Above Art: ” Equinox ” by Robbie at http://www.psychedelic-art.com
Dear reader this is my final paper for WR-123
David Mount
WR-123-05
Research paper
6/10/08
Psychedelics: Accessing a Spiritual Dimension
Last summer I knew a guy, not necessarily a close friend but more of an acquaintance, who fell to his death from a drop into a shallow creek while under the influence of LSD. It was a very tragic accident that was extremely unfortunate and devastating for everyone who knew him. This incident boggled my mind and made me question the use of drugs, and life in general. His death not only made me rethink the use of psychedelics, but also made me recall my use of psilocybin mushrooms and the vivid consciousness altering effects that they had given me. I know several people who use a variety of drugs and people who use mainly psychedelic substances. Of the people who I have met and known who have taken drugs, most of them describe psychedelic drugs as unique compared to other drugs. My first encounter with one particular psychedelic drug goes back to when I was fourteen years old. I was searching for socks in one of my family member’s dresser and upon looking, I discovered a large bag full of foul smelling, dried up, light brown, mushrooms. What I couldn’t have known then was that these were no ordinary mushrooms such as the type to be placed in a salad, they were hallucinogenic psilocybin mushrooms. My family member who was storing these mushrooms is someone who I have always seen as a very intelligent, ambitious, successful person, and by no means could be considered a drug user. Before my encounter with mushrooms, I had been given the impression in health class, and by my parents and several peers, that psychedelics were very dangerous drugs and shouldn’t ever be considered for experimentation.
With the confusion from the mixed messages that I heard about psychedelics, it was completely surprising to later discover that my family member who had possessed the mushrooms had actually used them. For this reason and the simple fact that I wanted a first hand understanding, I decided to look past the surface and delve deeper into the subject of psychedelics. Upon searching I discovered that psychedelics, more specifically the hallucinogenic type, can cause good or bad “trips”. The word trip is a slang word for the experience that people have when they are under the influence of psychedelics. After informing myself about the effects of mushrooms I decided I would experiment with them myself. My experience that I had through experimentation was undeniably one of the strangest and most insightful, thus far, in my life. However, I decided that using mushrooms wouldn’t be something that I would continuously pursue because of my lack of knowledge about the drugs long-term effects. Also, the experience was extremely intense so it was definitely not something I would want to experience on a regular basis.
Reflecting on my use of mushrooms, it was the first time that I had experienced a massive temporary change in consciousness. My realization about life and people around me was one that I hadn’t before had in a normal conscious state. Naturally, I wanted to look into the existing research on the use of psychedelics, mainly due to my inability to fully communicate what I had gone through while on mushrooms. From my research I found that many people were able to relate with the mind-opening thoughts that were introduced to my mind through mushrooms. Based on that notion, I felt that mushrooms and other psychedelics need to receive more credit toward exploration for their true effects on the human mind and the potential benefits they may bring to people.
There are a select group of people who are intrigued by psychedelics and dedicate portions of their time to understanding the psychoactive substances. But what is it that makes psychedelics relevant to people in society today? One thing is that they are the subject of much controversy since they are viewed by authorities as illicit drugs. This places them into the political campaign known as the “war on drugs”. It is necessary for people to ponder the reasoning for the inclusion of psychedelics in this full fledged war and decide whether their inclusion is justified. Another aspect of psychedelics which adds to their relevancy is their long documented use for religious and spiritual purposes. There are groups of people across the world that incorporate the ritual use of psychedelics within their religions and culture, similar to how larger more mainstream religions have their own rituals. People who use psychedelic substances religiously actually use psychedelics for the same reason that people pray, as a way to commune with god. There are many subtopics alongside religion and spirituality that relate to the topic of psychedelics, and each of these topics has a very extensive amount of research on them. Although the recent hype with psychedelics is focused on research with their use in psychotherapy and medical treatment, I will be aiming my analysis on their spiritual uses.
This brings me to the most intriguing aspect of my own use of psilocybin mushrooms and the spiritual experience that they presented to me. After briefly browsing information on the few studies that had been conducted on psychedelics and the ritual use of them, it became apparent to me that the spiritual feeling that I had felt on mushrooms was almost as common as the abstract thoughts that I experienced. When I realized that spiritual feelings were frequent among people who used psychedelic drugs, it became of interest for me to learn more about psychedelics. Hidden from my knowledge at the time was that they actually play a major role in history. Furthermore there are plenty of unique viewpoints that are held regarding the different issues surrounding psychedelic drugs. Out of all the knowledge I queried up pertaining to this subject, the most captivating piece of information I found, was about an unsolved mystery concerning the possibility of a spiritual dimension to be unlocked with the use of psychedelics.
