PSYCHEDELICS - Sciencemadness.org

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____________________________________________________ Psychedelics
now that they had developed such strange ideas, they could
no longer be trusted.
This, of course, was a threat to our security! Some of the
members of the group could not stand the pressure of this
negative public opinion, and withdrew. The majority re-
mained, and we continued to inquire into the nature and pur-
pose of life. One finds a great challenge in this quest, and a
very deep inner satisfaction in the results. When one has
experienced reality, there is little interest in mere beliefs
about reality. When one has seen the ocean, he no longer has
any need to "believe in" its existence. It is almost impossible
to return to any orthodox teachings that seem inconsistent
with one's own personal experience. We could only continue
on the path we had chosen, even in the face of public disap-
proval.
At first, as has been said, we investigated the phenomena
of ESP and the findings of parapsychology. As the interests of
the group expanded, we became aware of the writings and
experiences of the mystics of the world, including such people
as Meister Eckhart, Thomas Kelly, Evelyn Underhill,
Ramana Maharshi, Huang Po, the Hindu rishis, and the
Sufis. They were of various cultures and religions. They
seemed to have explored the deepest mysteries of life and
experienced reality in depth. Many of the things that they
have to say seem very strange from an intellectual point of
view but strike a note of deep understanding from the perspective
of experience. From this perspective also, the life
and teachings of Jesus took on more-challenging and morevital
significance. For the little group in Socorro, the search
was becoming more and more rewarding.
In 1959 we had our first information on the psychedelic
substances, through reading an article in a scientific journal
by Dr. Humphry Osmond, then medical director of the Saskatchewan
Provincial Hospital, in Canada (1957b). Dr. Osmond
reported on research dealing with the effects produced
by the ingestion of such substances as LSD, mescaline, and
peyote. He pointed out that new depths of awareness seemed
to develop during this drug-induced state, and in this article
proposed the word "psychedelic" for these substances, as