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Content from our friends over at The United Methodist Reporter

Wednesday, July 9, 2008 , Updated

Can mushrooms enhance spirituality?

by Mary Jacobs of The United Methodist Reporter

Today I’m pondering this story from Religion News Service:

“Hallucinogenic mushrooms, long valued by Central American cultures for their mystical qualities, may enhance the spirituality of people of faith, according to a new study in the Journal of Psychopharmacology. Volunteer subjects reported conversing with God, experiencing "ultimate transcendence," and being suspended in a "tactile field of light." According to the study… subjects who took doses of psilocybin, a drug found in hallucinogenic mushrooms, reported sustained spiritual and religious benefits 14 months after ingestion. Sixty-seven percent of participants rated the experience as one of the five most spiritually significant events in their lives.”

Participants in the study came from a mix of predominantly Christian backgrounds. The article goes on to quote a United Church of Christ pastor who sees the mushrooms as “inductors into the spiritual world."

This raises some unsettling questions. If true spiritual experiences come from God, why would anyone need pharmacological enhancement to have them? Were the transcendent experiences described by the great saints of history actually sparked by naturally-occurring influxes of chemicals in their brains, rather than real encounters with God? Are attributes like a gentle spirit or a pure heart (or, in the negative column, hardheartedness and depression) all just manifestations of various combinations of chemistry in our brains? And given the research that links physical effects to traditional practices of spiritual formation – such as prayer, meditation and fasting – could these just represent natural ways of tinkering with our brain chemistry?

It all boils down to one question: Do I have a soul, or a chemistry set?

The question depresses me. Pass me the Zoloft.

Pegasus News content partner - The United Methodist Reporter

Staff
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Anonymous

Pavel Lishin, says:

I don't really see why soul and chemistry set are mutually exclusive. If (assuming this is what you believe) the soul somehow affects the body, why wouldn't the body affect the soul?

(And if it doesn't, then how and why do the things my <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_water">waterbag</a> does during "life" affect the soul riding shotgun inside?)

Another point: isn't it written about a dozen times in the Bible that God created the whole Earth for us to use? What is so surprising about him creating something to help us get closer to him? If you feel warm, fuzzy and spiritual during a sunset, why is a warm, fuzzy, spiritual feeling suddenly so suspect just because the chemicals involved are in your stomach and bloodstream instead of your retina?

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1 year, 4 months ago
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Burton Cleveland, says:

Well said, Pavel!

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1 year, 4 months ago
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Scott Miller, says:

Mushrooms enhance everything.

But especially spirituality and pizza.

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1 year, 4 months ago
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Rick Yost, says:

I'm so bummed! Of all the strange things I've done and learned from in my younger days (of course I don't do any of them anymore) I've never tried mushrooms. How do I sign up to volunteer for such a thing?

Who knows, I mind find Jesus!

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1 year, 4 months ago
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Pavel Lishin, says:

I think you sign up at that shady dude's house. Except instead of a signature it's like $50.

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1 year, 4 months ago
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Scott Doyle, says:

For another $100 you just might be able to get your pic taken with the <a href="http://www.pegasusnews.com/news/2008/jun/28/stone-company-dallas-finds-image-jesus-slab-granit/">rock of Jesus</a>.

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1 year, 4 months ago
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Pavel Lishin, says:

I bet that thing is amazing when you're all ... spiritualized.

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1 year, 4 months ago
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Lisa Lawrence Merritt, says:

I always thought sex was good for the spiritual...

when it's right you shout,"Oh God! Oh God!!"

;)

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1 year, 4 months ago
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ch0, says:

Yes.

Anonymous

5 months, 3 weeks ago
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Travis Bush, says:

Unfortunately the Christian world has disavowed the use of psychedelics per bible verses like Galatians 5:20 Rev 9:21 where you find the Greek word pharmakia. This words roughly translates to witchcraft and we all know how well it went for them in religious history, especially where Christians were involved.

And sure, you can starve yourself into hallucinating, or use sleep deprivation, but you are utilizing the same chemicals that mushrooms do. The most ironic of statements is in the last sentence of this piece..people will ingest things like Zoloft, Prozac, and a ton of other crap to make themselves feel better about waking up every day, but ask them to take a natural substance with absolutely no side effects and we mind as well be living back in 1692 Salem.

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5 months, 3 weeks ago
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ch0, says:

Psilocybin's not so gentle on the stomach and kidneys, or so I hear... but then again neither is acetaminophen...

Anonymous

5 months, 3 weeks ago
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Travis Bush, says:

This is an interesting read..

http://www.newsweek.com/id/144399

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5 months, 3 weeks ago
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ch0, says:

They forgot to mention the colors, but yes that is indeed an interesting read. We lock ourselves into dogmatic misery and ignore the beauty before us...