Drugs and Mysticism: Psychedelic Drug Experience and the Mystical State (Pahnke, 1963)

Michael Hoffman, mobile draft started 6:41 pm sat, Nov. 15, 2025

photo: Michael Hoffman, 7:00 pm Sat, Nov. 15, 2025
photo: Michael Hoffman, 7:00 pm Sat, Nov. 15, 2025

Contents:

  • headings

Citation

inferior, condensed title on cover:

Drugs and Mysticism: An Analysis of the Relationship between Psychedelic Drugs and the Mystical Consciousness

better, expanded title on p. 2:

Drugs and Mysticism: An Analysis of the Relationship between Psychedelic Drug Experience and the Mystical State of Consciousness

Harvard University Press
Walter Pahnke, June 1963

Psilosophy.info – Full text of Pahnke’s 1963 dissertation book, created from MAPS scans of the typed dissertation:
http://en.psilosophy.info/drugs_and_mysticism.html 

Thanks to 2015 site that converted MAPS’ scans to formatted text w links: psilosophy.info

References page for psychedelic pseudo science:

References for Psychedelic Psychometrics Questionnaires

SOCQ/Mystical Experience Questionnaire (MEQ) lineage:

expose: claims there are item-count 147 in Apx C, but only 129 items:

WHERE ARE THE OTHER 18 items?? MEQ147/129. a problem.

this shows again how powerful my analysis and B S uncovered simply by the technique of “item counts”.

Date of Marsh Chapel Good Friday Experiment

determined & added to wikip by Michael Hoffman:

April 20, 1962 (4/20)

phd thesis June 1963

pdf scans on web (by MAPS) in year: __

text provided on web apparently 2015 (check same url at Archive)

also see Harvard dissertations catalog?

Motive of this Page

in conjunction w Taves 2020 then Bro 2023 questioning A LITTLE the Unity model, but really merely tweaking it; no real challemge is offered to the terrible all-dominent, entrenched model – diespite all the scare quotes and empty promises of internal critique and empty lip service talk of :

Expanding “to all changes of sense of self” (Taves) &

“negative as well as positive experiemce of Unity” (Bro).

& critique of Otto p 32 in Pahnke.

these acknowledgments and field-internal critiques are merely corrective circles epicycles — essentially just more of the same wrong core model — to try to bolster the field’s failed model like the earth-centered, circles-committed, Old Theory, before the circa 1687 switch to the sun-centered, New Theory.

both the field of Ken Wilber Advaita model of Transcendent Knowledge (mysticism sans psychedelics ) , and, psychedelic pseudo science per Griffiths, Leary, etc (mysticism model with psychedelics )

remember: EVERY writer holds the unanimous false dichotomy: “mysticism was not via psychedelics”. The wrong, Unity model is fully entrenched; even adjustments efforts just further entrench the same old, same old. inorder to avoid the real deal, E D C T

eternalism-driven (threatened-driven) control transformation [EDCT]

driven by revelation perceptionof the experience of the threat of catastrophic loss of control

Item 54 in OAV’94: I was afraid to lose my self-control.

Item 15 in SOCQ/MEQ147[Pahnke 1962]: Fear of losing control. p. 97 Apx C; p 113 — Disturbing – Fear & Anxiety group of 6 items. in the Not Mysticism Apx G; relegated to the next to last page of thesis body. https://en.psilosophy.info/drugs_and_mysticism.html#group_ii_disturbing_changes_in_attitude_and_behavior

todo: link to sections of thesis like above! 👍

Must Read Chapter III: The Definition of Mysticism

if you read any passage, other than the spot-quoted passages, read the entire chapter 3 of this thesis. https://en.psilosophy.info/drugs_and_mysticism.html#chapter_iii_the_definition_of_mysticism

the orig meq / socq questionnaire is in Apx C: https://en.psilosophy.info/drugs_and_mysticism.html#appendix_c_post_drug_questionnaire_with_significance_levels_of_the_difference_between_scores_of_experimentals_and_controls

see the many motifs of “open scroll held by sage = awareness of being under threat” in Great Canterbury Psalter

This thesis is the Best Document to Track How the Unity model of mystical experience was baked into psychedelic pseudo science

We must study this thesis, to grasp psychedelic pseudo science – how the wrong model of mystical experience came to totally dominate non psychedelic & psychedelic models conceptions of ASC/ mystical experience/ the mystic altered state.

it’s a super-key doc; the pivotal moment when psychedelic pseudo science was spawned around incorpg Stace lineage model of mystical experience as Unity, Modern Advaita, non-dual, Eastern non-explanation non relevant non useful substitutive avoidance to shut out Eternalism control transformation.

The Later-Censored Item 15: Fear of Losing Control

item 15 mentioned 2x:

Apx C p 97; see pic

next -to-last page: Disturbing instead of mystical experience p 113 good grouping of items in “Fear and Anxiety”, 6 items:

5. Terror or fear.

8. Panic.

15. Fear of losing control.

46. Insecurity.

51. Anxiety.

Cover-Up of the Tower Escapee

“one door was not possible to lock” p. 42 pahnke

https://www.en.psilosophy.info/recollections_of_the_good_friday_experiment_interview_with_huston_smith.html —

“As the chemical came over me, I began to be aware of a mounting disorder in the chapel. …

“from out of this bizarre mix [of jealous, joking, short-changed controls & the winning experimentals], one of our number emerged.

He arose from his pew, walked up the aisle, and with uncertain steps mounted the chapel’s modest pulpit.

Thumbing through its Bible for a few moments, he then mumbled a brief incoherent homily, blessed the congregation with the sign of the cross, and started back down the aisle.

