Mysticism and psychedelics: The case of the dark night

Journal of Religion and Health, Vol. 30, No. 3, Fall 1991 Mysticism and Psychedelics:The Case of the Dark Night CHRISTOPHER M. BACHE ABSTRACT: This sludy usesa modelof consciousness derivedfrom LSD-assistedpsychotherapy to illumine an enigmatic set of painful experiencesthat occur on the mystic's path known in Western circles as the "dark night." It arguesthat the dark night experiencesdescribedin John of the Cross'sclassicwork Dorft Night of the Soul can be conceptualizedin terms of Stanislav Grofs categoryof "perinatalexperience." The discussion examinesthe implicationsof this reconceptualizationin bhreeareas:(1) our understandingand evaluationof mysticism,(2) assessing LSD's potential for fostering genuine spirituality, and (3) reassessingthe ancient claim that the capacityto experiencetranscendental statesof being is innate. Background and introduction The publication of Aldous Huxley's The Doors of Perception in 1954 touched off a heated debate among philosophersand theologians on "chemical" versus "natural mysticism" that lasted for about 15 years. Participants on both sides of this debate shared one point in common.In assessingthe spiritual merit of psychedelicsubstances,they focusedon the euphoric side of psychedelicexperience. What intrigued them about these chemicalswas their capacity to release a state of consciousness in the subject which was strikingly closeto, if not identical to, mystical ecstasy.The phenomenologicalproximity of psychedelic "highs" to mystical "highs" led some to celebratethe mind-openersas initiating a new era of spirituality, while others criticized the sleight of hand of "instant" or "chemical mysticism."' Aldous Huxley and R.C..Zaehnerfirst defined the issues of the debate, which others adopted and refined in the years that followed.' Fueling the protest against the psychedelic"high" was a gut senseof moral outrage. Philosophical subtleties aside, it did not seem fair that 400 micrograms of LSD on a sunny afternoon should open the same vistas to a curious college sophomorethat a monk gave over 30 years of his life in prayer and meditation to realize. Supporting this position was the observationthat the psychedelic experience did not appear to have the transformative value or Christopher M. tsache,Ph.D., is AssociateProfessorof Philosophyand ReligiousStudiesat Youngstown State University in Youngstown,Ohio. 215 (a)lggt Institut€s of Religion and Health 2L6 ,Iournal of Religion and Health staying power of experiencesthat occurredin more traditional spiritual contexts, even when the experiencesthemselveswere phenomenologicallyquite similar. Huston Smith recommendeda mediating positionthat recognizedthe legitimate mystical character of selective psychedelicexperiencesbut questioned their relevanceto genuinespiritual development.In the final analysis, is not about transient peak experiencesbut a permamystical consciousness and this recreationaltripping will not nent transformation of consciousness, produce.Put succinctly,a mystical experiencesdoesnot a mystic make.' Although this was an important debate, it ended in a standoff for essentially three reasons.First, scholarly discussionwas soon overtaken by the social upheaval surrounding psychedelicsin the sixties. The excessesof lay experimentation led to tighter legal restrictions that by the mid-seventies effectively ended all legally sanctionedresearchinto the psychoactiveeffects of the major psychedelics.Second,discussantsfound themselves on opposite sides of the metaphysical court, speaking from within apparently incompatible ontological paradigms. The nature-supernature dichotomy prefened by Western orthodoxy and Zaehner clashed with the more organic ontological models favored by the East and Huxley. On the whole, the Eastern systems were less threatened by the psychedelicexperiencethan Western ones, though they too were not enamored with them. Having never divorced heaven and earth as severelyas had the West, it was less shocking to them that an earth-elementmight assisthumans in bridging this gap, even if only temporarily. Finally, and most importantly, the debate ended in a draw becauseit became clear that we simply understood neither psychedelicsnor mysticism well enough to decidethL questionsbeing asked.We in the West lacked an adequate psychology of mystical consciousness,and the materialist bias of as well as the reductionisticbias of mainmainstream academicpsycholog"y stream clinical psychologydiscouragedthe researchnecessaryto developone. The situation was even worse for psychedelics.Although many studies on LSD had appearedby 1965, we still lacked a comprehensivemodel of consciousnessthat could integrate the extraordinary experiencesunleashed by this substance.Even as refined an anecdotalaccountas Huxley's was no substitute for a paradigm that could synthesizepsychedelicexperienceand current psychologicaltheory. Fortunately, we find ourselves in very different intellectual waters today. The transpersonal movement in psychologyhas survived its infancy and every year roots itself more deeply in American education. Dialogue between Eastern and Western traditions has acceleratedin both psychological and theologicalcircles,producing more substantiveand informed exchangesand In addition,our understanding generating innovative attempts at synthesis.n of psychedelicshas matured considerably,with Stanislav Grof emerging as the world's foremost authority on the psychoactiveeffectsof LSD. For over 30 years Grof has pioneeredthe attempt to integrate LSD into the Christopher M. Bqche 2r7 psychotherapeutic process,to study systematically the dimensions of consciousnessrevealed through psychedelics,and to relate the results of this study to contemporary clinical theory, revising that theory as necessary.His numerous books outline and document a new model of consciousness deriving from this work and place the question of the relation of psychedelicsto mystical experienceon a new foundation,sIt is on the basis of this foundation that I wish to reopen the discussionof psychedelicsand mysticism. As noted at the outset, both sides of the early debate focusedon the euphoric side of psychedelicexperience.In doing so, however, both missed what Grof has demonstratedto be perhaps the most significant feature of LSD and psychedelicsin general, that is, their capacity to create states of consciousness conducive to the cleansing of consciousness.He has shown that LSD functions as a powerful catalyst of psychical processescapable of unearthing deeply buried, problematic psychological(and physical) blocks in the system. If LSD's catalytic energ'yis therapeutically focused,these negative blocks can be brought into awarenessand cleansedfrom the system with a subsequent healing of the system following naturally. And yet it is a misleading shorthand to say as I have that it is LSD that uncovers and cleansesthese negative memories from the system. What LSD appearsto do is to producea heightened,more "open" mode of consciousfunctioning in the psycho-physicalsystem that allows the system to purge itself of its problematic baggage.The systemheals itself when given the opportunity to do so. This is not a trivial point if we want to understand the causal mechanisms operating for diverse spiritual practices. As I understand it, the spiritual path consistsof various practices that encourage one's psycho-physical-spiritualsystem to cleanse itself of impurities it has collected through the centuries and which are preventing it from functioning at its highest or most complete levels. Each component of the path contributes to this project-a simplified lifestyle, following a moral code of compassion,disrupting the habits of individuality, cultivation of religious awe and trust, relaxing chronically tightened muscle groups, fasting, study, breathing exercises,meditation, contemplative prayer, and so on. Through mechanismsnot fully understood,the time-tested methods of spirituality create the conditions of purification, and the system,following innate laws, purifies itself. Purification then allows contact. The system opens naturally to more complete and more perfect