{"id":154696,"date":"2023-09-25T17:44:41","date_gmt":"2023-09-25T15:44:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wholecelium.com\/?p=154696"},"modified":"2023-09-25T21:25:31","modified_gmt":"2023-09-25T19:25:31","slug":"religieuze-leiders-die-psilocybine-kregen-delen-mystieke-ervaringen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wholecelium.com\/nl\/blog\/religious-leaders-given-psilocybin-share-mystical-experiences\/","title":{"rendered":"Religieuze leiders met psilocybine delen 'mystieke ervaringen'"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As crazy as a study that throws priests, rabbis, and buddhist monks together<\/strong> then doses them with magic mushrooms sounds \u2014 it\u2019s actually been done before.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2006, a groundbreaking paper, co-authored by Dr. Roland Griffiths, titled \u201cPsilocybin can occasion mystical-type experiences having substantial and sustained personal meaning and spiritual significance\u201d<\/a> <\/em>set a new scope and standard in the scientific study of psychedelics. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was then followed up in 2017. This time, Johns Hopkins University Baltimore gave psychedelics to a selection of religious leaders. Researcher and psychologist William Richards reflected on the study;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne of the spiritual insights that occurs reliably is the sense of interconnectedness of us all, the family of man\u2026 Which really, I think, is desperately needed in this world.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Religious practitioners, who are thought to be more plugged in to the mystical<\/strong>, spiritual world can offer a highly intriguing point of view on the psychedelic experience. This, as well as their influence in their respective communities make them key figures to study in relation to psychedelics. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo by Sinitta Leunen on Unsplash<\/mark><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Mystical Experience and Psychedelics <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

An esteemed psychedelics researcher for many years, Dr. Griffiths takes a special interest in the mystical-experience aspect of psychedelics<\/a>. Based on his research he believes that mystical experiences can crucially alter an individual\u2019s worldview<\/strong>. He identifies, within these experiences, three common components. These are; a sense of interconnectedness<\/strong>, a feeling the experience is precious<\/strong> or sacred,<\/strong> and that this specific awareness is more real or \u2018true\u2019 than everyday consciousness<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With this as-of-yet unpublished study, Griffiths seems to have found similar results \u2014 supporting his original groundbreaking work.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So how did this new study go down?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What We Know So Far…<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Researchers at\u00a0 the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore and NYU Langone Health in Manhattan joined forces to conduct the as-of-yet unpublished study. In it, researchers administered psilocybin, from magic mushrooms, to 24 healthy volunteers. However, here\u2019s the clincher; all the volunteers were also clergy members<\/strong>, and \u201cpsychedelically naive\u201d <\/em>ones at that. The group included rabbis, priests, seminary members and chaplains, and spanned a variety of religions. The research aimed to examine the resulting spiritual encounters, self-reported by the religious professionals.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, after undergoing thorough screening and preparation, each volunteer was separately given two doses of synthetic psilocybin<\/a> in a supervised, and comfortable setting. The researchers documented the mystical experiences that occurred during these sessions. They also planned to follow-up with the volunteers to explore how these experiences may have helped<\/strong> or hindered <\/strong>their religious practice.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Griffiths, who is again a lead researcher on this study, shared that the scientists have agreed not to discuss the specific findings until they are published. However, with a little teasing tid-bit he notes that the results directly echo his earlier research<\/strong> on mystical experience.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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via Unsplash<\/mark><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

“More in Love with the Mystery of God”<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, some anonymous responses to the new study by the participants were presented at the Psychedelic Science session by T. Cody Swift, co-director of the Riverstyx Foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The currently unpublished follow-up interviews with the participants, conducted 7 and 21 months after the second and final psilocybin session, contain incredible insight into their experiences.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Religious Leaders Given Psilocybin Share ‘Mystical Experiences’<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Some participants said that they felt \u201cincreased openness to other religious pathways”.<\/strong> <\/em>Another said that rituals and customs of religious holidays now felt \u201cmore like a lived practice\u201d <\/strong><\/em>as opposed to \u201cjust going through the motions.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0 <\/em>One described a \u201cpurging of the ego\u201d<\/strong> <\/em>that initially seemed hellish but culminated in a \u201cdeepened sense of humility.\u201d<\/em><\/strong> <\/strong><\/em>Another said they were \u201cmore in love with the mystery of God.\u201d<\/em><\/strong> <\/strong><\/em>One participant, of Muslim faith reflected;\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t see God, but I felt God the whole time.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo by Chris Liverani on Unsplash<\/mark><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Two of the twenty-four clergy members found that returning to preaching the same doctrines was difficult. They also expressed frustration that they could not share their experiences with their congregation, causing a \u201csense of isolation.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Transformative Power of Psychedelics <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

During the Psychedelic Science<\/a> conference in June, Griffiths said that the research subjects in the new study considered their psychedelic trips \u201camong the most spiritually and personally meaningful experiences of their lifetime.\u201d<\/strong> <\/em>The sentiment of the subjects had been notably similar in his previous research study.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Griffiths’ Mystical Legacy <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Griffiths has been a trailblazer of psychedelic research for many years. He has studied the therapeutic effects of psychedelics on depression<\/a>, addiction<\/a>, anorexia,<\/a> and end-of-life-anxiety,<\/a> among many other conditions. However, in his original study on how psychedelics impact mystical experiences, he emphasized his surprise, despite his lengthy career, on how persistent<\/strong> and lasting<\/strong> the positive changes<\/strong> reported by the subjects were. In an interview he intoned;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWeeks, months, years after having their experience our volunteers were attributing enduring, fundamental, and positive changes to that psilocybin experience\u2026 It was completely different from the many other psychoactive drugs that I have studied.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Doubling down on this rich research field, earlier this year he launched The Roland R. Griffiths, Ph.D. Professorship Fund in Psychedelic Research on Secular Spirituality and Well-Being. <\/em>This program will continue his legacy and further research in this area. Griffiths himself, is suffering from terminal cancer. He believes that it is vital to continue this new direction of research into psychedelics after he is gone. At the Psychedelic Conference he said;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[with psychedelics] \u201cWe have the potential to wake up to a sense of freedom, peace, joy and gratitude that sadly, most of the world, I think, finds unimaginable\u2026 It may ultimately be important to the survival of our species.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo by Dulcey Lima on Unsplash<\/mark><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Marriage of Science and the Sacred\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The final results of the study \u2014 separate quantitative and qualitative studies \u2014 will be published later this year, according to Anthony Bossis of NYU, another member of the research team. Bossis states; \u00a0\u201cthe marriage of science and the sacred are the best hope we have for moving forward.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The mystical experience \u2014 it may be closer at hand than you think.<\/strong>..<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Uit een gloednieuw, nog niet gepubliceerd onderzoek naar het effect van psychedelische ervaringen op geestelijken blijkt dat ze een diepgaand effect hebben op de mystieke aspecten van het geloof. Dit weerspiegelt eerder onderzoek van Dr. Roland Griffiths. <\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":154714,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[88],"tags":[],"topics":[],"class_list":["post-154696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-psychedelic-studies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wholecelium.com\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wholecelium.com\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wholecelium.com\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wholecelium.com\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wholecelium.com\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154696"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/www.wholecelium.com\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154696\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":154777,"href":"https:\/\/www.wholecelium.com\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154696\/revisions\/154777"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wholecelium.com\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/154714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wholecelium.com\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wholecelium.com\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wholecelium.com\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154696"},{"taxonomy":"topics","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wholecelium.com\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topics?post=154696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}