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Home , Aldous Huxley, Arthur Kleps, Daniel Pinchbeck, Dennis McKenna, Entheogen, Humphry Osmond

296 The Journal of American  Volume 36, Number 4  December 2013

Winner of the William M. Jones Best Graduate Student Paper Award at the 2013 American Culture Association Conference From Acid Revolution to Entheogenic : Psychedelic in the Sixties and Beyond Chris Elcock1

Introduction research with psychedelics, underscoring its promising early results—notably by interviewing Steven Ross of the New York University psilocy- In 2010, the magazine Playboy published an bin/cancer research team. article on “The New Psychedelic Renaissance,” In 2005, Harvard gave its go ahead for research which examined the state of psychedelic research on LSD and . From a historical stand- throughout the world: Israel, Jordan, Canada, point, this was a highly symbolic move because it , Germany, Spain, Switzerland and , was the first time in over forty years that the pres- were some of the countries researching into the tigious university was authorizing psychedelic potential of MDMA, , LSD or , studies. That ban had its chief origin in the notori- in various applications such as end-of-life anxiety ous deeds of ,3 who began his or opiate addiction. In the United States, psyche- career as the “High Priest” of LSD by introducing delic like psilocybin (one of the main psy- psilocybin and LSD to the department choactive agents of “ ”), LSD, —and to some of its students. The university took (an contained in cacti), issue with their “unscientific methods” for study- and MDMA (aka “”) were used in research ing psychedelics and with the liberties he and fel- for end-of-life anxiety, obsessive-compulsive dis- low Richard Alpert (now known as orders, cluster and post-traumatic Baba ) were taking. Leary decided that it stress disorder of Iraq war veterans (Kotler)2. was a good time to start promoting LSD as some- CNN also documented contemporary therapeutic thing even better than therapeutic well-being:

Chris Elcock is a doctoral candidate in history at the University of Saskatchewan under the supervision of Canada Research Chair, Dr. Erika Dyck. The Journal of American Culture, 36:4 © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. From Acid Revolution to Entheogenic Evolution  Chris Elcock 297

LSD and the psychedelic , he reasoned, dogma and dualism, and a that psychedelics could change the world for the better. are the key to the next stage of evolution. Half a century later, such claims might still Yet, given the present cultural feeling of environ- sound surprising. Yet, back then, several influential mental uncertainty, authors are now taking the figures saw psychedelics and their power to radi- philosophico-spiritual value of psychedelics one cally question ontological certainties as having an step further. Psychedelics, they argue, can play a inherently revolutionary potential. During his positive role in altering mankind’s time at Harvard, Leary ran psilocybin sessions and fostering a much-needed reunion with with the novelist , as well as some to ultimately prevent a global environmental the foremost Beat figures. , William catastrophe. S. Burroughs, Neil Cassady and Peter Orlovsky While Wouter Hanegraaff has pointed to the underwent the , but it was “importance […] of psychoactive substances as , who immediately realized that it catalysts of new spiritual ” (293) in the was time to start a “peace and ” movement. development of the 2012 millenarian popular Prior to this joining of forces, Aldous Huxley literature sparked by Terence and Dennis McKen- had experimented with mescaline and published his na and that have shaped the culture, it psychedelic in his classic essays “The also appears that the apocalyptic fears that are so Doors of ” and “.” Like present in post-’60s and that Leary and Ginsberg would find out in the early are behind a tangible 2012 culture are the logical 1960s, Huxley also felt that psychedelics had the consequences of a specific form of monistic envi- power of revamping Western society and, upon ronmental fostered by the insights of meeting Leary, suggested that he start a psychedelic the psychedelic experience. In a larger cultural crusade in which he would enlighten the “best and context of growing and with the brightest” to ultimately transform the domi- the current ban on most psychedelic substances in nant structures of American society—a decision he the Western world, then, tying an apocalyptic would regret when it became apparent that Leary message to the prohibition of those substances is was fond of causing controversy. Huxley, then, also an attempt to argue against the existing legis- believed that the psychedelic experience could be lation and promote psychedelics as valid used in a pragmatic way to reform the elites. to environmental destruction. Thus, where Nicho- The fact that a brilliant mind like Huxley or that las Langlitz has recently argued that “attempts to a charismatic Harvard professor turned LSD relegitimize [the use of psychedelics] in the West saw the psychedelic experience as a valid tool for […] have taken the route of science, not ” self-improvement and, so went the dialectics, for (17), evidence in the contemporary psychedelic lit- the greater benefit of mankind, is not the only rea- erature also suggests that the revival is not con- son why these ideas deserve attention. Indeed, the fined to science, insofar as it is also undertaken Psychedelic Renaissance should not be limited to from a philosophico-spiritual perspective.4 the therapeutic realm of psychedelics: LSD and The psychedelic movement which surfaced psychedelics did not disappear in the ‘60s; they sometime in the early ‘60s, with Huxley’s injunc- have, of course, been used recreationally through- tion to enlighten the “best and the brightest” out the decades, but more importantly these drugs, using LSD,5 and arguably ended with the sordid along with others like MDMA, ayahuasca or ibog- publicity brought by Charles Manson and his fol- aine, continue to inspire writers with insights that lowers, had an agenda for social and cultural display a remarkable historical continuity. change that is echoed today. Although it would The past and contemporary intellectual insights be wrong to claim that all LSD users in the ‘60s related to the psychedelic experience, then, have saw themselves as cultural revolutionaries, some many similarities: a monistic and post-modern did follow Leary’s precepts and believed that if a conception of and the Divine, a suspicion of sufficient number of people changed their ways of 298 The Journal of American Culture  Volume 36, Number 4  December 2013 life, they would reform American society. Half a satirists of his society. In some respects, he con- century later, the legacy of the American LSD centrated all his deepest fears in what has been movement is still unclear.6 But, as noted above, widely acknowledged as his essential work, psychedelic practices did not die in the ‘60s. As namely his dystopian , Hanegraaff argues, “ in its original which he partly intended as a warning of what psychedelic form did not vanish after 1970, but Western society could potentially become. Cen- continued as a vital underground culture, which tral to his concerns was what he saw as the dan- has become much more easily accessible again gerous alliance of politics, and since the spread of the Internet” (293). Beyond consumerism. In Brave New World, the ruling this subculture, however, there are obvious philo- body uses mind-manipulating techniques to con- sophical similarities and differences that exist dition the masses to love their ruler, but also to between the ‘60s psychedelic movement and what find comfort in consumerism. Individuals are might be referred today as the “entheogenic born in test-tubes and their technical and intellec- movement.” More broadly the past and present tual capacities are pre-established by eugenic pat- psychedelic movements can be understood as terns. Huxley believed that people would not preaching a form of spiritual utilitarianism and accept biological and mental conditioning if they traced right back to the longer-lasting tradition of did not get something in return: a highly promis- American pragmatists like William James. cuous social life, where everyone is allowed and socially encouraged to have sex with everyone, but more importantly, the escapist hedonism of Psychedelic Philosophy in the the imaginary , which was, depending ‘50s and ‘60s on the dosage, alternatively a , a or a psychedelic (an impossible combination). These key aspects of the society depicted by Hux- There are many intellectuals who, from their ley allowed any potentially subversive energies to early encounters with psychedelics, had life- be channeled and diffused. The old order would changing that deeply called into ques- thus always stay in place. tion their ontological certainties. Aldous Huxley The suspicion of technology became one of the was arguably the most influential in this respect, central elements of Huxley’s critique of Western but there are of course other important characters society. Whilst Brave New World was a work of such as Timothy Leary and Ken Kesey, who fiction that saw technology as potentially danger- would share their psychedelic insights with their ous if put into the wrong hands, Huxley also audience. While Kimberly Hewitt has already questioned the legitimacy of the modernist con- attempted to “synthesize the extant psychedelic sensus in the real world. He criticized the over- literature with cultural analysis to present an ori- reliance on technology and bureaucratic apparatus ginal interpretation of the ways in which psyche- to run states with ideals of maximum efficiency. delic drugs changed modern paradigms” (12), He was particularly concerned about the develop- identifying these insights to ultimately compare ment of mass communication that ran the risk of them with the contemporary ideas put forth by descending into brainwashing like in dictatorships psychedelic writers can ultimately present a much (Huxley “Final Revolution”). broader overview of the psychedelic philosophy Huxley’s concerns accompanied him through- over the past sixty years. out the first half of the century, looking for an to Brave New World. As early as Octo- ber 1931—even before publishing his novel— What was Wrong with Humankind? Huxley had openly stated what he thought might Aldous Huxley’s early literary career estab- be the answer. In an article for the Herald Exam- lished him as one of the foremost critics and iner, he wrote, From Acid Revolution to Entheogenic Evolution  Chris Elcock 299

Men and women feel such an urgent need to take occa- destroy Nature, and Nature will soon destroy sional holidays from reality, that they will do almost 7 anything to procure the means of escape. […] The way you” ( 248). to prevent people from drinking too much , or becoming addicts to morphine and , is to give them an efficient but wholesome substitute for these The Post-Modern Shift8 delicious and (in the present imperfect world) neces- sary poisons. The man who invents such a substance Before moving on, and examining how psyche- will be counted among the greatest benefactors of suf- fering humanity. (“Treatise” 4–5) delics could perfect humanity, it is worth briefly dwelling on the way some of the key figures of This stand clearly indicates that Huxley was the psychedelic movement sought to make sense ready to acknowledge the liberating potential of of their experience and what philosophical psychedelics twenty-two years before his inges- insights they came up with. With the right set and tion of mescaline. Huxley thought that Western setting, the psychedelic experience could lead to society had a deep urge for chemically induced mystical states of awareness, in which the subject escapism—he would later reverse the famous would experience feelings of unity with the uni- Marxist aphorism “religion is the opium of the verse. As a result, psychonauts would adopt a people” into “opium is the religion of the people” post-modern outlook on the world and reject any (“Chemical Persuasion” 135) He was looking for form of dogma imposed on them. Reality had to a substance that would be harmless, pleasurable be understood as a personal experience that could and fulfilling. As if by coincidence, Huxley, who not be related through religious scriptures. in the meantime had been looking East for his In 1962, Leary underwent his first LSD experi- answers, discovered his antidote (mescaline, later, ence and from then on, he embraced a post-mod- LSD), just as his deepest fears had been re-actual- ern conception of reality, which would shape his ized in the ‘50s: he noticed the consumerist frenzy thought until his death. To him, the psychedelic post-war America was engaged in, but more experience was the proof that other levels of real- to the point, he was troubled by the vast array ity existed beyond the “ordinary” state of con- of barbiturates—one of which was ironically sciousness and that what was thought to be reality named “soma”—that were being offered to Amer- was nothing but a social consensus.9 This was ican society, not in the name of public well-being, something Ken Kesey also noticed. As a writer, he felt, but in the name of public order and he realized the potential of psychedelics to offer conformity. multiple angles of perception of the world and the In his final novel Island (1962), which, in some people surrounding him to distance himself from respect, he intended as his testament and as a the “normal” world.10 counterpoint to Brave New World (1932), Hux- As a natural consequence of the power of psy- ley’s suspicion of the modern Western world chedelics to call into question the nature of real- became even sharper. In his utopian fable, he ity, dogma became one of the central elements of depicted an imaginary society (the inhabitants of modern thought that the post-modern psyche- Pala) that combined the best of Eastern philoso- delic culture rejected. In Island, Huxley wrote phy with the best of Western science, shunning that “anybody who gets eloquent about Buddha, consumerism, violence or greed, and embracing or , or Christ, ought to have his mouth love, care and unity. In order to attain these ideals, washed out with carbolic soap” (43).11 Like many the Palanese society partly relied on psychedelics psychonauts trying to make sense of their experi- - the enlightening (in Sanskrit, ence with the Other World, Leary had looked “freedom for evermore”) used in is the East for concepts and guidelines, and made the antidote to the escapist soma of Brave New to in 1965, coming back more World. Through the voice of the Palanese, Huxley resentful of established and convinced offered a blunt ecological maxim: “treat Nature that God was within you and not somewhere in well, and Nature will treat you well. Hurt of the heavens. As the counter-cultural movement 300 The Journal of American Culture  Volume 36, Number 4  December 2013 gathered momentum, and Leary gained notoriety, “your brain is God” and would later publish a he began to offer a kind of post-modern form of book with that title. For Leary, God was not an that revolved around taking LSD. external and patriarchal force; God was a form of Through his realization that reality was but a monistic “sentient chaos” that could be found not social construct, it followed that authentic spiri- just in every human, but in all “organic and inor- tuality could only come from within the individ- ganic life” (qtd. in Higgs 66). In the Judeo-Chris- ual and not from established religion. “The only tian tradition, were originally created by way out is in,” he told the 1967 San Francisco God as separate from the rest of the world and Be-In (qtd. in Higgs 86), trying to direct the logically have a special place in the cosmos. Leary, counter-culture towards a more personal form of on the other hand, thought that humans were part religion and away from religious dogma. Thus, of the whole and no different to any not only did the psychedelic experience offer a other organic and inorganic life. way of attaining an original mystical , In general, LSD tended to foster a monistic as did Huxley during his first experience with rather than a dualistic conception of the Divine. mescaline, when he saw “[what] Adam had seen Leary aside, several other important figures on the morning of his creation” (“Doors” 17), rejected dualism. One of Huxley’s most immedi- but its strong experiential dimension also enabled ate realizations was that dualisms, dichotomies or users to shun the second-hand experiences of polar opposites could be reconciled through the religious scriptures and reject their dogmatic chemically induced mystic experience. When teachings. asked during his mescaline experience if it was Before moving on, it is important to note the agreeable, Huxley answered: “neither agreeable limits of the psychedelic post-modern spirituality nor disagreeable. It just is” (“Doors” 17).14 This and point to the multiple references to established was an he would further develop in his religions to make sense of the psychedelic experi- last essay titled “Culture and the Individual,” in ence. Huxley’s above quote is a good example, which he argued that our perception was condi- but Higgs also notes that Leary, for all his talk tioned by a dualistic approach to life (i.e., black about rejecting dogma, felt that all religions were and white, good and bad, subject and object), attempts to make sense of an original religious which could be challenged and tempered by the experience, and thus did not mind calling himself mystic experience: a Catholic (as he was brought up) or a Hindu In the mystical consciousness of being at one with infi- 12 (67). Incidentally, Huxley’s main point of refer- nite Oneness, there is a reconciliation of opposites, a perception of the Not-Particular in particulars, a tran- ence was less Judeo-Christian than Hinduist, scending of our ingrained subject-object relationships which he had studied prior to his chemical experi- with things and persons; there is an immediate experi- mentation, and relied on concepts like “,” ence of our solidarity with all beings and a kind of organic conviction that […] in spite of all that is so “” or “Bodhisattva.” Likewise, some of manifestly wrong with the world, it is yet, in some the Beats who had studied referred to drug- profound, paradoxical and entirely inexpressible way, All Right. (Huxley, “Culture” 235)15 induced mystical states of consciousness as “.”13 Huxley concluded in Island that “without Leary’s “psychedelic humanism” was centered [dualism] there can hardly be any good literature. on the individual and a stand against organized With it, there most certainly can be no good life” modernist that worshiped an omnip- (205).16 His friend, the philosopher Allan Watts, otent monolithic . In this respect, he sug- in his Joyous lamented that “one of the gested that everybody should start one’s own greatest of all superstitions is the separation of the religion (Start). Although he saw religion as a mind from the body” (3), responsible for the product of the mind, he would continue to speak denial of bodily urges. All these teachings were of the Divine, but only to refer to the inner power not new: they had long existed in the Hindu or inherent to every human being—he claimed that Zen Buddhist traditions. But in the West, they From Acid Revolution to Entheogenic Evolution  Chris Elcock 301 were a radical new way of re-interpreting reality. be attained. The mind could be freed from these Dualism, of course, was part of the legacy of mod- hindrances to attain what he referred to as “Mind ernism and rationality, which emphasized the at Large”—the mind expanded beyond its purely importance of the subject/object dichotomy and “survivalist” function. the universality of truth. By contrast, the psyche- In the late , Huxley was drawn to Berg- delic movement called into question the modern- son’s “vitalist” (elan vital) interpretation of evolu- ist world view and embraced post-modernism tion—unlike the more mainstream interpretation and its emphasis on holism and the relativity of that evolution is directionless.18 Bergson argued reality. that this creative life force directed evolution towards higher manifestations of and The Solution is Evolution competence. This type of evolution, as Nietzsche would then speculate, could lead to the race of the € Influential figures of the psychedelic move- Superman (Ubermensch): mankind would ulti- ment, trying to make sense of their life-changing mately reach some form of perfection - for better experiences came to posit that psychedelics or worse. The vitalist hypothesis appealed to cer- could be the key to unlocking the full potential tain intellectuals, who thought that the next phase of the human brain: LSD and psychedelics of human evolution would come from the would lead human beings to the next stage of untapped potential of the mind. In the late 1920s, evolution. Hewitt has argued that Huxley’s psy- Huxley, who was looking for an antidote to the chedelic experiences led him to formulate “a uto- dystopian nightmare of Brave New World, pian vision of psychedelic drugs used to enhance thought the solution might lie deep within our human senses and further the evolution of soci- minds, which is why he turned to Eastern philos- ety and human consciousness” (8). Examining ophy and , trying to bypass the reduc- this interpretation in other people’s writings, ing-valve of the mind. But psychedelics offered an however, suggests that this brand of psychedelic altogether easier shortcut to these states of con- evolutionism was not confined to Huxley’s sciousness. To him, they were the next step on the insights and constitutes a major tenet of the psy- evolutionary ladder. 17 chedelic paradigm. The man who introduced Huxley to psychedel- One of the consequences of Huxley’s mescaline ics, the psychedelic psychiatrist Humphry experience was for him to agree with the British Osmond, had come up with comparable evolu- philosopher C. D. Broad, who - inspired by Henri tionary insights around the same period. He also Bergson’s theory on memory and sense percep- felt that the psychedelic experience could be a tion - posited that the human brain operates as a valuable asset to shift humankind’s consciousness vast reducing-valve: the primary function of the and lead it to the next stage of evolution: “I brain, the nervous system and the sense organs is believe that the psychedelics provide a chance, to regulate the overwhelming flow of perhaps only a slender one, for faber, the and perception are constantly subjected to, cunning, ruthless, foolhardy, pleasure-greedy and keep only what is necessary on a “practical” toolmaker to merge into that other creature level. Thus, a great deal of information never whose presence we have so rashly presumed, reaches us: “what comes out at the other end is a homo sapiens, the wise, the understanding, the measly trickle of the kind of consciousness which compassionate […]” (431). will help us to stay alive on the surface of this par- In the early ‘60s, the less well-known psyche- ticular planet” (“Doors” 23). Huxley, as seen delic writer Adelle Davis (using “Jane Dunlap” above, also believed that this state of conscious- as a pen-name) came to express similar ideas in ness was too often taken for the only valid one. an even more explicit way.19 Following one of His mystical experience caused by mescaline was her experiences with LSD, she felt that she had the proof that other states of consciousness could experienced the evolution of life—although she 302 The Journal of American Culture  Volume 36, Number 4  December 2013 claimed never to have been interested in Darwin: Although this statement hints at vague environ- “[…] I felt in awe that, out of the struggles and mental concerns, they are not clear-cut and do not catastrophes of prehistoric life, anything wonder- really represent the consensual views of the 1960s ful as primitive man had managed to survive and psychedelic movement. Indeed, apart from Hux- evolve” (36). She became aware that she, as well ley’s utopian fable, few authors put forth a clear as every other human being, was tightly con- critique of environmental destruction and pro- nected to the evolutionary process and “had a moted a monistic and eco-centric conception of momentary glimpse of what man would eventu- nature. Yet, it is important to note that even then, ally evolve into, of the heights he would some- there were at least some seeds of environmental time reach, and of the development as yet awareness that would subsequently grow into a unimagined” (45). Optimistically, Davis felt that full-blown environmental movement. the next stage of human beings would naturally Other figures of the psychedelic movement bring about peace and understanding: “I was […] understood the psychedelic experience in evolu- overwhelmed by feelings of , compas- tionary terms. Michael Hollingshead, who initi- sion, love and other such emotions; and I knew ated Leary to LSD and took part in various that evolved man would experience the feeling to psychedelic projects, saw psychedelics as impor- a far greater degree than we are capable of” (47). tant agents for a radical shift in human conscious- Leary also embraced a form of psychedelic evo- ness: “Man could take a ‘’ view of lutionism. When LSD became officially illegal on himself. He could escape from the prison of his 6 October 1966 in , he intensified his conditioning, his robot-self, and move towards campaign to appeal to America’s rebellious youth. wholeness, completeness, place-in-the-world. We He personally theorized that they were the key to could all be conscious agents in the evolutionary mankind’s evolution, but also that their young age process.” He also recalled a letter received from and their need for directions would make them the Siddha Guru Alfred Schmielewski, which easier to convert, and began liberally advocating stated that there “seems to exist after a billion the use of LSD to expand one’s consciousness. In years of unconscious evolution an instrument that May 1968, Leary co-wrote “The Declaration of man can use to establish control of racial uncon- Cultural Evolution” with Allen Ginsberg, Paul sciousness. Man can now say that the race can Krasner and Abbie Hoffman among others. In it, control itself, its unconscious processes”(n.p.). they argued that the old political and cultural Finally, and although this can seem a little far- models were the cause of all the ills of mankind: fetched, the evolutionary appeal could also be “The history of the white, menopausal, menda- found in some of Ken Kesey’s relation to the psy- cious men now ruling the planet is a history chedelic experience. Early in 1963, the money of repeated violation of the harmonious laws of from Kesey’s best-selling novel One Flew Over nature, all having the direct object of establishing the Cuckoo’s Nest enabled him to buy a large a tyranny of the materialistic aging over the gen- secluded house in La Honda, fifty miles south of tle, the peace-loving, the young, the colored” San Francisco, where he and his closest friends (Leary, “Declaration” n.p.). The solution, then, established base-camp and became a closely knit was to evolve and create new models: community that had made the LSD experience the best part of their lives. But theirs was not intellec- When a long train of abuses and usurpations, all pursu- ing invariably the same destructive goals, threaten the tual like Huxley’s, nor was it scientific, and later very fabric of organic life and the serene harmony of spiritual, like Leary’s. Instead, it was a curious the planet, it is the right, it is the organic duty to drop out of such morbid covenants and to evolve into new and complex mixture of hedonism, exoticism, and loving social structures. […] We must therefore acqui- non-attached “immediatism,” which encouraged esce to genetic necessity, detach ourselves from their uncaring madness and hold them henceforth as we hold spontaneous, authentic and care-free adventure. If the rest of God’s creatures. (Leary, “Declaration”) Leary’s maxim in relation to LSD was “set and From Acid Revolution to Entheogenic Evolution  Chris Elcock 303 setting,” i.e., taking care of personal and geo- : The Psychedelic graphical variables, Kesey’s was “just do it.” Movement Goes Green Kesey shared Leary’s view that the psychedelic experience was a way of erasing established pat- terns of behavior by letting the ego melt under its Recently, the word “,” roughly influence (death and rebirth, but without any meaning “God generated within,” coined by Carl Buddhist connotations), and thus, one could con- Ruck, Jeremy Bigwood, Danny Staples, Richard front oneself through the most honest and accu- Evans Schultes, and Gordon Was- rate mirror. But unlike Leary, Alpert and Ralph son in 1979, has become increasingly popular and Metzner, who, in 1964, published The Psychedelic is now used as an alternative to the word “psyche- Experience, based on the Tibetan Book of the delic.” The changing terminology is something Dead and intended as a practical and even, to that deserves closer attention, because it says some extent, rational guideline to such experi- much about the post-1960s contemporary intel- ences, Kesey and his entourage shunned any lectual trends. This could be referred to as “the attempt to intellectualize their trips. As Tom new psychedelic movement” or “neo-psychede- Wolfe put it, “the whole other world that LSD lia.” But instead, this movement can quite rightly opened your mind to existed only in the moment be called the “entheogenic movement,” one that — — itself Now and any attempt to plan, compose, shares comparable goals and with the orchestrate, write a script, only locked you out of psychedelic movement of the ‘60s, yet has notable the moment, back in the world of conditioning differences. and training where the brain was a reducing To begin, can it really be considered a move- valve” (59). ment? Shouldn’t these entheogenic practices to be In the early 1960s, Kesey and his eccentric filed under “New Age”? Indeed, the New Age friends embarked on a national acid tour where heritage is obviously strong: , UFOs, they wore costumes, some with fluorescent Day- neo- and neo-, millennial ten- Glo paint, and changed their names to nicknames dencies or the suspicion of authority are impor- such as Sensuous X, Intrepid Traveler, Speed tant aspects of the New Age culture that can Limit, Mal Function, or Swashbuckler, in the case sometimes be found in entheogenic literature. of Kesey, and soon came to see themselves as the Yet, the entheogenic movement also has its roots first psychedelic superheroes. Although his in the psychedelic movement of the ‘60s, as well approach to psychedelics greatly differed from as in the scientific research of the ‘50s that offers a Leary and Huxley, all three, to some extent, nur- vast amount of cross-field literature. Some of the tured the idea that consciousness-expanders had contemporary psychonauts, like Michael Ball or the potential to take the human to the next , were too young to experience stage of evolution. Like most American children, the ‘60s. The influential New Age psychedelic Kesey had grown up reading comic books that writer Terence McKenna did live through the dec- featured adventures of superheroes such as Bat- ade in his late teens, but he published his first man or Captain Marvel, and still identified with book in the ‘70s, the decade in which the New them when he entered college at the University of Age took off. But then there are the interesting Oregon. He contended to his better-read peers cases of the founder of that these stories deserved to be considered a valid Stan Grof, , who shaped the ‘60s part of the American mythos, but as Jay Stevens with his invention of LSD, and of , contends, “what most considered cheap proletar- Leary’s close companion in the Millbrook days, ian entertainment, Kesey interpreted as Nietzsch- and co-author of The Psychedelic Experience.20 … ean parable. [ ] In a sense this was the same Grof, Hofmann and Metzner, as well as all the teleological yearning for a transformed man that aforementioned writers, see altered states of Huxley indulged in” (178). 