levels of functioning, moving step by step into greater intimacy with something larger, wiser, and more loving than itself-something we strive to name but cannot. At the highest levels, the system "resonateswith," becomescompletely "attuned to," even becomes"one with" a cosmicrhythm, order, or will, eventually acceptingthat reality as its own true identity. We call this family of experiencesmystical experience. Again, the techniques do not create these experiences,the capacity for which is innate, but only the conditions of cleansing that allows them to emerge.6 The position taken in this study is that LSD, if therapeutically managed, is 218 Journal of Religion and Heolth but another instrument or technique of cleansing with its own advantages and disadvantages vis-d-vis other spiritual techniques. It does not add anything to consciousness,but only activates and energizescapacities inherent within consciousness.Specifically, it triggers a profound purification process that mirrors in essential respects the purification processtriggered by more conventional spiritual methods. The triggers differ, but the dynamics of purification are essentially the same. I shall argue this thesis by demonstrating the many parallels that exist between the LSD subject's perinatal experiences and the mystic's dark night experiences.While these parallels alone may not be suflicient to prove in the strictest sense that these two sets of experiences derive from the same psycho-spiritual tissue, their existence strongly supports this conclusion. Furthermore, considerable insight into the ^yrt['r pry.notogical developmentis gained when experiencestraditionally vilwed a.spathological are reconceptualizedas perinatal experience. While many *or..", could have been consulted for a description of these difficult episodes,I have chosen St. John's account in Dark Night of the Soul because it is widely taken by students of mysticism to be a classic portrait of this painful phase of the mystic's development.Other studies will be needed to determine whether John's account is suffrciently representative of the experiences of other mystics to allow us to generalize from it. At present, I am optimistic that such rtndi"r will support the use of this text. The parallels, for example, between John's account of the dark night and Buddhaghosa's de"Higher Realizations" in the Vissudhimaga are quite strikscription of the ing.' to conclude this introduction, I would like to emphasizethat this study differs methodologically from the earlier debate on psychedelics and mysticism in two important respects.First, it focusesnot on the most ecstatic psychedelic and mystical experiencesbut on the most painful and difficult ones' There are both strategic and methodological reasons making for this shift. Strategically, we gain a fresh point of entry into the discussion, with less .on.up-tr1ul and emotional carry-over from the earlier debate. Methodologically, by focusing on the mystic's pain, we focus our attention on the dynamics if purificutio.r, and this is precisely where we must look to appreciate the signif,rcanceof LSD to the development of genuine spirituality' Second, this study shifts the focus away from comparing individual experiences gleaned fro^ psychedelic and mystic accounts toward comparing t};re full loury of psychological development undergone by both the mystic on the one hand and the LSD subject on the other. It does so in the belief that the true relevance of LSD to mysticism can be determined only by studying changes that take place in the consciousnessof a subject over an entire course of therapeutically focusedsessions-numbering 20, 50, or more-and comparing these to changes that occur in persons who travel the full length of more classical spirituaipaths. We are in a position to carry out such studies only ChristopherM. Bache 2r9 since the publication of the Grof material. (Readers already familiar with Grofs paradigm may want to skip the next section and go directly to the discussionof the dark night.) Perinatal symptomology in LSD psychotherapy Having come to understand LSD's psychoactive effect to be that of a nonspecific catalyst and amplifier of psychical processes,Grof has demonstrated that it can be used in a series of self-exploration sessionsto activate memories and other psychical content from "layer" after "layer" of consciousness, resulting in a gradual unfolding of the psyche.He has personally supervised or been present during the major portion of over 5,000 such sessions.The subject population was highly diversified and included such unmystical types as staunch atheists, skeptics, Marxists, and positivistically oriented scientists. It should be emphasizedthat these were therapeutically structured sessions designed to encourage introspection and inner confrontation, and to avoid projective involvements with the outside world.s The widely varying experiencespeople have on LSD begin to fall into distinct sets when such a large sample is studied and reveal, Grof believes, a coherent and stable picture of consciousnessthat is universally applicable.t Grofs model identiflresthree distinguishable though interpenetrating experiential realms of consciousness:the psychodynamic,the perinatal, and the transpersonal.Psychodynamicexperiencesare those "associatedwith and derived from biographical material from the subject's life, particularly from emotionally highly relevant events, situations, and circumstances.They are related to important memories, problems, and unresolved conflicts from various periods of the individual's life, since early childhood."roIt is this realm that is addressedby the various schoolsof conventional psychodynamictheory. Perinatal experiences("concerningbirth") focus on problems relating to fetal existence, biological birth, physical pain, disease, aging, dying, and death." Transpersonal experiencesconstitute a highly diversified set of experiences that share as their common denominator the subject'sfeeling that his or her consciousnessis in one fashion or another expandedbeyond the usual ego boundaries, that personal ego-identity has been transcended. Typical transpersonal experiences may include unity states of consciousnesswith other life forms; exploration of one's cultural, racial, and even evolutionary past; recalling past incarnations; and various ESP experiencesor out-of-body experiences.In a large set of transpersonal experiences,phenomenal reality and the space-time continuum are transcendedaltogether as the individual moves into experiential realms traditionally the exclusive domain of shamans, mystics, and meditators.'' Summarizing the interrelation of these three realms, Grof writes: 220 Journal of Religion ond Health The psychodynamic level draws from the individual's history and is clearly biographical in origin and nature. Perinatal experiences seem to represent a llontier between the personal and trans-individual, as is reflected by their deep association with biological birth and death. The transpersonal realm, then, reflects the connections between the individual and cosmos mediated through channels which seem at the present to be beyond our comprehensiogr.'' Perinatal experiencecombinespersonal and transpersonalelements in a complex fashion, making them quite difficult to summarize.l will, therefore, restrict myself to highlighting those portions of Grofs findings most pertinent to this study and direct the reader to the original for closer analysis. The themes of perinatal experienceare birth, physical pain, disease,aging, and death. Very frequently these themes center on a set of vivid experiences that the subjectsthemselvesidentify as a reliving of their actual birth, specific aspectsof which have sometimesbeen verified by family members or attending physicians (for example,twisted cord, breechbirth, forceps,resuscitation maneuvers,odors,sounds,and lighting). Thesedata strongly suggest that the fetus is consciousbeforeand during labor and delivery, and at some level remembersthese events. The exact relation of the perinatal experiencesto biologicalbirth is at present uncertain. On the one hand, the content of these experiencescannot be reducedto