when the bad trip turns out to be reality

Literature available on the subject of higher consciousness and mystic states tends to describe a pleasant experience of peace, light, revelation, etc. I can’t help but think this is suspect. We have every reason to believe that whatever step we take toward objective truth leads us farther into the wilderness and up into the inhospitable climates of ice and rocks and thin air. Realizations of higher consciousness, in all likelihood would cause a man to choke and vomit. His mind would collapse in horror. He would wet the bed. Sleep is the only thing that allows us to be sane. If awakened from sleep, one would be paralyzed with existential horror. The simplest task would become impossible. This exalted state described in the books is no revelation, no mystic consciousness. A revelation is truth –and truth is pain.