1. The principal psychedelics discussed were LSD-25, mescalin, and psilocybin. In this paper I am concerned only with LSD, though the psychoactive properties of each are sufficiently close to allow some degree of generalization. I do not intend to address the latest generation of psychedelics and would not want the arguments developed here to be applied to them without further study.
2. Huxley, A.,The Doors of Perception. New York, Harper and Row, 1954; Zaehner, R. C.,Mysticism: Sacred and Profane. London, Oxford University Press, 1959. Other discussants included: Clark, W. C., ?Religion and the Consciousness-Expanding Substances.? In Booth, E., ed.,Religion Ponders Science. New York, Appleton-Century, 1964, andChemical Ecstasy. New York, Sheed and Ward, 1969; Havens, J., ?Memo on the Religious Implications of Consciousness-Changing Drugs,?J. Scientific Study of Religion, 1964,3, 216?226; Pahnke, W., and Richards, W., ?Implications of LSD and Experimental Mysticism,?J. Religion and Health, 1966,5, 175; Smith, H., ?Do Drugs Have Religious Import??J. Philosophy, 1964,61, 517?530, and ?Psychedelic Theophanies and the Religious Life,?Christianity and Crisis, 1967,27, 144?148. This approach to the issues continues even today; see Godin, A.,The Psychological Dynamics of Religious Experience. Birmingham, Alabama, Religious Education Press, 1985; Staal, F.,Exploring Mysticism. Berkeley, University of California Press, 1975.
3. op. cit..
4. For example, Wilber, K.,The Spectrum of Consciousness Wheaton, Ill., Quest, 1977, andThe Atman Project. Wheaton, Ill., Quest, 1980; and Ajaya, S.,Psychotherapy East and West: A Unifying Paradigm. Honesdale, Pa., Himalayan International Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy, 1983.
5. Grof, S.,Realms of the Human Unconscious New York, Dutton, 1976;LSD Psychotherapy. Pomona, Cal., Hunter House, 1980;Beyond the Brain. Albany, N.Y., SUNY Press, 1985;The Adventure of Self-Discovery. Albany, N.Y., SUNY Press, 1988; and Grof, S., and Halifax, J.,The Human Encounter with Death. New York, Dutton, 1977.