the memory of biologicalbirth, while, on the other hand, many of the physical symptoms that manifest themselvesin this context appear to derive from biological birth. In addition, both the physical symptoms and their correspondingexperiential content seem to form four experiential clusters that can be modeled on the four consecutivestagesof biological birth. To explain these data, Grof has suggestedthat the four phasesof birth come to constitute on the personal level of the psyche four basic matrices for storing calls the resubsequentmemories of psychologicallysimilar experiences.He "Basic Perinasulting clusters of cumulative, focusedmemory and affect the of summation tat Matrices I-IV." The considerableenergy of each BPM is the the energies of the various memories that together constitute the system' When one of these matrices emergesin an LSD session,then, it manifests itself as a multi-level repository of experienceand insight, and always with an overwhelrningemotional charge. Turning to specifics,Grof uses as the four stagesof biological birth: 1. Intrauterine existencebefore the onset of delivery; 2. Labor before dilation of the cervix; 3. Labor after dilation of the cervix; 4. Final propulsion through the birth canal and separationfrom the mother' "good womb" and/or "bad womb" experiences Before delivery the fetus has depending on the quality of prenatal support given by the mother. In the first phase of labor the fetus experiences a biochemical and physical assault; but L".".6" the cervix is not open, it has no place to escape to, experiencing a ChristopherM. Bqche 22r literal "no-exit" situation. In the secondphase,the cervix is open,thus creating a possible way out of the dilemma. In the final phase, the labor agonies culminate, followed by sudden release and separation from the mother. The prototypical themes of the four stages of birth as matrices for storing subsequent memories include: 1. Goodwomb:satisfactionof importantneeds,nurturing, fulfilling love.Bad womb:unpleasantphysicalsensations, disgust,anxiety. 2. Unwarranted,violent aggression againsthelplessinnocent;hopelessness, guilt, absurdityof humanexistence, entrapmentwithout escape. 3. Titanic struggle,life-deathcrisisbut not absolutelyhopeless, high energy experiences of various sorts-volcanicecstasy,sexualexcitement,sadomasochism. 4. Death-rebirthexperience: total annihilationof the individualfollowedby breakingthroughto a new level of existence, profoundlove,mysticalinsights. Infant, child, and adult experiences(and fantasies)that approximate these themes cluster around the relevant perinatal core in our memory, with the result that each constellation gathers energ"ythrough time and comesto influence behavior. When a subject in an LSD sessionengagesa perinatal matrix, then, the experiencewill be multi-dimensional but thematically coherent. He or she may experience simultaneously one or more phases of the original natal trauma, similar real or imagined traumas from later life of both a physical and psychologicalnature, and, in addition, thematically congruent religious and philosophical conflicts and insights. Following Grol let us distinguish the physical componentof the matrices from the psychologicalcomponentand discuss each in the order the matrices emerge in the sessions-BPM II, III, IV, and I. Typical among the physical symptoms associatedwith engaging these matrices are enormous pressure on the head and body, excruciating pains in various parts of the body, tremors,jerks, twitches, twisting movements,chills and hot flushes, and ringing in the ears. As Grof surnmarizesit: gaspingfor Subjectsmay spendhoursin agonizingpain,with facialcontortions, breathand dischargingenormousamountsof tensionin tremors,twitches,violent shaking and complextwisting movements.The facemay turn dark purple or deadpale, and the pulse showconsiderable acceleration.The body temperature usually oscillatesin a wide range,sweatingmay be profuse,and nausea with projectilevomitingis a frequentoccurrence.'o These symptoms characterize all three matrices but becomemore intense as the third and fourth matrices are activated. Eventually the physical torments peak and end as the subject moves from intense constriction and con- 222 Journal of Religion and Heqlth finement to suddendecompression and spaciousness in the death-rebirth experience.While not all subjectsexperiencethesesymptomsas a self-conscious reliving of their actual birth trauma, many of the physical symptomsthemselves seem to be best interpreted as derivative of biological birth. Subjects often assume fetal postures and move in ways that resemblethe movements of a child during biologicaldelivery. This is true even for those subjectswho psychologically experience their perinatal encounter in purely symbolic, philosophical,or spiritual terms. The psychologicaldimension of the perinatal experiencesis difficult to summarizebecauseof the extrememulti-dimensionalityof psychedelicexperience. In all three perinatal matrices,the individual must face the deepest roots of existential despair, metaphysicalanxiety and loneliness,and profound feelings of guilt and inferiority; but the nuance and focus of the confrontation differ in each phase and follow a developmental sequence.(It would be a mistake, however,to overemphasize the sequentialnature of this encounter,as the perinatal matricesoften manifest themselvesin combination with significant overlap.) In BPM II the subject typically experiencesan overwhelming assault against which he is utterly helpless.Tortured without chanceof escape,he is plunged into extreme metaphysicaldespair. Existence appears to be completely meaningless,and feelingsof guilt, inferiority, and alienation have a distinctly hopelessquality to them. At the deepestlevel, subjectsmay experience hell itself-an endless,hopeless,meaninglesssituation of extreme suffering. In BPM III many of the abovethemes are continued but with an essential difference.Becausethere is now a slight possibility of escape-the cervix is dilated-a titanic struggle for survival takes placewhich Grof calls the death-rebirth struggle. Amid crushing mechanical pressuresand often a high degree of anoxia and suffocation,the subject typically experiencespowerful currents of energy building in his entire body and then releasing themselves in explosive discharges.Another frequent experiencerelated to this matrix is the encounterwith purifying fire that destroysall that is disgusting or corrupt in the individual.'t Becausethe situation is not hopeless,it resembles purgatory more than hell. In BPM IV the subjecteventually losesthe struggle for survival: Suffering and agony culminate in an experience of total annihilation on all lcvels-physical, emotional, intellectual, ethical, and transcendental. The individual experiences final biological destruction, emotional defeat, intellectual debacle, and utmost moral humiliation. . . . He feels that he is an absolute failure from any imaginable point of view; his entire world seems to be collapsing, and he is losing all previously meaningful reference points. This experience is usually referred to as ego-death.'6 After the subject has died as an ego, he experiences rebirth into a more holistic, trans-individual mode of consciousness. All torment suddenly ceases ChristopherM. Bache 223 and is followed by experiencesof physical and psychologicalredemption, forgiveness,and profound love. "The individual feels cleansedand purged, as if he has disposedof an incredible amount of 'garbage,' guilt, aggression, and anxiety. He experiencesoverwhelming love for his fellow men, appreciation of warrn human relationships, solidarity, and friendship."" These experiences are subsequently deepened in a mystical direction as the subject becomes absorbedinto fully developedexperiencesof Cosmic Unity in BPM I.'' The death-rebirth processis never fully actualized in a single LSD session. Many sessionsof repeatedly engaging the same issues are required before one has exhausted them-from ten to over a hundred.'e The usual pattern is that a subject working at this level will eventually experience a major perinatal crisis centering on one of the phasesdescribedabove. Yielding