Can you find spiritual enlightenment in a pill? This course will explore the use of psychedelic drugs in the United States as a purported means
to psychological growth and spiritual awakening. MDMA, LSD, ayahuasca, marijuana, psilocybin, and other drugs will be considered, including
their psychoactive properties, the history of their use, and their various receptions as spiritual agents in American culture. Our main focus will
be on the arguments about the value or danger of such drugs, especially in terms of their potential to give the user access to spiritual
realizations. Why do some claim that “entheogens” (i.e., psychoactive substances) are of great value to humanity’s spiritual growth? What proof
is offered (scientific, religious, aesthetic, etc.)? And why do others say that they are pernicious and dangerous forms of delusion? On what
basis do they make their claims? Overall, the course’s goal is to consider how approaches to psychedelics—as either good or bad—reflect and
shape our senses of what it means to be human and to pursue spiritual truth.