304 The Journal of American Culture  Volume 36, Number 4  December 2013 consciousness, whether induced by chemicals or The second reason is partly linked to the first. “natural ways,” as an important asset for the In the eyes of mainstream America, Leary and future of mankind. Kesey seemed to advocate hedonistic practices All in all, the strongest case for labeling this as a with psychedelics. By contrast, Albert Hofmann movement is that regardless of their backgrounds took issue against a profane and hedonistic and ages, contemporary psychonauts, to various approach to psychedelics, thinking that they extents, have a political and spiritual agenda: mak- should be treated with deference, if not with rev- ing the use of entheogens legal in religious settings erence (Il Dio 73). Contemporary psychonauts, and raising public awareness to the ills of modern by using the word entheogen, acknowledge its times through entheogenic practices. What’s spiritual potential. It is another way of breaking more, there are still important gatherings for en- away from the 1960s, but more importantly, it theogenists to share ideas and offer new direc- gives them a moral and legal case to justify their tions. For instance, the 2008 World Psychedelic use as a . Robert Jesse is one of the Forum invited Stanislav Grof, Ralph Metzner, many authors to point to the paradox of Native , Daniel Pinchbeck, Thomas Rob- American peyotism in a country where the use of erts, Christian R€atsch, Alexander and Ann Shul- entheogens is not permitted for non-Indians and gin, all of whom are (again, to various extents) calls for a clear-cut distinction between recrea- drawn to the revolutionary appeal of the psyche- tional and use for non-Indian Americans, delic experience.21 and to grant exception for rituals (11). This is, of Though the change of nomenclature is not course, nothing new. Leaders like Leary and the general amongst contemporary writers, it does founder of the psychedelic Neo-American indicate a general trend. Firstly, it is a clear-cut Church Arthur Kleps used similar strategies in attempt to break away from the 1960s. That is the ‘60s, hoping to see their sacrament legalized not to say that contemporary advocates of enthe- one day. ogens are denying their scientific heritage – 1960s More broadly, historical continuity is salient authors are still frequently referred to in books when both movements are compared. A feature of on the subject. This breakaway is purely ideolog- the ‘60s psychedelic movement that has resurfaced ical. Entheogenists have realized that the psyche- with the entheogenic movement is the rejection of delic movement of the ‘60s has attracted so much modernist thought. Hofmann could not have put bad publicity to mind-altering drugs that a it better when he said that “every human being is change of nomenclature is necessary.22 While the creator of their own world […]. That sounds there is a definite continuity with the ‘60s move- very mystical, is mystical, but in the same way it is ment, many do not wish to have their names natural scientific truth” (“Natural Science” 54).23 associated with the likes of Timothy Leary. Rob- Like in the 1960s, post-modern entheogenists ert Forte, for example, partly blames Leary for such as Michael Ball think that contemporary reli- the prohibition of psychedelics and is one of the gion cruelly lacks and should many advocates of the word (2). Gordon Wasson, be discarded in favor of personal explorations. who coined the word, was even less charitable Recalling Leary’s view that “your brain is God,” and branded Leary “an egoist of the first class” Ball writes that “you are God.” (6) Hofmann (84). The president of the Multidisciplinary Asso- believed that psychedelics could offer a feeling of ciation for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) Rick cosmic unity (Il Dio 66) and rejected dogma, Doblin, although a more ambivalent and “scien- claiming they were second-hand experiences (Il tific” promoter of use, also wants Dio 86).24 Terence McKenna, whom Leary to “get it right this time” and blames Leary and dubbed his successor, also argued that “direct Terence McKenna for their arrogance and their experience has been discounted, and in its place all revolutionary and isolationist romanticism (qtd. in kinds of belief systems have been erected”(“Psy- Kotler 114). chedelic Society” 58). The Roman Catholic theo- From Acid Revolution to Entheogenic Evolution  Chris Elcock 305 logian David Steindl-Rast thinks that entheogens that is regularly put forth to justify entheogens is can be the solution to make religion truly reli- that they can provide a much-needed shift in gious again - but only if their use is directed human consciousness, and ultimately save man- towards clearly defined spiritual goals (17–21).25 kind from a global environmental or human- The rejection of dualism also shows further caused catastrophe. This is undoubtedly a surpris- continuity with the ‘60s psychedelic movement. ing argument, arguably more so than any put The arguments Huxley put forth half a century forth in the ‘60s to justify the use of psychedelics, ago are still present. McKenna (“Psychedelic Soci- but it is one that has attracted many writers and ety” 60), and Ball (2) have both re-articulated deserves to be closely examined and made sense of Huxley’s rejection of dichotomies. Hofmann crit- —it also strengthens the idea that the entheogenic icized ’s “duality of creator and crea- movement can be considered as a movement. tion” (LSD 110), which alienated the Divine from The anthropologist and philosopher Roger the cosmos, and would later refer to Genesis,in Walsh understands the contemporary environ- which God gives the Earth to Man—all three ele- mental issues as crucial: “we are in a race between ments considered as being radically separate from catastrophe and consciousness, and we do not one another, and not on equal footing (Il Dio know which will win” (183). Grof argues that 112). But dualism is not just present in religion: it humanity is facing a psycho-spiritual crisis that is further developed through Descartes and conse- responsible for the broader worldwide crisis. In quently into positivist science which viewed the his opinion, the most apparent symptoms of this world as an object of study. It led to industrializa- crisis are violence and greed. Those symptoms tion, technification and materialism for a small have been present for millennia, but with the con- minority of human beings at the expense of the temporary difference that “we have the dubious environment. Moreover it has led humans away privilege of being the first species in natural his- from a spiritual life and away from nature (Hof- tory