California Law Review, Inc.

Psychedelics and Religious Experience

Author(s): Alan Watts
Source: California Law Review, Vol. 56, No. 1 (Jan., 1968), pp. 74-85
Published by: California Law Review, Inc.
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 Psychedelics and Religious Experience
Alan Watts*

THE EXPERIENCESresultingfromthe use of psychedelicdrugsare often

describedin terms.
religious are thereforeof
They interestto those
like myselfwho,in the traditionof WilliamJames,xareconcernedwith the
psychologyof religion.For morethan thirty years I have been studying
the causes,the consequences,and the conditionsof those peculiarstates
consciousnessin whichthe individualdiscovershimselfto be one continu-
ous processwith God,with the Universe,with the Groundof Being, or
whatevernamehe mayuse by culturalconditioningor personalpreference
for the ultimateand eternalreality.We have no satisfactoryand defini-
tive namefor experiencesof this kind. The terms"religiousexperience,"
"mysticalexperience,"and "cosmicconsciousness"are all too vague and
comprehensiveto denote that specificmode of consciousnesswhich, to
thosewho have knownit, is as real and overwhelmingas fallingin love.
This Articledescribessuch states of consciousnessas and when induced
by psychedelicdrugs,althoughthey are virtuallyindistinguishable from
genuinemysticalexperience.The Articlethen discussesobjectionsto the
use of psychedelicdrugswhicharisemainlyfromthe oppositionbetween
mysticalvaluesandthe traditionalreligiousandsecularvaluesof Western
society.
I
THE PSYCHEDELICEXPERIENCE

The ideaof mysticalexperiencesresultingfromdruguse is not readily

acceptedin Westernsocieties.Westernculturehas, historically,a particu-
lar fascinationwith the value and virtue of man as an individual,self-
determining,responsibleego, controllinghimself and his world by the
powerof consciouseffortandwill.Nothing,then,couldbe morerepugnant
to this culturaltraditionthan the notion of spiritualor psychological
growththroughthe use of drugs. A "drugged"person is by definition
dimmedin consciousness,foggedin judgment,and deprivedof will. But
not all psychotropic(consciousness-changing)chemicalsare narcoticand
soporific,as are alcohol,opiates,andbarbiturates.The effectsof whatare
* S.T.M., D.D. Philosopher and Author, with special interests in the psychology of
religion and comparative religion. Former research fellow in Social Relations, Harvard
University, and twice recipient of research fellowships from the Bollingen Foundation.
Publications include: The Wisdom of Insecurity; Myth & Ritual in Christianity; The
Way of Zen; Nature, Man & Woman;PsychotherapyEast & West; The Joyous Cosmology;
Beyond Theology.
1 See W. JAMES, THE VARIETIESOFRELIGIOUS
EXPEl=zNCE(1911),
74

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 PSYCHEDELICSAND RELIGIOUSEXPERIENCE 75

