Divine Drugs: Psychedelics, Religion, and Spirituality

From LSD to magic mushrooms, mescaline to ayahuasca, psychedelics are drugs that alter consciousness and perceptions of reality. This course investigates the central role that religion and spirituality have played in the long, tangled history of psychedelics, from colonial eradication of psychedelics as indigenous sacraments, to psychedelic modes of expanding consciousness in 1960s counterculture; from the moral panic around these substances as a tool of mind control, to their present scientific investigation as a panacea for mental health, addiction, and self-realization. Interweaving primary sources and scholarly accounts on psychedelics, our inquiry will use an interdisciplinary approach, blending religious studies, philology, anthropology, the history of science, and art history. To explore this varied terrain, we survey the history of divine drugs around the world, even as we ruminate on the wisdom and philosophy they have inspired over the ages.