Utopiates—The Use and Users of LSD 25.
Archives of Internal Medicine November 1, 1965 DOI: 10.1001/archinte.1965.03870050156040 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Historical analysis Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | LSD |
| Citations | 35 |
| Key points | Argues that humanity's use of drugs to achieve transcendence is an ancient and ongoing endeavor, paralleled by the myth of Lucifer's fall, and that Lewin's book documents this history. |
Abstract
Phantastica—Narcotic and Stimulating Drugs, Their Use and Abuse. By Louis Lewin, MD. Price, 30 s. Pp 335, with no illustrations. Routledge & Kegan Paul, Ltd., 68-74 Carter Lane, London E.C.4, England, 1964. It seems that from earliest times man as well as angels has sought to surpass himself. Man's attempt has been by drugs or selfinduced transcendence. The angel of the first hierarchy, of the first order of that hierarchy, who attempted to transcend himself was named Lucifer. It was Tertullian, believe, who referred to Lucifer as the wisest of all angels. Origen, a father and founder of the Greek Orthodox Church, says that Lucifer, in attempting to surpass his intelligence and his grasp by vowing, I will be like unto the Most High, fell with a profound fall for his apostasy. And long after, in the 14th century, Duns Scotus was the protagonist of the opinion that Lucifer—by