Spirituality Studies 10-1 Spring 2024 53 Samuel Bendeck Sotillos (including their relationships), along with all the complex factors related to “set” and “setting” in the psychedelic therapy session. Outside of a sacred tradition, we cannot ensure optimal “set” and “setting.” Traditional cultures provide a more appropriate environment for a shared experience, in keeping with the spiritual expectations of such an occasion. This is why, even in the most ideal conditions, there will always be something lacking in modern secular approaches to PAT. Psychedelic research has also noted the importance of aesthetics and the need to adopt the use of entheogens in a “beautiful natural setting” (Grof 1988, 289). Although considerations of beauty are largely overlooked in the present day, this dimension is essential for the flourishing of human beings and can hardly be thought of as an expendable luxury. From the metaphysical perspective, every form has an effect on the human psyche. In fact, no form is neutral. This is clearly understood in traditional varieties of entheogenic therapy, yet it needs to be better appreciated by PAT. Beauty offers great sustenance to both our inner and outer lives and is thus essential to our human flourishing. The loss of a sense of the sacred in the modern world has also led to a degradation in our apprehension of beauty; an affliction that continues to wound the human psyche in incalculable ways. Music – in the form of song and chanting – has been an integral part of humanity’s religious traditions and is employed widely within entheogenic therapy, both in a sacred and secular setting. It has been shown to support long-term positive mental health outcomes. Music can aid in the cultivation of useful emotions, positive mental imagery, and a sense of therapeutic safety. Properly utilized in a sacred context, its therapeutic benefits can be linked to metaphysical roots, insofar as music arises out of a silence that is prior to all sound. While each person responds differently in its presence, they are all nevertheless connected to the sacred when listening or playing music. So, even though PAT certainly makes use of music, its transcendent dimension appears to be altogether ignored. Outside the proper supports of “set” and “setting,” there remain certain dangers to entheogenic therapy. This requires a great sense of responsibility on the part of its practitioners, yet what does this mean in a secular framework? Neither the person himself nor those around him may be aware that he is a high-risk candidate for [note: entheogens]. It is, therefore, no slight responsibility to turn another person on. Furthermore, the drug is all too frequently taken without the safeguards of a responsible, skilled, sober person to take care of them. (Cohen 1972, 267) 9 Entheogenic Therapy Although the therapeutic uses of entheogens were recognized before their prohibition, one of the key features of the psychedelic renaissance is their use for supporting mental health and well-being. Many are enthusiastic at the prospect that entheogens may “serve as a new tool for shortening psychotherapy” (Busch and Johnson 1950, 243). Masters and Houston (2000, 3) asserted in 1966 that psychedelics “afford the best access yet to the contents and processes of the human mind”. While there are always risks, if entheogens are used responsibly and within a proper “set” and “setting,” they have tremendous potential to benefit those suffering from mental health difficulties: “If properly used, it could become something like the microscope or the telescope of psychiatry” (Grof 1980, 297). The early researchers of psychedelic science never suggested that entheogens were a panacea: “[Note: LSD] does not construct character, educate the emotions or improve intelligence. It is not a spiritual labor-saving device, salvation, instant wisdom, or a short cut to maturity. However, it can be an opportunity to experience oneself and the world in a new way – and to learn from it” (Cohen 1972, 240). However, even with these cautions in mind, we need to be clear about what entheogens are and are not. As has long been pointed out, “Every therapy has contraindications. Psychedelic therapy is no exception” (Hoffer 1970, 366). What is missing in mental health practice today is an acknowledgement that proper healing is grounded in a knowledge of reality that is fundamentally metaphysical. Many within the psychedelic movement refer to Aldous Huxley’s use of the hypothesis known as the “reducing valve” (Huxley 1990, 23). Originally conceived by Henri Bergson (1859–1941), it suggests that the brain and nervous system act as a filter that keeps biological survival possible by restricting access to our consciousness (Bergson 1929). English philosopher Charlie D. Broad (1887–1971) describes this process and why it exists (Broad 1953, 23):
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjkyNzgx