JOSEPH GELFER

I recently submitted the full length article of my gender and psychedelics study for peer review. As this process usually takes many months, I thought I’d offer a summary article here: Gender, Sexuality and Psychedelic Spirituality.

A message from my psychedelic friend David Luke:

This is an invitation for people to take part in a survey on the use of psychedelics (and other psychoactive substances) and synaesthesia. We are looking for people who have used psychedelics and other psychoactive substances, whether or not they have had experiences of synaesthesia, and we are looking for people who have synaesthesia, whether or not they have used psychedelics and other psychoactive substances.

Synaesthesia can be defined as experiences in which there is a blending of the senses, such as shapes having a particular taste, sounds having a particular shape, or numbers having a particular colour.

Depending on how many types of synaesthesia experience you have had, and how many different substances you have consumed, we expect this survey to take anywhere upwards from 5 minutes to complete, although on average we expect that for most people it will take about 10-15 minutes.

Participation in this survey is completely anonymous, and has been approved by the University of Greenwich Research Ethics Committee. Please follow this link for further details and the survey:
https://greenwichuniversity.eu.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_bCW3OZwywP7IeNu

This research may be important in helping to establish the role of psychedelics in understanding unusual perceptual phenomena and neurobiological processes involved in consciousness, so thank you for taking part. Please forward this invitation to anyone else who may be interested in responding.

If you have questions about this study please direct them to Dr David Luke: d.p.luke@gre.ac.uk

The full program for Entheogenesis Australis is now out. There appears to be a small window between 3-9am for sleeping. I’ll be part of the 2012 – Entheogenic Awakening? panel discussion on Saturday at 2 pm, and my gender and psychedelics talk is at 11:15 am on Sunday (both in the Main Dome).

I’m embarking on a new research project called Entheogenic Spirituality and Gender in Australia. If you are involved with the psychedelic community in Australia please take a moment to complete the following anonymous survey (or forward the link to anyone you know who might be interested). Thanks!

Entheogenic Spirituality and Gender in Australia Survey

Just got the nod that my talk Entheogenic Spirituality and Gender in Australia is scheduled for 10.30am Sunday 4 December in the Main Conference Dome at this year’s Entheogenesis Australis.

Rak Razam’s podcast In a Perfect World has a new episode “Psychedelic Revolution” which is a recording of a panel from last year’s Entheogenesis Australis conference that I spoke on:

TURN ON, TUNE IN, EVOLVE… In the 1950s corporations used psychedelics as creativity tools… can modern companies – and strategic individuals – use psychedelics to help solve some of the most pressing problems of our time? Can a global psychedelic village think its way out of planetary crisis, or get back into Gaian union? Can we all have the shared vision of a psychedelic utopia if we all have different psychedelic experiences? Is psychedelic elitism a danger and is our grasping at utopias falling prey to it? Should we be dosing Steven Hawking, and the world intelligentsia or should they be volunteering for the front lines of consciousness expansion? With a sense of urgency building on planet earth, is a NEW type of psychedelic revolution our best hope for planetary survival? Experiential journalist Rak Razam asks this provocative question to a panel of experts at the Entheogenesis Australis 2010 conference including: Rick Doblin (President of MAPS, the Multi-discipline Association of Psychedelic Studies), Henry Cox (senior anthropologist at the Kimberley Land Council), Joseph Gelfer (author and researcher in the School of Political and Social Inquiry at Monash University), Torsten Wiedermann (Shaman Australis) and Carl Turney (EGA).
From memory, it was quite a good conversation, so if you’re scouting around for something to listen to, check it out.

[Below is a copy of the talk I gave at last weekend's EGA Symposium held at The University of Melbourne which summarizes and extends an older paper published in Journal of Alternative Spiritualities and New Age Studies]

Towards a Sacramental Understanding of Dextromethorphan: A Research Story

Rather than a simple presentation of research, I want to tell you a story about research. This is particularly useful with psychedelic research as it often relies on personal connections that are not always present in other areas of research. Also, the reception of psychedelic research is not always as smooth as other areas of research, so sharing struggles and even failures is of particular importance. And sometimes, stories about research are as interesting as the research itself, but we rarely have an opportunity to publish them. The story in question is about the “spiritual” use of dextromethorphan (DXM), an ingredient of some cough suppressants which, when consumed in large amounts, can have dissociative and psychedelic effects.

