The Higher Powers: Fred M. Smith and the Peyote Ceremonies
Dialogue A Journal of Mormon Thought December 1, 1995 DOI: 10.2307/45226145 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Historical analysis Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Intervention | Peyote |
| Topics | Mescaline |
| Key points | The author argues that Frederick Madison Smith, third president and prophet of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, personally used peyote and joined American Indian religious ceremonies in search of ecstasy, which he defined as "calling into action the higher powers of man." The author contends this experience informed Smith's view that ecstasy is an essential element of religion, though he rarely shared these views with the wider church membership. |
Abstract
Frederick Madison Smith was third president and prophet of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.Son of Joseph III and grandson of Joseph the Martyr, Fred M., as he was generally known, came to lead the Reorganization in 1915.Smith was a highly educated man interested in the relationship between science and religion.His interest led him to experiment with the religious significance of the hallucinogenic drug peyote.By his own admission, he widely used the drug in searching for what he would identify as "the higher powers of man."1As a participant in peyote religious ceremonies, Fred M. Smith celebrated with his American Indian colleagues in their search for ecstasy.Though Smith seldom discussed his views with the wider church membership, his participation and its resulting knowledge were an important part of his open-minded, far-sighted attitude about the mysteries of human ecstasy as an essential element in religion.Ecstasy, as Smith defined it, is "calling into action the higher powers of man" or, as he sometimes described it, "the state of being beside one's 1.