Pharmaco-Metaphysics?

Raymond Tallis argues against acidic assertions, and doubts DMT discoveries.

- Raymond Tallis

I ought to begin with a confession. I have had no firsthand- or first-head - experience of psychedelic drugs. Admittedly, I occasionally (actually, frequently) 'do' a bit of (actually, quite a lot of) my favourite white wine. Courtesy of Pinot Grigio, I am sometimes translated to a parallel universe in which my jokes are funny and the laughter they trigger is directed at the tale rather than the teller. But this is hardly comparable to the experiences of 'psychonauts' who take hallucinogenic drugs such as psilocybin in pursuit of revelations about the true nature of the world, of our place in it, and of our eventual destination.

In The Doors of Perception (1954), Aldous Huxley reported on his experiences with the psychedelic drug mescaline. They ranged from the enchantment of an unpeeled awareness of the beauty of flowers, to a sense of a Divine Presence. The title of the book echoed William Blake's claim in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790) that "If the doors of perception were cleansed, then everything would appear to man as it is, Infinite."

The philosopher and psychologist William James (1842-1910) was ahead of Huxley. His experiences with nitrous oxide (laughing gas) had an enduring influence on his thought and, in particular, on his attitude towards religion. Reflecting on his experiences, he felt that all religions "converge towards a kind of insight to which I cannot help ascribing some metaphysical significance." James was haunted by the suspicion that his everyday awareness was flanked by utterly different modes of consciousness, and separated from them by 'the flimsiest of screens'.