My wife, a painter, was lying on the couch. The five blades of the ceiling fan are each a different color, she said musingly. Different? Yes, she continued, depending on which window the surface of the blade is lit by, or which lamp in the room, and the colors of the nearby walls.
Most of us perhaps see the fan s as off-white and are most concerned with how fast it will cool the room. It occurred to me that ordinary reality is so helpful, and so limited, because it sees things mainly in terms of the obvious use or dangers they suggest. A painters vision would then be analogous to what we call expanded consciousness, which is not better or worse than our usual vision, but which offers different information.
Because ordinary consciousness is so useful, many of us cling tightly to it. Any deviation from it may being forth prejudicial terms. Expanded visions are often dismissed as hallucinations, maybe caused by drugs. The world is divided strictly between material reality and a catch-all category called the spiritual. The former is studied by scientists; the latter, by priests and, may the Lord help us, by psychonauts. Stephen jay Gould called these realms magisteria. This division kept peace between the church and the men in lab coats, but it has confused the category of spiritual.
As a result of the distinction, anything outside of ordinary reality is consigned either to mental illness or to a transcendental realm. In the reaction to drugs after WWII and especially during the 1960s, the classic psychedelics were said to be psychotomimetic or hallucinogenic. In other words, the visions they occasioned were regarded as similar to mental illness. What else could there be, other than ordinary reality and distortions of it?
Except theology. So, as a new name for the hippies psychedelics, people who knew awe is the most important effect concocted the name entheogens, meaning they awaken the god within. The name was ambiguous about whether this god was transcendental or immanent, was a God familiar from the old-time religions with their temples, churches, and mosques or the sort of being who is prayed to or suggested by the increasingly popular phrase, spiritual but not religious.
The classic psychedelics are only one way to get beyond the limitations of ordinary reality, and they don't always effect a change. Even when revelatory on the personal level, the experience may remain trivial socially. Many of us have met guides who say, you dont always get the trip you wanted, but you do get the trip you need. If only this were the case! But at least there is a chance, as with any of the other techniques catalogued so usefully by groups such as the Council on Spiritual Practices (CSP).
(Disclosure: I had the honor to serve on the CSP board for a while starting in the 1990s.)
A friend in touch with a high Google executive tells me that in that firm its a firing offense to shoot down a new idea before it has an opportunity to be thoroughly explored, before it may suggest yet other ideas, one of which may lead to a product. In the non-profit world, too, things that eventually lead to a revolution are often said to be impossible, ridiculous, or in the contemptuous phrase of a physicist, not even wrong. In retrospect, everybody knows that a certain concept is right, even obvious, but not when it was nearly dismissed.
In his influential history of science, Thomas Kuhn advanced the useful hypothesis that after people do normal science for a while, anomalies pile up, and a new paradigm appears that takes account of what did not fit within the old paradigm. Brilliant, except where does the new paradigm come from? To conjure up an intuitive leap is indisputably true, but doesn't tell how it happens. Most ideas that are outside the box will not prove to be true, but one may, and in order to obtain the one its necessary to generate and at least briefly tolerate all the others. The kind of mind that thinks outside the box is not necessarily the same mind that frames and conducts careful experiments to test an idea.
A realist painter has to see what is actually there in order to reproduce it, even when that perception adds little or nothing to our sense of the usefulness (or danger) of an object, such as a ceiling fan. In a similar way, what we call expanded consciousness may help us to get beyond narrow pragmatism.
The Morning Email
Wake up to the day's most important news.
More:
- Entheogen | Psychology Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia - December 22nd, 2016 [December 22nd, 2016]
- Entheogens including Salvia, LSD, Peyote, and Mushrooms ... - December 22nd, 2016 [December 22nd, 2016]
- Urban Dictionary: entheogen - February 2nd, 2017 [February 2nd, 2017]
- Entheogens - Reality Sandwich - February 4th, 2017 [February 4th, 2017]
- A conversation with Haroon Mirza - Ocula Magazine - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- So A Minister, A Rabbi And A Buddhist Took Drugs For Science... - Huffington Post - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- So A Minister, A Rabbi And A Buddhist Took Drugs For Science... - Huffington Post South Africa (blog) - February 8th, 2017 [February 8th, 2017]
- Psychedelics touted as solution for society - Ashland Daily Tidings - June 6th, 2017 [June 6th, 2017]
- Entheogen - June 14th, 2017 [June 14th, 2017]
- Virtual Reality Takes Consciousness Research into Mystic Realms of the Divine Play - The Sociable - June 26th, 2017 [June 26th, 2017]
- Entheogens : Al-Kemi : spagyrics and alchemy - June 26th, 2017 [June 26th, 2017]