to and resolving the crisis will often shift the person into positive transpersonal experiences for the remainder of the session even though perinatal content may remain for future sessions.If the processis continued through serial sessions, a final death-rebirth experiencewill eventually exhaust completely the perinatal material. Making copious use of case histories, Grof has demonstrated that systematically engaging this traumatic material can actually dissolve the perinatal matrices, thus permanently removing their influence from the individual's behavior. In subsequentsessionsthe subject moves directly into transpersonal experiences as the journey in consciousnesscontinues. These "IJnitranspersonal experiencesreach their peak in mystical experiencesof versal Mind" or the "Void."to With this outline of perinatal experience in place, let us turn to consider John's description of the mystic's experiencesin the dark night of the soul. The experience of the dark night John of the Cross divides the dark night of the soul into the nights of "sense" and of "spirit" the former being common, the latter being reserved for the relatively few destined for deep spiritual realization.z' Both nights are further subdivided into active and passive phases depending upon whether you are doing the work or whether God is working in you while you remain passive." The active nights are discussedin Ascent of Mount Carmel, the passive in Dark Night of the Soul. The passive night of senseis a time of recurring psychologicalaridity and darkness which weans the novice from his spiritual naivet6, purges him of his elementary vices, and instructs him in the rudiments of the "way of negation."a Though much less severe than the night of the spirit, it is nevertheless "bitter and terrible."tn People's experiences in the night of sense are highly individualistic and correspond to the number and severity of each person's imperfections. As they move into the night of spirit, however, everyone's experiences become more uniform.'u 224 Journal of Religion and Health The cleansing that takes place in both nights is said to be caused by the infusion of God into the soul, which John calls contemplation. Through a life of simplicity, prayer, fasting, discipline, solitude, and manual labor, one prepares oneself to receive this gift of God himself. When given, this infusion of divine love causesthe soul to throw off its imperfections, exactly how John does not say. The difference between the nights of senseand of spirit is primarily one of degree. Imperfections that have become habitual are deeply rooted in the spirit and remain untouched by the night of sense.The difference is like that of removing a fresh stain and one that is long-standing.John even goesso far as to say that becauseall lhe imperfections attacked in the night of senseare actually rooted in the spirit, they are not finally purged until the spirit is purged. Technically, therefore, the night of senseshould be conceivedof as a kind of "correction and restraint" of the soul's desires, rather than a purgation.2o The night of sensemoves one from the stage of "beginner" to that of "proficient," where he may pass even years beforeentering the night of spirit. This interim time is characterizedby a deepenedspirituality made possibleby the purification already effected. Eventually, however, if one is to enjoy full union with God, one must enter the passivenight of the spirit which is said to be so much more horrible than the earlier night as to bear no comparison with it." This radical purging is necessarybecauseif one is to be one with God, everything in oneself that is unlike God must be removed. As John repeatedly explains, "Two contraries cannot coexist within one subject." The passive night of the spirit, therefore, is tl ^ dark night par excellence,and it is here that we find unmistakable perinatal elements.2s John divides th^ varied pains of the night of spirit into four categories.The first kind of pain suffered is a profound experiential knowledge of one's many flaws and personrl worthlessness.His imperfectionshighlighted in the juxtaposition with God's perfection,the mystic experienceshimself to be so impure that he believesGod has turned against him and cast him aside.Worst of all, he thinks that as he will never be worthy of God, he will remain alienated from his creator forever. This confrontation appearsto have a violent quality about it as John speaks of the Divine Light "assailing," "assaulting," and "overwhelming" the individual, and of it and the mystic's imperfections"warring" against each other. The second kind of pain results from the sheer force of this confrontation with God. Its intensity is such that the pain, apparently the physical pain, causesone nearly to faint. Speaking to this point elsewhere,John obliquely refers to the "dislocation of bones" that typically occurs during this stage.s Given his close relationship with Teresa of Avila, he clearly had, in addition to his own experienceto draw on, intimate knowledge of her long history of painful seizures and convulsions.Here, however, he emphasizesthe experience of oppression,of being under an immense,dark load that weighs heavily ChristopherM. Bache 225 upon him. Powerlessunder this burden, the mystic discoversthat all help has vanished and wishes for release from his agony in death. To these images of oppressiveconstriction John later adds the image of suffocation. Describing the destruction of the mystic's "natural supports" in the purgation of fire, he adds that it is "as if a man were suspendedor held in the air so that he could not breathe."'o The third kind of pain is the anguish of having one'shabitual imperfections uprooted from the psyche. The loss of that to which we have becomedeeply attached always causessuffering, but when that which is lost is part of the self, the pain is particularly elemental in character. The habits under assault have formed such an intimate part of the mystic's person that their violent removal is experiencedas a dismantling of one's very being: "The soul feels itself to be perishing and melting away, in the presenceand sight of its miseries, in a cruel spiritual death, even as if it had been swallowedby a beast and felt itself being devouredin the darknessof its belly, suffering such anguish as was endured by Jonah in the belly of that beast of the sea.""'The belly of the beast is describedas the "sepulcherof dark death," and quotations from the Psalms reinforce the themes of being swallowed and dying. This ordeal is said to transcendall description.Underpinning it and running throughout it is a particularly sharp experienceof being abandonedby God. This abandonmentis the essenceof hel], and John explains that in its most severe form the mystic actually experiencesthe suffering of hell. Perhaps recalling Teresa'saccount of such an experiencein her autobiography,"'he statesthat there are "they that in truth go down alive into hell, being purged here on earth in the same manner as there."" Like hell, this anguish is experiencedas being without end. The fourth kind of pain appears to be an extension of the third. It is a profoundemptinessand impoverishmentin which the mystic experiencesthe loss of all previous goodsboth natural and spiritual. With the negation of all desires,conceptualizations,and capacities,he enters the darkest phaseofthe dark night. As John describesit: . . . the spiritualand the sensualdesiresare put to sleepand mortified,so that they can experience nothing,eitherDivineor human;the affections of the soul areoppressed andconstrained, sothat theycanneithermovenor hnd supportin anything;the imaginationis boundandcanmakeno usefulreflection; the memory is gone; the understanding is in darkness, unable to understand anything; and hence the will likewise is arid and constrained and all the faculties are void and useless;and in addition to all this a thick and heavy cloud is upon the soul, keeping it in affliction, and, as it were, far away from God.,n The soul experiencesthis pain as a "completeundoing of itself in its very substance,"and John likens the processthe purifying gold in a crucible. Like the image of being