Through my exploration of how the two subjects of psychedelics and spirituality intertwine, I have a few questions I would like to answer and a few different elements I would like to examine. The goal of this examination in my paper will be to move closer to an answer on whether psychedelics connect the user to spirituality. This will be done through my analysis of the common feelings received from the use of psychedelics, comparing and contrasting psychedelics to other methods for reaching spiritual states, and considering the religions that use psychedelics in a ritual manner. To narrow in on the broad category of psychedelics and the different ways that they are used, I will focus on the drugs that have hallucinogenic properties and are reputed to provide spiritual experiences. Also, I will compare the recreational use of psychedelics to their use in religious settings.
In order to provide clarity, certain terms should be defined. In the definitions section on tryptamind.com, a website which gives resources revolving around mind altering substances, the meaning of the word psychedelics and its origins are explained. The website states that the word psychedelics is a combination between two Greek words, psyche meaning “mind”, and Delos meaning “manifest”. Therefore the combination of the two words creates the meaning of “mind-manifesting”. The man who originally thought of the word “psychedelics” in 1956 was a psychiatrist by the name of Humphrey Osmond. He decided there needed to be a word to describe the unique effect that hallucinogenics had on the people who used them. Although mind-manifesting is a great way of describing the effects of psychedelics, a true portrayal of the psychedelic experience deserves a more vivid description. A proper description is as follows, “A psychedelic experience is characterized by the perception of aspects of one’s mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ordinary restraints (Definitions).” This happens to be a very frequently used description of the difficult to describe psychedelic experience.
There are several drugs within the psychedelics category. Most of the drugs are hallucinogenic but the exceptions in the category aren’t known to cause hallucinations. For example MDMA, nicknamed “ecstasy”, is considered a psychedelic drug and has shown the potential to be therapeutic, but it is not as reputed as hallucinogens for its spiritual uses. For the purpose of this paper, Psilocybin Mushrooms, LSD, Peyote/Mescaline, Ayahuasca, and Ibogaine will be the drugs that will be referenced when the term “psychedelics” is used. Each of these different psychedelic drugs act as hallucinogens, therefore, they have the potential to cause the people who use them to hallucinate. While “psychedelics” is a fairly easy term to define, it is difficult to define spirituality, do its subjective definition. Therefore, it is practical to look at the excerpts of two separate definitions of spirituality. The first, from the website Peterrussel.com based on spirituality and consciousness, describes spirituality as “…the search to know our true selves, to discover the real nature of consciousness (What is Spirituality? Peter Russell)” The second definition comes from a website published by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA simply stating that “spirituality points to our interiors, our subjective life, as contrasted to the objective domain of material events and objects (What is Spirituality? Higher Education).” Comparing the two definitions, a common meaning is the search inside of ones self. An inference can then be drawn that a spiritual experience is a discovery or realization that is made in the process of ones soul searching. Since the two terms seem to be alike and are often used interchangeably, it is important to illustrate the difference between religion and spirituality. In the book Spirituality for Dummies, this difference is made clear. Spirituality is more like a pool of divinity that is flowing through each individual which is accessed through self exploration. On the other hand, religion an organization or group that is using common spiritual beliefs in order to deliver and follow teachings that they believe in (Janis). Now that the necessary terms have been defined, a closer examination of psychedelics can be made.
It is speculated that the use of psychedelics dates as far back as 300 – 1000 B.C. The basis for the speculation that would place the origins of hallucinogenic drug use before the years of Christ is certain archaeological findings such as “the mushrooms stones” that were recovered within parts of Guatemala and Mexico. Other evidence has come in the form of ancient designs that illustrate “an upright stem with a manlike or animal face…crowned with an umbrella-shaped top”. There are also works of art known as frescoes found in Mexico thought to originate back around A.D. 300 which directly depict men worshipping mushrooms (Schultes 7). “Magic mushrooms”, a nickname for psilocybin mushrooms, were and still are used in shamanistic rituals with the belief that the mushrooms grow where Christ’s blood or saliva has hit the ground. At times the ancient shamanic ceremonies were accompanied with feasts that followed human sacrifice (Peyote to LSD). Transitioning to more concrete finding, by the 1500’s there were documented accounts of natives eating mushrooms and experiencing various visions. The documents also represented the value of mushrooms to the “Mexican religion” (Shultes 9). Around the same time period ancient Aztecs in Mexico were using peyote, a cactus that contains the psychoactive chemical mescaline, for its purpose of creating “A direct line to god” from the user (Peyote to LSD). The Spanish crusaded to ban the use of peyote in the year 1521 since they viewed its use as demonic. Similarly, in the seventeenth century there were hard fought attempts by the Spanish to prevent the use of mushrooms by certain cults who used mushrooms ritually (Peyote to LSD).
