“For most orthodox Christians, the wisdom of using a drug to elicit deep religious insight may seem blasphemous. There is perhaps some comfort in hearing that atheists under LSD frequently report meaningful religious experiences. (In one LSD group, for example, of which less than 10 per cent of its members were “believers,” terms such as God, the Divine, deep religious experience and a meeting with the infinite were used in over half the follow-up reports.)”
Disclaimer: Note that many substances referred to herein and most likely in the followup discussion are illegal in the US, nor is any condoning of the consumption of illegal substances implied.
Not sure what you’re looking for exactly. I’ve had what could only be called religious experiences on hallucinogens. I won’t say they didn’t change the way I think, but I’m still an atheist.
I’m more agnostic than atheist. My half-dozen or so experiences with LSD, Mescaline, and Psylocibin reinforced my impression that any universe simple enough to be understood is too simple to produce a mind capable of understanding it.
I never had a mystical experience on psychedelics. I first took them when I was a religious/agnostic teenager.
I did get an alteration of my perception of time. It’s impossible to describe, but it felt as if my timeline was illusory - by analogy it is just a one-dimensional vector in a vast three dimensional time space - and the drug allowed me to get off it for a while and be in eternity. But there was no religious aspect to this.
I’ve taken salvia. Pretty trippy stuff, but I understand what it’s doing. I wouldn’t for a moment think I was experiencing something “meaningful” in much the same way dreams are not anything special.
During my misspent youth I dabbled in psychedelics. An ironing board once chased me around the room, but I never had anything that could be remotely described as a religious experience. I’d guess that people exposed to more religious imagery and ideas would be more likely to incorporate that into hallucinatory experiences. Because my childhood was relatively light on churchgoing and the like, I conjured up images of cartoon characters and mundane household objects instead.
I’ve had mystical experiences both on psychoactives (Amanita mushrooms - a non-psychedelic hallucinogen) and without any drugs (meditative trance). All they did was deepen my pacifism and social awareness, they did nothing for my atheism. In fact, they probably entrenched it further.
I read through the whole article from “The Psychedelic Library” collection(not exactly an impartial source when it comes to the taking of drugs). Did you notice the part about how drugs can stimulate your e.s.p., or the fact that it cites anonymous anecdotes?
Good question. At the time, I was a bit more amenable to theistic explanations than I am now… But, even then, it was more about admiration for the (scientifically explainable, but still wondrous) possible patterns of thought and observation within the human brain that we rarely utilize.
One thing I’ve wanted to ask here for awhile (I’ve requested a move to IMHO btw) is whether some atheists here (such as perhaps the above poster) are still open to the transcendental. In other words, do you merely reject the limited dualistic mythological theistic god, while remaining open to the truly transcendental (and transcendental explanadum), or do you instead reject any and all non-materialistic paths and foundations, even as you report said mystical experiences?
I have (and will) played around with mushrooms, acid, and the like. I’ve appreciated color more than usual, Watched my textured ceiling undulate, etc. No god stuff, thank god.
I had a strong feeling you were going to bring this up..
Honestly, I didn’t read the entire article…it was just the first site I found that provided statistical data to back up what I had suspected; namely, that there are a significant number of individuals who have come out of these experiences with a different take on their spiritual beliefs. It was meant to promote discourse, not to support my side of any argument. I didn’t assume that it was any authoritative reference, and I’m not surprised that it may be missing some credibility.
My supposition is that one would be more prone to see things in a different light through first-hand experience, rather than through proselytism or religious dogma. To that end, I’m also curious about friends/acquaintances who may have been partaking at the same time as yourself - their beliefs, your otherworldly discussions, etc.
The OP’s link brings up the Marsh Chapel experiment and how it showed how atheists had religious experiences after taking psilocybin. In reality, the experiment used Boston University graduate degree divinity student volunteers right before they went to Good Friday services.
I never took acid in order to illicit any sort of spiritual awakining; I did it to party. Maybe that’s why I’ve never come close to a religious experience while tripping.
First of all, I wasn’t an acid-head. I did the stuff every so often, when it was offered. It was hardly my drug of choice. But I never went off on a serious trip with the stuff either. I saw some weird shit – two sides of a street closing up like a zipper; Arnold Schwarzaneggar’s face protruding out of a movie screen and talking to me; my friend melding into the floor as he collapsed in a laughing fit; shit like that … but no deities.
Pretty sure my quote referred to a different (non-cited) experiment…they lead into the Marsh Chapel experiment with:
*"But on the other hand it is rather disconcerting to hear religious professionals report they have had their only profound revelations after using psychedelics. (An experiment conducted with 69 theologically trained individuals in religious locations indicated that over 75 per cent had what they considered moving spiritual insights under LSD, and over half—fully aware of the implications of what they were saying—declared that through the intercession of the drugs they had “the most important religious experience of their lives.”) "
*
Sure, I’ve had plenty. And in fact there was one weird thought that I can actually bring up by thinking of it, and have my own voluntary shrooms flashback whenever I like. Said thought is essnetially impossible to describe, but it is at one with the universe.
Hallucinogens definitely open up some (but by no means all) to having what could be broadly termed mystical experiences. I’ve had such experiences, both using hallucinogens and not. Some people are simply more suceptible to them than others, although the mind-set in which one approaches the matter has some influence as well.
The experiences have a certain similarity: the loss of ego, the sense of being simply a part of something greater, the ‘at-one’ sensation, a deep feeling of awe.
However, the content of such experiences varies with the individual. Those who are already religious are likely to experience it as ‘at-one’ with their deity. Those who are not, are more likely to experience it as ‘at-one’ with the universe as a whole.
My own feeling, after such an experience, was very strongly of the later sort - that humans were simply animate parts of the universe granted the privilege of perceiving itself; that science was, in a way, the highest and most potent form of worship, in that it consists of a method for attempting to see the universe as it actually is; and that the worship of lesser, man-made deities was a sort of idolitary (being the worship of a symbol rather than reality). But that’s just my impression - others may experience the matter differently.
