Moving Past Mysticism in Psychedelic Science (Article Debate Series)

Michael Hoffman, May 14, 2025.

The present page is newer; more entries; no commentary; clean title.
The other page is older; fewer entries; has commentary; specialized title:
Moving Past Mysticism: Theory of Cybernetic Eternalism Provides Scientific Basis, Superseding “Mysticism, Meditation, & Psychotherapy” Framework

Contents:

The Varieties of Religious Experiencing (James, 1902)

Search web:
“The Varieties of Religious Experiencing” James
https://www.google.com/search?q=%22The+Varieties+of+Religious+Experiencing%22+James

PDF, 400 pages:
https://csrs.nd.edu/assets/59930/williams_1902.pdf
https://csrs.nd.edu/about/ – The Center for the Study of Religion and Society, at Notre Dame

Amazon search:
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=The+Varieties+of+Religious+Experiencing
This printing or edition of the book has 798 reviews:
https://www.amazon.com/Varieties-Religious-Experience-Study-Nature/dp/1644391651/
and has Read Sample > Search, on desktop version of site.

Mysticism and Philosophy (Stace, 1960)

Mysticism and Philosophy
1960
February 1, 1987 printing
Walter T. Stace; Huston Smith (Foreword)

Book at Archive:
https://archive.org/details/mysticismphiloso0000stac/page/n9/mode/2up
must have archive .org book library card to borrow

A web search:
https://www.google.com/search?q=walter+stace+book+1960+mysticism

PDF of book:
https://www.academia.edu/30670193/Walter_Terence_Stace_Mysticism_and_Philosophy_1960_pdf

An Amazon listing:
https://www.amazon.com/Mysticism-Philosophy-W-T-Stace/dp/0874774160

The official model of mystical experience that was firmly baked into psychedelic science via Mystical Experience Questionnaire (MEQ).

Defines the the positive unitive model of “mystical experience”.

It is an eliminative, reductive, narrowing, selective conception of mystical experience:

“If your experience was anything other than positive unitive, you failed to have a mystical experience, and your experience is to be ignored, rejected, and disowned, as irrelevant for mystical experience.”

Silently accompanying the positive unitive model of mystical experience is the repressed and disowned {shadow dragon monster} threat; the experience of the threat of catastrophic loss of control.

The more you are enlightened, the more that personal control goes instable and non-viable.

To have Transcendent Knowledge is to be cognizant of the threat of control instability.

This marks a boundary between levels, per folio image f107 in Great Canterbury Psalter.

In a Harvard video that’s transcribed at the present site, Charles Stang confronted Griffiths on this not matching writings of the mystics that Stang read; Griffiths responded (paraphrased):
“Yes, we use a “positive balanced” model”
and
“We’ve got the failures covered: we made-up the Challenging Experience Questionnaire (CEQ)”.

The CEQ arbitrarily eliminates 18 of 21 negative effects that are defined in Angst dimension of Adolph Dittrich’s 1994 OAV [Ocean/Angst/Vision] questionnaire; even the negative, unpleasant-effects questionnaire that was fabricated by psychedelic pseudo science is “positive-balanced” – a farce.

Drugs and Mysticism: An Analysis of the Relationship between Psychedelic Drug Experience and the Mystical State of Consciousness (Pahnke, 1963)

Drugs and Mysticism: An Analysis of the Relationship between Psychedelic Drug Experience and the Mystical State of Consciousness
Walter Pahnke, June 1963, PhD thesis
http://en.psilosophy.info/drugs_and_mysticism.html

How the Swans Came to the Lake: A Narrative History of Buddhism in America (Fields, 1981)

This book was the inspiration for the 1991 McRae article, which explains the 1893 cultural historical source of the (exclusively) “Positive Unitive”, Pop Neo-Advaita model of mystical experience (eventually expressed in Stace’s 1960 book).

In 1962, Stace’s version of the positive unitive model of “mystical experience” formed the false (selective, narrow, exclusivist, eliminative) basis of psychedelic science & its Leary-type psychometrics questionnaires, such as the Mystical Experience Questionnaire (MEQ), starting with the Good Friday Experiment at Marsh Chapel on April 20, 1962 by Walter Pahnke, under the advisor Tim Leary.

“If your experience was something other than Positive Unitive, your experience failed to be mystical; doesn’t count; and is to be entirely ignored, and rejected as a failure.”

40th Anniversary Edition (2022)

How the Swans Came to the Lake: A Narrative History of Buddhism in America
February 8, 2022
Rick Fields
https://www.amazon.com/Swans-Came-Lake-Rick-Fields/dp/1611804736/ —

Blurb:

“A modern classic unparalleled in scope, this sweeping history unfolds the story of Buddhism’s spread to the West.

“opens with the story of Asian Buddhism, including the life of the Buddha and the spread of his teachings from India to Southeast Asia, China, Korea, Japan, Tibet, and elsewhere.

“Coming to the modern era, the book tracks how Western colonialism in Asia served as the catalyst for the first large-scale interactions between Buddhists and Westerners.

“the development of Buddhism in the West through key moments such as

  • Transcendentalist fascination with Eastern religions
  • immigration of Chinese and Japanese people to the United States
  • the writings of D. T. Suzuki, Alan Watts, and members of the Beat movement
  • the publication of Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind by Shunryu Suzuki”

1992 3rd Edition

https://www.amazon.com/How-Swans-Came-Lake-Narrative/dp/0877736316

1981 1st Edition

https://www.amazon.com/Swans-Came-Lake-Rick-Fields/dp/0394748832/

Oriental Verities on the American Frontier: The 1893 World’s Parliament of Religions and the Thought of Masao Abe (McRae, 1991)

Oriental Verities on the American Frontier: The 1893 World’s Parliament of Religions and the Thought of Masao Abe
John McRae, 1991
Journal: Buddhist-Christian Studies
Volume v.11, pp. 7 – 36
Publisher University of Hawai’i Press
http://www.uhpress.hawaii.edu/t3-buddhist-christian-studies.aspx

Contents:

  • I. AN IRENIC DIALOGUE AND ITS ROUGH-EDGED ANCESTOR 7
  • II. THE WORLD’S PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS OF 1893 9
    • A. The Context and Meaning of the Columbian Exposition 9
    • B. The World’s Parliament as an Event in International Religious History 13
    • C. Asian Religions at the Parliament 14
  • III. TURNING THE MESSAGE AROUND I: INDIAN REPRESENTATIVES SPEAK OUT AT THE WORLD’S PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS 15
    • A. Vivekananda (1863-1902) and the Eternal Truth of Indian Religions
    • B. Anagarika Dharmapala (1864-1933) and Buddhism as the “Light of Asia” 18
  • IV. TURNING THE MESSAGE AROUND 2: CHINESE AND JAPANESE 23
    • A. Shaku Soyen (1859-1919) and Japanese Zen as the Law of Cause and Effect 23
    • B. Pung Kwang Yu, Government Official and Confucian Scholar, and the Evils of Religion Itself 27
  • V. THE IMPACT AND MEANING OF THE WORLD’S PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS IN ASIA AND AMERICA 29
    • A. The Asian Representatives and Their Messages
    • B. Lessons to Be Drawn Concerning the Buddhist-Christian Dialogue 31
  • NOTES 33

The article was inspired by the book How the Swans Came to the Lake: A Narrative History of Buddhism in America (Rick Fields, 1981).

