Did Psychedelics Contribute to the Origins of Religion?
For individuals of faith this may seem to be a strange, bizarre and sacrilegious question. However, in a previous article entitled The Spiritual Brain, I pointed out that spirituality in humans is genetically hardwired into a specific part of the brain, is pleasurable, is critical to the evolution and survival of man, and will never go away. Spirituality can be defined as a feeling of being connected to something greater than oneself. Throughout history, individuals who have especially high levels of spirituality have been the originators of a number of different religions. Where did this superior level of spirituality come from? A range of psychedelics – LSD, DMT (dimethyl-tryptamine) , psilocybin, mescaline, and muscimol, produce strong feelings of spirituality. The last three of these are present in plants that are common throughout the world. These include various mushrooms, cacti, and other plants. Because of their property of enhancing spirituality the compounds have been referre
