L

NAVIGATION WITHIN CONSCIOUSNESS

INSIGHTS FROM FOUR DECADES OF PSYCHOTHERAPY RESEARCH WITH
IMAGERY, MUSIC, AND ENTHEOGENS*

William A. Richards
Private Practice, Baltimore, Maryland

ABSTRACT: The author's participation in early (1963-1964) research with music,

imagery, and entheogens wilh Hanscarl Leuner and Walter Pahnke at the University
of GiHtingen is described, along with the subsequent contributions of Helen Bonny
and the development of Guided Affective Imagery (GAl) into Guided 1magelY and
Music (GIM). Guidelines for effective work with imagery and music are discussed
with reference to the entelechy of the interpersonally-grounded psyche, the paradox
of ego strength and ego transcendence, and the importance of accepting flui
experiential content manifesting in the present moment. Reflections are offered on
the potential value oftronscendental experiences.

Key words: Consciollsness, Music and imagery, Hanscarl Leuner, Helen Bonny,
psilocy bin

It was an honor to contribute to the [2004] symposium on music and

consciousness, sponsored by the Bonny Foundation, and especially to
celebrate the uniquely wise and sacred contributions of my long-term friend
and colleague, Helen Bonny. When I asked myself how my life unfolded as it
has, interweaving my love of music, my spirit of adventure in exploring other
states of consciousness and spirituality, and my dedication to decreasing
unnecessary suffering in the world through the search for more effective
form s of psychotherapy, some unforgettable experiences emerged from my
memory. In this article, I reflect on these experiences and invite you to
follow me back in time.
William A. Richards, S.T.M., Ph.D. is a psychologist in private practice in Baltimore
and a senior fellow with the Council on Spiritual Practices, based in San Francisco.
Correspondence concerning this article may be addressed to 25 16 Talbot Road,
Baltimore MD 21216. Email may be [email protected].
'This paper was presented to the Symposium, "Exploring Music and Consciousness:
Gathering of Pathfi nders," sponsored by The Bonny Foundation in Vera Beach,
Florida, March 2004.

Hanscarl Leuner and Early Research with Entheogens

Some forty years ago, I found myself as a graduate student at Georg-August

University in Giittingen Germany, studying theology and psychiatry. A
psychiatrist there by name of Hanscarl Leuner (1962), head of the
psychotherapy division of the university, just had published a monograph
entitled Die experimentelle Psychose (The experimental psychoses). In its
pages, he reported on the states of consciousness described by patients and
healthy volunteer subjects during the action of substances such as mescaline,
psilocybin and LSD, then called "psycholytic" (mind-releasing).
Subsequently these mysterious molecules came to be called "psychedelic"
(mind-expanding) as well as many other labels ranging from
"psychotomimetics" to "mysticomimetics." The medical community has
tended to use the misnomer "hallucinogens." Most recently the term
"entheogens," literally meaning God-containing has come into vogue (Jesse,
2001).
At that time, 1963 to be exact, Leuner was not yet fully cognizant of the
potent variables of mental set (the attitudes one brings to the opportunity to
explore alternative states of consciousness) and physical and interpersonal
setting (the safety and security promoted by pleasant surroundings and
trustworthy, caring people). His volunteers generally were administered the
experimental substance and left alone. Not surprising from what we know
today, many experienced panic and paranoid reactions amid changes in
sensory perception, colorful bursts of mental imagery, altered perception of
time, and regression to traumas of childhood, feeding the hope of the time
that these substances might facilitate our comprehension of schizophrenia.
Paralleling his investigations with entheogens, Leuner was well-known in
European psychiatric circles for his creative work with mental imagery in
dynamically-oriented psychotherapy, which he called "experimentelles
katatymes Bilderleben" (EkB), generally translated as "Guided Affective
Imagery" (GAl; Leuner, 1984; Leuner, Hom & Klessman, 1983).
One of Leuner's graduate students, Gerhard Baer, was implementing a
comparative study of two short-acting forms of psilocybin (CZ-74 & CEY19). Psilocybin is the active principle of the so-called "sacred mushrooms"
that have been integral to the religious ceremonies of Indians in Mexico and
Central America for at least two thousand years and still continue in use
today. I was taking myself much too seriously in those days, often going
without breakfast to write down all my dreams from the prior night. (I called
it "collecting phenomenological data"; in retrospect, I know breakfast would
have been much more helpful to me.) Nonetheless, when two of my friends
told me of their participation in the psilocybin research project and the
experiences from early childhood they had uncovered, I decided to see if I
could be included in the research myself. I had heard that tbis experimental
substance might engender a hallucination, and I had never seen one and