swallowed,the image of a purifying fire appearsto have a 226 Journal of Religion and Health compelling quality for John, as he introduces it frequently, often developing it with the aid of biblical quotations. As fire consumesthe rust of metal and burns flesh off bones, so the soul's impurities are destroyedby fire. Here he describesthe fire as the fire of hell, whereas elsewherehe likens it to the fire of purgatory."' One image is truer psychologically,the other theologically. That is, psychologically,the torture of the purifying fire is without end and therefore causeshopelessness,while the fire of purgatory is temporary as is the dark night. While John's main thrust is to interpret these various ordeals as coming from God and resulting automatically from his sheer presencein the soul, he also suggests,rather traditionally, that the devil is sometirnesgiven permission to torture those whom God is preparing for union with himself. Usually the devil's role is to subvert the mystic's progress by distracting him with false delights and by interfering with the various types of divine revelations. Occasionally, however, he is said to be responsiblefor particularly painful horrors: At other times the devil prevailsand encompasses the soulwith a perturbation greater and horror which is a afllictionto it than any tormentin this life could be. F'or,as this horrible communication passesdirect from spirit to spirit, in somethinglike nakedness and clearlydistinguished from all that is corporeal, it is grievousbeyondwhat everysensecan feel."o The night of spirit lasts for as long as is necessaryfor the purgation to be complete, usually years. It is not constant, however, as there are intervals of relief in which the mystic experiencesthe infusion of God in a loving rather than painful manner. At such times the soul is "like one that has gone forth from this dungeon and imprisonment, and is brought into the recreation of spaciousnessand liberty, [and] feels and experiencesgreat peace and loving friendship with God, together with a ready abundanceof spiritual communication."t?In these respites the mystic is given a foretaste of union: The soul seesand tastesabundance, inestimableriches,finds all the rest and recreationthat it desires,and understands strangekinds of knowledgeand secrets of God. . . . It feels likewise in God an awful power and strength which transcendsall other powerand strength:it tastesa marveloussweetness and spiritual delight,findstrue rest and Divinelight and haslofty experience of the knowledgeof Godwhich shinesforth in the harrnonyof the creaturesand actsof God.Likewiseit feelsitselfto be full of goodthingsand far withdrawnfrom evil things and emptyof them, and,aboveall, it experiences, and has fruition of, an inestimablefeastof love,whichconfirmsit in love.,,n These experiences become richer as the soul is gradually emptied of its creatureliness, and they can be so powerful that the mystic sometimes prematurely believes that the dark night has ended. Until the purification pro- Christopher M. Borhe 227 cessis complete,however, the pains will return, and each time they do they will be worse than before."u While usually it is the will that is moved in these divine touches, sometimes, as the quotation from Spiritual Canticle mentions, the understanding is also affected. When this happens, the mystic may have "spiritual revelations" that convey knowledge either of God or of his creation. While recommending that the mystic ignore and reject these revelations,John nevertheless lists and analyzes them in considerable detail.nu Included in the knowledge of things lower than God are a variety of paranormal experiences including clairvoyance, precognition, xenoglossy, and discernment of the heart-experiences not uncommon in advancedLSD sessions.o' Knowledge of God himself may take the form of experiencingone of God's attributes. Such an experienceis said actually to bring one into contact with God and to carry with it a delight far surpassingthat associatedwith lesservisions. It also has a powerful purifying effect,for as John explains it, there are "certain of these toucheseffectedby God in the substanceof the soul, which enrich lthe soul] after such wise that . . . one of them sufficesto take from the soul once and for all the whole of the imperfectionsthat it had itself been unable to throw off during its whole life."n' In still another type of revelation, the mystic may experienceinsights into the inner workings of God (for example, the Trinity) or into the workings of the "universe in general." It is interesting to note as an aside that John appearsto see in these revelations many more mysteries than he as a Catholic is willing to accept,for he writes: "Since, then, there are no more articles of faith than those which have already been revealed to the Church, not only must everything new be rejected, but it behoovesthe soul to be cautious and pay no heed to any novelties implied therein."o' It is a significant phenomenonif there are revealed in these privileged states of awarenessmore than the individual is willing to accept.Besidesgiving the lie to any theory of mystical experiencethat exaggerates the programming effect of trained expectations,* it tends to place into perspectivethe insights of even the great mystics such as John of the Cross over against the profoundly mysteriousuniverse they are sampling. S ummary of correspondence The similarities betweenthe mystic's experiencein the dark night of the soul and the LSD subject's perinatal experiencesare so clear as to require only brief summary. I. Psychologically,both sets of subjectsmust face the deepestroots of metaphysical anxiety and alienation. Confronted by all his faults in stark relief, the mystic's senseof inferiority reachesmetaphysical proportions and plunges him into deep despair. Abandoned by God, he can see no 228 Journal of Religion and Health way out of his dilemma and experienceshis estrangement to be without end. In a conceptual context that is meaningful to him, therefore, the mystic repeats the basic elements of the LSD subject's experience: estrangement from all that is meaningful and good, extreme alienation, personal worthlessness,and hopelessdespair. 2 . Though elliptically described,the physical symptomsassociatedwith the dark night are congruent with perinatal symptomology. The LSD subject will typically experience excruciating pains throughout the body, contractive spasms, fluctuations in pulse, suffocation, and a sense of physical confinement. John mentions the dislocations of bones which "always happen when the communications are not purely spiritual,"ot presumably resulting from violent seizures such as those described by Teresa of Avila. These pains are so great as to cause one nearly to pass out. John emphasizes the sensation of oppressive constriction and includes the suggestive image of suffocation.Finally, the transition out of "rethese pains is describedas a sudden liberation from prison into the creation of spaciousnessand liberty," strongly reminiscent of BPM IV decompression. 3 . The psychological and physical suffering continues to intensify over time bringing both the mystic and LSD subject closer to a point of complete existential collapse. The experience of being swallowed and devoured is common to both, as are the experience of purifying fire and comparisonsdrawn to hell and purgatory. Eventually both personsexperience a total annihilation of the self in ego-death,which John describes as "the complete undoing of [the soul's] very substance." 4. Following spiritual death, both subjects experience a rebirth into a higher level of consciousnesscharacterized by profound love, tranquility, and peace, and accompaniedby deep insights into the energies constituting and governing the universe. When continued to this breakthrough, both purgative processesresult in a permanent transformation of consciousne$ now emptied of the negative constellations once deeply embedded in the psyche. Both discover positive values innate within themselves and, at a deeper level, the divine dimension of their own being. This is true even for those LSD subjectswho began their journey with deep anti-religious and anti-spiritual beliefs. 