Personal accounts of peyote use take their roots back before Native Americans had begun to use the cactus for religious purposes. Stemming from peyote’s dismissal as a product of Satan by the Spanish as early as the 1500’s, it was banned in the early 1700’s all throughout Mexico. But this didn’t stop the usage of the cactus from spreading. Use of peyote had spread to the United States by 1760 and was present throughout the Civil War, but did not become well known until the 1880’s (Schultes 13). There are different beliefs as to how peyote had spread throughout America, but one belief as to the source of the Native American tradition involves a chief who was injured during the ware and took the substance as a medicine. He claimed to have seen Jesus Christ in a vision who was telling him to spread the use of peyote to tribes throughout America (Peyote to LSD). Based on pressures from Christian missionaries, Native Americans incorporated their ritual use of peyote and other beliefs, into the Native American Church in the year 1918. Shortly before this time, in the late 1800’s, German scientists discovered by extraction the agent within peyote known as mescaline (Peyote to LSD). Their discovery marked the beginning of the known use of hallucinogenic drugs in a European culture and the beginning of their later movement as “psychedelics” into the western civilization.
Richard Evans Schultes was a student at Harvard who was inspired by one of his professors to pursue the mystery of peyote. Fueled by this inspiration he later embarked on a quest where he had the chance to participate in peyote rituals. His fascination grew and he eventually journeyed to trek through the Amazon, where he discovered psilocybin mushrooms and several other plants of which a handful had hallucinogenic properties. Around the time that Schultes had discovered Morning Glory Seeds to have hallucinogenic properties, a Swiss chemist named Albert Hoffman accidentally stumbled upon a similar substance (Synge). In 1943, Albert Hoffman was working for Sandoz Corporations when he mistakenly took a dose of LSD, which he accidentally synthesized while trying to cure nausea caused by the ingestion of ergot (De Rios 6). He was the first recorded person to take LSD, the shortened version of Lysergic acid diethylamide which is a chemical substance that simulates the effects of natural occurring hallucinogenic plants. In the many years following the birth of LSD, also nicknamed as “Acid”, it had been tested for use in psychotherapy and was the study of multiple reports and books published about it. Oscar Janiger even conducted a widespread study that observed the effects of LSD on almost one thousand people. Soon after LSD was used in the medical field, the CIA became interested in using LSD for counterespionage because they believed that it had the ability to give a person extreme anxiety. After the LSD counterespionage theory fell through, LSD had become more familiar to the public eye and would soon after become progressively illegal for research, sale, or use, updated to its current status as a schedule 1 drug (13).
Around this time the “hippy era” was at climax and the key proponents of LSD and Psilocybin were spreading the word about these new substances all throughout America. During the 1960’s and 70’s counterculture, LSD was the drug of choice and now is believed to have inspired a revolution in music, art, fashion, and politics. Millions of people saw the value of psychedelics despite their ban by the U.S. government. Throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s, the use of psychedelics continued to prevail even as the monumental era known for their use had passed and gone. Presently, psychedelics are becoming less restricted for research and their have been countless studies done to date that have suggested several benefits can found with the controversial drugs. One specific study held by scientists at John Hopkins University concluded that psilocybin can induce mystical experiences in people (Khamsi). Most recently, there is a study underway that is examining LSD and Psilocybin as possible cures for cluster headaches (LSD and Psilocybin). There are several varying beliefs about the proper use of psychedelics. Religions that use psychedelics for their healing qualities condemn their recreational use and maintain their spiritual qualities. On the other hand, pioneers of LSD such as Timothy Leary support recreational use of psychedelics with or without spiritual guidance.
There are several varying theories regarding the influence that psychedelics have had on mankind. The different theories range from the perspective that psychedelics were a necessary factor in the evolution of humans, to the more pessimistic view that deems psychedelics illicit substances aiding to help corrupt the youth of the present and past. However, an even larger group of people maintain that psychedelics carry many spiritual qualities and that the religious use of psychedelics as sacred sacraments should be fully respected. Richard Evans Schultes, previously referred to, became a biology professor who had a fascination with the medicinal value that plants can provide people (Synge). Schultes represents one believer in the religious use of psychedelics; he states his views by writing,
We know that the divinity residing in these special plants is chemical in nature, but the ethno botanist investigating the use of narcotics in primitive cultures must never lose sight of the native’s interpretation of his “magical” or “sacred” plants. To ignore or deprecate his views may doom the most meticulously planned scientific inquiry (Schultes 5).
