“Not Drugs But Night”: Psychedelic Christianity and “Drug-Mysticism”

If we follow the wisdom of “set and setting,” how we frame our psychedelic experiences matters. For many American psychonauts of the 1960s, Eastern spiritualities, deities, and practices offered one potential roadmap. This interactive presentation considers what the Christian mystical tradition might have to offer to contemporary practitioners, particularly by way of two of its most celebrated authors: 16th c. Spanish mystic-poet Saint John of the Cross and his Dark Night of the Soul, and 20th c. American Trappist monk and author, Thomas Merton.
Merton in particular engaged directly with the psychedelic counter-culture of his time, first through his correspondence with Aldous Huxley and later with members of both the burgeoning psychedelic underground – and emerging scientific community. Merton’s correspondence with several of these figures reveals a mind both creatively engaged with these emerging technologies, as well as exercising caution and discernment following the counsel of centuries of Christian mystical praxis. Tracing Merton’s letters and conferences, many previously unpublished, this interactive presentation takes into account the controversy of psychedelics in Christian mysticism as a crisis over "authentic" religious experience. With John of the Cross and Merton as our guides, we will explore how “drug-mysticism” inspired a generation, which then – as now – hungered for, as Merton speculates, self-transcendence, exaltation, and a “mysticism of is-ness.”

This event is both in-person and online.

David M. Odorisio, PhD, is Associate Professor at Pacifica Graduate Institute, Santa Barbara, CA, where he serves as Chair of the Psychology, Religion, and Consciousness MA/PhD program. David is editor of four volumes, including: Thomas Merton in California: The Redwoods Conferences and Letters, and co-editor of Depth Psychology and Mysticism. David teaches courses in depth psychology, comparative mysticism, and contemplative spirituality. He currently serves as Co-Chair of the Mysticism Unit for the American Academy of Religion. www.ahomeforsoul.com

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