DOCUMENT RESUME

ED 407 298 SO 026 897

AUTHOR Roberts, Thomas B.; Hruby, Paula JoTITLE Entheogens Return of the Ostracized.PUB DATE 96

NOTE 69p.; Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the AmericanEducational Research Association (New York, NY, April 8-12,1996) .

PUB TYPE Reports Research (143) Speeches/Meeting Papers (150)EDRS PRICE MF01/PC03 Plus Postage.DESCRIPTORS *Drug Use; *Mysticism; Pharmacology; *Philosophy; *Religion;

*Religion Studies; Religious DifferencesIDENTIFIERS *Entheogens

ABSTRACTThis paper explores the roles that "entheogens" have played

in religions from early shaman times to contemporary indigenous and syncreticpractices. The word "entheogen" was coined to denote pschyoactive chemicalsand botanicals which engender the experience of God within (Ott, 1993). Part1 of the paper points to three background changes that provide a moresupportive climate for investigating entheogens than has occurred for manyyears. Part 2 discusses entheogens' possible contributions to religious andeducational research. Part 3 describes provocative pilot studies and researchquestions which can guide additional research. Some of these topics are: thenature of the human mind; pastoral counseling; experimental mysticism; andthe dispute over drug-assisted primary religious experience. Contains 95references. (EH)

********************************************************************************

Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be madefrom the original document.

********************************************************************************

.0I efilthecoir 00'

wow of theT:ostr CO°

Thomas B. Roberts, Ph.D. (troberts@niu.edu)

Paula Jo Hruby, M.S.Ed. (phruby@niu.edu)

Northern Illinois University

Children of a future age,

Reading this indignant page,

Know that in a former time

A path to God was thought a crime.

(adapted from William Blake)

PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE ANDDISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL

HAS BEEN GRANTED BY

"Th s 13. Ro 6e f k_S

TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCESINFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)

_

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONOffice of Educational Research and Improvement

EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATIONCENTER (ERIC)

This document has been reproduced asreceived from the person or organizationoriginating it.

Minor changes have been made toimprove reproduction quality.

Presented at the American Educational Research Association

1996 Annual Meeting, New York, April 8-12

Sponsored by the Religion and Education SIG

BEST COPY AVAILABLE 2

Points of view or opinions stated in thisdocument do not necessarily representofficial OERI position or policy.

Ought it to be assumed that in all men the mixture of religion with other

elements should be identical? Ought it, indeed, to be assumed that the

lives of all men should show identical religious elements? In other words,

is the existence of so many religious types and sects and creeds

regrettable?

To these questions I answer "No" emphatically. And my reason is that I

do not see how it is possible that creatures in such different positions and

with such different powers as human individuals are, should have exactly

the same functions nor should we be expected to work out identical

solutions. Each, from his peculiar angle of observation, takes in a certain

sphere of fact and trouble, which each must deal with in a unique

manner.

William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience, 1902

Mentor edition, 1958, page 368

TIMELY NOTES

PBS television stations are now airing a 5-part series on world religionswith Bill Moyers interviewing Huston Smith. You may want tosuggest that your students, colleagues, and congregants read Smith'swritings on entheogens. These are listed in our bibliography.

On Wednesday, April 10th, Tom Roberts, one of the coauthors of thispaper, will be giving a lecture Psychoactive Sacraments: MyEntheogenic Religion at the Open Society Institute of the LindesmithCenter, 888 Seventh Ave., from 4-6 PM. Enter on 56th or 57th Street. Itis free and open to the public, but be sure to call ahead to reserve aplace since seating is limited: 212-887-0695.

3

Entheogens 1

Abstract

The word "entheogen" was coined to denote chemicals and botanicals which engender theexperience of god within (Ott, 1993). From the early origins of shamanic religions throughcontemporary indigenous and syncretic religions, entheogens have played a number of roles.Sometimes they were perceived as sacraments, sometimes as gifts of the gods, sometimesas demonic, sometimes as gods themselves. Summarizing the research, Grinspoon andBakalar (1979, p. 267) conclude that, "It should not be necessary to supply any more proofthat psychedelic drugs produce experiences that those who undergo them regard as religiousin the fullest sense." Fascinating and important questions remain to be researchedconcerning these "plants of the gods." What research opportunities do entheogenspresent for educational and religious researchers?

Part 1 of this paper points to three background changes which provide a more supportiveclimate for investigating entheogens than has occurred for many years. These are: (1) amultistate paradigm, that is, an intellectual climate that recognizes that human behavior andexperience occur in many mindbody states; (2) the growth of psychology to consider whetherhuman nature includes a spiritual aspect, the effects of ego transcendence, and mysticalexperiences; and (3) within religious communities the growing recognition that, along withthe usual foundations of religionbelief, ritual, the written word, and religiousorganizationprimary religious experience forms an additional and essential foundation forreligion.

Part 2 exemplifies entheogens' possible contributions to religious and educational research.Examples are drawn from three areas research: (1) theoretical and conceptual research,defining concepts such as "transpersonal," "mystical experience," and "unitive mindbodystates" while exploring the theoretical connection of humanity's spiritual aspect withmystical or intense religious mindbody states; (2) empirical research, describing previousresearch using psychoactive substances for entheogenic or therapeutic purposes; (3) currentresearch study, correlational studies reporting on people who currently use entheogens forprimary religious experiences using the Mysticism Scale (Hood, 1975).

Part 3 presents some provocative pilot studies, and research questions which can guideadditional research. Topics are: (1) the nature of the human mind, (2) pastoral counseling, (3)experimental mysticism, (4) the dispute over the authenticity of drug-assisted primaryreligious experience, (5) entheogenic origins of religion, and (6) policy issues. Finally, part 3makes recommendations for an entheogen-based research agenda.

Entheogens 2

Entheogens return of the Ostracized

The decisive question in the human being's life is this, am I related tosomething infinite or not? C. G. Jung

Introduction

Humans are not only physical, mental, and emotional beings but also spiritual ones. Thisspiritual aspect is innate to humankind according to Assagioli (1965), Fowler (1991), Grof(1992), Maslow (1968), Jung (1958, 1973), Walsh and Vaughan (1993), Wilber (1995), andthe world's major religious traditions (Smith, 1958, 1992). Whereas this spiritual aspect isnatural, actualizing it is not universal, albeit the potential exists (Greeley, 1974; James, 1982;Maslow, 1968; Stace, 1961). Experiencing intense religious or mystical phenomena oftenincreases the individual's awareness of an underlying unity with others, nature, life, God,Goddess, the One, or Ultimate Reality. This unity exists beyond the finite boundaries of thephysical human body (Assagioli, 1965; Steindl-Rast, in press).

In this paper we will discuss entheogens, psychoactive plants and chemicals usedreligiously (Lucas, 1995; Ruck, Bigwood, Staples, Ott, & Wasson, 1979). Commonentheogens are peyote, LSD, psychoactive mushrooms, ayahuasca, marijuana, and a host ofother synthetic and natural compounds. While these substances may also be used for otherpurposes, it is their spiritual use that qualifies them as entheogens. Apparently theentheogen-based spiritual quest is making a return to Western religion after being exiled formany years.

Part 1 of this paper describes some ongoing background changes in the intellectualclimate, psychology, and religion: these provide a nurturing context which fosters the return ofentheogens. Part 2 describes a study of mystical experience among university students andattendees at a religious conference-retreat about entheogens. Part 3 presents leads to futureresearch.

Part 1Contextual Shifts

Beginning in the late 1950s and continuing today, we see three broad background shiftsthat facilitate the return of entheogens; all of these are changes in the general intellectualbackground, psychology, and religion.

Intellectual Context

In contrast to two or three decades ago, there is increasing recognition in today'sintellectual environment that humans produce and use many mindbody states in addition toour ordinary awake state (Murphy, 1992; Roberts, 1989). Most everyone is familiar with theordinary awake state of consciousness, the sleeping state, and the dreaming state. Eachstate of consciousness differs distinctly from another; for example, sleeping discretely variesfrom the normal awake state and from the state of intoxication. Other labels have beenapplied to these discrete states of consciousness such as psychophysiological states andmindbody states (Roberts, 1989). Instead of using state of consciousness, we have chosen touse the more descriptive phrase mindbody state to emphasize the interconnection between

5

Entheogens 3

the mind (psychological) and body (physiological).The ideas that all worthwhile abilitiesoccur only in our ordinary awake state and its correlate, that other states are useless and/orharmful, are increasingly recognized as erroneous assumptions that interfere with science andrestrict scholarship; Roberts and Hruby (1996) name this the "Singlestate Fallacy."

In the 1950s and 1960s altered states were less acceptable as topics of intellectualinquiry, but with their acceptance has come the recognition that a complete psychology mustinclude observations of psychological processes in all states, not just our ordinary state."The most important obligation of any science is that its descriptive and theoretical languageembrace all the phenomena of its subject matter; the data from [altered states ofconsciousness] cannot be ignored if we are to develop a comprehensive psychology" (Tart,1960, p. 6). The same principle applies equally to education and religion as well as topsychology.

Today psychotechnologies for achieving a greater range of mindbody states such asmeditation, dreams, hypnosis, imagery, sensory isolation and overload, some prayer andspiritual routines, biofeedback, yoga, the martial arts, and so forth are ground breaking topicsfor scholarly and intellectual study. Many, if not most, introductory textbooks in psychologyfeature chapters or sections on altered states of consciousness. While a climate of opennessto a multistate model of human nature is by no means universal, the singlestate proponentsare dying and retiring as Kuhn (1962) describes. The increasing acceptance of the multistateparadigm by the younger replacements places entheogens (as another method for changingmindbody states) in a friendlier climate of ideas.

Psychological Context

Within psychology a number of related topics has emerged. Ego-transcendence (Journalof Transpersonal Psychology, 1969+) has opened questions which have to do withexperiences that entheogens often, but not always, provide. Does human nature include anatural desire to transcend the ego? In his later writings, Maslow (1967, 1968) describesego-transcendence as a stage "beyond self-actualization." In Religions, Values and PeakExperiences (1964, p. xiv) he specifically refers to the LSD-assisted work of Grof. Jungianpsychology (Jung, 1958, 1973) particularly the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (Myers, 1987),even though it is not oriented toward transcendence, has directed the attention of manypeople toward Jung's psychology with its emphasis on the collective unconscious andarchetypes. Entheogens often put one in touch with archetypical experiences. In boththeoretical and empirical articles (e.g., Lukoff & Lu, 1988) The Journal of TranspersonalPsychology (1969+) chronicles much of the pioneering research on mindbody experiences andpsychotechnologies, including meditation, psychedelics, mystical experiences, egolessexperiences, and psychotechnologies for achieving these states.

Religious Context

In the past few years several events have occurred which may indicate that entheogensare being seriously reconsidered within segments of the American religious community andgovernment. These events include, among others, :

the growth of Pentacostalism with its emphasis on religious experience as morefundamental than belief, church organization, or established ritual (Cox, 1993);

6

Entheogens 4

the disenchantment of many people, especially young people, with some traditionalreligions whose legitimacy is based on dogmatic beliefs, the written word, unfulfillingritual, and religious organization. "Where are religious experiences?" they ask;

the Chicago Theological Seminary cosponsored an entheogenically oriented conference,Psychoactive Sacraments,which is anticipated to be the first of a series of suchconference-retreats;

publication of a book which reviews the entheogenic literature during the past fourdecades, Religion and Psychoactive Sacraments: A Bibliographic Guide (Roberts &Hruby, 1995);

the passage of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the Native AmericanFreedom of Religion Act by Congress (also see Aberle 1991);

the growth of American and immigrant religions which use entheogens;

interest in Eastern and experience-based religions;

rave masses and services [raves usually involve the use of the psychoactive substanceMDMA also know as ecstasy, "E" or Adam which is described as an empathogen(Adamson, 1985) or entactogen, "touching the self within," (Shulgin, 1995)];

the founding of the Council on Spiritual Practices, San Francisco (1994+).

A growing distinction is being made between religious uses of psychoactive plants andchemicals such as that by the Native American Church (Aberle, 1991) and their secular uses(The Entheogen Law Reporter, 1993+; Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies,1990+). Distinctions are being made on the basis of spiritual intent (Jesse, 1995), liturgicaluse within ecclesiastical settings (Lucas, 1995), substances used (those promoting mysticalstates and which are non-addictive), and preferred outcomes (mystical, sacred, and/orprimary religious experience). Ongoing research on the Uniao do Vegetal Church (McKenna& Grob, 1994), one of two contemporary Brazilian religions which use ayahuasca, may pointthe way to similar religious practices and research in the United States.

One of Pahnke's (1964) subjects in the entheogen-based Good Friday Experiment (seebelow), Rev. Mike Young, currently a Unitarian-Universalist Minister, poses entheogen-based questions which combine pastoral and theological concerns and raise topics whichentheogen researchers need to address (Young, 1995):

Here are some drugs that reshape and reframe our meaning-making in ways that wereligious leaders have always said were good. How could that be naughty? (p. 37)

How will we respond to our own followers telling us that the drug experience is religiousexperience, that our faith boundaries are fluid, if not passé? (p. 38)

How do we learn to most usefully and effectively evoke the set and create the setting fornon-particularistic religious experience? (p. 38)

Entheogens 5

The expansion of intellectual context to accept a multistate paradigm, the growth of psychologyto study all mindbody states and ways of achieving them, the expansion of religion to recognize theimportance of primary religious experience, and the expansion of experience-basedreligionstogether these chronicle a shifting social climate that is hospitable to entheogens.

Part 2The Varieties of Mystical Experience:Theory and Rese rch

Entheogens, psychoactive plants and substances used for spiritual/religious purposes, havebeen employed for centuries by shamans and indigenous peoples as a kind of "skeleton key"(Richard, 1975) to unlock the door to the other world, the spiritual or transcendent realm (Furst,1972; Samorini, 1995; Schultes & Hofmann, 1992; Walsh, 1990). This part of the paper has threepurposes: (1) to explore the theoretical and conceptual connection of humanity's spiritual aspectwith mystical mindbody states; (2) to present empirical research of psychoactive substances usedspiritually or therapeutically; and (3) to report the results of a recent research study of individualswho currently use entheogens by examining their experience of mystical phenomena through the useof the Mysticism Scale (Hood, 1975).

Theoretical and Conceptual Research

Transpersonal Experiences. "Transpersonal experiences may be defined as experiences inwhich the sense of identity or self extends beyond (trans) the individual or personal to encompasswider aspects of humankind, life, psyche, and cosmos" (Walsh & Vaughan, 1993, p. 3). Therefore,mystical, peak, ecstatic, numinous, transcendent, intense spiritual, and primary religious experiencescan be viewed as one group of similar transpersonal experiences. These numerous terms, althoughnot identical, overlap in their definitions and share some of the same characteristics or qualities.Specifically, they all express an underlying sense of unity or experience of oneness (James, 1982;Pahnke, 1963; Stace, 1961).

These unitive experiences or unitive mindbody states might be considered the most intensesubset of transpersonal experiences since they not only expand the boundaries of the ego to includewider aspects of life but also dissolve these boundaries in such a way as to momentarily connectwith Supreme Reality. Grof (1975), besides defining transpersonal experiences as going beyond theusual ego boundaries, adds an alteration in the usual sense of time and/or space. Meditative,shamanic, contemplative, and entheogenic mindbody states, to name a few, are other groups oftranspersonal experiences which may or may not lead to mystical or primary religious experience.

Maslow discovered the transpersonal realm when he was studying self-actualized individuals,that is, individuals who seemed to have reached their potential (Maslow, 1964, 1968; Roberts,1978). Maslow found that many of these self-actualizers had what he labeled "peak" experienceswhich connected the percipient to what he termed the "transhuman" or "transpersonal" realm ofexistence. He equated peak experiences to "secularized religious or mystical or transcendentexperiences" (1964, p. xii).

Since the term "peak experience" was coined by Maslow, it has been employed invarious contexts both generally, encompassing the entire range of exceptionallymeaningful human experiences, and specifically, delineating a transcendental form ofconsciousness, the hallmark of which is unity. (Richards, et al., 1977, p. 1)

8

Entheogens 6

As in the research study by Richards et al. (1977), this paper deals exclusively with thelatter definition of "peak experience." Mystical or primary religious experiences which havebeen posited to be the inspirational source for creating ritual, developing beliefs, andobligating actionthe foundations of traditional religions (Campbell, 1988; Maslow, 1964;Steindl-Rast (in press).

Mystical Mindbody States. Peak experiences are similar to the mystical experiencesdescribed in the some of the classic works on mysticism, Bucke's (1961) CosmicConsciousness, originally written in 1901, James' (1982)Varieties of Religious Experience,originally written in 1902, Stace's (1961) Mysticism and Philosophy, and Underhill's (1930)Mysticism. Csikszentmihalyi's (1990) description of "flow" Greeley's (1974) ecstaticexperience, and the integral level of Masters and Houston (1966) are also descriptions oftranscendent mystical experiences. Maslow (1964; 1968) preferred the term "peak" over"mystical" in order to prevent any confusion with the various connotations of "religious."Hood (1974) explains that intense religious experiences are commonly labeled "mystical,""peak," or "ecstatic."

Stace (1961) examined the written accounts of mystical experiences of Eastern andWestern religious and philosophical traditions across the centuries and categorized thephenomenological characteristics of what he termed extrovertive and introvertive [sic]mystical experiences. The basic difference between the extrovertive and introvertivemystical experience lies in the type of unity that is experienced. Extrovertive mystical unityfocuses on an outward type of unity in which the One is seen shining through the multiplicityof the world. The two characteristics of extrovertive unity are the Unifying Vision where allthings are seen as One and the more concrete apprehension of the One as an innersubjectivity or a sense that life is present in all things.

The introvertive mystical experience is inner directed awareness or as Stace labels it"consciousness" in which the multiplicity has been transcended. He explains that this type ofunity is more deeply rewarding and, in a sense, a more full or real mystical experiencebecause it also transcends time and space. The two characteristics of introvertive unity arethe Unitary Consciousness, pure consciousness of the One or the Void.

Stace also delineates five characteristics which are common to both the extrovertive andintrovertive mystical experience. These are: (1) sense of objective reality, a noetic knowing,as James (1982) termed it; (2) deep feelings of blessedness, peace, joy, etc.; (3) feelings ofthe holy, sacred, or divine; (4) paradoxicality, the experience of the simultaneous truth ofpolar opposites; and (5) the alleged ineffability of these experiences by the mysticsthemselves. See Table 1 which outlines the separate and similar characteristics of Stace'sextrovertive and introvertive mystical experiences. Other researchers also see the unityexperience as the hallmark of mystical experience and use the terms internal and externalunity rather than Stace's introvertive and extrovertive (Pahnke, 1963; Richards, 1975;Richards et al., 1977).

Insert Table 1 About Here

In addition to Stace, the writings of other philosophers, psychologists, and researchers

9

Entheogens 7

such as Bucke (1961), James (1982), and Underhill (1930) have been used as springboardsfor empirically assessing mystical phenomena (Hood, 1974, 1975; Pahnke, 1969; Richards etal., 1977). Using Stace's (1961) work, Hood (1975) developed the Mysticism Scale (MScale), a self-report of past experiences of mystical phenomena, which is the most commonlyused instrument for assessing mystical experience (Doblin, 1990; Hood, Morris, & Watson,1993; Lukoff & Lu, 1988). The M Scale is discussed and presented in detail in the currentresearch section (Hruby, 1996).

These phenomenological experiences of mysticism are associated with a wide range oftriggers or antecedents such as attending religious services, chanting, childbirth, dreaming,drumming, entheogens, fasting, guided imagery, psychoactive substances, meditation, near-death experiences, contemplative prayer, relaxation techniques, sensory deprivation, sexuallovemaking, and various physical routines such as regulated breathing, yoga, aikido, anddancing (Greeley, 1974; Maslow, 1964; Noble, 1987).

This long list of triggers suggests that there are many experiences, practices, spiritual orotherwise, that seem to catalyze mystical experiences. Sometimes mystical experiencesseem to occur "out of the blue" as if something extra happens one particular time whilewatching a sunset or meditating. This extra something has been conceptualized as a force orenergy, and sometimes referred to as grace, that exists beyond the individual's personal egoboundaries (Greeley, 1974; Smith, 1992; Zaehner, 1961).

Adjunctive methods are often used to aid shifting from one mindbody state to anothersuch as chanting, drumming, ecstatic dancing, administration of psychoactive substances, andmeditative or yogic practices (McKenna, 1992). Entheogens have been used for thousands ofyears to alter mindbody states (Wasson, 1968). Maslow (1968) suggests that psychedelicsmight be used in the right settings and with the right people to enhance the possibility of suchan occurrence rather than wait for it to occur naturally.

Previous Empirical Research

There is only room for the consideration of a few studies in this section of Part 2.Pahnke's study in experimental mysticism is presented in detail since it is referred tothroughout this paper and is regarded as a classic in the scientific study of psychedelics.Other studies are mentioned and examined in varying degree; all are presented because oftheir relevance to our discussion of entheogens.

Pahnke's Good Friday Experiment. On Good Friday in 1962 Pahnke (1963, 1969)conducted a double-blind experiment: (1) to gather empirical data about the altered state ofconsciousness experience with psychedelic drugs in a religious setting, and (2) to comparethese data with the nine categories of a mystical mindbody state formulated from the work ofStace (1961) and others. The nine categories that Pahnke delineated were: (1) Unity, thehallmark of mystical consciousness, both internal and external unity; (2) Transcendence ofSpace and Time; (3) Deeply-Felt Positive Mood; (4) Sense of a Sacredness; (5) Objectivityand Reality, similar to James' "noetic quality;" (6) Paradoxicality; (7) Alleged Ineffability;(8) Transiency, the duration of a mystical mindbody state is finite, lasting anywhere from afew seconds to a maximum of a few hours. This is the important difference between mysticalstates and psychosis; and (9) Positive Changes in Attitude and/or Behavior.

10

Entheogens 8

The volunteer subjects were 20 volunteer, middle-class, Christian theological students whowere screened extensively. Half of the subjects received 30 mg of psilocybin before the GoodFriday service began, the other half received a placebo. All the subjects and group leaderswere in a lounge in a chapel with a loud speaker that piped in the Good Friday service whichconsisted of prayers, organ music, solos, and personal meditation which lasted for 2.5 hours.Pahnke designed the experiment to be meaningful and familiar to the participants. He tried tocreate an atmosphere similar to the atmosphere achieved by tribes who use naturalpsychedelic substances in religious ceremonies.

Both shortly after the experiment and then 6 months later, the subjects were asked to write adescription of their experience, answer a questionnaire, and participate in an interview.Statistical analysis of these data indicated that the psilocybin subjects had a significantlymore intense experience than the controls in 8 of the 9 categories of the mystical typology inall methods of measurement. The only category which less clearly differentiated the twogroups was Sense of Sacredness.

Since the set and setting were the same in the experiment for both groups, the drug wasconcluded to be the facilitating factor in the difference between the psilocybin subjects and thecontrols. Eight of the 10 psilocybin subjects described the experienced as profoundlyimpacting them which caused them to contemplate the experience, rethink their lifephilosophies and values, and integrate what they learned.

Doblin's 25 year follow-up of the Good Friday Experiment. In his article, Doblin(1992) does a follow-up study with the original participants of Pahnke's Good FridayExperiment in addition to a methodological critique. After a great deal of effort, Doblin wasable to locate 16 of the original 20 subjects and to interview them along with administeringthe original 100-item questionnaire from the experiment 25 years previously. Nine from thecontrol group were found and seven from the psilocybin group. Of the three absent from thepsilocybin subjects, Doblin discovered that one was deceased, one was unable to beidentified, and one refused to participate citing concerns over privacy.

All psilocybin subjects participating in the long-term follow-up, but none of thecontrols, still considered their original experience to have had genuinely mysticalelements and to have made a uniquely valuable contribution to their spiritual lives.The positive changes described by the psilocybin subjects at six months, which insome cases involved basic vocational and value choices and spiritualunderstandings, had persisted over time and in some cases had deepened. (Doblin,1992, p. 23)

The most outstanding criticisms Doblin had for the experiment were that Pahnke (1)minimized the psychological struggle and difficulties that a number of the psilocybin subjectshad in working through the negative material the psilocybin seemed to activate, and (2)omitted mentioning that one psilocybin subject was administered the tranquilizer thorazine tocalm him down because of the fear reaction catalyzed by the psilocybin. Doblin believes thatthis is probably the subject that refused to be interviewed; and, although such an omission isunjustifiable in the reporting of scientific results, he speculates as to why these occurred,particularly noting the media hype around the topic of psychedelics at the time. Pahnke (1963)explains that this subject did not prepare seriously for the experiment, and he had an attitudethat it was only a psychological experiment. At one point the subject described his fear

Entheogens 9

reactions as "a psychotic episode" but at the six-month follow-up reported that he felt thatthe persistent negative effects were only "slightly harmful" (p. 232).

Despite the two criticisms mentioned above, Doblin concludes that "the original GoodFriday Experiment is one of the preeminent psychedelic experiments in scientific literature"(p. 23). The results of which robustly support the hypothesis that psychedelic drugs canassist in facilitating mystical experiences in individuals with a religious psychological set in areligious setting. We echo Doblin's call to replicate this study under a variety of sets andsettings in Part 3 of this paper.

Therapeutic use of DPT with cancer patients. Richards (1975) and Richards et al.(1977) modified Pahnke's original categories of mystical or peak experience from nine to six:(1) Unity, both external and internal; (2) Transcendence of Time and Space; (3) Objectivityand Reality; (4) Deeply-Felt Positive Mood; (5) Sense of a Sacredness; (6) Paradoxicalityand Ineffability. Transiency, since it occurs in many mindbody states, was eliminated alongwith assessing the long term positive effects of the experience. Paradoxicality and AllegedIneffability were combined into one category and are considered as a single unit.

Richards et al. (1977) explored what the contribution of peak experiences (usingPahnke's criterion as modified above) might be for short-term therapy with cancer patients.DPT, a short-acting psychedelic drug, was used and administered only once with each of 34subjects. There were three phases of the study: (Phase I) psychotherapy for 3 or 4 weekswith the subject to develop rapport, to address relevant issues and to prepare for the DPTsession; (Phase II) consisted of the DPT-assisted therapy session which began and endedwith the family therapy; (Phase III) "began on the day immediately following the DPT-assisted therapy session and focused on the process of integrating new insights into thefabric of every day existence" (p. 3). This phase lasted three weeks involving several morehours of therapy.

Fifteen of the subjects were found to have had peak experiences while the other 19 didnot. Richards et al. (1977) found that the peakers had significantly higher scores on all sixcategories of peak experience as compared with the nonpeakers. "Those who had peakexperiences impressed the therapists as being most free of psychological distress at thetermination of therapy" (p. 8). Specifically, the peakers showed significant gains in twoscales on the Personal Orientation Inventory, "Capacity for Intimate Contact" and"Existentiality" in comparison to the nonpeakers. Also see Richards' (1975) dissertationwhich involved research with cancer patients and their families and Grof and Halifax's (1977)book on psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy with the terminally ill, The Human Encounterwith Death.

Psychedelic exploration and mystical mindbody states. Grof, a psychiatrist, studiedthe effects of psychedelics, particularly LSD, on patients in a therapeutic settings (1975,1985, 1992). His research, spanning four decades, started in Czechoslovakia and then movedto the United States. From information from over five thousand of sessions with his andcolleagues' patients, he was able to chart a map of the human unconscious. He discoveredthat the human unconscious consists of three realms: (1) the biographical or psychodynamic;(2) perinatal or Rankian; and (3) the transpersonal. Grof believes that if a client is given achance to work through her psychodynamic material that eventually she will come to thetranspersonal realm and have transpersonal experiences not dissimilar to peak or mystical

12

Entheogens 11

The population with which this paper is particularly concerned is the 42 researchparticipants who reported that they currently engage in the spiritual use of drugs(entheogens). These 42 respondents consist of 31 of 504 (6%) university students and 11(79%) of the 14 conference participants. Comparisons will be made between the 42 entheogenusers and the remaining 476 who do not.

Instrument. Hood's M Scale attempts to assess eight of the nine characteristicsdelineated by Stace: 1) ego quality, 2) unifying quality, 3) inner subjective quality, 4)temporal/spatial quality, 5) noetic quality, 6) ineffability, 7) positive affect, and 8) religiousquality; he doesn't assess paradoxicality. There are 32 items on the scale, four items for eachof the eight qualities. Two of which are stated positively and the other two negatively. SeeTable 2 for the operational definitions and scale items.

Insert Table 2 About Here

Procedures. The M Scale and a questionnaire containing demographic andspiritual/religious questions regarding belief, religious affiliation, spiritual practices, and druguse were administered over a two year period, 1993 to 1995. The data gathered from the MScale was scored according to Hood's (1975) instructions, and a total was obtained for eachrespondent (negative items are reversed scored). The lowest score possible is 32 and thehighest is 160. Respondents marked a five-point Likert scale (1 = definitely not true, 2 =probably not true, 3 = ?, 4 = probably true, 5 = definitely true) as to how much the item'sdescription applied to their own experience.

M Scale forms were considered incomplete if 25% (8+) or more of the 32 items were leftblank and/or had a question mark (?) for a response. Although a "?" was a legitimateanswer, we believe that a respondent must have been unclear/unsure regarding the scale,perhaps the item(s) and its/their phraseology and/or her own experience, leave 25% without amore specific response. This definition of incomplete forms eliminated 49 university studentrespondents from the sample.