Schultes was equally against the recreational use of hallucinogens because he knew that recreational users wouldn’t have a shaman to guide them through their experience (Peyote to LSD). According to Ralph Metzner, a PH.D who conducted the psilocybin project with Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert at Harvard University, the early accounts from the Spanish chroniclers indicated that Indians worshipped mushrooms specifically for the mushroom’s spiritual properties and their ability to provide new understandings (Metzner 1).
One Shamanic healer known with the title “curandera”, by the name of Marina Sabina, expresses her love for psilocybin mushrooms in a book titled Maria Sabina—Her Life and Chants. She first ingested the mushrooms as a young child playing outside in the woods and claimed that in her vision she saw children who would work as her guidance. Once she grew older and she had become a widow, she dedicated her life to using the mushrooms to assist in healing people (Metzner 19). One personal account that Sabina describes includes her encounter in a vision with beings she calls “Principal Ones”. While having a vision in which she encountered these beings, she watched a book materialize and begin to grow. Soon after, she heard one of the principal ones say “Maria Sabina, this is the book of wisdom. It is the Book of Language. Everything that is written in it is for you. The Book is yours; take it so that you can work.’…” In her autobiography she writes about her belief in the wisdom that the mushrooms contain and the “great power of the children” that she encounters in her visions (Metzner 20-21).
Others often take a less religious approach than Sabina and interest themselves in psychedelics for their potential to encourage spiritual experiences outside of a religious setting, their ability to heighten creativity, and for their therapeutic uses. One study done by an M.D. named Oscar Janiger, which began in 1954, examined various scientific questions about how LSD affected his subjects. Several people who knew of the study were solely interested in learning about the workings of the mind based on the studies results (Dobkin 6). Janiger discovered amazing outcomes from his administering of LSD to patients. One single case involved a man who was employed as a firefighter and was described by his coworkers as an introvert. After a year of the occasional controlled use of LSD, he surprisingly transformed into an outgoing person (22). This firefighter is just representative of the many experiences and results that were produced from this study. Using the Ludwig model, created by psychologist Arnold Ludwig in the year 1969, the Janiger study was further analyzed identifying common elements were from a large selection of personal accounts. The ten general characteristics highlighted by Marlene Dobkin de Rio, a medical anthropologist who has studied hallucinogens and Oscar Janiger, the head of the study, were as follows:
1. Alterations in Thinking
2. Disturbed Time Sense
3. Loss of Control
4. Change in Emotional Expression
5. Changes in Perception of Body
6. Perceptual Distortions
7. Change in Life’s Meaning or Significance
8. Sense of the Ineffable
9. Feelings of Rejuvenation
10. Hypersuggestibility
(34-35)
Janiger continued to research more than 930 different patients over the years and recorded countless observations. He made an effort to categorize what he had observed and came to groundbreaking conclusions based on his data (1). One conclusion that he mad was that not only groups of indigenous people report spiritual experiences while under the influence of psychedelics. According to Huston Smith, a professor of religion and philosophy at Washington University in St. Louis and M.I.T., Among the 194 participants that participated in the study conducted by Oscar Janiger over a select period of time, 42 percent reported they “were left with a greater awareness of God, or a higher power, or ultimate reality” (Smith 21).
Shifting to the more extreme end of the psychedelic spectrum, It was suggested by the independent scholar-philosopher, Terence McKenna that psilocybe mushrooms, with their “perception-enhancing and consciousness-expanding properties”, may have assisted in the evolution of language and as a result the development of culture (Metzner 10). This is one philosophy that may be considered far-fetched amongst the different philosophies that speculate the role psychedelics have played with humans. There are several different views from both sides of the coin as to whether psychedelics are substances that have positive potential or if they are simply just dangerous drugs. A credible source who has been studying ethno botany for multiple decades is an M.D. graduate of Harvard by the name of Andrew Weil. In the documentary Peyote to LSD: A Psychedelic Odyssey, Weil displays his optimistic opinion of psychedelics, supporting that there are opportunities for people to experience things that they usually wouldn’t ordinarily (Peyote to LSD). Weil is an expert who believes that there are no bad drugs but instead, only bad uses of drugs. Less optimistic opinions also exist about psychedelic drugs. Some only choose to see the destructive potential they may have. On the United States Drug Enforcement Administration’s website it is apparent that an immediate bias is held against any and all illegal drugs including hallucinogenic ones. Their negative opinion is represented by this statement, “There is a considerable body of literature that links the use of the hallucinogenic substances to neuronal damage in animals, and recent data support that some hallucinogens are neurotoxic to humans”(Hallucinogens). In fact, most of the literature that exists pertaining to the use of hallucinogens has shown inconclusive results about whether hallucinogens cause physical damage. The use of psychedelics is looked at from a variety of perspectives. One underlying common truth that is consistent scrolling through the different outlooks on psychedelics, scholars and scientists are often the ones open to developing a greater understanding of what psychedelics are. It is usually authority figures and people with secret agendas who lobby against the consideration of these very mysterious substances.