now calledpsychedelic(mind-manifesting)chemicalsdifferfromthoseof
alcoholas laughterdiffersfromrage or delightfromdepression.Thereis
reallyno analogybetweenbeing"high"on LSD and "drunk"on bourbon.
True, no one in either state shoulddrive a car, but neithershouldone
drivewhile readinga book,playinga violin,or makinglove. Certaincre-
ative activitiesand states of mind demanda concentrationand devotion
whichare simplyincompatiblewith pilotinga death-dealingenginealong
a highway.
I myself have experimentedwith five of the principalpsychedelics:
LSD-25, mescaline,psilocybin,dimethyl-tryptamine (DMT), and can-
nabis.I have doneso, as WilliamJamestriednitrousoxide,to see if they
couldhelp me in identifyingwhat mightbe called the "essential"or "ac-
tive" ingredientsof the mysticalexperience.For almostall the classical
literatureon mysticismis vague,not onlyin describingthe experience,but
also in showingrationalconnectionsbetweenthe experienceitself and the
varioustraditionalmethodsrecommendedto induceit-fasting, concen-
tration,breathingexercises,prayers,incantations,and dances.A tradi-
tional masterof Zen or Yoga, when asked why such-and-suchpractices
lead or predisposeone to the mysticalexperience,alwaysresponds,"This
is theway my teachergaveit to me. This is the way I foundout. If you're
seriouslyinterested,try it for yourself."This answerhardlysatisfiesan
impertinent,scientifically-minded, and intellectuallycuriousWesterner.
It remindshim of archaicmedicalprescriptionscompoundingfive sala-
manders,powderedgallowsrope,three boiled bats, a scruple of phos-
phorus,threepinchesof henbane,and a dollopof dragondungdropped
when the moon was in Pisces. Maybe it worked, but what was the
essentialingredient?
It struckme,therefore,thatif any of thepsychedelicchemicalswould
in fact predisposemy consciousnessto the mystical experience,I could
use them as instrumentsfor studyingand describingthat experienceas
one uses a microscopefor bacteriology,even thoughthe microscopeis an
"artificial"and "unnatural" contrivancewhichmightbe said to "distort"
the visionof the nakedeye. However,whenI was firstinvitedto test the
mysticalqualitiesof LSD-25 by Dr. Keith Ditman of the Neuropsychi-
atricClinicat UCLAMedicalSchool,I was unwillingto believethat any
mere chemicalcould induce a genuinemystical experience.At most it
mightbringabouta state of spiritualinsightanalogousto swimmingwith
waterwings.Indeed,my first experimentwith LSD-25was not mystical.
It was an intenselyinterestingaestheticand intellectualexperiencewhich
challengedmy powersof analysisand carefuldescriptionto the utmost.
Somemonthslater,in 1959, I triedLSD-25againwith Drs. Sterling
Bunnelland MichaelAgron,who werethen associatedwith the Langley-

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76 CALIFORNIALAW REVIEW [Vol.56:74

Porter Clinic in San Francisco. In the course of two experiments I was

amazed and somewhat embarrassedto find myself going through states of
consciousness which correspondedprecisely with every description of ma-
jor mystical experiencesthat I had ever read.2Furthermore,they exceeded
both in depth and in a peculiar quality of unexpectedness the three "nat-
ural and spontaneous"experiences of this kind which had happened to me
in previous years.
Through subsequent experimentation with LSD-25 and the other
chemicals named above (with the exception of DMT, which I find amus-
ing but relatively uninteresting) I found I could move with ease into the
state of "cosmic consciousness," and in due course became less and less
dependent on the chemicals themselves for "tuning-in"to this particular
wave-length of experience. Of the five psychedelics tried, I found that
LSD-25 and cannabis suited my purposes best. Of these two, the latter-
cannabis-which I had to use abroadin countrieswhere it is not outlawed,
proved to be the better. It does not induce bizarre alterations of sensory
perception, and medical studies indicate that it may not, save in great
excess, have the dangerousside effects of LSD, namely chromosomaldam-
age and possible psychotic episodes.
For the purposes of this study, in describing my experiences with psy-
chedelic drugs, I avoid the occasional and incidental bizarre alterations
of sense perception which psychedelic chemicals may induce. I am con-
cerned, rather, with the fundamental alterations of the normal, socially-
induced consciousness of one's own existence and relation to the external
world. I am trying to delineate the basic principles of psychedelic aware-
ness. But I must add that I can speak only for myself. The quality of
these experiences depends considerably upon one's prior orientation and
attitude to life, although the now voluminous descriptive literature of
these experiences accords quite remarkablywith my own.
Almost invariably, my experiments with psychedelics have had four
dominant characteristics. I shall try to explain them-in the expectation
that the readerwill say, at least of the second and third, "Why, that's ob-
vious! No one needs a drug to see that." Quite so, but every insight has
degrees of intensity. There can be obviousi and obvious2--and the latter
comes on with shattering clarity, manifesting its implications in every
sphere and dimension of our existence.
The first characteristic is a slowing down of time, a concentration in
the present. One's normally compulsive concern for the future decreases,
and one becomes aware of the enormous importance and interest of what
is happening at the moment. Other people, going about their business on
2 An excellent anthology of such experiences is R. JoHNsoN, WATCHER ON THE
HILLS
(1959).