- What is the Difference Between Entheogens and Drugs? - Waking ... - June 26th, 2017 [June 26th, 2017]
- The History and Possibilities of Putting Weed in Your Witchcraft - Seattle Weekly - June 29th, 2017 [June 29th, 2017]
- The Entheogenic Evolution | Free Podcasts | PodOmatic - July 3rd, 2017 [July 3rd, 2017]
- The Summer of Love was more than hippies and LSD it was the start of modern individualism - The Conversation UK - July 6th, 2017 [July 6th, 2017]
- The Summer of Love was more than hippies and LSD it was the start of modern individualism - Metro Newspaper UK - July 7th, 2017 [July 7th, 2017]
- The Poisoner: Pharmakos and Veneficus-Poisoner's Apothecary - Patheos (blog) - July 18th, 2017 [July 18th, 2017]
- How San Francisco's Summer of Love sparked today's religious movements - Religion News Service - July 22nd, 2017 [July 22nd, 2017]
- The Summer of Love was more than hippies and LSD it was the start of modern individualism - The Independent - July 24th, 2017 [July 24th, 2017]
- 'Summer of Love' shaped American lives, spiritual expression - Houston Chronicle - July 29th, 2017 [July 29th, 2017]
- Entheogens: Whats in a Name? The Untold History of ... - August 21st, 2017 [August 21st, 2017]
- How San Francisco's Summer of Love sparked religious movements - The Oakland Press - August 25th, 2017 [August 25th, 2017]
- Natural vs Synthetic Drugs & Entheogens | Animam Recro - February 24th, 2018 [February 24th, 2018]
- European Entheogens: Folk Medicine and Magical Aids ... - March 9th, 2018 [March 9th, 2018]
- Entheogens today Ethnobotanical 101 - March 9th, 2018 [March 9th, 2018]
- Yoga and Entheogens (aka Drugs) Do They Mix ... - March 9th, 2018 [March 9th, 2018]
- Entheogens | Drug War Facts - April 5th, 2018 [April 5th, 2018]
- Vex - Destinypedia, the Destiny encyclopedia - August 3rd, 2018 [August 3rd, 2018]
- Entheogens | Gornahoor - August 3rd, 2018 [August 3rd, 2018]
- Plants - Tribe of the Sun - August 20th, 2018 [August 20th, 2018]
- Entheogens - The SpiritWiki - September 21st, 2018 [September 21st, 2018]
- Entheogens and the Future of Religion: Robert Forte ... - September 25th, 2018 [September 25th, 2018]
- Erowid Psychoactive Vaults : Term Definitions - November 22nd, 2018 [November 22nd, 2018]
- Entheogens and Psychedelics including Ayahuasca, LSD, Peyote ... - November 22nd, 2018 [November 22nd, 2018]
- Entheogens & Existential Intelligence: The Use of Plant ... - January 5th, 2019 [January 5th, 2019]
- Entheogens - PsychonautWiki - May 1st, 2019 [May 1st, 2019]
- Guide - Wikipedia - May 14th, 2019 [May 14th, 2019]
- Cleansing the Doors of Perception - The Good Men Project - October 16th, 2019 [October 16th, 2019]
- Dazzling Film Fantastic Fungi Shows The Magic Of Mushrooms With An Expanding Theatrical Release - Forbes - November 13th, 2019 [November 13th, 2019]
- The Joys of Growing Older - Cannabis Now - February 12th, 2020 [February 12th, 2020]
- In Chicago, Legal Pot Could be Just the Beginning. Are Mushrooms Next? - WTTW News - February 12th, 2020 [February 12th, 2020]
- Isn't it high time we decriminalised the use of psychedelics? - Political Analysis South Africa - April 2nd, 2020 [April 2nd, 2020]
- There's More to the CHOP Than What the Media Will Have You Believe - Study Breaks - July 21st, 2020 [July 21st, 2020]
- Reopening The Doors Of Perception: The Psychedelics Renaissance In Canada - Cannabis & Hemp - Canada - Mondaq News Alerts - July 24th, 2020 [July 24th, 2020]
- The Only Obstacle To A Healthy World Is Government Secrecy And Propaganda - Scoop.co.nz - July 25th, 2020 [July 25th, 2020]
- Entheogen - New World Encyclopedia - July 27th, 2020 [July 27th, 2020]
- Entheogens and Psychedelics including Ayahuasca, LSD ... - July 29th, 2020 [July 29th, 2020]
- Entheogen - PsychonautWiki - August 3rd, 2020 [August 3rd, 2020]
- Visions, Mushrooms, Fungi, Cacti, and Toads: Joseph Smith's Reported Use of Entheogens - Patheos - August 7th, 2020 [August 7th, 2020]
- Global Psychoactive Drug Market Forecast and Analysis (2019-2026), by Type, by Application, by Region. - Good Night, Good Hockey - August 10th, 2020 [August 10th, 2020]
- Entheogens | Sacred Geometry - August 10th, 2020 [August 10th, 2020]
- Check out virtual Hempfest protestival, live this weekend - The Leaf Online - October 10th, 2020 [October 10th, 2020]
- Psychedelic Drug Therapy: Tips and Support for the Experience - Greatist - August 24th, 2021 [August 24th, 2021]
- University of Michigan police say safety will be top priority at psychedelic shroom festival - MLive.com - August 24th, 2021 [August 24th, 2021]
- Cannabis & Marijuana Education: Learn All About Weed | Leafly - November 29th, 2021 [November 29th, 2021]
- What Are Psychedelic Drugs (Hallucinogenics)? | Leafly - November 29th, 2021 [November 29th, 2021]
- Breaking down the decrim movement: Discoveries, doubts and personal ins & outs - Aspen Daily News - April 28th, 2022 [April 28th, 2022]
- Mental Health Startup Journey Colab Aims To Develop Mescaline As An FDA-Approved Treatment For Alcohol Use Disorder - Forbes - April 28th, 2022 [April 28th, 2022]
- Decriminalize Denver, 3 years on: A campaign that had a ripple effect throughout the country - Denver 7 Colorado News - May 12th, 2022 [May 12th, 2022]
- Conspiracy and Antisemitism in the Debate Over Peyote Decriminalization - Psychedelic Spotlight - September 8th, 2022 [September 8th, 2022]
- Where are psychedelics legal or decriminalized in the US? - Leafly - September 8th, 2022 [September 8th, 2022]
- Entheogen - Wikipedia - September 8th, 2022 [September 8th, 2022]