The word entheogen was coined to denote psychedelic chemicals and botanicals that engender the experience of god within. Drawing on William James, Charles Tart, and Ken Wilber, the authors claim that a complete study of religion must include entheogens, and they propose topics leading toward an entheogen research agenda:(a) the spiritual nature of the human mind, (b) the dispute over the authenticity of entheogen-assisted religious experiences, (c) pastoral counseling, (d) experimental mysticism, (e) entheogenic origins of religion, and (f) policy issues in freedom of conscience and freedom of religion. The authors conclude with seven recommendations to churches, religious orders, seminaries, and scholarly and scientific professional groups for actions they can take to promote entheogenic research.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Alcoholics Anonymous World Services
(1984). Anything that helps alcoholics.... In “Pass it on”: The story of Bill Wilson and how the A. A. message reached the world (pp. 368-377). New York: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services.
2.
Assagioli, R.
(1965). Psychosynthesis: A collection of basic writings. New York: Viking Penguin.
3.
Barnard, M.
(1963). The god in the flower pot. American Scholar, 32, 578-586.
4.
Burnham, S.
(1997). The ecstatic journey: The transforming power of mystical experience. New York: Ballentine.
5.
Campbell, J.
(1982). Envoie: No more horizons. In J. Campbell (Ed.), Myths to live by (pp. 258-275). New York: Bantam.
6.
Campbell, J.
(1988). The inner reaches of outer space: Metaphor as myth. New York: Harper Collins.
7.
Clark, W.
(1969). Chemical ecstasy: Psychedelic drugs and religion. New York: Sheed and Ward.
8.
Cotton, I.
(1996). The hallelujah revolution: The rise of the new Christians. Amherst, NY: Prometheus.
9.
Council on Spiritual Practices
(1998). Council on Spiritual Practices [Online]. Available: http://www.csp.org
10.
Cox, H.
(1977). Turning east: The promise and peril of the new Orientalism. New York: Simon and Schuster.
11.
Devereux, P.
(1997). The long trip: A prehistory of psychedelia. New York: Penguin/Arkana.
12.
Dishotsky, N.
, Loughman, W., Mogar, R., & Lipscomb, W. (1971). LSD and genetic damage. Science, 172, 431-440.
13.
Doblin, R.
(1991). Pahnke’s “Good Friday experiment”: A long-term follow-up and methodological critique. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 23(1), 1-28.
14.
Eliade, M.
(1978). A history of religious ideas: Vol. 1. From Stone Age to the Eleusinian mysteries. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
15.
Ellwood, R.
(1994). The sixties spiritual awakening: American religion moving from modern to postmodern. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University.
16.
Forte, R.
(Ed.). (1997). Entheogens and the future of religion. San Francisco: Council on Spiritual Practices.
17.
Fox, M.
(1976). Whee! We, wee all the way home. Santa Fe, NM: Bear.
18.
Furst, P.
(1972). Flesh of the gods: The ritual use of hallucinogens. New York: Praeger.
19.
Greeley, A. M.
(1974). Ecstasy: A way of knowing. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
20.
Grinspoon, L.
, & Bakalar, J. (1997). Psychedelic drugs reconsidered. New York: The Lindesmith Center. (Original work published 1979)
21.
Grof. S.
(1993). Realms of the human unconscious: Observations from LSD psychotherapy. London: Souvenir Press (E and A). (Original work published 1975)
22.
Grof, S.
(1994). LSD psychotherapy. Pomona, Ca: Hunter House. (Original work published 1980)
23.
Grof, S.
(1985). Beyond the brain: Birth, death and transcendence in psychotherapy. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.
24.
Grof, S.
(1987). Spirituality, addiction, and Western science. ReVision: The Journal of Consciousness and Change, 10(2), 5-18.
25.
Grof, S.
& Grof, C. (1993). Transpersonal experience and the global crisis. In R. Walsh & F. Vaughan (Eds.), Paths beyond ego: The transpersonal vision (pp. 251-252). Los Angeles: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Perigee. (Original work published 1989)
26.
Grof, S.
, & Halifax, J. (1977). The human encounter with death. New York: E. P. Dutton.
27.
Hood, R. W., Jr.
(1975). The construction and preliminary validation of a measure of reported mystical experience. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 14(1), 29-41.
28.
Hruby, P. J.
(1996). The varieties of mystical experience, spiritual practices, and psychedelic drug use among college students. Dissertation Abstracts International, A57(09), 3902. (UMI No. 97-03746)
29.
Huxley, A.
(1954). The doors of perception. New York: Harper.
30.
James, W.
(1982). The varieties of religious experience: A study in human nature. New York: Penguin. (Original work published 1902)
31.
Jung, C. G.
(1958). Psychology and religion: West and East. In H. Read, M. Fordham, & G. Adler (Eds.), The collected works of C. G. Jung (Vol. 11) (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.). London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
32.
Leary, T.
(1968). High priest. New York: World.
33.
Lukoff, D.
, & Lu, F. G. (1988). Transpersonal psychology research review: Topic: Mystical experiences. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 20(2), 161-184.
34.
Maslow, A. H.
(1964). Religions, values, and peak experiences. Columbus: Ohio State University Press.
35.
Maslow, A. H.
(1968). Preface to the second edition. In A. H. Maslow (Ed.), Toward a psychology of being (2nd ed., pp. iii-v). New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.
36.
Matossian, M.
(1989). Poisons of the past: Molds, epidemics, and history. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
37.
McLoughlin, W.
(1978). Revivals, awakenings, and reform: An essay on religion and social change in America, 1607-1977. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
38.
Noble, K.
