In Favour of a Secular Approach to Entheogens

By Tristan Selvey - September 21, 2009

 

With the advent of science, there came a general understanding of the universe in terms of its materialist structure, where everything was understood to be comprised, and could be explained, in terms of matter and the interaction of matter.

This view emerged from what was a predominantly dualist conception of the universe. Dualism holds that there are two distinct substances: the material, and the immaterial. This is a typical belief amongst those of religious dispositions, believing in the presence of physical matter, but also an incorporeal, spiritual realm. The dualist view is not one that is exclusive to the religiously minded, however. Many non-believers today believe that there is a fundamental distinction in kind between mind and matter.

It is held within the scientific community that the world at hand is all that is available, and that there are no cosmic realms to be explored by transcending the biases of ordinary consciousness via meditation and/or the aid of psychoactive supplements.

This brings us to the use of entheogens. Firstly, the word itself connotes religious use and mystical associations. At the very least, entheogens are associated with individuals who are using them in the hope of a transcendence or some sort of enlightenment. This sort of thinking leads the postulation of metaphysical realities, in much the same way that religion does, and this tends to act against what has been learned through the advancements of science.

Take, for instance, the claims of entheogen users to have been taken out of their body and to have merged with the collective energy of the universe and its inhabitants. Now, perhaps this is not the exact description people would use to describe their experiences, but it does reflect the general tendency of entheogen users to interpret their experiences as being extra worldly.

So, is this a problem? The answer is yes. Claims of reality transcendence harkens back to archaic understandings of a world prior to the knowledge gained from science. It would seem that much of today’s entheogenic subcultures are tainted by an anachronistic understanding of the world, one that is akin to the ignorance of religious interpretations.

This leads us to the question: what is the relevance, if any, for the continued use of entheogens while keeping in mind a materialist, scientifically grounded understanding of the world?

To deny the relevance in the use of entheogens would be to accept the limits of a single perceptual reference point, one that is ignorant to the possibilities of human perception. While mankind would continue to persist without the use of entheogens, it would do so without the chance to better understand the role and functioning of the perceptual interpretations of the individual as an agent within a world that is perceived.

The secular value of entheogens lies in their capabilities of perceptual alteration. They do not provide the user with foreign data but, rather, expand upon and detract from the already available data that is being perceptually interpreted.

The error of entheogen usage within mystical and dualist contexts is to confuse the alternative perceptual understanding of the user as being shown something that was not already present within the perceptual field. Depending upon the variety of substance, the individual’s perception can be altered to the point that it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to organize the sensory data and to make sense of it as it pertains to cognitive presentation.

Now, it is not necessary to understand how entheogens act on perceptual functioning, but it has to be understood that this is all that is actually occurring.

It is through these states of altered perception that the user may understand and realize things that had not previously been known. This is not revelatory information, but information that is gained through the adoption of an alternate perspective (on the already present information) via the aid of entheogenic substances.

In altering one’s perceptual perspective, one may come to a variety of understandings and connection that may not have been made without the use of entheogens. This is also part of the appeal of meditation, to both focus and limit one’s perceptual intake, and to form alternate understandings in reorganizing this data.

Entheogens do have worth, but their value need not be on the fringes of or in opposition to science. With a better understanding of entheogens, one without their metaphysical baggage, provisions can be made to better realize their potential in relation to the individual who is in want of a better understanding of his place and function in the world.