The Psychedelic Religion of Mystical Consciousness (Rick Strassman, Jul. 2018)

The Psychedelic Religion of Mystical Consciousness
Rick Strassman 2018
https://www.rickstrassman.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/JPS_Strassman.pdf

My commentary:
https://egodeaththeory.org/2023/01/15/the-theory-of-psychedelic-eternalism-provides-a-scientific-explanatory-basis-for-mystic-state-experiencing/#Psychedelic-Religion-of-Mystical-Consciousness

A Measured Faith: Edwin Starbuck, William James, and the Scientific Reform of Religious Experience (White, Oct. 2008)

A Measured Faith: Edwin Starbuck, William James, and the Scientific Reform of Religious Experience
Christopher White, October 1, 2008
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/harvard-theological-review/article/abs/measured-faith-edwin-starbuck-william-james-and-the-scientific-reform-of-religious-experience/D3AA6E487FF2BCF19AAA0935B54B9160

https://www.google.com/search?q=Chris+White+Vassar+James+Starbuck+A+Measured+Faith

Gnostic Psychedelia (Erik Davis, Apr. 2020)

Tangential to the Moving Past Mysticism in Psychedelic Science debate. Favorably links to the 2018 Strassman article.

Gnostic Psychedelia
Erik Davis, April 2020
Gnosis: Journal of Gnostic Studies
https://techgnosis.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Davis-Gnosis-5.1.pdf

My commentary:
https://egodeaththeory.org/2023/01/15/the-theory-of-psychedelic-eternalism-provides-a-scientific-explanatory-basis-for-mystic-state-experiencing/#Gnostic-Psychedelia

Post: Gnostic Psychedelia and the Archetype of the Archons (Erik Davis, Apr. 2020)

Tangential to the Moving Past Mysticism in Psychedelic Science debate. Favorably links to the 2018 Strassman article.

A post about the article Gnostic Psychedelia:
Gnostic Psychedelia and the Archetype of the Archons
Erik Davis, April 14, 2020
https://techgnosis.com/gnostic-psychedelia/

My commentary:
https://egodeaththeory.org/2023/01/15/the-theory-of-psychedelic-eternalism-provides-a-scientific-explanatory-basis-for-mystic-state-experiencing/#post-gnostic-psychedelia-and-the-archetype-of-the-archons-davis-apr.-2020

Crop by Michael Hoffman
Crop by Michael Hoffman

Mystical and Other Alterations in Sense of Self: An Expanded Framework for Studying Nonordinary Experiences (Ann Taves, May 2020)

Debunks the “Positive Unity Experience” Model of Mysticism.

Mystical and Other Alterations in Sense of Self: An Expanded Framework for Studying Nonordinary Experiences
Ann Taves, 2020
Perspect Psychol Sci
2020 May;15(3):669-690
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32053465/
doi: 10.1177/1745691619895047. Epub 2020 Feb 13.
PMID: 32053465 DOI: 10.1177/1745691619895047
Free article at: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/86r3f75j

Erratum in: Corrigendum: Mystical and Other Alterations in Sense of Self: An Expanded Framework for Studying Nonordinary Experiences.
Perspect Psychol Sci. 2022 Mar;17(2):614. doi: 10.1177/17456916221076158. Epub 2022 Jan 24.
PMID: 35073216

My commentary:
https://egodeaththeory.org/2025/05/07/idea-development-page-29/#mystical-and-other-alterations-in-sense-of-self-an-expanded-framework-for-studying-nonordinary-experiences-taves-2020 – at top of page, Find “Taves”.

Search site for Taves:
https://egodeaththeory.org/?s=taves

High Mysticism: On the Interplay between the Psychedelic Movement and Academic Study of Mysticism (Karl Baier, 2021)

High Mysticism: On the Interplay between the Psychedelic Movement and Academic Study of Mysticism
Karl Baier, 2021
https://www.academia.edu/30979148/High_Mysticism_On_the_interplay_between_the_psychedelic_movement_and_academic_study_of_mysticism
in the book:
Constructions of Mysticism as a Universal: Roots and Interactions across Borders
Annette Wilke, Robert Stephanus and Robert Suckro (eds.)
Oct. 27, 2021 per publisher webpage for the book:
https://www.harrassowitz-verlag.de/Constructions_of_Mysticism_as_a_Universal/title_1314.ahtml
(The PDF & publish site say 2021, Amazon wrongly says 2017.)
TOC of book:
https://www.harrassowitz-verlag.de/ddo/artikel/82455/978-3-447-10785-3_Table%20of%20Contents.pdf
Book at Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Constructions-Mysticism-Universal-Interactions-Religions/dp/3447107855/ —

Book blurb:

“This volume charts the fascinating history of the multiple roots and interactions which underlie the modern popular understanding of mysticism as a universal phenomenon across epochs and cultures.

“In an unprecedentedly broad interdisciplinary exchange, international scholars from different disciplines critically examine the concept and mental maps of the term ‘mysticism’ which enjoyed a central role in classical theories of religion, as developed in fields like psychology, sociology, history or phenomenology.

“However, mysticism lost its prominence after the controversial debates [= Katz rebuttal against not mystical experience, but against the irrelevant Trojan-horse accretion, “pure awareness”] in the second half of the twentieth century[year? how does he below arrive at 1980?] about whether mystical experience should be considered universal or socio-culturally constructed.

“After four decades of silence [since Frits Staal’s 1975 book Exploring Mysticism], this [June 2021] [2021 – 40 years = 1981] volume ventures a stimulatingly novel approach to mysticism as a universal, transcultural category from the perspective of the cultural studies of religion.

This includes the question of how a European concept fraught with Christian notions was transferred to non-European cultures and secular contexts, and thereby attained new meanings and functions in daily life.

Fresh insights are gained by examining three major areas:

a) mysticism’s potential for boundary crossing in earlier centuries of European history;

b) the history of mysticism research in context – from
the mysticism boom at the fin de siecle and early twentieth century to
its renewed attractiveness in American counterculture and the psychedelic movement to
its trans-formation into postmodern spirituality; and

c) universal mysticism’s absorption of Eastern religions (notably Buddhism, Hindu traditions, and Daoism) as well as
Asian insiders’ self-conceptions.”

