How historical, social, and cultural forces shaped the psychedelic experience in midcentury America, from CIA experiments with LSD to Timothy Leary's Harvard Psilocybin Project. Are psychedelics invaluable therapeutic medicines, or dangerously unpredictable drugs that precipitate psychosis? Tools for spiritual communion or cognitive enhancers that spark innovation? Activators for one's private muse or part of a political movement? In the 1950s and 1960s, researchers studied psychedelics in all these incarnations, often arriving at contradictory results. In American Trip, Ido Hartogsohn examines how the psychedelic experience in midcentury America was shaped by historical, social, and cultural forces--by set (the mindset of the user) and setting (the environments in which the experience takes place).
I believe that the greatest long-term benefit of psychedelic experience is that it can help to reduce mental conflict to the point where calmness, relaxation, and clear thinking can prevail more fully in ones life. Being able to relax quickly and deeply at will for as long a period as desired is a great mental and physical benefit in this turbulent and uncertain world. Inner emotional and philosophical conflicts can interfere with deep relaxation and clear thought, but psychedelic experience can provide the opportunity to gradually work on resolving these issues and finding satisfactory answers and resolutions to them at deep intuitive levels. If nothing else, even short periods of deep relaxation and peace of mind during the day can be a healthy escape from stress. It is possible to remain the stationary axle to the turning wheel of destiny even when circumstances become less than pleasant. I believe that psychedelic experience is a learning experience. Whether the inner teacher is considered as spiritual or a mental process or both or neither, new ways of looking at things are somehow provided that can be later tested and evaluated in daily life. The harder lessons take longer to learn and to require more repetitions To the extent that the mind can be cleared of unnecessary residual tension and conflict, direct perception can be experienced. The world can become a more vivid, significant, and interesting place, and its miraculous quality can be better appreciated. I consider that psychedelic drugs, used with reasonable care, are quite safe and healthy when the cautions that I have mentioned are considered. Only one of my more than two hundred clients experienced any significant aftermath after taking a high dose (500 micrograms) of LSD, but she was a patient in a mental hospital who had a history of similar episodes prior to her LSD experience. I believe that psychedelic experience could very well be of benefit for psychotherapeutic purposes, but I think that pinning too much hope on a single session is much too optimistic. One needs to learn to use the experience to his own advantage. In addition, I am quite sure that it would be of value for the psychotherapist to be personally familiar with the spiritual and cosmic concepts that the experience has to offer. I am guessing that a well-motivated patient who could choose his or her own dosage and the time interval between sessions would benefit the most. I am also guessing that either a disturbed or a healthy person could became quite familiar the experience and that he could benefit from and enjoy occasional self-exploration sessions with low or moderate doses without needing any supervision. For some people, the low dose experience is a satisfying alternative to the more dangerous and addictive drugs used for recreation. A rock concert could be as diverting as sitting in a nightclub. A question still remains as to the extent to which the right dosages taken at the right time could gradually replace the need for alcohol. It would be interesting to give a group of people who were strongly attracted to alcohol or some other recreational drug access to quality controlled self-administered doses of a psychedelic drug and to see the extent to which the one could replace the other. The experiences are quite different, but they have in common the fact that they are both indeed altered states of consciousness. They are both highs but one is considerably safer than the others. I predict that there would be some success in such an endeavor and that having an experienced person to act as an ally during the transition would be of great help. The moderate dose stimulates meditation, relaxation, self-exploration, and creativity. The high dose permits exploration of abstract and religious concepts as well as permitting possible resolutions of emotional, psychological, and philosophical conflicts on deep intuitive levels. At all levels t
One of the most important books written on the effects of LSD on the human psyche. • Its authoritative research has great relevance to the current debate on drug legalization. • Prolific authors Robert Masters and Jean Houston are pioneer figures in the field of transpersonal psychology and founders of the Human Potentials Movement. The Varieties of Psychedelic Experience was published in 1966, just as the first legal restrictions on the use of psychedelic substances were being enacted. Unfortunately, the authors' pioneering work on the effects of LSD on the human psyche, which was viewed by its participants as possibly heralding a revolution in the study of the mind, was among the casualties of this interdiction. As a result, the promising results to which their studies attested were never fully explored. Nevertheless, their 15 years of research represents a sober and authoritative appraisal of what remains one of the most controversial developments in the study of the human psyche. Avoiding the wild excesses taken by both sides on this issue, this book is unique for the light it sheds on the possibilities and the limitations of psychedelic drugs, as well as on the techniques for working with them. With drug legalization an increasingly important issue, The Varieties of Psychedelic Experience provides a welcome and much needed contrast to the current hysteria that surrounds this topic.
“Pollan keeps you turning the pages . . . cleareyed and assured.” —New York Times A #1 New York Times Bestseller, New York Times Book Review 10 Best Books of 2018, and New York Times Notable Book A brilliant and brave investigation into the medical and scientific revolution taking place around psychedelic drugs--and the spellbinding story of his own life-changing psychedelic experiences When Michael Pollan set out to research how LSD and psilocybin (the active ingredient in magic mushrooms) are being used to provide relief to people suffering from difficult-to-treat conditions such as depression, addiction and anxiety, he did not intend to write what is undoubtedly his most personal book. But upon discovering how these remarkable substances are improving the lives not only of the mentally ill but also of healthy people coming to grips with the challenges of everyday life, he decided to explore the landscape of the mind in the first person as well as the third. Thus began a singular adventure into various altered states of consciousness, along with a dive deep into both the latest brain science and the thriving underground community of psychedelic therapists. Pollan sifts the historical record to separate the truth about these mysterious drugs from the myths that have surrounded them since the 1960s, when a handful of psychedelic evangelists inadvertently catalyzed a powerful backlash against what was then a promising field of research. A unique and elegant blend of science, memoir, travel writing, history, and medicine, How to Change Your Mind is a triumph of participatory journalism. By turns dazzling and edifying, it is the gripping account of a journey to an exciting and unexpected new frontier in our understanding of the mind, the self, and our place in the world. The true subject of Pollan's "mental travelogue" is not just psychedelic drugs but also the eternal puzzle of human consciousness and how, in a world that offers us both suffering and joy, we can do our best to be fully present and find meaning in our lives.