How it Started

I first became aware of DXM in 2004. At the time I was a contributor to an online community that had gathered around Daniel Pinchbeck’s book Breaking Open the Head (2003).[1] The community was particularly vibrant between 2003–2005 with a number of smart people interested in psychedelics, spirituality, sustainability, and so forth. The conversation was both engaging and diverse.

One particularly active member went by the name of Halfglass, who entertained and challenged us with accounts of his inner voyages using DXM. His postings were often chaotic and random, but also fascinating in their quest for existential and spiritual meaning. Along with others, I encouraged Halfglass to formalise his accounts, which he did in a self-published book called The DXM Explorer (Carpenter, 2004). The book, carrying his real name of Dan Carpenter, was photocopied and spiral bound; the cover was hand drawn and had a photo of Dan with a compass and note book, charting—somewhat tongue-in-cheek—his inner travels. He sent copies free of charge (even paying for shipping) to people who were interested—including me, located at the time on the other side of the world in New Zealand, far from his home in Levittown, Pennsylvania.

The Original Cover of The DXM Explorer

The book was good, albeit with a certain do-it-yourself charm, both in style and form. By this time Dan and I were communicating regularly, and I encourage him to look for a “proper” publisher, which he did. Looking back at our emails, it is an almost seamless journey to the final book, re-titled by the publisher to capture the spirit of the McKennas, A Psychonaut’s Guide to the Invisible Landscape: The Topography of the Psychedelic Experience (Carpenter, 2006):

“Hey mate. Just wanted to update you. Dr. Rick Strassman (DMT the Spirit Molecule author) agreed to write a blurb for the cover of my book and he tipped me off to his publisher (Inner Traditions) and the acquisitions editor wants to see the manuscript! Here’s hoping. Peace Dan.” (Personal Communication, July 2004)

“Hey brother. Thought I’d let you know; my book has been over at Inner Traditions (Park Street Press) for 3 months or so. I just got an e-mail (from the acquisitions Ed.) that it’s passed the first go-round with a committee. Now it’s on to a single reader (whose function I’m not really sure about—any idea?). Peace Dan.” (Personal Communication, December 2004)

“Joseph guess what? Inner Traditions (Park Street Press) publishers has picked up my book! I’m in bro, can you believe it? (I can’t hardly!) Peace Dan.” (Personal Communication, January 2005)

Dan was delighted with his success, and so was I. Sadly, he did not get to see the publication of the book, as he died shortly before it was published. After the shock of his death had worn off, I felt the desire to consolidate Dan’s work by bringing it into the academic domain, as I was a doctoral student at the time. And, to be perfectly transparent about motivations, it seemed an ideal opportunity to write about a topic that had previously not been addressed, as at that point academic literature had only referred to the medical use of DXM.[2] I achieved this goal via two venues: a sympathetic review of Dan’s book in International Journal of Drug Policy (Gelfer, 2007a) and a research article in Journal of Alternative Spiritualities and New Age Studies (Gelfer, 2007b), which is outlined in the section below.

The Findings

I wrote up my findings about the spiritual use of DXM in a paper called, Towards a Sacramental Understanding of Dextromethorphan.[3] In short, to frame the research I used the term “sacrament” in a theological context. For Paul Tillich, “any object or event is sacramental in which the transcendent is perceived to be present” (quoted in Martos, 1981, p. 1). Similarly, citing the Anglican catechism, John MacQuarrie (1994) argues that a sacrament is, “an outward and physical sign of an inward and spiritual grace” (p. 4). I then offered some examples of trans-cultural neo-shamanic experiences such as: the soul’s separation from the body or “trip”; visions of snakes and jaguars; visions of demons and/or deities; visions of distant cities, landscapes and persons; divinatory experiences such as resolving crimes or sickness (Harner, 1973). I also offered some examples of the nature of mystical experiences in an entheogenic context: unity; transcendence of time and space; objectivity and reality; sense of sacredness; deeply-felt positive mood; ineffability and paradoxicality (Richards, 2002).