/ end of book blurb; book contains the Baier article

Contents:

  • Book: Constructions of Mysticism as a Universal: Roots and Interactions Across Borders
  • Article: High Mysticism: On the Interplay between the Psychedelic Movement and Academic Study of Mysticism
  • Abstract
  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. Drugs as a Topic within the Study of Mysticism before the PM [Psychedelic Movement]
  • 3. Aldous Huxley’s Psychedelic Perennialism
  • 3.1 Huxley’s Perennial Philosophy in Relation to The Doors of Perception
  • 3.2 The Consummate Stage of Huxley’s Psychedelic Mysticism
  • 3.3 Huxley’s Filter Theory
  • 4. Filter Theories after Huxley
  • 5. Zaehner’s Antithesis
  • 6. Pahnke’s Good Friday Experiment and the Influence of Walter T. Stace
  • 7. The Synopsis and Swansong of an Era: Frits Staal’s Exploring Mysticism (1975)
  • Bibliography

Consciousness, Religion, and Gurus: Pitfalls of Psychedelic Medicine (Matthew Johnson, Apr. 2021)

Consciousness, Religion, and Gurus: Pitfalls of Psychedelic Medicine
Matthew Johnson
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acsptsci.0c00198
ACS Pharmacology & Translational Science 2021 4 (2), 578-581
DOI: 10.1021/acsptsci.0c00198

Matthew Johnson, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore

Photo: Michael Hoffman

I GOT TO TELL YOU NOW THE SHIP IS READY
WAITING ON THE SHELF.

Photo: Michael Hoffman

Moving Past Mysticism in Psychedelic Science (James Sanders & Josjan Zijlmans, May 2021)

Moving Past Mysticism in Psychedelic Science
Sanders and Zijlmans, May 2021
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acsptsci.1c00097

My commentary:
https://egodeaththeory.org/2023/01/15/the-theory-of-psychedelic-eternalism-provides-a-scientific-explanatory-basis-for-mystic-state-experiencing/#Moving-Past-Mysticism-in-Psychedelic-Science

Reconciling Mystical Experiences with Naturalistic Psychedelic Science: Reply to Sanders and Zijlmans (Jussi Jylkkä, Jun. 2021)

Reconciling Mystical Experiences with Naturalistic Psychedelic Science: Reply to Sanders and Zijlmans
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsptsci.1c00137
Jussi Jylkkä (2021)
June 8, 2021
Published by American Chemical Society

Working with Weirdness: A Response to “Moving Past Mysticism in Psychedelic Science” (Joost Breeksema & Michiel van Eck, Jul. 2021)

Working with Weirdness: A Response to “Moving Past Mysticism in Psychedelic Science”
Joost Breeksema and Michiel van Eck
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsptsci.1c00149
ACS Pharmacol. Transl. Sci. 2021, 4, 4, 1471–1474
July 16, 2021
https://doi.org/10.1021/acsptsci.1c00149
American Chemical Society

My commentary:
https://egodeaththeory.org/2023/01/15/the-theory-of-psychedelic-eternalism-provides-a-scientific-explanatory-basis-for-mystic-state-experiencing/#Working-with-Weirdness

Researchers Debate the Role of Mysticism in Psychedelic Science (Don Lattin, Sep. 2021)

Researchers Debate the Role of Mysticism in Psychedelic Science
DON LATTIN, SEPTEMBER 9, 2021
https://www.lucid.news/researchers-debate-the-role-of-mysticism-in-psychedelic-science/

My commentary:
https://egodeaththeory.org/2023/01/15/the-theory-of-psychedelic-eternalism-provides-a-scientific-explanatory-basis-for-mystic-state-experiencing/#Debate-Mysticism-in-Psychedelic-Science

Mystical Experience Defines Psychedelics (Chris Kilham, Oct. 2021)

Mystical Experience Defines Psychedelics
BY CHRIS KILHAM, OCTOBER 1, 2021
https://www.lucid.news/the-mystical-experience-defines-psychedelics/

My commentary:
https://egodeaththeory.org/2023/01/15/the-theory-of-psychedelic-eternalism-provides-a-scientific-explanatory-basis-for-mystic-state-experiencing/#Mystical-Experience-Defines-Psychedelics

Mystical experiences without mysticism: An argument for mystical fictionalism in psychedelics (Garb & Earleywine, Jun. 2022)

Mystical experiences without mysticism: An argument for mystical fictionalism in psychedelics
Garb, B. A., & Earleywine, M. (June 2022)
https://akjournals.com/view/journals/2054/6/1/article-p48.xml
Journal of Psychedelic Studies, 6(1), 48-53
https://doi.org/10.1556/2054.2022.00207

My commentary:
https://egodeaththeory.org/2023/01/15/the-theory-of-psychedelic-eternalism-provides-a-scientific-explanatory-basis-for-mystic-state-experiencing/#Mystical-experiences-without-mysticism

Psychedelics, Mystical Experience, and Therapeutic Efficacy: A Systematic Review (Ko, Knight, Rucker, & Cleare, Jul. 11, 2022) – todo: read

Psychedelics, Mystical Experience, and Therapeutic Efficacy: A Systematic Review
Kwonmok Ko, Gemma Knight, James J. Rucker and Anthony J. Cleare
Jul. 11, 2022
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.917199/full

Abstract:

“The mystical experience [ie the Vivek/Stace, positive unitive model of “mystical experience”] is a potential psychological mechanism to influence outcome in psychedelic therapy.

“It includes features such as oceanic boundlessness, ego dissolution, and universal interconnectedness [dup of ocean], which have been closely linked to both symptom reduction and improved quality of life.

“In this review, 12 studies of psychedelic therapy utilizing psilocybin, ayahuasca, or ketamine were analyzed for association between mystical experience and symptom reduction, in areas as diverse as cancer-related distress, substance use disorder, and depressive disorders to include treatment-resistant.

“Ten of the twelve established a significant association of correlation, mediation, and/or prediction.

“A majority of the studies are limited, however, by their small sample size and lack of diversity (gender, ethnic, racial, educational, and socioeconomic), common in this newly re-emerging field.

“Further, 6 out of 12 studies were open-label in design and therefore susceptible to bias.

“Future studies of this nature should consider a larger sample size with greater diversity and thus representation by use of randomized design.

[how about a model of “mystical experience” that’s not shiite?]

“More in-depth exploration into the nature of mystical experience is needed, including predictors of intensity, in order to maximize its positive effects on treatment outcome benefits and minimize concomitant anxiety.”