that has achieved the capacity to eradicate mann, “Natural Science” 1997 36).26 Here, it is itself and destroy in the process all life on this important to note that unlike Huxley or Watts’s planet” (2). criticism of this world view, this criticism of a Not only is Grof concerned about human vio- dualistic world view is not purely philosophical. lence on humans; he is perhaps even more worried It is directed at the long-term consequences of this about humankind’s capacity to destroy its envi- world view, most notably environmental destruc- ronment: pollution of earth, air and water, defor- tion. This is why many contemporary writers estation, destruction of ecosystems and global have urged for a shift of consciousness towards a warming are amongst some his deepest concerns more monistic conception of nature: “We need to (“2012 and Humanity” 3). Other writers share his overcome this dualism in the Western world for anguish: Hofmann pointed to the dangers of mod- spiritual renewal,” Hofmann wrote (“Natural ern science, which treats nature as a mere com- Science” 37). modity (Il Dio 98) and was aware of the prospect Environmental awareness is an important of nuclear apocalypse (Il Dio 112). Grof (“Con- aspect of entheogenic philosophy. By and large, sciousness Evolution” 3), McKenna (“Psychedelic the entheogenic movement no longer justifies the Society” 58-9), or Kornfield (134) have expressed use of entheogens with purely intellectual argu- similar fears and pointed to a much-needed shift ments. Whilst the psychedelic movement of the in our consciousness to solve the ills of modern 1960s sought to expand consciousness for the bet- times. All these authors believe that entheogens terment of humankind on idealistic grounds, its can trigger this shift in consciousness. contemporary manifestation is arguing for enthe- Perhaps the most interesting aspect of these ogenic use on far more utilitarian grounds. apocalyptic fears is that some writers have sub- Granted, its spiritual and therapeutic dimensions scribed to what is often referred to as the “2012 are also important, but one of the main arguments phenomenon,” which can be roughly characterized 306 The Journal of American Culture  Volume 36, Number 4  December 2013 as comprising a wide range of beliefs that a cata- wrote, “whether you buy into my own particular, strophic or deeply transformative event was to apocalyptarian transformative vision involving take place on 21 December 2012, one of the most 2012, or whether you can just tell by looking popular reasons being the supposed end of the around you that the shit may soon hit the fan, I Maya calendar. The transformative scenario posits think that we can agree that we have come to that the human race would undergo a radical some kind of an impasse” (“Psychedelic Society” physical or spiritual evolutionary change. This 62). Contemporary entheogenists, then, tend to phenomenon was originally the product of New see their activities as the solution for the environ- Age speculations, particularly those of Terence mental crisis. Not all of them subscribed to the and Dennis McKenna, who published in 1975 The 2012 scenario of McKenna or Pinchbeck, yet Invisible Landscape, in which they attempted to many share their idea that a shift of consciousness make sense of their experiences with psychedelics is necessary to save the world. in the . Although, as Han- Correlatively, one criticism entheogenists regu- egraaff points out, Terence McKenna would ulti- larly formulate against Western society, is its mately acknowledge the scientific bankruptcy of emphasis on consumerism, the unquestioned sanc- the “Eschaton Timewave” theory the McKenna’s tity of economic growth, and science—this is had used to come up with 2012 as the key date sometimes referred to as “,” i.e., science (310-1), these theories gathered momentum in the as a form of dogma.28 Echoing Huxley’s concerns 1990s, and in the 2000s with the notable emer- about technicization, Hofmann pointed to the gence of the entheogenist Daniel Pinchbeck as dangers of unilateral scientific thought serving one of the foremost spokespersons of the 2012 technocracy (Il Dio 101) and criticized Western phenomenon. In 2006, Pinchbeck published 2012: society’s of materialistic wealth, egoistic The Return of Quetzalcoatl, in which he argued individualism and mass consumerism (Il Dio 97). that 2012 would witness a radical shift of con- Grof has criticized the capitalist economy’s sciousness and new feminine-orientated spiritual- emphasis on “unlimited growth,” “conspicuous ity. And like so many entheogenists, Pinchbeck consumerism Evolution” or “planned obsoles- that Western society’s crisis is, first and cence,” (“Consciousness Evolution” 2) and foremost, a crisis of consciousness. denounced the Western fallacy that a strong GDP But, recently, these beliefs have experienced was the shortest way to happiness (qtd in Mann).29 considerable media exposure - scores of websites Ralph Metzner, whose name was closely associ- deal with the subject27 and Hollywood has even ated with Leary throughout the ‘60s, also believes turned it into the “blockbuster” soberly titled that the never-ending quest for economic growth 2012. It also worth noting that the contemporary will destroy the planet if it is not called into ques- apocalyptic fears are of a special nature. Indeed, tion (Mann). McKenna took issue with capitalist they are occurring at a time when the risks of technocracy, believing that the Western “engi- human extinction are not the collective fancies of neering mentality” would seek to “change man a group of cultists or New Agers, but represent a into his machines” (“Psychedelic Society” 63). fairly consensual scientific fact. Leading scientists The realization that something needs to happen all agree that these are pivotal times for humanity, to prevent a large-scale global catastrophe has led which faces a colossal collective challenge—the some writers to for a new stage in the evolu- widely respected microbiologist Frank Fenner has tion of mankind, recalling Kesey, Leary or Hux- recently claimed that the situation is now irrevers- ley’s similar yearnings. This continuity is ible (Fenner). apparent in the writings of Terence McKenna, Thus, it is no surprise that fears of a large-scale who believed that humans would either disappear catastrophe and the realization that a solution or evolve—“the history of the silly monkey is must be found soon have permeated the contem- over, one way or another” (qtd in Grof “2012 and porary entheogenic literature. As McKenna Human Destiny” 33). The Zen healer Kathleen From Acid Revolution to Entheogenic Evolution  Chris Elcock 307