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19681 PSYCHEDELICSAND RELIGIOUSEXPERIENCE 77

the streets,seemto be slightlycrazy,failingto realizethat the wholepoint

of life is to be fullyawareof it as it happens.Onethereforerelaxes,almost
luxuriously,into studyingthe colorsin a glass of water,or in listeningto
the now highly articulatevibrationof every note played on an oboe or
sung by voice.
Fromthepragmaticstandpointof ourculture,suchan attitudeis very
bad for business.It mightlead to improvidence,lack of foresight,dimin-
ished sales of insurancepolicies, and abandonedsavings accounts.Yet
thisis just the correctivethat our cultureneeds.No one is morefatuously
impracticalthan the "successful"executivewho spendshis wholelife ab-
sorbedin franticpaperworkwith the objectiveof retiringin comfortat
sixty-five,whenit will all be too late. Onlythosewho have cultivatedthe
art of livingcompletelyin the presenthave any use for makingplans for
the future,for when the plans maturethey will be able to enjoy the re-
sults. "Tomorrow nevercomes."I have neveryet hearda preacherurging
his congregationto practicethat section of the Sermonon the Mount
whichbegins,"Be not anxiousfor the morrow... ." The truthis that peo-
ple who live for the future are, as we say of the insane, "not quite all
there"-or here: by over-eagerness they areperpetuallymissingthe point.
is
Foresight bought at the price anxiety,and,whenoverusedit destroys
of
all its own advantages.
The secondcharacteristicI will call awarenessof polarity.This is the
vivid realizationthat states, things,and events which we ordinarilycall
oppositeare interdependent, like backand frontor the poles of a magnet.
By polar awareness one sees that thingswhichare explicitlydifferentare
implicity one: self and other,subjectand object,left and right,male and
female-and then, a little moresurprisingly,solid and space, figureand
background,pulse and interval,saints and sinners,and police and crimi-
nals,ingroupsandoutgroups.Eachis definableonly in termsof the other,
and they go togethertransactionally,like buyingand selling,for thereis
no sale withouta purchase,and no purchasewithouta sale.As this aware-
nessbecomesincreasinglyintense,you feel that you yourselfarepolarized
with the externaluniversein such a way that you implyeach other.Your
pushis its pull, andits pushis yourpull-as whenyou movethe steering-
wheelof a car. Are you pushingit or pullingit?
At first,this a very odd sensation,not unlikehearingyour ownvoice
played back to you on an electronicsystem immediatelyafter you have
spoken.Youbecomeconfused,andwait for it to go on! Similarly,you feel
that you are something being done by the universe, yet that the universe
is equally something being done by you-which is true, at least in the neu-
rological sense that the peculiar structure of our brains translates the
sun into light and air vibrations into sound. Our normal sensation of rela-

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78 CALIFORNIALAW REVIEW [Vol.56:74