NAVIGATION WITHIN CONSCIOUSNESS

29

thought that might really be a worthwhile educational experience. It is

important to note that, at that point in time, the signs all over campus that
said " LSD" referred to the liberal student democrats. No one had heard of
Timothy Leary or Richard Alpert, or tbe so-called "Harvard scandal"
brewing on the otber side of the Atlantic.
At any rate, I briefly was interviewed by Dr. Leuner, mainly to
determine the extent of my alcohol usage, which was minimal. Soon
thereafter, I was led to a dimly lit basement room with a small bed and end
table, given an injection of psilocybin, and left alone. Drawing on the
Methodist piety of my chi ldhood, along with my yearning for enhanced
personal integration, I cbose to surrender my life to that Ground of Being I
called "God" and awaited the arrival of some chi ldhood conflict, or at least a
decent hallucination. To my incredible surprise, I instead discovered myself
awakening into an exquisitely beantiful, mystical form of consciousness
outside of time. Those of you wbo have known similar states of
consciousness will comprehend that words are poetic at best when one
attempts to describe such experiences. Whether "I" experienced it, or "It"
experienced me was a matter of semantics; All I knew was that I was
participating in something incredibly real and wonderful tbat intuitively was
recognized as familiar, and as more basic than the world of everyday
consciousness. It included what William James (1902) called noetic
qualities intuitive knowledge regarding the reality of that Core of Being
many call "God," the miraculous beauty and sacredness of life, the
indestructibility of consciousness (immortality), the relativity of the Kantian
categories of Time, Space, Substance and Causality, and tbe interrelatedness
of us all within a web of infinitely-expanded consciousness (called the
Brotherhood of Man in religious circles).
[n the midst of this incredible epiphany, Dr. Baer entered witb whitecoat and stethoscope, asked me to open my eyes and sit up on the edge of the
bed, and was very seriously intent on checking my knee reflexes. As he
hammered on my knees and scribbled down his findings, I sat on the edge of
the bed with my arms outstretched, feeling infinite compassion for science in
its infancy. I felt that the researchers could not begin to imagine what was
happening in my field of consciousness and was profoundly humbled and
awe-struck. The only "music" in this initial session, incidentally, was caused
by the collection of the hospital's metal garbage cans in the alley outside my
window. This, I experienced as "tinkling temple bells."
Subsequently, as I purchased and studied a copy of Leuner's
monograph, I noted less than a page devoted to "Cosmic-Mystical
Experiences," pbenomena his subjects rarely had reported, but that be
included in his book for the sake of comprehensiveness. After I had written a
description of the experience I had encountered and shared it with Dr.
Leuner, I became known as " tbat interesting American student who had the

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Journal 0/ the Association /or Music and ImagelY (2003-2004), Vol. 9