O’Shaughnessy thinks that entheogens are neces- build “a future modeled on ecosystemic rather sary for human beings to develop a neocortex and than egoic practices” (26).30 thinks that with the current state of prohibition, “our evolutionary possibilities have been stunted” (187). The Rabi Joel Bakst understands DMT as a godsend to take human evolution to the next stage Conclusion: The Utilitarianism (Schultz), and the mathematician Ralph Abraham of Psychedelics and is even blunter: “we’re a dying species. We’re kill- Entheogens ing the planet. We need to evolve” (qtd. in Schultz). In the 1960s, Metzner thought that “if LSD expands consciousness and if, as is widely The psychedelic movement of the 1960s resur- believed, further evolution will take the form of faced sometime in the late 1980s with the entheo- an increase in consciousness, then [we can] regard genic movement. The continuity is salient: the LSD as a possible evolutionary instrument,” and rejection of dogma and dualism, a deep suspicion he re-affirms his views some thirty years later of modern Western society, an emphasis on a (71). Similar ideas are offered by Grof, who post-modern and monistic conception of reality strongly echoes Osmond’s insights almost half a and the Divine, and the notion that psychedelics century later: “if a sufficient number of people are the key to the next step of human evolution. undergoes a process of deep inner transformation But now one major difference stands out: evolu- […], we might reach a stage and level of con- tion is desperately and urgently needed to re-unite sciousness evolution at which we will deserve the human beings with nature and provide a much proud name we have given to our species: homo needed shift of consciousness to avoid a large- sapiens sapiens” (“Consciousness Evolution” 33). scale environmental catastrophe. Many examples Incidentally, Grof—like Pinchbeck—was inter- illustrate the entheogenic agenda–the list could no ested in exploring the more optimistic possibility doubt be extended–and reveal the extent to which that the Mayan could be seen as the end these ideas are ways of challenging the prohibition of an era “dominated by unbridled violence and of psychedelics/entheogens, as well as the product insatiable greed, egotistic hierarchy of values, cor- of genuine concerns for the environment and the rupted institutions and corporations, and irrecon- future of humankind. Finally, the New Age neo- cilable conflicts between organized religions” shamanism of the 1970s and the McKenna broth- (“Consciousness Evolution” 33). ers, so much the product of the 1960s psychedelic Recently, the philosopher Richard Doyle has movement, seems to have re-invigorated the con- produced a book that is in many ways synthesizes temporary psychedelic/entheogenic movement by the new direction of entheogenic understanding. introducing stronger environmental concerns Realizing that humankind is facing a deep crisis, with explicitly millenarian overtones. he thinks that the answer lies in the evolutionary More broadly, the psychedelic movement of potential of entheogens, because they offer the the 1960s, and its contemporary offshoot, owe unique ability for humans to realize that they are their ideas to a longer tradition of American part of a much larger imbrication with the envi- thought. Some historians such as Robert Fuller ronment. This realization will promote a monistic posit that these roots can be traced back to the conception of nature and shift away from the American aesthetic tradition. He sees continuity instrumental conception of the environment that between Leary’s idea that “sense and sensuality” treats it as a mere commodity. He understands the are natural , and Thoreau’s reverence current “” as the interruption of the for the sacredness of forests (71). In a similar vein, and co-evolution of plants and humans, Albert Hofmann thought that Kesey and his rela- which creates a dichotomy between humans and tion to LSD owed much to the American radical nature. He argues that entheogens can be used to tradition of the likes of Thoreau, who had 308 The Journal of American Culture  Volume 36, Number 4  December 2013

“dropped out” of society and embraced a liber- difference or transformation—that is, for a more tarian return to nature (Il Dio 41). As early as open, responsive, and ethical relation to the 1964, Alan Harrington, a friend of Leary’s who world”(213). took part in his communal experiences, observed Beyond this aspect of James’ philosophy, it that “socio-religious groups of this kind may be appears that the psychedelic and entheogenic found in virtually every decade of American his- movements have subscribed to his notion that the tory. We have had the Brook Farm group from value of an idea should be measured according to 1841–47, with Emerson and Hawthorne among its “cash value,” i.e., its problem-solving potential others, and Thoreau sitting in” (101). or its ability to give something meaningful to its It would also be tempting to posit that the con- user.32 From this pragmatist perspective, psyche- temporary call for a re-enchantment with nature delic philosophy, past and present, has tried to through altered states of consciousness has its promote a radical shift of consciousness, which roots in the environmentalist and Deep Ecology can ultimately be understood as a form of psyche- movements. For instance, the environmental delic utilitarianism.33 But where the 1960s psyche- activist and co-founder of Greenpeace Robert delic movement sought to use the insights of the Hunter took issue with Western modernism and psychedelic experience to improve American soci- argued that drugs carried “the message of change, ety, the entheogenic movement has further under- real change, as opposed to a mere change in flags, lined the cash-value of these insights by arguing label, underwear, or oaths of loyalty” (Hunter that they can save the planet. n.p.). Moreover, he argued that they enabled the brain to operate more efficiently and made it “more prepared to move in new evolutionary directions” (Hunter n.p.). More recently, MAPS Notes devoted a whole bulletin on the relation between psychedelics and Deep Ecology that perfectly illustrates the contemporary trends of entheogen- 1. I thank all the reviewers who helped strengthen this paper. I am particularly indebted to Lindsey Banco and Claire Fanger for ic thought (see, in particular, Brown 3–7). their insightful critiques. Finally, the William M. Jones Award com- While all these interpretations are valid, psy- mittee made this publication possible, for which I am very grateful. 2. For a larger discussion on the psychedelic renaissance, see chedelic philosophy has continuously shown a Langlitz; for a lay overview see Sessa. It is important to note, how- greater proximity with the ideas of William James, ever, that the “psychedelic renaissance” is a more problematic con- cept when applied to international psychedelic drug research. See who had experimented with to Passie’s compiled international bibliography for evidence on research induce mystical states of awareness. As Hewitt in Holland or Germany well into the 1970s and 1980s, at a time when rightly notes, “Aldous Huxley revived William severe restrictions had virtually terminated research in the United States. James’ radical empiricism as he proposed trusting 3. See Oram for a different interpretation that sees the origins of the body and experiential learning” (37).31 Indeed, the ban of psychedelic drug research as the consequence of the Ke- fauver Harris Drug Amendments of 1962 that required that drug the major actors and researchers of the psyche- research be conducted under rigorous controlled setting. This created delic movement were, like James, radical empiri- considerable difficulties for psychedelic researchers, who relied on a cists who refused to discard the psychedelic powerful subjective experience to produce therapeutic renewal. 4. Although a comparison of the two main manifestations of the experience even when it seemed at odds with the renaissance is beyond the scope of this essay, it is well worth noting existing epistemological models. Like James, and that Langlitz, in a comparable way, argues that the psychedelic reviv- alists are well aware of the turbulent past of these substances in main- in keeping with his value of experience as radical stream culture and science, and need to find new ways of presenting empiricism, they also believed that the core of them in a more favourable light. authentic religion was religious experience rather 5. Alternatively, Novak suggests that the psychedelic movement began when intellectuals of the likes of Aldous Huxley and Gerald than dogma. What’s more, Jodie Nicotra links Heard reconceptualised LSD and psychedelics as substances that James’ psychedelic drug use with his attempt to could cause mystical religious experiences, rather than a model psy- chosis (as it was in psychiatric research into psychedelics). This inter- reconcile dualisms, as well as with his desire to pretation sees the beginning of the movement as occurring in Los block “the habitual self in order to make way for Angeles in the late 1950s, rather than at Harvard in the early1960s. From Acid Revolution to Entheogenic Evolution  Chris Elcock 309