tionshipto the outsideworldis that sometimesI push it, and sometimes

it pushesme. But if the two are actuallyone, wheredoes actionbeginand
responsibilityrest? If the universeis doingme, how can I be sure that,
two secondshence,I will still rememberthe Englishlanguage?If I am
doingit, how can I be sure that, two secondshence,my brainwill know
how to turnthe sun into light? Fromsuch unfamiliarsensationsas these
the psychedelicexperiencecan generateconfusion,paranoia,and terror-
even thoughthe individualis feelinghis relationshipto the worldexactly
as it wouldbe describedby a biologist,ecologist,or physicist,for he is
feelinghimselfas the unifiedfieldof organismand environment.
The thirdcharacteristic,arisingfromthe second,is awarenessof rel-
ativity.I see that I am a link in an infinitehierarchyof processesand be-
ings, rangingfrommoleculesthroughbacteriaand insects to humanbe-
ings, and,maybe,to angelsand gods-a hierarchyin whicheverylevel is
in effect the same situation.For example,the poor man worriesabout
money while the rich man worriesabout his health: the worry is the
same, but the differenceis in its substanceor dimension.I realizethat
fruitfliesmustthinkof themselvesas people,because,like ourselves,they
find themselvesin the middle of their own world-with immeasurably
greaterthingsaboveand smallerthingsbelow.To us, they all look alike
and seem to have no personality-as do the Chinesewhen we have not
lived amongthem.Yet fruitflies mustsee just as manysubtledistinctions
amongthemselvesas we amongourselves.
Fromthis it is but a shortstep to the realizationthat all formsof life
and beingare simplyvariationson a single theme:we are all in fact one
beingdoingthe samethingin as manydifferentways as possible.As the
French proverbgoes, plus ga change, plus c'est la meme chose--"the more
it varies,the moreit is one."I see, further,that feelingthreatenedby the
inevitabilityof death is really the same experienceas feeling alive, and
that as all beings are feeling this everywhere,they are all just as much
"I" as myself.Yet the "I" feeling,to be felt at all, must alwaysbe a sen-
sationrelativeto the "other"-to somethingbeyondits controland exper-
ience.To be at all, it mustbeginand end. But the intellectualjumpwhich
mysticaland psychedelicexperiencemakehere is in enablingyou to see
that all these myriadI-centersare yourself-not, indeed,your personal
and superficiallyconsciousego, but what Hindus call the paramatman,
the Self of all selves.3As the retinaenablesus to see countlesspulses of
3 Thus Hinduism regardsthe universe,not as an artifact, but as an immensedramain
which the One Actor (the paramatmanor brahman) plays all the parts, which are his (or
"its") masks or personae.The sensationof being only this one particularself, John Doe, is
due to the Actor's total absorptionin playing this and every other part. For fuller exposi-
tion, see S. RADHAKRISHNAN, THEHINDUVIEWOFLIFE(1927); H. ZInMMER, PHILOSOPHIES
or INDIA 355-463 (1951). A popular version is in A. WATTS,THE BOOK: ON THE TABOO
AGAINST WHOYou ARE (1966).
KNOWING

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19681 PSYCHEDELICSAND RELIGIOUSEXPERIENCE 79

energy as a single light, so the mystical experience shows us innumerable

individuals as a single Self.
The fourth characteristic is awareness of eternal energy, often in the
form of intense white light, which seems to be both the current in your
nerves and that mysterious e which equals mc2. This may sound like
megalomania or delusion of grandeur-but one sees quite clearly that all
existence is a single energy, and that this energy is one's own being. Of
course there is death as well as life, because energy is a pulsation, and just
as waves must have both crests and troughs the experience of existing
must go on and off. Basically, therefore, there is simply nothing to worry
about, because you yourself are the eternal energy of the universe playing
hide-and-seek (off-and-on) with itself. At root, you are the Godhead, for
God is all that there is. Quoting Isaiah just a little out of context: "I am
the Lord, and there is none else. I form the light and create the darkness:
I make peace, and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things."4This is
the sense of the fundamental tenet of Hinduism, Tat tvam asi---"THAT
(i.e., "that subtle Being of which this whole universe is composed") art
thou."5Aclassical case of this experience, from the West, is in Tennyson's
Memoirs:
A kindof wakingtranceI have frequentlyhad, quiteup fromboyhood,
whenI have beenall alone.This has generallycomeuponme thro're-
peatingmy own name two or threetimes to myself silently,till all at
once, as it were out of the intensityof the consciousnessof individu-
ality, the individualityitself seemedto dissolveand fade away into
boundlessbeing,and this not a confusedstate, but the clearestof the
clearest,the surestof the surest,the weirdestof the weirdest,utterly
beyondwords,wheredeathwas an almostlaughableimpossibility,the
loss of personality(if so it were) seemingno extinctionbut the only
true life.6
Obviously, these characteristics of the psychedelic experience, as I
have known it, are aspects of a single state of consciousness-for I have
been describing the same thing from different angles. The descriptions at-
tempt to convey the reality of the experience, but in doing so they also
suggest some of the inconsistencies between such experience and the cur-
rent values of society.

II
OPPOSITION TO PSYCHEDELIC DRUGS

Resistenceto allowinguse of psychedelicdrugsoriginatesin both re-

ligious and secular values. The difficulty in describing psychedelic experi-
4 Isaiah 45: 6, 7.
5ChandogyaUpanishad6.15.3.
61 AI;RED LORDTENNYsoN,A MEMom
i Y mIS SoN 320 (1898).