In a nutshell, my argument was that DXM could be loosely located within the neo-shamanic tradition if it was considered to have a sacramental nature by some users, and if their experiences echoed those presented by Harner and Richards. I did this by examining accounts of DXM experiences in Carpenter (2006), William E. White’s The Dextromethorphan FAQ,[4] 16 editions of The DXM Zine published online between 1997 and 2003,[5] and various DXM reports lodged with the Erowid database between 2000 and 2003.[6]

There was ample evidence of a spiritual understanding of DXM in the source material. White’s typology of the DXM experience is divided into “plateaus”, the fifth and most elusive of which is “introspective, spiritual, and shamanic”. Spiritual and non-ordinary realities are clearly of interest to White: Section 8 of his FAQ, running to over 4000 words, is dedicated to “Altered States and Paranormal Experiences”.

Similarly, in The DXM Zine every issue ran at least one article focusing on the use of DXM and subjects which intersect with a broad understanding of spirituality and non-ordinary states of consciousness, including paranormal and psychic experiences, coincidence control (manipulating synchronicity), near death and out-of-body experiences, astral projection, lucid dreaming, extra sensory perception, communicating with the dead, kundalini and chakra energy, and the 2012 eschaton. Issue 8 goes so far as to suggest an organisation called “The Church of Tussin”, with the following objective: “To promote the exploration of one self and of the universe with the powerful shamanic device, DXM. This is not a blasphemous satire on religion, but a secret ritual of practice that enables oneself to perceive reality in a different way, and to contact higher spiritual beings for the promotion of self exploration and development”.

Firsthand DXM reports from Erowid tell a similar story. Among various examples, “Matt” writes, “I am not particularly religious but I felt God speaking to me telling me that everything was alright”.[7] “The Shadow” writes, “I felt as though I had a connection with God, one that I had never before had”.[8] “Okey” titles his account simply, “I saw God”.[9]

Following these examples, Carpenter (2006) explicitly states, “my approach has been absolutely spiritual” (p. 108). Across Carpenter’s text it is possible to find examples of Richards’ characteristics of mystical experiences:

• Of unity: “there are fabrics of groups of people …The Known in the Hive is fabrics of awareness. Families chatting, knitted into a quilt” (p. 65);
• Of transcendence of time and space: “The world kept coming over me as a new world—one I had just entered—a reality I had just arrived in. Each time this happened I had to create a new scenario about who and where I was” (p. 28);
• Of objectivity and reality: “All the crazy comings-and-goings were self-regulated by the parts themselves, like a host of hardened ER doctors in action after a bus crash. The psychedelic had held a door open into one ‘me,’ allowing another ‘me’ to see in” (p. 44);
• Of a sense of sacredness: “Beliefs in the solid-state yet spiritual realms one can witness in the closed-eye DXM trance have become Knowns for me” (p. 107);
• Of a deeply-felt positive mood: “I found myself drifting over a scene of unmistakable Buddhist monks. I could smell incense. There was a high seat of honor and I understood it was for me. The monks were saying, ‘He has made it! This is Dan’s Day! Place him on the seat!’ … Suddenly something went wrong—like the chair broke. … Then one young man approached smiling and I understood the broken chair had been a cosmic joke of some kind, like a hazing. The young man said: ‘This is the first enlightenment!’ We both began to laugh hardily” (p. 52);
• Of ineffability and paradoxicality: “I have witnessed the seat of dreaming” (p. 14).