Many different religious belief systems exist all across the world. Within each religious system there are various methods the members use to connect with their religious purpose. Whether their purpose is to connect to one of their differently named gods, some kind of spiritual entity, or any other sought after idea, each religion has designed specific ways of doing it. Some of the most common methods that people use to strengthen their connection to god or their spiritual roots are, church, baptism, sacraments, prayer, meditation, yoga, drumming, and chanting. There are also numerous religious sects that use psychedelic drugs as part of their spiritual or religious rituals. Although these groups of people who use psychedelics for a common purpose may lack certain elements that would allow them to fit the criteria of a religious definition, they are often seen as religions because they act in a similar manner. Of the religious organizations there are a several modern churches that have been formed to follow their own unique beliefs centered on psychedelics. There is even speculation that some of the mainstream religions, such as Christianity and Buddhism, used psychedelic drugs in ancient times. However, there are only a few remaining religions that have consistently upheld the use of psychedelics for hundreds and thousands of years. Of these few religions that exist, the two that are most reputed for their use of psychedelics in a sacred setting are, Shamanism and the Native American Church (NAC).
Many people of the world, especially people devoted to conventional mainstream religion, will view spiritual and religious users of psychedelics with a negative light. While it is possible for anyone to form a religion as a way to justify intoxication, the NAC and shamanistic tribes are two religions who use psychedelics in a strict sacred setting. In both of the two religions there are symbolic practices that must be performed and symbolic items that are used, in the ceremonies. For example, directly before the NAC’s ceremonial use of peyote they enclose themselves within sweat lodges for hours at a time. Sweat lodges are openings dug into the ground where hot coals are placed inside to bring the ground enclosure to very hot temperatures. Participants then enter the sweat lodges and remain inside until the tribe member, designated healer, determines their allowance to leave. The sweat lodges symbolically represent the entering of the mother’s womb and the reemergence as a rejuvenated soul. When it comes the time to use peyote they know they have prepared themselves for spiritual healing. In this sense they don’t ever view or use peyote as an illicit drug, but rather as a medicine. Requa Tolbert, a retired psychiatric nurse and author of the article Gender and Psychedelic Medicine discusses the time she began to note the difference between drugs and medicine. She believes drugs are what are used in recreationally and in combination with addictive behavior. In contrast she sees medicine as something that is used in a “controlled” setting with a “conscious evocation” and a “responsible undertaking”. In order to attribute this distinction more specifically to indigenous groups who use psychedelic medicine, she makes the point that medicine is the application of a “psychoactive substance” with a sacred intention (Tolbert 6).
Psychedelics are all too often grouped with other drugs that don’t contain near the potential benefits. In the past their have been multiple studies that have overwhelmingly shown that psychedelics are much more than just a recreational drug. Even though it obvious that the capacity of psychedelics in science, medicine, consciousness, and spiritual realization, is superior to that of other drugs, most drugs have played a beneficial role at one time in the world’s history. As M.D. Andrew Weil said in his speech at a psychedelic and spirituality conference in Santa Barbara, CA in 1983, “There are no good or bad drugs, drugs are what we make of them, there are good and bad uses (Weil).” Using psychedelics for the means of getting in touch with ones spirituality, in my opinion, would be classified as a good use in the right situation and setting. The only difference between using psychedelics and meditating with the aspiration reach an inner spiritual state, is that a person is using a substance to invoke the experience. I conducted an informal survey with my classmates in my WR-123 class which consisted of three questions. The following were the questions included in the survey:
1) Describe the closest thing you’ve felt to a spiritual experience
2) Write about an abstract thought or realization you have had about life or the world around you. (e.g. How the color blue that I see may be what you describe as green from your perspective and have known as green your whole life)
3) What activity, thought, action, or event, has made you feel the most euphoric feeling that you have felt?
I received many unique responses on the three different questions. Thirteen of the sixteen responses I received as answers to the first question had to do with an experience the respondent had in church, with Jesus, or a feeling of god’s presence. One specific response I received was from my classmate Latisha Burley saying,
“Well, that’s kind of hard for me to answer… I am a Christian and I believe the Bible. In church I have had many experiences that have changed my life.”
It stood out to me that these spiritual experiences she had in the past were strong enough to have changed her life. Going on to the second question most of the answers were very creative and were descriptions of thoughts the respondents had in an “out of the box” moment. These thoughts and realizations that I have observed from the respondents are similar to thoughts that many have described while using psychedelics. One pretty interesting concept as an answer to question #2 was from another classmate Mike Barry who stated
“What is right and wrong is something that seems to be part of every human being. There seems to be something built in all of us to have this perception… along with that all people of all cultures seem to be seeking a higher power… It as we were born/created with this as a purpose for our lives. Think of it… animals don’t do this… there is no evolutionary advantage to the belief in a higher power….”
