This article was downloaded by: [Moskow State Univ Bibliote]On: 14 November 2013, At: 09:06Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Journal of Psychoactive DrugsPublication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ujpd20

The Religious Experience: Its Production and InterpretationTimothy Leary a & Gunther M. Weil aa University Books , New Hyde Park , NYPublished online: 02 Aug 2012.

To cite this article: Timothy Leary & Gunther M. Weil (1968) The Religious Experience: Its Production and Interpretation, Journal ofPsychoactive Drugs, 1:2, 3-23, DOI: 10.1080/02791072.1968.10524515

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02791072.1968.10524515

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the Content) contained in thepublications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations orwarranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinionsand views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsedby Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified withprimary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings,demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectlyin connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematicreproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone isexpressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

=E PSYCHEDELIC READER Gunther M. vVeil, Editor University Books, New Hyde Park, N.Y. pp 191-213

THE RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE: ITS PRODUCTION AND INTERPRETATION

Timothy Leary

Three y e a r s ago on a sunny afternoon in t h e garden of a Cuernavaca Villa, I a t e s e v e n of the so -ca l l ed " s a c r e d mushrooms" which had been g iven t o m e by a s c i e n t i s t from the Universi ty of Mexico. During t h e next f ive hours , I w a s whir led through an expe r i ence which could b e desc r ibed in many ex t rava- gant metaphors but which w a s above a l l and without ques t ion t h e d e e p e s t re- l igious exper ience of my l i fe .

S ta tements about personal r eac t ions , however pas s iona te , a r e a lways re la t ive to the s p e a k e r ' s his tory and may have l i t t l e gene ra l s ign i f icance . Next come t h e ques t ions "Why? ' I and "So w h a t ? I'

There a re many predispos ing f ac to r s - i n t e l l ec tua l , emotional , sp i r i tua l , s o c i a l - which cause o n e person to b e ready for a dramatic mind-opening experi- ence and which l ead another to shr ink back from new l e v e l s of a w a r e n e s s . The discovery wha t t h e human brain p o s s e s s e s a n infinity of po ten t i a l i t i e s and c a n operate at unexpec ted space- t ime d imens ions left m e fee l ing exhi la ra ted , awed, and qu i t e convinced tha t I had awakened from a long onto logica l s l e e p .

A profound t ranscendent expe r i ence should l eave in its w a k e a changed man and a changed life. S ince my il lumination of August, 1960, I have devoted most of my ene rg ie s to try to unders tand t h e revelatory po ten t i a l i t i e s of t h e human nervous sys tem and to make t h e s e in s igh t s ava i l ab le t o o thers .

I have r epea ted t h i s b iochemica l and (to m e ) s ac ramen ta l r i tua l over f i f ty t imes personal ly , and a lmost every t ime, I have been awed by re l ig ious reve la- t ions as sha t te r ing as t h e f i r s t exper ience . During t h i s period I have been lucky enough to co l labora te in t h i s work wi th more than 50 s c i e n t i s t s and s c h o l a r s who joined our var ious r e s e a r c h pro jec ts . W e have arranged t r anscenden t expe r i ences for over o n e thousand pe r sons from a l l w a l k s of life, including 69 fu l l - t ime rel i - gious profess iona ls , about half of whom profess t h e Chr i s t i an or Jewish fa i th and about half of whom belong t o Eas te rn re l ig ions .

*Lecture de l ivered at a meet ing of Lutheran psycho log i s t s and o ther i n t e re s t ed professionals , sponsored by t h e Board of Theological Educat ion, Lutheran Church in America, i n conjunct ion with the 71s t Annual Convent ion of the American Psy- chological Association, Phi ladelphia , Bel levue Stratford Hotel , Aug. 30, 19 63.

3

Dow

nloa

ded

by [M

osko

w St

ate U

niv B

ibliot

e] at

09:06

14 N

ovem

ber 2

013

Included in t h i s ro s t e r a r e two co l l ege d e a n s , a divinity co l l ege presi- dent , th ree univers i ty chap la ins , an execu t ive of a re l igious foundation, a prominent re l igious edi tor , and s e v e r a l d i s t inguished re l ig ious phi losophers . In our r e sea rch files and in cer ta in denominational offices the re is building up a large and qui te remarkable co l lec t ion of reports which wi l l b e publ i shed when t h e pol i t ica l a tmosphere becomes more tolerant . A t t h i s point it is conserva t ive to state tha t over 75 per cen t of t h e s e s u b j e c t s report i n t e n s e mystico-religious r e s p o n s e s , and cons iderably mot-? than half c la im tha t they have had the deepes t sp i r i tua l expe r i ence of the i r l ife.

The in t e re s t genera ted by t h i s r e sea rch l e d to the formation of an informal group of minis te rs , theologians and re l ig ious psychologis t s who have been meet- ing o n c e a month (summers excepted) for over two y e a r s , wi th a n ave rage of 20 persons in a t tendance . In addi t ion t o arranging for sp i r i tua l ly or ien ted psyche- d e l i c s e s s i o n s and d i s c u s s i n g prepared papers , t h i s group provided t h e super- v i sory man-power for t h e dramatic "Good Friday" s tudy , and w a s t h e or iginal planning nuc leus of t h e organizat ion which a s sumed sponsor sh ip of our r e sea rch in consciousness-expansion: IF-IF (The Internat ional Federat ion for Internal Freedom). The generat ing impulse and tne or iginal leadersh ip of IFIF came from a seminar in re l ig ious exper ience , and th i s fact may b e r e l a t ed to t h e alarm which IFIF a roused in some secu-lar and psychia t r ic c i r c l e s .

THE "GOOD FRIDAY" STUDY, wh ich h a s been sensa t iona l i zed recent ly in t h e p r e s s as "The Mi rac l e of Marsh Chapel , I' d e s e r v e s further e laborat ion not only as a n example of a se r ious , control led experiment , involving over 30 courageous volunteers , but also as a sys t ema t i c demonstrat ion of the rel igious a s p e c t s of t h e psychede l i c revelatory exper ience . This s tudy w a s the Ph.D.- Disser ta t ion r e sea rch of a g radua te s tudent in t h e phi losophy of religion a t Harvard Universi ty , who is , inc identa l ly , both a n M. D. and a Bachelor of Divinity. This inves t iga tor set out to determine whether t he t ranscendent ex- per ience reported during psychede l i c s e s s i o n s w a s s imilar t o the myst ica l ex- per ience reported by s a i n t s and famous rel igious myst ics .

The sub.jects in t h i s s tudy were 2 0 divinity s tuden t s s e l e c t e d from a group of volunteers . The s u b j e c t s were divided into f ive groups of four persons, and e a c h group met before the s e s s i o n for or ien ta t ion and preparation. To e a c h group were a s s i g n e d two gu ides wi th cons iderable psychede l i c experience. The t e n gu ides were professors and advanced graduate s tuden t s from Boston-area co l l eges .

The experiment took p lace in a smal l , pr ivate chape l , beginning about o n e hour before noon on Good Friday. The Dean of t h e Chapel , who w a s t o conduct a three-hour devot ional s e rv i ce ups ta i r s in the main ha l l of the church, v i s i t e d t h e s u b j e c t s a few minutes before t h e s t a r t of t h e se rv ice a t noon, and g a v e a brief insp i ra t iona l ta lk .