5. The pattern this purification process follows is the same in both contexts. The pains return again and again each time worse than before until the ordeal reaches a climax in which the suffering exceedsall experiential limits. The resolution of this crisis marks a permanent transition in consciousnessas the purification processis now complete and the suffering comes to an end. Internal to this larger progression, both subjects experience a cycle in which negative crises are followed by positive "divine touches." This sub-pattern retranspersonal experiences,John's peats itself with the pains becoming more severe and the respites Christopher M. Barhe 229 sweeter. The therapeutic value of these "touches" is mirrored in LSD psychotherapy where positive transpersonal experiences often produce healing on the psychodynamicand perinatal levels.nu 6 . The various "spiritual reuelations" John reports as the mystic becomes absorbed into positive transpersonal states are continuous with the experiences and insights recorded in advanced LSD sessions.Though the range of experiencesreported in LSD sessionsis considerably broader than that reported by John, this difference can be easily explained. First, John self-consciouslyuses his Catholic faith to edit out unorthodox transpersonal insights and experiences. Second, John's stated purpose in writing is to guide his charges to full and complete union with God, not to explore the inner workings of the universe as these are revealed through non-ordinary states of consciousness. As all enlightenment traditions have recognized,these undertakings are quite distinct if sometimesoverlapping. 7 . A final point. An LSD subject'sperinatal experienceduring a sessionis typically much more intense than the monk's dark night experience. This is true for both the physical and psychological dimensions of the experience. Rather than weakening our case, this contrast is exactly what we would expect to find in these different contexts. The purgation effectedthrough years of monastic discipline is more gradual and therefore gentler than that producedby LSD, which is sudden and traumatic by comparison.A processthat takes place slowly and organically in the monastic context is acceleratedand intensified many times in LSD therapy, producing a more violent confrontation and catharsis. In the intervals between therapeutically structured sessions,the perinatal matrices sometimes exert a subtler effect on consciousnessthat more closely approximates what typically occurs in the monk's dark night experience. In discussing the emotional and psychosomatic changesin subjectsin the intervals between sessions,Grof explains that under certain conditions the governing perinatal systems activated during a session will continue to make themselves felt after a session has ended. Once a perinatal matrix has been activated, if it is not completely integrated during the session,it may continue to color the subject's psychological (and physical) experience long after the pharmacological effect of the LSD has worn off n' Whether it does so will depend upon (1) the individual subject's ego strength and (2) the degree to which the themes of the matrix involved are similar to the subject's fundamental personality organization. The direction of the distortion will depend upon which matrix is involved. For example, a sessionthat ends with unresolved BPM II elements may leave the subject deeply depressed,riddled with feelings of inferiority, guilt, and shame, and feeling trapped in a meaningless existence with no redeeming features. His or her life appears to be unbear- 230 Journal of Religion qnd Health able, fiiled with problemswithout solution, and devoid of any enjoyment whatsoever, Unresolved content from BPM III may produce a pervasive senseof imminent catastropheand a high level of irritability. Caught in an aggressivedepression,a subject may oscillate between destructive and self-destructiveimpulses, feeling ready to explode in either direction. He or she is painfully aware of his or her real and imagined inadequacies and seesthe world as a dangerousand unpredictableplace. The degreeto which the mystic's experiencesin the dark night parallel the LSD subject'sperinatal experiencesjustifies, I believe, interpreting the dark night experiencein perinatal terms. The reasonperinatal experiencessurface in both monastic and psychedeliccontexts is simply that the perinatal stratum of consciousnessis a universal structure of consciousness that is being elicited through different techniques.In one caseit is the catalytic energy of LSD internally focusedin carefully structured therapeutic sessions,while in the other it is the expandedawarenesssystematicallycultivated through monastic life and the practice of contemplativeprayer. This result is supported by two earlier studies on Teresa of Avila and the emergenceof perinatal symptoms in Buddhist meditators.n' Discussion of results The points I wish to make fall into three categories:(1) the implications of this study for our understanding of mysticism, (2) assessingLSD's relevance to genuine spiritual development,and (3) reassessingthe ancient claim that the capacity to experiencetranscendentalstates of being is innate. 1. Psychiatrists have usually taken the disturbing and traumatic experiencesof the dark night as evidencefor the pathologicalnature of the mystical endeavor.nu Perhapsthe most important implication of recognizingthe perinatal character of these experiencesis to refute this argument. Though dark night experiencesmay resemblepsychopathologyin certain respects,they are in fact not pathological at all. Far from being regressive,these experiences are the symptoms of progresstoward higher, healthier states of consciousness.They are the growing pains of expandedconsciousness, symptoms of a deep transformative processthat is removing deeply embeddedpsychological and spiritual toxins from the system. By construing the dark night experiencesas perinatal, a point of contact is establishedbetween one of the great works of mystical autobiography and a comprehensivemodel of consciousness that incorporatestheoretical perspectives from both clinical and spiritual traditions. A classicalspiritual path is placed in dialogue with a contemporarypsychotherapywhich itself assumes the form of a spiritual journey at advancedstages.This is not psychological reductionism, as experiencesof transcendenceare not reduced to anything Christaph.erM. Ba.che 23r less. Rather, psychological theory has expanded to incorporate transpersonal realities, and thus can finally do justice to the dark night and to the experiences that follow. The concept of perinatal bridges psychology and spirituality. The perinatal dimension of consciousnessis the border domain between personal and transpersonal dimensions of consciousnessand shares characteristics of each. How we conceptualize it will differ depending upon whether we are viewing it from the personal or transpersonal perspective. From the personal perspective, it is the most primitive core of the personal unconsciousness,the basement in which are stored fragments of the most elemental sort concerning personal survival and bodily integrity. The perinatal matrices collect our memories of the most serious challenges to our existence, both physical and psychological, and of our ultimate helplessness against life's destructive forces.From the personal perspective, therefore, the perinatal dimension of consciousnessis the record of the individual's heroic struggle for survival. The sarne reality, however, looks quite different when viewed from the transpersonal perspective. From this perspective, these fragments are the psychic residue of our attempts to go through life as a separate individual, cut off frorn other life forms and from the universe itself. They are the store"self' house of the psychological consequencesof perceiving ourselves as a distinct from "other" and of the life strategies that derive from that perception. As such they represent the ultimate philosophical ignorance and most fundamental existential mistake-the illusion that we exist only as separate beings, that we are not always connectedto and even one with the whole of life. As consciousnessexpands to experiencethis wholeness, it is inevitable that these fragments be forced to the surface of awareness and that their lie be exposed.They must be purged from the system becausethey are incompatible with the mystic's growing experienceof onenesswith the All. Their removal from consciousnesswill naturally constitute the most frightening ordeal a person can undergo, becausecollectively they constitute our most basic sense of being a self. Nevertheless, from the transpersonal perspective, we are encouragedto die as a self in order that we might be reborn into a new awarenessof our deeper nature. 