mystica l experience," and soon became a volunteer research assistant in hi s

clinic. During the subsequent year, I p3lticipated in the di scovery of the
importance of set and setting, and in O,e early use of mus ic during the period
of entheogen-action . A lso, I was enlisted to serve as a compani on or gu ide
for English-speaking professionals who wanted to experience the effects of
entheogens in a maximally safe and lega l manner while visiting Leuner's
clinic.
The design of the research project, for which I had volunteered, required
receiving psilocybin on four occas ions, each of two short-acting substances
in two dosage levels. I found that none of the subsequent th ree sessions
proved to be transcendental, though each was interesting on a personal,
psychodynamic level. After the fourth session, I found myself wondering if I
had been nai've and gullible, if I had proj ected my knowledge of mysticism
onto di ffu se a ltered brain functioning. I asked myself wbether what I bad
ca ll ed spiritual was merely some atypical variety o f ordinary sexual pleasure.
Waiter Pahnke and the Introduction of Music
It was at that point in time that Walter Pahnke arrived in GOttingen, having
just completed his dissertation at Harvard, whicb foc used on the now famous
"Good Friday Experiment." In that research proj ect, he had given either
psilocybin or nicotinic acid (vitamin B-6) to theological students in a doubleblind manner, in the basement chapel of Boston University's Marsh Chapel.
Wally had found that those who received psilocybin did indeed report
significantly more mystical phenomena than those who received nicotinic
acid (Pahnke 1963). He had been awarded a travelling fellowship to visit
clinics throughout Europe where research with entheogens was taking place,
and had chosen to settle witb bis wife and children in Gottingen, as Leuner's
research operati on was the most comprehens ive at the time. We met in the
clinic there and quickly became good fri ends.
.
After I described my four psilocybin sessions to Wally , he proposed a
fifth experiment, in which we would employ a slightly higber dose of
psilocybin and a lso use music during the period of entheogen-action. Wally
was aware that music often was being used by persons in the Boston area
who had been exploring the states of consciousness engendered by these
substances, and also that music was in use in Saskatchewan and in Californ ia
where other researcb projects were in progress. Dr. Leuner agreed with the
proposal, I consented, and Wally and) went shopping for music. In particular
I recall purchasing a copy of Brahms' German Requiem and Bach's Fantas ia
& F ugue in G Minor.
The subsequent session, on Va lentine's Day of 1964, proved to be a
pivota l point in my personal and professional development. I had feared that
I bad exaggerated wbatever had occurred in that first psilocybin session.

NAVIGATION WITHIN CONSCIOUSNESS

i!

31

Instead I realized that I already had forgotten most of it, and had minimized
what actually had occurred. The consciousness in which I participated
returned again and again to tbat mystical peak nf awareness, its intuitive
validity being etched into my brain so strongly that I never since have
questioned its fundamental truth. My report of that session, incidentally, was
subsequently published (Richards, 1968); I chose to publish it under a
pseudonym as it felt inappropriate to claim it as "my experience" in a
possessive, potentially ego-aggrandizing manner. In addition to the
supportive presence of Wally and the bright, cheerful space with plants
where we conducted the session, I found the music exceptionally beautiful
and facilitative of transitions in consciousness. One approach to the mystical
that 1 never will forget coincided with the ascending chromatic passage and
climax in Bach's Fantasia in G Minor for organ. Another musical treasure
we began utilizing was Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings, a piece Helen
Bonny included in her Positive Affect program long before it became "The
Theme Song from Platoon."

The Maryland Psychiatric Research Center and Helen Bonny

When my year of study in Gennany was completed in 1964, I returned to the
United States with a professional identity clearly focused in the Psychology
of Religion. Subsequent educational opportunities included studies with
Walter Houston Clark (l969) and Abraham Maslow (l964), both of whom
seriously were interested in the religious, psychological and societal
implications of the research I had encountered in Giittingen. Wally Pahnke
and I stayed up one night in 1966 and co-authored an article invited by the
Journal of Religion and Health, entitled, "Implications of LSD and
Experimental Mysticism" (Pahnke & Richards, 1966). When the article
appeared, we found that reporters from Time and Newsweek magazines
immediately pursued us. There was an excitement then of feeling on the
threshold of important new knowledge, and the determination to keep as
steady as possible and to avoid unproductive publicity. The misuse and abuse
of entheogenic substances were constituting a social problem. The United
States government was responding with increasingly repressive legislation
and the FDA was withdrawing permission to pursue promising research
operations in universities.
One center where research was permitted to continue was at the Spring
Grove State Hospital in Baltimore, which was about to expand into the newly
envisioned Maryland Psychiatric Research Center. Wally and I both were
offered employment there in 1967 and moved to Baltimore, along with a
cadre of like-minded souls including among others Charles Savage and
Stanislav Grof. The Spring Grove Research Department had two grants
funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, exploring the promise of

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Journal of/h e Associationfor Music and lmage/y (2003-2004), VoL 9