Two of the s u b j e c t s i n e a c h group and o n e of the two gu ides were given a moderately stiff dosage (i.e., 30 mg) of ps i locybin , t h e chemica l syn thes i s of t h e active ingredient in t h e " s a c r e d mushroom" of Mexico. The remaining

4

Dow

nloa

ded

by [M

osko

w St

ate U

niv B

ibliot

e] at

09:06

14 N

ovem

ber 2

013

two sub jec t s and the second gu ide rece ived a p lacebo which produced not ice- ab le somat ic s i d e effects, but which w a s not psychedel ic . triple-blind: Nei ther t h e s u b j e c t s , g u i d e s , nor experimenter knew who rece ived psi locybin.

The s tudy w a s

1 Because t h e d i s se r t a t ion descr ib ing t h i s s tudy h a s not y e t been publ i shed , any de ta i led d i s c u s s i o n of the r e s u l t s would be premature and unfair to t h e inves- t igator. I c a n s a y , however, t ha t t he r e s u l t s c lear ly support t h e hypothes is tha t , wi th adequate preparation and in a n environment which is support ive and rel igious- ly meaningful, sub jec t s report mys t i ca l exper iences s ignif icant ly more than p lacebo controls .

Our s t u d i e s , na tu ra l i s t i c and experimental , thus demonstrate tha t if t h e expec ta t ion , preparat ion, and se t t ing a r e sp i r i tua l , a n in t ense mys t i ca l or revel- atory exper ience c a n b e expec ted in from 4 0 t o 90 per cen t of s u b j e c t s inges t ing psychedel ic drugs. These r e su l t s may be at t r ibuted to the b i a s of our r e sea rch group, which h a s taken the "far-out" and ra ther dangerous posi t ion tha t there a r e experient ia l -spir i tual a s we l l as s e c u l a r behavioral po ten t ia l i t i es of t h e nervous system. Whi le we sha re and follow the epis temology of sc i en t i f i c psychology (object ive records) , our b a s i c onto logica l assumpt ions a re c l o s e r to Jung than t h e Freud, c l o s e r to t h e mys t i c s than t o the theologians , c l o s e r to Eins te in a n d Bohr than t o Newton. In order t o check on th i s b i a s , let u s cast a comparat ive g l a n c e a t the work of o ther r e sea rch groups in t h i s f ie ld who begin from more convent iona l ontological b a s e s .

O s c a r Janiger, a psychia t r i s t , and Wil l iam McGlothl in , a psychologis t , have reported the reac t ions of 194 psychede l i c s u b j e c t s . took LSD a s part of a psychotherapy program, and 1 2 1 were volunteers . The re- l igious "set" would not b e expec ted to dominate t h e expec ta t ions of t h e s e s u b - jec t s . - del ic Review,

Seventy-three of t h e s e

The r e su l t s , which a re abs t r ac t ed from a paper publ i shed in - Psyche- a r e as fo l lows;

ITEM

Inc reased in t e re s t i n morals , e th i c s . . . . : Inc reased in t e re s t i n other un iversa l concep t s

Change i n s e n s e of va lues LSD should b e used for becoming aware

(meaning of life):

of oneself : get t ing new meaning to life: ge t t ing people t o understand e a c h other:

An exper ience of las t ing benefit :

PER CENT

(non-re l ig iou s s et t ing) Janiger-McGlothlin

N = 194 35

48 48

75 58 42 58

Two other s t u d i e s , o n e by Ditman et a l . , another by Savage et a l . , u s e d the same quest ionnaire , a l lowing for inter-experiment comparison. Both Ditman

5

Dow

nloa

ded

by [M

osko

w St

ate U

niv B

ibliot

e] at

09:06

14 N

ovem

ber 2

013

and Savage are psychiatrists, but the cl inical environment of the la t ter ' s study is definitely more religious (subjects are shown religious articles during the sess ion , etc.) . Summarizing the religious items of their questionnaires:

ITEM PER CENT Savage

(supportive env ir o nm en t &

(supportive) some religious environment) s t i m uli)

N = 74 N = 9 6

Ditman

Feel it (LSD) was t h e greatest

A religious experience. . . : A greater awareness of God or a

Higher Power, or an Ultimate reality: 40

thing that ever happened to me: 49 32

85 83

9 0

Here, then, w'e have five scientific s tudies by qualified investigators -- and the triple-blind study in the Harvard dissertation

the four naturalist ic s tudies by Leaxy et a l . , and Janiger-McGlothlin, mentioned earlier--yielding data which indicate that (1) if the sett ing is suppor- t ive but not spiri tual , between 40 to 75 per cent of psychedelic subjects wil l report intense and life-changing religious experiences: and that (2) if the set and sett ing a re supportive and spiritual, then from 40 to 90 per cent of the experiences wil l be revelatory and mystico-religious.

Savage et a l . , Ditman e t al., 5

I t is hard to see how these resul ts can be disregarded by those who are concerned with spiri tual growth and religious development. These data are even more interesting because the experiments took place during an historical era when mysticism, individual religious ecs tasy (as opposkd to religious behavior), was highly suspect , and when the c l a s s i c , direct, non-verbal means of revela- tion and consciousness-expansion such a s meditation, yoga, fasting, monastic withdrawal and sacramental foods and drugs were surrounded by an aura of fear, clandestine secrecy, act ive soc ia l sanction, and even imprisonment. The 69 professional workers in religious vocations who partook of psychedelic substances (noted earlier), were responsible, respected, thoughtful, and moral individuals who were grimly aware of the controversial nature of the procedure and aware that their reputations and their jobs might be undermined (and, as a matter of fact , have been and are today being threatened for some of them). Sti l l the results read: 75% spiri tual revelation. It may wel l be that the most intense religious experience, l ike the finest m e t a l , requires fire, the heat of external bureau- cratic opposition, t o produce the keenest edge. When the day comes--as it surely will--that sacramental biochemicals like LSD will be as routinely and tamely used as organ music and incense to a s s i s t in the attainment of religious experience, i t may wel l be that t h e ego-shattering effect of the drug wil l be diminished. Such may be one aspec t of the paradoxical nature of religious ex- perience.

* * * *

6

Dow

nloa

ded

by [M

osko

w St

ate U

niv B

ibliot

e] at

09:06

14 N

ovem

ber 2

013

THE RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. You are undoubtedly wondering about the meaning of this phrase which has been used so freely in the preceding paragraphs. May I offer a definition?

The religious experience is the ecs ta t ic , incontrovertibly certain, subjec- tive discovery of answers to four bas ic spiritual questions. There can be, of course, absolute subjective certainty i n regard to secular questions: "Is this the girl I love? ball t eam?" secular games, and such convictions and fai ths , however deeply held, can be distinguished from the religious, Liturgical practices, r i tuals, dogmas, theo- logical speculations, can be and too often are secular, i. e . , completely divorced from the spiritual experience.

I s Fidel Castro a wicked man? Are the Yankees the best base- But issues which do not involve the four bas ic questions belong to

What are these four b a s i c spiri tual quest ions? There is the Ultimate- Power question, the Life question, the Human-Destiny question, and the Ego question.

1.

2 .

3 .

4 .

THE ULTIMATE-POWER QUESTION:

What is the Ultimate Power of Basic Energy which moves the universe, creates l ife? What is the Cosmic Plan?

THE LIFE OUESTION:

What is life, where did i t s tar t , where is i t going?

THE HUMAN-DESTINY QUESTION:

What is man, whence did he come, and where is he going?

THE EGO QUESTION:

What a m I ? What is my place in the plan?

While one may disagree with the wording, I think most thoughtful people- nhilosophers or not- can agree on something l ike this l is t of bas ic i s sues . Do not speak of the great religous statements-Eastern or monotheistic-speak directly to these four questions.

Now one important fact about these questions is that they a re continually being answered and re-answered, not only by a l l the religions of the world but a l so by the data of the natural s c i ences , Read these questions again from the standpoint of the goals of (1) astronomy-physics, (2) biochemistry, (3) genet ics , paleontology, and evolutiorlary theory, (4) neurology.

