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Religion and Psychoactive Sacraments:
An Entheogen Chrestomathy
Thomas B. Roberts, Ph.D. and Paula Jo Hruby, Ed.D.
Author Index | Title Index
The Enemies of Anarchy: A Gestalt Approach to Change.
Hunter, Robert. (1970).
New York: Viking.
ISBN: (SBN) 670-29497-7
Description: Hardcover,
x + 253 pages.
Contents: Preface, 21
chapters divided into 4 parts: 1. Introduction, 2. Organized Anarchy,
3. Large-scale Integration, 4. Convergence, bibliography, index.
Excerpt(s): ... it is
a striking feature of all descriptions of hallucinogenic drug
experiences-from marijuana to LSD-that the user reports that the
awareness of interrelationships is greatly heightened. It is primarily
for this reason that drug-taking and an absorbing interest in
Eastern mysticism come to be closely associated. The concept of
Tao, or the "oneness of the universe," is in near-perfect
harmony with drug-induced levels of consciousness.
Descriptions of the LSD experience-and here I am
referring to "pure" LSD-tend to converge on this one
point: the sensation of being in infinity, of being a part
of the universal whole. ... the experience of "being reborn"
is a characteristic of all therapeutically valid LSD trips. And
in the process of being reborn, one's sense of self has first
to dissolve back into infinity before it can be reassembled. Even
among marijuana users, the sensation of being aware of interrelationships
is common. They tend to see "connections" where no relationship
is apparent to perception. Visions of unity-in earlier times limited
only to seers and saints-now become commonplace experiences among
the users of psychedelic drugs. (pages 175-176)
I have already suggested that a consciousness of
interrelationships is one of the central characteristics of the
age which we are now approaching. The growing awareness of ecology
is an example. The ecumenical movement in Western religions is
another. The interdependence-now tacitly agreed upon-of modern
corporations is yet another. The evolution of other-directed social
character reinforces-and to a great degree stimulates-this same
kind of awareness. Technoplanning is primarily concerned with
spotting organization interrelationships. Electronic media stimulate
in-depth involvement, which definitely results in an awareness
of interrelationships. Computers and the whole field of cybernetics
are based on the dynamics of interrelationships. As Allen Newell
put it in The Chess Machine,
so far as the use of computers is concerned, "the relevant
information is inexhaustible"-which is to say, the interrelatedness
of the factors in any given situation is limitless. Group-therapy
is, of course, based on the dynamics of interrelationships. All
these amount to forms of large-scale integration. And the effects
of drugs are basically similar in that they too stimulate this
kind of awareness. Such use cannot be dismissed as a mere aberration
or perversion. Drug use is in complete harmony with all these
other developments-complementing them, stimulating them, and vibrating,
like a metronome, in sympathy with them. (page 177)
Compilation copyright © 1995 – 2001 CSP
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