

261. Id. (citing the district court opinion).

262. Id. at 736.

263. Id. (citing United States v. Meyers, 906 F. Supp. 1494, 1499 (D. Wyo. 1995)).

264. Id. (Adams, J., concurring) (citing Malnak v. Yogi, 592 F.2d 197, 208–09 (3d Cir.

1979)).

265. Id. at 744 (“to some degree the COCT is comprised of a structure containing some of the

‘accoutrements of religion’”).

266. Cordingley, 302 P.3d at 745.

267. See United States v. Ballard, 322 U.S. 78, 79 (1944).

268. Id. at 86.

269. Id. at 87.

270. Cordingley, 154 P.3d at 734.

271. See id. at 736 (discussing Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U.S. 205, 215–16 (1972)).

272. See Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U.S. 205, 216 (1972).

273. Id.

274. Cf. Ballard, 322 U.S. at 87 (“The miracles of the New Testament, the Divinity of Christ,

life after death, the power of prayer are deep in the religious convictions of many. If one could be

sent to jail because a jury in a hostile environment found those teachings false, little indeed would

be left of religious freedom.”).

275. See Yoder, 406 U.S. at 220–21.

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