[The best mystical experience is not moving from separateness to unity, but rather, adding eternalism-thinking to possibilism-thinking, during eternalism-driven control-transformation. -mh]

A Channel for Magic: Ralph Hood’s Mysticism Scale and the Occult Roots of the Johns Hopkins Psychedelic Research Program (Travis Kitchens, Sep. 2022)

“A Channel for Magic: Ralph Hood’s Mysticism Scale and the Occult Roots of the Johns Hopkins Psychedelic Research Program
Psychologist Ralph Hood’s study of serpent handling and mysticism helped legitimize the study of psychedelics. So why doesn’t he want them approved for medical use?
Travis Kitchens, September 9, 2022
https://www.psymposia.com/magazine/a-channel-for-magic-ralph-hoods-mysticism-scale-and-the-occult-roots-of-the-johns-hopkins-psychedelic-research-program/

My commentary:
https://egodeaththeory.org/2025/04/21/idea-development-page-28/#a-channel-for-magic-ralph-hoods-mysticism-scale-and-the-occult-roots-of-the-johns-hopkins-psychedelic-research-program-kitchens-2022 – at top of page, Find “Kitchens”.

Search site for Kitchens:
https://egodeaththeory.org/?s=kitchens

On the need for metaphysics in psychedelic therapy and research (Sjöstedt-Hughes, Mar. 30, 2023) – todo: read

On the need for metaphysics in psychedelic therapy and research
Peter Sjöstedt-Hughes, Mar. 30, 2023
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1128589/full

Psychedelic-induced mystical experiences: An interdisciplinary discussion and critique (Mosurinjohn, Roseman, Girn, April 2023)

Psychedelic-induced mystical experiences: An interdisciplinary discussion and critique
Sharday Mosurinjohn, Leor Roseman, Manesh Girn
April 2023
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1077311/full

TOC:

  • Pros: Critique of the positive unitive model of “mystical experience”.
  • Cons: Critique of Christian bias (corrected by Breau same year: Popular Neo-Advaita bias actually).
  • I discovered Mos. via Breau’s 2023 article rebutting this article for the “Christian bias” claim.

todo: move out excess, at two incoming Mos. entries

todo: create page about this article.

Search web for Sharday Mosurinjohn
https://www.google.com/search?q=sharday+mosurinjohn

Search YouTube for Sharday Mosurinjohn:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Sharday+Mosurinjohn

The M-Scale and the Occult Roots of the JHU Psychedelic Research Program (Travis Kitchens video, Feb. 2023)

Video title:
The M-Scale and the Occult Roots of the JHU Psychedelic Research Program | Plus Three #56
YouTUbe channel: Psymposia
Feb. 15, 2023
Show: Plus Three podcast

“In this episode, the Psymposia team speaks with writer Travis Kitchens about his recent piece “A Channel for Magic: Ralph Hood’s Mysticism Scale and the Occult Roots of the Johns Hopkins Psychedelic Research Program”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ued8NNIraFs —

The Religious Science of Johns Hopkins (Joe Welker, Aug. 2023)

6 part series

  1. The Religious Science of Johns Hopkins
    https://www.psychedeliccandor.org/p/the-religious-science-of-johns-hopkins – Aug. 12, 2023
  2. The Religious Science of Johns Hopkins: Spiritual Direction
    https://www.psychedeliccandor.org/p/the-religious-science-of-johns-hopkins-4cd
  3. The Religious Science of Johns Hopkins: The Power of Suggestion
    https://www.psychedeliccandor.org/p/the-religious-science-of-johns-hopkins-bfc
  4. The Religious Science of Johns Hopkins: Clergy Ambassadors
    https://www.psychedeliccandor.org/p/the-religious-science-of-johns-hopkins-079
  5. The Religious Science of Johns Hopkins: The Silence and the Smile
    https://www.psychedeliccandor.org/p/the-religious-science-of-johns-hopkins-9dd
  6. The Religious Science of Johns Hopkins: In the Name of the Holy Spirit
    https://www.psychedeliccandor.org/p/the-religious-science-of-johns-hopkins-7b6 – Aug. 17, 2023

Includes read aloud voice recordings by the author.

My commentary:
https://egodeaththeory.org/2025/04/21/idea-development-page-28/#The-Religious-Science-of-Johns-Hopkins

Crop by Michael Hoffman

Psychometric brahman, psychedelic science: Walter Stace, transnational Vedanta, and the Mystical Experience Questionnaire (Breau & Gillis-Smith, Nov. 2023)

https://www.google.com/search?q=psychometric+brahman+breau

Psychometric brahman, psychedelic science: Walter Stace, transnational Vedanta, and the Mystical Experience Questionnaire
Jeffrey A. BreauORCID Icon &Paul Gillis-Smith
Pages 788-806 | Published online: 13 Nov 2023
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03080188.2023.2266322

My notes:
https://egodeaththeory.org/2025/06/11/idea-development-page-30/#psychometric-brahman-psychedelic-science-walter-stace-transnational-vedanta-and-the-mystical-experience-questionnaire-breau-gillis-smith-nov.-2023
Slightly below that is:
https://egodeaththeory.org/2025/06/11/idea-development-page-30/#staces-covert-advaita-model-of-mysticism-is-presented-as-the-scientific-basis-of-psychedelic-science

The Pseudo-Religion of Psychedelics (Kitchens, Dec. 2023)

The Pseudo-Religion of Psychedelics
Travis Kitchens, Dec. 18, 2023
https://www.compactmag.com/article/the-pseudo-religion-of-psychedelics/ todo: read

todo: read the links Travis emailed Aug 20, 2025

How to End the Mysticism Wars in Psychedelic Science (Chris Letheby, Jaipreet Mattu, Eric Hochstein, 2024)

How to End the Mysticism Wars in Psychedelic Science
Chris Letheby, Jaipreet Mattu, and Eric Hochstein
2024
Palgrave Handbook of Philosophy and Psychoactive Drug Use
https://www.academia.edu/124791282/How_to_End_the_Mysticism_Wars_in_Psychedelic_Science
https://www.amazon.com/Palgrave-Handbook-Philosophy-Psychoactive-Drug/dp/3031657896/ —

The Psychedelic Evangelist (Brendan Borrell, Mar. 2024)

The Psychedelic Evangelist
A Johns Hopkins scientist was known for rigorous studies of psychedelics. Was he a true believer?
by Brendan Borrell, March 21, 2024
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/21/health/psychedelics-roland-griffiths-johns-hopkins.html

My commentary:
https://egodeaththeory.org/2025/04/21/idea-development-page-28/#The-Psychedelic-Evangelist-Borrell-March-2024-NYT

Video: Psychedelic Medicine, Panpsychism, and Theodicy (Mosurinjohn, April 12, 2024)

Video title:
Psychedelic Medicine, Panpsychism, and Theodicy | The Research Room with Dr. Sharday Mosurinjohn
YouTube channel: MAPS Canada
Len: 58:01
Uploaded Apr 12, 2024
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5POIh7_dJuM
“Psychedelic medicine grapples with the issue of bad trips within the framework of regulatory systems.” – todo: where’s that string from?
Desc:

“Sharday is an Associate Professor in the School of Religion at Queen’s University, Kingston ON, where she researches and teaches on esotericism, occult sciences, and new religious movements.