In this moment he discovered something that made an impact on him and only him, because it was the first time he himself had consciously realized a new way of thinking about right and wrong. Lastly, question three was also very interesting because only two respondents connected their euphoria to the spiritual experience they had described in question #1, the majority of respondents remembered experiences that left them with a euphoric feeling while participating in a activity. The significant value that has come from reviewing the answers to this survey is how, the spiritual experiences described were usually characteristic of a transformation in ones life, while the euphoric experiences were rushes or highs from an activity. From this connection I think of how psychedelics provide unique experiences compared to most other drugs. For example cocaine may give it’s users a temporary lift, but psychedelics more often than not, lead to more personal and insightful thoughts and feelings. People often realize the feeling of a spirit in their lives or if they are religious may feel how connected their true connection to god or Jesus Christ. The reason psychedelics have the potential to fit the role of causing a strong sense of spiritual connection is beyond the brains releasing of chemicals. It is how they have the ability to transform a person’s thought process that can leave them with lasting positive results.
The 1960’s can be defined with a nearly endless amount of descriptions. Some of these descriptions are commonly related to the major historical world events, the unique and creative music, the counterculture movement, and the surfacing of consciousnesses expanding substances now commonly known as psychedelics. No matter how one defines the 60’s it was a very unique time within the 20th century and even all of history. By the time the 1970’s had come around things had changed as with every decade there has been some extraordinary change. In the 60’s most substances that were known to cause hallucinations had become illegal within the United States (Stafford 58). This brought curiosity to people’s minds all across the world about the basis for the government placing many of these hallucinogens in a higher restricted category than that of cocaine, opium and methamphetamines. Out of this curiosity came several theories as to what hallucinogens were and why they had been dismissed with such little research that would justify there for being illegalized. One man named Terrence McKenna, an independent scholar and philosopher who mainly focuses on writing psychedelic literature, was one who promoted the exploration of psychedelics. After publishing several books starting in 1975, he published a book in 1992 named Food of the Gods which outlined a completely profound theory about the role of psychedelics in the evolution of humans. He bases his theory on several beliefs that he has about society today and how it has developed to its current form. His theory in Food of the Gods supports the legalization of what our society classifies as drugs (McKenna 268). McKenna justifies legalization because he believes that it goes against our human rights to ban us from our natural connection with certain substances. However, he believes that substances, besides psychoactive plants that are hallucinogenic, fall into the category of addictions or obsessions that people in society have developed (270). His theory revolves around psychoactive plants, also known as psychedelics, playing a key role in the evolution of human consciousness. The theory is very complex but can be mainly summarized with his evolution-based belief that humans evolved from primates. The main thing that holds the theory of evolution from being validated in the mind of many is the lack of a transitional species between primate and early humans (24). To fill this void McKenna believes that through the ingestion of psychedelic plants, specifically psilocybin mushrooms, humans became the complex beings that they currently are. He believes that the tripling brain size within the three million year void that supposedly occurred between primate and human was a result of the restructuring of the brain due to the ingestion of psychoactive plants. Some of the characteristics that he claims to stem from psilocybin mushroom use are language, imagination, consciousness, religion, hope, and many other human traits (22). The proposal based on his theory is that if we are to continue growing and evolving as a species then we must harness the mind-opening properties of hallucinogenic plants as our ancestors did.
Psychedelics are used for their fascinating mind-altering and potentially spiritual properties. These traits of psychedelics have motivated the hippies of the 1960’s, past and present proponents of psychedelics, and religious users of psychedelics such as shamans within the religion shamanism, to use psychedelics. Shamans have a strong belief in a spiritual connection with nature that becomes apparent through the use of hallucinogenic plants. Native Americans, who are within the Native American Church, find this connection through their use of peyote. Several other religions have members who use hallucinogens for the purpose of communing with god and experiencing visions that the substances allow them to see. The western society, including the United States, often dismisses certain values that are held by indigenous cultures. Shamans are often seen as ignorant and are looked down upon because of their lack of money. Since they don’t share these key values that most mainstream cultures hold, their spiritual experience using psilocybin mushrooms is seen as no more than a confused interpretation of the drug’s intoxication (12). It is clear through my observation of people’s accounts using psilocybin mushrooms and the thoughts and experiences that the people account for that they cannot be coupled with other drugs. At some level whether physical, mental, or spiritual, it is widely agreed that psychedelics affect their users in ways that are similar to few other life experiences. There is still much work to done in examining how these substances fit within spiritual, religious, and evolutionary beliefs. It is possible that spiritual experiences are a product of activity in a certain part of the brain. If this is the case then it could also be seen that psychedelics have a way of directly influencing this part of the brain which is thought to cause spiritual experiences. It may be the case that through the ingestion of psychedelics people are exploiting the brain chemicals that allowed evolutionary advancement in early humans. Although, isn’t it possible to take a look beyond our own logical interpretations to suggest that another spiritual dimension or a higher power exists? It is obvious we have limited knowledge of psychedelics at this point in time. Therefore, it would be as valid to believe that these mysterious substances allow for access to spiritual dimensions, compared to the belief, which authority figures commonly hold, about psychedelics being nothing more than a physical drug-induced intoxication. Respect shouldn’t be sacrificed for any theories that contain support about psychedelics. At this point it should be considered that these altered states of consciousness open doors to a higher power or spiritual dimension, and similarly may open evolutionary doors.
