Main description:

Sacred Knowledge is the first well-documented, sophisticated account of the effect of psychedelics on biological processes, human consciousness, and revelatory religious experiences. Based on nearly three decades of legal research with volunteers, William A. Richards argues that, if used responsibly and legally, psychedelics have the potential to assuage suffering and constructively affect the quality of human life.

Richards's analysis contributes to social and political debates over the responsible integration of psychedelic substances into modern society. His book serves as an invaluable resource for readers who, whether spontaneously or with the facilitation of psychedelics, have encountered meaningful, inspiring, or even disturbing states of consciousness and seek clarity about their experiences. Testing the limits of language and conceptual frameworks, Richards makes the most of experiential phenomena that stretch our understanding of reality, advancing new frontiers in the study of belief, spiritual awakening, psychiatric treatment, and social well-being. His findings enrich humanities and scientific scholarship, expanding work in philosophy, anthropology, theology, and religious studies and bringing depth to research in mental health, psychotherapy, and psychopharmacology.

Contents:

Foreword, by G. William Barnard
Preface: One Discovery of Transcendence
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Note to the Reader
Part I. Setting the Stage
1. The Death and Rebirth of Psychedelic Research
2. Orientation, Definitions, and the Limits of Language
3. Revelation and Doubt
Part II. Mystical and Visionary Forms of Consciousness
4. Intuitive Knowledge
5. Approaches to Unitive Consciousness
6. New Perspectives on Time and Space
7. Visions and Archetypes
Part III. Personal and Interpersonal Dynamics
8. The Interpersonal and the Mystical
9. Experiences of Meaninglessness, Despair, and Somatic Discomfort
10. Religious Conversion and Psychodynamic Experiences
11. Discipline and Integration
12. Reflections on Death
Part IV. Present and Future Applications of Entheogens
13. Psychedelic Frontiers in Medicine
14. Psychedelic Frontiers in Education
15. Psychedelic Frontiers in Religion
16. Maximizing the Probability of Safety and Benefit
Part V. Onward
17. Fears of Awakening
18. Entering Into a New Paradigm
19. Movement Into the Future
Epilogue: A Concise Report of Insights from the Frontier Where Science and Spirituality Are Meeting
Selected Bibliography
A Hopkins Playlist for Psilocybin Studies (2008 Version)
Name Index
Subject Index