Panpsychism and Spiritual Flourishing: Constructive Engagement with the New Science of Psychedelics

Panpsychism, the view that consciousness is a fundamental feature of all matter, may offer a metaphysical framework for interpreting psychedelic experiences as genuinely revelatory rather than merely illusory. Psychedelics research reliably produces transformative experiences, enabling neuroscientific and psychological study while also attracting philosophical and theological work on their epistemic and metaphysical implications. The article maps a mutually reinforcing relationship between panpsychism and the possibility that psychedelic states can be veridical, suggesting this congruence has implications for research on spiritual flourishing. This flourishing need not be theological but is consistent with some naturalistic theological frameworks, and the article aims to map the conceptual terrain for conversations about spiritual flourishing, psychedelics, and panpsychism.

Study at a glance

Abstract

This article discusses the potential implications of panpsychism for the study and pursuit of spiritual flourishing, with a focus on emerging scientific and philosophical research on psychedelics. Psychedelics research (1) has the means to reliably and safely produce the conditions in which transformative experiences routinely occur, thereby allowing for robust neuroscientific and psychological research, and (2) has attracted a growing body of philosophical and theological work on the metaphysical and epistemological possibilities of such experiences. I begin with a discussion of recent scientific work on psychedelics. I then discuss the epistemic status of psychedelic experiences, where the metaphysics of panpsychism is particularly interesting. I suggest there exists a mutually reinforcing relationship between panpsychism and the metaphysical possibility of a veridical interpretation of psychedelic states, and that this conceptual congruence has important implications for research on spiritual flourishing. This flourishing need not be understood in a theological manner, although it is, I suggest, entirely consistent with at least some naturalistic theological frameworks: the main goal of the article is to map the conceptual terrain in which conversations about spiritual flourishing, psychedelics, and panpsychism might take place.