A spiritual experience is obviously subjective to the person who is having it. Therefore, there are only a couple of ways that we would be able to determine if a person was having a spiritual experience. The similarities between what are described as spiritual experiences would arise from the descriptions of people who claimed to have connected with this spiritual phenomenon. To get a more accurate view of what comprises a spiritual experience one has to consider a collection of numerous accounts. To show a link between psychedelics and a spiritual mindset, we can look at the study of hundreds of subjects who have been observed. Of the several studies that administered different forms of the drug to their subjects, Huston Smith PH.D and author of the article “Do Drugs Have Religious Import?”, reports that “twenty four percent of 194 subjects” in the Oscar Janiger study and “thirty-two percent of the 74 subjects” in the Ditman and Hayman Study reported having what could be described as spiritual experiences. Additional relevant findings come from a Harvard project that analyzed “69 religious professionals” who took LSD. From this it was hypothesized that an estimated three fourths of subjects would have a religious experience if they previously had religious “sets” before hand (Do Drugs Have Religious Import?). A set is the state and background of a person’s mind which is one of the factors that are said to form the psychedelic experience. The contribution of set in determining the experience of a user of psychedelics will be identified more in-depth in a later section of this paper.
The next step in identifying whether psychedelics can help to initiate this experience incomprehensible to the human mind is to look at the criterion that has been used to compare drug induced and non-drug induced said spiritual experiences. Measuring the relationship between that of the induced and non-induced, PH.D Walter Pahnke well known for his psychedelic research with The Good Friday Experiment, published nine universal characteristics of the spiritual, or as he calls it, mystical experience. These characteristics were identified as:
- Unity (“Sense of cosmic oneness achieved through positive ego-transcendence”)
- Transcendence of time and space (“Beyond past, present, and future” and “beyond ordinary three-dimensional space in a realm of eternity or infinity”)
- Deeply felt positive mood (“joy, blessedness, peace and love to an overwhelming degree of intensity”)
- Sense of sacredness (“awe, humility, and reverence”)
- The noetic quality (“feeling of insight or illumination”)
- Paradoxicality (“logical contradictions” that make sense at time of experience)
- Alleged ineffability (Beyond effective communication)
- Transiency (“passes into an afterglow and remains as a memory”
- Persisting (“positive changes in attitudes and behavior”)
(Pahnke)
Through Pahnke’s work he outlines his universal outline that he has made between people who have reached a spiritual experience through psychedelics and ones who have reached it in a sober state. He used his model of characteristics when conducting The Good Friday Experiment in 1962 which observed and studied twenty protestant students in a religious setting who had no prior use of psychedelics. The end result of the study concluded the subject’s descriptions were nearly identical with the characteristics that Pahnke had outlined prior (Pahnke). Many who oppose the use of psychedelics to inspire spirituality may still contend that psychedelics are a misguided form of following a connection to god. But the Good Friday Experiment is first hand proof of an indistinguishable connection between the two states for reaching a spiritual experience. A good reason as to why the achievement of a spiritual state was so effective in this particular experiment is that the several students who participated, had a lengthy background within their religions and the study of religion.
This brings me to a very key point in that there are certain factors that determine whether a person will have a spiritual experience on psychedelics. These factors are most often recognized as ones “set”, “setting”, and the dosage of drug that they receive. A person’s set which was earlier referenced, is comprised of their personality, paradigm, ego level, emotional state, and many other factors. The setting is the external environment that the user of psychedelics is in. Setting is just as important as one’s set because the environment surrounding a person who is using psychedelics will literally directly influence their experience (Pahnke). M.D. Andrew Weil has said that a drug can only go so far and at a certain point it completely depends on the user of the drug as to what they will experience after they have taken a drug (Weil). The point here is that many people who enter the psychedelic experience with certain expectations and stiff beliefs may shape their experience based on those expectations and beliefs. For example, if an Atheist who believes that all drugs are useless intoxication reluctantly takes psychedelics, it is very likely that the person will interpret and shape their experience to be useless. On the other hand, consider a shaman who takes their sacred sacrament in a religious setting with the belief that they are going to heal themselves by means of accessing a spiritual world. Because they have developed knowledge regarding the proper dosage, their spiritual mindset, and the religious setting that they are in, they will actually use psychedelics as a tool rather than just an intoxicating drug.