“She is interested in working with, and enlivening integrative, non-mechanistic worldviews found within these traditions.

“Her first book is The Spiritual Significance of Overload Boredom (2022; McGill-Queen’s University Press).

“Her major projects right now are about psychedelic spiritual crises and solutions.

“With multidisciplinary collaborators, she is synthesizing tools for facilitating navigating existential distress, recovery and maps for meaning-making.

“This work begins from a cosmophilic starting point, centering epistemologies of direct gnosis from traditional communities of practice, and integrating academic scientific and humanistic epistemologies.

“She is involved in a number of academic and other organizations: she is

  • a founding member of the Human Augmentation Research Network,
  • she holds leadership positions at the American Academy of Religion, and
  • she has been Director of Research at the Psychedelic Association of Canada“

What We Do Is Secret: Part One: The Night Watchman (Travis Kitchens, Jan. 2025)

What We Do Is Secret: Part One: The Night Watchman
Travis Kitchens, Jan. 2, 2025
https://vegetabletelevision.substack.com/p/what-we-do-is-secret

What We Do Is Secret: Part Two: There Must Be a Way Out (Travis Kitchens, Jan. 2025)

What We Do Is Secret: Part Two: There Must Be a Way Out
Travis Kitchens, Jan. 2, 2025
https://substack.com/home/post/p-153869153

Billionaires are Secretly Funding a Psychedelic Holy War | Travis Kitchens (Danny Jones video, Feb. 2025)

Video title:
Billionaires are Secretly Funding a Psychedelic Holy War | Travis Kitchens
YT ch: Danny Jones
Feb 10, 2025
Show name: Danny Jones Podcast

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jksrbKGGSM&t=940s —

Desc:

“Travis Kitchens was a psychedelic research subject for Johns Hopkins University who eventually uncovered a secret plan to revive religion with drugs. Travis writes on the history and philosophy of psychedelic research.”

Outline:

  • 00:00 – Johns Hopkins’ psychedelic study
  • 08:22 – ‘Robo-tripping’
  • 17:00 – The Council on Spiritual Practices
  • 25:30 – Can humans summon aliens?
  • 43:33 – How the psychedelic renaissance started
  • 56:11 – Did ancient mystery cults start Christianity?
  • 01:01:25 – Graham Hancock vs Academia
  • 01:11:30 – The fall of Christianity
  • 01:20:47 – What happens to the brain on psychedelics
  • 01:25:34 – MAPS
  • 01:33:22 – The Catholic church is pushing drugs
  • 01:38:10 – The Immortality Key: A New Reformation
  • 01:42:59 – DARPA: Psychedelics on the battlefield
  • 01:48:38 – Travis’ weird email from Roland Griffiths
  • 01:52:49 – MKUltra 2.0
  • 01:57:36 – Reviving religion with Psychedelic drugs
  • 02:15:16 – Secret unreleased psychedelic paper
  • 02:24:33 – Who is funding psychedelic medicine research?

Some Very Strange Enchanted Boys: The Curious Science of Roland R. Griffiths (Kitchens, Feb. 2025)

Some Very Strange Enchanted Boys: The Curious Science of Roland R. Griffiths
Travis Kitchens, Feb. 14, 2025
https://vegetabletelevision.substack.com/p/some-very-strange-enchanted-boys

todo: read & comment probably at idea development page 31. paste text into Word, del junk, paste to 31.

The Most Controversial Paper in the History of Psychedelic Research May Never See the Light of Day: Was the Psychedelic Renaissance Led by Science or Faith? (Travis Kitchens, Mar. 2025)

March 2025 issue of Reason: by Travis Kitchens: The Most Controversial Paper in the History of Psychedelic Research May Never See the Light of Day: Was the Psychedelic Renaissance Led by Science or Faith?
https://reason.com/2025/03/01/the-most-controversial-paper-in-the-history-of-psychedelic-research-may-never-see-the-light-of-day/

The Strange Case of The Immortality Key (Travis Kitchens, Mar. 2025)

Somewhat tangential to the debate, “Moving Past Mysticism in Psychedelic Science”.

The Strange Case of The Immortality Key
Travis Kitchens
Reason, March 2025
https://reason.com/2025/03/01/the-strange-case-of-the-immortality-key/

Video: The Sweetest Taboo: Psychedelics and the Invention of Religious Experiences | Sharday C Mosurinjohn (Mosurinjohn, Mar. 5, 2025)

The Sweetest Taboo: Psychedelics and the Invention of …
YouTube · Harvard Law School Program on Jewish & Israeli Law
Talk on March 5, 2025, per conference schedule webpage.
Uploaded Sep 29, 2025
YouTube · Harvard Law School Program on Jewish & Israeli Law

10:43
“The contribution that I want to make is towards supporting the discussion of psychedelics coming into mainstream culture on sound historical footing.”

She has found nothing that’s proved to be not on sound historical footing. Mosurinjohn & Ascough have disproved nothing, despite their propaganda campaign.

Mosurinjohn & Ascough covertly shift from possibility (maybe mystery religions didn’t use psychedelics) to as-if-fact (mystery religions didn’t use psychedelics).

Brave New World- The Psychedelic Renaissance is a Social Engineering Project (Travis Kitchens video, Apr. 2025)

Video title:
#60 Brave New World- The Psychedelic Renaissance is a Social Engineering Project. Travis Kitchens
YouTube channel: AWONDERJUNKIE
Apr 2, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZWsLluqU3Y —

Desc:

“Travis Kitchens was a psychedelic research subject in the Johns Hopkins study in 2014.

“Travis and Ryan explore the history of the current psychedelic movement, focusing on the Johns Hopkins studies, the Council on Spiritual Practices, and the implications of psychedelics in social engineering.

“Travis critiques the psychedelic movement, highlighting the influence of key figures and the commercialization of psychedelics, while questioning the narrative that psychedelics universally improve individuals and society.

“Travis and Ryan delve into the complexities surrounding psychedelics, discussing their potential benefits and the authoritarian elements that often accompany their use.

“They explore the dangers of addiction and escapism, the importance of cultural context, and the need for critical examination of psychedelic literature.

“The dialogue emphasizes the mystery of existence and the limits of knowledge, advocating for a humble approach to understanding consciousness and the human experience.