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80 CALIFORNIALAW REVIEW [Vol.$6:74

encesin traditionalreligioustermssuggestsone groundof opposition.The

Westernermust borrowsuchwordsas samadhior mokshafromthe Hin-
dus, or satorior kenshofromthe Japanese,to describethe experienceof
onenesswith the universe.We have no appropriatewordbecauseourown
JewishandChristiantheologieswill not acceptthe idea that man'sinmost
self can be identicalwith the Godhead,even thoughChristiansmay insist
that this was truein the uniqueinstanceof Jesus Christ.Jews and Chris-
tians think of God in political and monarchicalterms, as the supreme
governorof the universe,the ultimateboss. Obviously,it is both socially
unacceptableand logically preposterousfor a particularindividualto
claim that he, in person,is the omnipotentand omniscientruler of the
world-to be accordedsuitablerecognitionand honor.
Suchan imperialand kinglyconceptof the ultimatereality,however,
is neithernecessarynor universal.The Hindusand the Chinesehave no
difficultyin conceivingof an identityof the self and the Godhead.For
most Asians,otherthan Muslims,the Godheadmoves and manifeststhe
worldin muchthe sameway that a centipedemanipulatesa hundredlegs
-spontaneously, withoutdeliberationor calculation.In otherwords,they
conceivethe universeby analogywith an organismas distinct from a
mechanism.They do not see it as an artifactor constructunderthe con-
sciousdirectionof somesupremetechnician,engineer,or architect.
If, however,in the contextof Christianor Jewishtraditionan indi-
vidual declareshimselfto be one with God,he must be dubbedblasphe-
mous (subversive)or insane.Sucha mysticalexperienceis a clear threat
to traditionalreligiousconcepts.The Judaeo-Christian traditionhas a
monarchicalimageof God,andmonarchs,who ruleby force,fearnothing
morethaninsubordination. The Churchhas thereforealwaysbeen highly
of
suspicious mystics because they seemto be insubordinateand to claim
equalityor, worse,identitywith God. For this reasonJohn Scotus Eri-
genaandMeisterEckhartwerecondemnedas heretics.This was also why
the Quakersfacedoppositionfor theirdoctrineof the InwardLight, and
for theirrefusalto removehats in churchand in court.A few occasional
mysticsmay be all rightso long as they watchtheirlanguage,like St. Te-
resa of Avila and St. John of the Cross,who maintained,shall we say, a
meta-physicaldistanceof respectbetweenthemselvesand their heavenly
King.Nothing,however,couldbe morealarmingto the ecclesiasticalhier-
archythan a popularoutbreakof mysticism,for this mightwell amount
to setting up a democracyin the kingdomof heaven-and such alarm
would be shared equally by Catholics, Jews, and fundamentalist Protes-
tants.
The Monarchicalimage of God with its implicit distaste for religious
insubordinationhas a more pervasive impact than many Christians might

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1968] PSYCHEDELICSAND RELIGIOUSEXPERIENCE 81