Results. This section will present only some of the results regarding entheogen users,for a more full treatment of the data consult Hruby (1996). All analyses were performed usingSPSS-X version 4.

Table 3 is a breakdown of the demographic and religious/spiritual items, providing thenumber and percent of the respondents by their spiritual use of drugs (entheogen users vnonusers). It also gives the results of the Pearson chi-square tests of independencesupplying the means and standard deviations where applicable. The 2 (users v. nonusers) x 2(female v. male) chi-square analysis for Sex was significant, x2 (1, N = 518) = 37.70, p <.000; more males and fewer females were entheogen users than expected. For the variableAge, too many of the cells had an expected frequency less than 5 so a chi-square was unableto be performed.

i3

Entheogens 10

mindbody states.

Tart's (1969) classic, Altered States of Consciousness: A Book of Readings, is one ofthe first books that helped focus the scientific community on alternate mindbody states. His(1971) subsequent scientific study of the psychological and subjective experiences ofexperienced marijuana users while under the drug's influence provided a unique view of theeffects of the mild psychedelic marijuana. The extensive questionnaire devised for the studywas completed by young California college students (N = 150). Chapter 19, SpiritualExperiences, gives data regarding the religiously and spiritually oriented questions. To one ofthese questions, "I have spiritual experiences, discrete experiences which have had apowerful, long-term religious effect on me, while stoned" 25 percent of the anonymousrespondents reported a positive response.

Although not all users who had had spiritual experiences while intoxicated feltthis had made getting intoxicated an act of religious significance for them, 22 percentof the users did : "Getting stoned has acquired a religious significance for me."Another 4 percent indicated LSD use, rather than marijuana, had acquired religioussignificance. (p. 218)

Current Research Study

Some studies of spiritual, transcendent, and/or mystical experiences specifically avoiddrug-induced experiences (Campbell, 1983), others accept drug experiences as a possibleantecedent (Greeley, 1974; Maslow, 1968), still some studies compare drug experiences withnon-drug experiences (Pahnke, 1969), while others only use drug-induced experiences(Masters & Houston, 1966; Richards, 1975; Richards et al., 1977; Tart, 1971). Asresearchers, instead of avoiding mystical experiences which have been potentially triggeredby psychedelics, we have chosen to focus on such experiences by exploring the varieties ofmystical experience of those who have used drugs spiritually using demographic informationand the scores on the Mysticism Scale.

Subjects. The results reported in this paper are part of a larger study that explores theprevalence and varieties of mystical experience among both undergraduate and graduatestudents (504, 97%) at a large midwestern university, Northern Illinois University (Hruby,1996), and the participants (14, 3%) at a small entheogenically oriented conference held inMenlo Park, California. The majority of the university student respondents were enrolled incourses offered through the somewhat conservative College of Education (472, 94%) and theremaining students were enrolled in several art courses (32, 6%). The breakdown by sex ofthe total 518 respondents was female (372, 72%) and male (146, 28%). The majority (436,84%) were traditionally aged students, under the age of 25.

Students (57, 11%) enrolled in two educational psychology special topics courses,Psychedelic Mindview and Drug Legalization Research, were intentionally surveyed toincrease the number of respondents who had used psychedelic drugs. These specific courses,offered over the past 17 years by Tom Roberts, typically have attracted students who havehad intense psychedelic experiences, or have had friends who have, and are desirous of moreconcrete and specific information about them. At least one lecture and discussion onmysticism were part of these courses along with a meditation exercise. Readings and classdiscussions dealt with altered mindbody states.

14

Entheogens 12

Insert Table 3 About Here

II

The 2 (users v. nonusers) x 3 (Agnostic/Atheist v. Traditional v. Nontraditional) chi-square for Religious Affiliation was significant, x2 (2, N = 518) = 24.88, p < .000. TheTraditional religions category consisted of respondents who marked that they were Catholic,Jewish, or Protestant. The Nontraditionals were respondents who reported that they wereOther, had No Affiliation, or were Muslims (3 users and 2 nonusers). More respondents whowere Nontraditionals and fewer respondents of Traditional religious affiliation wereentheogen users. The Religious/Spiritual Orientation item ("Indicate your religious/spiritualorientation on the following continuum)" 2 (users v. nonusers) x 5 (1 = Conservative to 5 =Liberal) chi-square analysis was significant, X2 (4, N = 514) = 74.17, p < .000. Entheogenusers reported themselves to be more liberal in their religious/spiritual orientation than thenonusers. In fact, not one of the entheogen users considered themselves more conservativethan mainstream. The 2 (users v. nonusers) x 4 (1 = Unmeaningful to 4 = Usually verymeaningful) chi-square test for Meaningfulness of Religious/Spiritual Practice ("Howmeaningful is the usual practice of your religious/spiritual life to you?") was not significant,although many more entheogen users (17, 41%) found their religious/spiritual life to beUsually Very Meaningful than the nonusers (119, 25%).

The total mysticism score was used as the dependent variable in a one-way analysis ofvariance which compared the independent variable of using drugs spiritually (users v.nonusers). The higher the mysticism score the more likely that mystical phenomena wereexperienced (Hood, 1975). The mysticism scores were significantly different by spiritual druguse F(1, 518) = 85.58, p < .000. The entheogen users (n = 42) had a mean of 142, a median of150, and a SD of 18; the range was 81 to 159. In contrast, the nonusers (n = 476) had a meanof 101, a median of 103, and a SD of 28; the scores ranged from 32 to 160.

The respondents answered dichotomously, yes or no, as to whether they currentlyengaged in a list of ten spiritual activities: Prayer, Meditation, Yoga/Aikido, Special Postures,Breath Control, Fasting, Attending Services, Read Spiritual Writings, Attend Study Groups,and Other. A series of 2 (users v. nonusers) x 2 (yes v. no) chi-square tests were performed,one on each of the ten spiritual activities. Fasting and Attend Study Groups were the onlytwo activities that indicated no difference between the observed and expected frequencies ofthe two groups.

The chi-square tests for the remaining eight spiritual activities were significant indicatingthat there was a relationship between the use of entheogens and each spiritual practice:Prayer x2 (1, N = 518) = 22.18, p < .000; Meditation x2 (1, N = 518) = 53.42, p < .000;Yoga/Aikido x2 (1, N = 518) = 42.41, p < .000; Special Postures x2 (1, N = 518) = 60.15, p <.000; Breath Control x2 (1, N = 518) = 36.18, p < .000; Attending Services x2 (1, N = 518) =19.59, p < .000; Read Spiritual Writings x2 (1, N = 518) = 21.81, p < .000; and Other x2 (1, N= 513) = 42.35, p < .000. Of these eight spiritual activities only two, Prayer and AttendingServices, indicated that the entheogen users had fewer expected in the "yes" category andthe nonusers had more than expected. In other words, the entheogen users engaged inMeditation, Yoga/Aikido, Special Postures, Breath Control, Read Spiritual Writings, and

15

Entheogens 13

Other activities significantly more than the nonusers but in two of the spiritual activities,Prayer and Attending Services, the reverse was true.

The phi coefficient ro was calculated for each of the 2 x 2 chi-squares for the spiritualpractice items above. The phi coefficient is a measure of relationship between the twovariables, use of entheogens and each spiritual practice. It is interpreted exactly like aPearson's product-moment correlation coefficient, that is, the closer to 1, the stronger thecorrelation. Although the phi coefficients were all significant (p < .000), the strength of therelationship only ranged from very low to low: Attending Services ro =.194, Prayer r4 = .207,Read Spiritual Writings ro =.205, Breath Control r4, = .264, Yoga/Aikido r4, = .286, Other r4, =.287, Meditation ro = .321, and Special Postures r4, = .341.

Significance of the study. Using an instrument such as the M Scale can aid inunderstanding the prevalence and varieties of the mystical experience. As was obvious in thetheoretical and conceptual research section, there is no one definition for what a mystical orprimary religious experience is exactly. In fact, many researchers and scholars regardmystical experiences on a continuum (James, 1982; Maslow, 1964; Pahnke, 1963, 1969;Stace, 1961; Steindl-Rast, in press). The M Scale attempts to assess, by self-report, thephenomena that are at the core of mystical experience.

In his research, Pahnke (1963, 1969) set the criterion for determining whether subjectshad a mystical experience if they scored 60 percent or more on the questionnaire created toassess the categories of mystical phenomena. Richards et al. (1977) used a modified versionof Pahnke's original questionnaire to assess six categories of mystical phenomena (asdiscussed above) implementing the same 60 percent criterion. This questionnaire is known asthe Psychedelic Experience Questionnaire (PEQ).

Applying this criterion for determining whether a respondents in the current study had amystical experience or not, 39 (93%) of the entheogen users had a mystical experience (scoregreater 107); whereas only 209 (44%) of the nonusers could be said to have had a mysticalexperience. Still, 44 percent for the nonusers, although not a majority, indicates a rathercommon experience or set of experiences. Research such as this may develop a clearerperception of the "normalness" of such experiences so that a climate of greater opennessmay be promoted in considering their benefits.

Indeed, the results of our research study indicate that this select group of entheogenusers had significantly higher mysticism scores than the nonusers, they had a more liberalspiritual/religious orientation, the majority were male, and did have traditional religiousaffiliations (Catholic, Jewish, or Protestant). The entheogen users engaged in Meditation,Yoga/Aikido, Special Postures, Breath Control, Read Spiritual Writings, and Other activitiessignificantly more than the nonusers. Examining the relationship between the varieties ofmystical experience and various spiritual practices or psychotechnologies, in particular theuse of entheogens, may increase knowledge and acceptance of such practices. It may alsoserve to encourage a more accepting attitude regarding mystical and primary religiousexperiences themselves thereby further strengthening the paradigm shift in Western culturefrom a material worldview to a more transpersonal worldview.

16

Entheogens 14

Part 3Toward An Entheogenic Research Agenda

Part 2 illustrated how current research into religious topics is energized from anentheogenic perspective. We illustrated entheogenic approaches to:

theoretical and conceptual researchthe invention, refining, and application of concepts,and building typologies while exploring the connection of humanity's spiritual aspect withmystical or primary religious mindbody states;

O empirical researchpresenting past research with psychoactive substances forentheogenic or therapeutic purposes and bridging these to the current study;

current researchlooking at relationships among mystical experiences, demographicfactors, entheogen use, and other spiritual practices using Hood's Mysticism Scale.

Going beyond conceptual, descriptive and correlational studies, we'd like to point outsome entheogenic leads that deserve additional research. These leads have been organizedunder six research topics: the nature of the human mind, pastoral counseling, experimentalmysticism, the dispute over the authenticity of drug-assisted primary religious experience,entheogenic origins of religion, and policy issues. Together these call for a new direction inresearch, particularly entheogenic research.

Entheogenic research done to date revolves around several thematic questions. Moreoften than not, these questions are implicit rather than explicit: (1) what are the relationshipsamong entheogens, mystical experiences, and religion?, (2) does the human mind include aspiritual part?

Nature of the Human Mind

Considering entheogens as magnifiers of psychological processes, what do we learn aboutour minds, specifically about our minds' spiritual aspects? Is there a natural motivation forself-transcendence? Assagioli (1965), Jung (1968), Maslow (1968), and others cited in theintroduction of this paper are among the psychologists who answer "yes" to an inherentspiritual aspect of humanity. Perhaps Grof (1968) expresses the innate spirituality of ourminds most strongly:

The observations from psychedelic therapy and other forms of deep experiential workfully confirm the views of [Assagioli, Jung and Maslow] and suggest an even moreradical reformulation of the relationship between the human personality and spirituality.According to the new data, spirituality is an intrinsic property of the psyche that emergesquite spontaneously when the process of self-exploration reaches sufficient depth. Directexperiential confrontation with the perinatal and transpersonal levels of theunconsciousness is always associated with a spontaneous awakening of spirituality thatis quite independent of the individual's childhood experiences, religious programming,church affiliation, and even cultural and racial background. The individual who connectswith these levels of his or her psyche automatically develops a new world view withinwhich spirituality represents a natural, essential, and absolutely vital element ofexistence. In my experience, a transformation of this kind has occurred without exception

i7

Entheogens 15

in a wide range of individuals, including stubborn atheists, skeptics, cynics, marxistphilosophers, and positivistically oriented scientists. (p. 368)

Working from the assumption that we have a spiritual aspect, however it may beconceived, transpersonal psychologists provide a psychology that supports research onreligion and religious education (Tart, 1975; Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 1969+).Entheogens are especially important to transpersonal psychologists, not only because theysometimes stimulate transpersonal experiences, but also because they can provide aresearch variable or treatment. We now have ways to explore transcendence experimentally.

Our view of the human mind is at stake heremore exactly our view of our minds'spiritual aspects. For if we have a natural motivation to transcend ego-centered awareness(Walsh & Vaughan, 1993), then exploring and developing other mindbody states contributesto this goal because the broader desire to explore mindbody states may be one manifestationof the more specific spiritual quest to explore ego-transcendent states.

Research proposal. We propose that researchers on religion, education, andtranspersonal psychology become more informed of each other's work, cooperate on researchprojects, examine transpersonal models, and use them in secular and religious education. Ifour minds do contain a spiritual element, then the fullest education would have to include itsdevelopment, and entheogens are one way to venture into this terrain. We are notrecommending entheogens for children, but if and when entheogens become legal, graduatestudents who are entering these fields and have been carefully screened and prepared wouldno doubt learn from a guided entheogenic session. Then their own experiences would informtheir research. In a broader multistate framework, since we are capable of producing andusing many mindbody states, educational goals and practices would have to recognize thiscapacity too (Roberts, 1989; Roberts & Hruby, 1996).

Pastoral Counseling

Can entheogenic experiences and an entheogenic model of our minds help in pastoralcounseling? The Grof quotation above indicates that entheogens can be useful in existentialcrises and helping people find meaning in their lives. If our culture and our churches were ableto provide healthy ways of facing these crises and exploring transcendent mindbody states,we might not rely so heavily on unhealthy ways. Some alcohol and drug abuse may be seen inthis light, probably not all.

For example, it is well-known that Bill Wilson, founder of Alcoholics Anonymous,thought that we are all "thirsting for spiritual knowledge," and he found that substituting aspiritual viewpoint often worked for alcoholics (Alcoholics Anonymous, 1984). It is less well-known that Bill took LSD under the guidance of philosopher Gerald Heard and spoke verypositively about his session and LSD's potential for alcoholics (Alcoholics Anonymous, 1984,Chapter 23). In the following quotation, note the sequence of entheogen, ego transcendence,religious element, and improved life (Alcoholics Anonymous, 1984):

Bill was enthusiastic about his experience; he felt it helped him eliminate manybarriers erected by the self, or ego, that stand in the way of one's direct experienceof the cosmos and of God. He thought he might have found something that couldmake a big difference to the lives of many people who still suffered. (p. 371)

18

Entheogens 16

A second promising use of entheogens in pastoral counseling is with dying patients. Amajor part of the difficulty of facing death is the fear of letting go of the ego. Entheogens cangive one a practice session; clients learn this fear is unfounded and that ego transcendencecan be spiritually enlightening and emotionally positive. Several studies of entheogens pointto their possible use as adjuncts in psychotherapy with the dying (Grof & Halifax, 1977;Pahnke, 1969a; Richards, et al 1972; Richards, 1975). In overlapping studies, theseresearchers found four common benefits of entheogenic counseling with dying patients:decreased general anxiety, decreased specific anxiety about death, decreased desire for painkillers, and increased communication with family and friends. The last seems especiallyimportant. At a time when a dying person most needs the support of loved ones, mutualdenial often builds a wall. The patient knows he or she is dying, but wants to spare the familystress, and the family knows the patient is dying, but maintains a brave face in hopes of notdiscouraging the dying person.

Far from being odd or destructive, exploring transpersonal mindbody states serves egotranscendence. As mentioned in Part 1, mindbody exploration also expands psychology toinclude all human behavior and experience, not just that of our ordinary state (Tart, 1968,1975). As mentioned in Part 2, the personal and social benefits of getting in touch with theSpirit within can be considerable (Hruby, 1996; Lukoff & Lu, 1988; Nobel, 1987; Pahnke,1963; Richards, 1975).

Research proposal. The use of entheogens in the mental health professions ismultifold. They can be helpful with specific problems such as alcoholism and facing death.They give a fuller map of the human mind including birth memories and transpersonalexperiences, which are often helpful in understanding spiritual crises. Grof's map of thehuman mind describes levels where religious imagery, archetypes, mythology, symbols andreligious experiences occur (Grof, 1975, 1980). In addition to being useful for alcoholism,death counseling, and existential issues, entheogens provide a wider theory of human naturewhich includes spirituality. Separate from entheogenic experiences, these models should helppastoral and secular counselors understand and work with clients. If and when they becomelegally available, we recommend entheogenic training for carefully selected religiousprofessionals. Additionally, we think transpersonal views would be valuable in psychology ofreligion classes. Answering how best to include these in professional curricula, and what arethe results of doing so are questions that need research too.

Experimental Mysticism

Using entheogens, is it now possible to give people mystical experiences? If so, what arethe outcomes? If you are familiar with entheogenology, you may have noticed that we'veappropriated the title "Experimental Mysticism" from the best instance of experimentalentheogenic research done to date (Pahnke, 1963; Pahnke & Richards, 1966). Using a double-blind experimental protocol in the "Good Friday Experiment," Pahnke (1963) examinedpsilocybin-induced religious experiences with twenty divinity students during a Good Fridayservice. In part 2 we mentioned some of the experimental research that has been done.

A standard argument against entheogen-derived primary religious experiences is thatthey may provide temporary feelings and thoughts, but have no staying power; however, inhis 25-year follow-up of Pahnke's Good Friday Experiment, Doblin (1991) found the opposite

Entheogens 17

to be true. The original differences between the psilocybin treatment group and the placebogroup increased over time, suggesting that the experience had a long-term effect on thebehavior and/or cognitions of the treatment group, possibly restructuring their beliefs,feelings, and worldview.

esearch proposal. The Good Friday Experiment needs to be replicated with diversebotanical and chemical entheogens, various sets and settings, and subjects with a multiplicityof personality types, religious affiliations and beliefs, and demographic factors. Among otherthings, researchers should compare the phenomenology of entheogen-stimulated primaryreligious experience with similar experiences of other origins. Entheogenically oriented andother oriented primary religious experience should also be compared by the interaction ofpersonality types, religious beliefs, etc. More precise descriptions of these experiences willprovide empirical evidence so that further discussions can be informed scientifically andtheologically. This research would inform the authenticity question also. (See below).

Because this type of religious exploration is censored by the federal government, wehope it's clear we are anticipating the lifting of bans on this mode of the religious quest. If theresearch cannot be performed here, perhaps it can be facilitated in a foreign country.

Authenticity

Are chemically and/or botanically derived mystical experiences genuine, religiouslylegitimate? On one side, scholar R. C. Zaehner (1974) claims that while drugs can produce asense of the holy and a form of nature mysticism, they cannot result in the exclusive love of apersonal God. However, other scholars and theologians do not fully share Zaehner's position(Clark, 1969; Cox, 1977; Eliade, 1987; Ellwood, 1994; Fox, 1976; Greeley, 1974; Smart, 1984;Smith, 1977; Toolan, 1987; Wulff, 1991). From their own experiences and based on thereports of others, hundreds of investigators (Roberts & Hruby, 1995) claim that under theright set and setting entheogens can produce genuine religious experience or ones whichclosely resemble non-entheogen experiences.

An outstanding expert on mysticism who considers entheogen-based mysticismauthentic is W. T. Stace, whose work on mysticism (1961) formed the foundation for Hood'sM Scale and the instrument that Pahnke used in the Good Friday Experiment. When Stacewas asked whether the drug experience is similar to the mystical experience, reports HustonSmith (1964, pp. 523-524), Stace answered, "It's not a matter of its being similar to mysticalexperience; it is mystical experience."

It's perfectly possible to recognize entheogenic experiences as beneficial without havingto give them the status of authentic or unauthentic. We should not let the possibly fruitlessauthentic /fake debate keep us from using substances which have good effects. To bepragmatic, the results count, not the name we use.

Research proposal. Adequately describing the similarities and differences betweenauthentic and unauthentic mystical experiences would be another benefit from replicating theGood Friday Experiment.

From an educational perspective, the authenticity question takes on a differentperspective, especially when it comes to adult religious education, the preparation of clergy,

20

Entheogens 18

and their in-service education. Even if one takes the position that entheogens are not genuinetriggers, they can still provide worthwhile knowledge. One can learn a great deal from a goodapproximation, from simulations. Just as kindergartners learn where to walk safely and tocross at crosswalks by following tape on a classroom floor, students of religion may learn agreat deal from simulated primary religious experience. Their teachers can instruct them inhow entheogenic experiences resemble authentic ones and how they differ. Accuratelydescribing the similarities and differences is an area where research needs to be done.

If one agrees with Stace that entheogen-based mystical experiences are legitimate,clergy and educators have a marvelous new opportunity to teach informed adults aboutprimary religious experience, not just with words but with firsthand, direct experience. Areligious education which does not provide them to capable adults is impeding the spiritualquest.

Origins of Religion

What influence, if any, did psychoactive substances have on the origins and developmentof religion? Eliade (1987), Wasson (1968), Wasson et al (1978), and others speculate thatencounters with psychoactive plants were an origin of religions throughout the world. Hintingat a research agenda, Barnard (1963) challenges researchers, "I am willing to prophesy thatfifty theo-botanists working for fifty years would make the current theories concerning theorigins of much mythology and theology as out-of-date as pre-Copernican astronomy" (p.586). She and her opinion are in good company. In addition to the clergy and theologiansmentioned above, mythologist Joseph Campbell recognized scholarly research on entheogensas making significant contributions to understanding religious symbols and mythology (1982,1988).

Relying on his own entheogenic experience (reported in Leary, 1968) and on hisfamiliarity with subsequent research, philosopher Huston Smith addressed the issue in 1964with a key article "Do Drugs Have Religious Import?". To which he answered a qualified"yes." In 1977 he cautioned:

For though the experiences may be veridical in ways, the goal, it cannot be stressed toooften, is not religious experiences; it is the religious life. With respect to the latter,psychedelic "theophanies" can abort a quest as readily as, perhaps more readily than,they can further it. (p. 155)

Since then he has maintained his opinion on the usefulness of entheogens (1988). Usedcorrectly, they can be beneficial adjuncts to spiritual development, but they are not a path bythemselves.

Research Proposal. To investigate Barnard's challenge and Wasson's claim, perhapsreligious researchers will one day be able to use entheogens as research instruments,pending the end of censorship of this research method. Perhaps a day will come when coursesin mysticism in seminaries and philosophy departments of universities will have laboratorysections in which their students can use entheogens as religious instructional technologies.Of course, the lab should be voluntary, and students should be screened physically andmentally beforehand, prepared thoroughly, and guided through the process. Until entheogenicresearch is re-legalized, professors can familiarize their students with the writings on

21

Entheogens 19

mysticism, especially those having to do with entheogens. No doubt Wasson's, Bernard's,and similar writings would provoke active classroom discussions.

Why are these experiences profoundly life-changing for some people and not for others?Are there ways of increasing the likelihood of desirable outcomes and decreasing undesirableones? How would one go about studying these questions? These and similar questions awaitresearchers' attention.

The professional education of clergy, theologians, church historians, and alliedresearchers should include a familiarity with existing entheogenic research and the skills ofdesigning research which, hopefully, some day will use entheogens. Who has the right tomake these decisions? The control over religious research by governmental agencies andconflicts about religious freedom brings us to a nest of issues which demands attention: policyissues.

Policy Issues: Religious Freedom

What role, if any, should entheogens play in contemporary American religious education,practice, and research? What regulation, if any, is appropriate? The following questions andtopics need to be examined: To what extent would Americans like to include entheogens aspart of their religious practices? Surveys are needed. With immigration from countries inSouth America and Asia where entheogens are an established part of religious practices,what policies should American law and religions adopt? Does the movement toward"diversity" include religious diversity, and does freedom of religion include the right toentheogenic sacraments? If a new church wanted to use entheogenic botanicals andchemicals, would governmental policy toward it be different from policy toward an establishedchurch? If a seminary wanted to include entheogens in the education of its seminarians or forspiritual renewal of clergy, what church-state issues would arise? Informed answers to thesequestions require policy research.

Summary Recommendations

We recommend that researchers on religion and religious education, churches, religiousorders and groups, ecumenical associations, seminaries and other professional educationalinstitutions, and nonreligious groups whose interests include education, law and religion:

1. promote scholarly discussion and scientific investigation of entheogens;2. produce empirical evidence about entheogens and scholarly opinions on them;3. study drug policy and religious activities as they relate to entheogens;4. make recommendations to the public and to law-making bodies on issues of religious

freedom;5. after legalization, include entheogens as religious instructional technologies, as

options for professional and lay spiritual education;6. consider entheogens as adjuncts in pastoral counseling, notably in hospice situations;7. support religious groups which use entheogens or wish to do so with care, in a

manner consistent with public safety, and within the law.

We further recommend that religious organizations inform their members about these issuesand encourage their open discussion.

Entheogens 20

References

Aber le, D. (1991). The peyote religion among the Navaho. Norman, OK: University ofOklahoma Press.

Adamson, S. (Ed.). (1985). Through the gateway of the heart: Accounts of experienceswith MDMA and other empathogenic substances. San Francisco: Four Trees Publications.

Alcoholics Anonymous (1984). 'Pass it on' The story of Bill Wilson and how the A.A.message reached the world. New York: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services. (Chapter 23"Anything that helps alcoholics...")

Assagioli, R. (1965). Psychosynthesis: A collection of basic writings. New York: VikingPenguin.

Bernard, M. (1963). The god in the flower pot. American Scholar, 32, 578-586.

Bucke, R. M. (1961). Cosmic consciousness. New York: University Books. (Originalwork published 1901)

Caird, D. (1988). The structure of Hood's Mysticism Scale: A factor-analytic study.Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 27(1), 122-126.

Campbell, J. (1988). The Inner reaches of outer space: Metaphor as myth. New York:Harper Collins.

Campbell, J. (1982). Envoie: No more horizons. In Myths to live by (pp. 258-275). NewYork: Bantam.

Campbell, 0. M. (1983). Investigation into the distinguishing correlates of mysticism.(Doctoral dissertation, University of Texas at Austin, 1983). (University Microfilms No.83-29, 812).

Clark, W. (1969). Chemical ecstasy: Psychedelic drugs and religion. New York: Sheedand Ward.

Council on Spiritual Practices, San Francisco [On-line]. Available: http://csp.org/csp.

Cox, H. (1977). Turning east: the promise and peril of the new orientalism. New York:Simon and Schuster.

Cox, H. (1993, Summer). Why God didn't die. Nieman Reports, 6-8, 47-49.

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. New York:HarperPerennial.

Doblin, R. (1990). Pahnke's "Good Friday Experiment": A long-term follow-up andmethodological critique. The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 23(1), 1-28.

23

Entheogens 21

Eliade, M. (1987). A history of religious ideas. Vol. 1, From stone age to the Eleusinianmysteries. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Ellwood, R. (1994). The sixties spiritual awakening: American religion moving frommodern to postmodern. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University.

The Entheogen Law Reporter. (1993). P.O. Box, Davis, CA, 73481.

Fowler, J. W. (1991). The vocation of faith development theory. In J. W. Fowler, K. E.Nipkow & F. Schweitzer (Eds.), Stages of faith and religious development (pp. 19-36). NewYork: The Crossroad Publishing Company.

Fox, M. (1976). Whee! we, wee all the way home. Santa Fe, NM: Bear & Co.

Furst, P. T. (1972). Flesh of the gods: The ritual use of hallucinogens. New York:Praeger.

Greeley, A. M. (1974). Ecstasy: A way of knowing. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Greer, G. & Tolbert, R. (1986). Subjective reports of the effects of MDMA in a clinicalsetting. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 18(4), 319-328.

Grinspoon, L., & Bakalar, J. (1981). Psychedelic drugs reconsidered. New York: BasicBooks. (This is the standard review of the psychedelic literature. We especially recommendPsychedelic and Mystical Experience, pages 267-273; Drugs and Religions Origins, pages237-275; and Health, Morality, and Truth in Psychedelic Religious Experience, pages 276-280.)

Grof, S. (1975). Realms of the human unconscious: Observations from LSD research.New York: Viking Press.

Grof, S. (1985). Beyond the brain: Birth, death and transcendence in psychotherapy.Albany, NY: SUNY Press.

Grof, S. (1980). LSD psychotherapy. Pomona, CA: Hunter House.

Grof, S., & Bennett, H. Z. (1992). The holotropic mind: The three levels of humanconsciousness and how they shape our lives. San Francisco: HarperCollins.

Grof, S., & Halifax, J. (1977). The human encounter with death. New York: E. P. Dutton.(Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy with the terminally ill).

Hood, R. W., Jr. (1974). Psychological strength and the report of intense religiousexperience. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, /3(1), 65-71.

Hood, R. W., Jr. (1975). The construction and preliminary validation of a measure ofreported mystical experience. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 14(1), 29-41.

Hood, R. W., Jr., Morris, R. J., & Watson, P. J. (1993). Further factor analysis of Hood's

24

Entheogens 22

Mysticism Scale. Psychological Reports, 73(1), 1176-1178.

Hruby, P. J. (1996). The varieties of mystical experiences, spiritual practice, and druguse among college students. Manuscript in preparation, Northern Illinois University.

Hruby, P. J., & Roberts, T. B. (1995). Mystical experiences and addiction beliefs ofundergraduate and graduate students. East Lansing, MI: National Center for Research onTeacher Learning (ERIC Document Reproduction Service, No. ED 381-091).

Huxley, A. (1954). The doors of perception. New York: Harper.

James, W. (1982). The varieties of religious experience: A study in human nature. NewYork: Penguin Books. (Original work published 1902)

Jesse, R. (1995, October). Testimony of the Council on Spiritual Practices. (Testimonypresented to the Committee on Drugs and the Law of the Association of the Bar of the City ofNew York).

Journal of Transpersonal Psychology. (1969+). Palo Alto, CA: Transpersonal Institute.

Jung, C. G. (1958). Psychology and religion: West and East (Vol. 11) (R. F. C. Hull,Trans.). London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd.

Jung, C. G. (1973). Memories, dreams, reflections (R. & C. Winston, Trans.). New York:Vintage Books.

Kuhn, T. C. (1962). The structure of scientific revolutions. Chicago: University ofChicago Press.

Lucas, A. M. (1995). Entheology. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 27(3), 293-295.

Leary, T. (1968). High priest. New York: World Publishing Co.

Lukoff, D., & Lu, F. G. (1988). Transpersonal psychology research review: Topic:Mystical experiences. The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 20(2), 161-184.

Maslow, A. H. (1964). Religions, values, and peak-experiences. Columbus, OH: OhioState University Press.

Maslow, A. H. (1967). Self-actualization and beyond. Chapter 29 in J. F. T. Bugental(Ed.), Challenges of humanistic psychology. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Maslow, A. H. (1968). Toward a psychology of being. (2nd ed.). New York: VanNostrand Reinhold. (See Preface to the 2nd ed. for "beyond self-actualization.")

Masters, R. E. L., & Houston, J. (1966). The varieties of psychedelic experience. NewYork: Dell Publishing.

McKenna, T. (1992). Food of the gods: The search for the original tree of knowledge.

25

Entheogens 23

New York:. Bantam Books.

McKenna, T., & Grob, C. (1994). The hoasca project update. MAPS Bulletin (4)4, 6-8.

Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies. (1990+). MAPS Bulletin.Charlotte, NC: MAPS.

Murphy, W. (1992). The future of the body: Explorations into the further evolution ofhuman nature. Los Angeles: Jeremy P. Tarcher.

Myers, I. B. (1987). Introduction to type. Palo Alto: Consulting Psychologists Press.

Noble, K. (1987). Psychological health and the experience of transcendence. TheCounseling Psychologist, 15(4), 601-614.

Ott, J. (1993). Pharmacotheon: Entheogenic drugs, their plant sources and history.Kennewick, WA: Natural Products Co.

Pahnke, W. N. (1963). Drugs and mysticism: An analysis of the relationship betweenpsychedelic drugs and the mystical consciousness. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, HarvardUniversity, Boston.

Pahnke, W. N. (1969a). The psychedelic mystical experience in the human encounterwith death. Harvard Theological Review 62, 1-20.

Pahnke, W. N. (1969b). Psychedelic drugs and mystical experience. In E. M. Pattison (Vol. Ed.), International psychiatry clinics: Vol. 5 , No. 4 Clinical psychiatry and religion (pp.149-163). Boston: Little, Brown and Company.

Pahnke, W. N. & Richards, W. A. (1966). Implications of LSD and experimentalmysticism. Journal of Religion and Health, 5, 175-208.

Reinert, D. F., & Stifler, K. R. (1993). Hood's Mysticism Scale revisited: Afactor-analytic replication. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 32(4), 383-388.

Richards, W. A. (1975). Counseling, peak experiences and the human encounter withdeath: An empirical study of the efficacy of DPT-assisted counseling in. enhancing the qualityof life of persons with terminal cancer and their closest family members. (Doctoraldissertation, Catholic University of America, 1975). (University Microfilms No. 75-18, 531).

Richards, W. A., Grof, S., Goodman, L., & Kurland, A. (1972). LSD-assistedpsychotherapy and the human encounter with death. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology,(4)2, 121-150.

Richards, W. A., Rhead, J. C., DiLeo, F. B., Yensen, R., & Kurland, A. A. (1977). Thepeak experience variable in DPT-assisted psychotherapy with cancer patients. Journal ofPsychedelic Drugs, 9(1), 1-10.

Roberts, T. B. (1978). Beyond self-actualization. ReVISION: The Journal of

2f

Entheogens 24

Consciousness and Change, (1)1, 42-46.

Roberts, T. B. (1989). Multistate education: Metacognitive implications of the mindbodypsychotechnologies. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, (21)1, 83-102.

Roberts, T. B. (1990). Cognitive science, religion and academic freedom vs. the drugprohibition ideology. In A.S. Trebach & K. B. Zeese (Eds.), The great issues of drug policy.Washington, DC: The Drug Policy Foundation.

Roberts, T. B. (1991, September). When the drug war hits the fan. Phi Delta Kappan,58-61.

Roberts, T., & Hruby, P. (1995). Religion and psychoactive sacraments: A bibliographicguide. San Francisco: Council on Spiritual Practices [On-line]. Available FTP://csp.org/csp/RPSGuide.txt. (The paperback edition is available from Psychedelia Books,De Kalb, IL.) (Contains bibliographic citations and excerpts about entheogens from 227 booksand dissertations).

Roberts, T. B., & Hruby, P. J. (1996, April). The multistate paradigm: How big is yourumwelt? Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational ResearchAssociation, New York. Sponsored by SIG/ Semiotics in Education.

Ruck, C. A. P., Bigwood, J., Staples, D., Ott, J., & Wasson, R. G. (1979). Entheogens.Journal of Psychedelic Drugs, 11, 1-2, 145-146.

Samorini, G. (1995). The Buiti religion and the psychoactive plant Tabernanthe iboga(Equatorial Africa). Integration, Journal for Mind-Moving Plants and Culture, 5, 105-114.

Schultes, R. E., & Hofmann, A. (1992). Plants of the gods: Their sacred, healing andhallucinogenic powers. Rochester, VT: Healing Arts Press. (Original work published 1979)

Shulgin, A. (1995). The new psychotherapy: MDMA and the Shadow. Eleusis:Bollettino dinformazione SISSC, 3, 3-11.

Smart, N. (1984). The religious experience of mankind. New York: Charles Scribner'sSons.

Smith, H. (1964). Do drugs have religious import? The Journal of Philosophy, 61(18),517-530.

Smith, H. (1967). Psychedelic theophanies and the religious life. Christianity and Crisis,27(11), 144-147.

Smith, H. (1988). Psychedelics and religion: An addendum. ReVision: Journal ofConsciousness and Change, 11(1), 35-37.

Smith, H. (1992). Forgotten truth: The common vision of the world's religions. NewYork: HarperSanFrancisco. (Original work published 1976 as Forgotten truth: The primordialtradition). (See Appendix: The psychedelic evidence).

27

Entheogens 25

Smith, H. (1994). The illustrated world's religions: A guide to our wisdom traditions.New York: HarperSanFrancisco.

Stace, W. T. (1961). Mysticism and philosophy. London: Macmillan.

Steindl-Rast, D. (in press). Explorations into God. In R. Forte (Ed.), Entheogens and thefuture of religion. San Francisco: Council on Spiritual Practices.

Tart, C. T. (Ed.). (1969). Altered states of consciousness: A book of readings. New York:John Wiley.

Tart, C. T. (1971). On being stoned: A psychological study of marijuana intoxication.Palo Alto, CA: Science and Behavior Books.

Tart, C. T. (Ed.). (1975). Transpersonal psychologies. New York: Harper & Row.

Too lan, D. (1987). Facing west from California's shores: A Jesuit's journey into new ageconsciousness. New York: Crossroads.

Underhill, E. (1930). Mysticism: A study in the nature and development of man'sspiritual consciousness. New York: E. P. Dutton and Company.

Walsh, R. (1990). The spirit of shamanism. Los Angeles: Jeremy P. Tarcher.

Walsh, R., & Vaughan, F. (1993). Introduction. In Paths beyond ego: The transpersonalvision ( pp. 1-10). Los Angeles: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Perigee.

Wasson, R. G. (1968). Soma: Divine mushroom of immortality. New York: HarcourtBrace Jovanovich.

Wasson, R., Ruck, C. & Hofmann, A. (1978). The road to Eleusis: Unveiling the secretof the mysteries. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

Wilber, K. (1995). Sex, ecology, and spirituality: The spirit of evolution. Boston:Shambhala.

Wulff, D. (1991). Psychology of religion: Classic and contemporary views. New York:John Wiley & Sons.

Young, Mike. (1995). An invitation to entheological dialogue. MAPS Bulletin, 6(1), 37-38.

Zaehner, R. C. (1961). Mysticism: Sacred and profane. New York: Oxford UniversityPress.

28

Entheogens 26

Table 1

Common Characteristics of Extroveritive and Introvertive Mystical Experiences (Stace. 1961,

p. 131)

ommon charxteristics of ExtmvotiveMeal ,igiperietlees ,

Common Characteristics of introvertiveiiiystical Experiences .

1. The Unifying Vision-all things are One 1. The Unitary Consciousness; the One,the Void; pure consciousness

2. The more concrete apprehension of theOne as an inner subjectivity, or life, inall things

2. Nonspatial, nontemporal

3. Sense of objectivity or reality 3. Sense of objectivity or reality

4. Blessedness, peace, etc. 4. Blessedness, peace, etc.5. Feeling of the holy, sacred, or divine 5. Feeling of the holy, sacred, or divine

6. Paradoxicality 6. Paradoxicality

7. Alleged by mystics to be ineffable 7. Alleged by mystics to be ineffable

EST COPYMUNI29

Entheogens 27

Table 2

Mysticism Scale. Research Form D (Items are listed under each criterion from which they

w r o ration lized and numbered ccordin to a tual scale osition Hood 19 31-

121

EGO QUALITY: Refers to the experience of a loss of sense of self while consciousness isnevertheless maintained. The loss of self is commonly experienced as an absorption intosomething greater than the mere empirical ego.

3. I have had an experience in which something greater than myself seemed to absorb me.4. I have had an experience in which everything seemed to disappear from my mind until I

was conscious only of a void.6. I have NEVER had an experience in which I felt myself to be absorbed as one with all

things.24. I have NEVER had an experience in which my own self seemed to merge into something

greater.

UNIFYING QUALITY: Refers to the experience of the multiplicity of objects of perceptionas nevertheless united. Everything is in fact perceived as "One."

12. I have had an experience in which I realized the oneness of myself with all things.19. I have had an experience in which I felt everything in the world to be part of the same

whole.28. I have NEVER had an experience in which I became aware of a unity to all things.30. I have NEVER had an experience in which all things seemed to be unified into a single

whole.

INNER SUBJECTIVE QUALITY: Refers to the perception of an inner subjectivity toall things, even those usually experienced in purely material forms.

8. I have NEVER had an experience in which I felt as if all things were alive.10. I have NEVER had an experience in which all things seemed to be aware.29. I have had an experience in which all things seemed to be conscious.31. I have had an experience in which I felt nothing is ever really dead.

TEMPORAL/SPATIAL QUALITY: Refers to the temporal and spatial parameters of theexperience. Essentially both time and space are modified with the extreme being one of anexperience that is both "timeless" and "spaceless."

1. I have had an experience which was both timeless and spaceless.11. I have had an experience in which I had no sense of time or space.15. I have NEVER had an experience in which time and space were non-existent.27. I have NEVER had an experience in which time, place, and distance were meaningless.

Entheogens 28

NOETIC QUALITY: Refers to the experience as a source of valid knowledge. Emphasis ison a nonrational, intuitive, insightful experience that is nevertheless recognized as not merelysubjective.

13. I have had an experience in which a new view of reality was revealed to me.16. I have NEVER experienced anything that I could call ultimate reality.17. I have had an experience in which ultimate reality was revealed to me.26. I have NEVER had an experience in which deeper aspects of reality were revealed to

me.

INEFFABILITY: Refers to the impossibility of expressing the experience in conventionallanguage. The experience simply cannot be put into words due to the nature of the experienceitself and not to the linguistic capacity of the subject.

2. I have NEVER had an experience which was incapable of being expressed in words.21. I have NEVER had an experience which I was unable to express adequately through

language.23. I have had an experience that is impossible to communicate.32. I have had an experience that cannot be expressed in words.

POSITIVE AFFECT: Refers to the positive affective quality of the experience. Typically theexperience is of joy or blissful happiness.

5. I have experienced profound joy.7. I have NEVER experienced a perfectly peaceful state.

18. I have had an experience in which I felt that all was perfection at that time.25. I have NEVER had an experience which left me with a feeling of wonder.

RELIGIOUS QUALITY: Refers to the intrinsic sacredness of the experience. This includesfeelings of mystery, awe, and reverence that may nevertheless be expressed independently oftraditional religious language.

9. I have NEVER had an experience which seemed holy to me.14. I have NEVER experienced anything to be divine.20. I have had an experience which I knew to be sacred.22. I have had an experience which left me with a feeling of awe.

Entheogens 29

Table 3Number andYercent of Respondents inSelectedflemographis/Spiritual Itemsby Users hi = 42) and Nonusers in = 476) of Entheazens with Pearson Chi- square Results

Variable, M (SD)Users

n (%)Non Usersn (%) x2

Sex 37.7 .000

female 13 (31%) 359 (75%)

male 29 (69%) 117 (25%)

Age NA

15-19 years 3 (7%) 121 (25%)

20-24 years 26 (62%) 286 (60%)

25-29 years 4 (10%) 31 (7%)

30-34 years 0 9 (2%)

35+ years 9 (21%) 29 (6%)

Religious Affiliation 24.9 .000

Agnostic/Atheist 4 (10%) 18 (4%)

Traditional 12 (28%) 319 (67%)

Non-Traditional 26 (62%) 139 (29%)

Religious/Spiritual 457 (.782) 3.24 (1.11) 74.2 .000Orientation

(1) Conservative 0 36 (8%)

(2) 0 70 (15%)

(3) Mainstream 5 (12%) 183 (39%)

(4) 8 (19%) 111 (23%)

(5) Liberal 29 (69%) 72 (15%)

Meaningfulness of 3.22 (.782) 2.83 (.891) 7.3 NSReligious/Spiritual Practice

Unmeaningful 1 (2%) 36 (8%)

Slightly meaningful 6 (14%) 127 (27%)

Sometimes very meaningful 18 (43%) 193 (40%)

Usually very meaningful 17 (41%) 119 (25%)

32

11,1

111

rilif

f M.

,r1.

LIM

IL S

OFO

UN

DE

D B

Y

FRE

DE

RIC

K J

. E. W

OO

DB

RID

GE

AN

D

WE

ND

EL

L T

. BU

SH

ED

ITE

D B

Y

JOH

N H

. RA

ND

AL

L, J

R.

RO

BE

RT

D. C

UM

MIN

GG

EO

RG

E L

. KL

INE

SID

NE

Y M

OR

GE

NB

ESS

ER

AR

TH

UR

DA

NT

OA

ND

JAM

ES

J. W

AL

SH

VO

LU

ME

LX

I

JAN

UA

RY

-DE

CE

MB

ER

, 196

4

3319

64

UN

IIM

NIl

lum

E1.

1,N

o 18

CT

OB

ER

1, 1

964

ff

OC

T 1

3 1

964

:1!.

)E

C E

TV

E.:

TH

E J

OU

RN

AL

.O

F PH

ILO

SOPH

Y

DO

DR

UG

S H

AV

E R

EL

IGIO

US

IMPO

RT

? °

UN

TIL

six

mon

ths

ago,

if I

pic

ked

up m

y ph

one

in th

e C

am-

brid

ge a

rea

and

dial

ed K

ISS-

BIG

,a

voic

e w

ould

ans

wer

,"I

f-if

."T

hese

wer

e co

inci

denc

es: K

ISS-

BIG

hap

pene

dto

be

the

lette

r eq

uiva

lent

s of

an

arbi

trar

ily a

ssig

ned

tele

phon

enu

mbe

r, a

ndI.

F.I.

F. r

epre

sent

ed th

e in

itial

s of

an o

rgan

izat

ion

with

the

im-

prob

able

nam

e of

the

Inte

rnat

iona

l Fed

erat

ion

for

Inte

rnal

Fre

e-do

m. B

ut th

e co

inci

denc

esw

ere

appo

site

to th

e po

int o

f be

ing

poet

ic.

"Kis

s bi

g" c

augh

t the

eup

hori

c, m

anic

, lif

e-em

brac

ing

attit

ude

that

cha

ract

eriz

ed th

is m

ost p

ublic

ized

of t

he o

rgan

izat

ions

form

ed to

exp

lore

the

new

ly s

ynth

esiz

edco

nsci

ousn

ess-

chan

ging

subs

tanc

es; t

he o

rgan

izat

ion

itsel

fw

as s

urel

y on

e of

the

"iff

y-es

t"ph

enom

ena

to a

ppea

r on

our

soc

ial a

nd in

telle

ctua

lsc

ene

in s

ome

time.

It p

rodu

ced

the

firs

t fir

ings

in H

arva

rd's

his

tory

,an

ulti

-m

atum

to g

et o

ut o

f M

exic

o in

fiv

e da

ys, a

nd "

the

mir

acle

of

Mar

sh C

hape

l," in

whi

ch, d

urin

ga

two-

and-

one-

half

-hou

r G

ood

Frid

ay s

ervi

ce, t

en th

eolo

gica

l stu

dent

s an

dpr

ofes

sors

inge

sted

psilo

cybi

n an

d w

ere

visi

ted

by w

hat t

hey

gene

rally

repo

rted

to b

eth

e de

epes

t rel

igio

us e

xper

ienc

es o

f th

eir

lives

.D

espi

te th

e la

st o

f th

ese

phen

omen

a an

d its

num

erou

s if

less

dram

atic

par

alle

ls, s

tude

nts

of r

elig

ion

appe

ar b

y an

d la

rge

to b

edi

smis

sing

the

psyc

hede

lic d

rugs

that

hav

esp

rung

to o

ur a

ttent

ion

in th

e '6

0s a

s ha

ving

littl

e re

ligio

us r

elev

ance

.T

he p

ositi

on ta

ken

in o

ne o

f th

e m

ost f

orw

ard-

look

ing

volu

mes

of th

eolo

gica

l ess

ays

to h

ave

appe

ared

in r

ecen

t yea

rsSo

undi

ngs,

edi

ted

by A

. R.

Vid

ler

'acc

epts

R. C

. Zae

hner

's M

ystic

ism

Sacr

ed a

nd P

rofa

ne,

as h

avin

g "f

ully

exa

min

ed a

nd r

efut

ed"

the

relig

ious

clai

ms

for

mes

calin

whi

ch A

ldou

s H

uxle

y sk

etch

ed in

The

Doo

rs o

f Pe

rcep

-tio

n.T

his

clos

ing

of th

e ca

se s

trik

esm

e as

pre

mat

ure,

for

itlo

oks

as if

the

drug

s ha

ve li

ght t

o th

row

on th

e hi

stor

y of

rel

igio

n,

The

em

ende

d ve

rsio

n of

a p

aper

pre

sent

edto

The

Woo

drow

Wils

onSo

ciet

y, P

rinc

eton

Uni

vers

ity, o

n M

ay 1

6, 1

964.

1 So

undi

ngs

: Ess

ays

conc

erni

ng C

hris

tian

Und

erst

andi

ngs,

A. R

. Vid

ler,

ed. (

Cam

brid

ge: U

nive

rsity

Pre

ss, 1

962)

.T

he s

tate

men

t cite

d ap

pear

s on

page

72,

in H

. A. W

illia

ms'

s es

say

on "

The

olog

y an

dSe

lf-a

war

enes

s."

517

© C

opyr

ight

196

4 by

Jou

rnal

of

Philo

soph

y, I

nc.

34

MO

518

.11

TH

E J

OU

RN

AL

OF

PHIL

OSO

PHY

the

phen

omen

olog

y of

rel

igio

n, th

e ph

iloso

phy

of r

elig

ion,

and

the

prac

tice

of th

e re

ligio

us li

fe it

self

.

1. D

rugs

and

Rel

igio

n V

iew

ed H

isto

rica

lly

In h

is tr

ial-

and-

erro

r lif

e ex

plor

atio

ns m

an a

lmos

t eve

ryw

here

has

stum

bled

upo

n co

nnec

tions

bet

wee

n ve

geta

bles

(eat

en o

rbr

ewed

) an

d ac

tions

(yo

gi b

reat

hing

exe

rcis

es, w

hirl

ing-

derv

ish

danc

es, f

lage

llatio

n) th

at a

lter

stat

es o

f co

nsci

ousn

ess.

From

the

psyc

hoph

arm

acol

ogic

al s

tand

poin

t we

now

und

erst

and

thes

e st

ates

to b

e th

e pr

oduc

ts o

f ch

ange

s in

bra

in c

hem

istr

y.Fr

om th

e so

cio-

logi

cal p

ersp

ectiv

e w

e se

e th

at th

ey te

nd to

be

conn

ecte

d in

som

ew

ay w

ith r

elig

ion.

If w

e di

scou

nt th

e w

ine

used

in C

hris

tian

com

mun

ion

serv

ices

, the

inst

ance

s cl

oses

t to

us in

tim

e an

d sp

ace

are

the

peyo

te o

f T

he N

ativ

e A

mer

ican

[In

dian

] C

hurc

h an

dM

exic

o's

2000

-yea

r-ol

d "s

acre

d m

ushr

oom

s,"

the

latte

r re

nder

edin

Azt

ec a

s "G

od's

Fle

sh"s

trik

ing

para

llel t

o "t

he b

ody

ofou

rL

ord"

in th

e C

hris

tian

euch

aris

t.B

eyon

d th

ese

neig

hbor

ing

in-

stan

ces

lie th

e so

ma

of th

e H

indu

s, th

e ha

oma

and

hem

p of

the

Zor

oast

rian

s, th

e D

iony

sus

of th

e G

reek

s w

ho "

ever

ywhe

re.

.

taug

ht m

en th

e cu

lture

of

the

vine

and

the

mys

teri

es o

f hi

s w

orsh

ipan

d ev

eryw

here

[w

as]

acce

pted

as

a go

d,"

2 th

e be

nzoi

n of

Sou

th-

east

Asi

a, Z

en's

tea

who

se f

ifth

cup

pur

ifie

s an

d w

hose

six

th "

calls

to th

e re

alm

of

the

imm

orta

ls,"

8 th

e pi

turi

of

the

Aus

tral

ian

abor

igin

es, a

nd p

roba

bly

the

mys

tic k

ykeo

n th

at w

as e

aten

and

drun

k at

the

clim

actic

clo

se o

f th

e si

xth

day

of th

e E

leus

inia

nm

ys-

teri

es.4

The

re is

no

need

to e

xten

d th

e lis

t, as

a r

easo

nabl

y co

m-

plet

e ac

coun

t is

avai

labl

e in

Phi

lippe

de

Felic

e's

com

preh

ensi

vest

udy

of th

e su

bjec

t, Po

ison

s sa

cres

, ivr

esse

s di

vine

s.M

ore

inte

rest

ing

than

the

fact

that

con

scio

usne

ss-c

hang

ing

devi

ces

have

bee

n lin

ked

with

rel

igio

n is

the

poss

ibili

ty th

at th

eyac

tual

ly in

itiat

ed m

any

of th

e re

ligio

us p

ersp

ectiv

es w

hich

, tak

ing

root

in h

isto

ry, c

ontin

ued

afte

r th

eir

psyc

hede

lic o

rigi

ns w

ere

for-

gotte

n.B

ergs

on s

aw th

e fi

rst m

ovem

ent o

f H

indu

s an

d G

reek

sto

war

d "d

ynam

ic r

elig

ion"

as

asso

ciat

ed w

ith th

e "d

ivin

era

p-tu

re"

foun

d in

into

xica

ting

beve

rage

s; 6

mor

e re

cent

ly R

ober

tG

rave

s, G

ordo

n W

asso

n, a

nd A

lan

Wat

ts h

ave

sugg

este

d th

at m

ost

relig

ions

aro

se f

rom

suc

h ch

emic

ally

indu

ced

theo

phan

ies.

Mar

y

2 E

dith

Ham

ilton

, Myt

holo

gy (

New

Yor

k: M

ento

r, 1

953)

, p. 5

5.8

Quo

ted

in A

lan

Wat

ts, T

he S

piri

t of

Zen

(N

ew Y

ork:

Gro

ve P

ress

,19

58),

p. 1

10.

4 G

eorg

e M

ylon

as, E

leus

is a

nd th

e E

leus

inia

n M

yste

ries

(Pr

ince

ton,

N.J

.:Pr

ince

ton

Uni

v. P

ress

, 196

1), p

. 284

.T

wo

Sour

ces

of M

oral

ity a

nd R

elig

ion

(New

Yor

k: H

olt,

1935

), p

p.20

6-21

2. 35

IMM

MN

MO

EN

ND

O D

RU

GS

HA

VE

RE

LIG

IOU

SIM

POR

T ?

519

Bar

nard

is th

e m

ost e

xplic

itpr

opon

ent o

f th

is th

esis

."W

hich

..

. was

mor

e lik

ely

to h

appe

n fi

rst,"

she

ask

s,°

"the

spo

ntan

eous

lyge

nera

ted

idea

of

an a

fter

life

inw

hich

the

dise

mbo

died

sou

l,lib

er-

ated

fro

m:th

e re

stri

ctio

ns o

f tim

ean

d sp

ace,

exp

erie

nces

ete

rnal

blis

s, o

r th

e ac

cide

ntal

dis

cove

ryof

hal

luci

noge

nic

plan

ts th

atgi

vea

sens

e, o

f eu

phor

ia, d

islo

cate

the

cent

er o

f co

nsci

ousn

ess,

and

dist

ort'.

tim

e an

dsp

ace,

mak

ing

them

bal

loon

out

war

d in

grea

tlyex

pand

ed v

ista

s?"

Her

own

answ

er is

that

"th

e [l

atte

r]ex

peri

-en

ce m

ight

hav

e ha

d.

.. a

n al

mos

t exp

losi

ve e

ffec

t on

the

larg

ely

dorm

ant m

inds

of

men

, cau

sing

them

to th

ink

of th

ings

they

had

neve

r th

ough

t of

befo

re.

Thi

s, if

you

like

, is

dire

ctre

vela

tion.

"H

er u

se o

f th

e su

bjun

ctiv

e"m

ight

" re

nder

s th

is f

orm

ulat

ion

ofhe

r an

swer

equ

ivoc

al, b

ut s

heco

nclu

des

her

essa

yon

a n

ote

that

isco

mpl

etel

y un

equi

voca

l: "L

ooki

ngat

the

mat

ter

cold

ly, u

nint

oxi-

cate

d an

d un

entr

ance

d, I

am w

illin

g to

pro

phes

y th

at f

ifty

theo

-bo

tani

sts

wor

king

for

fif

tyye

ars

wou

ld m

ake

the

curr

ent t

heor

ies

conc

erni

ng th

e or

igin

s of

muc

hm

ytho

logy

and

theo

logy

as o

ut-o

f-da

te a

s pr

e-C

oper

nica

n as

tron

omy.

"T

his

is a

n im

port

ant h

ypot

hesi

sone

whi

ch m

ust s

urel

yen

gage

the

atte

ntio

n of

his

tori

ans

of r

elig

ion

for

som

e tim

e to

com

e.B

utas

I a

m c

once

rned

her

e on

ly to

spo

t the

poin

ts a

t whi

ch th

e dr

ugs

erup

t ont

o th

e fi

eld

of s

erio

us r

elig

ious

stud

y, n

ot to

rid

e th

ege

yser

s to

wha

teve

r he

ight

s, I

sha

ll no

tpu

rsue

Mis

s B

arna

rd's

thes

is.

Hav

ing

loca

ted

wha

tap

pear

s to

be

the

crux

of

the

his-

tori

cal q

uest

ion,

nam

ely

the

exte

nt to

whi

ch d

rugs

not m

erel

ydu

plic

ate

or s

imul

ate

theo

logi

cally

spon

sore

d ex

peri

ence

s bu

t gen

er-

ate

or s

hape

theo

logi

es th

emse

lves

,I

turn

to p

heno

men

olog

y.

2. D

rugs

and

Rel

igio

n V

iew

edPh

enom

enol

ogic

ally

Phen

omen

olog

y at

tem

pts

a ca

refu

l des

crip

tion

of h

uman

ex-

peri

ence

.T

he q

uest

ion

the

drug

spo

se f

or th

e ph

enom

enol

ogy

ofre

ligio

n, th

eref

ore,

is w

heth

er th

eex

peri

ence

s th

ey in

duce

diff

erfr

om r

elig

ious

exp

erie

nces

rea

ched

natu

rally

, and

ifso

how

.E

ven

the

Bib

le n

otes

that

che

mic

ally

indu

ced

psyc

hic

stat

esbe

ar s

ome

rese

mbl

ance

to r

elig

ious

ones

.Pe

ter

had

to a

ppea

lto

aci

rcum

stan

tial c

rite

rion

the

earl

yho

ur o

f th

e da

yto

defe

ndth

ose

who

wer

e ca

ught

up in

the

Pent

ecos

tal e

xper

ienc

eag

ains

tth

e ch

arge

that

they

wer

e m

erel

ydr

unk

:"T

hese

men

are

not

drun

k, a

s yo

u su

ppos

e, s

ince

it is

onl

yth

e th

ird

hour

of

the

day"

(Act

s 2:

15)

; and

Pau

l ini

tiate

s th

eco

mpa

riso

n w

hen

he a

dmon

ishe

sth

e E

phes

ians

not

to "

get d

runk

with

win

e.

