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To all our relations
Let it be known
there is a fountain
that was not made
by the hands of man.
HUNTER/GARCIA
ENTHEOGENS and the FUTURE of RELIGION
“This book provides a balanced, thoroughly researched, and clear
account about a topic that has fascinated people for centuries—even
millennia—and will be with us, one way or another, for a long time to
come.”
HARVEY COX, PH.D., PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY AND
AUTHOR OF THE FUTURE OF FAITH
“This book of essays plows new ground in the relationship between
entheogens and religion. It is well worth reading. Any path that can bring
the human family closer together should be investigated.”
REV. DR. KENNETH B. SMITH, PRESIDENT OF THE CHICAGO THEOLOGY
SEMINARY
“An important book for anyone who cares about the future of the human
race. The sensible use of entheogens is one of most promising paths to
deep spiritual insight for many people, and this book shows how that
could be done—if we care enough.”
CHARLES T. TART, PH.D., PROFESSOR EMERITUS OF PSYCHOLOGY, UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
“We have long needed this well-articulated, thoughtful, and rational basis
for understanding the power of psychedelic biomechanicals to stimulate
visionary experience. These essays make a strong case for the use of
these substances in future religious practice.”
FRANK BARRON, PH.D., SC.D., AUTHOR OF NO ROOTLESS FLOWER: AN ECOLOGY
OF CREATIVITY
“If you want more than emotional and subjective outpourings about
entheogens, and if you think like I do that unless we expand our
awareness we will not have a happy future, then this is a book to read.”
RABBI ZALMAN M. SCHACHTER-SHALOMI, AUTHOR OF FROM AGE-ING TO SAGE-
ING
“Offers a thoughtful, sane examination of a topic of great social,
psychological, and religious significance.”
ROGER WALSH, M.D., PH.D., PROFESSOR OF PSYCHIATRY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF
CALIFORNIA
“Essential reading for everyone concerned with spiritual, psychological,
and social well-being. A fascinating and significant collection.”
FRANCES VAUGHAN, PH.D., AUTHOR OF SHADOWS OF THE SACRED AND THE
INWARD ARC
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
THIS COLLECTION GREW out of a symposium in Big Sur, California,
that was inspired and supported by many folks, especially Stuart Abelson,
Mircea Eliade, Stan and Christina Grof, and Dick Price. Many dear friends,
guides, and inspiring (and patient) teachers appeared along the way to the
book’s final form. Frank Barron and Claudio Naranjo watched the entire
process unfold and I hope are pleased with the result. Jan Krinsley, Kelly
Simmons, and Peter Stafford helped in the early preparation of the
manuscript. Bob Wallace and Bob Jesse played key roles in bringing it all
together and to you. Thanks for loving and critical support to Michael
Abbott, Greg Bogart, Brooks Cole, Clark Heinrich, Minh-Hang Nguyen,
and Dale Pendell. Thank you Nina Graboi, beloved psychedelic godmother.
Thank you Jaime. And thank you Timothy, wherever you are. A by-no-
means-final debt of gratitude is owed to the worldwide entheogen
community—those who keep the flame burning, sometimes at great peril
and personal sacrifice.
FIAT LUX
—ROBERT FORTE,
EDITOR
For this is the very problem that is obsessing me: although I see man
crushed, asphyxiated, diminished by industrial civilization, I can’t
believe that he will degenerate, decline morally, and finally perish,
completely sterile. I have a limitless confidence in the creative power
of the human mind. It seems to me that man will succeed—if he
wishes—in remaining free and creative, in any circumstance, cosmic
or historical.
But how can the miracle be brought about? How can the sacramental
dimension of existence be rediscovered? At this point, so much can be
said: all the things that have existed we have not definitively lost; we
find them again in our dreams and our longings. And the poets have
kept them. This is to say nothing of the religious life, because the
authenticity and depth of the religious life among my contemporaries
seems to me a most mysterious problem. There must be a way out.
Aldous Huxley proposes mescaline. . . . There would be a great deal
to say on that score.
MIRCEA ELIADE, NO SOUVENIRS, 1977
I am not so foolish as to equate what happens under the influence of
mescalin or of any other drug, prepared or in the future preparable,
with the realization of the end and ultimate purpose of human life:
Enlightenment, the Beatific Vision. All I am suggesting is that the
mescalin experience is what Catholic Theologians call “a gratuitous
grace,” not necessary to salvation but potentially helpful and to be
accepted thankfully, if made available. To be shaken out of the ruts of
ordinary perception, to be shown for a few timeless hours the outer
and inner world, not as they appear to an animal obsessed with
survival or to a human being obsessed with words and notions, but as
they are apprehended, directly and unconditionally, by Mind at Large
—this is an experience of inestimable value to anyone. . . .