admit. The thrones of kings have walls immediately behind them, and all
who present themselves at court must prostrate themselves or kneel be-
cause this is an awkwardposition from which to make a sudden attack. It
has perhaps never occurred to Christians that when they design a church
on the model of a royal court (basilica) and prescribe church ritual, they
are implying that God, like a human monarch, is afraid. This is also im-
plied by flattery in prayers:
O Lordour heavenlyFather,high and mighty,King of kings,Lordof
lords,the only Rulerof princes,who dost fromthy thronebeholdall
the dwellersuponearth:most heartilywe beseechthee with thy favor
to behold....7
The Western man who claims consciousness of oneness with God or
the universe thus clashes with his society's concept of religion. In most
Asian cultures, however, such a man will be congratulated as having pen-
etrated the true secret of life. He has arrived, by chance or by some such
discipline as Yoga- or Zen-meditation,at a state of consciousness in which
he experiences directly and vividly what our own scientists know to be
true in theory. For the ecologist, the biologist, and the physicist know
(but seldom feel) that every organism constitutes a single field of behav-
ior, or process, with its environment. There is no way of separating what
any given organismis doing from what its environmentis doing, for which
reason ecologists speak not of organismsin environmentsbut of organism-
environments. Thus the words "I" or "self" should properly mean what
the whole universe is doing at this particular "here-and-now"called John
Doe.
The kingly concept of God makes identity of self and God, or self
and universe, inconceivable in Western religious terms. The difference
between Eastern and Western concepts of man and his universe, however,
extends beyond strictly religious concepts. The Western scientist may ra-
tionally perceive the idea of organism-environment,but he does not ordi-
narily feel this to be true. By cultural and social conditioning,he has been
hypnotized into experiencing himself as an ego-as an isolated center of
consciousness and will inside a bag of skin, confronting an external and
alien world. We say, "I came into this world." But we did nothing of the
kind. We came out of it in just the same way that fruit comes out of trees.
Our galaxy, our cosmos, "peoples" in the same way that an apple tree
"apples."
Such a vision of the universe clashes with the idea of a monarchical
God, with the concept of the separate ego, and even with the secular, athe-
ist-agnostic mentality, which derives its common sense from the mythol-
7 A Prayer for the King's Majesty, Order for Morning Prayer, BooKc oF COMMON
PRAYER(Church of England 1904).

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82 CALIFORNIALAW REVIEW [Vol.56:74

ogy of nineteeth-century scientism.Accordingto this view, the universeis

a mindlessmechanismand man a sort of accidentalmicro-organism in-
festing a minute globular rock which revolves about an unimportant star
on the outerfringeof one of the minorgalaxies.This "putdown"theory
of man is extremelycommonamongsuch quasi-scientistsas sociologists,
psychologists,and psychiatrists,most of whomare still thinkingof the
worldin termsof Newtonianmechanics,and have neverreallycaughtup
with the ideasof Einsteinand Bohr,Oppenheimer Thus
and Schr6dinger.
to the ordinaryinstitutional-typepsycharist,any patient who gives the
least hint of mysticalor religiousexperienceis automaticallydiagnosedas
deranged.Fromthe standpointof the mechanisticreligionhe is a heretic
and is given electroshocktherapyas an up-to-dateform of thumbscrew
and rack.And,incidentally,it is just this kind of quasi-scientistwho, as
consultantto governmentand law enforcementagencies,dictatesofficial
policieson the use of psychedelicchemicals.
Inabilityto acceptthe mystic experienceis morethan an intellectual
handicap.Lack of awarenessof the basicunity of organismand environ-
mentis a seriousand dangeroushallucination.For in a civilizationequip-
ped with immensetechnologicalpower,the sense of alienationbetween
man and natureleads to the use of technologyin a hostile spirit--to the
"conquest"of natureinsteadof intelligentcooperationwith nature.The
resultis that we are erodingand destroyingour environment,spreading
Los Angelizationinsteadof civilization.This is the majorthreatoverhang-
ing Western,technologicalculture,and no amountof reasoningor doom-
preachingseemsto help. We simplydo not respondto the propheticand
moralizingtechniquesof conversionupon which Jews and Christians
have alwaysrelied.But peoplehave an obscuresense of what is good for
them--call it "unconsciousself-healing,""survivalinstinct," "positive
growthpotential,"or what you will. Amongthe educatedyoung thereis
thereforea startlingand unprecedented interestin the transformation of
humanconsciousness.All over the Westernworldpublishersare selling
millionsof books dealingwith Yoga, Vedanta,Zen Buddhism,and the
chemicalmysticismof psychedelicdrugs,and I have cometo believethat
the whole "hip"subculture,howevermisguidedin some of its manifes-
tations,is the earnestandresponsibleeffortof youngpeopleto correctthe
self-destroyingcourseof industrialcivilization.
The contentof the mysticalexperienceis thus inconsistentwith both
the religiousand secularconceptsof traditionalWesternthought.More-
over, mystical experiencesoften result in attitudeswhich threatenthe
authoritynot only of establishedchurches,but also of secularsociety.Un-
afraidof deathand deficientin worldlyambition,those who have under-
gone mysticalexperiencesare imperviousto threatsand promises.More-