We are all aware of the unhappy fact that both science and religion are too often diverted towards secular game goals . Various pressures demand that laboratory and church forget these basic questions and instead provide distrac- t ions, illusory protection, narcotic comfort, Most of us dread confrontation with

7

Dow

nloa

ded

by [M

osko

w St

ate U

niv B

ibliot

e] at

09:06

14 N

ovem

ber 2

013

the answers to these bas ic questions, whether t hese answers come from science or religion. But i f "pure" sc ience and religion address themselves to the same bas ic questions, what is the distinction between the two discipl ines? Science is the systematic attempt to record and measure the energy process and t h e sequence of energy transformations w e ca l l life. The goal is to answer the bas ic questions in terms of objective, observed, public data. a t ic attempt to provide answers to the same questions subjectively, in terms of direct, incontrovertible, personal experience.

Religion is the system-

Science is a social system which evolves roles , rules, r i tuals, values, language, space-time locations to further the quest for t hese goals-these answers. Religion is a social system which has evolved i t s roles , rules, r i tuals, values, language, space-time locations to further the pursuit of the same goals-the rev- elatory experience. A science which fails t o address itself to these spiritual goals , which accepts other purposes (however popular) becomes secular, politi- cal, and tends to oppose new data. Religion which fails t o provide direct ex- perie,itial answers to these spiritual questions become secular, political, and tends to oppose the individual revelatory confrontation. R. C. Zaehner,8 whose formalism is not always matched by his tolerance, has remarked that "experience, when divorced from revelation, often leads to absurd and wholly irrational ex- cesses. I t Like any statement of polarity the opposite is equally true: revela- tion, when divorced from experience, often leads to absurd and wholly rational excesses . Those of u s who have been researching the area of consciousness have been able to collect considerable sociological data about the tendency of the rational mind to spin out i t s own interpretations. But I sha l l have more to say about the polit ical si tuation in a later section of th i s paper.

At th is point I should like to present my main thesis . I am going to ad- vance the hypothesis that those aspec ts of the psychedelic experience which subjects report t o be ineffable and ecstat ical ly religious involve a direct aware- ness of the processes which physicists and biochemists and neurologists measure .

We are treading here on very tricky ground. When we read the reports of LSD subjects , we are doubly limited. First, they can only speak in the vocab- ulary they know, and for the most part they do not possess the lexicon and train- ing of energy scient is ts . Second, w e researchers only find what we are prepared to look for, and too often w e think in crude psychological-jargon concepts: moods, emotions, value judgments, diagnostic categories.

In recent months w e have re-examined our data and have begun to interview subjects from the perspective of this present hypothesis. The results are interest- ing. To spe l l them out in brief detail I am going to review some of the current scientific answers to these four bas ic questions and then compare them with re- ports from psychedelic subjects.

8

Dow

nloa

ded

by [M

osko

w St

ate U

niv B

ibliot

e] at

09:06

14 N

ovem

ber 2

013

THE ULTIMATE- POWER QUESTION :

A. The scientific answers to this question change constantly-New- tonian laws, quantum indeterminacy, atomic structure, nuclear structure. Today the basic energy is located within the nucleus. Inside the atom,

a transparent sphere of emptiness, thinly populated with electrons, the substance of t h e atom has shrunk to a core of unbelievable small- ness: enlarged 1000 million times, an atom would be about the s i z e of a football, but its nucleus would s t i l l be hardly visible-a mere speck of dust a t t h e center. Y e t that nucleus radiates a powerful electric field which holds and controls the electrons around it.9

Incredible power and complexity operating a t speeds and spat ia l dimen- sions which our conceptual minds cannot register. Infinitely small, yet pulsa- ting outward through enormous networks of electrical forces-atom, molecule, cell , planet, star: a l l forms dancing to the nuclear tune.

The cosmic design is this network of energy whirling through space- time. More than 15 ,000 million years ago the oldest known s ta rs began to form. Whirling disks of gas molecules (driven of course by that tiny, spinning, nuclear force)-condensing clouds-further condensations-the tangled web of spinning magnetic fields clustering into s te l lar forms, and each s te l lar cluster hooked up in a magnetic dance with i t s planetary cluster and with every other s ta r in the galaxy and each galaxy whirling in synchronized relationship t o the other galaxies.

One thousand million galaxies . From 100 million to 100 ,000 million s tars in a galaxy-that is to say , 100 ,000 million planetary systems per galaxy and each planetary system slowly wheeling through the s te l lar cycle that allows for a brief time the possibility of life a s we know it.

Five thousand million years ago, a slow-spinning dward s ta r w e ca l l the sun is the center of a field of swirling planetary material . The planet earth is created, In five thousand million years the sun ' s supply of hydrogen will be burned up, the planets will be engulfed by a final solar explosion. Then the ashen remnants of our planetary system will spin si lently through the dark in- finity of space. And then is the dance over? Hardly. Our tiny solar light, which is one of one hundred thousand million suns in our galaxy, will scarcely be missed. And our galaxyJs one of a thousand million galaxies spinning out and up a t rates which exceed'the speed of light-each galaxy eventually burning up, to be replaced by new galaxies to preserve the dance equilibrium.

Here in the always changing data of nuclear physics and astronomy is the current scientific answer to the first bas ic question-material enough indeed for an awesome cosmology.

B. Psychedelic reports often contain phrases which seem to describe similar phenomena, subjectively experienced.

9

Dow

nloa

ded

by [M

osko

w St

ate U

niv B

ibliot

e] at

09:06

14 N

ovem

ber 2

013

I passed in and out of a s t a t e several times where I was so relaxed that I felt open to a total flow, over and around and through my body (more than my body). . . .Al l objects were dripping, streaming, with white-hot light or electricity which flowed in the air. It was a s though we were watching the world, just having come into being, cool off, i t s substance and form still molten and barely beginning to harden. '

Body being destroyed af ter it became so heavy as to be unbearable. Mind wandering, ambulating throughout an ecstatically-li t indescribable land- scape. How can there be so much light-layers and layers of light, light upon light, all is illumination.

I became more and more conscious of vibrations-of the vibrations in my body, the harp-strings giving forth their individual tones . Gradually I fe l t myself becoming one with the cosmic Vibration.. . . in th i s dimension there were no forms, no dei t ies or personalities-just bl iss .

The dominant impression was that of entering into the very marrow of existence. . . . It was a s if each of the billion atoms of experience which under normal circumstances are summarized and averaged into crude, indiscriminate wholesale impressions was now being seen and savored for itself, The other c lear s e n s e was that of cosmic relativity. Perhaps all experience never ge ts summarized in any inclusive over-view. Per- haps a l l there is, is this everlasting congeries of an infinite number of discrete points of view, each summarizing the whole from its perspective.

I could see the whole history and evolution along which man has come. I was moving into the future and saw the old cycle of peace and war, good times and bad times, starting to repeat, and I said, "The same old thing again, Oh God! It has changed though, i t is different," and I thought of the r i s e of man from animal t o spiri tual being. But I was still moving into the future and I saw the whole planet destroyed and all history, evolution, and human efforts being wiped out in this one ultimate destructive act of God.

Subjects speak of participating in and merging with pure ( i D e., content- energy, white light; of witnessing the breakdown of macroscopic objects into

vibratory patterns, visual nets , the col lapse of external structure into wave pat- terns , the awareness that everything is a dance of particles, sensing the small- nes s and fragility of our system, visions of the void, of world-ending explosions, of the cyclical nature of creation and dissolution, etc. Now I need not apologize for the flimsy inadequacy of t hese words. We just don't have a better experiential vocabulary. If God were to permit you a brief voyage into the Divine Process, let you whirl for a second into the atomic nucleus or spin you out on a light-year tr ip through the galaxies , how on earth would you describe what you saw, when you got back, .breathless , to your office? This metaphor may sound far-fetched and irrelevant, but just a sk someone who has taken LSD in a supportive setting.

