Psychedelic Mysticism

This article is about the use of “full” psychedelic drugs, like LSD and psilocybin, and the mystical experiences that they can cause.  In the abstract the author points out that the rise of popularity of MDMA and the lower doses of LSD taken today compared to the doses taken in the 1960s (the height of LSD usage and the hippy movement) have led to less frequent reports of mystic experiences.  337 adults who have used psychedelics and other illicit and licit drugs were used in this study.  A quarter if these people reported using psychedelics for spiritual reasons but the use all throughout corresponded with high test scores in two indices of mystical experiences.  Users of strong psychedelics report experiences of enlightenment and revelation that mirror experiences that classical practitioners of religions like Buddhism and Hinduism reported.  Nowadays strong psychedelics are used more for music festivals and dance parties than for mind expansion that was popular in the 1960s.  The article labels LSD and psilocybin as entheogens like we talked about in class.  The participants of this study were given an online survey to take that consisted of a demographics and drug use questionnaire, a mysticism scale,  a states of consciousness questionnaire, a balanced emotional empathy scale, a life values inventory, a Langer mindfulness scale, and a depression anxiety and stress scale.  The results found that participants who used LSD and psilocybin scored higher on parts of the survey pertaining to mysticism and related experiences than those who did not ever use one of these strong psychedelics.