DMT Gland
International Journal for the Study of New Religions February 20, 2017 DOI: 10.1558/ijsnr.v7i2.31949 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | DMT |
| Citations | 10 |
| Key points | Argues that Rick Strassman's speculative claim that the pineal gland secretes DMT to enable spiritual transit, though unproven, has taken on a cultural career of its own, adopted by opposing esoteric currents from Modern Theosophy to Lovecraftian gothic hopelessness. Contends that this case shows entheogens' under-researched influence on popular occultural narratives. |
Abstract
With clinical psychiatrist Rick Strassman's DMT: The Spirit Molecule as a vehicle, the pineal gland has become a popularly enigmatic organ that quite literally excretes mystery. Strassman’s top selling book documented ground-breaking clinical trials with the powerful mind altering compound DMT (N,N-dimethyltryptamine) conducted at the University of New Mexico in the early 1990s. Inflected with Buddhist metaphysics, the book proposed that DMT secreted from the pineal gland enables transit of the life-force into this life, and from this life to the next. Since that study, the hunt has been on to verify the organ’s status as the “lightening rod of the soul” and that DMT is the “brain's own psychedelic.” While the burden of proof hangs over speculations that the humans produce endogenous DMT in psychedelic quantities, knowledge claims have left the clinic to forge a career of their own. Exploring this development, the article addresses how speculation on the DMT-producing “spirit gland”—the “intermediary between the physical and the spiritual”—are animate in film, literature, music and other popular cultural artefacts. Navigating the legacy of the DMT gland (and DMT) in diverse esoteric currents, it illustrates how Strassman’s “spirit molecule” propositions have been adopted by populists of polar positions on the human condition: i.e. the cosmic re-evolutionism consistent with Modern Theosophy and the gothic hopelessness of H. P. Lovecraft. This exploration of the extraordinary career of the “spirit molecule” enhances awareness of the influence of drugs, and specifically “entheogens,” in diverse “popular occultural” narratives, a development that remains under-researched in a field that otherwise recognises that oc/cult fandom—science fiction, fantasy and horror—is a vehicle for religious ideas and mystical practices.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on DMT, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| When the Endogenous Hallucinogenic Trace AmineN,N-Dimethyltryptamine Meets the Sigma-1 Receptor | 2009 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| A Model for the Application of Target-Controlled Intravenous Infusion for a Prolonged Immersive DMT Psychedelic Experience. | 2016 | Theoretical or methodological paper | |
| Dimethyltryptamine (DMT): a biochemical Swiss Army knife in neuroinflammation and neuroprotection? | 2016 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Dimethyltryptamine Experiments with Psychotics | 1958 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Enlightening the "Spirit Molecule": Photomodulation of the 5-HT2A Receptor by a Light-Controllable N,N-Dimethyltryptamine Derivative. | 2022 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
Citations in the library
Cited by 4
- Survey of entity encounter experiences occasioned by inhaled N,N-dimethyltryptamine: Phenomenology, interpretation, and enduring effects. Journal of Psychopharmacology September 1, 2020
- N,N -dimethyltryptamine and the pineal gland: Separating fact from myth Journal of Psychopharmacology 2018
- N,N‐dimethyltryptamine and Amazonian ayahuasca plant medicine Human Psychopharmacology: Clinical and Experimental February 17, 2022
- Entheogenic Spirituality: Characteristics of Spiritually Motivated Psychedelics Use International Journal for the Psychology of Religion 2023