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Cleansing the Doors of Perception: The Religious Significance of Entheogenic Plants and Chemicals

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As an advocate of the use of entheogens (psychedelics) as a means of expanding consciousness, I have to praise this book for several reasons.

One, due to Dr. Huston's reputation, many people who would not have considered psychedelics as a spiritual path will now have to take the spiritual use of these substances seriously.

Two for those of us who do use entheogens, Dr. Smith offers an interesting critique of the psychedelic movement of the 60s. He asks himself if the corrolary of "tune in" and "turn on" has to be "drop out".

He also underscores the importance of paying attention to "set" and "setting" (the attitude of the user and the physical environment in which the user takes the psychedelic). He rightly notes that a lot of people pay lip service to this idea without being rigorous in it's application. There seems to be a kind of libertarianism, even philistinism, in the contemporary psychedelic scene. We're going to explore alone without paying attention to the lessons from other cultures who have used these substances for thousands of years. Understandably we do so under the banner of authenticity, but I think we lose out. We should not ape or follow the lessons of those cultures dogmatically, but we should investigate them and heed what is good...especially about set and setting.

Third, he assigns psychedelics their proper place. They are tools. And like any tool, psychedelics work for some and not for others. Or they work for a time for us and then we need to leave them behind. Any way it goes, we are left with integrating the lessons learned from our psychedelic explorations into our everyday life.

This is a sober treatment of the role of psychedelics, not an absolute glorification. I love to dream and hypothesize along with Terence McKenna, but I also love the grounded nature of "Cleaning The Doors of Perception".

If you are interested in a serious discussion of psychedelics,please check out our webclub "Entheogens and Psychedelics" at http://clubs.yahoo.com/entheogensandpsychedelics

TSEAY

The third millenium is upon us; where humanity will be at its conclusion is anyone's guess. Huston Smith, a very well-repected religious scholar in the US, has taken a bold position on the topic of entheogens (psychedelics) by advocating their limited use in opening the mind to deep, spiritual experiences.

The book is loaded (no pun intended) with information concerning the historical significance of entheogens dating from the birth of the world's earliest religions in the Far East. Also included are fascinating accounts of his own powerful experience during the Good Friday event at Boston University.

If you are interested in, or have ever experienced forms of perception OTHER than the "default" setting in your own consciousness, this is an excellent book. The author's conviction that entheogens make possible ecstatic, mystical states which take one into the heart of cosmic awareness is genuine...and tempting.

I found this book to be very interesting. Most of the people that I have known who are part of the "drug culture" (and by drug culture I mean anyone who partakes of any drug on a regular basis) would have no idea of the value of the chemistry covered in this book. Why?, Because our culture primarily abuses drugs. Personally I have not yet met an individual who did not use chemistry in conjunction with their dysfunction. Unfortunately, this book will be appreciated mainly by the few folks who have no serious chemical addiction. I loved this book and found it fascinating.

I was especially fascinated by the chapter on Stanislav Grof. I learned more about pure psychotherapy from this book than any book I have read on the subject.

This book speaks about cultures within cultures such as The Native American Church. It illuminates the fact that there are societies who use natures chemistry to fight drug addiction. Near the end of the book you hear the testimonials from the patrons of the Native American Church, and it is most enlightening.

This book is about religion, philosophy, psychology, the science of mind, and the study of reality--all in one short and sweet text. I found it very eye-opening and inspiring.

The book "Cleansing the Doors of Perception", is a collection of essays on the topic of entheogens, by the renowned scholar of world religions, Huston Smith.

The word 'Entheogen' was coined to describe the 'God Disclosing' properties, that certain plants and chemicals have, on people who invite such substances into their body.

Mr. Smith points out that if one compares descriptions of authentic mystical experience with descriptions provided by individuals influenced by an entheogen, that it would be difficult to make any distinction between the two.

A mystic, however, might suggest that 'God Disclosing' experiences are one possible aspect of relationship between an individual and an advanced spiritual being. When such experiences are consensual, being sought by both parties in question, then inspired revelations may exist between the two.

With an Entheogen, on the other hand, desire for a peak experience is primarily with one party and an advanced spiritual being is not necessarily consulted. While the desire is for a kind of 'cleansing', due to chemical impurities within these substances, the possible lack of spiritual preparation, and unforeseen complications within the setting, a peak experience is not necessarily guaranteed. Indeed, as Mr. Smith describes in the book, a hellish experience is a very real possibility.

My personal feeling is that it is better to seek peak experiences through meditations on religion, music, video art, film, consensual sex, and recreations such as mountain climbing. When an advanced spiritual being feels the need to disclose the possibility of bliss in your life, you might then be ready to receive her.

A Special Thanks to Mr. Smith for helping to elevate the dialog on this topic. "Cleansing the Doors of Perception" remains a unique contribution to this field of study.

Having just picked up "Cleansing the Doors of Perception" I would like to thank Huston Smith for writing this book at the urging of the Council on Spiritual Practices in the face of such an anti-drug media frenzy. His credibility and lifelong pursuit of knowledge in spiritual matters is just the backbone needed to open the eyes of the many and acknowledge the hearts of the few. That such a noteworthy piece of literature has been written is a testament to Huston's and the Council's drive for truth !

Sincerely Dirk

Huston Smith has had a front row seat in spiritual evolution for over 45 yrs now. In the present volume he makes clear that indeed entheogens can inspire and manifest and sustain true mystical knowing of what IT is. As a life long spiritual seeker, I experimented with a variety of entheogens for several years in my youth, I think this book makes a tremendous contribution for those of us who have used godconsciousness endgendering substances in the right way. What way is that? We should enter the experience with a pure and grateful heart. There comes a time, however, in authentic spritual life, when this too must be left behind if in fact we truly seek the highest realms of spiritual attainment. Thanks, Huston, you have said beautiful things some of us have experienced but can't make plain. Life is a mighty torrent of evolution and this book will help you,the sincere seeker, make the most of your own opportunity to live, enjoy, contribute, and SEE.

