Studies that have been done using research to better understand the human consciousness have added to the knowledge of sociology, anthropology, and religious studies as well as other disciplines. Walsh and Grob point out that
More than 1,000 clinical reports documented a wide array of psychological effects and therapeutic possibilities . . . findings included insight into the stubs of consciousness, the unconscious, and the relationship of different schools of psychology, motivation, self-actualization, spirituality, psychotherapy and adjunctive therapies. (1413)
Roger Walsh is a Professor of Psychiatry, Philosophy and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of California in Irvine. He and his collaborators have written many articles for academic journals and his essays are published in books. A lot of his research and many of his essays focus on the relationship between psychedelics and religion. Generally speaking meditation is linked to self-awareness, faith and spirituality which are all ingredients of religion. The impact of psychedelics in religious and spiritual meditation has been explored in this starting with prehistory and ending in contemporary times. The thesis is that the use of psychedelics in religious rituals has led to a better understanding of human consciousness and can do so again if the drugs are allowed to use in controlled research situations.
Dennis Sullivan, the author of Contemporary Justice Review, described what is meant by psychedelic drugs and his definition will be used in this paper “Psychedelic drugs (are) part of a larger class known as hallucinogens—I am referring specifically to lysergic acid (LSD), mescaline, psilocybin, LSA, Ayahuasca (yagé), MDMA (ecstasy), and marijuana among others” (237).
Walsh has been very interested in the transformative and transpersonal experiences in a person’s life. Here is an interesting way Walsh gives an overview concerning the linking of psychedelics and personal transformation.
If there is one thing that is clear about psychedelics it is that they can unleash an awesome variety of experiences. Some of the most powerful, as well as the most profound and transformative are also some of the most controversial: specifically transpersonal experiences in which the self-sense expands beyond (trans) the personal or personally to encompass wider aspects of humankind, life, the world and the universe. (Walsh 1998 62)
Fischer has described his research into hypnotic recall and flashback by first defining the two types of flashbacks (a) self-programmed which are experienced intra-individual and (b) pre-programmed which are experienced within the context of the environment of the individual experiencing the flashback. The ‘preprogrammed’ type of flashback experience may be preprogrammed in the collective consciousness of the human race. The individual therefore has tapped into the information that makes up the human narrative.
Walsh has also studied the historical argument between those who believe the experience of using psychedelic drugs parallels that of religious epiphanies and those who do not. An important factor is the embracing of a realization that an individual is a small part of a whole. The Father of Sociology, Émile Durkheim, introduced the concept of “collective consciousness” to the study of human behavior in 1893 when his book The Division of Labor was first published (39). The label has been used in other theories but when a person has life transformative experience when taking a psychedelic drug it is Durkheim’s meaning of collective consciousness that best fits. The translator of “The Division of Labor” (translated
During prehistory and ancient times psychedelic entheeogen plants were taken as part of important spiritual rituals. Different cultures had different rules about who could and who could not take the drugs. For example in some cultures it was only acceptable for the Shaman to use mind-enhancing drugs whereas in other cultures the drugs were used to mark some life event such as the end of puberty. Modern medicine started turning its back on the idea of using such drugs but now the idea psychedelic drugs for healing is becoming more acceptable; especially in the area of understanding consciousness and how the brain works. Walsh explains that psychoanalysts “are forging new psychoanalytic perspectives of religion and no longer see psychoanalysis and authentic spirituality as incompatible” (1998 64). Research on meditation has shown it to be successful in providing many benefits for the human body including positive biochemical, psychological and physiological impacts. Interestingly the effects of meditation and using psychedelic drugs have been shown to be similar. Both the use of the drugs and meditation can lead to mystical experiences that beneficially transform a person’s life leading to an enhanced feeling of well-being. (Walsh 1998 64)
Sullivan gives a peek into the conversation surrounding mystical experience whether from a religious or a secular perspective. He describes some of the correspondence between the Catholic Trappist monk, Thomas Merton and the futurist, Aldus Huxley on the value of drugs for reaching a spiritual transformation. Sullivan’s conclusions are very interesting because he writes the perspective of the criminal justice system. Sullivan is extremely thoughtful and serious about how his conclusions were reached. His brother at the age of 20 had died due to a problem with drugs so Sullivan does not advocate using drugs as a hobby of only for pleasure. In fact using psychedelic drugs can cause a person to have a nightmarish experience not a pleasurable one. He suggests that the value of this category of drugs is to help people understand “how we are related to every other part of the human community and natural world, psychotomimetic drugs is one way to get there” (Sullivan 242). Generally speaking he is suggesting the purpose is “to develop practices . . . (to enhance) the alleviation of human pain and suffering” (Sullivan 243). Sullivan is disappointed that there is no national debate on the use of psychedelic drugs for therapy, which is why he dedicated a special issue of the Contemporary Justice Review on the subject, Volume 10, Number 3). The most interesting comment from Sullivan was the person he felt best exemplified the use of drugs for a mind-enhancing use. He suggested that Allen Ginsberg was the best example of a person “who saw the value of in drugs and day by day, through his devotion to Buddhist practice, became a model of peace” (243).
Huston Smith was professor of philosophy at MIT before becoming the Thomas J. Watson Professor of Religion and Distinguished Adjunct Professor, Emeritus, at Syracuse University. In the past he held the position of visiting professor of religious studies in Berkely. He was born in Suzhou, China on May 31, 191. His parents were Methodist missionaries. He is a highly respected educator, holding twelve honorary degrees. He taught at MIT between the years of 1958 to 1973. At that time he participated in psychedelic drug experiments conducted at Harvard. One of Huston’s most important articles is titled “Do drugs have religious import?” In an interview in 2003 he described the range of religions that influenced his knowledge of psychedelic drugs (enthogens) and religious experiences. He shared that the one thing the great religions have in the world is their “exuberance” (Smith 124) He uses a phrase from one of the letters of Peter in the New Testament as an example “those things on which angels themselves long to gaze” (Smith 124). In other words, Peter and the others were aspiring to a vision that even angels long to see.
