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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 New Social Drug: Cultural, Medical, and Legal Perspectives on Marijuana.
Smith, David E. (Editor). (1970).
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
- ISBN: 13-615765-3 paperback
- 13-615757-2 hardcover
Description: paperback, vi + 186 pages.
Contents: introduction, 11 readings divided into 5 parts: 1: Pharmacology and
Classification, 2: The Issue of Marijuana Abuse, 3: Marijuana as a Social
Issue, 4: The Issue of Marijuana Regulation, 5: Marijuana as a Political
Issue, references.
Contributors: James T.Carey, Gilbert Geis, Erich Goode, William H.
McGlothlin, Carter Mehl, Mark Messer, Frederick H. Meyers, Judith M.
Nelsen, J. Fred E. Shick, David E. Smith, Roger C. Smith, Michael A. Town,
Andrew T. Weil, Norman E. Zinberg.
Excerpt(s): The ritual pattern of use, somewhat less familiar but quite
important when considering drug-using subcultures, is the use of a drug as a
part (sacrament, perhaps) of a ritual, or more generally drug use to achieve
previously defined goals, often of a philosophic or psychotherapeutic type,
which may or may not be realistic. The use by the Native American Church is
an example of this pattern of use. (Shick, D. Smith, and Meyers, Use of
Marijuana in the Haight-Ashbury Subculture, page 58)
Religious Sense
The young people involved in this new movement do not
characteristically come from religious backgrounds yet they do reveal a
spiritual orientation. Allen Ginsberg was the first to insist on the
religious character of the earlier beats; the same thing can be said of this new group.
There is also a pronounced sense of the sacred. The world in which
we live consists of a number of forces that are alien to middle-class values.
These forces are by and large benevolent. We should strive to make ourselves
aware of them, to open ourselves to them, to become attuned to them.
The reality perceived by these young people is different from that
which is usually referred to by the term. There are two realities, both of
which must be discovered: pseudo-reality and the real reality. The
pseudo-reality refers to the facade, the performance, the roles, the games,
the rules, the routine. More importantly, the games are restricting and prevent
the individual from realizing his true self, his wholeness, or the meaning and
value of life. ... Perception of the true reality or the real reality enables
one to reject material gains, middle-class status, and the institutional means for
gaining these ends. These goals are being replaced by a new one, the
experience of really being, or having being. Having being, the experience of
being in the real scene, leads to an understanding of the true meaning of
existence, to the truth of life, to the real-reality.
This openness, which permits one to perceive the true reality, leads quite
naturally to a deep reverence for nature and other persons. The reverence is
connected with the sense that the world of men, animals, and plants-all
living things-is inextricably bound together. It is almost as if all living things
were part of one body. (Carey, Marijuana Use Among the New Bohemians, pages
98-99)
Compilation copyright © 1995 – 2001 CSP
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