2. My secondpoint addressesLSD's potential for facilitating genuine spiritual development. In making this assessment,it is essential, of course, to distinguish between the therapeutic and non-therapeutic or recreational use of LSD. While the recreational use of LSD might provide temporary contact with transpersonal dimensions and thus yield various meaningful and genuine spiritual insights, the mass of the individual's inner programming will remain largely unchanged after the psychedelic peak subsides.The further removed in time the insight experience becomes,the weaker its power. A once living experience becomesmerely a memory of the experience. Hence, one is inclined to repeat the psychedelicexperienceto re-experienceat least temporarily the transcendental states and truths one cannot permanently re- 232 Journal of Religion and Health tain. Huston Smith was correct-a mystical experience does not a mystic make. On the other hand, the therapeutic use of LSD can dramatically change the inner programming of the individual by forcing confrontations with one's deepestfears, dissolving blocks to healthy functioning, and discharging large quantities of negative energy amassedwithin the system. Repeated sessions deepenthe cleansing process,gradually reducing the distance between ordinary consciousnessand transcendental consciousness.Possible theological scruples notwithstanding, therefore, it would appear that used therapeutically LSD has considerablepotential to facilitate genuine spiritual opening. In this context we note that Grof reports that every LSD subject without exceptionwho exhausts the perinatal mnterial and connectswith transpersonal dimensions of existencedeuelopsa philosophy of life essentially congruent with the great spiritual philosophies of the world and begins to cultivate an interest in traditional spiritual disciplines. It should be clear by now that there are no shortcuts on the spiritual path. If the goal of this path is a permanent transformation of consciousness,no technique can sidestep the arduous purification process necessary for this transformation to occur. Used therapeutically, however, LSD appears to be capable of accelerating this purification processto an unprecedenteddegree. Far from sidesteppingthe dark night's anguish, it intensifies and deepensit beyond imaginable limits. If it shortens the time spent in the dark night, it pays for this saving in the extreme severity of psychedelicperinatal experience. Its sometimes brutal character is a direct function of its efficiency. At this point in time, professionaldiscussionshould shift from whether "chemical mysticism" is "real mysticism" to assessing the pros and cons of LSD psychotherapy as a stratery of spiritual transformation. It carries some obvious advantages and perhaps some not so obvious disadvantages, and these require careful discussion. Despite LSD's current legal status, this is not an empty exercise, as its therapeutic potential is probably too great to be lost forever simply becauseof early lay abuse. 3. My third point is a more general one that seeks to draw philosophical conclusions from the striking convergenceof psychedelicand mystical experience reported here. Spiritual masters from many lineages have long insisted that spirituality, understood here as consciousawarenessof the transcendental dimension of being, is an innate capacity of human nature which is covered over and obscured by ego preoccupations. In response, skeptics have sometimes argued that even mystics do not escapethe culturally conditioned expectations inherent in their spiritual exercises, and therefore that their experiences cannot be taken as evidence of the transcendental realities reported.s Yet it appears that in LSD psychotherapy we have a technique capable of awakening a consciousness of transcendencethat is quite independent of religious and cultural indoctrination, in many instanceseven leading subjects to reverse deep personal convictions to the contrary. Grof writes: Chrisnpher M. Botfu 233 According to the new data, spirituality is an intrinsic property of the psyche that emerges quite spontaneously when the process of self-exploration reaches sumcient depth. Direct experiential confrontation with the perinatal and transpersonal levels of the unconscious is always associated with a spontaneous awakening of a spirituality that is quite independenf of the individual's childhood experiences,religious programming, church affiliation, and even cultural racial background. The individual who connects with these levels of his or her psyche automatically develops a new world view within which spirituality represents a natural, essential, and absolutely vital element of existence. In my experience, a transformation of this kind has occurred without esceptionin a wide range of individuals, including stubborn atheists, skeptics, cynica, Marxist philosophers,and positivistically oriented scientists.sl Grofs observation derives from his supervision of over 5,000 sessionsinvolving hundreds of persons. The breadth and uariety of his sample combined with the consistencyof this outcome constitute a strong argument for the va' tidity of the ancient idca that transcendenceis an inherent dimension of existerrceand that spirituality is on innate human capacity. Mystics experience this phenomenon not because they program their psyche with this belief but because it is genuinely there to be experienced by u11yot". Granted, mystics are philosophically convinced of the reality they *"*k, but this conviction does not create the reality experienced. As many mystics themselves make clear, any preconceptions of the goal must be surrendered along the way as these come to constitute obstacles to experiencing the actuality. This conviction does, however, create the stamina required by the exercisesthat allow one to experiencethis reality. Only someonedeeply convincedof the reality of this goal is likely to invest the years of discipline and training necessary to activate the purification processes required to reach it. Only someoneconvinced of the benefit of realizing this goal is likely to endure the hardships of the dark night to the end. That is, until now. Now we have persons philosophically hostile to transcendence who nevertheless experience it in the context of LSD psychotherapy and thus become convinced of its reality. Thus, when the technique used is sufficiently powerful, contact with the transcendental dimension of existencecannot be stopped euen by the ego's contrary beli.efs.It may be true that a mystical experience does not a mystic make, but a mystical experience can a skeptic unmake, and enough mystical experiences where they don't belong can a philosophy unmake. References l. The principal psychedelicsdiscussedwere LSD-25, mescalin, and psilocybin. In this paper I u- "o.r"".red-only with LSD, though the psychoactiveproperties of each are sufficiently closeto allow somL degreeof generalization.I do not intend to addressthe latest generation 234 Journal of Religion and Health of psychedelicsand would not want the arguments developedhere to be applied to them without further study. 