10

Dow

nloa

ded

by [M

osko

w St

ate U

niv B

ibliot

e] at

09:06

14 N

ovem

ber 2

013

(2) THE LIFE QUESTION:

A. The Scientific Answer:

Our planetary system began over five billion years ago and h a s around five billion years to go. Life a s w e know it dates back to about one billion years . In other words, the earth spun for about 80 per cent of its ex- is tence without life. The crust slowly cooled and was eroded by incessant water flow. "Fertile mineral mud was deposited. . . now giving.. .for the first t i m e . . . the possibility of harboring life. I' Thunderbolts in the mud produce amino acids , the bas ic building blocks of life. Then life begins the ceaseless production of protein molecules, incalculable in number, forever combining into new forms. The variety of proteins "exceeds all the drops of water in all the oceans of the world". Then protoplasm. Cel l , Within the cell, incredible beauty and order.

When we consider the teeming activity of a modern city it is difficult to realize that in the cells of our bodies infinitely more complicated processes are a t work-ceaseless manufacture, acquisit ion of food, storage, communication and administration. . A l l th is takes place in superb harmony, with t h e cooperation of all the participants of a living system, regulated down to the smallest detai l , 9

Life is the striving cycle , of repetitious reproductive energy trans- formations. Moving, twisting, devouring, changing, the unit of life is the cell. And the blueprint is the genet ic code, the two nucleic acids- The long, intertwined, duplicating chains of DNA and the controlling regulation of RNA- "which determine the structure of the living substance".

And where is it going? Exactly like the old Hindu myths of cyclical rotation, the astrophysicists tell us that life is a temporary sequence which occurs a t a brief midpoint in the planetary cycle. Terrestrial life began around four billion years A.B. ("after the beginning" of our solar cycle) and will run for another two billion years or so. A t that time the solar furnace will burn so hot that the minor planets (including Earth) will boil, bubble and burn out. In other planetary systems the t i m e spans are different, but the cycle is probably the same.

There comes an intermediate s tage in the temperature history of a planet which can nourish living forms, and then life merges into the final unifying fire. Data here, indeed, for an awesome cosmology.

B. The psychedelic correlates of these biological concepts sounds like this: confrontation with and participation in cellular flow; vis ions of mi- croscopic processes; strange, undulating, multi-colored, t i s sue patterns; being a one-celled organism floating down arterial waterways; being part of the fantast ic artistry of internal factories; recoiling with fear a t the incessant push, struggle, drive of the biological machinery, clicking, clicking, endlessly, endlessly-at every moment engulfing you. For example:

11

Dow

nloa

ded

by [M

osko

w St

ate U

niv B

ibliot

e] at

09:06

14 N

ovem

ber 2

013

(a) My eyes closed, the impressions became more intense. The colors were brilliant blues, purples, and greens with dashes of red and s t reaks of yellow-orange. There were no easi ly identifiable objects, only convolu- t ions, prisms, and continuous movement.

(b) My heart a lizard twitching lithely in my pocket, awaiting the wave again, my f lesh sweating a s i t crawled over my bones, the mountains curved around my heart, the surf crashing against my mucoused lungs, coughing into heart beats , pulsing death to scare m e . Futile body. Awaiting the undertow escaping under the wave which crashed so coughingly over my heart, blue lighted into YES. An undertow going UP.. . . .The universe has an axis which is not perpendicular, and around it flock the living colors, pulsing eternal involutions.

(c) I then gradually became aware of movement, a rocking type of movement, l ike on a roller-coaster, yet I did not move my body a t al l . , . .With an overwhelming acceleration I was turning around and around, swirling, then shuttling back and forth, like a piece of potassium on water, hiss ing, sparkling, full of life and fire.

(3) THE HUMAN-DESTINY QUESTION:

A. The Scientific Answer:

The flame of life which moves every living form, including the cell cluster you can yourself, began, w e a re told, as a tiny single-celled,spat-k in the lower pre-Cambrian mud; then passed over in steady transformations to more complex forms. W e like to speak of higher forms, but l e t s not ignore or patronize the single-cell game. I t s s t i l l quite thriving, thank you. Next, your ancestral fire glowed in seaweed, a lgae, f lagel la te , sponge, coral (about one billion years ago); then f ish, fern, scorpion, milliped (about 600 million years ago). Every ce l l in your body t races back (about 450 million yea r s ago) t o the same light-life flicker- ing in amphibian (and what a fateful and questionable decision to leave the sea- should we have done i t?)-until , one million years ago, comes t h e aureole glory of A Australopithecus . *

The torch of life next pas ses on to the hand-axe culture (around 600,000 years ago) t o Pithecanthropus (can you remember watching for the change of Southern elephants and the sabre-tooth t iger?) ; then blazing brightly in the ra- diance of our great-grandfather Neanderthal man (a mere 70,000 years ago), sud- denly flaring up in that cerebral explosion that doubled the cortex of our grand- father Cromagnon man (44 ,000 to 109,000 years ago), and then radiating into the

*The fos s i l s of the newly discovered Homo Habil is from East Africa are estim- ated to be 1,750,000 years old. (N.Y. T i m e s , March 18, April 3 & 4, 1964. Another estimate t races human origins back about 1 5 million years: -N.Y. T i m e s , April 12, 1964.)

12

Dow

nloa

ded

by [M

osko

w St

ate U

niv B

ibliot

e] at

09:06

14 N

ovem

ber 2

013

full flame of recent man, our older Stone Age, Neolithic brothers, our Bronze and Iron Age selves .

What next? The race, far from being culminated, has just begun:

The development of Re-hominines Australopithecus.. . to the f i rs t emergence of the . . .Cromagnons las ted about . . . fifteen thousand human life-spans, . . .In this relatively short period in world history the hominid type submitted to a positively hurricane change of form: indeed he may be looked upon as one of the animal groups whose potentialities of unfolding with the greatest intensity have been realized. It must, however, by no means be expected that this natural flood of development will dry up with Homo sapiens recens. man a s we know him now, a modern sapiens type, He will in the courses of the next hundreds of millennia presumably change considerably physio-

Man will be unable to remain

logically and physically. 10

B. The psychedelic Correlate:

What does all tha t evolutionary business have to do with you or m e or LSD or the religious experience? It might, it just might, have a lot to do with very current events. Many, and I am just bold enough to say most, LSD sub- jects say they experience early forms of racial or sub-human spec ies evolution during their sess ions . Now the easiest interpretation is the psychiatric: "Oh yes , hallucinations. Everyone knows that LSD m a k e s you crazy, and your de- lusions can take any psychotic form." But wait; not so fast . I s it entirely inconceivable that our cortical cells, or the machinery inside the cellular nu- cleus, "remembers I' back along the unbroken chain of electrical transformations that connects every one of us back to that original thunderbolt in t he pre- Cambrian mud? Impossible, you say? Read a genet ics text. Read and re- f lect about t h e DNA chain of complex protein molecuJes that took you a s a uni-celled organism a t the moment of your conception and planned every s tage of your natural development. Half of that genetic blueprint was handed to you intact by your mother, and half from your father, and then slammed together in that incredible welding process w e call conception.

YOU", your ego, your good-old American-social-self, have been trained to remember certain crucial secular game landmarks: your senior prom, your wedding day, But is it not possible that others of your ten billion brain ce l l s "remember" other cri t ical survival crossroads l ike conception, intrauterine events, birth? terms? traces back through millions of generation-transformations . Remember that genetic code?

