Spirituality in Politics: a Revival of the Ancient Mystery Traditions
I’m currently in the process of publishing four articles on the theme of spirituality in politics, based on a Zoom talk/conversation that I gave in March. I am trying to create a political system for the West based on the ideas of Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell, rather than follow eastern traditions, for example Buddhism. The articles are transcripts of my four contributions to the conversation. Part 1 was the introduction, outlining what I think is necessary at this time in the West. Part 2 outlined some ideas for an education system based on spiritual ideas. Here in part 3, I discuss how to revive the ancient Mystery traditions. I assume that readers know what is meant by this. If not, there is an excellent article on Substack by esoteric author Tim Wyatt.
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A Revival of the Ancient Mystery Traditions
I believe that the best way of reinstituting them in modern times is to create a state-controlled programme of psychedelic use.
The ancient mystery traditions were shrouded in secrecy, but we believe that the purpose was to give the initiates profound, life-changing, spiritual experiences — deep insights into the nature of reality.
The most famous are the Eleusinian mysteries. In The Road to Eleusis Gordon Wasson and others concluded that a psychedelic drink called Kykeon, derived from ergot, induced these experiences.
Enthogens is a neologism used for psychedelic substances. The adjective entheos translates as “full of the god, inspired, possessed”. Enthogens can therefore be translated as “generating or creating the divine within”. Various historical examples would be Soma, amanita muscaria — otherwise known as magic mushrooms — ayahuasca, peyote.
Also in modern times we know that psychedelics can open one up to spiritual and religious experiences. This might be LSD, ayahuasca, magic mushrooms, DMT (Dimethyltryptamine), or possibly other substances. Yet for a long time such practices and research into them were illegal, although things have been easing up recently, and some research has been sanctioned.
Stanislav Grof is one of my hero figures. He has dedicated his life to helping people through LSD therapy and, when that became illegal, through a procedure of intensive breathing, music and drumming to achieve similar results. He has had his own encounters with the divine in LSD sessions, most notably the Hindu god Shiva. Through his work with LSD he became a convert to spiritual, esoteric and Perennial Philosophy ideas.
From a psychotherapeutic, mental health point of view, it’s important to note that LSD sessions can help resolve personal issues, as well as inducing profound spiritual experiences. Grof began as a Freudian psychoanalyst in Marxist Czechoslovakia before he became involved in a secret LSD research programme there. Having noted how frustrating the talking therapy was, achieving very little in many sessions over a long period, he concluded similar progress could be made in just two or three LSD sessions, the drug giving the patients deep insights into their lives and the nature of their problems.
His patients were sometimes catapulted into reliving traumatic experiences from their past lives. This helped them to resolve problems in their current lives and move on. What enormous benefits would therefore accrue, if we could all relive and integrate past incarnation experiences, seeing how they are still affecting our present situation.
A state-controlled programme of access to LSD sessions could therefore be a valuable tool in achieving my aim of a psychologically healthy society, resolving forgotten traumas from one’s current life, past lives, and opening people up to profound spiritual experiences like those of the ancient Mystery traditions.
Somewhat synchronistically, I was made aware only last week that there is a Zoom talk tomorrow evening on the theme of Aldous Huxley, the Perennial Philosophy, and psychedelics, given by Professor Dana Sawyer, and organised by the Consciousness Perspectives Forum. The description says: What if Aldous Huxley was spot on? Current psychedelic research supports Huxley’s ‘Perennial Philosophy’ as deeply relevant.
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Here’s a bibliography on this theme, beginning with a book with an interesting title:
Hofmann’s Elixir: LSD and the New Eleusis, edited by (the recently deceased) Amanda Feilding, who was director of the Beckley Foundation, which is a UK-based non-profit organisation with a long history of pioneering psychedelic research. Albert Hofmann was of course the man who discovered LSD.
Stanislav Grof:
Realms of the Human Unconscious
LSD Psychotherapy
Also interesting, but not specifically about LSD research, but showing where this led him to: Ancient Wisdom and Modern Science
(For my articles about psychedelics and examples from the work of Stanislav Grof, please see this list.)
Don’t say it too loudly but there is also a strong suspicion of a connection between early Christianity and amanita muscaria, otherwise known as magic mushrooms.
St. Paul writes about an experience, being taken up to paradise or the third heaven, unable to tell whether in or out of the body. This sounds remarkably like an experience under psychedelic influence.
And why do magic mushrooms appear so frequently in Christian art down the centuries? See The Holy Mushroom: Evidence of Mushrooms in Judeo-Christianity, by J. R. Irwin, and The Psychedelic Gospels: the Secret History of Hallucinogens in Christianity, by Jerry and Julie Brown
This may have been adopted from Mithraic traditions, since there is an apparent strong connection between Christianity and Mithraism. See Mushrooms, Myth & Mithras: the Drug Cult that Civilized Europe, by Carl Ruck and others.
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Since I gave this talk, this interesting and highly relevant article appeared by Religion and Politics at the Dinner Table. It tells of a study of what happened to several religious leaders when they took psychedelics.
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I hope you have enjoyed this article. I have written in the past about other topics, including spirituality, metaphysics, psychology, science, Christianity, politics and astrology. All of those articles are on Medium, but the simplest way to see a guide to them is to visit my website (click here and here). My most recent articles, however, are only on Medium; for those please check out my lists.
