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

by Huston Smith

This book takes a serious look at the use of psychedelic drugs as a means to achieve mystical union with the divine.

Genres: Psychology, Religion, Nonfiction, Drugs, Philosophy, Anthropology, Spirituality

173 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Smith was born in Suzhou, China to Methodist missionaries and spent his first 17 years there. He taught at the Universities of Colorado and Denver from 1944–1947, moving to Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri for the next ten years, and then Professor of Philosophy at MIT from 1958–1973. While at MIT he participated in some of the experiments with entheogens that professor Timothy Leary conducted at Harvard University. He then moved to Syracuse University where he was Thomas J. Watson Professor of Religion and Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Philosophy until his retirement in 1983 and current emeritus status. He now lives in the Berkeley, CA area where he is Visiting Professor of Religious Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.

During his career, Smith not only studied, but practiced Vedanta Hinduism, Zen Buddhism (studying under Goto Zuigan), and Sufism for over ten years each. He is a notable autodidact.

As a young man, Smith, of his own volition, after suddenly turning to mysticism, set out to meet with then-famous author Gerald Heard. Heard responded to Smith's letter, invited him to his Trabuco College (later donated as the Ramakrishna Monastery) in Southern California, and then sent him off to meet the legendary Aldous Huxley. So began Smith's experimentation with meditation, and association with the Vedanta Society in Saint Louis under the auspices of Swami Satprakashananda of the Ramakrishna order.

Via the connection with Heard and Huxley, Smith eventually experimented with Timothy Leary and others at the Center for Personality Research, of which Leary was Research Professor. The experience and history of the era are captured somewhat in Smith's book Cleansing the Doors of Perception. In this period, Smith joined in on the Harvard Project as well, an attempt to raise spiritual awareness through entheogenic plants.

He has been a friend of the XIVth Dalai Lama for more than forty years, and met and talked to some of the great figures of the century, from Eleanor Roosevelt to Thomas Merton.

He developed an interest in the Traditionalist School formulated by Rene Guenon and Ananda Coomaraswamy. This interest has become a continuing thread in all his writings.

In 1996, Bill Moyers devoted a 5-part PBS special to Smith's life and work, "The Wisdom of Faith with Huston Smith." Smith has produced three series for public television: "The Religions of Man," "The Search for America," and (with Arthur Compton) "Science and Human Responsibility." His films on Hinduism, Tibetan Buddhism, and Sufism have all won awards at international film festivals.

His latest DVD release is The Roots of Fundamentalism - A Conversation with Huston Smith and Phil Cousineau.

Reviews

[Elfie · Rating 3 out of 5]

One would not expect Huston Smith to write about this subject, but he does and does it well and responsibly - I appreciate that he replaced 'psychedelic' by 'entheogenic'. Interesting chapters on 'soma' and LSD.
Important statement: Although the mind-altering substances he talks about can induce religious experiences that are indistinguishable from spontaneous theophanies or those induced by other means (fasting, dancing, etc.), they may also completely lack any religious feature - this depends on the person, setting etc. Above all one should focus on a religious life rather than on religious experiences. Moreover, there is the 'tremendum' part of such experiences, the 'fear and awe' of Rudolf Otto's 'mysterium tremendum et fascinans'.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Huston Smith is just a very dry, didactic writer. ("I have three points to make about this concept. I will start with the first and move on to the second and then proceed to the third. The first point is...") But he's got great ideas. Read only if you're interested in the topic, but then definitely read him.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-written and thought-provoking, but also not as much new information as I was expecting. Not an essential read if you're already familiar with the subject matter, but a good introduction if you're not.

[Al Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always feel a little more positive and hopeful when ever I come in contact with Huston Smith's work.

[Mattheus Guttenberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cleansing the Doors of Perception is a collection of essays by Huston Smith and other writers interested in the overlap between entheogenic (psychedelic) mystical experiences and genuine religious experiences. The medicinal and spiritual uses of LSD, peyote, mescaline, psilocybin, and more are explored in relation to their history of use within religious traditions (Mexican shaman, Hindu yogis, etc.) and to their relevance for revitalizing the "religious life." Devout followers of any religious faith will recognize immediately what Smith and others describe through their exploration of entheogens: namely, the experience of transcendence, the joy and terror of awe, the deconstruction of our physical/material viewpoint, and ecstatic union with the Divine. Though they may chafe at the suggestion that plants and chemicals can create something indistinguishable from true religious revelation, anyone interested in reorienting our conscious perspectives toward spiritual paths will find this book - and the substances they describe - as a valuable complement to their faith.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK, so drugs created religion and drug-induced epiphanies are indistinguishable from religion-induced epiphanies.
This book occupies such a strange place. It's entirely about entheogens and their effects, but manages to avoid glorifying drug use. Also manages to avoid any significant discussion of cultural relevance or cultural appropriation. Its academic style almost hides the fact that the author hallucinated his way to much of the information in the book. Such a titillating subject in such a deadly boring style.

[Matthew C. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Huston Smith's resume speaks for itself. Not only was he one of the greatest religion scholars of his century, but he was also personally acquainted with Timothy Leary and Aldous Huxley. He was also a participant in the infamous Good Friday experiment. A perfect individual to comment on psychedelics.

Smith offers us some of the most promising as well as some of the more dark sides of these mind-expanding substances. His conclusions vary depending on which essay you read (this is a compendium that spans decades of his writings). No reader will leave without benefit.

[Alina Yasnaya · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are at all interested in what is outside daily routine of your mind, read this book.

[Aitziber Madinabeitia · Rating 4 out of 5]

La percepcion divina es una colección de artículos sobre los enteógenos escritos a lo largo de muchos años.
Da una nueva visión, al tiempo cientifista y espiritual del uso de los enteógenos a través de la experiencia tanto del autos como de otras persones, tanto positivas como negativas. Resulta muy interesante para todos aquello que piensen en la psiconautica o les interese la dimensión antropológica del tema.
Recomendado para psiconautas, personas que trabajan en contacto con los místico, psicólogos y misticos, siempre y que sean lo suficientemente seguros de si mismos como para no ver puesto en duda su medio de vivir la realidad y la forma de sus creencias por un estudio cientifista.
Curiosamente, sienta bastante bases filosoficas sobre la naturaleza e implicaciones tanto de la mistica como de los enteógenos, incluyendo la dimensión exclusivamente sagrada de los mismos y las motivaciones que llevan a las culturas a entenderlos de ese modo.

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've just started this; I am all about it.

[Sally · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the articles are much more interesting than others.

[Chris Pezza · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVE IT

[Salvatore Familia]

This book takes a serious look at the use of psychedelic drugs as a means to achieve mystical union with the divine.