.. b

ut [

to]

be f

illed

5 "T

he G

od in

the

Flow

erpo

t," T

he A

mer

ican

Scho

lar

32, 4

(A

utum

n,19

63):

584

, 586

.

36

52,/

RIS

E P

AN

Alig

PPR

SOM

I11

.11

with

the

spir

it" (

Eph

esia

ns 5

:18)

.A

re s

uch

com

pari

sons

, par

al-

lele

d in

the

acco

unts

of

virt

ually

eve

ry r

elig

ion,

sup

erfi

cial

?H

owfa

r ca

n th

ey b

e pu

shed

?N

ot a

ll th

e w

ay, s

tude

nts

of r

elig

ion

have

thus

far

insi

sted

.W

ith r

espe

ct to

the

new

dru

gs, P

rof.

R. C

. Zae

hner

has

dra

wn

the

line

emph

atic

ally

."T

he im

port

ance

of

Hux

ley'

s D

oors

of

Per-

cept

ion,

" he

wri

tes,

"is

that

in it

the

auth

or c

lear

ly m

akes

the

clai

m th

at w

hat h

e ex

peri

ence

d un

der

the

infl

uenc

e of

rae

scal

inis

clo

sely

com

para

ble

to a

gen

uine

mys

tical

exp

erie

nce.

If h

e is

righ

t,.

..

the

conc

lusi

ons

..

. are

alar

min

g."

IZ

aehn

er th

inks

that

Hux

ley

is n

ot r

ight

, but

I f

ear

that

it is

Zae

hner

who

ism

ista

ken.

The

re a

re, o

f co

urse

, inn

umer

able

dru

g ex

peri

ence

s th

at h

ave

no r

elig

ious

fea

ture

; the

y ca

n be

sen

sual

as

read

ily a

s sp

iritu

al,

triv

ial a

s re

adily

as

tran

sfor

min

g, c

apri

ciou

s as

rea

dily

as

sacr

a-m

enta

l.If

ther

e is

one

poi

nt a

bout

whi

ch e

very

stu

dent

of

the

drug

s ag

rees

, it i

s th

at th

ere

is n

o su

ch th

ing

as th

e dr

ug e

xper

i-en

ce p

er s

eno

expe

rien

ce th

at th

e dr

ugs,

as

it w

ere,

mer

ely

secr

ete.

Eve

ry e

xper

ienc

e is

a m

ix o

f th

ree

ingr

edie

nts:

dru

g, s

et(t

he p

sych

olog

ical

mak

e-up

of

the

indi

vidu

al),

and

set

ting

(the

soci

al a

nd p

hysi

cal e

nvir

onm

ent i

n w

hich

it is

take

n).

But

giv

enth

e ri

ght s

et a

nd s

ettin

g, th

e dr

ugs

can

indu

ce r

elig

ious

exp

erie

nces

indi

stin

guis

habl

e fr

om e

xper

ienc

es th

at o

ccur

spo

ntan

eous

ly.

Nor

need

set

and

set

ting

be e

xcep

tiona

l.T

he w

ay th

e st

atis

tics

are

curr

ently

run

ning

, it l

ooks

as

if f

rom

one

-fou

rth

to o

ne-t

hird

of

the

gene

ral p

opul

atio

n w

ill h

ave

relig

ious

exp

erie

nces

if th

ey ta

keth

e dr

ugs

unde

r na

tura

listic

con

ditio

ns, m

eani

ng b

y th

is c

ondi

tions

in w

hich

the

rese

arch

er s

uppo

rts

the

subj

ect b

ut d

oes

not t

ry to

infl

uenc

e th

e di

rect

ion

his

expe

rien

ce w

ill ta

ke.

Am

ong

subj

ects

who

hav

e st

rong

rel

igio

us in

clin

atio

ns to

beg

in w

ith, t

he p

ropo

rtio

nof

thos

e ha

ving

rel

igio

us e

xper

ienc

es ju

mps

to th

ree-

four

ths.

Ifth

ey ta

ke th

e dr

ugs

in s

ettin

gs th

at a

re r

elig

ious

too,

the

ratio

soar

s to

nin

e in

ten.

How

do

we

know

that

the

expe

rien

ces

thes

e pe

ople

hav

e re

ally

are

relig

ious

? W

e ca

n be

gin

with

the

fact

that

they

say

they

are

.T

he "

one-

four

th to

one

-thi

rd o

f th

e ge

nera

l pop

ulat

ion"

fig

ure

isdr

awn

from

two

sour

ces.

Ten

mon

ths

afte

r th

ey h

ad h

ad th

eir

expe

rien

ces,

24

per

cent

of

the

194

subj

ects

in a

stu

dy b

y th

eC

alif

orni

a ps

ychi

atri

st O

scar

Jan

iger

cha

ract

eriz

ed th

eir

expe

ri-

ence

s as

hav

ing

been

rel

igio

us.8

Thi

rty-

two

per

cent

of

the

74

7 M

ystic

ism

, Sac

red

and

Prof

ane

(New

Yor

k: O

xfor

d, 1

961)

, p. 1

2.3

Quo

ted

in W

illia

m H

. McG

loth

lin, "

Lon

g-la

stin

g E

ffec

ts o

f L

SD o

nC

erta

in A

ttitu

des

in N

orm

als,

" pr

inte

d fo

r pr

ivat

e di

stri

butio

n by

the

RA

ND

Cor

pora

tion,

May

, 196

2, p

. 16.

37

MO

in O

M E

MD

O D

RU

GS

HA

VE

RE

LIG

IOU

SIM

POR

T?

521

subj

ects

in D

itrna

n an

d H

aym

an's

stud

y re

port

ed, l

ooki

ng b

ack

on th

eir

LSD

exp

erie

nce,

that

it lo

oked

as if

it h

ad b

een

"ver

ym

uch"

or

"qui

tia b

it"a

relig

ious

exp

erie

nce;

42

per

cent

che

cked

as tr

ue th

e st

atem

ent t

hat t

hey

"wer

ele

ft w

ith a

gre

ater

awar

enes

sof

God

, or

a hi

gher

pow

er, o

r ul

timat

e re

ality

." 9

The

sta

tem

ent

that

thre

e-fo

urth

s of

sub

ject

sha

ving

rel

igio

us "

sets

" w

illha

vere

ligio

us e

xper

ienc

esco

mes

fro

m th

e re

port

s of

six

ty-n

ine

relig

ious

prof

essi

onal

s w

ho to

ok th

edr

ugs

whi

le th

e H

arva

rdpr

ojec

t was

in p

rogr

ess.

"In

the

abse

nce

of (

a)a

sing

le d

efin

ition

of

relig

ious

expe

rien

ceac

cept

able

to p

sych

olog

ists

of

relig

ion

gene

rally

and

(b)

fool

-pr

oof

way

s of

asc

erta

inin

g w

heth

erac

tual

exp

erie

nces

exe

mpl

ify

any

defi

nitio

n, I

am

not

sur

e th

ere

is a

ny b

ette

r w

ay o

f te

lling

whe

ther

the

expe

rien

ces

ofth

e 33

3 m

en a

ndw

omen

invo

lved

inth

e ab

ove

stud

ies

wer

e re

ligio

us th

an b

y no

ting

whe

ther

they

seem

ed s

o to

them

.B

ut if

mor

e ri

goro

usm

etho

ds a

re p

refe

rred

,th

ey e

xist

; the

y ha

ve b

een

utili

zed,

and

they

con

firm

the

conv

ictio

nof

the

man

in th

e st

reet

that

drug

exp

erie

nces

can

inde

ed b

e re

-lig

ious

.In

his

doc

tora

l stu

dyat

Har

vard

Uni

vers

ity, W

alte

rPa

hnke

wor

ked

out

a ty

polo

gy o

f re

ligio

us e

xper

ienc

e(i

n th

isin

stan

ce o

f th

e m

ystic

al v

arie

ty)

base

d on

the

clas

sic

case

s of

mys

-tic

al e

xper

ienc

es a

s su

mm

ariz

edin

Wal

ter

Stac

e's

Mys

ticis

man

dPh

iloso

phy.

He

then

adm

inis

tere

dps

ilocy

bin

to te

n th

eolo

gyst

uden

ts a

nd p

rofe

ssor

s in

the

setti

ng o

f a

Goo

d Fr

iday

serv

ice.

The

dru

g w

as g

iven

"do

uble

-blin

d,"

mea

ning

that

nei

ther

Dr.

Pahn

ke n

or h

is s

ubje

cts

knew

whi

ch te

n w

ere

getti

ngps

ilocy

bin

and

whi

ch te

n pl

aceb

os to

cons

titut

e a

cont

rol

grou

p. S

ubse

quen

tlyth

e re

port

s th

e su

bjec

tsw

rote

of

thei

r ex

peri

ence

sw

ere

laid

suc

-ce

ssiv

ely,

bef

ore

thre

e co

llege

-gra

duat

eho

usew

ives

who

, with

out

bein

g in

form

ed a

bout

the

natu

re o

f th

e st

udy,

wer

e as

ked

to r

ate

each

sta

tem

ent a

s to

the

degr

ee (

stro

ng,

mod

erat

e, s

light

, or

none

)to

whi

ch it

exe

mpl

ifie

d ea

ch o

fth

e ni

ne tr

aits

of

mys

tical

ex-

peri

ence

enu

mer

ated

in th

ety

polo

gy o

f m

ystic

ism

wor

ked

out i

nad

vanc

e. W

hen

the

test

of

sign

ific

ance

was

app

lied

to th

eir

sta-

tistic

s, it

sho

wed

that

"th

ose

subj

ects

who

rec

eive

d ps

ilocy

bin

ex-

peri

ence

d ph

enom

ena

whi

chw

ere

indi

stin

guis

habl

e fr

om, i

fno

tid

entic

al w

ith.

.. t

he c

ateg

orie

s de

fine

d by

our

typo

logy

of

mys

ticis

m."

11

9 Ib

id.,

pp. 4

5, 4

6.10

Tim

othy

Lea

ry, "

The

Rel

igio

us E

xper

ienc

e:It

s Pr

oduc

tion

and

Inte

r-pr

etat

ion,

" T

he P

sych

edel

ic R

evie

w,

1, 3

(19

64):

325

.11

"D

rugs

and

Mys

ticis

m :

An

Ana

lysi

sof

the

Rel

atio

nshi

p be

twee

nPs

y-ch

edel

ic D

rugs

and

the

Mys

tical

Con

scio

usne

ss,"

a th

esis

pre

sent

ed to

the

Com

mitt

ee o

n H

ighe

r D

egre

es in

His

tory

and

Philo

soph

y of

Rel

igio

n, H

arva

rdU

nive

rsity

, Jun

e 19

63.

1.10

MIN

522

NM

IIO

NIM

OIN

OE

NO

TH

E J

OU

RN

AL

OF

PHIL

OSO

PHY

With

the

thou

ght t

hat t

he r

eade

r m

ight

like

to te

st h

is o

wn

pow

ers

of d

isce

rnm

ent o

n th

e qu

estio

n be

ing

cons

ider

ed,

I in

sert

here

a s

impl

e te

st I

gav

e-to

a g

roup

of

Prin

ceto

n st

uden

ts f

ollo

win

ga

rece

nt d

iscu

ssio

n sp

onso

red

by .t

he W

oodr

ow W

ilson

*Soc

iety

:

Bel

ow a

re a

ccou

nts

of tw

o re

ligio

us e

xper

ienc

es.

One

occ

urre

d un

der,

the

infl

uenc

e of

dru

gs, o

ne w

ithou

t the

ir in

flue

ncer

Che

ck th

e on

e Y

OU

thin

k w

asdr

ug-i

nduc

ed.

Sudd

enly

I b

urst

into

a v

ast,

new

, ind

escr

ibab

ly w

onde

rful

uni

vers

e.A

l-th

ough

I a

m w

ritin

g th

is o

ver

a Y

ear

late

r, th

e th

rill

of th

e su

rpri

se a

ndam

azem

ent,

the

awes

omen

ess

of th

e re

vela

tion,

the

engu

lfm

ent i

n an

ove

r-w

helm

ing

feel

ing-

wav

e of

gra

titud

e an

d bl

esse

d w

onde

rmen

t, ar

e as

fre

sh,

and

the

mem

ory

of th

e ex

peri

ence

is a

s vi

vid,

as

if it

had

hap

pene

d fi

vem

inut

es a

go.

And

yet

to c

onco

ct a

nyth

ing

by w

ay o

f de

scri

ptio

n th

at w

ould

even

hin

t at t

he m

agni

tude

, the

sen

se o

f ul

timat

e re

ality

..

. thi

s se

ems

such

an

impo

ssib

le ta

sk.

The

kno

wle

dge

whi

ch h

as in

fuse

d an

d af

fect

edev

ery

aspe

ct o

f m

y lif

e ca

me

inst

anta

neou

sly

and

with

suc

h co

mpl

ete

forc

eof

cer

tain

ty th

at it

was

impo

ssib

le, t

hen

or s

ince

, to

doub

t its

val

idity

.

II

All

at o

nce,

with

out w

arni

ng o

f an

y ki

nd, I

fou

nd m

ysel

f w

rapp

ed in

a f

lam

e-co

lore

d cl

oud.

For

an in

stan

t I th

ough

t of

fire

..

. the

nex

t, I

knew

that

the

fire

was

with

in m

ysel

f.D

irec

tly a

fter

war

d th

ere

cam

e up

on m

e a

sens

eof

exu

ltatio

n, o

f im

men

se jo

yous

ness

acc

ompa

nied

or

imm

edia

tely

fol

low

edby

an

inte

llect

ual i

llum

inat

ion

impo

ssib

le to

des

crib

e. A

mon

g ot

her

thin

gs,

I di

d no

t mer

ely

com

e to

bel

ieve

, but

I s

aw th

at th

e un

iver

se is

not

com

-po

sed

of d

ead

mat

ter,

but

is, o

n th

e co

ntra

ry, a

livi

ng P

rese

nce;

I b

ecam

eco

nsci

ous

in m

ysel

f of

ete

rnal

life

..

..

I sa

w th

at a

ll m

en a

re im

mor

tal:

that

the

cosm

ic o

rder

is s

uch

that

with

out a

ny p

read

vent

ure

all t

hing

s w

ork

toge

ther

for

the

good

of

each

and

all;

that

the

foun

datio

n pr

inci

ple

of th

ew

orld

..

.is

wha

t we

call

love

, and

that

the

happ

ines

s of

eac

h an

d al

l is

inth

e lo

ng r

un a

bsol

utel

y ce

rtai

n.

On

the

occa

sion

ref

erre

d to

, tw

ice

as m

any

stud

ents

(46

) an

-sw

ered

inco

rrec

tly a

s an

swer

ed c

orre

ctly

(23

).I

bury

the

corr

ect

answ

er in

a f

ootn

ote

to p

rese

rve

the

read

er's

opp

ortu

nity

to te

sthi

mse

lf.2

2W

hy, i

n th

e fa

ce o

f th

is c

onsi

dera

ble

evid

ence

, doe

s Z

aehn

erho

ld th

at d

rug

expe

rien

ces

cann

ot b

e au

then

tical

ly r

elig

ious

?T

here

app

ear

to b

e th

ree

reas

ons:

12 T

he f

irst

acc

ount

is q

uote

d an

onym

ousl

y in

"T

he I

ssue

of

the

Con

-sc

ious

ness

-exp

endi

ng D

rugs

," A

lain

Cur

rent

s in

Mod

ern

Tho

ught

, 20,

1 (

Sep-

tem

berO

ctob

er, 1

963)

: 10-

11.

The

sec

ond

expe

rien

ce w

as th

at o

f D

r. P

..M

. Buc

ke, t

he a

utho

r of

Cos

mic

Con

scio

usne

ss, a

s qu

oted

in W

illia

m J

ames

,T

he V

arie

ties

of R

elig

ious

Exp

erie

nce

(New

Yor

k: M

oder

n L

ibra

ry, 1

902)

,pp

. 390

- -3

91.

The

for

mer

exp

erie

nce

occu

rred

und

er th

e in

flue

nce

of d

rugs

;th

e la

tter

did

not.

39

INN

NM

IIN

EM

IN11

.1D

O D

RU

GS

HA

VE

RE

LIG

IOU

S IM

POR

T?

523

1. A

is o

wn

expe

rien

ce w

as "

utte

rly

triv

ial."

Thi

s of

cou

rse

prov

es th

at n

ot a

ll:di

ng e

xper

ienc

es a

re r

elig

ious

; it d

oes

not

prov

eth

at n

o dr

ug e

xPer

iene

eS:a

re: r

elig

ious

:.

2:ex

Peri

ence

s of

.oth

ers

that

app

ear

relig

ious

toth

em a

rena

trul

y so

.Z

aehn

er d

istin

gniS

hes

thre

e ki

nds

of m

ysti-

eiSi

n:na

ture

mys

tiCiS

ra, i

n w

hich

the

soul

is u

nite

d w

ith th

ena

tura

lW

orld

:: m

onis

tic in

yitic

ism

, in

whi

ch th

e so

ulm

erge

s w

ith a

nim

pers

onal

abs

olut

e ; a

nd th

eism

, in

whi

ch th

e so

ulco

nfro

nts

the

livin

g, p

erso

nal G

od. H

e co

nced

es th

at d

rugs

can

indu

ce th

efi

rst t

wo

spec

ies

of m

ystic

ism

, but

not

its

supr

eme

inst

ance

, the

thei

stic

.A

s pr

oof,

he

anal

yzes

Hux

ley'

s ex

peri

ence

as r

ecou

nted

in T

he D

oors

of

Perc

eptio

n to

sho

w th

at it

pro

duce

dat

bes

t abl

end.

of

natu

re a

nd m

onis

tic m

ystic

ism

.E

ven

if w

e w

ere

toac

cept

Zae

liner

'S e

valu

atio

n O

f th

e th

ree

form

s of

mys

ticis

m, H

ux-

ley'

s ca

se, a

nd in

deed

Zae

hner

's e

ntir

e bo

ok, w

ould

prov

e on

lyth

at n

ot e

very

mys

tical

exp

erie

nce

indu

ced

by th

e dr

ugs

is th

eist

ic.

Inso

far

as Z

aehn

er g

oes

beyo

nd th

is to

impl

y th

atdr

ugs

do n

ot a

ndca

nnot

indu

ce th

eiSt

ic m

ystic

ism

, he

not o

nly

goes

bey

ond

the

evid

ence

but

pro

ceed

s in

the

face

of

it.Ja

mes

Slo

tkin

rep

orts

that

the

.pey

ote

Indi

ans.

"se

e vi

sion

s, w

hich

may

be

of C

hris

t Him

self

.So

inet

inte

s th

ey h

ear

the

voic

e of

the

Gre

at S

piri

t.So

met

imes

they

.bec

ome

awar

e of

the

pres

ence

of

God

and

of

thos

e pe

rson

alsh

ortc

omin

gs w

hich

mus

t be

corr

ecte

d if

they

are

to d

o H

is w

ill."

13

And

G.:

M. C

arst

airs

, rep

ortin

gon

the

use

of p

sych

edel

ic b

hang

in I

ndia

, quo

tes

a B

rahm

inas

say

ing,

"It

giv

es g

ood

bhak

ti..

..

You

get

a v

ery

good

bha

kti w

ith h

hang

," b

hakt

ibe

ing

prec

isel

yH

indu

ism

's th

eist

ic v

aria

nt.1

43.

The

re is

a th

ird

reas

on w

hy Z

aehn

er m

ight

doub

t tha

t dru

gsca

n in

duce

gen

uine

ly m

ystic

al e

xper

ienc

es.

Zae

hner

is a

Rom

anC

atho

lic, a

nd R

oman

Cat

holic

doc

trin

e te

ache

s th

atm

ystic

al r

ap-

ture

is a

gif

t of

grac

e an

d as

suc

h ca

nne

ver

be r

educ

ed to

man

'sco

ntro

l.T

his

may

be

true

; ce

rtai

nly

the

empi

rica

l evi

denc

eci

ted

does

not

pre

clud

e th

e po

ssib

ility

of

a ge

nuin

e on

tolo

gica

l or

theo

-lo

gica

l dif

fere

nce

betw

een

natu

ral a

nd d

rug-

indu

ced

relig

ious

ex-

peri

ence

s.A

t thi

s po

int,

how

ever

, we

are

cons

ider

ing

phen

ome-

nolo

gy r

athe

r th

an o

ntol

ogy,

des

crip

tion

rath

erth

an in

terp

reta

tion,

and

on th

is le

vel t

here

is n

o di

ffer

ence

.D

escr

iptiv

ely,

dru

g ex

-pe

rien

ces

cann

ot b

e di

stin

guis

hed

from

thei

rna

tura

l rel

igio

usco

unte

rpar

t. W

hen

the

curr

ent p

hilo

soph

ical

aut

hori

tyon

mys

ti-ci

sm, W

. T. S

tace

, was

ask

ed w

heth

er th

e dr

ugex

peri

ence

is s

imila

r

13 J

ames

S. S

lotk

in, P

eyot

e R

elig

ion

(New

Yor

k: F

ree

Pres

sof

Gle

ncoe

,19

56). 14

"D

arn

and

Bha

ng,"

Qua

rter

ly J

ourn

al o

f th

e St

udy

ofA

lcoh

ol, 1

5(1

954)

: 229

.

40

Ell

OM

Ell

OM

MN

1=-

524

TH

E J

OU

RN

AL

OF

PHIL

OSO

PHY

to th

e m

ystic

al e

xper

ienc

e, h

e an

swer

ed, "

It's

not

a m

atte

r of

its

bein

g si

mila

r to

mys

tical

exp

erie

nce;

it is

mys

tical

exp

erie

nce.

"

Wha

t we

seem

to b

e w

itnes

sing

in Z

aehn

er's

Mys

ticis

m S

acre

dan

d Pr

ofan

e is

a r

eena

ctm

ent o

f th

e ag

e-ol

d pa

ttern

in th

e co

n-fl

ict b

etw

een

scie

nce

and

relig

ion.

Whe

neve

r a

new

.con

trov

ersy

aris

es, r

elig

ion'

s fi

rst i

mpu

lse

is to

den

y th

e di

stur

bing

evi

denc

esc

ienc

e ha

s pr

oduc

ed.

Seen

in p

ersp

ectiv

e, Z

aehn

er's

ref

usal

toad

mit

that

dru

gs c

an in

duce

exp

erie

nces

des

crip

tivel

y in

dist

in-

guis

habl

e fr

om th

ose

whi

ch a

re s

pont

aneo

usly

rel

igio

us is

the

curr

ent c

ount

erpa

rt o

f th

e se

vent

eent

h-ce

ntur

y th

eolo

gian

s' r

efus

alto

look

thro

ugh

Gal

ileo'

s te

lesc

ope

or, w

hen

they

did

, the

ir p

er-

sist

ence

on

dism

issi

ng w

hat t

hey

saw

as

mac

hina

tions

of

the

devi

l.W

hen

the

fact

that

dru

gs c

an tr

igge

r re

ligio

us e

xper

ienc

es b

ecom

esin

cont

rove

rtib

le, d

iscu

ssio

n w

ill m

ove

to th

e m

ore

diff

ieul

t que

stio

nof

how

this

new

fac

t is

to b

e in

terp

rete

d.T

he la

tter

ques

tion

lead

s be

yond

phe

nom

enol

ogy

into

phi

loso

phy.

3. D

rugs

and

Rel

igio

n V

iew

ed P

hilo

soph

ical

ly

Why

do

peop

le r

ejec

t evi

denc

e?B

ecau

se th

ey f

ind

it th

reat

-en

ing,

we

may

sup

pose

.T

heol

ogia

ns a

re n

ot th

e on

ly p

rofe

ssio

nals

to u

tiliz

e th

is m

ode

of d

efen

se.

In h

is P

erso

nal.

_Kno

wle

dge,

"M

icha

el P

olan

yi r

ecou

nts

the

way

the

med

ical

pro

fess

inn

igno

red

such

pal

pabl

e fa

cts

as th

e pa

inle

ss a

mpu

tatio

n of

Inm

an. l

imbs

,pe

rfor

med

bef

ore

thei

r ow

n ey

es in

hun

dred

s of

suc

cess

ive

ease

s,co

nclu

ding

that

the

subj

ects

wer

e im

post

ers

who

wer

e ei

ther

delu

ding

thei

r ph

ysic

ians

or

collu

ding

with

them

.O

ne p

hysi

cian

,E

sdai

le, c

arri

ed o

ut a

bout

300

maj

or o

pera

tions

pai

nles

sly.

und

erm

esm

eric

tran

ce in

Ind

ia, b

ut n

eith

er in

Ind

ia n

or in

Gre

at B

rita

inco

uld

he g

et m

edic

al jo

urna

ls to

pri

nt a

ccou

nts

of h

is w

ork.

Pola

nyi a

ttrib

utes

this

clo

sed-

min

dedn

ess

to "

lack

of

a co

ncep

tual

fram

ewor

k in

whi

ch th

eir

disc

over

ies

coul

d be

sep

arat

ed f

rom

spec

ious

and

unt

enab

le a

dmix

ture

s."

The

"un

tena

ble

adm

ixtu

re"

in th

e fa

ct th

at p

sych

otom

imet

icdr

ugs

can

indu

ce r

elig

ious

exp

erie

nce

is it

s ap

pare

nt im

plic

ate:

that

rel

igio

us d

iscl

osur

es a

re n

o m

ore

veri

dica

l tha

n ps

ycho

ticon

es.

For

relig

ious

ske

ptic

s, th

is c

oncl

usio

n is

obv

ious

ly n

ot u

n-te

nabl

e at

all;

itfi

ts in

bea

utif

ully

with

thei

r th

esis

that

all

relig

ion

is a

t hea

rt a

n es

cape

fro

m r

ealit

y.Ps

ycho

tics

avoi

dre

ality

by

retir

ing

into

dre

am w

orld

s of

mak

e-be

lieve

; wha

t bet

ter

evid

ence

that

rel

igio

us v

isio

nari

es d

o th

e sa

me

than

the

fact

that

iden

tical

cha

nges

in b

rain

che

mis

try

prod

uce

both

sta

tes

of m

ind?

15 C

hica

go: U

niv.

of

Chi

cago

Pre

ss, 1

958.

41

Min

MO

MIM

IM

in1.

1D

O D

RU

GS

HA

VE

RE

LIG

IOU

SIM

POR

T?

525

Had

not

Mar

x al

read

y w

arne

dus

that

rel

igio

n is

the

"opi

ate"

of th

e pe

ople

7.-

-app

aren

tly h

ew

as m

ore

liter

ally

acc

urat

e th

anhe

sup

POse

d.Fr

eud

was

like

wis

e to

o m

ild.

He

"nev

er d

oubt

edth

at r

elig

ious

phe

nom

ena

are

to b

e un

ders

tood

onl

y on

the

mod

elof

the

neur

otic

sym

ptom

s of

the

indi

vidu

al."

16

He

shou

ld h

ave

said

" p

sych

otic

Aym

ptom

s."

So th

e re

ligio

us s

kept

ic is

like

lyto

rea

son.

W h

at a

bout

the

relig

ious

bel

ieve

r?C

onvi

nced

that

rel

igio

us e

xper

ienc

esar

e no

tfu

ndam

enta

lly d

elus

ory,

can

he a

dmit

that

psy

chot

omim

etic

dru

gsca

n oc

casi

on th

em?

To

do s

o he

nee

ds (

tore

turn

to P

olan

yi's

wor

ds)

"a c

once

ptua

l fra

mew

ork

in w

hich

[th

e di

scov

erie

s ca

n]be

sep

arat

ed f

rom

spe

ciou

san

d un

tena

ble

adm

ixtu

res,

" th

e "u

n-te

nabl

e ad

mix

ture

" be

ing

isth

is c

ase

the

conc

lusi

on th

atre

-lig

ious

exp

erie

nces

are

in g

ener

al d

elus

ory.