Events for which our language has few or no descriptive Every cell in your body is the current-carrier of an energy torch which

You must recognize by now the difficulty of my task. I am trying to expand your consciousness , break through yourmacros pocic, secular set, "turn you on", give you a faint feeling of a psychedelic moment, trying to

3

Dow

nloa

ded

by [M

osko

w St

ate U

niv B

ibliot

e] at

09:06

14 N

ovem

ber 2

013

relate two s e t s of processes for which w e have no words - speed-of-light energy-transformation processes and the transcendent vision.

I ' m going to call for help. I could appeal to quotes from Gamow the cosmologist, or Eiseley the anthropologist, or Hoyle the astronomer, or Teilhard du Chardin the theological biologist, or Aldous Huxley the great visionary prqphet of our times, or Julian Huxley whose pharmacological pre- dictions sound like science-fiction. I could ca l l upon a hundred articulate sc ien t i s t s who talk in dazed poetry about the spiritual implications of their work. Instead, I am going to read a passage by the German anthropologist Egon Freiherr von Eickstedt. The topic is the spiritual att i tude of Australopithecus. of a tiny monkey-man who lived a million years ago could be a quote from any one of a hundred LSD reports I 've read in the last three years . Von Eickstedt 's research leads him to say that,

The point is that th i s description of the world-view

In the way of experience there is dominant, throughout, a kaleido- scopic interrelated world, Feeling and perception are hardly separ- a ted in the world of visions; space and time are just floating environ- mental quali t ies. . .Thus the border between I and not-I is only a t the border of one ' s own and actually experienced, perceptible world.. . But this by no means denotes merely best ia l brutality and coarseness which is so erroneously and often ascribed to the beginnings of hu- manity. Quite the reverse. The thymality within his own circle means j u s t the opposite, tenderness, goodness and cheerfulness, and allows with complete justification the presumption of a picture of intimate family life and the specif ic teaching of the children, a l so need of ornament, dance and much happiness. Thus the extremes of feeling swing with the mood between fear and love, and the dread of the un- knowable.. . 11

We have in our f i les an LSD report from a world-renowned theologian with astonishing parallels t o th i s quotation.

Th,e bes t way I can describe the experience as a whole is to liken i t to an emotional-reflective-visual kaleidoscope. . , Experiences in- volving these three components kept dissolving continuously from one pattern into another, Emotionally the patterns ranged from serene contentment and mild euphoria to apprehension which boarded on, but never quite sl ipped into, alarm, But overwhelmingly they involved (a) astonishment at the absolutely incredible immensity, complexity, in- tensi ty , and extravagance of being, exis tence, the cosmos, ca l l i t what you will. Ontological shock, 'I suppose. (b) The most acute s e n s e of the poignancy, fragility, preciousness, and significance of a l l life and history. The latter was accompanied by a powerful s e n s e of the responsibility of a l l for a l l . . . Intense affection for my family.. . .Importance and rightness of behaving decently and respons- ibly.

14

Dow

nloa

ded

by [M

osko

w St

ate U

niv B

ibliot

e] at

09:06

14 N

ovem

ber 2

013

(4) THE EGO QUESTION:

A. The Sc ien t i f ic Answer:

The ques t ion "Who a m I ? " c a n b e answered at many l eve l s . g i s t s c a n desc r ibe and expla in your psychogenes i s and personal evolut ion. Soc io logis t s and an thropologis t s c a n expla in the s t ruc ture of the t r iba l games which govern your development. Biologis ts c a n desc r ibe your unique phys ica l s t ructure . a re not a psychologica l or s o c i a l or bodily robot. No ex te rna l descr ip t ion comes c l o s e . Wha t cannot be measured , rep laced , understood by any objec t ive method is your c o n s c i o u s n e s s . And where is t h i s l oca t ed? The secular-game engineers c a n en ter ta in you wi th theik a n a l y s e s of your macro- s cop ic cha rac t e r i s t i c s , but t h e bio-chemical neurologis t is t h e man to l i s t e n to. He is the person who c a n loca te "you" in the five-bil l ion-year s equence by descr ibing t h e c a p a c i t i e s of your cor tex. Your c o n s c i o u s n e s s is a biochemical e l ec t r i ca l p rocess .

Psycholo-

But t he e s s e n c e of you and "you-ness" is your c o n s c i o u s n e s s . You

In your nervous sys t em.

The human brain, w e a r e told,

is composed of about 10 bi l l ion nerve c e l l s , any o n e of which may connec t wi th as many as 25 ,000 o ther nerve c e l l s . The number of inter- connec t ions which t h i s a d d s up to would s tagger even an astronomer-and astronomers a r e u s e d to dea l ing wi th as t ronomica l numbers. The number is fa r grea te r t h a n a l l the atoms in the universe . . . .This is why physiol- ogists remain unimpressed with computers . A computer soph i s t i ca t ed enough to handle t h i s number of in te rconnec t ions would have t o b e big enough to cover the e a r t h . l 2

Into t h i s matrix f loods "about 100 mill ion s e n s a t i o n s a second from.. . (the) var ious s e n s e s . I' so la r sys tem of connec ted neurons wh ich is aware of your social se l f . Your "ego" is to your cor tex wha t t h e p lane t Earth is to our ga laxy wi th i t s 100 ,000 million s u n s .

And somewhere i n tha t ten-bi l l ion-cel l galaxy is a tiny

B. The psychede l i c answer to t h e "I" ques t ion is t h e c rux of t h e LSD experience. Mos t of the effect swi r l s around t h i s i s s u e . As Erik Erikson reminds u s , i t ' s hard enough to s e t t l e on a s imple t r i ba l ro le def ini t ion of "Who a m I? I' Imagine the di lema of the LSD sub jec t w h o s e cor tex is suddenly turned on to a much higher vol tage , who suddenly d i scove r s h i s brain spinning a t the s p e e d of l ight, f looded by t h o s e 100 mill ion s e n s a t i o n s a second . M o s t of the awe and reverent wonder stems from t h i s confrontat ion with a n unsuspec- ted range of c o n s c i o u s n e s s , t h e t remendous acce le ra t ion of images , t h e sha t t e r - ing ins ight into the narrowness of the learned as opposed t o the potent ia l i ty of awareness , t h e humbling s e n s e of where o n e ' s e g o is in re la t ionship to t h e total energy f ie ld .

(a) I w a s de l igh ted to see tha t my s k i n w a s d isso lv ing in t iny pa r t i c l e s and f loat ing away. I f e l t as though my outer s h e l l w a s dis integrat ing,

15

Dow

nloa

ded

by [M

osko

w St

ate U

niv B

ibliot

e] at

09:06

14 N

ovem

ber 2

013

and the 'essence' of m e w a s being l iberated to ioin the 'essence' of everything e l s e about m e .

Two re la ted f ee l ings were present . One w a s a tremendous freedom t o exper ience , t o be I. It became very important to d is t inguish be tween ' I ' and ' M e ' , t h e la t te r being a n ob jec t def ined by pat terns and s t ruc- tu res and r e spons ib i l i t i e s - a l l of which had vanished-and t h e former being t h e s u b j e c t experiencing and feel ing. My normal life seemed t o b e a l l Me , a l l demands and r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s , a crushing burden which des t royed t h e p l easu re and freedom of being '1'. Later in t h e evening t h e ques t ion of how to f i t back in to my normal l i fe without becoming a slave of its pa t te rns and demands became paramount. The o ther re la ted fee l ing w a s o n e of i so la t ion . The s t ruggle t o preserve my ident i ty went on in lone l iness : t he ' I ' cannot b e shared or bu t t r e s sed . The 'Me ' , s t ruc tured as it is, c a n b e shared , and is in f a c t wha t w e mean when w e ta lk about "myse l f" , but o n c e it is thus objec t i f ied it is no longer I , it h a s become the known ra ther t han t h e knower. And TSD seemed to s t r ip away the s t ruc ture and to l eave the knowing p rocess naked-hence t h e enormous s e n s e of isolat ion: t he re w a s no Me to be communicated.

