Abstract In the late 1960s, new styles of revolutionary politics of ecstasy emerged in the United States. They combined countercultural politics of transforming the subject via the experience of ecstatic states of the body with radical approaches to a fundamental reconfiguration of the societal order. A vital force in shaping such new styles of radical politics was the White Panther Party – an...
There has been growth in the use of psychedelics by the global population in recent years. In addition to recreational and ritualistic use, recent research into psychedelics has brought advances for treating mental disorders. Understanding the specific circumstances in which psilocybin leads to positive outcomes may have important implications for the future of its clinical use and for harm...
June 15, 2023Thomas J. Johnson, Danielle D. Weisman, Virgil L. Sheets et al.1 citation
Since its inception, the electronic dance music (EDM) scene has been associated with drug use, especially MDMA (Ecstasy) and, to a lesser extent, psychedelics. Ethnographic studies and first-person accounts also emphasise the importance of mystical experiences among EDM participants, as well as religious or spiritual practices connected with EDM culture. The current study surveyed 146...
Cape Pietism is a hybrid, transnational and transconfessional form of spirituality, emanating from the Pietistic movement in Germany, with its emphasis on medieval mysticism, piety and spiritual devotion to Christ, and Dutch Second Reformation influences. Feminine Pietists in South African frontier communities were the practitioners of this form of spirituality, analogous to similar trends in...
Ayahuasca is a psychedelic brew that has been the focus of an increasing number of investigations for its potential therapeutic effects. In addition to psychiatric improvements, qualitative studies and anecdotal reports suggest that ayahuasca use may influence gratitude and relationships with nature. Yet, to date, these specific changes have been understudied. Here, participants (N = 54)...
CannabisJune 1, 2023Selina Espinoza, Melissa-Ann Lagunas, Rocha Claudia et al.
More than half of the United States has legalized medicinal and/or recreational cannabis. The purpose of the study is to understand cannabis use and perceptions among college students with cannabis experience – 21 years and older – in a legalized cannabis state. Participants included 170 college students, the majority identified as female (72.9%, n = 124) and Latinx/Hispanic (55.9%, n = 95)....
Abstract Since 2001, visual artist Ellen Gallagher has been working on “Watery Ecstatic,” an ongoing, expansive project that depicts real and imaginary underwater life through drawings, films, reliefs, and paintings. Thus far, this series—indeed, Gallagher’s oeuvre—has not been studied by scholars of religion. Arguing that the series provokes an extended conversation about mysticism,...
This paper advocates for a renewed focus into the experiential domain of religious and spiritual expression in research on physical and mental health. Most studies, up to now, have investigated risk or protection associated with behavioral measures of religiousness, whether public behaviors such as religious attendance or private behaviors such as personal prayer. Religious attitudes, beliefs,...
How do brains create all our different colors, pains, and other conscious qualities? These various qualia are the most essential aspects of consciousness. Yet standard neuroscience (primarily based on synaptic information processing) has not found the synaptic-firing codes, sometimes described as the “spike code,” to account for how these qualia arise and how they unite to form complex...
Evidence suggests that psychedelics may serve as a therapeutic approach to reduce substance use; however, people with racial and ethnic minoritized (REM) identities are often excluded from this research. We investigated whether psychedelic use affects other substance use among REM people and whether perceived changes in psychological flexibility and racial trauma mediates this association. REM...