ALDOUS HUXLEY, THE DOORS OF PERCEPTION, 1954
CONTENTS
Cover Image
Title Page
Dedication
Epigraph
Acknowledgments
Foreword to the New Edition
Robert Jesse
SCIENCE
LAW
CULTURE
Introduction
Robert Forte
REFERENCES
Chapter 1: Testimony of the Council on Spiritual Practices
Robert Jesse
THE ENTHEOGENS
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
NATIVE AMERICAN USE OF PEYOTE
ACCOMMODATING OTHER ENTHEOGEN PRACTICES
QUOTES WITHOUT COMMENT
REFERENCES
Chapter 2: Explorations into God
Brother David Steindl-Rast
Chapter 3: Das Mutterkorn: The Making of Delysid
Dale Pendell
Chapter 4: The Message of the Eleusinian Mysteries for Today’s World
Albert Hofmann
Chapter 5: A New Vocabulary
Ann and Alexander Shulgin
Chapter 6: Natural Science and the Mystical Worldview
Albert Hofmann
Chapter 7: Psychedelic Society
Terence McKenna
Chapter 8: A Conversation with R. Gordon Wasson
Robert Forte
REFERENCES
Chapter 9: Sacred Mushroom Pentecost
Thomas J. Riedlinger
HISTORY OF THE VELADA
WASSON’S ROAD TO THE MUSHROOM VELADA
THE VELADA OF JUNE 29–30, 1955
PENTECOSTAL ELEMENTS IN THE MUSHROOM VELADA
CONCLUSION
REFERENCES
Chapter 10: Psychedelic Experience and Spiritual Practice
Robert Forte
REFERENCES
Chapter 11: Academic and Religious Freedom in the Study of the Mind
Thomas B. Roberts
THE MULTISTATE COGNITIVE SCIENCES
ACADEMIC FREEDOM
FREEDOM OF RELIGION
RECOMMENDATIONS
REFERENCES
Chapter 12: Biomedical Research with Psychedelics
Rick J. Strassman
BIRTH, DEATH, NEAR DEATH, AND ABDUCTIONS
RELIGIOUS IMPLICATIONS
TRAINING ISSUES
REFERENCES
Chapter 13: Law Enforcement Against Entheogens
Eric E. Sterling
About the Council on Spiritual Practices
CSP CODE OF ETHICS FOR SPIRITUAL GUIDES
OTHER BOOKS IN THE CSP ENTHEOGEN PROJECT SERIES
ISA AND THE DOUBTERS
Footnotes
Endnotes
Index
About The Author
About Inner Traditions • Bear & Company
Books of Related Interest
Copyright & Permissions
FOREWORD TO THE NEW EDITION
Robert Jesse
THE WORD “RELIGION” invites us to consider phenomena that arise and
unfold over generations and centuries. Against this enduring backdrop, only
a short space of time has elapsed since Entheogens and the Future of
Religion first appeared in 1997. Subsequent to its initial publication,
travelers along entheogenic paths have passed several milestones. I will
summarize some of them here, focusing on the classical hallucinogens, such
as psilocybin mushrooms or the peyote cactus, used to facilitate experiences
of non-dual or unity consciousness.
SCIENCE
At the Johns Hopkins University, a team of investigators (of whom I am
one) have conducted controlled experiments with psilocybin and healthy
volunteers (instead of patients seeking medical or psychiatric treatment).
The findings, published in 2006, 2008, and 2011,1 confirm what the
literature has long suggested: psilocybin, used under suitable conditions,
frequently brings about experiences similar to mystical breakthroughs that
occur spontaneously or through prolonged spiritual practice.2 People who
had such experiences in the research setting more often than not attributed
great significance to them, ranking them among the top experiences of their
lives. Additionally, most of these individuals reported positive changes in
mood, outlook, and behavior, which friends and family members tended to
corroborate.
Concurrently, research in positive psychology and behavioral economics
has enhanced our understanding of traits and behavior patterns such as
happiness and cooperation. These threads of inquiry are intertwining in
another psilocybin study now underway at Johns Hopkins, which is looking
at the outcomes of psilocybin sessions in combination with other spiritual
practices.
