Cleansing the Doors of Perception: The Religious Significance of Entheogenic Plants and Chemicals - Hardcover

Smith, Huston

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1585420344 ISBN 13: 9781585420346

Publisher: Jeremy P Tarcher, 2001

Synopsis

An examination of the link between psychedelic drugs and religious experiences throughout history summarizes the research of the twentieth century and shares the philosophies of such figures as Sigmund Freud and Saul Bellow. 25,000 first printing.

About this title

Review

Cleansing the Doors of Perception is a fresh consideration of the age-old relationship between psychedelics and mystical experience, by one of the most trustworthy religious writers of our time. Author Huston Smith (most famous for his classic The World's Religions) is the Walter Cronkite of religion scholars. He has long believed that "Drugs appear to be able to induce religious experiences" and that "it is less evident that they can produce religious lives". At the same time, he posits that "if ... religion cannot be equated with religious experiences, neither can it long survive their absence". Therefore, Smith's basic question about entheogens (a word he defines as "nonaddictive mind-altering substances that are approached seriously and reverently") is "whether chemical substances can be helpful adjuncts to faith". Cleansing the Doors does not offer one sustained argument in response to that question. Instead, the book collects Smith's many articles about this subject, and connects them with brief introductory essays. The writings gathered here range from personal testimony about Smith's own experience with entheogens to speculative historical writing about the possibility of Cardinal John Henry Newman's experience with such chemicals, to ethnographic work on the use of entheogens in India. Throughout, Smith's style conveys the wisdom and wonder that has guided his explorations of this strange, fascinating aspect of religious experience. --Michael Joseph Gross

About the Author

Huston Smith is internationally known and revered as the premier teacher of world religions. He is the focus of a five-part PBS television series with Bill Moyers and has taught at Washington University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Syracuse University, and the University of California at Berkeley. The recipient of twelve honorary degrees, Smith's fifteen books include his bestselling The World's Religions, Why Religion Matters, and his autobiography, Tales of Wonder.

Edition details

• Publisher: Jeremy P Tarcher
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 1585420344
• ISBN 13: 9781585420346
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English