I invite you to read the full paper for a lengthier presentation of the theoretical framework, the evidence, and references to further sources, but it is clear that some users consider DXM to have a sacramental nature. It is clear that the trans-cultural shamanic experiences suggested by Harner are identifiable in some accounts of DXM experiences. It is clear that the characteristics of entheogenic mystical experiences suggested by Richards are identifiable in some accounts of DXM experiences.

The Reception

Somewhat naïvely, I assumed that because no one had ever written before about the non-medical use of DXM in an academic context, this new exploration would be absorbed with relish; but this was not the case. My first outing with the paper was at the 2006 Association of Social Anthropologists of Aotearoa/New Zealand conference. The first obstacle was the clear scepticism that this phenomenon was anything other than a bunch if kids looking for kicks. The second obstacle was more sophisticated, but also more curious: the denial that the DXM community was a “community” because it was online and geographically dispersed. The criticism of the paper then became one of claiming I could not anthropologically research a “community” that was not in physical contact, or which I could not describe in clear demographic terms.

Unperturbed, I went on to submit the paper to a journal which publishes a number of papers about alternative spiritualities and new religious movements. Again, I ran into problems from the six people on the editorial board who fed into the lengthy review. I don’t want to give the impression that there was no positive feedback, because there was. Reader 1, for example, was sympathetic to the paper, but suggested I spend more time theorising the relationship between neo-shamanism and entheogens (although this would have left little room for actually writing about DXM). Reader 4 thought the paper was “well-written and well-researched … in very good shape, and close to being ready to go”. Reader 5 also seemed to have some sympathy, but wanted to keep the paper away from their journal: “The paper is not unsophisticated; it is very well researched and very well written. But, in the end … it may be easier for the author to submit his/her paper to a more appropriate journal”.

However, Reader 2 asks if there is even any significance to the discussion and criticises the “sense of apologia” in the paper, speculating that I am a member of the DXM community (which is not the case), but then falls in line with the earlier conference attendees to question whether it can even be defined as a community without explicit demographic data. (I’ve since learned that to be biased against your subject is more acceptable in academic writing than towards it: one is “analysis”, the other “apologia”.) Reader 3 repeats the demographic issue, although condescendingly admits the paper might be of interest “to one who remembers and has some nostalgia for the sixties”.

While the above readers required the paper to present what they perceived to be “evidence” as social scientists, Reader 6 required a specific history of religions approach: “At the moment this paper argues that since some people use DXM to facilitate religious experiences that DXM is therefore a sacrament. Whether or not something really facilitates spiritual experiences is a normative faith claim, as is the assertion that something is a sacrament. A valid history of religions analysis would be that some DXM-users regard DXM as a sacrament that stimulates meaningful spiritual experiences”. Such a shift in perspective was clearly considered too fundamental to invite me to revise and resubmit.

Of course, it goes without saying that it is the job of the reviewers to weed out nonsense from the scientific record. However, the overall impression of the feedback I received felt like it was less about identifying fatal flaws in the research and more about identifying ways to reject the research because of its subject matter: having spent the past five years editing an academic journal I see the difference between these two strategies with some clarity. It also highlights the difficulty of using certain methods, and finding the right journal in the first place. Specifically, I undertake research largely via content analysis. My presentation and interpretation of the content is my “evidence”, but a journal with a tight sociological agenda, for example, may see this as simply made-up (despite the fact that such journals will often present “data” uncritically, as if it were the “truth”). In the end, I am grateful that the paper found a home with minimal fuss in Journal of Alternative Spiritualities and New Age Studies.

Despite the fact that the paper had a rough journey at the conference and the first journal to which I submitted, it nevertheless still interests people. Perhaps more than my primary “mainstream” research area of masculinities and spirituality, the DXM paper has resulted in a number of emails from intrigued readers and students interested in but concerned about exploring psychedelic research. And when I highlight the sacramental use of DXM in conversations with other academics, they often quickly succumb to the enchanting nature of the subject. This leads me to believe that DXM—alongside psychedelics in general and a significant number of other allegedly “fringe” subjects—is clearly of interest to a diverse spectrum of researchers, but that this interest is silenced by the way academic research is produced and regulated, perhaps even by the very same researchers who secretly find it of interest when not wearing the dark uniform of the Knowledge Police.