Several institutions are following yet another line of research: examining
the potential value of entheogen-induced transformative experiences in
helping to relieve psychological distress in patients with life-threatening
illnesses. The investigators are reporting that some of these patients have
found the experiences to be enormously helpful.
LAW
Over the course of a century, U.S. law has come to accommodate one racial
group practicing one religion using one forbidden substance, namely, the
Native American use of peyote. Until recently no such accommodation has
been made for other religious groups using any other entheogen on the
federal list of controlled substances. That changed with a civil suit brought
in federal court by the U.S. branch of a Brazilian religion, the União do
Vegetal (UdV), under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) of
1993. The church’s case—involving the use of ayahuasca, a plant mixture
originating in Amazonia and containing DMT and other active chemicals—
rose to the U.S. Supreme Court, which in 2006 issued an 8–0 ruling mostly
favorable to the church.3 Further laborious negotiations with the
government have settled the conditions under which the UdV is now
allowed to import and use its sacrament.
In 2008, a branch of the Santo Daime church in Ashland, Oregon,
petitioned to stop the federal government from interfering in its practice of
ayahuasca use. The district court, following the precedent in the UdV case,
granted the request. The government has appealed—not to challenge again
the church’s right to use the substance, but to argue that officials should
have the power to regulate that use.
The Religious Freedom Restoration Act requires the courts to determine
on a case-by-case basis whether there is a “compelling government interest”
in enforcing a federal law that burdens religion and to determine the “least
restrictive means” of satisfying government interests. We can expect more
cases involving religious liberty and entheogens to move through the courts
successfully. It is possible that at some point administrative agencies will
tire of losing in court and will create a streamlined process to accommodate
religious use of these substances.
CULTURE
The prevalence of the Internet in today’s society offers the appearance—
which may reflect an actual trend—of an increasing interest in
hallucinogens for therapeutic, creative, and spiritual purposes. Numerous
online communities and websites, such as erowid.org, have emerged, which
are allowing an unprecedented flow of entheogen-related information and
advice.
Among the psychoactives used with explicit entheogenic intention,
ayahuasca is becoming increasingly prominent. More scientific and
anthropological publications about the sacramental brew are appearing,
more South American ayahuasca practitioners are visiting North America
and Europe, and more ayahuasca retreats are being offered around the
world.
National Surveys on Drug Use and Health have indicated that more than
650,000 people a year in the United States used a hallucinogen (not
including MDMA) for the first time.4 How much of that use stems from a
well-formed intention to receive insights or a well-formed commitment to
spiritual growth? How often are the amounts ingested large enough to be
likely to occasion mystical-type experiences? How often is that use
adequately safeguarded and supported? How often do initiates have an
opportunity to practice within the context of a healthy, stable community of
seekers? Sometimes, surely, but probably not often.
Perhaps that explains why a net increase in saintly qualities is not
immediately apparent, as one might hope, if great numbers of initiates each
year are having unitive visions in social contexts that are nurturing ones.
Perhaps this is yet to come, for the trend lines of science, law, and culture
point toward more open and more fruitful use of these remarkable
substances. In part because the entheogens make it practical to conduct
experimental studies of non-dual consciousness and its consequences, we
may see increased interest in other avenues of exploration, such as
meditation, toward the same ends. It also remains to be seen whether and
how the established non-entheogenic religions will respond to these
developments. Will they come to devote more attention to the primary
religious experience?
Meanwhile, for those who wish to explore the entheogenic waters, wisdom
is freshly available. Gems among many include the books Cleansing the
Doors of Perception by Huston Smith (Tarcher/Putnam 2000), The
Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide by James Fadiman (Park Street Press 2011),
and the volume you are now holding.
For this compendium, my deep appreciation goes out to its contributors;
to the staff at Inner Traditions, including Anne Dillon, Jon Graham, and
Jeanie Levitan, for producing this edition; and to Robert Forte for his
recognition of the importance of the subject and for gathering and shaping
the book’s material.
ROBERT JESSE
OCCIDENTAL, CALIFORNIA
SEPTEMBER 2011
Robert Jesse, convenor of the Council on Spiritual Practices, was trained in
engineering at the Johns Hopkins University. He has worked in software
development as an independent consultant and in several capacities for
Oracle Corporation, most recently as a vice president for business
development. In 1994 Bob began a leave of absence from Oracle to devote
himself to the council’s work. Since 1997 he has advanced scientific studies
and coauthored papers on the psychospiritual effects of psilocybin.
