Drugs and Mystical Consciousness
Nevill Drury, Gregory Tillett
September 10, 2019 DOI: 10.4324/9780429328688-21 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Commentary |
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| Key points | The text argues that hallucinogenic drugs can precipitate mystical peak experiences, a view it says is now generally conceded following Timothy Leary's pioneering work. It notes that many Eastern religion and yoga practitioners hold that such effects are better achieved without drugs, and proposes that psychedelics, though ostensibly 'artificial', may be biochemical agents in the brain causing effects similar to 'natural' methods. |
Abstract
In Western countries psychedelic drugs, because of their dangerous random use have understandably been the cause of considerable controversy. Hallucinatory drugs cause altered states of awareness, which in the shamanistic societies are often used for positive purposes like healing. One of the first contemporary drug-explorers was Aldous Huxley, the British novelist, who was later to be hailed by Timothy Leary as ‘the father of the psychedelic revolution’. Following on from the pioneering work of Leary, it is now generally conceded that hallucinogenic drugs can precipitate peak experiences of a mystical nature. A widely prevalent attitude among practitioners of Eastern religion and yoga since the psychedelic heyday is that while drugs can cause these effects, it is much better to get there without them. In summary, while psychedelic drugs are ostensibly ‘artificial’ they may be seen as biochemical agents in the brain which cause similar effects to those produced by ‘natural’ methods.