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19681 PSYCHEDELICSAND RELIGIOUSEXPERIENCE 83

over, their sense of the relativityof good and evil arousesthe suspicion
that they lack bothconscienceand respectfor law. Use of psychedelicsin
the UnitedStatesby a literatebourgeoisiemeansthat an importantseg-
ment of the populationis indifferentto society'straditionalrewardsand
sanctions.
In theory,the existencewithinour secularsociety of a groupwhich
does not acceptconventionalvaluesis consistentwith ourpoliticalvision.
But oneof the greatproblemsof the UnitedStates,legallyandpolitically,
is thatwe haveneverquitehadthe courageof ourconvictions.The Repub-
lic is foundedon the marvellouslysaneprinciplethat a humancommunity
can exist andprosperonly on a basisof mutualtrust.Metaphysically,the
American Revolution was a rejection of the dogma of Original Sin, which
is the notion that because you cannot trust yourself or other people, there
must be some SuperiorAuthority to keep us all in order. The dogma was
rejected because if it is true that we cannot trust ourselves and others, it
follows that we cannottrust the SuperiorAuthoritywhichwe ourselves
conceiveand obey and that the very idea of our ownuntrustworthiness is
unreliable!
Citizensof the UnitedStatesbelieve,or are supposedto believe,that
a republicis the best formof government.Yet, vast confusionarisesfrom
tryingto be republicanin politicsand monarchistin religion.How can a
republicbe the best formof governmentif the universe,heaven,and hell
are a monarchy?8Thus, despite the theory of governmentby consent,
baseduponmutualtrust,the peoplesof the UnitedStatesretain,fromthe
authoritarian backgroundsof theirreligionsor nationalorigins,an utterly
naive faith in law as some sort of supernaturaland paternalisticpower.
"Thereought to be a law againstit!" Our law-enforcement officersare
thereforeconfused,hindered,and bewildered-not to mentioncorrup-
ted-by beingaskedto enforcesumptuarylaws,often of ecclesiasticalor-
igin, which vast numbersof people have no intention of obeying and
which, in any case, are immenselydifficultor simply impossibleto en-
force-for example,the barringof anythingso undetectableas LSD-25
frominternationaland interstatecommerce.
Finally, thereare two specificobjectionsto use of psychedelicdrugs.
First, use of these drugsmay be dangerous.However,every worthwhile
explorationis dangerous--climbing mountains,testingaircraft,rocketing
into outerspace,skin-diving,or collectingbotanicalspecimensin jungles.
8 Thus, until quite recently,belief in a SupremeBeing was a legal test of valid conscien-
tious objection to military service. The implicationwas that the individual objector found
himself bound to obey a higher echelon of commandthan the Presidentand Congress.The
analogy is military and monarchical,and thereforeobjectorswho, as Buddhists or natural-
ists, held an organictheory of the universeoften had difficultyin obtainingrecognition.

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84 CALIFORNIALAW REVIEW [Vol.56:74