One

way

to e

ffec

t the

sep

arat

ion

wou

ld b

e to

arg

ue th

at, d

espi

teph

enoM

enol

ogic

al s

imila

ritie

sbe

twee

n na

tura

l and

dru

g-in

duce

dre

ligio

us e

xper

ienc

es, t

hey

are

sepa

rate

d by

a c

ruci

al o

ntol

ogic

aldi

ffer

ence

.Su

ch a

n ar

gum

ent w

ould

fol

low

the

patte

rn o

f th

eo-

logi

ans

who

arg

ue f

or th

e"r

eal p

rese

nce"

of

Chr

ist's

body

and

bloo

d in

the

brea

d an

d w

ine

of th

e E

ucha

rist

des

pite

thei

rad

mis

-si

on th

at c

hem

ical

Ana

lysi

s,co

nfin

ed a

s it

is to

the

leve

l of

"acc

i-de

nts"

rat

her

than

"es

senc

es,"

wou

ld n

ot d

iscl

ose

this

pres

ence

.B

ut th

iS d

istin

ctio

n w

illno

t app

eal t

o m

any

toda

y, f

or it

turn

son

an

esse

nce-

acc

iden

t met

aphy

sics

whi

chis

not

wid

ely

acce

pted

.In

stea

d of

fig

htin

ga

rear

-gua

rd a

ctio

n by

insi

stin

g th

at if

drug

and

non-

drug

rel

igio

usex

peri

ence

s ca

nnot

be

dist

ingu

ishe

dem

-pi

rica

lly th

ere

mus

t be

som

e tr

anse

mpi

rica

l fac

tor

that

dis

tin-

gnis

hes

them

and

ren

ders

the

drug

expe

rien

ce p

rofa

ne, I

wis

hto

eipl

ore

the

poss

ibili

ty o

f ac

cept

ing

drug

-ind

uced

exp

erie

nces

asre

ligio

us w

ithou

t rel

inqu

ishi

ngco

nfid

ence

in th

e tr

uth-

clai

ms

ofre

ligio

us e

xper

ienc

e ge

nera

lly.

To

begi

n w

ith th

e w

eake

st o

f al

lar

gum

ents

, the

arg

umen

t fro

mau

thor

ity :

Will

iam

Jam

es d

idno

t dis

coun

t his

insi

ghts

that

oc-

curr

ed w

hile

his

bra

in c

hem

istr

yw

as a

ltere

d.T

he p

arag

raph

inw

hich

he

retr

ospe

ctiv

ely

eval

uate

shi

s ni

trou

s ox

ide

expe

rien

ces

has

beco

me

clas

sic,

but

it is

so p

ertin

ent t

o th

e pr

esen

t dis

cuss

ion

that

it m

erits

quo

ting

once

aga

in.

One

con

clus

ion

was

for

ced

upon

my

min

d at

that

tim

e, a

ndm

y im

pres

sion

Of

its tr

uth

has

ever

sin

cere

mai

ned

unsh

aken

.It

is th

at o

ur n

orm

al w

akin

gco

nsci

ousn

ess,

rat

iona

l con

scio

usne

ssas

we

call

it, is

but

one

spe

cial

type

of

cons

ciou

snes

s, w

hils

t all

abou

t it,

part

edfr

om it

by

the

film

iest

of

scre

ens,

ther

e lie

pot

entia

l for

ms

ofco

nsci

ousn

ess

entir

ely

diff

eren

t.W

e m

ay g

o16

Tot

em a

nd T

aboo

(N

ew Y

ork:

Mod

ern

Lib

rary

, 193

8).

42

I= M

O52

6T

HE

JO

UR

NA

L O

F PH

ILO

SOPH

Y

thro

ugh

life

with

out s

uspe

ctin

g th

eir

exis

tenc

e; b

ut a

pply

the

requ

isite

stim

u-lu

s, a

nd a

t a to

uch

they

are

ther

e in

all

thei

r co

mpl

eten

ess,

def

inite

type

s of

men

talit

y w

hich

pro

babl

y so

mew

here

hav

e th

eir

fiel

dof

app

licat

ion

and

adap

tatio

n.N

o ac

coun

t of

the

univ

erse

in it

s to

talit

y ca

n be

fin

al w

hich

leav

es th

ese

othe

r fo

rms

of c

onsc

ious

ness

qui

te d

isre

gard

ed. H

ow to

reg

ard

them

is th

e qu

estio

nfor

they

are

so

disc

ontin

uous

with

ord

inar

y co

nsci

ous-

ness

.Y

et th

ey m

ay d

eter

min

e at

titud

es th

ough

they

can

not f

urni

sh f

orm

ulas

,an

d op

en a

reg

ion

thou

gh th

ey f

ail t

o gi

ve a

map

.A

t any

rat

e, th

ey f

orbi

da

prem

atur

e cl

osin

g of

our

acc

ount

s w

ith r

ealit

y.L

ooki

ng b

ack

on m

y ow

nex

peri

ence

s, th

ey a

ll co

nver

ge to

war

d a

kind

of

insi

ght t

o w

hich

I c

anno

t hel

pas

crib

ing

som

e m

etap

hysi

cal s

igni

fica

nce

(op.

cit.

, 378

-379

).

To

this

arg

umen

t fro

m a

utho

rity

, I a

dd tw

o ar

gum

ents

that

try

to p

rovi

de s

omet

hing

by

way

s of

rea

sons

.D

rug

expe

rien

ces

that

ass

ume

a re

ligio

us c

ast t

end

to h

ave

fear

ful a

nd/o

r be

atif

icfe

atur

es, a

nd e

ach

of m

y hy

poth

eses

rel

ates

to o

ne o

f th

ese

aspe

cts

of th

e ex

peri

ence

.B

egin

ning

with

the

omin

ous,

"fe

ar o

f th

e L

ord,

" aw

e-fu

l fea

-tu

res,

Gor

don

Was

son,

the

New

Yor

k ba

nker

-tur

ned-

myc

olog

ist,

desc

ribe

s th

ese

as h

e en

coun

tere

d th

em in

his

psi

locy

bin

expe

rien

ceas

fol

low

s :

"Ecs

tasy

!In

com

mon

par

lanc

e.

.ec

stas

y is

fun

..

.. B

ut e

csta

sy is

not

fun

.Y

our

very

sou

l is

seiz

ed a

nd s

hake

nun

til it

ting

les.

Aft

er a

ll, w

ho w

ill c

hoos

e to

fee

l und

ilute

d aw

e ?

..

The

unk

now

ing

vulg

ar a

buse

the

wor

d; w

e m

ust r

ecap

ture

its f

ull a

nd te

rrif

ying

sen

se."

17

Em

otio

nally

the

drug

exp

erie

nce

can

be li

ke h

avin

g fo

rty-

foot

wav

es c

rash

ove

r yo

u fo

r se

vera

lho

urs

whi

le y

ou c

ling

desp

erat

ely

to a

life

-raf

t whi

ch m

ay b

esw

ept f

rom

und

er y

ou a

t any

min

ute.

It s

eem

s qu

ite p

ossi

ble

that

suc

h an

ord

eal,

like

any

expe

rien

ce o

f a

clos

e ca

ll, c

ould

-aw

aken

rat

her

fund

amen

tal s

entim

ents

res

pect

ing

life

and

deat

han

d de

stin

y an

d tr

igge

r th

e "n

o at

heis

ts in

fox

hole

s" e

ffec

t.Si

mi-

larl

y, a

s th

e su

bjec

t em

erge

s fr

om th

e tr

aum

a an

d re

aliz

es th

athe

is n

ot g

oing

to b

e in

sane

as

he h

ad f

eare

d, th

ere

may

com

eov

er h

im a

n in

tens

ifie

d ap

prec

iatio

n lik

e th

at f

requ

ently

rep

orte

dby

pat

ient

s re

cove

ring

fro

m c

ritic

al il

lnes

s."I

t hap

pene

d on

the

day

whe

n an

y be

d w

as p

ushe

d ou

t of

door

s to

the

open

gal

lery

of th

e ho

spita

l," r

eads

one

suc

h re

port

:

I ca

nnot

now

rec

all w

heth

er th

e re

vela

tion

cam

e su

dden

ly o

r gr

adua

lly; I

only

rem

embe

r fi

ndin

g m

ysel

f in

the

very

mid

st o

f th

ose

won

derf

ul m

omen

ts,

beho

ldin

g lif

e fo

r th

e fi

rst t

ime

in a

ll its

you

ng in

toxi

catio

n of

love

lines

s,in

its

unsp

eaka

ble

joy,

bea

uty,

and

impo

rtan

ce.

I ca

nnot

say

exa

ctly

wha

tth

e m

yste

riou

s ch

ange

was

.I

saw

no

new

thin

g, b

ut I

saw

all

the

usua

lth

ings

in a

mir

acul

ous

new

ligh

t---

in w

hat I

bel

ieve

is th

eir

true

ligh

t.I

17 "

The

Hal

luci

noge

nic

Fung

i of

Mex

ico:

An

Inqu

iry

into

the

Ori

gins

of th

e R

elig

ious

Ide

a am

ong

Prim

itive

Peo

ples

," H

arva

rd B

otan

ical

Mus

eum

Lea

flet

s, 1

9, 7

(19

61).

43

MO

MS

1111

ID

O D

RU

GS

HA

VE

RE

LIG

IOU

S IM

POR

T?

527

saw

for

the

firs

t tim

e ho

w w

ildly

bea

utif

ul a

nd jo

yous

, bey

ond

any

wor

dsof

min

e to

des

crib

e, is

the

who

le o

f lif

e.E

very

hum

an b

eing

mov

ing

acro

ssth

at p

orch

, eve

ry s

parr

ow th

at f

lew

,ev

ery

bran

ch to

ssin

g in

the

win

d, w

asca

ught

in a

nd w

as a

par

t of

the

who

le m

ad e

csta

sy o

flo

velin

ess,

of

joy,

of

impo

rtan

ce, o

f in

toxi

catio

n of

life

.18

If w

e do

not

dis

coun

t rel

igio

us in

tuiti

ons

beca

use

they

are

pro

mpt

edby

bat

tlefi

elds

and

phy

sica

l cri

ses;

ifw

e re

gard

the

latte

r as

"ca

ll-in

g us

to o

ur s

ense

s"m

ore

ofte

n th

an th

ey s

educ

e us

into

del

usio

ns,

need

com

para

ble

intu

ition

s be

dis

coun

ted

sim

ply

beca

use

the

cris

esth

at tr

igge

r th

em a

re o

f an

inne

r, p

sych

icva

riet

y?T

urni

ng f

rom

the

helli

sh to

the

heav

enly

aspe

cts

of th

e dr

ugex

peri

ence

, som

e of

the

latte

r m

ay b

e ex

plai

nabl

eby

the

hypo

thes

isju

st s

tate

d; th

at is

, the

y m

ay h

e oc

casi

oned

by th

e re

lief

that

atte

nds

the

sens

e of

esc

ape

from

hig

h da

nger

.B

ut th

is h

ypot

hesi

sca

nnot

pos

sibl

y ac

coun

t for

all

the

beat

ific

epi

sode

s,fo

r th

e si

mpl

ere

ason

that

the

posi

tive

epis

odes

oft

en c

ome

firs

t,or

to p

erso

ns w

hoex

peri

ence

no

nega

tive

epis

odes

wha

teve

r.D

r. S

anfo

rd U

nger

of th

e N

atio

nal I

nstit

ute

of M

enta

l Hea

lthre

port

s th

at a

mon

g hi

ssu

bjec

ts "

50 to

60%

will

not

man

ifes

tan

y re

al d

istu

rban

cew

orth

y of

dis

cuss

ion,

" ye

t "ar

ound

75%

will

have

at l

east

one

epis

ode

in w

hich

exa

ltatio

n, r

aptu

re, a

nd jo

yar

e th

e ke

y de

scri

p-tio

ns."

19

How

are

we

to a

ccou

nt f

or th

e dr

ug's

capa

city

to in

duce

peak

exp

erie

nces

, suc

h as

the

follo

win

g, w

hich

are

not p

rece

ded

by f

ear?

A f

eelin

g of

gre

at p

eace

and

con

tent

men

t see

med

to f

low

thro

ugh

my

entir

ebo

dy.

All

soun

d ce

ased

and

I s

eem

ed to

be

floa

ting

ina

grea

t, ve

ry v

ery

still

voi

d or

hem

isph

ere.

It is

impo

ssib

le to

des

crib

e th

e ov

erpo

wer

ing

feel

ing

of p

eace

, con

tent

men

t, an

d be

ing

a pa

rt o

f go

odne

ssits

elf

that

I f

elt.

Ico

uld

feel

my

body

dis

solv

ing

and

actu

ally

bec

omin

ga

part

of

the

good

ness

and

peac

e th

at w

as a

ll ar

ound

me.

Wor

ds c

an't

desc

ribe

this

.I

feel

an

awe

and

won

der

that

suc

h a

feel

ing

coul

d ha

ve o

ccur

red

to m

e.co

Con

side

r th

e fo

llow

ing

line

of a

rgum

ent.

Lik

e ev

ery

othe

r fo

rmof

life

, man

's n

atur

e ha

s be

com

e di

stin

ctiv

eth

roug

h sp

ecia

lizat

ion.

Man

has

spe

cial

ized

in d

evel

opin

ga

cere

bral

cor

tex.

The

ana

lytic

pow

ers

of th

is in

stru

men

t are

a s

tand

ing

won

der,

but

the

inst

ru-

men

t see

ms

less

abl

e to

pro

vide

man

with

the

sens

e th

at h

e is

mea

ning

fully

rel

ated

to h

is e

nvir

onm

ent:

to li

fe,

the

wor

ld, a

ndhi

stor

y in

thei

r w

hole

ness

.A

s A

lber

t Cam

as d

escr

ibes

the

situ

a-

18 M

arga

ret P

resc

ott M

onta

gue,

Tw

enty

Min

utes

of

Rea

lity

(St.

Paul

,M

inn.

: Mac

ales

ter

Park

, 194

7), p

p. 1

5, 1

7.19

"T

he C

urre

nt S

cien

tific

Sta

tus

of P

sych

edel

icD

rug

Res

earc

h,"

read

at th

e C

onfe

renc

e on

Met

hods

in P

hilo

soph

y an

d th

e Sc

ienc

es,

New

Sch

ool f

orSo

cial

Res

earc

h, M

ay 3

, 196

4, a

nd s

ched

uled

for

pub

licat

ion

in D

avid

Sol

omon

,ed

., T

he C

onsc

ious

Exp

ande

rs (

New

Yor

k: P

utna

m, f

all

of 1

964)

.20

Quo

ted

by D

r. U

nger

in th

e pa

per

just

men

tione

d.44

1111

1.11

111=

1=11

1=III

IIMIN

NIM

II52

8T

HE

JO

UR

NA

L O

F PH

ILO

SOPH

Y

tion,

"If

I w

ere

..

. a c

at a

mon

gan

imal

s, th

is li

fe w

ould

hav

ea

mea

ning

, or

rath

er th

is p

robl

em w

ould

not

ari

se,

for

I sh

ould

belo

ng to

this

wor

ld.

I w

ould

be

this

wor

ld to

whi

ch I

am

now

oppo

sed

by m

y w

hole

con

scio

usne

ss."

21

Not

e th

at it

is C

aMus

? co

n-sc

ious

ness

that

opp

oses

him

to h

is w

orld

.T

he d

rugs

do

not k

nock

this

con

scio

usne

ss o

ut, W

it w

hile

they

leav

e it

oper

ativ

e th

ey a

lso

activ

ate

area

s of

the

brai

n th

at n

orm

ally

lie

belo

W it

Si-t

hres

hold

of

awar

enes

s.O

ne o

f th

e cl

eare

st o

bjec

tive

sign

s th

at th

e dr

ugs

are

taki

ng e

ffec

t is

the

dila

tion

they

pro

duce

in th

epu

pils

of

the

eyes

, and

one

of

the

mos

t pre

dict

able

subj

ectiv

e si

gns

is th

e in

-te

nsif

icat

ion

of v

isua

l per

cept

ion.

Bot

h of

thes

e re

spon

ses

are

cont

rolle

d by

por

tions

of

the

brai

n th

at li

e de

ep, f

urth

er to

the

rear

than

the

mec

hani

sms

that

gov

ern

cons

ciou

snes

s.M

eanw

hile

we

know

that

the

hum

an o

rgan

ism

is in

terl

aced

with

its w

orld

inin

num

erab

le w

ays

it no

rmal

ly c

anno

t sen

seth

roug

h gr

avita

tiona

lfi

elds

, bod

y re

spir

atio

n, a

nd th

e lik

e : t

he li

st c

ould

be

mul

tiplie

dun

til m

an's

ski

n be

gan

to s

eem

mor

e lik

e a

thor

ough

fare

than

abo

unda

ry.

Perh

aps

the

deep

er r

egio

ns o

f th

e br

ain

whi

ch e

volv

edea

rlie

r an

d ar

e m

ore

like

thos

e of

the

low

er a

nim

als"

If I

wer

e.

.. a

cat

..

.I

shou

ld b

elon

g to

this

wor

ld"c

an s

ense

this

rela

tedn

ess

bette

r th

an c

an th

e ce

rebr

al c

orte

x w

hich

now

dom

inat

esou

r aw

aren

ess.

If s

o, w

hen

the

drug

s re

arra

nge

the

neur

ohum

ors

that

che

mic

ally

tran

smit

impu

lses

acr

oss

syna

pses

bet

wee

n ne

uron

s,m

an's

con

scio

usne

ss a

nd h

is s

ubm

erge

d, in

tuiti

ve, e

colo

gica

l aw

are-

ness

mig

ht f

or a

spe

ll be

com

e in

terl

aced

.T

his

is, o

f co

urse

, no

mor

e th

an a

hyp

othe

sis,

but

how

els

e ar

e w

e to

acc

ount

for

the

extr

aord

inar

y in

cide

nce

unde

r th

e dr

ugs

of th

at k

ind

of in

sigh

t the

keyn

ote

of w

hich

Jam

es d

escr

ibed

as

"inv

aria

bly

a re

conc

iliat

ion"

?It

is a

s if

the

oppo

site

s of

the

wor

ld, w

hose

con

trad

icto

rine

ss a

ndco

nflic

t mak

e al

l our

dif

ficu

lties

and

trou

bles

, wer

e m

elte

d in

toon

e an

d th

e sa

me

genu

s, b

ut o

ne o

f th

e sp

ecie

s, th

e no

bler

and

bette

r on

e, is

itse

lf th

e ge

nus,

and

so

soak

s up

and

abs

orbs

its

oppo

-si

tes

into

itse

lf"

(op.

cit.

, 379

).

4. T

he D

rugs

and

Rel

igio

n V

iew

ed "

Rel

igio

usly

"

Supp

ose

that

dru

gs c

an in

duce

exp

erie

nces

indi

stin

guis

habl

efr

om r

elig

ious

exp

erie

nces

and

that

we

can

resp

ect t

heir

rep

orts

.D

o th

ey s

hed

any

light

, not

(w

e no

w a

sk)

on li

fe, b

ut o

n th

e na

ture

of th

e re

ligio

us li

fe?

One

thin

g th

ey m

ay d

o is

thro

w r

elig

ious

exp

erie

nce

itsel

f in

tope

rspe

ctiv

e by

cla

rify

ing

its r

elat

ion

to th

e re

ligio

us li

fe a

s a

who

le.

Dru

gs a

ppea

r ab

le to

indu

ce r

elig

ious

exp

erie

nces

; it i

s

22 T

he M

yth

of S

isyp

hus

(New

Yor

k : V

inta

ge, 1

955)

, p. 3

8.

45

.111

1=

DO

PU

GS

11E

iG

I"I

MP.

?52

9

less

evi

dent

that

they

can

pro

duce

rel

igio

us li

ves.

It f

ollo

ws

that

relig

ion

is m

ore

than

rel

igio

us e

xper

ienc

es.

Thi

s is

har

dly

new

s,bu

t it m

ay b

e a

usef

ul r

emin

der,

esp

ecia

llyto

thos

e w

ho in

clin

eto

war

d: "

the

relig

ion

of r

elig

ious

exp

erie

nce"

;w

hich

is to

say

tow

ard-

lives

ben

t on

the

acqu

isiti

on o

f de

sire

dst

ates

of

expe

rien

ceir

resp

ectiv

e of

thei

r re

latio

n to

life

's o

ther

dem

ands

and

com

-po

nent

s.D

espi

te th

e da

nger

s of

fac

ulty

psy

chol

ogy,

itre

mai

ns u

sefu

lto

reg

ard

man

as

havi

ng a

min

d, a

will

, and

fee

lings

.O

ne o

f th

ele

sson

s of

rel

igio

us h

isto

ry is

that

, to

be a

dequ

ate,

a fa

ith m

ust

rous

e an

d in

volv

e al

l thr

ee c

ompo

nent

s of

man

's n

atur

e.R

elig

ions

of r

easo

n gr

ow a

rid;

rel

igio

ns o

f du

ty, l

eade

n.R

elig

ions

of

ex-

peri

ence

hav

e th

eir

com

para

ble

pitf

alls

,as

evi

denc

ed b

y T

aois

m's

stru

ggle

(no

t alw

ays

succ

essf

ul)

to k

eep

from

dege

nera

ting

into

quie

tism

, and

the

vehe

men

ce w

ith w

hich

Zen

Bud

dhis

m h

as in

-si

sted

that

onc

e st

uden

ts h

ave

atta

ined

sat

ori,

they

mus

t be

driv

enoa

t of

it, b

ack

into

the

wor

ld.

The

cas

e of

Zen

is e

spec

ially

per

ti-ne

nt h

ere,

for

it p

ivot

s on

an

enlig

hten

men

t exp

erie

nces

ator

i,or

kens

ho-.

---w

hich

som

e (b

ut n

ot a

ll) Z

enni

sts

say

rese

mbl

es L

SD.

Alik

e or

dif

fere

nt, t

he p

oint

is th

at Z

en r

ecog

nize

sth

at u

nles

s th

eex

peri

ence

is jo

ined

to d

isci

plin

e, it

will

com

e to

nau

ght:

Eve

n th

e B

uddh

a.

.. h

ad to

sit.

..

. With

out j

orik

i, th

e pa

rtic

ular

pow

erde

velo

ped

thro

ugh

zaze

n [s

eate

d m

edita

tion]

, the

vis

ion

of o

nene

ss a

ttain

edin

enl

ight

enm

ent .

. in

time

beco

mes

clo

uded

and

eve

ntua

lly f

ades

into

apl

easa

nt m

emor

y in

stea

d of

rem

aini

ng a

n om

nipr

esen

tre

ality

sha

ping

our

daily

life

..

. To

be a

ble

to li

ve in

acc

orda

nce

with

wha

t the

Min

d 's

eye

has

reve

aled

thro

ugh

sato

ri r

equi

res,

like

the

puri

fica

tion

of c

hara

cter

and

the

deve

lopm

ent o

f pe

rson

ality

, a r

ipen

ing

peri

od o

fsa

een.

22

If th

e re

ligio

n of

rel

igio

us e

xper

ienc

e is

a sn

are

and

a de

lusi

on,

it fo

llow

s th

at n

o re

ligio

n th

at f

ixes

its

faith

prim

arily

in s

ub-

stan

ces

that

indu

ce r

elig

ious

exp

erie

nces

can

be e

xpec

ted

to c

ome

to a

goo

d en

d.W

hat p

rom

ised

to b

e a

shor

t cut

will

prov

e to

be

a sh

ort c

ircu

it; w

hat b

egan

as

a re

ligio

n w

ill e

ndas

a r

elig

ion

sur-

roga

te.

Whe

ther

che

mic

al s

ubst

ance

s ca

n be

hel

pful

adju

ncts

tofa

ith is

ano

ther

que

stio

n.T

he p

eyot

e-us

ing

Nat

ive

Am

eric

anC

hurc

h se

ems

to in

dica

te th

at th

ey c

an b

e; a

nthr

opol

ogis

tsgi

ve th

isch

urch

a g

ood

repo

rt, n

otin

g am

ong

othe

r th

ings

that

mem

bers

resi

st a

lcoh

ol a

nd a

lcoh

olis

m b

ette

r th

an d

o no

nmem

bers

.2T

heco

nclu

sion

to w

hich

evi

denc

e cu

rren

tly p

oint

s w

ould

seem

to b

eth

at c

hem

ical

s ca

n ai

d th

e re

ligio

us li

fe, b

ut o

nly

whe

rese

t with

ina

cont

ext o

f fa

ith (

mea

ning

by

this

the

conv

ictio

n th

at w

hat t

hey

22 P

hilip

Kap

leau

, Zen

Pra

ctic

e an

d A

ttain

men

t,a

man

uscr

ipt i

n pr

oces

sof

pub

licat

ion.

28 S

lotk

in, o

p. c

it.

46

NM

MI

1111

11N

M N

M M

I MI N

MI

MI I

NN

MI N

M M

I MI N

MI

530

TH

E J

OU

RN

AL

OP

PHIL

OSO

PHY

disc

lose

is tr

ue)

and

disc

iplin

e(m

eani

ng d

ilige

nt e

xerc

ise

of th

ew

ill in

the

atte

mpt

to w

ork

out t

he im

plic

atio

ns o

f th

edi

sclo

sure

sfo

r th

e liv

ing

of li

fe in

the

ever

yday

,co

mm

on-s

ense

wor

ld).

Now

here

toda

y in

Wes

tern

civi

lizat

ion

are

thes

etw

o co

nditi

ons

join

tly f

ulfi

lled.

Chu

rche

s la

ck f

aith

in th

ese

nse

just

men

tione

d;hi

pste

rs la

ck d

isci

plin

e.T

his

mig

ht le

adus

to f

orge

t abo

ut th

edr

ugs,

wer

e it

not f

oron

e fa

ct :

the

dist

inct

ive

relig

ious

emot

ion

and

the

emot

ion

that

dru

gsun

ques

tiona

bly

can

occa

sion

--O

tto's

teri

um tr

emen

dunz

,nu

zjes

tas,

mys

teri

um f

asci

nans

;in

a p

hras

e,th

e ph

enom

enon

of

relig

ious

aw

esee

ms

to b

e de

clin

ing

shar

ply:

As

Paul

Till

ich

said

inan

add

ress

to th

e H

illel

Soc

iety

at H

arva

rdse

vera

l yea

rs a

go:

The

que

stio

n ou

r ce

ntur

ypu

ts b

efor

e us

[is

]: I

s it

poss

ible

to r

egai

n th

elo

st d

imen

sion

, the

enc

ount

erw

ith th

e H

oly,

the

dim

ensi

onw

hich

cut

s th

roug

hth

e w

orld

of

subj

ectiv

ityan

d ob

ject

ivity

and

goes

dow

n to

that

whi

ch is

not w

orld

but

is th

e m

yste

ryof

the

Gro

und

of B

eing

s

Till

ich

may

be

righ

t;th

is m

ay b

e th

e re

ligio

usqu

estio

n of

our

cent

ury.

For

if (

as w

e ha

vein

sist

ed)

relig

ion

cann

ot b

e eq

uate

dw

ith r

elig

ious

exp

erie

nces

, nei

ther

can

it lo

ng s

urvi

veth

eir

abse

nce.

MA

SSA

CH

USE

TT

S IN

STIT

UT

EO

F T

EC

HN

OL

OG

Y

47

HU

STO

N S

MIT

H

48

MI M

I I=

MI N

M M

I11

111

Oil

MI M

IIII

IIIIII

IIIM

I MI M

I MI

49

q T

IEN

ThE

pR

iMO

Rdi

Al T

RA

dIT

ION

UST

N S

M1T

HA

RPE

R C

OL

OPH

ON

BO

OK

SH

AR

PER

/it R

OW

, PU

BL

ISH

ER

S

NE

W Y

OR

K, H

AG

ER

STO

WN

, SA

N F

RA

NC

ISC

O, L

ON

DO

N

App

EN

diX

:

ThE

Psy

chE

dELi

cE

Vid

EN

CE

Kno

w te

n th

ings

, the

Chi

nese

say;

tell

nine

---t

here

is r

easo

nto

que

stio

n w

heth

er it

is w

ise

even

to m

entio

n th

e ps

yche

delic

s in

conn

ectio

n w

ith G

od a

nd th

eIn

fini

te. F

or th

ough

a co

nnec

tion

exis

ts, i

t isa

s in

the

com

para

ble

case

of

the

role

of

sex

in T

antr

ane

xt to

impo

ssib

le to

spe

ak o

f it

with

out b

eing

mis

unde

rsto

od. I

tis

for

this

rea

son,

we

susp

ect,

that

the

Ele

usin

ian

mys

teri

esw

ere

amon

g th

e be

st-k

ept i

n hi

stor

y, a

ndB

rahm

ins

cam

e ev

entu

ally

toco

ncea

l, th

en d

elib

erat

ely

forg

et,

the

iden

tity

of s

oma.

'If

the

only

thin

g to

say

abou

t the

psy

ched

elic

s w

as th

atth

eyse

em o

n oc

casi

on to

off

er d

irec

t dis

clos

ures

of th

e ps

ychi

c an

d ce

lest

ial

plan

es a

s w

ell a

s (i

nra

re in

stan

ces)

the

Infi

nite

itse

lf,

we

wou

ld h

old

our

peac

e. F

or th

ough

suc

h ex

peri

ence

sm

ay b

e ve

ridi

cal i

n w

ays,

the

goal

, it c

anno

t be

stre

ssed

too

ofte

n, is

jotr

e.ex

peri

ence

s;it

is th

e re

igio

usde

. And

with

res

pect

to th

e la

tter,

psy

ched

elic

"the

opha

nies

" ca

n ab

ort a

ques

t as

read

ily a

s, p

erha

psm

ore

read

ilyth

an, t

hey

can

furt

her

it.It

is n

ot, t

here

fore

, the

isol

ated

mys

tical

exp

erie

nces

whi

ch th

eps

yche

delic

s ca

n oc

casi

on th

atle

ad u

s to

add

this

app

endi

xon

the

subj

ect,

but r

athe

r ev

iden

ceof

a d

iffe

rent

ord

er. L

ong-

term

,pr

ofes

-si

onal

ly g

arne

red

and

care

fully

wei

ghed

, thi

s la

tter

evid

ence

dese

rves

.to

be

calle

d, if

any

thin

g in

this

area

mer

its th

e te

rm, s

cien

tific

. We

ente

r it

beca

use

of th

e w

ays

inw

hich

, and

ext

ent t

o w

hich

,th

isev

iden

ce s

eem

s to

cor

robo

rate

the

prim

ordi

al a

nthr

opol

ogy

that

Cha

p-

1. S

ee th

e au

thor

's "

Was

son'

s SO

MA

:A

Rev

iew

Art

icle

," J

ourn

al o

f th

eA

mer

ican

Aca

dem

y of

Rel

igio

n,X

L, 4

(D

ec. 1

972)

.