6. For some elements of discussion on this subject, see Lee and memoir. Although she was not as widely read as Huxley or Leary, it Shlain; Stevens; Higgs. is worth mentioning, if only because it is one of the rare works docu- 7. This precedes James Lovelock’s “ hypothesis” and is menting a female experience with LSD, but also because it was pub- probably the starting point of the psychedelic movement’s environ- lished long before the drug came to be widely known by the lay mentalist stand. public. For another account on LSD use by a female writer see New- land. 8. Here, the concepts of modernism and post-modernism are loosely based on Elwood’s (14–15) contemporary binary classifica- 20. While it seems that most veterans of the 1960s psychedelics tion. Elwood opposes modernism and post-modernism through sev- culture gradually merged their insights into an eco-centric concep- eral dualistic couples; for example: rational science/uncertainty tion of life, Brown notes that Leary, who became fascinated by the principle; ideal of progress/suspicion of the future; in technol- possibilities of space migration in the 70s and 80s, dismissed ecology ogy/suspicion of technocracy. as a “seductive dinosaur science.” (4) 9. The validity of such claims is discussed by Fuller, (164–5, 168) 21. On the other hand, there are many researchers who are not who concludes that ultimately there is no way of rationally deciding interested in the entheogenic agenda and are quite content to carry whether psychedelics create illusory visions and experiences, or out their research without publicly siding with or against the move- effectively open up of perception. ment. For a discussion of the tensions between lay and scientific use of psychedelics, see Langlitz. 10. In large part, many themes in Kesey’s famous novel One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest were a result of his towards 22. Novak notes that the problem of terminology can be traced the patients of the mental institution in which he was working part- back to the early years of psychedelic research in the 1950s, when time. This understanding was made possible by the psychedelics he moved away from the negatively-connoted ingested whilst on duty. words “hallucinogenic” and “psychomimetic” and coined the word “psychedelic” to suggest an altogether more pleasurable experience 11. Of course, there is the obvious charge that Huxley’s fictional (95). See also Boire for a similar discussion. writings should not be equated to his thought. But Island is so didac- tic (some critics called it pedantic) and represents in many ways the 23. In this essay, Hofmann argued that science and mysticism are blueprints for a better world that the terminally ill Huxley wanted to not incompatible. A veteran of , he considerably revised leave his readers, that a close hermeneutics is quite appropriate. This his normative views on the use of LSD in society after the ‘60s, up to quote, for instance, is taken from Notes on What’s What, and on the point where they sometimes resembled Huxley’s, if not Leary’s. What might be Reasonable to Do About What’s What, an old manual 24. For similar views, see Grof (2009). It is important to note that devised by a former Raja of Pala to formulate the founding principles although Hofmann was critical of established religion, he never dis- of Palanese enlightenment, in which Huxley’s presence is even stron- carded his Christian heritage. This echoes the earlier discussion on ger. the need for external frames of spiritual reference to make sense of 12. Although Leary allegedly converted to and also the insights of the psychedelic experience. borrowed elements from , Lander (73) points to evidence 25. Similar albeit more cautious views are offered by Strassman, that his religious discourse was merely a ploy to make the psyche- who thinks they could be a sound counterpoint to dogma and tradi- delic message more intelligible to Americans. tion. 13. For a brief, but fitting illustration of this paradox, see Kripal’s 26. en years later, at the advanced age of 101, Hofmann made (125–30) discussion on the origins of what he calls psychedelic orien- similar claims in the preface to the 2008 World Psychedelic Forum. talism. Kripal’s argument that Esalen constitutes a religion of no reli- See http://www.psychedelic.info/index_2_eng.html (accessed 30 July gion could be fittingly used to qualify Leary’s own spirituality. 2010). 14. For some elements of discussion on Huxley and dualism, see 27. See, for instance, www.2012warning.com; www.endofthe- Hewitt, particularly chapter 3, “Aldous Huxley: Visions of Gratu- world2012.net; www.december212012.com. – itous Grace” (100 151). 28. From a much broader perspective, the psychedelic movement 15. He also pleaded in favour of “non-verbal education” in would greatly benefit from a comparison with the surprisingly simi- Island, where children were told about the relativity of things as an lar “Degrowth” movement that distrusts economic growth, consum- elementary form of education. erism and technocracy. See for instance Sippel for a discussion on 16. McDonnald suggests that “the central trend in Huxley’s nov- that movement. els was the movement from a view of reality which was thoroughly 29. This documentary perfectly illustrates the political and eco- dualistic at the start of his career to one in which, at the end, dualism logical agenda of the entheogenic movement, which fears an unprece- had been resolved.” (103) dented environmental catastrophe caused by reckless capitalism, and 17. By devoting so much space to Huxley, Hewitt seems to emphasises the global need for a new ecological consciousness. This suggest that the novelist was the most prominent figure to shape the shift can be achieved through altered states of consciousness, whether psychedelic culture. Whether he influenced other authors or induced naturally or chemically. whether a full-blown psychedelic experience naturally leads to 30. In all fairness, Doyle also points to some past authors like insights that Huxley identified following his experimentation is Huxley and Leary, who understood the psychedelic experience in beyond the scope of this paper, but would be worth investigating at evolutionary terms. This study, however, has a more systematic and greater length. historical approach. 18. Aldous Huxley was the grandson of , 31. See also Fuller, 54–7. Tellingly, Schroll and Rothenberg con- the eminent Nineteenth century zoologist, who was dubbed “Dar- tend that “eliminating psychedelic experience violates the open scien- win’s Bulldog,” for his stark defence of evolutionism and for popula- tific enquiry of radical empiricism” (43). rising Darwin’s theory. Ironically, Aldous’s brother Julian, 32. In the ‘60s, suggested that the validity of the psyche- attempted to refute Bergson’s vitalist interpretation of evolution. For delic experience should be tested by its potential for social import a discussion on the influence of Bergson on Huxley, see Hewitt and its capacity to improve the everyday lives of LSD users, rather – – (120 137; 145 6). than along purely theological lines. 19. In 1959, Davis experimented with LSD under the supervision 33. Langlitz also points to a similar Jamesian tradition in psyche- of the psychiatrist Oscar Janiger and shared her experiences in a delic research, where organizations such as MAPS seek to use psy- 310 The Journal of American Culture  Volume 36, Number 4  December 2013

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