One cannot speak long about consciousness without eventually having to grapple with altered states of consciousness brought on by physical exertion, sensory privation, fasting, meditation, many spiritual practices, especially drumming, and the ingestion of psychedelic substances. Well before recorded history human beings were deliberately inducing such states for knowledge, healing, maybe even for pleasure. Evidence from Paleolithic art, pre-Columbian art, aboriginal Australian art and myths, as well as from the earliest remarkably similar worldwide shamanistic practices, all indicate that such states were highly valued in otherwise dissimilar cultures. Looking at history through the lens of altered states leads to a serious revaluation of the revelations of Zoroaster, Moses, Jesus, Buddha and Mohammed as well as the 1500 years of the Eleusinian mysteries that collectively define much of what we call civilization. When we then look into the lives and writing of mystics in each tradition, we may be dealing with the aftereffects of such states on cognition, perception and belief. Fast forward to the 1960s. Individuals, acting on a revised worldview after using psychedelics, in part fueled the social unrest, especially in the United States, that fostered the ecology movement, women’s liberation, civil rights and the anti-war movement as well as the so-called New Age phenomenon. These substances remain widely available, even after being declared illegal forty years ago. The exact amount of psychedelic use worldwide is unknown, but it is most prevalent in the more highly educated and highly mobile groups in many countries. In short, we are in an era where the very fabric of consciousness itself is under scrutiny, academically and in the laboratory, but perhaps more importantly through widespread individual experiences, which, for many, shatter the cultural consensus and question the scientific one. The implications of ongoing widespread use will be considered.