Somehow, over the past 40 years of so, certain drugs have gotten a very bad reputation. Drugs, that is, that do not have official approval. Alcohol, prescription opiates, anti-depressants, caffeine, and nicotine (perhaps the most addictive substance on the planet) are fine, and are even sanctioned and promoted by the power grid that calls the shots. Entheogenic substances (formerly known as hallucinogens) however, after experiencing their apogee during the long lost, much lamented sixties, have been consigned to the same prison cell as heavy duty opiates, destructive stimulants such as cocaine and methamphetamines, and other negative drugs like GHB, Rohypnal and Ketamine. This book does an excellent, scholarly job of explaining and illustrating why this is a very bad thing. Entheogens have been with us for a long, long time, and may have been the catalyst for the formation of many of our major religions. Psilocybin, mescaline (peyote), and Soma (perhaps Amanita Muscaria) have been responsible for stimulating some of the most profound insights and experiences ever recorded. LSD, a modern entrant to the entheogen club, appears to be just as effective. There is a test in the book -try to distinguish between a genuine religious mystical experience and an entheogenic mystical experience. I failed the test.

Smith is no spaced out weekend tripper. He effectively documents the modern age of the entheogens by describing the mid-century efforts of Aldous Huxley (The Doors of Perception), Albert Hofmann (the inventor of LSD), and tune-in, turn-on, drop-out Timothy Leary. You can see how things went wrong in the latter sixties, especially after LSD and other zeitgeist challenging drugs were criminalized. Not that Smith advocates downing these substances like candy. Far from it. These drugs deserve respect, and they had respect in the societies that used them many years ago. The hard reality is that these drugs are political. Look around you. It's not a happy place we live in right now, in spite of what your net income may have been last year. The planet is heating up, with drastic consequences soon to be evident. There is an asymptotic concentration of power in the hands of a very few. The most powerful nation on earth (indeed in history) is becoming increasingly erratic and warlike, and teeters on the edge of a catastrophic economic collapse. The sick world economic arrangement encourages huge population centres like India and China to ape the behaviour of the United States. The media that might help people to figure things out have been bought and co-opted by the powers that wish the status quo to continue. If you have any gnostic leanings at all, it's hard not to believe that the Archons are firmly in power. These drugs, the entheogens, allow you to cut through the smoke, the propaganda, the confusion, the maya, to let you see what really is. They offer hope that you are part of a mysterious, fundamentally wonderful and positive universe and that things will be alright. So, to the powers that be, they are dangerous, and thus illegal. Just read some of the testimonials and the experiences in this book. They have the ring of truth to them. Not that Smith is advocating entheogens as a quick escalator to the divine. No, he makes it clear that, although certain drugs can shake up your world view and make you question where your life is going, and make you aware of another, better plane of existence, it's how you live the rest of your life that matters. A drug may point out your destination on the map, but you still have to work to get there.

The case of Soma, an early pillar of the Hindu religion, is interesting. Smith speculates that the secret of Soma may have been intentionally 'lost' by Hindu religious leaders about 3000 years ago because use of Soma had gotten out of control (much as hallucinogen use did in the 1960s). A more likely scenario, in my view, is that Soma was suppressed by a religious elite because it represented a threat to their power. With increasing institutionalization comes increasing repression, because powerful people then have a lot to lose. If you ingest an entheogen, you see your own version of reality, unreality, or whatever. You don't have to take what your priest says or what you read in a sanctioned text to be the final word. The power structure thus loses the ability to define reality.

Some quibbles. The title (Cleansing the Doors of Perception) implies (at least to me) that a seeker will find ways or even methods within to raise their consciousness or make progress towards enlightenment, but this book is more of a starting point in that regard, not a primer. It might be better titled Concerning the Doors of Perception. Also, I found Smith at times to be gratingly deistic. I react to the over-use of the term 'God'. That word is too restricting and has too much negative baggage to be useful in such a discussion. Smith also at times comes across as somewhat credulous. Anecdotes are not necessarily persuasive evidence of paranormal phenomena such as telepathy or precognition. If these phenomena are real and many people have the capacity to demonstrate them, let them be tested scientifically like any other legitimate phenomena. Of course, when they are tested the results do not materialize. (Their supporters call this the 'shyness' effect.) But the above are only minor annoyances and do not take away from the value of this wonderful book.

This book will really challenge your ideas and opinions regarding non-addictive druguse. It changed my mind.

This book collects essays from nearly 40 years of Smith's research into psychedelics. It addresses a number of issues:

o The experiential dimension of the drugs

o The relationship of the drugs to religion

o The history of psychedelics in the United States

The historical dimension is fascinating for children of the baby boomers, who are too young to have experienced the 1960s. He discusses the experiements conducted at various institutions in the 1960s. He talks about Aldous Huxley, Albert Hoffman, and Timothy Leary.
Leary gets special attention in the essay on the viability of the drug culture as a new religious movement.

I recommend reading this book after having read the classic The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell by Aldous Huxley. This volume gives a much more mature perspective, since it is a retrospective decades after the fact.

I highly recommend this book to several audiences. The first obvious audience is the would-be psychonaut. The book recounts the authors experiences with psychedelics. (The author prefers the term entheogens.) Students of religion would also benefit from this book. The author is a professor of religious studies, and several of the essays collected in this volume deal directly with the mystical experience brought on by the drugs.

This book really made me reconsider my opinions and ideas regarding drug use. Huston Smith makes a very convincing argument that there can be some benefits to substances commonly refered to as pyschedelia