Overview

Can drugs be used intelligently and responsibly to expand human consciousness and heighten spirituality? This two-volume work presents objective scientific information and personal stories aiming to answer the question. The first of its kind, this intriguing two-volume set objectively reports on and assesses this modern psycho-social movement in world culture: the constructive medical use of entheogens and related mind-altering substances. Covering the use of substances such as ayahuasca, cannabis, LSD, peyote, and psilocybin, the work seeks to illuminate the topic in a scholarly and scientific fashion so as to lift the typical division between those who are supporters of research and exploration of entheogens and those who are strongly opposed to any such experimentation altogether. The volumes address the history and use of mind-altering drugs in medical research and religious practice in the endeavor to expand and heighten spirituality and the sense of the divine, providing unbiased coverage of the relevant arguments and controversies regarding the subject matter. Chapters include examinations of how psychoactive agents are used to achieve altered states in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism as well as in the rituals of shamanism and other less widely known faiths. This highly readable work will appeal to everyone from high school students to seasoned professors, in both the secular world and in devoted church groups and religious colleges. Includes coverage of a variety of drugs, most of which are currently illegal in the United States, accompanied by scientific explanations of how they spur spiritual experiences Offers compelling narratives from individuals—both laypeople and professionals—who found new dimensions within their lives and heightened their spirituality by the use of entheogens Supplies information about medical experiments and new treatment modes that provide definitive breakthrough methods for caring for suffering people

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9781440830877

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Reviews

The broad scope of the essays in this first volume urges one to reconsider the long-held belief that psychoactives merely 'played a role' in the history of religion. Instead they suggest that this role was extensive and might even have been decisive in the formation of the spiritual faculty in man... [A]ll essays are well-documented and provide a plethora of references for those wanting to double-check if the authors don't read too much into the available evidence. This volume provides a wealth of ideas and knowledge for anyone interested in the spiritual aspects of the psychedelic experience. - Stitching Open, Open Foundation

[E]ntheogens can provide experiences that help people understand what had previously been only abstract religious ideas. Concepts such as awe, sacredness, eternity and grace can become profound with meaning with entheogens. They have attracted serious scholarly attention . . . . J.H. Ellens' two-volume anthology, Seeking the Sacred with Psychoactive Substances: Chemical Paths to Spirituality and to God, is the most thorough recent study. These scholars' research refutes the claim that entheogenists are merely leftover hippies from the 1960s. - Religion News Service The broad scope of the essays in this first volume urges one to reconsider the long-held belief that psychoactives merely 'played a role' in the history of religion. Instead they suggest that this role was extensive and might even have been decisive in the formation of the spiritual faculty in man. . . . [A]ll essays are well-documented and provide a plethora of references for those wanting to double-check if the authors don't read too much into the available evidence. This volume provides a wealth of ideas and knowledge for anyone interested in the spiritual aspects of the psychedelic experience. - Stitching Open, Open Foundation

Author Information

J. Harold Ellens, PhD, is a retired professor of psychology and philosophy, a retired Presbyterian theologian and pastor, and a psychotherapist in private practice.

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