It is possible that there is a perfectly good scientific explanation as to why psychedelics affect the brain in the way that they do. Their may be an underlying chemical within the brain that is responsible for all spiritual and religious experiences. Or, it may be that these drugs called psychedelics are only an artificial imposter of what could be interpreted as a highly meaningful event. With this argument of their strictly chemical influence it could be seen that psychedelics drugs cause nothing more than a short circuiting within the brain. From a Native American or Shaman who ritually use psychedelics for their spiritual rejuvenation however, there isn’t a doubt in their minds as to what they are receiving through the drugs which they call medicine. My perspective comes through a consideration of many of the perspectives that I have read regarding psychedelics. In my mind there is no doubt that psychedelics are very powerful and do have a great amount of potential in certain situations.
The most profound view of psychedelics that I have found originates from a highly respected and, said to be enlightened, guru in the East India by the name of Neem Karoli Baba. He was the guru/teacher of Ram Dass and helped Ram Dass to end his quest to find the meaning of LSD. Ram Dass met Neem Karoli after a long journey of inquiring about the meaning of LSD. Neem Karoli gave Ram Dass the answer to understand LSD. Neem Karoli requested that Ram Dass give him the rest of the LSD (which Neem Karoli called medicine), that was remaining within his backpack. After a very high dosage was given to Neem Karoli and several hours had past since he had taken it, Ram Dass observed no effect on the guru. In response to what LSD was and why it had no effect on him, Neem Karoli stated “it will allow you to come in and have the Darshan of Christ. You can only stay two hours. It would be better to become Christ than visit it, but your medicine won’t do that (Rebecca & David).” What I took this to mean is that LSD and other psychedelics are basically a sampling of higher consciousness but aren’t a way to make an established connection with Christ or God. Through this meaning I have found my view of whether psychedelics can inspire spiritual experiences. Yes they can, but it should be cautioned that for most people, with possibly the exception of few, psychedelics bring experiences and shouldn’t be depended on as a sole method of achieving a spiritual state.
Until we allow full permission for scientists and researchers to formally explore how psychedelics affect human consciousness and their ability to inspire spiritual experiences, it will be a rocky road to making conclusions about the drugs. Psychedelics need to be utilized for their therapeutic potential while remaining closely regulated. If they have the ability to sooth the suffering of cancer patients and people with psychological disorders, then what must hold us back from testing to understand their possibilities? Instead of the U.S. banning something we know next to nothing about, let us find a reason for whether it should be banned or not. At the same time it is a great priority to respect the uses of psychedelics for their use as medicine in indigenous religions. Science must never violate the sacred boundaries and spiritual knowledge that psychedelics are used for in religious context. Even though it may not appear so, our intellectual form of analysis of psychedelics may never match the spiritual knowledge that certain master shamans and spiritual healers hold.
Now I return to how my personal use of psilocybin mushrooms has impacted my life for the past, present and future. There are certain ways of looking at life and other people that I would have never understood without the use of mushrooms. Presently I know that psychedelics have played a role in my life’s path and that they have inspired me to pursue my purpose through other methods of spirituality. In the future I would like to learn how to use methods such as meditation and yoga. Because of my respect for the use of psychedelics in a structured ceremonial setting I am also considering participating in an Ayahuasca tour with two master shamans and a group of people on the Amazon this December. Despite my positive view of psychedelics in my life, I don’t condone their use in recreational settings. The reason being, I believe that using psychedelics recreationally can be dangerous with the risk of psychological trauma and possible death. My acquaintance that died after using LSD, had used the drug in an environment where he wasn’t able to receive professional help soon enough. He had a bad experience and had lost his ability to control himself. In turn he found the worst possible consequence of taking the risk of using psychedelics. This is was a very shocking and sad event that occurred and is rare but possible for anyone. After pondering his fate that he reached after using LSD, researching psychedelics was my way of searching for why a substance that can cause such insight would cause someone to die. Now I believe that when a world of such intensity beyond the human mind’s comprehension is encountered, it can take a turn for the best and equally a turn for the worst. His case can be representative to all of us as to the caution we must take if we decide to break the boundaries between our ego and the spiritual world.
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