196 JP The Secret LiJe of Nature
the elemental worlds, observing the spiritual world beyond the thresh-
old while outside the physical body, "exercising in a healthy way the
faculties which lead it to the right observation of the physical sense
world."
But if you do not have the time or the conviction to follow
Steiner's careful recipe for becoming clairvoyant, for traveling on the
astral plane, or for communing with the spirit world-carefully spelled
out as it is in Knowledge ofHigher Worlds and How to Achieve It-there
may be a shortcut, similar to the one taken in the ancient mysteries by
imbibing Amanita muscaria. This alternate route is via a vine native to
the Amazonian rainforest, the ayahuasca vine, whose derivative brew is
known as yaje, caapi, or natema. It may not be as solid a route as is out-
lined by Steiner, but it may be convincing enough of the reality of
Steiner's supersensible world to make the longer route worth traveling.