Chapters:

  • 00:00 Introduction to Psychedelics and Personal Journey
  • 09:58 The Johns Hopkins Study and Its Impact
  • 19:57 The Council on Spiritual Practices and the Psychedelic Renaissance
  • 30:05 Social Engineering and the Role of Psychedelics
  • 32:26 Narrowing Down the Focus
  • 34:01 The Psychedelic Renaissance and Its Critics
  • 36:31 Journalism and the Psychedelic Movement
  • 38:55 Transhumanism and Psychedelics
  • 42:18 Rick Doblin and the MAPS Controversy
  • 49:19 Whistleblowers and Hidden Research
  • 55:35 The Oversimplification of Psychedelic Benefits
  • 01:02:32 Psychedelics and the Military
  • 01:06:47 The Future of Psychedelics in Medicine
  • 01:11:56 Cultural Context and Individual Healing
  • 01:17:34 The Dangers of Escapism and Addiction
  • 01:24:38 Integration and the Mystical Experience
  • 01:35:45 The Mystery Cult of Psychedelics
  • 01:37:36 The Role of Subtlety in Psychedelic Experiences
  • 01:38:06 Exploring Richard Noll’s Controversial Work on Jung
  • 01:40:38 Understanding Jung’s Influence on the Psychedelic Renaissance
  • 01:42:05 Debunking the Cult of Personality in Psychedelia
  • 01:44:32 The Importance of Questioning Authority
  • 01:47:30 Psychedelics as a Tool for Humility
  • 01:49:49 The Need for Critical Examination in Psychedelic Literature
  • 01:52:43 The Dangers of Suggestibility in the Psychedelic Movement
  • 01:55:40 The Artistic Value of Controversial Figures
  • 02:01:36 Final Thoughts on Mystery and Skepticism Travis Kitchens

Publish or Perish (Joe Welker, May 2025)

Channel? PSYCHEDELIC CANDOR
Article title: Publish or Perish
Joe Welker
May 10, 2025
https://substack.com/home/post/p-162917659

Desc:
“Despite failing human subjects protections, a Johns Hopkins psychedelic clergy study driven to influence the public appears set to be published.”

My commentary:
https://egodeaththeory.org/2025/05/07/idea-development-page-29/#Publish-or-Perish [todo: move that content from Idea Development page 29 to the verbose orig. page Moving Past Mysticism in Psychedelic Science instead?]
Verbose original version of the present page, with commentary:
Moving Past Mysticism: Theory of Psychedelic Eternalism Provides Scientific Basis, Superseding “Mysticism, Meditation, & Psychotherapy” Framework
https://egodeaththeory.org/2023/01/15/the-theory-of-psychedelic-eternalism-provides-a-scientific-explanatory-basis-for-mystic-state-experiencing/

This Is Your Priest on Drugs (Michael Pollan, May 2025)

This Is Your Priest on Drugs
Michael Pollan, May 19, 2025
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/05/26/this-is-your-priest-on-drugs [subscribers] – If you are able to view entire article, you might want to Save As, Print (try 75% size), or Save As PDF – if you go in again, d/k if you have access to it.

I was able to access the full article and Save and Print it.

My commentary: https://egodeaththeory.org/2023/01/15/the-theory-of-psychedelic-eternalism-provides-a-scientific-explanatory-basis-for-mystic-state-experiencing/#This-Is-Your-Priest-on-Drugs

Crop and Annotations by Michael Hoffman, Jan. 13, 2025

Effects of Psilocybin on Religious and Spiritual Attitudes and Behaviors in Clergy from Various Major World Religions (May 2025)

The long-awaited “Religious Leaders Study”.

Effects of Psilocybin on Religious and Spiritual Attitudes and Behaviors in Clergy from Various Major World Religions
Roland R. Griffiths, Robert Jesse, William A. Richards, Matthew W. Johnson, Nathan D. Sepeda, Anthony P. Bossis, Stephen Ross
May 30, 2025
https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/psymed.2023.0044
Psychedelic Medicine (journal)

web search:
“Religious Leaders Study” Hopkins “Psychedelic Medicine” journal
https://www.google.com/search?q=%22Religious+Leaders+Study%22+Hopkins+%22Psychedelic+Medicine%22+journal

Abstract

Background: 

“Although historical writings, anthropological accounts, and experimental studies document associations between psilocybin use and religion, no prospective experimental study has investigated how the effects of psilocybin are experienced and interpreted by religious clergy.

“This exploratory study evaluated the overall safety and the acute and enduring effects of psilocybin in clergy.

Methods:

“Participants were psychedelic-naïve clergy from various major world religions.

“A randomized, parallel group, waitlist control design was used to assess the effects of two supported psilocybin sessions, with participants receiving 20 and then 20 or 30 mg/70 kg about 1 month later.

“Outcomes were compared between the Immediate Group (n = 13) and the Delayed Group (n = 16) at 6 months after screening using self-report measures.

“The effects of psilocybin were also assessed on session days and 4 and 16 months after the second psilocybin session in the 24 participants who completed both sessions.

Results:

“The primary outcome assessment at 6 months after screening showed that, compared with the delayed control group, participants who had received psilocybin reported significantly greater positive changes in their religious practices, attitudes about their religion, and effectiveness as a religious leader, as well as in their non-religious attitudes, moods, and behavior.

“Follow-up assessments showed that positive changes in religious and non-religious attitudes and behavior were sustained through 16 months after the second psilocybin session.

“At that time, participants rated at least one of their psilocybin experiences to be among the top five most spiritually significant (96%), profoundly sacred (92%), psychologically insightful (83%), and psychologically meaningful (79%) of their lives.

“Furthermore, 42% rated one of their experiences to be the single most profound of their lifetime.

“At 16-months follow-up, most (79%) strongly endorsed that the experiences had positive effects on their religious practices (e.g., prayer or meditation) and their daily sense of the sacred, and most (71%) reported positive changes in  their appreciation of religious traditions other than their own.

“Although no serious adverse events were reported, 46% rated a psilocybin experience as among the top five most psychologically challenging of their lives.

Conclusions:

“In this population of clergy, psilocybin administration was safe and increased multiple domains of overall psychological well-being including positive changes in religious attitudes and behavior as well as their vocation as a religious leader.

“The study was limited by a waitlist control design, homogenous sample, and the use of some unvalidated outcome measures. Further research with more rigorous control conditions and diverse samples is needed.”

/ end Abstract

todo: move out to Commentary page:

Find “conflicts of interest” in the article:

The section is restrictive-sounding. Will that reduce how often the article is cited?

“the following must be reported to all journals and disclosed in all publications where data related to this study may be published”

How often would people want to publish data related to this study?

With or without the violations that taint & invalidate this entire study.

