LSD and the Divine Sciences

This book consists of four late lectures by Albert Hofman (1906-2008), containing much wisdom. He used to say that we were all here to experience happiness, and that it was important to know oneself. The lectures deal with planning and chance in clinical research, the question of whether insight into the truths of natural science can be therapeutically effective in psychology, meditation and sensory section, and the use of psychedelics for the great transition of culture. He is emphatic that, as in indigenous cultures, these substances be taken in a sacred context. He recounts a pivotal experience of his own, when he had been depressed in his late 20s and suddenly made a connection with a tree outside his window, reflecting that the tree were made of the same substance at a biochemical level. This helped him free himself from the vicious circle of his thoughts and achieve a state of serenity and trust.

In the third lecture, he reminds us that there are no colours in the external world, just wavelengths. The perception of colour is subjective and mental, taking place in the inner realm of the individual. The same applies to hearing. We all carry our own personal picture of reality. Using the metaphor of sender and receiver, there is only one sender, but as many subjective world views as there are receivers, which means that we create our own version of reality while being subject to the dictates of the objectively external world. We need to understand the laws of nature and live in harmony with them. This brings him back to the question of consciousness, which eludes purely scientific explanation as tautological by definition – we can only study its correlates. He sees the core of our searching through meditation as a quest for meaning and happiness, as identified by some of our greatest thinkers including Aristotle and Aquinas. He gives a fascinating insight into the difference between possession and property; originally, a possession was something one actually used, such as a chair. We now tend to equate happiness with having, when it is essentially a question of being. The landlord may own the garden, but it really belongs to the gardener. His vision of science and mysticism is that they complement each other to comprise the whole truth and reality of our existence. An inspiring little book.