50

-,

I= =

ME

M11

111

OM

OM

NM

MI

51

156

/ APP

EN

DIX

ter

4 sk

etch

ed in

par

adig

m. I

n co

ntra

dist

inct

ion

to w

ritin

gs o

n th

e\

psyc

hede

ics

w ic

h ar

e oc

cupi

ed w

ith e

xper

ienc

es th

e m

ind

can'

have

, the

con

cern

her

e is

with

evi

denc

e th

ey a

ffor

d as

to w

hat t

he

e ev

iden

ce in

is n

ot w

idel

y kn

own,

for

to d

ate

it ha

s1--

been

rep

orte

d on

ly in

a f

ew r

elat

ivel

y ob

scur

e jo

ur,_

j_al

Lai

acta

-boo

k-i

but r

ecen

tly o

ff th

e pr

ess.

At t

he s

ame

time;

judg

ed b

oth

by q

uant

ityen

com

pass

ed a

nd b

y t

e ex

p an

ator

y po

wer

of

the-

hypo

thes

esth

at m

ake

sens

e of

this

dat

a, it

is th

e m

ost f

orm

idab

le e

vide

nce

the

psyc

hede

lics

have

thus

far

pro

duce

d. T

he e

vide

nce

to w

hich

we

re-

fer

is th

at w

hich

has

em

erge

d th

roug

h th

e w

ork

of S

tani

slav

Gro

f.3

rof's

wor

k be

gan

in C

zech

oslo

vaki

a, w

here

for

fou

r ye

ars

hew

orke

d in

an

inte

rdis

cipl

inar

y co

mpl

ex o

f re

sear

ch in

stitu

tes

in

Prag

ue a

nd f

or a

noth

er s

even

in th

e Ps

ychi

atri

c R

esea

rch

Inst

itute

that

dev

elop

ed o

ut o

f th

is c

ompl

ex; o

n co

min

g to

the

Uni

ted

Stat

esin

196

7 he

con

tinue

d hi

s in

vest

igat

ions

at t

he R

esea

rch

Uni

t of

Spri

ng G

rove

Sta

te H

ospi

tal i

n B

altim

ore,

Mar

ylan

d. T

wo

cove

ring

fact

s ab

out h

is w

ork

are

wor

th n

otin

g be

fore

we

turn

to it

s co

nten

t.Fi

rst,

in th

e us

e of

psy

ched

elic

s fo

r th

erap

eutic

and

per

sona

lity

as-

sess

men

t, hi

s ex

peri

ence

is b

y fa

r th

e va

stes

t tha

t any

sin

gle

indi

vid-

ual h

as a

mas

sed,

cov

erin

g as

it d

oes

over

2,5

00 s

essi

ons

in w

hich

he

spen

t a m

inim

um o

f fi

ve h

ours

with

the

subj

ect.

In a

dditi

on h

is s

tud-

ies

cove

r an

othe

r Sa

o ca

ses

his

colle

ague

s at

Bal

timor

e an

d Pr

ague

cond

ucte

d. S

econ

d, in

spa

nnin

g th

e A

tlant

ic h

is w

ork

span

s th

e tw

o

2. "

LSD

, the

mos

t pow

erfu

l psy

cho-

activ

e dr

ug e

ver

know

n to

man

, is

esse

ntia

lly a

n un

spec

ific

am

plif

ier

of m

enta

l pro

cess

es. W

hat w

e se

e in

-L-5

1Tse

ssio

ns is

onl

y an

ext

erio

riza

tion

and

mag

nifi

catio

n of

dyn

amic

s th

atun

derl

ie h

uman

nat

ure

and

hum

an c

ivili

zatio

n. P

rope

rly

used

, the

dru

g is

a to

ol f

or a

dee

per

unde

rsta

ndin

g of

the

hum

an m

ind

and

hum

an n

atur

e."

Abr

idge

d fr

om th

e w

ritin

gs o

f St

anis

lav

Gro

f, c

ited

in f

ootn

ote

3..

3. H

is b

ook,

the

firs

t in

a pr

ojec

ted

five

-vol

ume

seri

es, i

s R

ealm

s of

the

Hum

an U

ncon

scio

us: O

bser

vatio

ns f

rom

LSD

Res

earc

h (N

ew Y

ork:

Vik

ing

Pres

s, 1

975)

. His

jour

nal a

rtic

les

are:

"B

eyon

d Ps

ycho

anal

ysis

: I. I

mpl

ica-

tions

of

LSD

Res

earc

h fo

r U

nder

stan

ding

Dim

ensi

ons

of H

uman

Per

-so

nalit

y,"

Dar

shan

a In

tern

atio

nal (

Indi

a, 1

970)

; "L

SD P

sych

othe

rapy

and

Hum

an C

ultu

re,"

Jou

rnal

of

the

Stud

y of

Con

scio

usne

ss, P

art I

, 197

0, P

art

II,

1971

; "T

he U

se o

f L

SD in

Psy

chot

hera

py,"

Jou

rnal

of

Psyc

hede

licD

rugs

," 1

970;

"V

arie

ties

of T

rans

pers

onal

Exp

erie

nces

: Obs

erva

tions

fro

mL

SD P

sych

othe

rapy

," J

ourn

al o

f T

rans

pers

onal

Psy

chol

ogy,

197

2; "

LSD

and

the

Cos

mic

Gam

e: O

utlin

e of

Psy

ched

elic

Cos

mol

ogy

and

Ont

olog

y,"

Jour

nal o

f th

e St

udy

of C

onsc

ious

ness

, 197

2: a

nd o

ne m

ore

whi

ch, b

ecau

seit

is h

is la

test

pap

er, w

ill b

e qu

oted

mos

t oft

en in

this

cha

pter

. It i

s ci

ted

info

otno

te 4

.

min

d is

.2vi

TH

E P

SYC

HE

DE

LIC

EV

IDE

NC

E /

157

dom

inan

t app

roac

hes

to p

sych

edel

ic th

erap

y th

at h

ave

been

dev

el-

oped

: psy

chol

ytic

ther

apy

(use

d at

Pra

gue

and

favo

red

in E

urop

ege

nera

lly),

whi

ch in

volv

es n

umer

ous

adm

inis

trat

ions

of

low

to m

ed-

ium

dos

es o

f L

SD o

r va

rian

t ove

ra

long

ther

apeu

tic p

rogr

am, a

ndps

yche

delic

ther

apy

(con

fine

d to

Am

eric

a), w

hich

invo

lves

one

or a

few

hig

h do

ses

in a

sho

rt p

erio

d of

trea

tmen

t.T

he f

irst

thin

g G

rof

and

his

asso

ciat

es d

isco

vere

dw

as th

at th

ere

is n

o sp

ecif

ic p

harm

acol

ogic

al e

ffec

t whi

ch L

SD in

vari

ably

pro

duce

s:"I

hav

e no

t bee

n ab

le to

fin

d a

sing

le p

heno

men

on th

atco

uld

beco

nsid

ered

an

inva

rian

t pro

duct

of

the

chem

ical

act

ion

of th

edr

ugin

any

of

the

area

s st

udie

dper

cept

ual,

emot

iona

l, id

eatio

nal,

and

phys

ical

."4

Not

eve

n m

ydri

asis

(pr

olon

ged

dila

tatio

n of

the

pupi

ls),

one

of th

e m

ost c

omm

on s

ympt

oms,

occ

urs

inva

riab

ly. P

sych

olog

ical

effe

cts

vary

eve

n m

ore

than

do

phys

iolo

gica

l, bu

tth

e ra

nge

of th

ela

tterm

ydri

asis

, nau

sea,

and

vom

iting

, enh

ance

d in

test

inal

mov

e-m

ents

, dia

rrhe

a, c

onst

ipat

ion,

fre

quen

t uri

natio

n, a

ccel

erat

ion

as w

ell

as r

etar

datio

n of

pul

se, c

ardi

ac d

istr

ess

and

pain

, pal

pita

tions

, suf

fo-

catio

n an

d dy

spne

a, e

xces

sive

sw

eatin

g an

d hy

pers

aliv

atio

n,dr

ym

outh

, red

deni

ng o

f th

e sk

in, h

ot f

lush

es a

nd c

hills

, ins

tabi

lity

and

vert

igo,

inne

r tr

embl

ing,

fin

e m

uscl

e tr

emor

sexc

eeds

that

of a

nyot

her

drug

that

aff

ects

the

auto

nom

icne

rvou

s sy

stem

. The

se s

omat

icsy

mpt

oms

are

prac

tical

ly in

depe

nden

t of

dosa

ge a

ndoc

cur

in a

ll po

s-si

ble

com

bina

tions

.V

aria

bilit

y be

twee

n su

bjec

tsis

equa

led

byva

riat

ion

n th

e sy

mpt

oms

a si

ngle

sub

ject

will

exp

erie

nce

unde

rdi

f-fe

rent

cir

cum

stan

ces;

par

ticul

arly

impo

rtan

t fro

mth

e cl

inic

al p

oint

of v

iew

are

the

diff

eren

ces

that

app

ear

at d

iffe

rent

sta

ges

in th

eth

erap

eutic

pro

cess

. All

this

led

Gro

fto

con

clud

e th

at L

SD is

not

a sp

ecif

ic c

ausa

l age

nt, b

ut r

athe

r a

cata

lyze

r. I

tis

,as

foo

tnot

e 2

indi

cate

s, a

n up

ecif

ic a

mpl

ifie

r of

neu

ral a

nd m

enta

lpr

oces

ses.

By

exte

rior

izin

g fo

r th

e th

erap

ist a

nd r

aisi

ngto

con

scio

usne

ss f

orth

e pa

tient

him

self

mat

eria

l oth

erw

ise

buri

ed, a

nd b

yen

larg

ing

this

mat

eria

l to

the

poin

t of

cari

catu

re s

o th

at it

appe

ars

as if

und

er a

mag

nify

ing

glas

s, th

e ps

yche

delic

s ar

e, G

rof

beca

me

conv

ince

d,an

4. "

The

oret

ical

and

Em

piri

cal B

asis

of

Tra

nspe

rson

al P

sych

olog

yan

dPs

ycho

ther

apy:

Obs

erva

tions

fro

m L

SD R

esea

rch,

" Jo

urna

l of

Tra

ns-

pers

onal

Psy

chol

ogy,

197

3. U

nles

s ot

herw

ise

indi

cate

d, s

ubse

quen

t ref

eren

ces

in th

is a

ppen

dix

will

be

to th

is, G

rof's

late

stpa

per.

Als

o, th

ough

his

wor

kco

vers

a w

ide

spec

trum

of

psyc

hede

lic s

ubst

ance

s, m

ost o

f it

was

with

LSD

, so

we

shal

l lim

it ou

r re

fere

nces

to it

.

52

um o

w o

wN

o N

s E

N N

oow

ow

EN

oww

isow

=I

am

V

53

158

/ APP

EN

DIX

unri

vale

d in

stru

men

t: fi

rst,

for

iden

tifyi

ng c

ause

s in

psy

chop

atho

logy

(the

pro

blem

that

is c

ausi

ng th

e di

ffic

ulty

); s

econ

d, f

or p

erso

nalit

ydi

agno

sis

(det

erm

inin

g th

e ch

arac

ter

type

of

the

subj

ect i

n qu

estio

n);

and

thir

d, f

or u

nder

stan

ding

the

hum

an m

ind

gene

rally

. "It

doe

sno

t see

m in

appr

opri

ate

to c

ompa

re th

eir

pote

ntia

l sig

nifi

canc

e fo

rps

ychi

atry

and

psy

chol

ogy

to th

at o

f th

e m

icro

scop

e fo

r m

edic

ine

or o

f th

e te

lesc

ope

in a

stro

nom

y. ..

. Fre

ud c

alle

d dr

eam

s th

e'ro

yal

way

to th

e un

cons

ciou

s.' T

he s

tate

men

t is

valid

to a

gre

ater

ext

ent

for

LSD

exp

erie

nces

."5

Of

the

drug

's th

ree

pote

ntia

ls, i

tis

the

thir

dits

res

ourc

es f

oren

larg

ing

our

unde

rsta

ndin

g of

the

hum

an m

ind

and

self

that

con

-ce

rns

us in

this

boo

k. T

he n

atur

e of

man

has

bee

n so

cen

tral

to o

urst

udy

that

eve

n fl

icke

rs o

f lig

ht f

rom

Gro

f's w

ork

wou

ld m

ake

itin

tere

stin

g. T

hat t

he li

ght p

rove

s to

be

rem

arka

bly

clea

r an

d st

eady

mak

es it

impo

rtan

t.W

e co

me

at o

nce

to th

e po

int.

The

vie

w o

f m

an th

at w

as o

utlin

edin

Cha

pter

4 p

rese

nted

him

as

a m

ultil

ayer

ed c

reat

ure,

and

Gro

f'sw

ork

poin

ts to

the

sam

e co

nclu

sion

. As

long

as

the

mat

ter

is p

utth

us g

ener

ally

it s

igna

ls n

othi

ng n

ovel

, for

exi

stin

g de

pth

psyc

holo

gyps

ychi

atry

, psy

choa

naly

siss

ays

the

sam

e; th

e ad

ject

ive

"dep

th"

impl

ies

as m

uch,

and

met

apho

rs o

f ar

chae

olog

y an

d ex

cava

tion

dot

the

wri

tings

of

Freu

d, J

ung,

and

thei

r co

lleag

ues.

The

nov

elty

of

Gro

f's w

ork

lies

in th

e pr

ecis

ion

with

whi

ch th

e le

vels

of

the

min

d it

brin

gs to

vie

w c

orre

spon

d w

ith th

e le

vels

of

self

hood

the

rim

ordi

altr

aditi

on d

escr

ibes

.In

che

mo-

exca

vatio

n th

ele

vels

com

e to

vie

w s

eque

ntia

lly. I

nth

is r

espe

ct, t

oo, i

mag

es o

f ar

chae

olog

y ap

ply:

sur

face

leve

ls m

ust b

eun

cove

red

to g

et a

t one

s th

at li

e de

eper

. In

psyc

hede

lic (

high

-dos

e)th

erap

y th

e de

eper

leve

ls a

ppea

r la

ter

in th

e co

urse

of

a si

ngle

ses

-si

on;

in p

sych

olyt

ic (

low

-dos

e) th

erap

y th

ey s

urfa

ce la

ter

in th

ese

quen

ce o

f th

erap

eutic

ses

sion

s. T

he s

eque

nces

are

par

alle

l, bu

tsi

nce

the

leve

ls f

irst

cam

e to

Gro

f's a

ttent

ion

duri

ng h

is p

sych

olyt

icw

ork

in P

ragu

e, a

nd s

ince

that

ear

lier

wor

k w

as th

e m

ore

exte

nsiv

e,co

veri

ng e

leve

n of

the

seve

ntee

n ye

ars

he h

as b

een

wor

king

with

the

5. "

The

ory

and

Prac

tice

of L

SD P

sych

othe

rapy

" (U

68).

Ins

tead

of

bein

gpu

blis

hed

as a

sin

gle

volu

me

as G

rof

orig

inal

ly in

tend

ed, t

his

long

, ini

tial

repo

rt o

f hi

s st

udy

is b

eing

rew

orke

d fo

r pr

ojec

ted

issu

e in

fiv

e vo

lum

es,

the

firs

t of

whi

ch, a

s in

dica

ted

in f

ootn

ote

3. a

ppea

red

in 1

975.

Pag

ere

fere

nces

to th

e co

mpr

ehen

sive

ori

gina

l rep

ort w

ill h

erea

fter

be

pref

ixed

with

a U

, ind

icat

ing

unpu

blis

hed.

Pag

e nu

mbe

rs n

ot th

us p

refi

xed

refe

r to

the

pape

r na

med

in f

ootn

ote

4.

TH

E P

SYC

HE

DE

LIC

EV

IDE

NC

E /

159

drug

s, w

e sh

all c

onfi

ne o

urse

lves

to it

in r

epor

ting

his

expe

rim

enta

lde

sign

.T

he b

asic

stu

dy a

t Pra

gue

cove

red

fift

y-tw

o ps

ychi

atri

c pa

tient

s.A

ll m

ajor

clin

ical

cat

egor

ies

wer

e re

pres

ente

d, f

rom

dep

ress

ive

dis-

orde

rs th

roug

h ps

ycho

neur

oses

, psy

chos

omat

ic d

isea

ses,

and

cha

ract

erdi

sord

ers

to b

orde

rlin

e an

d cl

ear-

cut p

sych

oses

in th

e sc

hizo

phre

nic

grou

p. P

atie

nts

with

abo

ve-a

vera

ge in

telli

genc

e w

ere

favo

red

to o

b-ta

in h

igh-

qual

ity in

tros

pect

ive

repo

rts;

.oth

erw

ise

case

s w

ith d

impr

ogno

sis

in e

ach

cate

gory

wer

e ch

osen

. Gro

f hi

mse

lf w

orke

d w

ithtw

enty

-tw

o of

the

subj

ects

, his

two

colle

ague

s w

ith th

e re

mai

nder

.T

he n

umbe

r of

psy

chol

ytic

ses

sion

s ra

nged

fro

m f

ifte

ento

one

hund

red

per

patie

nt w

ith a

tota

l of

over

2,5

00 s

essi

ons

bein

g co

n-du

cted

. Eac

h pa

tient

's tr

eatm

ent b

egan

with

sev

eral

wee

ks o

f dr

ug-

free

psy

chot

hera

py. T

here

afte

r th

e th

erap

y w

as p

unct

uate

d w

ithdo

ses

of 1

00 to

250

mic

rogr

ams

of L

SD a

dmin

iste

red

at s

even

- to

four

teen

-day

inte

rval

s.T

he b

asic

fin

ding

was

that

"w

hen

mat

eria

l fro

m c

onse

cutiv

e L

SDse

ssio

ns o

f th

e sa

me

pers

on w

as c

ompa

red

it be

cam

e ev

iden

t tha

tth

ere

was

a d

efin

ite c

ontin

uity

bet

wee

n th

ese

sess

ions

. Rat

her

than

bein

g un

rela

ted

and

rand

om, t

he m

ater

ial s

eem

ed to

rep

rese

nt a

suc

-ce

ssiv

e un

fold

ing

of d

eepe

r an

d de

eper

leve

ls o

f th

e un

cons

ciou

s w

itha

very

def

inite

tren

d" (

U41

).T

he tr

end

regu

larl

y le

d th

roug

h th

ree

succ

essi

ve s

tage

s pr

eced

edby

ano

ther

whi

ch, b

eing

less

impo

rtan

t psy

chol

ogic

ally

, Gro

f ca

llsa

prel

imin

ary

phas

e. I

n th

is o

peni

ng p

hase

the

chem

ical

wor

kspr

imar

ily o

n th

e su

bjec

t's b

ody.

In

this

res

pect

it r

esem

bles

wha

tea

rlie

r re

sear

cher

s ha

d ca

lled

the

vege

tativ

e ph

ase,

but

the

two

are

not i

dent

ical

. Pro

pone

nts

of a

veg

etat

ive

phas

e as

sum

ed th

atL

SD d

irec

tly c

ause

d th

e m

anif

old

som

atic

res

pons

es p

atie

nts

typi

cally

expe

rien

ce in

the

earl

y st

ages

of

psyc

hede

lic s

essi

ons.

We

have

seen

that

Gro

f's m

ore

exte

nsiv

e ev

iden

ce c

ount

ered

this

vie

w. V

eget

ativ

esy

mpt

oms

are

real

eno

ugh,

but

they

var

y so

muc

h be

twee

n su

bjec

tsan

d fo

r a

sing

le s

ubje

ct u

nder

var

ying

cir

cum

stan

ces

that

itse

ems

prob

able

that

they

are

occ

asio

ned

mor

e by

anx

ietie

s an

d re

sist

ance

sth

an b

y th

e ch

emic

al's

dir

ect a

ctio

n. T

here

is a

lso

the

fact

that

they

are

far

fro

m c

onfi

ned

to e

arly

pha

ses

of th

e L

SDse

quen

ce.

The

se c

onsi

dera

tions

led

Gro

f to

dou

bt th

at th

ere

is a

veg

etat

ive

phas

e pe

r se

. The

mos

t he

is p

repa

red

to a

dmit

is th

at th

e dr

ug h

asa

tend

ency

at t

he s

tart

to a

ffec

t one

spe

cifi

c pa

rt o

f th

e bo

dy: i

tspe

rcep

tual

and

par

ticul

arly

its o

ptic

al a

ppar

atus

. Col

ors

5.c4

me

55

MI O

M M

N I=

OM

MI M

O N

MIO

N I=

OM

MI M

I

162

/ APP

EN

DIX

title

The

Tra

uma

of B

irth

, and

to u

se G

rof's

ow

n w

ord,

he

was

"fla

bber

gast

ed"

tofi

nd h

ow c

lose

lyth

e se

cond

-sta

geps

ycho

lytic

expe

rien

ces

conf

orm

ed to

it. H

e an

d hi

s co

lleag

ues

fell

to c

allin

gth

e se

cond

sta

ge p

erin

atal

or

Ran

kian

.D

urin

g th

e w

eeks

thro

ugh

whi

ch th

e st

age

exte

nds,

the

patie

nt's

clin

ical

con

ditio

n w

orse

ns. T

he s

tage

clim

axes

in a

ses

sion

in w

hich

the

patie

nt e

xper

ienc

es th

e ag

ony

of d

ying

and

app

ears

to h

imse

lfac

tual

ly to

die

.

The

sub

ject

s ca

n sp

end

hour

s in

ago

nizi

ng p

ain,

with

fac

ial c

on-

tort

ions

, gas

ping

for

bre

ath

and

disc

harg

ing

enor

mou

s am

ount

s of

mus

cula

r te

nsio

n in

var

ious

trem

ors,

twitc

hing

, vio

lent

sha

king

and

com

plex

twis

ting

mov

emen

ts. T

he c

olor

of

the

face

can

be

dark

pur

ple

or d

ead

pale

, and

the

puls

e ra

te c

onsi

dera

bly

ac-

cele

rate

d. T

he b

ody

tem

pera

ture

usu

ally

osc

illat

es in

a w

ide

rang

e.sw

eatin

g ca

n be

pro

fuse

. and

nau

sea

with

pro

ject

ile v

omiti

ng is

afr

eque

nt o

ccur

renc

e. [

ibid

.]

Thi

s de

ath

expe

rien

ce te

nds

to h

e fo

llow

ed im

med

iate

ly b

y re

birt

h,an

exp

losi

ve e

csta

sy in

whi

ch jo

y, f

reed

om, a

nd th

e pr

omis

e of

life

of a

new

ord

er a

re th

e do

min

ant m

otif

s.O

utsi

de th

e L

SD s

eque

nce

the

new

life

sho

wed

itse

lf in

the

pa-

tient

s' m

arke

d cl

inic

al im

prov

emen

t. W

ithin

the

sequ

ence

it in

tro-

duce

d a

thir

d ex

peri

entia

l lan

dsca

pe. W

hen

Gro

f's e

yes

beca

me

ac-

clim

ated

to it

,it

appe

ared

at f

irst

to b

e Ju

ngia

n. J

ung

bein

g th

eon

ly m

ajor

psy

chol

ogis

t to

have

dea

lt se

riou

sly

and

rela

tivel

y un

-re

duct

ioni

stic

ally

with

the

visi

ons

that

app

eare

d. L

ater

it s

eem

edcl

eare

r to

ref

er to

the

stag

e as

tran

sper

sona

l.T

wo

feat

ures

def

ined

this

thir

d an

d fi

nal s

tage

. Fir

st,

itsm

ost

typi

cal c

hara

cter

istic

s.

. wer

e pr

ofou

ndre

ligio

us a

nd m

ystic

al e

x-- pe

rien

ces"

(U

125)

.

-Eve

ryon

e w

ho e

xper

ient

ially

rea

ched

thes

e le

vels

dev

elop

ed c

on-

vinc

ing

insi

ghts

into

the

utm

ost r

elev

ance

of

spir

itual

and

rel

igio

usdi

men

sion

s in

the

univ

ersa

l sch

eme

of th

ings

. Eve

n th

e m

ost h

ard-

core

mat

eria

lists

, pos

itivi

stic

ally

-ori

ente

d sc

ient

ists

, ske

ptic

s an

dcy

nics

, unc

ompr

omis

ing

athe

ists

and

ant

irel

igio

us c

ruad

ers

such

as

the

Mar

xist

phi

loso

pher

s, b

ecam

e su

dden

ly in

tere

sted

in s

piri

tual

sear

ch a

fter

they

con

fron

ted

thes

e le

vels

in th

emse

lves

. [p.

25]

Gro

f sp

eaks

of

leve

ls in

the

plur

al h

ere,

for

the

"ago

nizi

ng e

xist

entia

lcr

isis

" of

the

seco

nd s

tage

is a

lrea

dy r

elig

ious

in it

s w

ay: d

eath

and

rebi

rth

are

ultim

ates

or

none

exi

st. T

he d

istin

guis

hiri

re o

f

TH

E P

SYC

HE

DE

LIC

EV

IDE

NC

E /

163

the

thir

d st

age

is n

ot, s

tric

tly s

peak

ing,

that

it is

rel

igio

us b

ut th

atit

is (

as G

rof's

wor

ds in

dica

te)

mys

tical

ly r

elig

ious

: rel

igio

us in

am

ode

in w

hich

(a)

the

who

le p

redo

min

ates

ove

r th

e pa

rt, a

nd (

b)w

ithin

the

who

le e

vil

is r

esci

nded

. Thi

s co

nnec

ts w

ith th

e st

age'

sot

her

feat

ure,

its

tran

sper

sona

l asp

ect,

whi

ch w

as s

o pr

onou

nced

as

to p

rese

nt it

self

in th

e en

d as

the

logi

cal c

andi

date

for

the

nam

eby

whi

ch th

e st

age

shou

ld b

e de

sign

ated

. A tr

end

tow

ard

pers

onal

exp

erie

nces

that

is o

nes

occu

ied

ihi

n s

othe

r th

anon

ese

,sa

. a r

eady

sho

wn

itsel

f in

sta

ge tw

o. S

uffe

ring

, for

ex-

ampl

e, w

hich

in th

e fi

rst s

tage

pre

sent

ed it

self

in th

e fo

rm o

f re

col-

lect

ed a

utob

iogr

aphi

cal t

raum

as, h

ad in

the

seco

nd s

tage

take

n th

efo

rm o

f id

entif

ying

with

the

suff

erin

g of

oth

ers,

usu

ally

gro

ups

ofot

hers

: fam

ine

vict

ims,

pri

sone

rs in

Naz

i con

cent

ratio

n ca

mps

, or

man

kind

as

a w

hole

with

its

suff

erin

g sy

mbo

lized

arc

hety

pally

by

Chr

ist o

n hi

s cr

oss,

Tan

talu

s ex

pose

d to

ete

rnal

tort

ures

in H

ades

,Si

syph

us r

ollin

g hi

s bo

ulde

r in

cess

antly

, Ixi

on f

ixed

on

his

whe

el,

or P

rom

ethe

us c

hain

ed to

his

roc

k. L

ikew

ise

with

dea

th; a

lrea

dyby

sta

ge tw

o "t

he s

ubje

cts

felt

that

they

wer

e op

erat

ing

in a

fra

me-

wor

k w

hich

was

'bey

ond

indi

vidu

al d

eath

'(U

125)

. The

thir

d st

age

cont

inue

s th

is o

utbo

und.

tran

sper

sona

l mom

entu

m. N

ow th

e ph

eno-

men

a w

ith w

hich

the

subj

ect i

dent

ifie

s ar

e no

t res

tric

ted

to m

anki

ndor

eve

n to

livi

ng f

orm

s. T

hey

are

cosm

ic, h

avin

g to

do

with

the

elem

ents

and

for

ces

from

whi

ch li

fe p

roce

eds.

And

the

subj

ect i

s le

ssco

nsci

ous

of h

imse

lf a

s se

para

te f

rom

wha

t he

perc

eive

s. T

o a

larg

eex

tent

the

subj

ect-

obje

ct d

icho

tom

y is

itsel

f tr

ansc

ende

d.So

muc

h fo

r de

scri

ptio

n of

the

thre

e st

ages

. NoW

to in

terp

reta

tion

and

expl

anat

ion.

Gro

f w

as a

nd is

a p

sych

iatr

ist.

Psyc

hiat

ry is

the

stud

y an

d pr

actic

eof

ont

ogen

etic

exp

lana

tion:

it ac

coun

ts f

or p

rese

nt s

yndr

omes

inte

rms

of a

ntec

eden

t exp

erie

nces

in th

e lif

e hi

stor

y of

the

indi

vidu

al.