But if you value knowledge and the actual delight of exploration more
than mere duration of uneventful life, you are willing to take the risks.
It is not really healthy for monks to practice fasting, and it was hardly
hygienic for Jesus to get himself crucified,but these are risks taken in the
course of spiritual adventures. Today the adventurous young are taking
risks in exploring the psyche, testing their mettle at the task just as, in
times past, they have tested it-more violently-in hunting, dueling,
hot-rod racing, and playing football. What they need is not prohibitions
and policemen but the most intelligent encouragementand advice that can
be found.
Second, drug use may be critized as an escape from reality. How-
ever, this criticism assumes unjustly that the mystical experiences them-
selves are escapist or unreal. LSD, in particular,is by no means a soft and
cushy escape from reality. It can very easily be an experience in which
you have to test your soul against all the devils in hell. For me, it has been
at times an experience in which I was at once completely lost in the cor-
ridors of the mind and yet relating that very lostness to the exact order of
logic and language, simultaneously very mad and very sane. But beyond
these occasional lost and insane episodes, there are the experiences of the
world as a system of total harmony and glory, and the discipline of relat-
ing these to the order of logic and language must somehow explain how
what William Blake called that "energy which is eternal delight" can con-
sist with the misery and sufferingof everyday life."
The undoubted mystical and religious intent of most users of the psy-
chedelics, even if some of these substances should be proved injurious to
physical health, requires that their free and responsible use be exempt
from legal restraint in any republic which maintains a constitutional sep-
aration of Church and State.'o To the extent that mystical experience
9 This is discussed at length in A. WATTS,THE JOYOUSCOSMOLOGY: IN THE
ADVENTURES
CHEMISTRY OF CONSCIOUSNESS (1962).
10"Responsible"in the sense that such substancesbe taken by or administeredto con-
senting adults only. The user of cannabis,in particular,is apt to have peculiardifficultiesin
establishinghis "undoubtedmystical and religiousintent" in court. Having committed so
loathsomeand serious a felony, his chances of clemencyare better if he assumesa repen-
tant demeanor,which is quite inconsistentwith the sincerebelief that his use of cannabiswas
religious.On the other hand, if he insists unrepentantlythat he looks upon such use as a re-
ligious sacrament,many judges will declarethat they "dislikehis attitude,"findingit trucu-
lent and lacking in appreciationof the gravity of the crime, and the sentence will be that
much harsher. The accused is therefore put in a "double-bind"situation in which he is
"damnedif he does, and damnedif he doesn't."Furthermore,religiousintegrity-as in con-
scientious objection-is generally tested and establishedby membershipis some church or
religious organization with a substantial following. But the felonious status of cannabis is
such that grave suspicion would be cast upon all individuals forming such an organization,
and the test cannot therefore be fulfilled. It is generally forgotten that our guarantees of re-
ligious freedom were designed to protect precisely those who were not members of established

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19681 PSYCHEDELICS AND RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE 85

conforms with the tradition of genuine religious involvement, and to the

extent that psychedelicsinduce that experience,users are entitled to
some constitutionalprotection. Also, to the extent that researchin the psy-
chology of religion can utilize such drugs, students of the human mind
must be free to use them. Under present laws, I, as an experiencedstudent
of the psychology of religion, can no longer pursue research in the field.
This is a barbarous restriction of spirtual and intellectual freedom, sug-
gesting that the legal system of the United States is, after all, in tacit
alliance with the monarchical theory of the universe and will, therefore,
prohibit and persecute religious ideas and practices based on an organic
and unitary vision of the universe."
denominations,but rather such screwball and (then) subversive individuals as Quakers,
Shakers,Levellers,and Anabaptists.There is little questionthat those who use cannabis,or
other psychedelics,with religious intent are now members of a persecutedreligion which
appearsto the rest of society as a grave menaceto "mentalhealth,"as distinct from the old-
fashioned"immortalsoul." But it's the same old story.
11Amerindiansbelongingto the Native AmericanChurch,who employ the psychedelic
peyote cactus in their rituals, are firmly opposed to any governmentcontrol of this plant,
even if they should be guaranteedthe right to its use. They feel that peyote is a naturalgift
of God to mankind,and especiallyto natives of the land where it grows, and that no govern-
ment has a right to interferewith its use. The same argumentmight be made on behalf of
cannabis,or the mushroompsilocybemexicanaHeim. All these things are natural plants, not
processedor synthesizeddrugs, and by what authority can individualsbe prevented from
eating them? There is no law against eating or growing the mushroomamanitapantherina,
even thoughit is fatally poisonousand only expertscan distinguishit from a commonedible
mushroom.This case can be made even from the standpointof believersin the monarchical
universe of Judaism and Christianity,for it is a basic principleof both religions, derived
from Genesis,that all natural substancescreatedby God are inherentlygood, and that evil
can arise only in their misuse. Thus laws against mere possession,or even cultivation, of
these plants are in basic conflict with Biblical principles.Criminalconviction of those who
employ these plants should be based on provenmisuse."And God said, 'Behold,I have given
you every herb bearingseed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the
which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat . . . . And God saw
every thing that he had made, and, behold,it was very good." Genesis1:29, 31.

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