by Todd Brendan Fahey
September 15, 2002

Some nation, and probably not America, will in the coming decades devote its fiscal and intellectual resources toward a concerted study of the human mind--not, as is the present preoccupation, as a forensics experiment, but toward exposing its full potential and as adjunct to an understanding of the nature of the mystic or "visionary" experience.

If only modern science can put its finger on those neurochemical mechanisms which enable one to feel connected to the All, the need for doctrinaire religion will be obviated and we, as a race, may proceed to solving more pressing problems of our time--chiefly, those ways by which humans may achieve both intellectual and technological advancement, while interacting harmoniously with each other and our temporary host, the planet Earth.

There will be many who shall object that science has no business tampering with the brain toward what are essentially religious ends; Timothy Leary made such protestations. And in light of the CIA's forays into mind control and behavioral modification under the rubric of Project MK-Ultra, these objections are understandable, valid, and taken by this writer as well-meant. And there will be others who shall claim that the brain with which one is born is that which God intended one to have, and that science should not attempt to know the mind of God here.

Firstly, having researched extensively the CIA's doings in the 1950s and 60s with regard to psychedelic experimentation on military persons and college students, I am aware of the ill effects of mind-altering chemicals in the hands of the government, and especially of a covert nature. But let us not confuse motive with ends: MK-Ultra endeavored in secret and, as evidence shows, largely using unwitting volunteers--a recipe for disaster in the sensitive realm of religion and the human mind. Further, many synthetic chemicals and even naturally-occurring substances will, administered wrongly, cause physical and/or psychological injury, even unto death--aspirin being potentially lethal to the hemophiliac; likewise, insulin in large quantities to most healthy persons, though none will live without it in ordinarily-occurring measure; the oleander bush, berries of the nightshade family, the livers of fugu fish and polar bear, all will kill a man.

It is a silly argument, that any combination of molecules, in and of itself, be deemed "good" or "bad," any more than a steak knife or automobile be evil, simply because either may perforce death if used improperly. (& what of the "legal" status of alcohol and tobacco, two of the greatest killers on the planet, and for which there is no rationale offered by lawmakers, other than for "profit," via taxation.) No, a substance merely is until such finds a use. And as humans are the greatest of innovators on this planet, it is we who are ultimately responsible for ensuring beneficial uses for things that affect us, and to select each according to his own tastes.

Toward the second objection--that one should be stuck with the mental makeup given to one at birth--let this be told to a parent whose child is born with cerebral palsy or other neurologically-occurring impairment: that God wanted their child to be like this, and, further, that He would desire than many more children be affected thusly, and that never should we attempt to find a cure for these maladies.

None of this is to say that happiness and enlightenment cannot be had without a synthetic, neurochemical-enhancing regimen. We know better. But the obverse--that mankind be deprived of experiencing states of supreme joy, by virtue of his rude genetic inheritance--is equally absurd. Neither were we born with wings, but science has enabled us to fly, and we have willingly spent billions upon billions for the privilege.

I will posit now that the occasion of serenity, insight and interconnectedness which comes to the mystic has been the cornerstone upon which are founded many, if not most, world religions. The experience of the One--when a human being suddenly and inexplicably comprehends the nature of the Universe and his place within it, being both glad and at piece with things--is nothing short of Holiness. Such is a state of grace.

Were we to understand now, having passed the second millennium, that we are all--Christian, Jew, Muslim, animist, atheist, man and woman--privy to that which has been reserved previously to "special personages," the mystery of religion would vanish, and each could, if he so elected, receive the divine host, as today we may so elect to receive greater physical health through vitamins, antibiotics and organ transplants. That no religion--past, present or future--may have a monopoly on Truth, which to me seems to be a neurochemical phenomenon, will also mark the end of holy squabbles, having taken so many in the name of an abstraction, and will expose current religious institutions for what they are presently: pillars of pomp, their leaders and vast hierarchy a fattened, insulated reliquary.

To love thy neighbor as thyself is to presume that one does love oneself--a presumption which, sadly, has never truly been born out. But if the researchers and laboratories can find the neurochemical Key to happiness, this central tenet to all religions may finally be achieved.

Indeed, toward this end, there are persons and groups at present who are quietly returning to the field of naturally-occuring and wholly synthetic psychedelics, after the worldwide ban of 1966. They know who they are, and I tip my hat to them, for they are as alchemists in an unbelieving age.