Go ask Alice
The subject is probably as old as Zen Buddhism is known in the West: can psychedelic drugs potentially support or even replace Zen practice as a spiritual path? I probably cannot answer this questions from my own experience, since my drug abuse was limited to consuming moderate quantities of Franconian draft beer during my younger days. Not that I completely want to deny the mind-expanding effects of this local speciality, but long-term effects turned out to be more belly expanding than anything else.
Recently we watched a movie (1) where random members of a small Zen group consumed psycedelic drugs in a more or less scientifically controlled framework (2), while the other part of the group stayed sober. One obvious outcome for the observer is that consuming psycedelic drugs makes it much less likely you properly fit into a group of Zen practitioners. From odd beahviour to total loss of self-control everything could be observed, but nothing which appears to make the person be more fit to participate, more likely to bring benefit to the group. You just drop out.
One pill makes you larger
And one pill makes you small
(…)
Go ask Alice
When she’s ten feet tall– Jefferson Airplane
A lot happens in the drug induced mind. From a scientific point of view, the stimulation of psycedelic drugs is very similar, yet often much stronger, than the physiological reward system which naturally brings some “high” for us after doing sports and other joyful social activities. Taking drugs is in that sense comparable to rewarding yourself without achievement. You trick your brain into receiving some reward, without having performed anything deserving it.
This is obviously not a shortcut towards a happy life. It is like rewarding every kid with a gold medal after the race. You might feel like a winner, proudly showing off the shiny medal hanging from your neck. But in reality, all you achieved, and all you can achieve at your current condition is hardly making it to the finish line.
When logic and proportion
Have fallen sloppy dead And the White Knight is talking backwards And the Red Queen’s off with her head– Jefferson Airplane
If your goal in life is just feeling good without reason, drugs might work out for you, at least for the time being. Zen is not about a shortcut towards “feeling good”. It is a practice making you fit for life. You might not feel like a winner, no shiny medal to be achieved. But you learn how to reach a finish line and beyond. You learn how to conduct a good life, your life. With a good teacher, a good sangha, you learn how to develop into a contributing and compassionate human being, in balance with yourself and your environment.
End of the day (or a good work-out) it might feel the same, maybe in a weaker sense, as after taking drugs. Yet, this feeling is based on some strong real-life aspect, not just on chemistry induced state of your brain, while the world around you has increasing troubles taking care of you.
This is more or less in alignment with the outcome of the above mentioned experiement. It is worth quoting the results summary of the related publication (2, bold/italics inserted by myself):
Compared to meditation with a placebo, meditators who received DMT and harmine self-attributed greater levels of mystical-type experiences, non-dual awareness, and emotional breakthrough during the acute substance effects and, (..) greater psychological insight 1 day later. Mindfulness and compassion were not significantly different in the DMT-harmine group compared to placebo.
Taking DMT makes you feel better, mystical, more emotional, but actually mindfulness and compassion (i.e. what makes you interact with the outside world) did not change. Taking DMT actually does not make you better.
What about the creativity of artists, of musicians and writers, who often produced and performed their masterpieces under the influence of the one or other drug. Wouldn’t we miss all this outcome of exaggerated states of mind without psycedelic substances?
They were learning to draw,’ the Dormouse went on, (…); ‘and they drew all manner of things–everything that begins with an M–
– Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
I am very sure that someone who can produce decent art under the influence of drugs would have been able to do so even more and better in a sober state. When you can do everything that begins with an M while being high, the whole alphabet might well be at your hands when you are sober. Artists who got clean often did the better part of their work after successful rehab.
Remember what the dormouse said
Feed your head Feed your head– Jefferson Airplane
Don’t forget the Dormouse in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland constantly fell asleep. Even when Alice left much embarrassed about the Hatter’s rudeness …
… the Dormouse fell asleep instantly, and neither of the others took the least notice of her going, though she looked back once or twice, half hoping that they would call after her: the last time she saw them, they were trying to put the Dormouse into the teapot.
– Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
No, forget what the Dormouse said! You might miss Alice while she leaves, and end up in a teapot, half awake and half asleep. Go ask Alice.
–
(1) Descending The Mountain (2021)
(2) Meling D, Egger K, Aicher HD, Jareño Redondo J, Mueller J, Dornbierer J, Temperli E, Vasella EA, Caflisch L, Pfeiffer DJ, Schlomberg JT, Smallridge JW, Dornbierer DA, Scheidegger M. Meditating on psychedelics. A randomized placebo-controlled study of DMT and harmine in a mindfulness retreat. J Psychopharmacol. 2024 Oct;38(10):897-910. doi: 10.1177/02698811241282637. Epub 2024 Sep 27. PMID: 39340164; PMCID: PMC11487865.