Music Therapy Today - World Federation of Music Therapy

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Verres, R. (2006) LSD, Meditation and Music. Music Therapy Today (Online) Vol.VII (2) 286-296. available at http:// musictherapyworld.net when it was still legal to use LSD in SÄPT, I took part in a group experiment supervised by today’s president of SÄPT, Dr. Peter Gasser. He used nothing but serene, harmonic and pleasant music, e.g. live guitar music by Dr. Otto Silber from Konstanz, Germany whose CDs I would like to recommend. 2. Is the LSD trip intended for one person, for two, in a secluded room or as a group experience? For a single experience I recommend the above-mentioned criteria by Stanislav Grof; an erotic experience for two should rather be accompanied by flowing sounds, e.g. the music by Otto Silber or Sufi music by Oruc Güvenc or unobtrusive pulsing percussion sounds from various continents; prior to any group experiments it should be clear whether the psychedelic trip should have a common theme. In a group of men, for example, the song by Marie Boine on howling wolves would be as pertinent as music dedicated to the opposite pole of the male principle, i.e. the anima according to CG Jung. Obviously, an abrupt change in thematic focus should be avoided in an encounter group in view of the slow processes in a psychedelic LSD trip; instead, a carefully staged production should correspond to the previously agreed themes for the planned self-experience. 3. For the careful staging of a group experience it might be useful to follow the criteria for so-called movie sound tracks. I think it is not necessary to enlarge upon this aspect as it is self-evident. 4. In contrast to what Stanislav Grof writes about the possible suggestive meaning of texts, I would expressly encourage the quotation of texts or the use of music oriented towards lyrical texts for theme-related LSD experiences. Some people wishing to have an LSD experience simply select music that is termed „meditative“ or „psychedelic“ and do not take into account that verbal content may have a very intensive effect. The text on the record „Schwingungen“ by Ash Ra Tempel from the 1970s contains passages saying that in making music you can swim in the vibrations of the music of the stars and can drink light that hurries through cosmis spaces. „That which lives in you and in us, our vibration is in everything: the paradise that is life“. But the record also contains a title „Flowers must die“ that starts with unstructured flowing sounds and gradually assumes a violently stirring rhythm with a text that is by no means hedonistic or harmonizing but fundamentally political. I use this example to demonstrate that texts may have the same effect as pure music and therefore have to be chosen with care in view of the increased suggestibility in LSD trips. 5. Psychedelic experiences do not require a sound in the sense of the style of so-called psychedelic music. Basically, almost any kind of music may support psychedelic experience. Sound and stereoscopic effects play an important role and deserve much attention in the choice of musical instruments or amplifiers. Using music and LSD for therapeutic purposes 291
Verres, R. (2006) LSD, Meditation and Music. Music Therapy Today (Online) Vol.VII (2) 286-296. available at http:// musictherapyworld.net 6. Differences between art and kitsch are particularly important in socalled meditative music. The composer Hans Zender (in Fischer, 1998 p. 107-108) speaks of a „monstrous soulful trash that appeared recently as so-called ‚medidative music’ (…); the perfumed and cheaply euphorizing atmosphere of a ‚new age mentality’ suffocates any creative impulse“. If and insofar regression takes place within a psychedelic trip it can be uncritical to some extent; but it may also be felt and shaped quite literally as a return to the roots. 7. I refer to Adolf Dittrich (1996, 1998) and his basic categories of altered states of waking consciousness, specifically his differentiation between Oceanic Boundlessnes and Dread of Ego Dissolution. In LSD psychotherapy as conceived by Stanislav Grof, so-called horror trips in the sense of dread of ego dissolution are expressly approved provided these experiences are monitored by a professional psychotherapist so that they may be integrated in one’s self-concept and personal biography. If we strive for oceanic feelings of security without professional supervision, and originally controlling ego functions dissolve in ecstasy, then it will be important to explore the deeper meanings of the term „regression“. States of blissful infantility, harmony and relaxation may be pleasant. But according to Martin Mumelter (in Fischer, 1998 p. 110), the way in which ‚meditative music’ is marketed can exploit the need for regression in such a way that this ‚transcendental trash’ as he calls it will not support, but ruin our spiritual potential. 8. Are there specific characteristics of ‚spiritual music’? The logotherapist Otto Zsok writes in his book „Musik und Transzendenz“ (1998): „Abandoning oneself to a great piece of music is more than delight. It is a liberating, cathartic experience. It is a densely sensual experiense (…) This type of experience brings a wealth of light, beauty, truth and a brightening of our reality which we could never reach otherwise.“ In music we feel that our existence on earth is worthwhile. „While the melody is filling me completely, I perceive how wide the spaces within me really are, how wide and broad my inner emptiness is, how deep and at the same time high the spaces of soul to be conquered.“ And Otto Zsok quotes the theologian Hans Küng as follows: „You feel that you are completely turned inwards with eyes and ears, body and spirit, and that everything external, all opposition, all division between subject and object, have been overcome. Using music and LSD for therapeutic purposes 292
Page 1 and 2: Music Therapy Today a quarterly jou
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Kern, P. (2006) Biomedical Music Th
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Del Campo, P. (2006) Instituto Mús
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Musical Healing http://www.abc.net.
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Infants can organise visual informa
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Infants can organise visual informa
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Nonconscious semantic processing of
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Brain Reader Part 1: Researchers ca
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Brain Reader Part 2: As we age, our
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Brain Reader Part 2: As we age, our
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Neurogenesis Not Needed for Environ
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Cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, an
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Estrogen-dependent selectivity of g
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Power of Placebo In a new example o
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Stress, not "sick" building, may ma
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Stress, not "sick" building, may ma
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Cortex Matures Faster in Youth with
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Effects of Music Therapy and Counse
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Music fingerprinting system is fast
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Functional Imaging of Numerical Pro
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Music Therapy in New Orleans Music
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At Some Medical Schools, Humanities
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Neocortical Connectivity during Epi
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The mood of the Internet Researcher
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Sparse time-frequency representatio
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Why life oscillates - from a topogr
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Neurons in the orbitofrontal cortex
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Meditating Brains But the benefits
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Meditating Brains see if cognitive
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The GABAB1b Isoform Mediates Long-L
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Listening to music can reduce chron
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Music improves sleep quality in old
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Music Therapy Today - World Federation of Music Therapy

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