Freu

d ha

d m

ined

thes

e ex

peri

ence

s as

they

occ

ur in

infa

ncy

and

child

hood

, but

Gro

f's w

ork

had

led

to r

egio

ns F

reud

's m

ap d

id n

otfi

t. C

lear

ly, a

s ps

ychi

atri

st, G

rof

had

now

here

to tu

rn f

or e

xpla

natio

nssa

ve f

urth

er in

the

sam

e di

rect

ionf

urth

er b

ack.

His

ver

y m

etho

d-ol

ogy

forc

ed h

im to

take

ser

ious

ly th

e po

ssib

ility

that

exp

erie

nces

atte

ndin

gbi

rth

and

even

gest

atio

nco

uld

affe

cten

suin

glif

etr

ajec

tori

es.

Tak

ing

his

cues

fro

m T

he T

raum

a of

Bir

th w

hile

em

endi

ng it

inim

port

ant r

espe

cts,

Gro

f w

orke

d ou

t a ty

polo

gy in

whi

ch s

econ

d- a

ndth

ird-

stag

e L

SD e

xper

ienc

es a

re c

orre

late

d w

ith f

ouin

ct s

tage

s

s. M

B M

O M

O N

M M

IM

I NM

MO

IIIIN

MI

IMO

57

164

j APP

EN

DIX

in th

e bi

rth

proc

ess:

(a)

a c

omfo

rtab

le, i

ntra

uter

ine

stag

e be

fore

the

onse

t of

labo

r;(b

) an

opp

ress

ive

stag

e at

labo

r's s

tart

whe

n th

efe

tus

suff

ers

the

wom

b's

cont

ract

ions

and

has

"no

exi

t" in

asm

uch

as th

e ce

rvix

has

not

ope

ned;

(c)

the

trau

mat

ic e

nsui

ng s

tage

of

labo

r du

ring

whi

ch th

e fe

tus

is v

iole

ntly

eje

cted

thro

ugh

the

birt

hca

nal;

and

(d)

the

free

dom

and

rel

ease

of

birt

hits

elf.

B a

nd c

seem

ed to

Gro

f to

vec

tor

the

seco

nd o

r R

anki

an s

tage

in th

e L

SDse

quen

ce. I

n th

e re

livin

g of

b, t

he o

ppre

ssiv

enes

s of

the

wom

b is

gene

raliz

ed a

nd th

e en

tire

wor

ld, e

xist

ence

itse

lf,

is e

xper

ienc

ed a

sop

pres

sive

. C, w

hen

reliv

edth

e ag

ony

of la

bor

and

forc

ed e

xpul

-si

on th

roug

h th

e bi

rth

cana

lpro

duce

s th

e ex

peri

ence

of

dyin

g:tr

aum

atic

eje

ctio

n fr

om th

e on

ly li

fe-g

ivin

g co

ntex

t one

has

kno

wn.

The

reb

irth

exp

erie

nce

in w

hich

the

Ran

kian

sta

ge c

limax

es d

eriv

esfr

om r

eliv

ing

the

expe

rien

ce o

f ph

ysic

al b

irth

(d)

and

pav

es th

e w

ayfo

r th

e en

suin

g tr

ansp

erso

nal s

tage

. The

sen

se o

f un

shad

owed

blis

sth

at d

omin

ates

this

fin

al s

tage

taps

the

earl

iest

mem

orie

s of

all:

befo

re th

e w

omb

grew

cro

wde

d, w

hen

the

fetu

s bl

ende

d w

ith it

sm

othe

r in

mys

tic e

mbr

ace

(a).

Eve

n in

bar

e ou

tline

Gro

f's h

ypot

hesi

s is

plau

sibl

e, a

nd w

hen

fles

hed

out w

ith th

e ca

se h

isto

ries

and

exp

erie

ntia

l acc

ount

s th

atga

ve r

ise

to it

(m

ater

ial t

hat i

s fa

scin

atin

g bu

t whi

ch s

pace

pre

clud

esou

r en

teri

ng h

ere)

it is

dou

bly

so. W

hen

subj

ects

in th

eir

Ran

kian

stag

e re

port

fir

st s

uffo

catio

n an

d th

en a

vio

lent

, pro

ject

ive

expl

osio

nin

whi

ch n

ot o

nly

bloo

d bu

t uri

ne a

nd f

eces

are

eve

ryw

here

, one

ispe

rsua

ded

that

rev

ived

mem

orie

s of

the

birt

h pr

oces

s pl

ay a

t lea

st a

part

in tr

igge

ring

, sha

ping

, and

ene

rgiz

ing

late

r-st

age

LSD

exp

eri-

ence

s. T

he q

uest

ion

is: A

re th

ese

the

only

cau

ses

at w

ork?

As

we

have

note

d, in

the

psyc

hiat

ric

mod

el o

f m

an, o

nce

the

Freu

dian

dom

ain

has

been

exh

aust

ed th

ere

is n

owhe

re to

look

for

cau

ses

save

whe

reR

ank

did

and

Gro

f do

es: t

he e

go, d

rive

n ba

ck to

ear

lier

and

yet

earl

ier

libid

o po

sitio

ns, f

inal

ly r

eent

ers

the

uter

us. I

n th

e m

odel

of

man

that

was

ske

tche

d in

Cha

pter

4, h

owev

er, t

hing

s ar

e di

ffer

ent.

The

re th

e so

cial

and

bio

logi

cal h

isto

ry o

f th

e or

gani

sm is

not

the

sole

res

ourc

e fo

r ex

plan

atio

n. "

The

sou

l tha

t ris

es w

ith u

s ...

Hat

h ha

d el

sew

here

its

setti

ng,

And

com

eth

from

afa

r:N

ot in

ent

ire

forg

etfu

lnes

s ..

.

But

trai

ling

clou

ds o

f gl

ory

do w

e co

me.

..

.

TH

E P

SYC

HE

DE

LIC

EV

IDE

NC

E /

165

From

whe

nce?

"Fr

om G

od,"

Wor

dsw

orth

tells

us, a

nd w

e ag

ree.

Whe

n he

add

s in

the

line

that

fol

low

s: "

Hea

ven

lies

abou

tus

in o

urin

fanc

y!"

we

agai

n co

ncur

; as

the

cele

stia

l pla

ne it

enve

lops

our

soul

s no

t onl

y in

thei

r in

fanc

y bu

t alw

ays.

Mor

e pr

oxim

atel

y,ho

w-.

ever

, it

is th

e in

term

edia

te o

r ps

ychi

c pl

ane

from

whi

chw

e st

em.

Whe

reas

in th

e ps

ychi

atri

c pe

rspe

ctiv

e bo

dy is

bas

ic a

ndex

plan

atio

nsfo

r m

enta

l occ

urre

nces

are

sou

ght i

n bo

dy's

end

owm

ents

or h

isto

ry,

in th

e pr

imor

dial

psy

chol

ogy

body

rep

rese

nts

a ki

nd o

f sh

akin

gou

t of

wha

t has

con

dens

ed o

n th

e pl

ane

of m

enta

l phe

nom

ena

that

exis

t pri

or to

bod

y an

d ar

e m

ore

real

than

bod

y. W

ear

e ba

ck a

tth

e po

int C

hapt

er 4

mad

e in

the

cont

ext o

f dr

eam

s: it

is n

ot s

om

uch

that

we

drea

m a

s th

at w

e ar

e dr

eam

edif

we

may

use

this

Way

of

sayi

ng th

at th

e fo

rces

that

com

e to

the

fore

in o

ur d

ream

spu

ll th

e st

ring

s th

at g

over

n ou

r pu

ppet

exi

sten

ces.

The

ydo

not

gove

rn th

em e

ntir

elym

an is

man

, not

man

ikin

but t

osa

y th

atth

ey g

over

n th

em is

clo

ser

to th

e tr

uth

than

is th

e ep

iphe

nom

enal

view

in w

hich

bod

y pa

ys th

e pi

per

and

calls

the

tune

s th

at d

ream

spl

ay o

ut.

Thu

s to

Gro

f's f

indi

ng th

at la

ter

stag

es in

the

LSD

seq

uenc

eco

nfor

m to

the

stag

es o

f th

e bi

rth

proc

ess

to a

deg

ree

that

war

rant

sou

r sa

ying

that

they

are

infl

uenc

ed b

y th

ose

stag

es,

we

add:

in-

flue

nced

onl

y, n

ot c

ause

d. T

oa

grea

ter

degr

ee th

e ex

peri

ence

s of

thes

e st

ages

...pu

t the

sub

ject

in d

irec

t tou

chw

ithth

e ps

ychi

c an

dar

chet

ypal

for

ces

of w

hich

his

life

is d

istil

latio

n an

dpr

oduc

t. B

irth

and

deat

h ar

e no

t phy

sica

l onl

y. E

very

one

know

s th

is,

but i

t is

less

reco

gniz

ed th

at. p

hysi

cal b

irth

and

dea

thar

e re

lativ

ely

min

or m

ani-

fest

atio

ns o

f fo

rces

that

are

cos

mic

in b

lank

etin

gth

e m

anif

est w

orld

,th

e te

rres

tria

l and

inte

rmed

iate

pla

nes

com

bine

d.B

uddh

ism

's p

ra-

titya

-sam

ictp

ada

(For

mul

atio

n of

Dep

ende

ntO

rigi

natio

n) s

ays

pro-

foun

d th

ings

on

this

poi

nt, b

ut a

llw

e sh

all s

ay is

that

whe

n a

psyc

hic

quan

tum

, ger

m o

f an

ego

, dec

ides

out o

f ig

nora

nce,

the

Bud

dhis

tsin

sert

imm

edia

tely

that

it w

ould

be

inte

rest

ing

to g

o it

alon

e an

dha

ve a

n in

depe

nden

t car

eer,

in th

ereb

y di

stin

guis

hing

itsel

f fr

omth

e w

hole

, and

set

ting

itsel

fin

way

s ag

ains

t the

who

le, t

he e

gosh

ould

ers

cert

ain

cons

eque

nces

. Bec

ause

itis

fin

ite, t

hing

s w

ill n

otal

way

s go

its

way

: hen

ce s

uffe

ring

in it

s m

anif

old

vari

etie

s. A

nd th

ete

mpo

ral s

ide

of th

e se

lf's

fin

itude

ord

ains

that

it w

ill d

iepi

ece-

mea

l fro

m th

e st

art a

s ce

lls a

nd m

inor

dre

ams

colla

pse,

but e

vent

ually

in it

s en

tiret

y. E

nerg

y is

inde

stru

ctib

le, h

owev

er,

so in

som

e fo

rm

58

1111

.=

II=

NM

MN

MN

1E

11.M

OM

Ell

IMO

I= M

O

59

166.

/ A

PPE

ND

IX

ther

e is

reb

irth

. Con

fron

tatio

n of

thes

e pr

inci

pal t

ruth

s in

thei

rtr

ansp

erso

nal a

nd tr

ans-

spec

ies

scop

es a

nd in

tens

ityis

the

basi

cst

uff

of la

ter-

stag

e L

SD e

xper

ienc

e. B

iolo

gica

l mem

ory

ente

rs, b

utco

ncei

vabl

y w

ith li

ttle

mor

e th

an a

"m

e to

o":

Ito

o kn

ow th

ese

quen

ce f

rom

the

time

I w

as f

orge

d an

d de

liver

ed.

Spel

led

out i

n gr

eate

r de

tail,

the

prim

ordi

al e

xpla

natio

n of

the

sequ

ence

wou

ld r

un a

s fo

llow

s. A

ccep

ting

LSD

as

a "t

ool f

or th

est

udy

of th

e st

ruct

ure

of h

uman

per

sona

lity;

of

its v

ario

us f

acet

san

d le

vels

," w

e se

e it

unco

veri

ng th

e su

cces

sive

ly d

eepe

r la

yers

of

the

self

whi

ch G

rof's

stu

dy b

ring

s to

ligh

t. G

rof's

psy

chia

tric

exp

lana

-tio

n fo

r w

hy it

doe

s so

isth

at "

defe

nse

syst

ems

are

cons

ider

ably

loos

ened

, res

ista

nces

dec

reas

e, a

nd m

emor

y re

call

is f

acili

tate

d to

agr

eat d

egre

e. D

eep

unco

nsci

ous

mat

eria

l em

erge

s in

to c

onsc

ious

ness

and

is e

xper

ienc

ed in

a c

ompl

ex s

ymbo

lic w

ay"

(027

7). O

ur e

xpla

na-

tion

shif

ts th

e ac

cent

. Onl

y in

the

firs

t sta

r ar

e th

e de

fert

se s

yste

ms

Tha

t are

loos

ened

one

s th

at th

e in

divi

dual

ego

bui

lds

to s

cree

n ou

t pai

n-=

nem

orie

s. F

or th

e re

st, w

hat i

s lo

osen

ed a

re s

truc

ture

s th

ano

n th

e'm

an m

o e

o ex

iste

ce

anse

para

te it

fro

m m

odes

that

ai:e

high

er:

itsco

rpor

ealit

y an

d co

mpl

ianc

e w

ith th

e sp

atio

-tem

pora

lst

ruct

ures

of

the

terr

estr

ial p

lane

. The

sam

e ho

lds

for

the

mem

ory

reca

ll th

at L

SD f

acili

tate

s. I

n th

e fi

rst s

tage

it is

inde

ed m

emor

y th

atis

act

ivat

ed a

s th

e su

bjec

t rel

ives

, dir

ectly

or

in s

ymbo

lic g

uise

, the

expe

rien

ces

that

had

bef

alle

n it,

but

in la

ter

stag

es w

hat t

he p

sy-

chia

tris

t con

tinue

s to

see

as

mem

orya

n ev

en e

arlie

r, in

trau

teri

nem

emor

ythe

ont

olog

ist (

shor

t of

invo

king

rei

ncar

natio

n) s

ees

asdi

scov

ery:

the

disc

over

y of

laye

rs o

f se

lfho

od th

at a

re p

rese

nt f

rom

conc

eptio

n bu

t are

nor

mal

ly o

bscu

red

from

vie

w. L

ikew

ise

with

the

"pec

ulia

r do

uble

ori

enta

tion

and

doub

le r

ole

of th

e su

bjec

t" th

atG

rof

desc

ribe

s. "

On

the

one

hand

," h

e w

rite

s, th

e su

bjec

t "ex

peri

-en

ces

full

and

com

plex

age

reg

ress

ion

into

the

trau

mat

ic s

ituat

ions

of c

hild

hood

; on

the

othe

r ha

nd, h

e ca

n as

sum

e al

tern

atel

y or

eve

nsi

mul

tane

ousl

y th

e po

sitio

n co

rres

pond

ing

to h

is r

eal a

ge"

(U27

9).

Thi

s os

cilla

tion

char

acte

rize

s th

e en

tire

sequ

ence

, but

onl

y in

the

firs

t sta

ge is

its

not-

imm

edia

te r

efer

ent t

he p

ast.

In th

e la

ter

sess

ions

,th

at w

hich

is n

ot im

med

iate

is r

emov

ed n

ot in

tim

e bu

t in

spac

eps

ycho

logi

cal s

pace

, of

cour

se. I

t lie

s be

low

the

surf

ace

of th

e ex

teri

orse

lf th

at is

nor

mal

ly in

vie

w.

_The

par

dia

rtt o

f th

ef-

that

was

ske

tche

d in

Cha

pter

4 s

how

edit.

to b

e co

mpo

sed

of f

our

part

s:ib

osiv

TH

E P

SYC

HE

DE

LIC

EV

IDE

NC

E /

167

ing

with

spa

tial i

mag

ery,

we

can

visu

aliz

e L

SDas

a s

eein

gaye

pro

beth

at p

enet

rate

s pr

ogre

ssiv

ely

tow

ard

the

core

of

the

subj

ect's

bei

ng:,

In th

e ea

rly

sess

ions

of

the

LSD

sequ

ence

it m

oves

thro

ugh

the

subj

ect's

body

in tw

o st

eps.

The

fir

st o

f th

ese

trig

gers

per

iphe

ral

som

atic

res

pons

es, m

ost r

egul

arly

one

s re

latin

g to

per

cept

ion,

topr

oduc

e th

e ae

sthe

tic p

hase

. The

sec

ond

mov

es in

tom

emor

y re

gion

sof

the

brai

n w

here

, Wild

er P

enfi

eld

has

posi

ted,

a co

mpl

ete

cine

mat

o-gr

aphi

c re

cord

of

ever

ythi

ng th

e su

bjec

t has

exp

erie

nced

lies

sto

red.

Tha

t the

eve

nts

that

wer

e m

ost i

mpo

rtan

t in

the

subj

ect's

for

mat

ion

are

the

ones

that

rus

h fo

rwar

d fo

r at

tent

ion

stan

ds to

rea

son.

We

are

into

the

firs

t of

the

thre

e m

ain

stag

es o

f th

e ps

ycho

lytic

sequ

ence

,th

e ps

ycho

dyna

mic

or

Freu

dian

sta

ge.

Pass

age

from

the

Freu

dian

to th

e R

anki

an s

tage

occu

rs w

hen

the

chem

ical

s en

ter

the

regi

on o

f th

e m

ind

that

out

dist

ance

s th

e br

ain

and

swim

s in

the

med

ium

of

the

psyc

hic

or in

term

edia

te p

lane

. The

phen

omen

olog

ical

con

sequ

ence

s co

uld

alm

ost h

ave

been

pre

dict

ed:

1. B

iogr

aphi

cal d

atae

vent

s th

at im

prin

ted

them

selv

eson

the

subj

ect's

bod

y, in

this

cas

e th

e m

emor

y re

gion

of

his

brai

nrec

ede.

2. T

heir

pla

ce is

take

n by

the

"exi

sten

tials

"con

ditio

ning

stru

c-tu

reso

f hu

man

exi

sten

ce in

gen

eral

. The

gri

m a

ffec

t of

this

stag

eco

uld

be d

ue in

par

t to

mem

orie

s of

the

orde

als

of g

esta

tion

and

birt

h, b

ut th

e to

rmen

t, th

e se

nse

of th

e w

istf

ulne

ss a

nd p

atho

sof

asu

ffer

ing

hum

anity

and

inde

ed li

fe in

all

its f

orm

s, d

eriv

es m

ainl

yfr

om th

e fa

ct th

at th

e la

rger

pur

view

of

the

inte

rmed

iate

pla

nere

nder

s th

e lim

itatio

ns(d

ukkh

a)of

the

terr

estr

ial p

lane

mor

e vi

sibl

eth

an w

hen

the

subj

ect i

s im

mer

sed

in th

em.

S. I

n th

e de

ath

and

rebi

rth

expe

rien

ce th

at c

limax

es th

isph

ase,

Ran

kian

fac

tors

cou

ld .a

gain

coo

pera

te w

ithou

t pre

clud

ing

caus

esth

at a

re m

ore

basi

c. T

he s

elf

had

ente

red

the

inte

rmed

iate

plan

eth

roug

h th

e so

ul's

ass

umpt

ion

ofco

mpr

essi

on in

tom

ind;

as th

eH

indu

s sa

y, th

ejiv

aas

sum

ed a

sub

tle b

ody.

Now

, in

the

reve

rsal

of

this

seq

uenc

e, m

ind

mus

t be

diss

olve

d (d

ie)

for

soul

to b

e re

leas

ed(r

ebor

n).

The

sen

se o

f re

leas

e fr

om th

e im

pris

onin

gst

ruct

ures

of

min

dsi

gnal

s th

e T

act t

hat t

he p

robe

has

rea

ched

the

leve

lof

sou

l. T

heph

enom

enol

ogic

al c

onse

quen

ces

are

the

ones

Gro

f's s

ubje

cts

repo

rted

in th

e tr

ansp

erso

nal s

tage

, the

mai

non

es b

eing

the

follo

win

g:I.

Whe

reas

in th

e R

anki

an s

tage

"th

ere

... w

as ..

. a v

ery

dist

inct

pola

rity

bet

wee

n ve

ry p

ositi

ve a

nd v

ery

nega

tive

expe

rien

ce"

(U 1

25),

60

NM

MI M

I MO

NM

MN

MI

MN

MN

MI

MI M

I

61

168

/ APP

EN

DIX

expe

rien

ce is

now

red

orni

nant

ly b

eatif

ic, w

ith "

mel

ted

ecst

acy"

.p2-

-ha

ps it

s m

ost-

repo

rted

them

e..u

bjec

ts s

peak

abo

ut m

ystic

uni

on,

tliel

usio

n of

the

subj

ectiv

e w

ith th

e ob

ject

ive

wor

ld, i

dent

ific

atio

nw

ith th

e un

iver

se, c

osm

ic c

onsc

ious

ness

, the

intu

itive

insi

ght i

nto

the

esse

nce

of b

eing

, the

Bud

dhis

t nir

vana

m, t

he V

edic

sam

adhi

, the

harm

ony

of w

orld

s an

d sp

here

s, th

e ap

prox

imat

ion

to G

od, e

tc."

(U29

).2.

Exp

erie

nce

is m

ore

abst

ract

. At i

ts p

eak

it "i

s us

ually

con

tent

-le

ss a

nd a

ccom

pani

ed b

y vi

sion

s of

blin

ding

ligh

t or

beau

tiful

col

ors

(hea

venl

y bl

ue, g

old,

the

rain

bow

spe

ctru

m, p

eaco

ck f

eath

ers,

etc

.)"

(ibi

d.)

or is

ass

ocia

ted

with

spa

ce o

r so

und.

Whe

n its

acc

oute

rmen

tsar

e m

ore

conc

rete

they

tend

to b

e ar

cher

al, w

ith th

e ar

chet

ypes

seem

ing

to b

e lim

itles

s in

num

ber.

The

cel

es 'a

l pla

ne w

hich

the

soul

inha

bits

is, w

e re

call,

the

plan

e of

God

an

the

arch

etyp

es. T

hedi

stin

ctio

n be

twee

n th

e tw

o, w

hich

if f

lesh

ed o

ut w

ould

res

ult i

nan

ont

olog

y of

fiv

e tie

rs in

stea

d of

fou

r (s

ee f

ootn

ote,

pag

e 51

),is

for

purp

oses

of

sim

plif

icat

ion

and

sym

met

ry b

eing

pla

yed

dow

n in

the

pres

ent b

ook.

3. T

he G

-3gl

aQal

mos

ten

coun

tere

d is

sin

gle

and

so f

ar r

emov

ed f

rom

ant

hrop

omor

phis

m a

s to

elic

it, o

ften

, the

pro

-no

un "

it."

Thi

s is

in c

ontr

ast t

o th

e go

ds o

f th

e R

anki

an s

tage

whi

chte

nd to

be

mul

tiple

, Oly

mpi

an, a

nd e

ssen

tially

enl

arge

d tit

ans.

Bey

ond

the

soul

lies

onl

y Sp

irit,

an

esse

nce

so in

effa

ble

that

whe

nth

e se

eing

eye

str

ikes

it, v

irtu

ally

all

that

can

he

repo

rted

is th

atit

is "

beyo

nd"

and

mor

e th

an"

all t

hat h

ad b

een

enco

unte

red

ther

etof

ore.

The

cor

rela

tions

bet

wee

n th

e pr

imor

dial

ant

hrop

olog

y an

d th

eps

yche

delic

seq

uenc

e ca

n he

dia

gram

ed a

s sh

own

oppo

site

:U

p to

this

poi

nt w

e ha

ve n

oted

Gro

f's e

mpi

rica

l fin

ding

s, a

ndco

mpa

red

the

way

they

fit

into

his

Ran

k-ex

tend

ed p

sych

iatr

ic th

eori

eson

the

one

hand

and

into

the

prim

ordi

al u

nder

stan

ding

of

man

on

the

othe

r. I

t rem

ains

to p

oint

out

how

the

find

ings

of

seve

ntee

nye

ars

affe

cted

his

ow

n th

inki

ng.

Eng

aged

as

he w

as in

"th

e fi

rst m

appi

ng o

f co

mpl

etel

y un

know

nte

rrito

ries

" (U

267)

, he

coul

d no

t hav

e fo

rese

en w

here

his

inqu

iry

wou

ld le

ad. W

hat h

e fo

und

was

that

in "

the

mos

t fas

cina

ting

inte

llect

ual a

nd s

piri

tual

adv

entu

re o

f m

y lif

e [i

t] o

pene

d up

new

fant

astic

are

as a

nd f

orce

d m

e to

bre

ak w

ith th

e ol

d sy

stem

s an

dfr

amew

orks

" (U

250)

. The

fir

st c

hang

e in

his

thin

king

has

alr

eady

Prel

imin

ary

phas

e

Psyc

holy

ticst

ages

Ant

hro-

polo

gica

lle

vels

TH

E P

SYC

HE

DE

LIC

EV

IDE

NC

E /

169

been

not

ed: t

he p

sych

olyt

ic s

eque

nces

sho

wed

the

birt

h tr

aum

a to

have

mor

e dy

nam

ic c

onse

quen

ces

than

Gro

f an

d hi

s st

rict

ly F

reud

ian

asso

ciat

es h

ad s

uppo

sed.

Thi

s ch

ange

psy

choa

naly

sis

coul

d ac

com

mo-

date

, but

not

the

one

that

fol

low

ed. "

I st

arte

d m

y L

SD r

esea

rch

in19

56 a

s a

conv

ince

d an

d de

dica

ted

psyc

hoan

alys

t;" h

e w

rite

s. "

In th

elig

ht o

f ev

eryd

ay c

linic

al o

bser

vatio

ns in

LSD

ses

sion

s, I

fou

nd th

isco

ncep

tion

unte

nabl

e" (

p.1'

7). B

asic

ally

, wha

t pro

ved

to b

e un

ten-

able

was

"th

e pr

esen

t.

.. gl

oom

y .

. im

age

of m

an, w

hich

is to

agr

eat e

xten

t inf

luen

ced

by p

sych

oana

lysi

s" (

U38

2).7

Thi

s pi

ctur

e of

man

,

that

of

a so

cial

ani

mal

bas

ical

ly g

over

ned

by b

lind

and

irra

tiona

lin

stin

ctua

l for

ces

..

.co

ntra

dict

s th

e ex

peri

ence

s fr

om th

e L

SDse

ssio

ns o

r at

leas

t app

ears

sup

erfi

cial

and

lim

ited.

Mos

t of

the

inst

inct

ual t

ende

ncie

s de

scri

bed

by p

sych

oana

lysi

s (i

nces

tuou

s an

dm

urde

rous

wis

hes,

can

niba

listic

impu

lses

, sad

omas

ochi

stic

incl

ina-

tions

, cop

roph

ilia,

etc

.) a

re v

ery

stri

king

in th

e ea

rly

LSD

ses

sion

s;th

ese

obse

rvat

ions

are

so

com

mon

that

they

cou

ld a

lmos

t be

con-

7. T

he f

lyle

af o

f R

ank'

s bo

ok w

hich

ser

ved

as a

lmos

t the

bib

le f

or G

rof's

wor

k in

one

of

its s

tage

s ca

rrie

s a

quot

atio

n fr

ont N

ietz

sche

: "T

he v

ery

best

...

is, n

ot to

be

born

.... T

he n

ext b

est .

..is

...

to d

iegc

17."

MI

MN

MI

MI

MI

,M

IO

M

f

63

170

/ APP

EN

DIX

side

red

expe

rim

enta

l evi

denc

e fo

r so

me

of th

e ba

sic

assu

mpt

ions

of p

sych

oana

lysi

s. M

ost o

f th

em, h

owev

er, a

ppea

r in

the

sess

ions

for

only

a li

mite

d pe

riod

of

time.

Thi

s w

hole

are

a ca

n be

tran

-sc

ende

d rW

here

upon

] w

e ar

e co

nfro

nted

with

an

imag

e of

man

whi

ch is

dia

met

rica

lly o

ppos

ed to

the

prev

ious

one

. Man

in h

isin

nerm

ost n

atur

e. a

ppea

rs th

en a

s a

bein

g th

at is

fun

dam

enta

lly in

harm

ony

with

his

env

iron

men

t and

is g

over

ned

by in

trin

sic

high

and

univ

ersa

l val

ues.

[U

382

-S3,

del

etio

ns n

ot in

dica

ted.

]

Thi

s ch

ange

in a

nthr

opol

ogy

has

been

the

solid

eff

ect o

f ps

yche

-de

lic e

vide

nce

on G

rof's

thin

king

. In

psyc

hoan

alyt

ic te

rms,

if F

r u&

disc

over

ed th

e im

port

ance

of

infa

ntile

exp

erie

nce

on o

ntog

enst

ic-

deve

lopm

enra

rrcl

-Rar

rIc-

drei

ffip

Tra

irce

-a tl

ie-6

cper

ienc

eof

birt

hG

rof's

dis

cove

ries

car

ry th

is s

earc

h fo

r ev

er e

arlie

r et

iolo

gis-

-. in

psy

choa

naly

tic th

eory

ear

lier

= s

tron

gert

o its

abs

olut

e lim

it: h

isop

timis

tic v

iew

of

man

der

ives

fro

m d

isco

veri

ence

and

late

nt p

ower

of

earl

y-ge

stat

ion

mem

orie

s; m

emor

ies

of th

e w

ay th

ings

wer

e w

hen

the

wom

b w

as s

till u

ncon

gest

ed a

nd a

ll w

as w

ell.