All t h i s t ime, for about 2-3 hours , a l though there w a s thinking, ta lking going on , my mind w a s being u s e d , y e t there w a s no ego . . .I could wi th to t a l d i s p a s s i o n examine var ious r e l a t ionsh ips tha t 'I' had with parents , f r iends , par t s of 'myse l f ' , e t c . People who wa lked in to the room were accep ted wi th the same s e r e n e equanimity tha t I fe l t about accep t ing my own menta l products ; they were rea l ly walking around in my mind.

I w a s enter ing into another dimension of e x i s t e n c e , Everything w a s to ta l ly d i s so lved in to a flow of matter cont inuously moving. N o t ime, no s p a c e . A fee l ing of co lor , but indescr ibable . Feel ing of movement mainly. Awareness tha t I, t he o the r s , a r e only co l l ec t ions of c l u s t e r s of molecules , which are all part of t h e same s t ream .

' I ' w a s not.

For the small percentage of unprepared s u b j e c t s who t a k e LSD in c a r e l e s s or manipulat ive se t t i ng and exper ience terror and paranoid p a n i c , their misery invariably c e n t e r s around the s t ruggle to re-impose ego control on the whirl ing energy flow in them and around them. Theirs is the exhaus t ing and s a d t a s k of attempting to slow down and l i m i t t h e e l ec t r i ca l pu l se of t h e ten-bi l l ion-cel l ce reb ra l computer . Thorazine, a lcohol and narcot ics he lp apply the brakes . So, I f ea r , do words.

* * * * *

When w e read about the current f indings of the energy s c i e n c e s s u c h as t h o s e I have ju s t rev iewed, how c a n our reac t ion b e other than reverent awe a t t he grandeur of t h e s e obse rva t ions , at t h e s tagger ing complexity of

16

Dow

nloa

ded

by [M

osko

w St

ate U

niv B

ibliot

e] at

09:06

14 N

ovem

ber 2

013

the des ign , the s p e e d , t h e scope? Ecstatic humility before s u c h Power and In te l l igence . Indeed, what a sma l l , s e c u l a r concept - in te l l igence- to desc r ibe tha t Infinitude of Harmonious Complexity ! How impoverished our vocabulary and how narrow our imaginat ion!

Of cour se , the f indings of t h e pure s c i e n c e s do not produce the re l ig ious reac t ion w e should expec t . robot du l lnes s by the enormity of f a c t s which w e are not educa ted t o comprehend. Although the f indings of phys i c s , g e n e t i c s , paleontology and neurology have tremendous r e l evance to our l i fe , they a r e of l e s s i n t e re s t than a f a l l in t he s tock market or t he status of the pennant r ace .

We a r e s a t i a t e d wi th s e c u l a r s t a t i s t i c s , dazed into

The message is dimly g rasped hypothe t ica l ly , ra t iona l ly , but never ex- per ienced, f e l t , known. But there c a n be tha t s tagger ing , intel lectual-game e c s t a s y which comes when you begin to s e n s e the complexi ty of the Plan. To pull back the v e i l and see for a second a fragment of t h e energy dance , t he life power. How c a n you apprec ia t e t h e Divine u n l e s s you comprehend the sma l l e s t part of the f a n t a s t i c d e s i g n ? to the four b a s i c sp i r i tua l ques t ions is t o m e the peak of the re l ig ious-sc ien t i f ic ques t .

To exper ience ( i t ' s a lways for a moment) the answers

But how c a n our i l l -prepared nervous s y s t e m s g r a s p t h e m e s s a g e ? Cer- ta inly the ave rage man cannot mas ter t h e concep tua l , mathematical bead game of the phys ic s graduate s tuden t . Mus t h i s experimential con tac t with the Divine p rocess come i n watered-down symbols , se rmons , hymns, robot r i t ua l s , re l igious ca lendar a r t , moral-behavior s a n c t i o n s eventua l ly s e c u l a r in the i r a im? Fortun- a t e ly the Grea t Plan h a s produced a happy answer and h a s endowed every human being with t h e equipment to comprehend, to know, t o expe r i ence d i rec t ly , incon- trovertibly. It 's t he re in tha t network of t en bi l l ion e l l s , the number of w h o s e in te rconnec t ions "is fa r g e a t e r than all the atoms in the universe . I'

If you c a n , for the moment, throw off the gr ip of your learned mind, your t r iba l concep t s , and expe r i ence the message conta ined in the ten-bil l ion-tube c o m w t e r which you carry behind your forehead , you would know the awe-full truth. Our r e sea rch s u g g e s t s t ha t e v e n the uneducated layman c a n exper ience direct ly wha t is s lowly deduced by sc i en t i s t s - fo r example phys ic i s t s , whose heavy, concep tua l minds lumber a long at three c o n c e p t s a second , attempting to fathom the speed-of-l ight p r o c e s s e s which the i r beaut i ful machines record and which the i r beaut i ful symbols portray.

But t h e brakes can b e r e l eased . esis tha t p sychede l i c foods and drugs , i nges t ed by prepared s u b j e c t s i n a s e r - ious, s ac red , support ive atmosphere, c a n put t he sub jec t i n perceptua l touch with o ther levels of energy exchanges . s tudy , t he Savage s tudy , t h e 69 re l ig ious profess iona ls . Forty t o ninety per c e n t te l l ing us they exper ienced ''a g rea t e r a w a r e n e s s of God, or a H i g h Power, or an Ultimate Reality. 'I

Our recent s t u d i e s support t h e hypoth-

Remember t h e da ta - the Good Friday

17

Dow

nloa

ded

by [M

osko

w St

ate U

niv B

ibliot

e] at

09:06

14 N

ovem

ber 2

013

But t o what do t h e s e LSD s u b j e c t s refer when they report sp i r i tua l re- a c t i o n s ? or a r e their r e s p o n s e s simply awe and wonder a t the exper ienced novel ty? Even i f t h e la t te r were the cause, could i t not support t h e rel igious appl ica- t ion of the psychede l i c s u b s t a n c e s and simply underline the need for more soph i s t i ca t ed re l ig ious language coordinated wi th sc i en t i f i c d a t a ? there is some ev idence , phenomenological but y e t haunting tha t the sp i r i tua l i n s igh t s accompanying t h e psychede l i c expe r i ence might b e sub jec t ive ac - coun t s of t h e ob jec t ive f ind ings of as t ronomy, p h y s i c s , biochemistry, and neurology.

Do they obta in s p e c i f i c i l luminat ions into the four b a s i c ques t ions ,

But

Now the neurological and pharmacological exp lana t ions of a n LSD v i s ion a r e s t i l l far from being understood. W e know a lmost nothing about the physiology of c o n s c i o u s n e s s and the body-cortex in te rac t ion . W e cannot a s s e r t t ha t LSD s u b j e c t s a r e direct ly experiencing wha t par t ic le phys i c i s t s and b iochemis ts measu re , but the ev idence about t he de t a i l ed complexity of the g e n e t i c code a n d the a s ton i sh ing des ign of t h e intra-cel lular communica- t ion should cau t ion u s a g a i n s t label ing expe r i ences ou t s ide of our current t r iba l c l i c h e s a s "psycho t i c " or abnormal. g r e a t e s t prophets and phi losophers have been te l l ing u s to look w i t h i n , and today our sc i en t i f i c da t a a r e support ing tha t adv ice wi th a humiliating f inal i ty . The l i m i t s of in t rospec t ive a w a r e n e s s may w e l l b e sub-microscopic , ce l lu la r , molecular a n d e v e n nuc lear . W e only see, a f te r all, what w e a re t ra ined and predisposed t o see. s u b j e c t s to recognize in te rna l phys i ca l p r o c e s s e s much as w e t ra in a beginning biology s tuden t to recognize e v e n t s v iewed through h i s microscope.