References

Addy, P. (2007). Facilitating transpersonal experiences with dextromethorphan: Potential, cautions, and caveats. The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 39 (1), 1-22.

Carpenter, D. (2004). The DXM Explorer (unpublished manuscript).

Carpenter, D. (2006). A Psychonaut’s guide to the invisible landscape: The topography of the psychedelic experience. Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions.

Gelfer, J. (2007a). Review of “A psychonaut’s guide to the invisible landscape”. International Journal of Drug Policy, 18(3), 240.

Gelfer, J. (2007b). Towards a sacramental understanding of dextromethorphan. Journal of Alternative Spiritualities and New Age Studies 3, 80-96.

Harner, M. (Ed.). (1973). Hallucinogens and shamanism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Macquarrie, J. (1997). A guide to the sacraments. London: SCM Press.

Martos, J. (1981). Doors to the sacred: A historical introduction to sacraments in the Catholic Church. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.

Pinchbeck, D. (2003). Breaking open the head: A psychedelic journey into the heart of contemporary shamanism. New York: Broadway.

Richards, W. A. (2002). Entheogens in the study of mystical and archetypal experiences. Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion, 13, 143-155.

Don’t forget, next weekend (4-5 December at the Basement Theatre, The University of Melbourne) is the Entheogenesis Australis (EGA) Psychedelic Symposium.

I’ll be doing two things at this event on the 5^th December. First, at 1: 40 I’ll be part of the panel Turn On, Tune In, Evolve – is a New Psychedelic Revolution our Best Hope for Planetary Survival? along with Henry Cox, Rick Doblin, Torsten Wiedemann, Carl Turney, Gregg Lahood and facilitated by Rak Razam. Second, at 3:30 I’ll be presenting some findings from a previously published paper, Towards a Sacramental Understanding of Dextromethorphan, as well as some context about how this research was received within the academic community.

The line-up is looking pretty good, and I’d say that even if I wasn’t speaking. The Melbourne hipster newsletter Threethousand gives the best reason to go with their write-up of the event:

Well, if you’re at all serious about those neoshamanic symbols on your blog or those dreamcatcher earrings you keep wearing to the neon indian chill wave club nights, you should come along and find out what all those things really mean. Maybe you’ll find that you’re a complete phoney calling your band ‘psychedelic’ until Ayahuasca has ripped your meta being into an infinite number of shards splintering in and out of trillions of dimensions per second and you’ve come back to some holographic cathedral where alien beings communicate with you in hyper-dimensional sign language telling you that you do and don’t exist at the same time and that we are all one, now, forever… Like, 2012 and shit, duuude.

True dat.

One for the diary: I’ll be speaking about some older research regarding psychedelic spirituality at Entheogenesis Australis to be held at The University of Melbourne on 4-5 December 2010.

There will be two streams to the lecture. First, I’ll be presenting some findings from a previously published paper:

Towards a Sacramental Understanding of Dextromethorphan

Dextromethorphan (DXM) is an ingredient of some cough suppressants which, when consumed in large amounts, can have dissociative and psychedelic effects. Some people within the DXM-user community use DXM to facilitate what they perceive to be spiritual experiences. This paper argues that DXM can therefore be understood within the DXM-user community as a sacrament, and its use located within the neo-shamanic tradition.

Second, I’ll be telling a story about the formation and academic reception of the research.

Other speakers include Rick Doblin of MAPS and Alex Wodak of the Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation.

I just received an email from Gina Misiroglu, editor of American Countercultures: An Encyclopedia of Nonconformists, Alternative Lifestyles, and Radical Ideas in U.S. History, published last year by M.E. Sharpe. The book recently won the RUSA Award for Best Reference Work, an award given by the American Library Association. I can only assume such excellence was achieved because it contains three articles written by my good self:

• Branch Davidians
• Robert Pirsig
• Psychedelia