Bey

ond

this

rev

ised

ant

hrop

olog

y, h

owev

er, G

rof

has

toye

d w

ith a

cha

nged

onto

logy

as

wel

l. E

ndow

men

ts th

at s

uppl

emen

t his

psy

chia

tric

cor

n-pe

tenc

es h

ave

help

ed h

im h

ere:

he

has

an "

ear"

for

met

aphy

sics

and

an a

bidi

ng o

ntol

ogic

al in

tere

st. T

hese

cau

sed

him

to li

sten

atte

ntiv

ely

from

the

star

t to

his

subj

ects

' rep

orts

on

the

natu

re o

f re

ality

, and

inon

e of

his

rec

ent p

aper

s, "

LSD

and

the

Cos

mic

Gam

e: O

utlin

e of

Psyc

hede

lic C

osm

olog

y an

d O

ntol

ogy"

(se

e fo

otno

te 3

, pag

e 15

6), h

egi

ves

thes

e re

port

s fu

ll re

in. L

ayin

g as

ide

for

the

inte

rval

his

rol

e as

rese

arch

psy

chia

tris

t, w

hich

req

uire

d se

eing

pat

ient

s' e

xper

ienc

es a

ssh

aped

by

if n

ot p

roje

cted

fro

m e

arly

for

mat

ive

expe

rien

ces,

in th

ispa

per

Gro

f tu

rns

phen

omen

olog

ist a

nd a

llow

s th

eir

repo

rts

tost

and

in th

eir

own

righ

t. T

he v

iew

of

real

ity th

at r

esul

ts is

so

unca

nnil

&te

the

one

that

has

bee

n ou

tline

d in

this

boo

ct

at, i

nter

laci

ng,

,ara

phra

ses

of p

assa

ges

in G

rof's

art

icle

with

dir

ect q

uota

tions

fro

n.it,

we

pres

ent i

t her

e in

sum

mar

y.

The

ulti

mat

e so

urce

of

exis

tenc

e is

the

Voi

d, th

e su

prac

osm

icSi

lenc

e, th

e un

trea

ted

and

abso

lute

ly in

effa

ble

Supr

eme.

The

fir

st p

ossi

ble

form

ulat

ion

of th

is s

ourc

e is

Uni

vers

al M

ind.

Her

e,to

o, w

ords

fail,

for

Min

d tr

ansc

ends

the

dich

otom

ies,

pola

ritie

s, a

nd p

arad

oxes

that

har

ry th

e re

lativ

e w

orld

. Ins

ofar

as

desc

ript

ion

is a

ttem

pted

, the

Ved

antic

tern

aryI

nfin

ite E

xist

ence

,In

fini

te I

ntel

ligen

ce, I

nfin

ite B

lissi

s as

ade

quat

e as

any

.

TH

E P

SYC

HE

DE

LIC

EV

IDE

NC

E /

171

God

is n

ot li

mite

d to

his

for

egoi

ng, "

abst

ract

" m

odes

. He

can

be e

ncou

nter

ed c

oncr

etel

y, a

s th

e G

od o

f th

e O

ld a

nd N

ew T

esta

.m

ents

, Bud

dha,

Shi

va, o

r in

oth

er m

odes

. The

se m

odes

do

not,

how

ever

, wea

r th

e m

antle

of

ultim

acy

or p

rovi

dean

swer

s th

at a

refi

nal.

The

phe

nom

enal

wor

lds

owe

thei

r ex

iste

nce

to U

nive

rsal

Min

d,w

hich

Min

d do

es n

ot it

self

bec

ome

impl

icat

ed in

thei

r ca

tego

ries

.M

an, t

oget

her

with

the

thre

e-di

men

sion

al w

orld

he

expe

rien

ces,

isbu

t one

of

innu

mer

able

mod

es th

roug

h w

hich

Min

d ex

peri

ence

sits

elf.

The

"he

avy

phys

ical

ity"

and

seem

ingl

y ob

ject

ive

fina

lity

ofm

an's

mat

eria

l wor

ld, i

ts s

pace

-tim

e gr

id a

nd la

ws

of n

atur

e th

atof

fer

them

selv

es a

s if

they

wer

e si

ne q

ua n

ons

of e

xist

ence

itse

lfal

l the

se a

re in

fact

hig

hly

prov

isio

nal a

nd r

elat

ive.

Und

erex

cept

iona

l cir

cum

stan

ces

man

can

ris

e to

a le

vel o

f co

nsci

ousn

ess

whe

re h

e se

es th

at ta

ken

toge

ther

they

con

stitu

te b

uton

e of

inum

erab

le s

ets

of li

miti

ng c

onst

ruct

s U

nive

rsal

Min

das

sum

es. T

osa

ddle

that

Min

d its

elf

with

thes

e ca

tego

ries

wou

ld b

eas

rid

icul

ous

as tr

ying

to u

nder

stan

d th

e hu

man

min

d th

roug

h th

e ru

les

ofch

ess.

Cre

ated

ent

ities

tend

pro

gres

sive

ly to

lose

con

tact

with

thei

ror

igin

al s

ourc

e an

d th

e aw

aren

ess

of th

eir

pris

tine

iden

tity

with

it.

In th

e in

itial

sta

ge o

f th

is f

allin

g aw

ay, c

reat

ed e

ntiti

es m

aint

ain

cont

act w

ith th

eir

sour

ce a

nd th

e se

para

tion

is p

layf

ul, r

elat

ive,

and

obvi

ousl

y te

ntat

ive.

An

imag

e th

at w

ould

illu

stra

te th

isst

age

is th

at o

f w

aves

on

the

ocea

n. F

rom

a c

erta

in p

oint

of

view

they

are

indi

vidu

al e

ntiti

es; w

e ca

n sp

eak

of a

larg

e, f

ast,

gree

n, a

ndfo

amy

wav

e, f

or e

xam

ple.

At t

he s

ame

time

itis

tran

spar

ently

evid

ent t

hat i

n sp

ite o

f its

rel

ativ

e in

divi

duat

ion

the

wav

e is

par

tof

the

ocea

n.A

t the

nex

t sta

ge c

reat

ed e

ntiti

es a

ssum

ea

part

ial i

ndep

ende

nce

and

we

can

obse

rve

the

begi

nnin

gs o

f "c

osm

ic s

cree

nwor

k."

Her

eun

ity w

ith th

e so

urce

can

be

tem

pora

rily

for

gotte

n in

the

way

an a

ctor

on

stag

e ca

n vi

rtua

lly f

orge

t his

ow

n id

entit

y w

hile

he

iden

tifie

s w

ith th

e ch

arac

ter

he p

ortr

ays.

Con

tinua

tion

of th

e pr

oces

s of

par

titio

ning

res

ults

ina

situ

atio

n.in

whi

ch in

divi

duat

ion

is p

erm

anen

tly a

nd f

or a

ll pr

actic

alpu

r-po

ses

com

plet

e, a

nd o

nly

occa

sion

ally

do

intim

atio

ns o

fth

eor

igin

al w

hole

ness

res

urfa

ce. T

his

can

be il

lust

rate

d by

the

rela

-tio

nshi

p be

twee

n ce

lls o

f a

body

,or

gans

, and

the

body

as

aw

hole

. Cel

ls a

re s

epar

ate

entit

ies

but f

unct

ion

as p

arts

of

orga

ns.

The

latte

r ha

ve e

ven

mor

e in

depe

nden

ce, b

ut th

eyto

o pl

ay o

utth

eir

role

s in

the

com

plet

e or

gani

sm. I

ndiv

idua

tion

and

part

icip

a-tio

n ar

e di

alec

tical

ly c

ombi

ned.

Com

plex

bio

chem

ical

inte

ract

icg4

IIIII1

11M

MI

IIIII

MI E

NV

OM

NM

IMO

MO

I= M

I I=

MI

65

172

/ APP

EN

DIX

brid

ge p

rovi

sion

al b

ound

arie

s to

ens

ure

the

func

tioni

ng o

f th

eor

gani

sm a

s a

who

le.

In th

e fi

nal s

tage

the

sepa

ratio

n is

pra

ctic

ally

com

plet

e. L

iais

onw

ith th

e so

urce

islo

st a

nd th

e or

igin

al id

entit

y co

mpl

etel

y fo

r-go

tten.

The

"sc

reen

" is

now

all

but i

mpe

rmea

ble;

radi

cal q

ualit

a-tiv

e ch

ange

is r

equi

red

for

the

orig

inal

uni

ty to

be

rest

ored

. Sym

bol

of th

is m

ight

be

a sn

owfl

ake,

cry

stal

lized

fro

m w

ater

that

has

evap

orat

ed f

rom

the

ocea

n. I

t bea

rs li

ttle

outw

ard

sim

ilari

ty to

its s

ourc

e an

d m

ust.

unde

rgo

a ch

ange

in s

truc

ture

if r

euni

on is

tooc

cur.

Hum

an b

eing

s w

ho m

anag

e to

eff

ect t

he c

hang

e ju

st r

efer

red

tofi

ndth

erea

fter

that

life'

spo

lari

ties

para

doxi

cally

bot

h do

and

do n

ot e

xist

. Thi

s ho

lds

for

such

con

trar

ies

as s

piri

t/mat

ter,

good

/evi

l, st

abili

ty/m

otio

n, h

eave

n/he

ll, b

eaut

y/ug

lines

s, a

gony

/ec

stas

y, e

tc. I

n th

e la

st a

naly

sis

ther

e is

no

diff

eren

cebe

twee

nsu

bjec

t and

obj

ect,

obse

rver

and

obs

erve

d, e

xper

ienc

er a

nd e

xper

i-en

ced,

cre

ator

and

cre

atio

n.T

----

---

.

In th

e ea

rly

year

s of

psy

choa

naly

sis

whe

n ho

stili

ty w

as s

how

n to

its r

epor

ts a

nd th

eori

es o

n ac

coun

t of

thei

r as

toni

shin

g no

velty

,an

d

they

wer

e di

smis

sed

as p

rodu

cts

of th

eir

auth

ors'

per

vert

ed im

agin

a-tio

ns, F

reud

use

d to

hol

d up

aga

inst

this

obj

ectio

n th

e ar

gum

ent

that

no

hum

an b

rain

cou

ld h

ave

inve

nted

suc

h fa

cts

and

conn

ectio

nsha

d th

ey n

ot b

een

pers

iste

ntly

for

ced

on it

by

a se

ries

of

conv

ergi

ngan

d in

terl

ocki

ng o

bser

vatio

ns. G

rof

mig

ht h

ave

argu

ed e

qual

ly: t

ow

it, th

at th

e "p

sych

edel

ic c

osin

olo

and

onto

logy

" th

at h

is p

atie

nts

I Lca

trie

up

with

isas

uni

nven

tabl

e as

Fre

ud's

ow

n sy

stem

. In

fact

,

how

ever

, he

does

not

do

so. I

n th

e m

anne

r of

a g

ood

phen

omen

ol-

ogis

t he

lets

the

pict

ure

spea

k fo

itsel

f, n

eith

er b

elitt

ling

it by

refe

rrin

g it

back

to c

ause

s th

at in

pur

port

ing

to e

xpla

in it

wou

ldex

plai

n it

away

, nor

arg

uing

that

'tis

true

. As

phen

omen

olog

ists

them

selv

es w

ould

say

, he

"bra

cket

shi

s ow

n 'u

dgm

ent r

egar

ding

the

trut

h qu

estio

n an

d co

nten

tsur

ase

with

rep

ortin

g w

hat h

ispa

tient

s sa

id a

bout

it.

The

idea

that

the

"thr

ee-d

imen

sion

al w

orld

" is

onl

y on

e of

man

y ex

peri

entia

l wor

lds

crea

ted

the

Uni

vers

arV

ind

..

.

a. s

eare

d to

te m

nm

cn m

ore

ton-

-*--

"`''7

1rnn

tNe'

'c73

posi

te a

tern

ativ

e

that

is s

o fr

eque

nt y

ta. t

ilt f

or g

rant

e, n

ame

y, t

at t

e m

aten

aw

7r1:

71;7

17-O

)77

.117

rea

lity

of it

s ow

n an

d th

at th

e hu

man

con

-sc

ious

ness

and

the

conc

ept o

f G

od a

re m

erel

y pr

oduc

ts o

fhi

ghly

orga

nize

d m

atte

r, th

e hu

man

bra

in. W

hen

clos

ely

anal

yzed

the

TH

E P

SYC

HE

DE

LIC

EV

IDE

NC

E /

173

latte

r co

ncep

t pre

sent

s at

leas

t as

man

y in

cong

ruen

ces,

par

adox

esan

d ab

surd

ities

as

the

desc

ribe

d co

ncep

t of

the

Uni

vers

al M

ind.

The

pro

blem

s of

fin

ity v

ersu

s in

fini

ty o

f tim

e an

d sp

ace;

the

enig

ma

of th

e or

igin

of

mat

ter,

ene

rgy

and

spac

e; a

nd th

e m

yste

ryof

the

prim

e im

puls

e ap

pear

to b

e so

ove

rwhe

lmin

g an

d de

feat

ing

that

one

ser

ious

ly q

uest

ions

why

this

app

roac

h sh

ould

be

give

npr

iori

ty in

our

thin

king

. [p.

11]

66

Psychedelics and elligion:An Addendum

Huston Smith has been a pro-fessor of philosophy at theMassachusetts Institute ofTechnology and is professoremeritus of religion, SyracuseUniversity. tie is the author ofThe Religions of Man, For-gotten Truth: The PrimordialTradition, and Hewn(' Post-Modern Mind.

{ {union Smith

!most 25 years have elapsed since I wrote my first and main essay on the psyche-delics, "Do Drugs Have Religious Import?" Published as the psychedelic sixtieswere nearing their peak, it addressed a lively topic on college campuses. The issueof The Journal of Philosophy in which it appeared' had to be re-run, and it hasbeen anthologized more than any other essay in the 85 years of that journal's his-tory. Fourteen collections of essays, most of them philosophy textbooks, have reprinted it.Two other essays followed that one. Whereas my initial paper argued an affirmative thesis--that for some subjects, under some circumstances, psychedelics can occasion experiencesthat arc phenomenologically (which is to say, descriptively) indistinguishable from religiousexperiences that occur without themmy second essay, "Psychedelic Theophanies and theReligious Life,''2 was cautionary. Three additional years of the psychedelic movement didnot cause me to retract my original thesis, but the careening course of that movement didsuggest that my thesis should be amended. Drug-induced religious experiences, I noted inthis second essay, seem to have less staying power. Their carry-over into subsequent life doesnot seem to equal that of non-drug-induced experiences, which typically are backed by a vali-dating theology, a supportive community (a church), and an ethic that relates the experienceto everyday life.'Only one more step seemed needed: namely, to draw the logical conclusion that if thechemicals were ingested unwittingly, in a society where the reductionistic explanations ofpsychopharmacology were unknown, their religious consequences would not be compro-mised. R. Gordon Wasson's identification of the soma plant of Vedic India as the mushroomAmanita muscaria seemed to nail down that conclusion. I devoted the last summer of the six-ties to studying the responses of mycologists, Iridologists, anthropologists, and linguists toWasson's important (but still too little attended to) Soma: Divine Mushroom ofand my review article on that book rounded off the psychedelic decade.`Four years later, I included a summary of Stanislav Grof's important work as an appendixto my Forgotten Truth: The Primordial Tradition' to highlight the striking correlation be-tween the layers of consciousness that LSD-therapy patients penetrate and the levels of self-hood that religious traditions have typically posited, but there I let matters rest. Althoughmuch remained to be done toward understanding how psychedelics affect brain functioning,why they occasion the subjective experiences they do, and what t heir potential is for psycho-therapy, on their relation to religion there seemed to be nothing more to say. And so it stillappears to me regarding fundamentals. However, two items that flesh out my sixties' conclu-sions have emerged in the interval, and as they are interesting in their own right, I avail my-self of this opportunity to add them to the record.

The first concerns new findings that might bear on how the psychedelics work; I refer tothe split-brain research that gained prominence in the seventies. Pondering in my initial essaythe extraordinary sense of relatedness to the world that t...sp subjects frequently report, Ireached out for a longitudinal or "vertical" hypothesis. Because the opposite of this related-nessour experience of being opposed to the worldis registered by a late evolutionary de-velopment, the cerebral cortex,' I speculated that this sense of unity might derive from thedrug's having introduced its taker to a deeper, more primitive region of the brain, one thatmonitors continuities. About this first hypothesis I wrote in my initial essay:One of the clearest objective signs that the drugs are taking effect is the dilation they produce in thepupils of the eyes, and one of the most predictable subjective signs is the intensification of visualperception. Both of these responses are controlled by portions of the brain that lie deep; further tothe rear than the mechanisms that govern consciousness. Meanwhile we know that the humanorganism is interlaced with its world in innumerable ways it normally cannot sensethrough gravita-

67 SUMMER 88 3s

The human organism is interlacedwith its world in innUmerable ways itnormally cannot sense.

tional fields, body respiration, and the like:the list could be multiplied until man's skinbegan-to,seem more like-a tharoUghfaie, thana boundary..Perhaps the deeper regionS'of thebrain which earlier and ,are.morel.likethose of the lower animals . can sense. thisrelatedness better than can the cerebral cortexwhich now dominates our awareness, If so,when the drugs rearrange the neurohtirnorsthat chemically. transmit impulSeS,atroSS syn-apses between neurons,., man's consciousnessand his submerged, intuitive, ecologicalawareness Might for a spell. beeorne inter-laced. This"is; of course; no more than a' hy-pothesis;- but how else are we to account forthe extraordinary. incidence,tinder .the drugsof that kind., of insight the keynOteof whichWilliam James. described as : "invariably arec-onciliatiOn"?.'"It the oPPOSiteS Of the

..

world, :Whose: contradictoriness anclr:.eonftictmake all our difficUlties and :troubles,: weremelted, into one. .and:tlie,saine-gentlis;:rbut.o.heof the speaies,, the nobler and :better: one,:: isitself the ketius, and.Sorsoaks..up.and absorbsits opposites into itself."

Split.-brain research now Offers an alterna-tive, lateral or horizontal hYpothesis,:tb.thisearlier,` one. The right hemisphere,whielluntiL the last decade -.Wa.S.Itg4ideo as,adark Continent:if:Mit a ukleS.S:appetidage, is

.

now:seentb:.be'the seat of the Mind's.integrat-.ing, sYnifiesizingCaPacities..that,balance theanalytic, linear workings ofj the..:leftsphere. The atorieTinerit syndrome James de-scribed`. so well may result . in, pal t :frorrl. thedrug's.' facilitating liVeliereXehanges.betweertthe tWo:yeirlisPheres.

The Other'rnatierthatcarne my way in theseventies arrived intwbstageS.::AlreadY.in..the,sixties, PrOfesSorRayMond.prineeof theSec-,tidn: Of.TrankUltUrai..SYChiairieSlitdieS, atMiGill gue i.'that infectiousdiseases and . other afflictions . such : as :star>a-tion and.;:exhatiStion on long hunting expeditibns orpbAbl)..figured..::MOre .piOniinently:thanhalineinogetiieplantS:in OPeninkearly.:Mah tothe stiPerhatbral; -,theSe'afflietions;,tOO; affectbrain chemistry in `visionary, difecticins andwere..prbbably encountered:,mbrei:frequeritly.9The bacteria ..andH:Other.:':MiciOrganisms:-...that.cause infect iOuS,:diSeases: are themselves :-plantSand fungi:or'elOsely akint6.these;"Mbreaver, it

36 ReVISION Vot_.11 No.1

68

is they, not the fever their attacks provoke, thataccount fdr the visions, for (a) deliriums mayprecede temperature rise and follow its returnto normal, (b) fevers experimentally producedwithout infectious organisms do not alter con-sciousness, and (c) some febrile illnesses occa-sion deliriums, whereas others do notsmall-pox, typhoid, and pneumonia fall into the firstcategory; diphtheria, tetanus, and cholera intothe second.

This seemed to me to be an important, point.Mucti:attention was the sikties,(o thequestion of whether our,regard..ifor-the.disclo-

. . . .

sures of religious experiences shOilld be af-fected by the discoVery, that pill,taking cantrigger them, but that disetiSsion'-typiCally didnot go on to ask whether the: saine.'cOnSidera-tions pertain when brain chemistry is involun-tarily altered by disease. I made this point inthe. Salzburg Seminar on Anierican Studies..inthe summer of 1972 where one of.the partici-pants was Hilary Jenkins, a biographer ofJohn Henry Newman, and together we con-cluded .that the experiences of Cardinal New-man probably provide an important case inpoint.'" In researching his bobk Newman'sMediterranean Voyage," Professor Jenkinsdiscovered that Newman's deeiSive. religiousexperience occurred in the course of a near-fatal bout with a disease now 'induct to havebeen typhoid fever. The experieneeirooted outa crippling anxiety in which Newman had os-cillated between fear of failure on the onehand and an ambitious but .daunting desire.toput himself forward on the.other. It did so byconvincing him that God really did have himunder his care and had marked .ni'm for lead-ership. He emerged from the experience to be-come quickly and for the rest of his life apublic figure and to write. "Lead, Kindly'Light," one of Christendom's best-lovedhymns. Recounting the experience; he wrote:"At one time I had a most consoling andoverpowering thought of God's electing loveand-seemed to feel I was His. But 1 believe allmy feelings, painful and pleasant, wereheightened somewhat by deliriiim; thoughthey still are from God in the way of Provi-dence."

NOTES

I. Huston Smith, The Journal of Philosophy 61(18)Oetdher 1, 1964.

2. Huston Smith, Christianity and Crisis 27(11) June26,1967.

3. How different this is from the context in which thepsychedelics were usuallY:ingeted in the sixties wasbrought home to me again through air anecdoteVictor. Turner presented to a-meeting:of the Arneri-

can Academy for the Study of Religion. Describingthe initiation of a woman into a peyote cult of Cen-tral Mexico, he noted that she was required to takea long trek during which myths were unfolded atevery state of the journey. When the first peyotebutton was spotted, it was speared as the buddinghorn of a great deity; only then could the pilgrimspick and cat. When the woman started to describeher visions she was ordered to stop, "Don't revealSuch Secrets," she was told. The account appears inBarbara Mycrhoff, Peyote Hunt, (Ithaca: CornellUniversity Press, 1974), pp. 39-44.

4. R. Gordon Wasson, Soma. Divine MushrOom ofImmortality (New York: Harcourt Brace & World,1969).

5. Huston Smith, Wasson's Soma: A Review Article,Journal of the American Academy of Religion 40(4) December 1972.

6. Huston Smith, Forgotten Truth: The PrimordialTradition (New York: Harper & Row, 1976).

7. "If I were . . . a can . . I should belong to this

world. I would he this world to which I ant now op-posed by my whole consciousness." Albert Cantu:,The Myth of Sisyphus (New York: Vintage, 1955).p. 38.

8. See note I, p. 528. The quoled material is front Wila ttl ames, The rurienc.s tO Religiorts Exp,,rience

(New York: Modern Library. 1902), p. 379.9. D. H. Salman and R. H. Nino:: (eds.), Do Psyche-

delics Ilave Religious Implications? (Montreal: Sle-Gill University, R. M Bucke Memorial Society,1967), pp. 1-12.

10. Whether Black Elk does as well, we shall probablynever know. His life-empowering vision °coil red inthe course of a near-fatal illness, but its symptomsare not described in enough detail for us to know ifthe disease was one that affects brain functions inthe way psychedelics do. See John Ncihardt, BlackElk Speaks (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press,1932), p. 48.

I I. Hilary Jenkins, Newman 'S MCCE/Crratlern? VOI.S/ge(Dublin: Irish University Press, 1974).

Vol. 6, No. 1: Executive Mind, Timely Action-Williamlbrbert; the Eye of Longing.David Lavery: Of Mind andMeaning The Super-Implicate Order-David tiohm andRenee Weber, FOCUS An and Transcendence, featuringBeckett and Dharmalawrence Shainherg,That Beauts is aState-Ananda Coomaraswarny: Music and rout-fold vision.Joel Funk; The Self and the Study of ArtPer Johansen:Liberation and the Unity of Opposites-John White: Kier-kegaarck Passion-Ken Wilber; Sociobiology, AnalyticalPsychology, and the Evolution of Consciousness - PaulShaker; An Invisible College? -Alex Comfort. $7.00

Vol. 7, No. 1: Of Shadows and Symbols- Physics andMysticism-Ken Wilber, Mutiny on the Beagle-AndrewSmith; Pointing Toward a Poetic of Personal Growth -RolAnderson and Kevin E McCleary: FOCUS. Ca insciousnessand Healing: Shifting Currents in Contemporary Medicine,featuring Looking Beyond the Relaxation Response,Interview with lierbertlienson; Psychoneuroitninunol-ogy, behavioral Factors and the Immune Resptmse-JoanBorysenko; Coping Mth Chronic Pain-Interview with IonKabat -Zinn, The Physician as Coronary Care Unit: APhenomenon of Family Practice? - Alex Comfort, Com-passion, Rootedness and Detachmenh Their Role in llealing-Dora Kunz and Renee Weber; To I iolistS in Medicine-A Challenge by Larry !kisser The Health of the I leafingProfession-Interview with Bernard Siegel; Are the Founda-tions of Science Adequate?-Arthur Young; .A Speculationon the Relationship between LeShan's Sensory and Clair-voyant Realities-Luther D. Rudolph; David Brisson:Drawing the Founh Dimension-John White. f8.00

Vol. 7, No, 2: Pee:: inal)rs and Pris Mind, if 'eic:tice-John Knapp: 100 :I-I EC. inornics. Work and I IonianValue.; 'vines of l'r loaturingFoinomic IlateIlienderson. Werner Erhard on Tr.inst irmaii sal PnLliictivitn viii b Norman licikIck. we.. V 1,d,vnfor a hew AgePeter Comment.ms: un Prixlitivityand Iluman \.'alues-Peter Drucker, W Edwards Deming,J.M. Juran, Michael Maccoby, Robert Reich, CU:lel:sonGrayson, Stanley Seashore, Irving Bluestone, RobertHayes; SysternsThinking in Liusiness-Imerview with PeterSenge: The Trend toward Being. What's After the InformaBost Mingin; Productivity Overview. Recog-nizing the Fitin)an Dimension Clement L Russo: 'lowShould We Measure Productivity? A Critique of CurrentEconomic .AnalyisAristicle Esser. Clive Simmonds, KeithWide: \CUkutg; up n plaits Cave An 1'1(1(.61Transforming Coniernp( ar Nlanagonieni \illianiJoiner. Radicaily Changing Itnagcs of Proi.iiiiiivitylanM i roil. f8.00

To Order: -,cod list of issues along, with iika.k ormoney order payable to ReVISION Journal and mail toRudra Press, PO. 13, ix N-'3, Cambridge. MA 02238, or call(617) 35-i =,82-Tii compute your billing ital. aid the (list ik. issue andthen add shipping charges as follows: no MN is charged)Domestic: single issue - f 1 SO

each additional issue add $1.00Overseas. Airmail- single issue - $5.00

each additional issue- add I300

BEST COPY AVAILABLE

69 SUN1N1LiR 88 37

VP/ 61:0

MERA

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONOffice of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI)

Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC)

REPRODUCTION RELEASE(Specific Document)

I. DOCUMENT IDENTIFICATION:

IC

Title:

ed'9 f-A5 j2° -ekty. n osf fAIL 49 5?-ret-c-

Author(s):Rdif-441/ -Thuma, 1,9 ruby, Ps 7.

Corporate Source:

In ee11100 7-Wool 5 (--/tdiv,

Publication Date:

II. REPRODUCTION RELEASE:

A ler)

In order to disseminate as widely as possible timely and significant materials of interest to the educational community, documentsannounced in the monthly abstract journal of the ERIC system, Resources in Education (RIE), are usually made available to usersin microfiche, reproduced paper copy, and electronic/optical media, and sold through the ERIC Document Reproduction Service(EDRS) or other ERIC vendors. Credit is given to the source of each document, and, if reproduction release is granted, one ofthe following notices is affixed to the document.

If permission is granted to reproduce the identified document, please CHECK ONE of the following options and sign the releasebelow.

ill Sample sticker to be affixed to document Sample sticker to be affixes" .... Iocument 0 nCheck herePermittingmicrofiche(4"x 6" film),paper copy.electronic,and optical mediareproduction

"PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THISMATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY

70 THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCESINFORMATION CENTER (ERIC):'

Level 1

"PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THISMATERIAL IN OTHER THAN PAPER

COPY HAS BEEP GRANTED BY

SCATO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES

INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)."

Level 2

or here

Permittingreproductionin other thanpaper copy.

Sign Here, PleaseDocuments will be processed as indicated provided reproduction quality permits. If permission to reproduce is granted, but

neither box is checked, documents will be processed at Level 1.

"I hereby grant to the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) nonexclusive permission to reproduce this document asindicated above. Reproduction from the ERIC microfiche or electronic/optical media by persons other than ERIC employees and itssystem contractors requires permission from the copyright holder. Exception is made for non-profit reproduction by libraries and otherservice agencies to satisfy information needs of educators in response to discrete inquiries:'

Signatu

e`Position:

Pret ..A 4-=d , Psye.01/Printed Name: ..A ,

-1-14 v ma i ig, Itobei4Organization:a ..

Nell-her), 2 1 IN at) c 1 )111-7Address: - P 'lvet', ten.- 4-..

-- Pc 5' 6 Telephone Number: ,-,,

( 15) 5. ) 7f e 967Date:

AsPlk 1 7 1 iire