For th ree thousand y e a r s our

One of our current r e sea rch pro jec ts involves teaching

N o matter how parsimonious our exp lana t ions , w e must a c c e p t t he fact tha t LSD s u b j e c t s do claim to exper ience reve la t ions in to t h e b a s i c ques t ions and do a t t r ibu te l i fe-change to their v i s i o n s .

W e a r e , of c o u r s e , a t t h e very beginning of our r e s e a r c h into t h e s e im- p l ica t ions . A new expe r i en t i a l language a n d perhaps e v e n new metaphors for t h e g r e a t plan wi l l develop. W e have been working on th i s project far t he p a s t two y e a r s , writ ing manuals which t ra in s u b j e c t s to recognize energy p r o c e s s e s , t eaching s u b j e c t s to communicate via a machine w e c a l l t h e exper ien t ia l type- wri ter , a n d wi th movies of microbiological p r o c e s s e s . And w e have cont inued to pose the ques t ion t o re l ig ious and phi losophic groups as I a m doing tonight. Wha t do you think? Are t h e s e b iochemica l v i s ions re l ig ious?

Before you answer , remember t h a t God (however you def ine t h e Higher Power) produced tha t wonderful molecule , t ha t extra-ordinarily powerful or- ganic s u b s t a n c e w e c a l l LSD, j u s t as su re ly as "He" c rea t ed the rose , or t h e s u n , or t h e complex c l u s t e r of molecules you ins i s t on ca l l i ng your "se l f . I'

Among t h e many ha ras s ing compl ica t ions of our r e sea rch in to rel igious expe r i ence h a s been the f a c t t ha t few people , even some theologica l profes- s i o n a l s , have much concept ion of what a re l ig ious exper ience rea l ly is. Few

18

Dow

nloa

ded

by [M

osko

w St

ate U

niv B

ibliot

e] at

09:06

14 N

ovem

ber 2

013

have any idea how the Divine Process presents It'self. If asked, they tend to become embarrassed, intellectual, evasive. The adored cartoonists of the Renaissance portray the Ultimate Power a s a Dove, or a Flaming Bush, or a s a man--venerable, with a white beard, or on a Cross, or a s a Baby, or a Sage seated in the Full Lotus Position. Are these not incarnations, temporary housings, of the Great Energy Process?

Last fa l l a minister and his wi fe , a s part of a courageous and dedica-

This wondrous alkaloid (which closely approximates serotonin, the ted pursuit of illumination, took a psychedelic biochemical cal led dimethyl - tryptamine. natural "lubricant" of our higher nervous system) produces the most intense psychedelic effect of any sacramental food or drug. duration of the average sermon), you are whirled through t h e energy dance, the cosmic process, a t the highest psychedelic speed. The 2 5 minutes are sensed a s lasting for a second and for a billion-year Kalpa. After the sess ion , the minister complained that the experience, although shattering and revelatory, was disappointing because i t w a s "content-free"--so physical, so unfamiliar, so scientific, like being beamed through microscopic panoramas, l ike being os- cil lated through cellular functions a t radar acceleration. Well , what do you expect? If God were to take you on a v is i t through His "workshop", do you think you'd walk or gb by bus? Do you really think it would be a stroll through a ce les t ia l Madame Tussard waxworks? Dear friends, the Divine Product is evident in every secular event. The Divine Product we can see. But the Divine Process operates in time dimensions which are far beyond cut routine, secular, space-time limits. Wave vibrations, energy dance, cellular transactions. Our science describes this logically. these processes experientially.

In 2 5 minutes (about the

Our brains may be capable of dealing with

So here we are. The Great Process has placed in our hands d key to this direct visionary wgrld. organic molecule and not a new myth or a new word?

I s it hard for us t o accept that t h e key might be an

* * * * * * *

And where do we go? There are i n the United States today several hundred thousand persons who have experienced what I have attempted to describe to you tonight- a psychedelic, religious revelation. There are, I would estimate, several million equally thoughtful people who have heard the joyous tidings and who are waiting patiently but determinedly for their psychedelic moment to come.

There is, of course, the expected opposition. The classic conflict of the religious drama-always changing, always the same. The doctrine (which was originally someone's experience) now threatened by the new experience. This time the administrators have assigned the inquisitorial role to the psy- chiatrists, whose proprietary claims to a revealed understanding of the mind and whose antagonism to consciousness-expansion are wel l known to you.

19

Dow

nloa

ded

by [M

osko

w St

ate U

niv B

ibliot

e] at

09:06

14 N

ovem

ber 2

013

The clamor over psychedelic drugs is not reaching 'full crescendo. You have heard rumors and you have read the press a s sau l t s and the slick-magazine attacks-by-innuendo. As sophisticated adults you have perhaps begun to wonder: why the hysterical outcry? As sc ien t i s t s you are beginning to ask: Where is the evidence? A s educated m e n w i t h an eye for history, you are, I itrust, beginning to suspect that we 've been through this many times before.

In the current hass le over psychedelic plants and drugs, you are witness- ing a good-old-fashioned, traditional, religious controversy. On the one s ide the psychedelic visionaries, somewhat uncertain about the validity of their rev- elations, embarrassedly speaking in new tongues (there never is, you know, the satisfaction of a sound, right academic language for the new vision of the Divine), harassed by the knowledge of their own human frailty, surrounded by the inevitable legion of eccentric would-be followers looking for a new panacea, always i n grave doubt about their own motivation--(hero? martyr? crank? crackpot?)--always on the verge of losing their material achievements--(job, reputation, long-suffering wife, conventional friends, parental approval); always under the fire of the power -holders. And on the other side: t h e estab- lishment (the administrators, the police, the fund-granting foundations, the job-givers) pronouncing their familiar l ines in the drama: "Danger ! Madness ! Unsound! Intellectual corruption of youth ! Irreparable damage ! Cultism ! I' The i s sue of chemical expansion of consciousness is hard upon u s . next months, every avenue of propaganda is going to barrage you with the arguments. You c a n hardly e scape i t . You are going to be pressed for a pos- ition.

During the

Internal freedom is becoming a major religious and civil-rights controversy.

How can you decide? How c a n you judge? Well , i t ' s really quite simple. Whenever you hear anyone sounding off on internal freedom and consciousness- expanding foods and drugs--whether pro or con--check out these questions:

(1) Is your advisor talking from direct experience, or simple repeating c l iches? Theologians and intellectuals often depreciate "experience" in favor of fact and concept. This c l a s s i c debate is falsely labeled. Most often it becomes a case of "experience" versus "inexperience".

(2) view? Is he motivated by a dedicated quest for answers to bas ic questions, or is he protecting his own social-psychological position, h i s own game in- vestment ?