(1987). Psychological health and the experience of transcendence. The Counseling Psychologist, 15(4), 601-614.
39.
Ott, J.
(1993). Pharmacotheon: Entheogenic drugs, their plant sources and history. Kennewick, WA: Natural Products Company.
40.
Pahnke, W. N. (1963). Drugs and mysticism: An analysis of the relationship between psychedelic drugs and the mystical consciousness. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Harvard University.
41.
Pahnke, W. N.
(1969). The psychedelic mystical experience in the human encounter with death. Harvard Theological Review, 62, 1-20.
42.
Pahnke, W. N.
, & Richards, W. A. (1966). Implications of LSD and experimental mysticism. Journal of Religion and Health, 5, 175-208.
43.
Richards, W. A.
(1975). Counseling, peak experiences and the human encounter with death: An empirical study of the efficacy of DPT-assisted counseling in enhancing the quality of life of persons with terminal cancer and their closest family members. Dissertation Abstracts International, 36(03), 1314. (UMI No. AAC 75-8531)
44.
Richards, W. A.
, Grof, S., Goodman, L., & Kurland, A. (1972). LSD-assisted psychotherapy and the human encounter with death. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 4(2), 121-150.
45.
Riedlinger, T.
(1997). The sacred mushroom seeker: Essays for R. Gordon Wasson. Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions. (Original work published 1990)
46.
Roberts, T.
(Ed.). (2001). Psychoactive sacramentals: Essays on entheogens and religion. San Francisco: Council on Spiritual Practices.
47.
Roberts, T.
& Hruby, P. (1998a, May). God, drugs, and consciousness. Poster session presented at Toward a Science of Consciousness III, Tucson, AZ.
48.
Roberts, T.
, & Hruby, P. (1998b). Religion and psychoactive sacraments: An entheogen chrestomathy [Online]. San Francisco: Council on Spiritual Practices. Available: http://www.csp.org/chrestomathy
49.
Roberts, T.
, & Jesse, R. (1997). Recollections of the Good Friday experiment: An interview with Huston Smith. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 29(2), 99-104.
50.
Roberts, T. B.
(1989). Multistate education: Metacognitive implications of the mindbody psychotechnologies. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 21(1), 83-102.
51.
Rudgley, R.
(1993). Essential substances: A cultural history of intoxicants in society. New York: Kodansha International.
52.
Schultes, R.
, & Hofmann, A. (1992). Plants of the gods: Their sacred, healing, and hallucinogenic powers. Rochester, VT: Healing Arts Press. (Original work published 1971)
53.
Small, J.
(1987). Spiritual emergence and addiction: A transpersonal approach to alcoholism and drug abuse counseling. ReVision: The Journal of Consciousness and Change, 10(2), 23-36.
54.
Smart, N.
(1984). The religious experience of mankind. New York: Macmillan.
55.
Smith, A.
, & Tart, C. (1998). Cosmic consciousness experience and psychedelic experiences: A first person comparison. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 5(1), 97-101.
56.
(Original work published 1958 as The religions of man by Harper and Row)
57.
Smith, H.
(1964). Do drugs have religious import?Journal of Philosophy, 61(18), 517-530.
58.
Smith, H.
(1967). Psychedelic theophanies and the religious life. Christianity and Crisis, 27(11), 144-147.
59.
(Original work published 1976 as Forgotten truth: The primordial tradition by Harper and Row)
60.
Smith, H.
(1988). Psychedelics and religion: An addendum. ReVision: Journal of Consciousness and Change, 11(1), 35-37.
61.
Smith, H.
(2000). Cleansing the doors of perception: The religious significance of entheogenic plants and chemicals. New York: Tarcher/Putnam.
62.
Stace, W. T.
(1961). Mysticism and philosophy. London: Macmillan.
63.
Steindl-Rast, D.
(1987). The mystical quest, attachment, and addiction. ReVision: The Journal of Consciousness and Change, 10(2), 37-43.
64.
Strassman, R.
(1984). Adverse reactions to psychedelic drugs: A review of the literature. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 172, 577-595.
65.
Strassman, R.
(1997). Biomedical research with psychedelics: Current models and future prospects. In R. Forte (Ed.), Entheogens and the future of religion (pp. 153-162). San Francisco: Council on Spiritual Practices.
66.
Tart, C. T.
(Ed.). (1969). Altered states of consciousness: A book of readings. New York: John Wiley.
67.
Tart, C. T.
(Ed.). (1975). Transpersonal psychologies. New York: Harper & Row.
68.
Toolan, D.
(1987). Facing west from California’s shores: A Jesuit’s journey into new age consciousness. New York: Crossroad.
69.
Tricycle: The Buddhist Review. (1996, fall). 6(1).
70.
Walsh, R.
(1990). The technology of transcendence: Inducing altered states. In R. Walsh, The spirit of shamanism (pp. 159-177). Los Angeles: Jeremy P. Tarcher.
71.
Walsh, R.
, & Vaughan, F. (1993). Introduction. In R. Walsh & F. Vaughan (Eds.), Paths beyond ego: The transpersonal vision (pp. 1-10). Los Angeles: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Perigee.
72.
Wasson, R.
, Ruck, C., & Hofmann, A. (1978). The road to Eleusis: Unveiling the secret of the mysteries. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
73.
Wasson, R. G.
(1968). Soma: Divine mushroom of immortality. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
74.
Wilber, K.
(1997). An integral theory of consciousness. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 4(1), 71-92.
75.
Wulff, D.
(1991). Psychology of religion: Classic and contemporary views. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
76.
Zaehner, R. C.
(1961). Appendix B. In Mysticism: Sacred and profane (pp. 212-226). New York: Oxford University Press.
