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  • P&S Moderators: Xorkoth | Madness

psychedelia as precursor to religion

Well written paper; awesome topic. I read Doblin's follow-up to the good friday experiment a couple months ago and it really sparked my interest in this subject. As an atheist, I've always had trouble coming to terms with the potential for spiritual 'awakening' through psychedelics; Whenever I tripped I was faced with exactly the opposite of religion: a reductionist's universe, devoid of meaning or spiritual purpose. It took a long time for me to finally understand how easily I could transform the experience into a spiritual one, and how easy it must be for others to create or reinforce their own religious beliefs as a result.

Even experienced users cannot reliably tell them apart in the laboratory.
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On a somewhat unrelated note, I would love to see the source for this. I've always been convinced that I would be able to tell the difference between most psychedelics if I were blindfold-dosed, but for some reason I feel that if this is true I wouldn't be all too surprised.

Cheers for a sweet topic.
 
qwe said:
^ lol... i have the reverse perspective. leary is my guy, i've read a lot of his philosophy and i've also read/heard some of mckenna's. mckenna is a little kooky/out-there for me, while leary is cutting-edge and spot-on on social theory and psychedelia in general.

btw, for those interested, my paper (would be better had i not procrastinated the shit out of it)
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Interesting paper. If you're into Leary and McKenna is it safe to assume you have read Graham Hanckock's Book 'Supernatural, which outlines his quest to use ayahuasca in shamanistic settings which he believes played an important role in the development of proto-religions

See the Egyptians using Water-lilly wine ( a proven hallucinogen),

Berserker using Fly Agaric (often through several passes through the body by drinking their own urine) before entering battles so ferosciously that their name lives on in our current word 'berserk'

Ibogaine used by Africans as a spiritual right of passage, but today best know for its scuccess rate and breaking opiate/Heroin addiction.

Or the admittedly (left-field) belief that the 'manna' from Heaven of the Exodus story was in fact monatomic gold, Joseph having learned the secrets from the Egyptian Palace, became an artificer/Magus who went up the mountain to perform the transformation (leaving his face scarred for life after one attempt. This white powder was distributed to the Israelites which strengthened their faith (psychedelic experience?)

IN PSYCHEDELIA VERITAS
 
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