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These men were among 12 noted authors and teachers of science and spirituality who spoke at a Prophets Conference that recently took place at Saint John the Divine Cathedral in New York City. Given the setting and the stature of the speakers, I eagerly made the coast-to-coast trip from Seattle to attend the conference. When I realized that drugs were to be discussed as one of the pathways to access other realities, however, I felt rather uneasy. In my somewhat conservative mind, drugs were something to say no to and wage war against, not something to be used as an aid in spiritual development. But as I soon learned, and as pointed out by one of the presenters, many of today’s spiritual leaders would have to acknowledge that it was drugs that first opened their minds to other realities. Robin Haines Johnson, cofounder of the Prophets Conferences with husband Cody Johnson, concurred, saying, "The whole idea of expanding one’s consciousness that is so prevalent nowadays started in the ’60s. And yes, drugs were a part of that." While "drugs" can technically include anything from your cup of coffee to crack cocaine, the mind-altering substances in question are referred to as entheogens when they are used for serious or sacramental purposes. They are also known as hallucinogens and psychedelics, although these terms have rather negative connotations due to the drugs’ recreational use in the ’60s. Entheogens include LSD, DMT, ibogaine, magic mushrooms, psilocybin (a mushroom derivative), peyote, mescaline (a peyote derivative), morning glory seeds, and an assortment of plant substances used in shamanic practices, such as ayahuasca. Though effects vary, all are capable of inducing visions, intense euphoria, and a heightened sense of light, colors, and shapes; in short, a "quickie" spiritual experience. Except for peyote, which is used by the Native American Church, entheogens are illegal in the United States. My own mind expansion on the topic began just prior to the conference. I read the most recent books written by religion and philosophy scholar Huston Smith, including Cleansing the Doors of Perception. Because of his professional and personal experiences with mind-altering drugs, the Council on Spiritual Practices asked Smith to gather together his essays on entheogens written over the years and present them in a single volume. The title is drawn from his friend Aldous Huxley’s book about the mescaline experience called The Doors of Perception, whose title is based on William Blake’s original phrase. Blake’s words sum up the reason entheogens have been considered an important tool in mankind’s search for meaning and purpose: "If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite." Smith’s experiences with entheogens began when he became a volunteer in the legal — and at that time, entirely respectable — experiments on the effects of hallucinogenic drugs conducted at Harvard by Timothy Leary. His reason was simple: he wanted to experience God. Ten years of Vedanta meditation and ten years of Zen did not produce the mystical visions and altered states of consciousness that he wanted. The drug-induced visions of Leary’s test subjects, on the other hand, seemed to be similar to those of mystics. His initial experiences were not what one would term heavenly, however; they were downright scary, according to Smith. He experienced the total separation of the psyche from the body and thus felt awe and terror. Whether his experiences over the next several years were of heaven or hell — and they were both, Smith said — they all pointed to a larger Reality. Besides Huston Smith, two men who figured prominently in the early drug exploration with Leary were also featured speakers: Richard Alpert — known as Ram Dass — and Ralph Metzner. I was a one-year-old baby in 1961 when psychologist Timothy Leary was conducting the infamous LSD experiments at Harvard with fellow psychologists Alpert and Metzner. The three were testing the possible therapeutic benefits of LSD, psilocybin, and mescaline until Harvard officials discovered that some of the guinea pigs were undergraduates. Both Leary and Alpert were fired in 1963 and eventually established a commune on an estate in Millbrook, New York, proclaimed LSD a new kind of "sacrament," and founded the League for Spiritual Discovery, the first so-called psychedelic religion. Leary subsequently became famous for his counterculture commandment "turn on, tune in, and drop out." Not surprisingly, Leary’s name was invoked a number of times during the conference. Several speakers noted that while Leary’s ashes were floating in space, the spirit of their old friend was hanging around the church hall. Forty years after their experience at Harvard, Leary’s friend Ram Dass is still a big draw. Knowing little about this spiritual icon prior to the conference, I learned that in 1971 he published the best-selling book Be Here Now, establishing himself as a leading proponent of meditation and Eastern philosophy. During the last several decades, he has founded various projects, organizations, and charities that aim to relieve suffering in the world. Due to a stroke in 1997 that left the right side of his body paralyzed, he is wheelchair-bound, and his words come slowly. He took the stage after several of the speakers gave brilliant talks involving theories of physics, psychology, sociology, and metaphysics. He took the stage and there was silence for what seemed an eternity but was probably just minutes. Then he spoke and related his experience about this very traumatic event in his life and how it changed him; how, before the stroke, he was a golfer, a collector of sports cars, and a cellist. "I was a golfer," he told the audience. "That was an incarnation ago." He said he now feels closer to God and his guru than he ever did, and he accepts what he calls his new incarnation. He told the audience that LSD and mushrooms were his first means of grace because they provided the spark of awareness of a greater reality. His guru, Neem Karoli Baba, was his next source of grace, liberating him from the psychedelics. This stroke is also grace, he says, liberating him from the ego. His measured words and long gaps of silence were in stark contrast to what came before and drove home his message, which is silence. Ram Dass’ former comrade, Ralph Metzner, has explored a variety of methods for achieving altered states since the Harvard Project drug trips "turned his mind inside out and outside in." During the last twenty years, he has focused on shamanic practices, including drumming, fasting, sweat lodge, vision quests, and the use of hallucinogenic plants. He told the audience, "There are many worlds, and all are equally real." As did all the speakers, he said that his experiences have shown him the unity of all creation and the urgency of environmental protection, as humankind is quickly destroying the planet and its inhabitants. As a result, he is cofounder and president of the Green Earth Foundation, an educational organization devoted to the healing and harmonizing of the relations between humanity and the earth. Prior to the Harvard Project, psychologist Stanislov Grof began extensive experimentation with LSD. His experiments, both on test subjects and himself, changed his personal and professional life and awakened in him an intense lifelong interest in non-ordinary states of consciousness. Because of these experiences, he became one of the founders of transpersonal psychology and Holotropic Breathwork™. Author Robert Anton Wilson made several references to drugs during a monologue tinged with sardonic wit delivered from his wheelchair. Striking me as a Socratic George Carlin, he combines scientific fact, philosophy, and a damn-the-establishment attitude in his books and in his role as "sit-down comic." Even fringe beliefs don’t escape his wry view. "I look at Monterey Bay from my apartment while writing haikus," he said. "If UFOs are unidentified flying objects, I see at least two or three a week." Throughout the conference, I wondered about the impression made on the audience concerning drugs, since the presenters were, on the whole, very supportive of entheogens. I was relieved when several audience members addressed questions on the subject to the final discussion panel. All present were in agreement that the base of a person must be solid. Both set — the psychological makeup of the person — and setting — the environment — are of utmost importance. They went on to say that drugs should not be used for recreational purposes, but in a controlled setting for ceremonial rites. Intention, as with everything, is of prime importance. My worries about impressionable youth at the conference were also allayed a bit after talking with Joyce, a woman in her sixties from Minneapolis. Joyce said she was sitting next to a young man sporting assorted piercings and tattoos and noticed that he was laughing at Ram Dass’ humorous references to drugs. "So I take it you’re familiar with what he’s talking about?" she asked him. "Actually, no," replied the young man. "I just think he’s funny. I don’t need that stuff to take me to the next level." His words give voice to my own feelings, though my path is largely uneventful and devoid of Technicolor visionary experiences. It’s my opinion, and that of these speakers, however, that these otherworldly experiences are not ultimately important; it’s how one grows spiritually in the mundane world that matters. I’ve also concluded that not all drugs should be labeled bad and kept from humanity. Medicinal and therapeutic uses should still be investigated, and certain drugs should be allowed for ceremonial purposes. Controlled experimentation has also proven valuable for investigating the nature of human consciousness. Beyond these legitimate areas, most individuals simply don’t have the solid base to ingest drugs without going off the deep end. Listening to the men and women who spoke at the conference, I realized that a generation that pioneered consciousness exploration is in its final decades. We are the recipients of the wisdom gained from their intense exploration, which may have been launched by drugs but which expanded into meditation, trance dance, breathwork, and other pathways for realizing the divine. Their lives illustrate that cleansing the doors of perception is a lifelong process, and that there are, ultimately, many doors. For information regarding upcoming Prophets Conferences, please refer to their Web site at <http://www.greatmystery.org/> or call (888) 777-5981. The next conference will be held in the Florida Keys November 16-18, 2001. Heather Roskelley is a freelance writer and media consultant based in Tacoma, Washington. Photo of Ram Dass by Robin Haines Johnson. |
Some
of our greatest icons and rogue thinkers of the ’60s sat
on the stage, gray-haired and bent, two in wheelchairs, one with
a cane. Age and infirmity had not dampened their fire and counterculture
ways of thinking, however. Ram Dass (right), Ralph Metzner, Huston
Smith, Robert Anton Wilson, and Stanislov Grof are grateful for
the mind-expanding experiences their drug days afforded them,
and they say so in their talks and writings. Each in his own
way credits hallucinogenic drugs with providing the first stage
in "cleansing the doors of perception," influencing
the direction and focus of the rest of his life.