What impact the requirement of disclosure of taintedness?

UNCLEAN study

You cannot build evidence-based Science with unclean studies. That’s the simplified idea. Practical is more nuanced: It is not bad that they attempted a study in this pioneering area.

After Controversy, the Psilocybin & Religious Leaders Study Is Finally Published (Psychedelic Alpha, May 2025)

Post at X by Psychedelic Alpha, about Religious Clergy Study (May 30, 2025)
https://x.com/Psyched_Alpha/status/1928507396067864624

“After Controversy, the Psilocybin & Religious Leaders Study Is Finally Published“

The Published “Effects” and the Unpublished Effects (Welker, June 2025)

The Published “Effects” and the Unpublished Effects
Joe Welker
June 2, 2025
https://www.psychedeliccandor.org/p/the-published-effects-and-the-unpublished

“After late-stage drama, one of two papers in the psychedelic clergy study is published. Other things weren’t.”

Psychedelics and Spirituality in Light of the Religious Leaders Study (Livestream, June 11, 2025) – Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley

Psychedelics and Spirituality in Light of the Religious Leaders Study (Livestream)
https://events.gtu.edu/event/gtu.events.1016144
Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley
Wed., June 11, 2025, 5:00 PM – 6:30 PM, PST
Pollan, etc. on the panel

Video title:
Psychedelics and Spirituality in Light of the Religious Leaders Study
YouTube channel: Graduate Theological Union
Streamed live on Jun 11, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwXbPfx1vAI —

Desc:

“Entanglements between psychedelics and religion are nothing new.

Such intersections span countless cultures across millennia, presumably ever since humans started gathering to ingest psychoactive plants and fungi.

This fact has both enchanted and tormented modern researchers who wish to study these substances within the secular frameworks of scientific materialism.

We now find ourselves at an intriguing moment in the history of psychedelics and religion.

Nearly a decade ago, a team of scientists from Johns Hopkins and NYU observed the effects of psilocybin on dozens of religious leaders from various traditions.

The researchers sought to replicate and improve upon the groundbreaking “Good Friday Experiment” of 1962, conducted beneath Howard Thurman’s Marsh Chapel by a Harvard PhD candidate who sought to measure the impact of psilocybin on local divinity students in a devotional setting.

Central questions underlying both studies were:

Given the tendencies of psychedelics to induce “mystical” or “spiritual” states typically associated with religions, what happens when you administer them to seasoned religious practitioners from traditions that do not normally incorporate psychedelics?

Are these individuals somehow primed for the psycho-spiritual terrain?

Do psychedelic experiences change their religious identities or outlooks?

For a variety of reasons, publication of the scientific article from the Hopkins/NYU study was stalled for years.

Just recently, on May 19th, Michael Pollan published his own article in The New Yorker about the study, its contexts, and its controversies.

Then, the scientific article finally appeared on May 30th in the journal Psychedelic Medicine.

During a panel discussion we are hosting at the Graduate Theological Union and via livestream on June 11,

  • Pollan will engage in discussion with
  • Rabbi Zac Kamenetz, who participated in the Hopkins/NYU study;
  • Aidan Seale-Feldman, an anthropologist researching contemporary psychedelic “churches” with an eye toward secularism;
  • Bia Labate, an anthropologist who has published extensively on Indigenous plant medicine traditions, as well as other marginalized psychedelic cultures; and
  • Michael Silver, a neuroscientist and co-director of the UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics.
  • Sam Shonkoff, a scholar of religion at the Graduate Theological Union, will moderate.

Together, these speakers will shed light on the cultural significance of the Hopkins/NYU study and how its results and reception ought to inform perspectives on psychedelics, religions, and the entanglements between them.

To learn more about earning a Master of Arts in Psychedelics and Spirituality from the GTU, visit https://www.gtu.edu/academics/ma-program “

Video: “Erica Rex – Science and Religion”: Summary of Hopkins’ “Religious Leaders Study” Fiasco (June 30, 2025)

Video title: Erica Rex – Science and Religion
YouTube Channel: Psychedelics Today
Streamed live on Jun 30, 2025, I was there live.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_TYKKU-2MI –

Good summary of Religious Leaders Study fiasco.

Award-winning science writer Erica Rex, conversation about the recent Hopkins religious study.

My Notes:
https://egodeaththeory.org/2025/06/11/idea-development-page-30/#video-erica-rex-science-and-religion

Psychedelics, Eleusis, and the Invention of Religious Experience (Mosurinjohn & Ascough, July 2025)

Psychedelics, Eleusis, and the Invention of Religious Experience
Sharday Mosurinjohn & Richard Ascough (July 2025)
journal: psychedelic medicine;
https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/28314425251361835?journalCode=psymed
https://egodeaththeory.org/2025/08/08/psychedelics-eleusis-and-the-invention-of-religious-experience-mosurinjohn-ascough-2025/

todo: start site map section on Sharday Mosurinjohn, since she changed her research topic to Psychedelic Studies.

Psychedelic Studies
pst

John Allegro and the Psychedelic Mysteries Hypothesis (Ascough, 2025/08)

https://www.google.com/search?q=richard+ascough+the+psychedelic+mysteries+hypothesis
There are reviews of the article.

John Allegro and the Psychedelic Mysteries Hypothesis
Richard Ascough
2025/08/08
School of Religion, Queen’s University at Kingston, Kingston, ON, Canada
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/16/8/1029
John_Allegro_and_the_Psychedelic_Mysteries_Hypothe.pdf

Excerpts from Abstract

  • What to reject
  • What to accept, to move forward:

The following Ascough quotes/excerpts are exact; copypasted from PDF:

Reject the theory “that early Christianity derived from fertility cults involving psychedelic mushroom use.”

Affirm “the broader psychedelic mysteries hypothesis … the role of entheogens in religious traditions.”

“Allegro’s work is best viewed as a historical curiosity rather than a reliable
source for contemporary entheogenic scholarship.”

Excerpts from Conclusion:

“a larger project to recover the centrality of mystical experience [expected “psychedelics” here] in religion”

“Irvin (2009) … Allegro’s book … He [Ruck] argues that entheogens have always played a role in facilitating the direct encounter with the sacred, an encounter that institutional religion has often sought to regulate or suppress.

[beware the “social drama narrative” tail wagging the “entheogen scholarship” dog; beware ulterior agendas corrupting and compromising entheogen scholarship or psychedelic science -mh]

“Ruck draws parallels between ancient mystery cults and modern psychedelic research, suggesting that entheogenic experiences continue to reveal themselves as potent means of accessing transcendence.

“… this ancient, experiential core of religion.

“a growing scholarly and cultural interest in entheogenic spirituality.

