Philosophical learning can be understood as learning healing knowledge, a concept linked to southern African diviners' use of psychoactive plants. Contemporary studies affirm benefits of psychedelics in orchestrated guided experiences, whose aims align with the nature of philosophical learning. Philosophy as a learning practice has historical precedent in the Eleusinian Mysteries and ties to indigenous cultural practices that venerate psychoactive substances as agents of learning, healing, and transformation. Mainstream philosophy may learn from southern African indigenous practices. Psychedelics have potential to foster transformative philosophical learning that enables positive social change, making the topic worthy of philosophical reflection.
Mystical experiences in religious and cultic contexts differ in how the divine is understood: as uncontainable in religion or as contained within a human leader in cults. Using Mormonism and Happy Science as case studies, the article argues that Joseph Smith's vision exemplifies traditional religious mysticism with transcendent, self-dissolving elements, while Ryuho Okawa's experience remains within the physical realm and emphasizes the divine within the individual. The distinction hinges on whether the divine is seen as beyond or within human boundaries, offering a philosophical tool for differentiating religions from cults.
Chris Letheby's two-factor account of psychedelic therapy emphasizes neural, cognitive, and phenomenological plasticity as the first factor, and new self-modelling discovered during the experience and reinforced in integration as the second. This article argues that Letheby's theory overlooks the importance of non-individualistic aspects, traditionally called "set and setting." "Set" corresponds to embodiment—how the subject's bodily state shapes the experience—and "setting" corresponds to embeddedness—how the environment influences the content, quality, and therapeutic value of the psychedelic experience. The principles of set and setting can critically inform Letheby's theory by filling in these missing phenomenological components.