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Psychedelics And Mystical Experience
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» PoiSoNeD_CaNdY replied on Fri Apr 2, 2004 @ 1:09am |
 Coolness: 92380 | So I have to write a term paper for my "Philosophy of Science" course, and what topic would I choose to write about if not..you guessed it..DRUGS!!
Actually I should qualify the above. My paper isn't really about drugs, but about the biology of religious experience. I do discuss drugs in part of my paper, which is present here for your own reading pleasure and edumacation. "Can religious experience be artifically induced? The practice of devising ritual in order to facilitate the occurrence of mystical experience is common in religion, though not well studied by science. Religious music, meditation, fasting, and self-mutilation are all techniques used by various religions in order to induce mystical experiences, and these practices may be effective precisely because they trigger the neurological processes that are responsible for religious experience. A particularly notable example involves the use of psychoactive mushrooms among the indigenous people of Mexico, a practice likely dating back thousands of years. The ingestion of a substance for the purpose of inducing mystical experiences implies a biological mechanism for the resulting effects. While the ingestion of a substance may be interpreted by some as compromising the supposed legitimacy of the mystical experience, this was no problem for the indigenous Mexicans, as they considered the mushroom itself to be a sacred object, calling it teonanactlt, the “flesh of God”. When, in 1959, Hoffman and collaborators succeeded in isolating the active ingredient of psychoactive mushrooms, namely psilocybin, the mystery of the “scared mushroom” had given way to the discovery of a chemical that could possibly be used to artificially induce a religious experience. In 1962, Pahnke devised an experiment to test this possibility, conducting the famous “Good Friday” experiment in which psilocybin and a control were given to two groups of divinity students, who then reported their experiences on a scale devised to measure mystical experience. Given the significance of the study’s findings, they will be discussed is some detail below. The methodology of Pahnke’s double-blind study involved forming ten pairs of closely matched divinity students, with one of each pair receiving psilocybin (30mg), and the other receiving an active placebo. The purpose of the active placebo was to invoke uncertainty as to which of the pair had received psilocybin, however, this attempt was only partially successful, as by the end of the experiment the participants were able to figure out which had received the psilocybin by discussing its effects. The participants, under the influence of either the psilocybin or the placebo, attended a Good Friday church service, and then filled a questionnaire designed to measure the components of a mystical experience: 1) sense of unity, 2) transcendence of time and space, 3) sense of sacredness, 4) sense of objective reality, 5) deeply felt positive mood, 6) ineffability, 7) paradoxicality and transiency. These categories are consistent with scholars of religious experience, such as William James (1902), Evelyn Underhill (1910), and W.T. Stace (1960), and are considered valid even by academic critics of the experiment. The results of the questionnaire (and those of a 6 month follow up) indicated that those who had received the psilocybin reported significantly higher scores in each of the categories, thus providing the first scientific basis for the hypothesis that religious experience can be artificially induced. The “Good Friday” experiment, while it certainly suggests that religious experience can be triggered by specific neurological functions, unfortunately provides little insight into what specific brain function are responsible for religious experience. Since the study demonstrates that psilocybin is capable of inducing a religious experience, at least under certain conditions, it follows logically that psilocybin must be responsible for stimulating those neurological functions responsible for such experiences. Unfortunately, the mechanism of action of psilocybin on the human brain, as well as those of other psychedelics, is not well understood. It is known that psilocybin has affinity for the 5-H2TA receptors, and that hallucinogens are partial agonists at the 5-H2TA receptor sights (Marek and Aghajanian, 1996). However, 5-HT (serotonin) is responsible for mediating a wide variety of emotional experiences, not only those of a religious nature. More research is necessary into the mechanism of action of psilocybin and other psychedelics, which may by extension shed light on the neurological processes responsible for religious experience. Despite its being almost 40 years old, the “Good Friday” experiment is still relevant for providing the first experimental confirmation of the potential for inducing religious experience by artificial means. Unfortunately, legal restrictions on the administration of psychoactive substances to human subjects have prevented the continuation of such research. Anecdotal reports suggest that other psychoactive substances, particularly n,n-DMT, a compound that occurs naturally in the pineal gland, may be even more powerful in its potential to induce a mystical experience, yet legal restrictions continue to obstruct scientific research into this potential." |
Psychedelics And Mystical Experience
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