“the arguments for the “psychedelic mysteries hypothesis” of religion put forth by later authors [McKenna, Irvin],

“Whatever else may be argued for or against the psychedelic mysteries
hypothesis, it is time to relegate Allegro to, at best, a descriptive footnote of a failed experiment.

“The linguistic and historical flaws inherent in his approach undermine any use of Allegro’s work in advancing the modern arguments around the role of psychoactive substances in religious experiences.

“If we are to move forward with a convincing case based on scientific and historical evidence, it is time to relegate Allegro’s work to a curiosity of the past that may have inspired further work but upon whose foundation we cannot continue to build.”

Cites Michael Hoffman 2006, Plaincourault, at Egodeath.com re: the same conclusion. todo: post my conclusions from my 2006 article, along same lines: we must sideline Allegro’s particular theory, to move forward.

Mosurinjohn invades and misuses the field: she brings her own, imported agenda, from outside the field: her Psychedelic Justice false agenda; her own “social drama narrative”:

“THERE CANNOT BE ALLOWED PSYCHEDELICS IN EUROPEAN HISTORY [“We know there is no evidence”], BECAUSE YOU WOULD BE GUILTY OF COMMITTING COLONIAL VIOLENCE BY FAILING TO REVOLVE YOUR WORLD AROUND, AND BOUNDARY-LIMIT YOUR WORLD TO, INDIGENOUS SHAMS, WHO HAVE ACTUAL EVIDENCE GOING WAY BACK TO 100 YEARS AGO.”

Sharday argues that way in her written summary of her 10-minute talk, but then (probably after Ascough yelled at her), in her talk, she’s defensively denying that that’s her message.

For a corrective, see the Indigenous Shams chapter of new Hatsis 2025 book, Psychedelic Injustice. And Jan Irvin’s 2022 book God’s Flesh: Teonanacátl: The True History of the Sacred Mushroom, August 2, 2022 https://www.amazon.com/Gods-Flesh-Teonanac%C3%A1tl-History-Mushroom/dp/0982556225/ & https://egodeaththeory.org/2023/03/27/gods-flesh-teonanacatl-the-true-history-of-the-sacred-mushroom-irvin-2022/

Psychedelic Priest Deposed by the Episcopal Church (Welker, Aug. 8, 2025)

Psychedelic Priest Deposed by the Episcopal Church
JOE WELKER
AUG 08, 2025
https://www.psychedeliccandor.org/p/psychedelic-priest-deposed-by-the

My commentary:
https://egodeaththeory.org/2025/06/11/idea-development-page-30/#The-Fall-of-McPriest

Episcopal Church removes priest who founded Christian psychedelic society (K. Post, Aug. 20, 2025)

Episcopal Church removes priest who founded Christian psychedelic society
Kathryn Post, Aug. 20, 2025, has audio read-aloud avail.
https://religionnews.com/2025/08/20/episcopal-church-removes-priest-who-founded-christian-psychedelic-society/
“Hunt Priest was removed from ministry nearly a decade after participating in a controversial study on clergy and psychedelics.”

Toward a Psychedelic Theodicy: Psychedelic Biomedicine and the Concept of “Risk” (Mosurinjohn 2024/2025) – todo: read

Mosurinjohn, Sharday
Toward a Psychedelic Theodicy: Psychedelic Biomedicine and the Concept of ‘Risk.’
Sharday Mosurinjohn
In Psychedelic Intersections: 2024 Conference Anthology, edited by Jeffrey Breau and Paul Gillis-Smith
Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard Divinity School, 2025.
https://doi.org/10.70423/0001.14

article: Toward a Psychedelic Theodicy: Psychedelic Biomedicine and the Concept of “Risk”
https://cswr.hds.harvard.edu/publications/psychedelic-intersections/psychedelic-theodicy-mosurinjohn
“Construed broadly, as I do here, a theodicy is an attempt to square the experience of malevolence and suffering with metaphysical conditions that are assumed to be fundamentally, well, loving. In Islam or Christianity, for example, theodicy is usually rendered in terms of reconciling the existence of a benevolent, omniscient, and omnipotent God with the existence of evil. While I do not have space here to make the case for the fundamental lovingness of existence, I take this as a premise for my argument.1 Doing psychedelic theodicy is a practice of theorizing how and why a fundamentally loving, intelligent cosmos gives rise to experiences that are not that in the context of a psychedelic trip. Psychedelic theodicy allows one to explore a wide variety of questions and experiences that surface during a trip: death, desecration, meaninglessness [McKenna], disconnection, encounters with apparently sinister, etc.”

Video: Psychedelics in Context: Hauntings, Hype, & Hope. An interdisciplinary panel. (Mosurinjohn etc, Oct. 17, 2025) – todo: watch

Video title:
Psychedelics in Context: Hauntings, Hype, & Hope. An interdisciplinary panel.

2:26:45
YouTube · Transcultural Psychiatry
Oct 18, 2025
YouTube channel: Transcultural Psychiatry
Streamed live on Oct 17, 2025
“Psychedelics are commonly regarded as context dependent drugs their their effects are non-specific. They depend on the context into which they are injected.” – hidden summary from near Desc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWeaELK8krU —


Desc:

“The McGill Psychedelics and Contemplation Lab welcomes you to a round-table discussion exploring the past, present, and future directions of psychedelics and psychedelic therapy.

“As psychedelics become increasingly mainstream, it is a critical moment to reflect on the field through a social and cultural lens.

“Hosted at (and streamed from) the historic Allan Memorial Institute, a group of international experts will share perspectives on navigating the psychedelic landscape, exploring in equal measure the field’s pitfalls and promises.

“Panelists include

  • Tehseen Noorani,
  • Neşe Devenot,
  • Ido Hartogsohn, and
  • Sharday Mosurinjohn.”

Incoming Entries

Motivation/Scope for this Page

This page was spawned from older, verbose, messy page that was hard to find just the citations/links to the articles.

Scope/topics; the field being critiqued:

  • Critiques of Psychedelic Science with psychometrics questionnaires modelling mystical experience.
  • Not critiques of entheogen scholarship / history of psychedelics in religion – that’s a separate debate.
Crop by Michael Hoffman

January 21, 2026 – moved freeform sections from below, to the orig page:
https://egodeaththeory.org/2023/01/15/the-theory-of-psychedelic-eternalism-provides-a-scientific-explanatory-basis-for-mystic-state-experiencing/

See Also

Verbose original version of the present page, with commentary:
https://egodeaththeory.org/2023/01/15/the-theory-of-psychedelic-eternalism-provides-a-scientific-explanatory-basis-for-mystic-state-experiencing/

Crop by Michael Hoffman – YI tree; more branching on L than R
Crop by Michael Hoffman – YI tree; {cut right trunk}
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Author: egodeaththeory

http://egodeath.com

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