The range of religions using psychedelic drugs for mystical experiences or have spiritual experiences compared to drug initiated experiences include Buddhism, ancient Vedic tradition, ancient Greek Eleusinian mysteries, Mexican indigenous rituals and contemporary Native American tribal rituals. Smith, during the interview, discussed his attempt to reach a mystical experience by studying Zen in a Japanese monastery. Finally on New Year’s Day 1961 he experienced the transformation he had been trying to reach. He and his wife took psilocybin that Tim Leary shared with them because he had just had a spiritual experience taking the drug in the form of a mushroom in Cuernavaca, Mexico. One of the most striking emotions that Smith describes is that of ‘awe.’ He explained that awe is an emotion that has two diametrically opposing pieces – “fear and fascination” (127). He said that awe is “the distinctive religious emotion” due to these feelings that are usually thought of having opposite traits (Smith et al. 126). A very important observation he made during that interview was that “I am immensely grateful that I had the experience and several others which followed, I must have had half a dozen, including the Good Friday experiment . . . that were very powerful (Smith et al. 127). Then Smith explained that Alan Watts had drawn a very wise conclusion when he admonished people to “When you get the message hang up the phone.” (Smith et al., 127). Smith and Watts were saying that after one has the mystical experience and have reached the spiritual answer they had been searching for – then it is time to stop taking the psychedelic drugs.
Walter Pahnke who lived from 1931 to 1971 was a medical doctor, psychiatrist and minister. He studied at Harvard University and was interested in the effects of psychedelic drugs and the spiritual experience. He conducted a very interesting and famous psychedelic drug test in 1962. On Good Friday that year, twenty theological students participated in a double-blind experiment to study the effects of psychedelic drugs while experiencing a religious ceremony. Fifty percent of the students were given psilocybin, and the other 50 percent were given placebos. Paknke hypothesized that “a psychedelic drug might generate a mystical experience when consumed in a religious setting by a group of spiritually inclined subjects” (Smith et al. 139). In 1962 his hypothesis was proved correct. R. Doblin conducted a twenty five year follow-up which proved the depth of the spiritual experience at the Good Friday Service after eating psilocybin mushrooms. Ten of the twenty participants were found to have “had genuine and beneficial mystical experiences” (Smith et al. 139).
During the 1960s and 1970s researchers were able to experiment with psychedelic drugs learning about their benefits for therapeutic healing. Then the government said that psychedelic drugs were illegal and that type of experimentation became illegal. Smith (et al. 129) insists that “The experiences occasioned by entheogens, on the one hand, and those that occur au naturel or spontaneously, on the other, are very similar. Peter T. Furst, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the State University of New York (Albany) has explained that when anthropologists started looking at the use of psychedelic drug use in other countries they found that “Fully ninety percent of the world’s cultures have one or more institutionalized altered states of consciousness, and in traditional societies these are almost without exception sacred states” (147). Anthropologists have discovered that using psychedelics has shaped cultures over thousands of years in the areas of spirituality, myth and art. (Furst 147) Walsh adds that meditation and near-death experiences have similar impacts as do taking psychedelic drugs (in controlled environments). “The psychiatric manual DSM-IV (includes) a new category for religious or spiritual problems (and) refers to religiously based difficulties that do not reflect pathology” Walsh 1998 64).
The conclusion of this research is that psychedelics in religious rituals have been shown to give a better understanding of human consciousness to individuals. How or why this is experienced needs to be further researched.
References
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Corbin, Michelle. Tactics of legitimation in the psychedelic sciences: Lessons for feminist sociology of knowledge. American Behavioral Scientist, Oct. 2012, 56(10): 1413-1433.
Durkheim, Émile. The Division of Labor in our Society. Trans. Lewis A. Coser, New York: Free Press. 1997 (1893).
Durkheim, Émile. The Division of Labor in our Society. Trans. George Simpson, Eastford, CT: Martino Fine Books, 2012 (1893)
Fischer, R. Hypnotic recall and flashback: The remembrance of things present. Confined Psychia 1995, 19(3): 149-173
Furst, Peter T. “Culture and Consciousness.” Chapt. 8, Higher Wisdom: Eminent Elders Explore the Continuing Impact of Psychedelics (In SUNY Series in Transpersonal and Humanistic Psychology). Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.2005.
Smith, H., Jesse, R., Grob, C., Agar, A., Walsh, R. The Oral History of Psychedelics Research Project II: Do Drugs have religious import? A 40 year-retrospective. Psychology, 2003, 44(2): 120-140
Sullivan, Dennis. Editor’s Note. Contemporary Justice Review, September 2007, 10(3): 237-246, SocINDEX with Full Text. Web. 30 Nov. 2012.
Walsh, Roger, and Charles S. Grob. Early psychedelic investigators reflect on the psychological and social implications of their research. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, Oct 2006, 46(4): 432-448.
Walsh, Roger. New views of timeless experiences: contemporary research on the nature and significance of transpersonal experiences. The Heffter Review, 1998, 1: 62-62.
Walsh, Roger and Charles S. Grob. (Eds.) “Conclusion: What did these Elders learn, and what can we learn from them.” Chapt. 14 Higher Wisdom: Eminent Elders Explore the Continuing Impact of Psychedelics (In SUNY Series in Transpersonal and Humanistic Psychology). Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.2005.
Watts, Alan. Psychedelics and Religious Experience. n.p.; California Law Review, n.d. SocINDEX with full text. Web, 29 Nov. 2012.
