How to develop spirituality in oneself? This question often arises for people who seek to find inner harmony and awareness. One method for an in-depth spiritual experience is the consumption of ayahuasca, a powerful psychedelic.

New global research shows that ayahuasca can lead to significant changes in perception and spiritual identity.

Research on changes in spirituality after ayahuasca

One of the interesting findings of the study by Daniel Perkins et al. (2023) on insights after Ayahuasca is the compelling evidence that Ayahuasca helps many people develop spirituality in themselves. The authors of the study look at spirituality using a division into categories such as:

• atheist – does not believe in the existence of any higher powers and god, anything beyond reason and the “visible” spectrum of perception.
• agnostic – a person who does not believe in higher powers, as he has not received evidence of their existence, but does not deny the existence of such powers, his motto: I do not know whether there is or not, maybe there is, but I have not seen.
• believer – an adherent of a religion who believes in the existence of a god/gods and a higher power, but in the context of the “rules” and attitudes of that religion.
• spiritual – that person who does not believe, but feels within himself/herself a connection and unity with the world, filling through the greater whole.

The study found that ayahuasca use led to a decrease in the number of atheists, agnostics, and believers, while there was a significant increase in the proportion of people who reported direct experience and realisation of a higher power or universal divinity, and dissolution of their ego, which are spiritual experiences. analysis of changes between these categories showed an overwhelming shift after ayahuasca use towards the ‘spiritual’ category: for example, only 19% of atheists and 26% of believers remained in their views.

Spirituality and religiosity: What is the difference?

To understand how to develop spirituality in yourself, it is important to distinguish the concepts of spirituality and religiosity. If with atheism everything is clear, then how to be here? Both religion and spirituality seem to include the divine beginning, Spirit, etc.

In brief, religion is built on faith and rituals, and spirituality – on knowledge and an inner sense of one’s unity with the world.

Spirituality, spiritual path and development are not connected with any religion and culture at all.

If we turn to complex philosophical works, we will learn from there that spirituality is inner freedom in the choice of action, independence of a person from any attitudes and stereotypes, styles of behaviour and thinking invented by people or society, but based on the ability to feel love, joy, compassion, admiration. Not to invent (remember) sensations, but to directly generate them in oneself de novo, from within, without any external stimuli. Sort of just like that.

What prevents the development of spirituality?

How is this feeling of inner freedom and knowledge created, where does it come from, and in general, is it for everyone or for the chosen ones? To fill the reserved territories of the soul, to spiritualise, i.e. to meet Spirit, essence, the Universe, etc.? – is an ability that does not depend on intellect and physical data. This ability to feel the world and know it directly is initially given to everyone. However, under the influence of attitudes, stereotypes and life styles it can be blocked.

We do not choose in which family and society we are born, and therefore already at this stage we begin to disable the “option” to feel the Spirit, we become as if we were cut off from the unified world by a glass hood.

In the end, a person may come to the realisation that he or she somehow lives wrongly, that it is necessary to change something in life, to improve it.

For example, he or she comes to some spiritual practices and starts to feel love, compassion, kindness inside him or her again (or really wants to believe what he or she feels). But then he or she slips back into everyday life, still tormented by something. There is no conviction that you have improved yourself so well that you can end there. This is where the seemingly imperceptible trap of “spirituality improves life” comes into play.

Of course, it is better to start your path in this way than in no way. Some people continue in this way, ineffectively, while others come to Ayahuasca, get a real sense of oneness with the world, and realise that the spiritual path has no purpose to improve anything.

How does Ayahuasca help to develop spirituality?

Ayahuasca reveals our original capacity for the experiences of love, selfless caring, compassion, admiration for beauty, joy in creativity, and kindness. Ayahuasca brings the knowledge that true spiritual experiences have no purpose at all, but that everyone is capable of knowing them.

Ayahuasca brings back the ability to feel at one with the universe by dissolving the interfering and limiting ego of the mind. It does not affect the personality negatively, it carefully removes the “excrescences” from this personality, that which hinders, restrains and shields from receiving knowledge directly. It shows how it can be –  how to live easily and harmoniously according to the simple way of feeling and right choice.

Ayahuasca shows spiritual power and the ability to love, not for the purpose of a person to establish relationships or make money, but because he is able to be like this regardless of his earthly “tasks” and personal games.

Ayahuasca shows and gives the choice to live in accordance with the way one is “designed” or to return to the paradigm of ordinary perception.

The result of spiritual practice with ayahuasca is freedom from ego, the approval of others, and the law of profit. Spirituality allows one to think and act in the interests of others: nature, animals, people, planet, etc.

Spirituality makes selflessness possible, because one is filled and has something to give.

The authors of the study note that after ayahuasca, people who directly experience a sense of holiness, a higher power or the divine become receptive and open to more intangible and spiritual aspects in their ordinary lives.

This is the state that many people have been trying to find for so long, including in religion, but most often without success. And that is why it happens that some beliefs, attitudes and beliefs change for other, more “convincing” ones.

For example, a person was a follower of one confession or doctrine, but something disappointed him there and attracted him elsewhere. And again “there is no rest for the soul!

As a result of working with Ayahuasca, the need for further search disappears, the path of disappointment and torment ends.

A person finds some inner meaning, which can become his support and reference point in his future life, as well as a resource for healing and spiritual comfort. And, unlike believing in what convincingly told by other people, this will be knowledge received directly, and therefore does not require any additional explanations and rituals. Numerous ayahuasca reviews confirm this.

So, if you are looking for a way to develop spirituality in yourself, it may be time to turn to spiritual practices using an ayahuasca retreat. It can bring you back to your natural state of oneness with the world and inner meaning.

Original research:

Perkins D, Opaleye E, Bouso JC, Tófoli LF, Sarris J, Schubert V, Ruffell S, Simonova H. Insights, Life Changes and Lifestyle Changes Reported by Individuals Consuming Ayahuasca in Naturalistic Settings: Nature, Frequency and Associations with Mental Health and Wellbeing. Psychoactives. 2023; 2(4):256-286. https://doi.org/10.3390/psychoactives2040017