Carl Gustav Jung pioneered the transformative potential of the deep unconscious. Psychedelic substances provide direct and powerful access to this inner world. How, then, might Jungian psychology help us to better understand the nature of psychedelic experiences? And how might psychedelics assist the movement toward psychological transformation described by Jung? Jungian depth psychology and psychedelic psychotherapy are both concerned with coming to terms with unconscious drives, complexes, and symbolic images. Unaware of significant evidence for the safe clinical use of psychedelic drugs, Jung himself remained wary of psychedelics and staunchly opposed their therapeutic use. His bias has prevented Jungians from objectively considering the benefits as well as the risks of using psychedelics for psychological healing and growth. Confrontation with the Unconscious intertwines psychedelic research, personal accounts of psychedelic experiences, and C. G. Jung's work on trauma, the shadow, psychosis, and psychospiritual transformation - including Jung's own confrontation with the unconscious - to show the relevance of Jung's penetrating insights to the work of Stanislav Grof, Ann Shulgin, Ronald Sandison, Margot Cutner, among other psychedelic and transpersonal researchers, and to demonstrate the great value of Jung's penetrating insights for understanding difficult psychedelic experiences and promoting safe and effective psychedelic exploration and psychotherapy.
The Psychedelic Experience, created in the movement's early years by the prophetic shaman-professors Timothy Leary, Ralph Metzner, and Richard Alpert (Ram Dass), is a foundational text that serves as a model and a guide for all subsequent mind-expanding inquiries. In this wholly unique book, the authors provide an interpretation of an ancient sacred manuscript, the Tibetan Book of the Dead, from a psychedelic perspective. Reissued here to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the summer of love.
"A genuine spiritual quest. . . . Extraordinary." — New York Times Among the most profound and influential explorations of mind-expanding psychedelic drugs ever written, here are two complete classic books—The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell—in which Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World, reveals the mind's remote frontiers and the unmapped areas of human consciousness. This edition also features an additional essay, "Drugs That Shape Men's Minds," now included for the first time.
What do psychedelics reveal about consciousness? What impact have psychedelics had on philosophy? In this rapidly growing area of study, this is the first volume to explore the philosophy of psychedelic experience, from a range of interdisciplinary and cross-cultural perspectives. In doing so, Philosophy and Psychedelics reveals just why the place of psychedelics in our societies should not be left to medical sciences alone, as psychedelic experience opens up new perspectives on fundamental philosophical questions relating to human experience, ethics, and the metaphysics of mind. Mapping a range of philosophical responses to the surge in studies into psychedelic drugs in the cognitive sciences, this go-to volume examines topics including psychedelics and the role of governance; psychedelics and mysticism; what psychedelics can tell us about dyadic thankfulness; and psychedelics as ways to gain new knowledge. Written by leading international scholars, the essays cover Western and non-Western traditions, from analytic philosophy to Zen Buddhism, and discuss a variety of hallucinogens, such as LSD, MDMA, and Ayahuasca, in order to build a much-needed bridge between the rapidly growing scientific research and the philosophy behind psychedelic experience.
Psychedelic Experience presents a philosophical account of psychedelic experience. A central premise of the book is that such experiences are mind-revealing experiences and that they can be induced by means other than psychedelics. In particular, the book argues that psychedelic experiences can also be had as the result of meditation. Aiden Lyon presents a unified conceptual framework for thinking about the different kinds of psychedelic experiences one may have as a result of psychedelics, meditation, and their combination. This framework is then used to shed new light on various commonalities between psychedelics and meditation, such as the ability to promote long-lasting increases in mindfulness and their reputation for inducing mystical experiences. Finally, the book uses these new philosophical resources to flip things around and shine the light back on philosophy itself, arguing that psychedelic experiences can be used as tools for doing philosophy. The result is a new approach to philosophy (or the revival of an ancient one), which integrates traditional analytic methods with a range of psychedelic techniques.
Now synonymous with Sixties counterculture, LSD actually entered the American consciousness via the mainstream. Time and Life, messengers of lumpen-American respectability, trumpeted its grand arrival in a postwar landscape scoured of alluring descriptions of drug use while lesser outlets piggybacked on their coverage with stories by turns sensationalized and glowing. Acid Hype offers the untold tale of LSD's wild journey from Brylcreem and Ivory soap to incense and peppermints. As Stephen Siff shows, the early attention lavished on the drug by the news media glorified its use in treatments for mental illness but also its status as a mystical--yet legitimate--gateway to exploring the unconscious mind. Siff's history takes readers to the center of how popular media hyped psychedelic drugs in a constantly shifting legal and social environment, producing an intricate relationship between drugs and media experience that came to define contemporary pop culture. It also traces how the breathless coverage of LSD gave way to a textbook moral panic, transforming yesterday's refined seeker of truths into an acid casualty splayed out beyond the fringe of polite society.
