High culture : drugs, mysticism, and the pursuit of transcendence in the modern world

For a number of complex reasons, humans are fascinated by drugs and altered states. Even if only momentarily, psychoactive substances lift people out of the ennui and pain of their everyday lives and, in some cases, introduce them to new visions of reality. It is no surprise, therefore, that the use of recreational drugs is rising. While, sadly, this also means that levels of addiction are increasing, many have used drugs as technologies to induce moments of meaning-making transcendence. Beginning at the close of the eighteenth century, this book traces the quest for transcendence and meaning in the West through the modern period. As well as the Romantic fascination with opium, it includes the discovery of anesthetics, the psychiatric and religious interest in hashish, the bewitching power of mescaline and hallucinogenic fungi, and the more recent use of LSD. The ideas and influence of a number of key protagonists are discussed, including Thomas De Quincey, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Humphry Davy, Jacques-Joseph Moreau de Tours, Fitz Hugh Ludlow, Paschal Beverly Randolph, Louis-Alphonse Cahagnet, Théophile Gautier, Charles Baudelaire, Benjamin Paul Blood, William James, Aleister Crowley, Aldous Huxley, Timothy Leary, Carlos Castaneda, and Terence McKenna. Central to the discussion is the analysis of the ways in which drugs have been used to induce mystical states, to transport users to nonordinary realities, and to access __gnosis__. Cover 1 High Culture 4 Copyright 5 Dedication 6 Contents 8 Acknowledgments 12 Introduction 14 1. Technologies of Transcendence 22 Technologies of the Self 22 Psychedelic Gnosis and the Transcendence of Ordinary Consciousness 25 Perennialism and the Experience of Oneness 30 Shamanism and Ekstasis 32 Concluding Analysis: The Drug Problem? 36 2. Opium Dreams 43 Opium in Britain in the Early Nineteenth Century: Some Background Notes 43 The Art of Dreaming 47 The English Opium-​Eater 51 Opium and the Orient: Fear and Fascination 59 Concluding Comments 69 3. Anesthetic Revelation 73 A Ladder to the Heaven of Heavens 74 Syntax, Surgery, and Celestial Visions 81 Benjamin Blood’s Anesthetic Revelation 84 Anesthesia and the Society for Psychical Research 87 Concluding Comments 97 4. Hashishdom 101 Cannabis and Clinical Research in the Nineteenth Century 102 The Old Man of the Mountain and the Assassins 108 Artificial Paradises 115 The American Hashish-​Eater 120 Concluding Comments 134 5. Occultism in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries 138 Mesmerism, Hashish, and Somnambulism 139 Dowameskh, the Orient, and Neoplatonic Esotericism 149 Abstinence and Ambivalence 157 Theosophical Reflection 163 Discourses of Decadence 168 W.B. Yeats, Maud Gonne, Drugs, and Fin de Siècle Occultism 172 The Highs and Lows of a Drug Fiend 179 A Note on Drugs and Post-​Crowleyan Thelemic Thought 195 Concluding Comments 199 6. The Antipodes of the Mind 204 Psychedelic Research: Some Background Notes 205 A Mystic and a Scientist 214 Mysticism, Sacred, and Profane 226 Concluding Comments 237 7. Revolution in the Head 238 Adventures in the Chemistry of Consciousness 239 A Religious Set and Setting 253 Notes on the Counterculture 262 Millbrook and Psychedelic Religion 265 The Neo-​American Church 274 The Psychedelic Sacrament 284 Turning On and Turning East 286 Concluding Comments 297 8. Psychedelic Shamanism 301 Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy 302 The Long Trip and the Origin of Religion 304 The Sorcerer’s Apprentice? 321 Alien Dreamtime 331 Concluding Comments 347 Notes 356 Index 450 "History is littered with evidence of humanity's fascination with drugs and the pursuit of altered states. From early Romanticism to late-nineteenth-century occultism and from fin de siècle Paris to contemporary psychedelic shamanism, psychoactive substances have played an important role in modern Western culture, catalyzing the spiritual lives of many people. Yet serious analysis of the religious dimensions of modern drug use is still lacking. High Culture offers the first comprehensive study of the use of drugs and the pursuit of transcendence from the nineteenth century to the present day. Beginning with the Romantic fascination with opium, it chronicles the discovery of anesthetics, the psychiatric and religious interest in hashish, the bewitching power of mescaline and hallucinogenic fungi, the more recent uses of LSD, as well as the debates surrounding drugs and religious experience. This fascinating and wide-ranging sociological and cultural history fills a major gap in the study of religion in the modern world and our understanding of the importance of countercultural thought, offering new and timely insights into the controversial relationship between drugs and mystical experience."--Book jacket Le site de l'éditeur indique : "Throughout history, humans have always been fascinated by drugs and altered states. Despite the risk of addiction, many have used drugs as technologies to induce moments of meaning-making transcendence. This book traces the quest for transcendence and meaning through drugs in the modern West. Starting with the Romantic fascination with opium, it goes on to chronicle the discovery of anesthetics, psychiatric and religious interest in hashish, the bewitching power of mescaline and hallucinogenic fungi, as well as the more recent uses of LSD. It fills a major gap in our understanding of contemporary alternative and in the study of countercultures and popular culture. Today we are seeing increased social and scientific attention to both the positive and the negative effects of psychoactive drugs, particularly following the legalization of marijuana for medicinal and/or recreational use in some US states, as well as court cases involving the sacramental use of drugs. This fascinating and wide-ranging exploration of the controversial relationship between drugs and spirituality could not be more timely."