The Use of Psychedelic Drugs

Paper Summary:

The following paper discusses both how mind various altering psychedelic drugs impact on spiritual thinking and how various religions use it in conjunction with their belief systems. It also mentions how these drugs influence the thought process and make their users believe they are in another realm.

From the Paper:

"Altered states of consciousness have always been associated with religion and spiritual experience. Whether induced by fasting, meditation, pain, chanting, or psychedelics, altered states have been used by a variety of cultures practice devotion, attain knowledge, communicate with the spirit world, heal, and to understand the nature of the mind. Because of their unique nature, there is a wide divergence of views about their specific function and utility in respect to religiosity and the great spiritual traditions. This is especially true for altered states cultivated through psychedelics. While it seems as if the entire Indian philosophy was based upon experiences with hallucinogenic altered states, its religious doctrines no longer condone experimentation in this area.Furthermore, even though the altered states of the psychedelic drugs bear a striking resemblance to the states of mind described in many sacred texts of Buddhism, Taoism, and Hinduism, few of these systems promote the exploration of these states through these drugs."

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