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Mysticism and Drugs

James Kellenberger

Religious Studies June 1, 1978 DOI: 10.1017/s0034412500010660 (opens in new tab)

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AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed
Topics Mysticism
Keywords Feeling Psychology of religion Epistemology Religious experience Psychoanalysis Theology
Citations 10
Key points Argues that drug-induced experiences are not the same as religious mystical experiences of the theistic variety.

Abstract

In recent years the issue of whether mysticism can be induced by drugs has been pursued by both scholars of mystical literature and psychological researchers. R. C. Zaehner is perhaps the best known among the scholars of religious literature who have addressed the issues of drug-induced mysticism. While on the side of empirical psychology investigators such as Walter N. Pahnke, R. E. L. Masters, and Jean Houston have pursued some of the same issues using the techniques of laboratory experimentation. Zaehner, who was familiar with both Eastern and Western mysticism, argued that drug-induced experiences are not the same as religious mystical experiences of the theistic variety. It was farcical, he argued, for Aldous Huxley to posit a connection between his preternatural feeling of oneness with his chair and the Beatific Vision. The issue between Zaehner and Huxley was not over the veridicality of Huxley's mystical experience. It was over the significance of Huxley's experience: Was it or was it not a drug-induced mystical experience of the sort attained by mystics after heroic struggles of self-discipline? This was the issue again when Zaehner came to address himself to the claims of Timothy Leary, a chief proponent of ‘the LSD experience’, and, in general terms, this has been the central issue pursued by the psychological researchers.

Comparable studies

Other theoretical and historical papers on mysticism, most cited first.

Study Year Design Participants
The mystical mind: probing the biology of religious experience 2000 Theoretical or philosophical paper
Religious and Mystical Experiences as Artifacts of Temporal Lobe Function: A General Hypothesis 1983 Theoretical or philosophical paper
The Problem of Pure Consciousness: Mysticism and Philosophy 1993 Edited collection of essays
Irreducible Mind: Toward a Psychology for the 21st Century 2020 Theoretical or philosophical paper
Mysticism and schizophrenia: A phenomenological exploration of the structure of consciousness in the schizophrenia spectrum disorders. 2016 Theoretical or philosophical paper

Citations in the library

Cited by 5

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Mysticism LSD Mystical experience