But instead of returning to his pew, he marched to the rear entrance of the chapel and exited.“

Mentions of fear, control transformation, eternalism

Item 15: Fear of losing control

expose! where did this go in meq43 (year?), followed by meq30? deletion of psychedelic effects, like during awful construction of the Challenging Experience Questionnaire (CEQ)

The Mysteriously Shrinking MEQ147 [but only 129] in 1962; MEQ43 in 1969 or 1975; MEQ30 in 2012 (MEQ0 when?)

2012: https://egodeaththeory.org/2023/01/17/references-for-psychedelic-psychometrics-questionnaires/#SOCQ-MEQ30

from alleged 147 / actual 129 items in Pahnke 1963, to only 43 items — the “positive = mystical” items only?? — in Richards 1969 or 1975

SOCQ = 100 items incl 100-43=57 Distractor Items); those 43 Positive Unity items are the MEQ43.

Solved!

Q: What became of Item 15: Fear of losing control? in 1963 MEQ147/139?

Ans: The items not positive unity were relegated to “Distractor items” in SOCQ

my SOCQ page: https://egodeaththeory.org/2022/12/23/socq-states-of-consciousness-questionnaire/ — find item 15… lame!

It became:

Item 66. Frustrating attempt to control the experience.

https://egodeaththeory.org/2023/01/17/references-for-psychedelic-psychometrics-questionnaires/#MEQ43-Pahnke-1969

Frightened by loss of control

“The tenth experimental subject had what he termed an interesting “psychological” and “aesthetic” experience for the first three-fourth of his experience, but then became frightened by loss of control and spent the remaining time in a terrifying fight to overcome the drug effects.

“He would not be interested in repeating the experience because his most predominant memory of the experience was that of fear.

“Six months later, in Part I of the followup questionnaire, he considered this fear-experience slightly harmful because “in a mob panic-situation, I feel I would be less likely to maintain a calm objective position than I might have formerly.”

“During the interview he admitted that he had gone into the experience “as a psychological experiment” and had done no serious devotional preparation.

“His “inspirational” reading while the drug was taking effect consisted of studying some Psalms for a course in the Old Testament.

“His interpretation of his experience was a “psychotic episode.””

Passages to Excerpt

Find: psychotic, psychosis

Find: dread

Find: fear

Find: separateness [grouped w fear, in the Unity paradigm]

The “Unity” vs. “Eternalism-driven control transformation” model of mystical experience

map the equivalent constructs across the two paradigms, to compare & contrast the two explanatory models.

Eternalism ~= Unity

“the One” is soaked with eternalism; its not the same as Eastern, Modern Advaita, nondual Unity.

this Eastern bad style of expl is not the same as the One in antiquity. tho comparable.

Eastern, subtractive, pseudo-explanation has no useful/ relevance to control transformation that’s driven by threat; by the experience of the threat of catastrophic loss of control

Eastern Bad; Shams Bad; Western Good, More Developed

Eastern, unitive mysticism is less developed than Western, Relational, eternalism-driven control transformation.

2-level, dependent control = Relational mysticism; see Great Canterbury Psalter f177 Left; & the other folio similar w God making Jesus lift the demon-threatened guy by right arm from rock ossuary.

Shamanism is bad/ inferior/ underdeveloped, too: against Alan Houot’s masters thesis , Shams fail to engage & discover eternalism-driven control transformation.

Shams are inferior to Western mystical experience that’s eternalism-driven control transformation.

Eastern phil’ers of religion are inferior to Western mystical experience that’s eternalism-driven control transformation.

the Unity, non-dual, Modern Advaita, boundary-removal, Eastern crude non-explanation” model of the mystic altered state/ mystical experience

the awful, subtractive mode of “explanation” – eastern _ways of thinking of Eastern Peoples_ book: “X is an illusion” , “no X” = enlightenment.

Transcendent Knowledge = non boundary exper. [bad: explanation by subtraction]

good: the Eternalism / control transformation” model of the mystic altered state / mystical experience, per psychedelic eternalism ; the Egodeath theory.

See Also

Taves 2020

Bro 2023

Kitchens entries — remember, for all , misled scholars, ‘MYSTICISM’ & its “phen”, ALWAYS MEANS THE UNITY PARADIGM — instead of the correct, “eternalism-driven control transformation”, relevant, useful , helpful explanatory model.

the old theory = Stace lineage, Modern Advaita, nondual, Unity model, see Taves expose then Bro who builds directly on her

yet Taves & Bro give just enough lip service to “other than Positive Unity”, to ensure the permanent entrenchment of the wrong, Unity model.

like u can find Fear (indicative of eternalism-driven control transformation) buried hidden in Pahnke’s thesis, in “Sacredness” & “non mystical” & Otto & relational eg Hasidic Jewish mysticism

Pahnke explains-away and categorizes-away, Western, Abrahamic, Relational, Christian mysticism & Jewish mysticism.

He acknowledges these problems, but plows ahead w the Unity model and applies his eliminative filter & neutralizing categories. Find: Otto

todo: transcribe my cover-page notes, shown in photo – not needed; already summarized here.

equates negative, separateness, fear

equates positive Unity

gives lip service to fear/negative, to ack it to explain it away into the Stace lineage: mystical experience = positive unity modern Advaita motive of political transnatiinal unity; the fakse false, subst religion in order to shut out Dread Eternalism control transformation.

avert & ward off, apotropaic, the experience of the threat of catastrophic loss of control , via neutered, substitutive, dummy, harmless, panic-free, pretend-mysticism

All modern scholars are stuck in wrong theory, in every word & explanatory construct they use.

todo: delete entries other than relevant Kitchens entries: (copy of toc of fav page)

photo: Michael Hoffman, Sunday, Nov 9, 2025

Liberty Caps and Panaeolus Caps in the Canterbury Psalter

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Author: egodeaththeory

http://egodeath.com

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