LSD in the treatment of alcoholism and of severe neuroses (Kurland, Savage,

Pahnke, Grof, & Olsson, 1971; McCabe, Savage, Kurland, & Unger, 1972),
and research using entheogens and music in the treatment of the physical and
emotional distress associated with terminal cancer was just beginning
(Richards, J 978).
In 1968, following a conference in Council Grove, Kansas, sponsored
by the Menninger Foundation, entitled "The Voluntary Control of lIltemal
States" which Hel en Bonny had helped to organize, Helen was invited to j oin
our team at the Spring Grove Hospital. We were very happy that she
accepted the offer and moved eastward, along with her husband and three
children. Helen quickly systemati zed, integrated and improved upon the
music selections we were using, developing valuable sequences of music
with labels such as "Peak Experience," "Positi ve Affect," "Affect Release" or
"Comforting/Anaclitic," and also published her first book, Music and Your
Mind (Bonny & Savary, 1973). Coupled with this music, Leuner' s "Guided

Affective Imagery" (GAl) evolved into "Guided lJnagery and Music" (GIM).
The Institute for Consciousness and Music came into being, along with
workshops and training modules. Several years of very creative research
projects ensued at the Maryland Psychiatri c Research Center, utilizing music
and varinus entheogenic substances until around 1977, when political winds
and funding sources nn the State level rendered the research donnant.
For approximately 25 years, as research with entheogens remained
essentially dOllnant in the United States, I found myself pursuing a pri vate
psychotherapy practi ce. I continued to utilize music with many of my
patients and to work out of a transpersonally-oriented mind-set, congruent
with the research that had been accompli shed. During the past three years, in
collaboration with the Council on Spiritual Practices, based in San Francisco,
I again have been given the opportunity to implement a carefully designed
research project util izing an entheogen and am happy to be building upon the
research from the 1960s and early 1970s.
II

Now, looking back over approximately 40 years of living and working with a
transpersonal orientation, what have I learned that persons interested in
music and consciousness might value? I recall receiving an appreciative
letter from the adult daughter of a terminal cancer patient. We had given
LSD to her mother in the context of brief psychotherapy, and the preexisting
estrangement between the mother and her daughter had been resolved. The
daughter wrote, "Dear Dr. Richards, Thank you so much for telling me that
tbe only way to conquer your fears is to face them. [ didn ' t know that." Her
letter stmck me as saying sOluething akin to, "111ank you for telling me that

NAVIGATION WITHIN CONSC IOUSNESS

33

water is wet; I didn ' t know that." To those of us in the mental health field,
principles of navigating in human consciousness often appear so obvious that
we assume everyone else must know them. At the risk of insulting some
readers who may view the following principles as obvious, J will specify
some of the guidelines that underlie my work with people today, all of which
are congruent with the orientation Helen Bonny has articulated for Guided
Imagery and Music.

The Entelechy of the Interpersonally-Grounded Psyche

I,
I

The most basic principle may be expressed as "The Entelechy of the

Interpersonally-Grounded Psyche." Entelechy is a philosophical term,
referring to a meaningful process of psychological and/or spiritual content
emerging from within the field of consciousness in a wise and orderly
manner. I have come to believe that each person's psyche is infinitely wiser
than the egos of the patient and therapist (or traveler and guide) and, if
trusted, will manifest the experiential sequences of imagery, memories,
emotions, revelations and insights needed to facilitate conflict-resolution ,
communication with the sacred realms of the Self, and healing.
When I accompany someone into his or her internal world, with or
without the facilitation of an entheogen, 1 feel somewhat like being present
beside the person in an opera house as the lights dim, the curtain opens, and
the drama begins to unfold. My role is to be supportive and present without
interfering or imposing my own agendas. Each person's own psyche knows
what needs to be experienced or encountered, and has ingenious strategies
for choreographing those psychodynamic and/or archetypal dramas. Very
quickly the observer of the opera discovers himself or herself on stage,
deeply engaged and involved in the story that is unfolding.
Thus, I rarely suggest imaginal content but instead meet the person
wherever he or she finds himself or herself and facilitate exploration of the
experiential world. If a person finds it especially hard to "get started," I may
on occasion suggest imagining a neutral image, such as a door, a staircase or
a path, but no more than that. I let the person tell me what the door looks like
and feels like, what the staircase is made of and whether it is ascending or
descending, or through which particular landscape the path is leading. As I
inquire about details, such as the design, composition and tactile feel of a
door, the vividness of the experience typically seems to increase. If a person
claims to imagine nothing at all, we might talk about what that "nothing"
feels like, valuing emptiness as much as dramatic and colorful
phantasmagoria. As many readers may have experienced, it is often by
accepting the mundane and empty that we encounter experiences that are
profound and full ofricbly detail ed imagery.

