BY ITS FRUITS? MYSTICAL AND VISIONARY STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS OCCASIONED BY ENTHEOGENS

Summary

The emergence of clinical trials on entheogens, particularly at Johns Hopkins University, has implications for the psychological study of religion and Christian churches in the U.S. While concerns about risks to religious community integrity from entheogenic experiences are largely unfounded, there are significant risks of individual harm associated with their use. Ethical considerations regarding the commodification of religious practices and the influence of experts on religious life are also highlighted.

Study at a glance

Abstract

A new era has emerged in research on entheogens largely due to clinical trials conducted at Johns Hopkins University and similar studies sponsored by the Council for Spiritual Practices. In these notes and queries, I reflect on implications of these developments for psychological studies of religion and on what this research may mean for Christian churches in the United States. I conclude that the aims and methods of this research fit well within Jamesian efforts of contemporary psychology of religion to assess religious practices by their fruits for life. Furthermore, some communitarian religious concerns that religious experiences occasioned by entheogens pose risks to the integrity of religious community are shown to be largely unfounded. However, it is suggested that certain risks for religious life posed by all investigations/interventions by knowledge experts—in particular, the colonization of the religious life world and the commodification of its practices—also attend these developments for Christian churches. Additionally, risks of individual harm in the use of entheogens appear to be significant and, therefore, warrant earnest ethical study.