Entheogenesis: Toward an Expanded Worldview for Our Time

The concept of consciousness expansion, historically primal to psychedelics, offers two advantages over the term 'tripping': it links psychedelic drugs with other expansion methods like meditation and creative visioning, and it contrasts with consciousness contraction seen in concentration and focus. Both expansions and contractions occur at individual states and societal worldviews. Contemporary global culture is shifting toward an expanded worldview that acknowledges both material and spiritual dimensions of existence.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Whereas the terminology of psychedelics has acquired spurious cultural associations of “tripping,” the historically primal concept of consciousness expansion has two advantages. One, it connects psychedelic drugs with other modes of consciousness expansion, such as meditation and creative visioning; and two, it suggests contrasting comparison with the consciousness contraction involved in concentration and focus. Both expansions and contractions can be observed at the level of an individual’s states of consciousness and also at the level of the shared worldview of society. Contemporary world culture is moving toward an expanded worldview that recognizes both the material and the spiritual dimensions of our existence.