
Marsh Chapel Experiment - benbreen
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marsh_Chapel_Experiment
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MengerSponge
Yikes, that's not a good wikipedia article. It doesn't address the adverse
events experienced by participants, and it is written in heavily biased
language.

Leary was probably a net force for good, but his drive to evangelize
psychedelics apparently prevented him from doing good science.

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joshschreuder
Can you be more specific? What adverse effects?

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MengerSponge
Having a panic attack and being tranquilized

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cat199
would be more interesting if if this was paired with a study of people
expecting to have some profound experience vs not.

" a considerable doubt on the assertion that mystical experiences catalyzed by
drugs are in any way inferior to non-drug mystical experiences in both their
immediate content and long-term effects "

is as much a statement of scientific 'fact' as it is a theological position -

how does one define a 'mystical experience'?

how does one 'grade' these nebulous 'mystical experiences'?

in terms of quality? severity of experience? ethical content? uniqueness?
whether one hallucinated what they thought might be a divine presence or not?

These are all questions which ultimately stem from philosophical/theological
beliefs. Of course if ones philosophical/spiritual belief is vague and
relativistic, then anything goes, and these can all be conveniently
'meaningful' in some conveniently abstract and conveniently qualification-free
sense.

The 'intellectuals choosing to consume spiritual experiences through specific
quantities of purchased chemicals' shtick can just as easily be seen as an
exercise in the narcissistic self-validation of ones own preconceived notions
as a 'meaningful spiritual occurrence', if one chose to be so cynical - it all
comes down to the theological context.

YMMV

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mistermann
> how does one define a 'mystical experience'?

This seems to be the current approach used:

Factor Analysis of the Mystical Experience Questionnaire: A Study of
Experiences Occasioned by the Hallucinogen Psilocybin

[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3539773/#](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3539773/#)

...using these survey questions:

APPENDIX - REVISED MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE QUESTIONNAIRE (MEQ; 30 ITEMS)

[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3539773/bin/NIH...](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3539773/bin/NIHMS409614-supplement-
Supp_Appendix_S1.docx)

This survey seems to be a variation of the above:

[https://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~jfkihlstrom/ConsciousnessWeb/P...](https://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~jfkihlstrom/ConsciousnessWeb/Psychedelics/States-
of-Consciousness-Questionnaire-and-Pahnke.pdf)

Some research into bad trips:

The Challenging Experience Questionnaire: Characterization of challenging
experiences with psilocybin mushrooms

[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5549781/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5549781/)

There's a surprisingly large body of proper scientific knowledge out there,
despite the long-standing ban on conducting research. And depending on how
open-minded one is, there is also a massive amount of anecdotal experiences
from individuals, although these all suffer from not following a standard
survey, among the other obvious problems one can easily imagine.

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Accujack
Makes sense.... the ability to deceive yourself into believing something would
only be enhanced by ingesting a drug that alters your perceptions of reality
and changes how your brain functions chemically.

Empathy and creative thinking tend to get enhanced by psilocybin, not critical
thinking and logic skills :)

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thih9
Why the smiling emoticon? What exactly do you mean? Could you elaborate?

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dagav
con·de·scen·sion noun

an attitude of patronizing superiority; disdain.

