Do Drugs Have Religious Import?
The Journal of Philosophy October 1, 1964 Huston Smith 113 citations
A coincidental telephone number, KISS-BIG, and the initials IFIF (International Federation for Internal Freedom) captured the euphoric, manic, life-embracing attitude of a prominent organization exploring newly synthesized consciousness-changing substances in the 1960s. The organization caused Harvard's first firings, an expulsion from Mexico, and the Marsh Chapel miracle, where ten theological students and professors ingested psilocybin during a Good Friday service and reported the deepest religious experiences of their lives. Despite such parallels, scholars of religion largely dismiss psychedelic drugs as having little religious relevance, a position the author argues is premature. Drugs may illuminate the history, phenomenology, philosophy, and practice of religious life.