Dear Isabel,
It seems to me that some drug experiences are exactly the same as some experiences described as mystical or religious. People talk about feeling a sense of oneness or peace, they say they were in the presence of God, etc. And then there are all the weird visions. Do you think that mystics were really taking some kind of psychedelic substance, like ergot or peyote? And if people want to have religious experiences, maybe they should just take one of these drugs?
Asking for a Friend
Dear Asking,
There are definitely similarities between some drug-induced states and what people report as religious or mystical experiences. Other experiences that can evoke religious-seeming states of mind are extreme sleep deprivation and psychosis.
Are some mystical experiences actually reports of psychedelic or other drug use? No doubt. Are all mystical experiences due to drugs? It seems very improbable. There are just too many of them, experienced by too many people who say they weren’t eating or drinking or doing anything unusual at the time.
Your other question—whether drugs are the way to have religious experiences—touches on what the purpose of having a religious experience is. If you want your mind to have unusual perceptions, sure, drugs will get you there, as will staying up several days without sleep. (I’m not particularly endorsing either activity. I’m just saying.) That could be very interesting. Then what?
Presumably the point of having a religious experience is to emerge with some kind of new awareness that actually improves one’s life or behavior.
Does the experience of oneness make you relate to others with more compassion? Then that is a fine outcome of the experience. Does it matter whether that realization was induced by a drug, a dream, or the visitation of an angel? I’m not sure it does.
“By their fruits ye shall know them,” Jesus is said to have said of people who claim to be special. What if we applied that guideline to states of mind? If they make you a better person (whether they were induced by drugs or not), how wonderful. And if they don’t (whether they were induced by drugs or not), what’s so great about them?
Wishing you well,
Isabel
Next week: A reader is frustrated by the hypocrisy in religious communities
I can vouch for the existence of religious experiences without drugs. With drugs is similar, but with more visual effects.