Mushrooms for Methodists?

Today I’m pondering this story from Religion News Service:

“Hallucinogenic mushrooms, long valued by Central American cultures for their mystical qualities, may enhance the spirituality of people of faith, according to a new study in the Journal of Psychopharmacology. Volunteer subjects reported conversing with God, experiencing "ultimate transcendence," and being suspended in a "tactile field of light."  According to the study… subjects who took doses of psilocybin, a drug found in hallucinogenic mushrooms, reported sustained spiritual and religious benefits 14 months after ingestion. Sixty-seven percent of participants rated the experience as one of the five most spiritually significant events in their lives.”

Participants in the study came from a mix of predominantly Christian backgrounds. The article goes on to quote a United Church of Christ pastor who sees the mushrooms as “inductors into the spiritual world."

This raises some unsettling questions. If true spiritual experiences come from God, why would anyone need pharmacological enhancement to have them? Were the transcendent experiences described by the great saints of history actually sparked by naturally-occurring influxes of chemicals in their brains, rather than real encounters with God?   Are attributes like a gentle spirit or a pure heart (or, in the negative column, hardheartedness and depression) all just manifestations of various combinations of chemistry in our brains?  And given the research that links physical effects to traditional practices of spiritual formation – such as prayer, meditation and fasting – could these just represent natural ways of tinkering with our brain chemistry?

It all boils down to one question:  Do I have a soul, or a chemistry set?

The question depresses me. Pass me the Zoloft. 

Comments

[Nathan Mattox]

This question has been on my mind since encountering the works of some of the scientific "materialists" some years ago and also perusing a book that was on my brother in law's bookshelf called "DMT-the Spirit Molecule." It may be a question we have to get used to over the next century. But, perhaps we can come back to the Biblical witness that "God works in mysterious ways," and perhaps our brain chemistry IS nothing less than God's engineered way for us to be able to experience God. It may seem "cheap" for it to all boil down to brain chemistry, but on the other hand the complexity of our brain chemistry and wave patterns is also quite extraordinary.

[Chaplain (CPT) Patrick Moore]

Maybe that is why I love all the Methodist potuluck casseroles with cream of mushroom in them. They make me feel stuffed with out of this world love.

[Mary Jacobs]

Your comment gives a new twist to the stories I've written about the Methodist Casserole Canon. Every recipe involves at least one can of cream of something soup.

http://www.umportal.org/article.asp?id=2026

http://www.umportal.org/article.asp?id=2031

http://www.umportal.org/article.asp?id=2029

[Chris G]

I sent this to my (mature, well-educated, evangelizing, responsible...) daughter because it relates to a conversation we had last week. She has friends who have used hallucinogens, with whom she has compared notes on their drug experiences versus her own meditative experiences. I hope she will write to you herself to share some of her ideas.

From my own point of view, as one who has benefited from doctor-prescribed pharmaceutical relief of depression, I think there are distinctions to be found though I do not pretend to understand them. Grace is a factor in my spiritual life that is apparently not chemical: a salesperson who answered my prayers of intercession for my ill sister by serving her with patience and consideration I had never before seen anywhere; an opportunity to help a stranger because I took a wrong turn; a wise leader; exactly the right healing words coming from a lay minister who had intended to say something entirely different; a photograph that falls from a wall, prompting a phonecall. Perhaps there is a chemical component to grace that influences how readily a believer perceives it, but those experiences that involve other people and even inanimate objects do not seem to be merely subjective perceptions.