Do his words spring from a spiritual or from a mundane point of

(3 ) How would his argument sound i f i t were heard in a different cul- ture (for example, in an African jungle hut, a ghat on the Ganges, or on an- other planet inhabited by a form of life superior to ours); or in a different time (for example in Periclean Athens, or in a Tibetan monastery, or in a bull-session led by any one of the great religious Ieaders--founders--messiahs); or how would i t sound to other spec ies of life on phins, to the consciousness of a redwood t ree? out of your usual tribal game-set and l isten with creatures.

our planet today--to the dol- In other words, try to break the ears of another one of God's

20

Dow

nloa

ded

by [M

osko

w St

ate U

niv B

ibliot

e] at

09:06

14 N

ovem

ber 2

013

(4 ) How would the debate sound to you i f you were fatally d iseased with a week to live, and thus l e s s committed to mundane issues? Our research group receives many requests a week for consciousnes s-expanding experiences, and some of these come from terminal patjents.13

(5) Is the point of view one which opens up or c loses down? Are you being urged to explore, experience, gamble out of spiritual faith, join some- one who shares your cosmic ignorance on a collaborative voyage of discovery? Or are you being pressured to c lose off, protect your gains , play i t safe, ac- cept the authoritative voice of someone who knows bes t?

(6) When we speak, w e say l i t t le about t h e subject-matter and dis- Does your psychedelic advisor u s e c lose mainly the s ta te of our own mind.

terms which are positive, pro-life, spiritual, inspiring, opening, based on faith in the future, faith in your potential, or does h e betray a mind obsessed by danger, material concern, by imaginary terrors, administrative caution or essent ia l distrust in your potential. Dear friends, there is nothing in life to fear, no spiritual game can be lost . The choice is not double-bind but double- win. 14

(7) If he is against what he ca l l s "artificial ask him what consti tutes the natural. Words? Ritua Alkaloids ? Psychedelic vegetables?

(8) If he is against biochemical ass i s tance , l ine? Does he u s e nicotine? alcohol? penicillin? sacramental subs tances?

methods of illumination", s ? Tribal customs?

where does he draw the vitamins ? conventional

(9) If your advisor is against LSD, what is he for? If he forbids you the psychedelic key to revelation, what does he offer you instead?

* * * * * * *

SUMMARY

The outline of this paper can be summarized a s follows:

(1) Evidence is cited that , depending on the s e t and sett ing, from 40 to 9 0 per cent of psychedelic subjects report intense religious experiences.

( 2 ) The religious experience was defined a s the ecs ta t ic , incontro- vertibly certain, subjective discovery of answers to four bas ic questions which concern ultimate power and design, life, man and self. It was pointed out that science attempts to provide objective, external answers to these same questions.

(3) We considered the hypothesis that the human being might be able to become directly aware of energy exchanges and biological processes for which w e now have no language and no perceptual training. Psychedelic foods and

21

Dow

nloa

ded

by [M

osko

w St

ate U

niv B

ibliot

e] at

09:06

14 N

ovem

ber 2

013

drugs were suggested as one key t o t h e s e neurological potentials, and subjec- t ive reports from LSD s e s s i o n s were compared with current findings from the energy s c i e n c e s .

(4) The current controversy over t h e politics of the nervous system (which involves secular-external versus spiritual-in ternal commitments) were reviewed, and a checkl i s t for the intell igent voter w a s presented.

2 2

Dow

nloa

ded

by [M

osko

w St

ate U

niv B

ibliot

e] at

09:06

14 N

ovem

ber 2

013

REFERENCES

' W a l t e r N. Pahnke, Druas a n d Mys t i c i sm; An Analys is of t h e Rela t ionship be- tween Psychede l i c Drugs and t h e M y s t i c a l C o n s c i o u s n e s s ; A t h e s i s p re sen ted to t h e Commit tee on Higher Degrees i n His tory and Phi losophy of Religion, in pa r t i a l fulf i l lment of t h e requi rements for t h e deg ree of Doctor of Phi losophy, Harvard Universi ty , Cambridge, M a s s . , June 19 63.

"The Subjec t ive After-Effects of Psychede l i c Exper iences : A Summary of Four Recent Ques t ionnai re S tudies . 'I The P s y c h e d e l i c Review, V o l 1, No. 1 (June 19 63), 18-2 6.

Leary, T., Litwin, G.H. , and Metzner , R., "Reac t ions to Ps i locybin Admin- i s t e r e d in a Support ive Environment." J. Nervous & M e n t a l D i s e a s e , Vol . 137 No. 6, (December 1963) 561-573.

Savage , C., Harman, W.W. , Fadiman, Jr., and Savage , E . , "A Follow-up Note o n t h e Psychede l i c Experience. " (Paper de l ive red at a meet ing of t h e American Psych ia t r i c Assoc ia t ion , St. Louis , Mo. , May , 19 63 .)

Ditman, K.S., Haymon, M., a n d W h i t t l e s e y , J.R. B., Nature a n d Frequency of C la ims Fol lowing LSD." J. Nervous & M e n t a l D i s e a s e , Vol . 134 (1962), 346-352.

McGloth l in , W.H. , Lona-Lastinq Effects of LSD o n Cer t a in Att i tudes in Normals: An ExDerimental Proposal. (Pr ivately pr inted, The Rand Corporat ion, San ta Monica , Cal i forn ia , June 1962. Pp. 56.) Cf. McGloth l in , W.H. , Cohen, S., & McGlothl in , M. S . , Short-Term Effects of LSD o n Anxiety, Att i tudes, and Performance, Ibid. , June 1963. Pp 15.

A cont inuing present-day i n s t a n c e is t h e case of members of t h z Nat ive American Church, a duly c o n s t i t u t e d a n d r ecogn ized r e l ig ious denominat ion numbering al- mos t a quar te r of a mil l ion adherents . A good popular accoun t of the i r s i t ua t ion is p resen ted i n "Peyote ," by A. Stump, i n Saga, Vol. 26, No. 3 (June 19631, 46-49, 81-83. Cf. The Supreme Cour t ' s dec i s ion , Q!iver 17. Udall , 306 F2d 819 (1962) . The m o s t r ecen t ly proposed l eg i s l a t ion a g a i n s t Peyote is s e e n i n t h e Conqres s iona l Record (House) for Dec. 13 , 1963. W. La Barrels famous book, The Peyote Cult , w i l l be repr in ted in a n en larged ed i t ion in August, 1964, by t h e Shoe String P res s (Hamden, Conn.) and w i l l bring t h e en t i r e d i s c u s s i o n up to da te . For a good gene ra l s t a t emen t in ano the r a r e a of r e sea rch , see "The Hal lu- c inogen ic Drugs , " by Barron, Jarvik, and Bunnell. Sci. Amer., Vol. 210, No. 4 (April 19 64), 29 -3 7.

London: Faber & Faber , 1958, p. 57.

Wol te reck , H., W h a t S c i e n c e Knows About Life, N.Y.: Assoc ia t ion P res s , 1963.

lo Schenk, G., The His tory of Man. Phila . , N.Y.: Chi l ton Co., 1961, pp. 56-57. l1 Ib id . , p. 238

1 2 Campbel l , R. , "The C i rcu i t s of t h e S e n s e s , " in a s e r i e s on "The Human Body"

l3 The med ica l p r e s s h a s r ecen t ly repor ted o n t h e a n a l g e s i c u s e of LSD wi th

8 Zaehner; R.C., At Sundry T i m e s . An E s s a y i n the Comparison of Rel igions.

(Part IV). Life. Vol . 54 , No. 2 7 (June 27 , 1963) , 64-76b.

terminal c a n c e r pa t i en t s . Tribune, April 8, 1963, and J. h e r . Med. Assoc., Jan. 4, 1964.

Cf. M e d i c a l World N e w s , Aug. 30, 1963, M e d i c a l

14 Levi t skv , A. - per sona l communicat ion.

23

Dow

nloa

ded

by [M

osko

w St

ate U

niv B

ibliot

e] at

09:06

14 N

ovem

ber 2

013