2. Huxley, 4., The Doors of Perception.New York, Harper and Row, 1954; Zaehner, R. C., Mysticism: Socred and Profane. London, Oxford University Press, 1959. Other discussants included: Clark, W. C., "Religion and the Consciousness-Expanding Substances."In Booth, 8., ed., Religion PondersScience.New York, Appleton-Century,1964,and ChemicalEcstasy. New York, Sheedand Ward, 1969;Havens,J., "Memo on the ReligiousImplicationsof Consciousness'Changing Drugs," J. ScicntiftcStudy of Religion,1964,3, 216-226;Pahnke,W., and Richards, W., "lmplications of LSD and Experimental Mysticism," J. Religion and Health, 1966,5, 175;Smith, H., "Do Drugs Have ReligiousImport?"J. Philosophy,1964,61, 517-530, and "Psychedelic Theophaniesand the Religious Life," Christianity and Crisis, 1967,27, L44-148.This approach to the issues continues even today; see Godin, A-, Th.e PsychologicalDynamics of Religious Experience.Birmingham, Alabama, Religious Education Press, 1985; Staal,F.,Exploring Mysticism.Berkeley,University of California Press, 1975. 3. Smith, op. cit. 4. For example,Wilber, K., The Spectrumof Consciousness. Wheaton,Ill., Quest, 1977,and The Atman Project. Wheaton, Ill., Quest, 1980;and Ajayu, 5., PsychotherapyEast and West: A Unifying Paradigm. Honesdale,Pa., Himalayan International Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy,1983. 5. Grof, 5., Realms of the Human Unconscious.New York, Dutton, 1976;LSD Psychotherapy. Pomona,Cal., Hunter House, 1980;Beyond the Brain Albany, N.Y., SUNY Press,1985;The Aduentureof Self-Discouery. Albany, N.Y., SUNY Press,1988;and Grof, S., and Halifax, J., The Humqn Encounterwith Death.New York. Dutton, 1977. 6. Two points: First, though this conceptionof the spiritual path draws heavily on Eastern sources,I believethat if it were elaboratedmore completelyand with adequatephilosophical nuance, it would do justice to the experiencesof the great Western mystics as well. See Goldstein,J., The Experienceof Insight. Santa Cruz, Cal., Unity Press,1976;John of the Cross,Darh Night of the Soul (1584),A. Pears,trans. and ed. Garden City, N.Y., lmage Books, 1959;Ascentof Mt. Carmel (1584),A. Pears,trans. and ed. GardenCity, N.Y., Image Books, 1973; Mann, R., The Light of Consciousness: Explorations in TranspersonalPsycholo g y . A l b a n y , N . Y . , S U N Y P r e s s ,1 9 8 4 ;A j a y a , o p . c i t . ;R a m a ,S . , e t a L , Y o g a a n d P s y c h o therapy. Honesdale,Pa., The Himalayan International Institute of Yoga Scienceand Philosophy, 1976; Teresa of Avila, The Life of Teresa of Jesus (1565), A. Pears, trans. and ed. Garden City, N.Y., Image Books, 1960;InteriorCastle(1577),A. Pears,trans. and ed. Garden City, N.Y., Image Books, 1961;Thera, N., ?/r€Heart of Bud.dhistMeditation. New York, Sam Weiser, 1962.On fasting, seeShelton,H., The Scienceand Fine Art of Fasting. Chicago, Natural Hygiene Press, 1978. Second,while the emphasis here is on the purifying rather than integrative function ofthe psyche,this is not to deny that integration takes place nor to undervalue the importance of integration in the unfolding wholeness.Nevertheless,I am convinced that an integrative model alone is insufllcient to explain the dynamics of the spiritual path. 7. Meadows,M., and Culligan, K., "CongruentSpiritual Paths:Christian Carmeliteand Theravadan Buddhist Vipassana,"J. Transpersonal Psychology,1987, 19, 181-196. 8. Grof, LSD Psychotherapy,op. cit., Chapter 4. 9. By way of comparison, it is worth noting that Aldous Huxley, whose book The Doors of Perceptioninitiated the early debate,took psychedelicsa total of only ten times in his life (Huxley, 4., Moksha.Horwitz, M., and Palmer, C., eds.Los Angeles,J. P. Tarcher, 1977,p. 188) and in much lower dosesthan are commonly used in high-dosepsychedelictherapy (25-100microgramsin comparisonto 300-600micrograms). 10. Grof, LSD Psychotherapy,op. cit., p. 64; seealso pp. 64-71, and Realms, op. cit., Chapter 3. 11. Ibid., pp. 71-87;seealso Grof,Realms,op. cit., Chapter4. 12. Ibid., pp. 8?-88;seealso Grof,Realms,op. cit., Chapter5. 13. /bid, p. 88. 1 4 . I b i d . ,p . 7 2 . 15. Ibid., p. 72; also Grof, Realms,op. cit., p. 131. 16. Grof, Realms,op. cit., pp. 138-139. 17. Ibid., p. 139. Chrislopher M. Bqche 235 t8. Ibid., pp. 104-r15. op. cit., p. 215. 19. Grof, LSD Psychotherapy, 20. Grof, Realms,op. cit., ChaPter5. "soul" iometimesas equivalentto "person"or "subject"bul more usually 21. John usesthe term "the part of a person."An appropriateequivalent-todaymight be psychological/spiritual for "psyche"'iiwe aliow thit term to includetranspersonalcapacities.John subdividessoul into "r"r,.u" and "spirit," which tend lo meandifferentthings in differentcontexts'Togetherthey divide the psyche-sense denoting the more superficial portions (including.sensoryconspirit capturing sciousnessand the more surfacedimensionsof the personalunconscious), At times, and the transpersonalcapacitiesof consciousness. the deeperpersonalunconscious (or perhapsto body-consciousness)' howeuer,senserefers simply to the body itself 22. John's distinction betweenihe active and passivephasesis experientiallyaccurate.In advancedstagesof cleansingand contact,there is the sensationthat somethingbeyondone's justification control is h-appeningto you. This distinction,however,should not be taken as all for divorcing'theseiaterixperiencesfrom what precedesthem, thus severing causalprocESSES. 23. While John'sdescriptionis clearly meant to apply to both sexes,its autobiographicalnalure warrants the use of masculinepronounshere. 24. John of the Cross,Dark Night,op. cit.,p. 61. 2b. This parallels Grofs obseriation that in LSD sessionshighly variegatedand idiosyncratic psychodynamicexperiencesare followedby more elemental and thereforemore narrowly definedperinatal exPeriences. 26. John of Lhe Cross,bark Night, op. cit.,p. 96. This parallels Grofs observationthat many theory lo be purely biographicalin nature are in pathologiesconstruedby psychodynamic Hence,these probof consciousness. iact rooied in perinatal-andeven transpersonallevels "transbiographical"sourcesare uncovered th"it resolved u.rtil lems will not be completely and worked through. (Grot,Beyondthe Brain, op. cit., p' 199fil' 27. Ibid., p. 6I. 28. John describesthe various sufferingsof the passivenight of spirit in Book II, Chapters4-8, from which this descriptionis mainly abstraited.The intimate nature of Lhecorrespondence with the experiencesof LSI subjects,however,can be fully appreciatedonly by comparing the originai text to the many iutobiographicalaccountsquoted in Grof, especiallyGrof, Realms, op. cit., Chapter 4. 29. John of the Cross, Darh Night, op- cit', p' 93. 3 0 ./bld., p. 106. 3 r .Ibid., p. roa. 32. Teresaof Avila, I'ife, op clf.,pp. 301-302. .)o. John of the Cross,Darh Night, op. cit., pp. 107-108. 34. Ibid., p.150. compare with this Grofs descriptionof ego-deathquotedabove' 3 5 ./bid., Chapters10 and 11. 36. Ibid., p. r87. 3 7 .Ibid.', p.111. I strongly suspectthat this image of releasefrom prison is-more than just a and metapirorborrowedfiom John's nine-month imprisonment in Toledo.The decompression experience. IV BPM of are typical liberation it conveys -Canticli,'pp. 316-317.I am indebtedto Alice Pempelfor this referenceand 38. John of the Cross, John of the Cross in her unfor many insights containei-in her interestingdiscussion_of "Altered Statesof Consciousness and Myspublished diss-erlationfrom Fordham University, 1978' Inner Space," tical Experience:An Anatomy of 39. John of the Cross,Darh Night,op.cit.,pp. 112-113. 40. Ascent,op. cit., Book II, Chapters10-27, ar. Grof, Realms,op. cit., p. 186ff. 4 2 . John of the Cross,Ascent,op. cit.,pp. 314-315. 4 3 . I b i d . ,p . 3 2 5 ;a l s op . 3 2 6 . . + { . 8.g.,'Katz, S., "Language,Epistemology, and Mysticism." In Mysttcismand Philosophical Analysis.New York, Oxford University Press,1978. 45. John of the Cross,Dark Night, op' cit., p- 93. 46. Grof, LSD Psychotherapy,op' cif., p. 279; see also pp' 287-295' 4 7 . Ibid., pp, 185-198,192-194. A 1 236 Journal of Religion and Health 48. Bache, C., "A Reappraisal of Teresa of Avila's SupposedHysteria," J. Religion ond Health, 1985,24,300-315,and "On the Emergenceof Perinatal Symptomologyin Buddhist Meditation," J. ScientificStudy of Religion, 1981,20,339-350. 49. The Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry, Committee on Psychiatry and Religion, "Mysticism: Spiritual Quest or PsychicDisorder?"Washington,D.C., 1976. 50. Katz, op. cit. 5 1 . Grof, The Aduenture of Self-Discouery,op. cit., p. 36. My emphasis.