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Journal o/the Association/or Music and ImagelY (2003-2004), Vol. 9

I stress the importance of the term "Interpersonally-Grounded." I

bel ieve that the productive utilization of mental imagery in psychotherapy
occurs only in the context of a well-established relationship. Thus I
recommend that the tools of Guided Imagery and Music be employed only
when and if an intuitive sense of fundamental trust between guide and
subject is present. It is likely that such interpersonal trust then parallels an
intrapersonal trust in the dialogue between the subject's everyday ego and socalled "deeper levels of consciousness." Witb or without entheogens,
experiences with music and alternate states of consciousness easily can lead
to unproductive episodes of panic and paranoia if the relationship is not first
well established.
In the safety of a healthy relationship, tbe subject is capable of
manifesting honesty, courage and curiosity. Should an incompletely resolved
conflict present itself in the fie ld of consciousness, perbaps in tbe form of a
monster or dragon, it is critical that tbe experiencing subject move towards
the monster, as if saying, "Hello. Do you ever look scary. What are you
doing in my mind? Is there something you can teach me?" In preparing
persons for sessions with music and/or entheogens, we instruct them to dive
towards such pbenomena as if diving into a swimming pool- reaching out
for the hand of the therapist at the same time if needed. When that occurs, the
transformation of tbe symbol inevitably takes place, usually with
accompanying catharsis and understanding. The monster becomes the
abusing parent, or the fear of failure, or the unresolved grief or guilt. Light
penetrates the darkness, and the experience moves on into new areas of
exploration.
If trust is not yet ripe and one attempts to control the experience, or to
run away from the monster, then of course the typical nightmare sequence
ensues. The faster one runs from one's own Shadow, the faster it comes in
pursuit and the more the panic builds. When one tears off the eyeshade and
headphones and sits up in a cold sweat, the conflict only temporarily has
been avoided and still awaits resolution. With entheogens, incidentally, it is
then that the so-called "flashback phenomenon" appears to become more
probable. When severely stressed or sleep deprived, the unresolved conflicts
that have been awakened and avoided again may manifest themselves in the
field of consciousness, presumably in search of more complete resolution.
The Paradox ofEgo Strength and Ego Transcendence
Those who have pursued dynamically-oriented psychotherapy or selfexploration know the paradox that one must have a reasonably strong ego,
a developed individu~l sense of self, before one can feel sufficiently safe
ill the world to choose unconditionally to trust so-called deeper or higher
dimensions of being within consciousness. Such a choice tends to be

NAVIGATION WITHIN CONSCIOUSNESS

35

made in the company of the right supportive people at the right time in
the right place.
Stated differently, it is important to have a sense of personal identity
and ego strength before one goes off to explore other states of
consciousness. This is why many young persons who experiment with
entheogenic substances either report experiences of minimal significance
or get themselves in psychiatric trouble. Ironically in our culture, it
generally has been true that those who should not take entheogens have .
been experimenting with them. Conversely, the mature, stable members
of society who might benefit most profoundly from the exploration of
alternative states of consciousness have not had legal access to
entheogens, and thus have tended not to explore their potential value. The
average man-in-the-street does not think about Aldous Huxley, Huston
Smith or Alan Watts when he hears the term "entheogen" or "psychedelic
drug"; he is more likely to picture a disturbed teenager in an emergency
room.

Hard to articulate though it is, it is important to realize that when one

enters into a session that is focused on the interior of one's consciousness,
that one is not simply reclining on a couch and "being passive." Apathy is
not trust, though they may share some remarkable similarities. I like to
emphasize the word "choice" as one chooses to engage oneself with the
higher or deeper phenomena of consciousness and to trust unconditionally
on the threshold of ego-transcendence.
I also have come to feel that it is very important to love and respect
the everyday ego. Self-respect and self-acceptance do not constitute
"inflation" or "egoism." Paul Tillich wrote perceptively about the
necessity to "accept acceptance in spite of our unacceptability" (Tillich,
1952). I am wary of misconstrued so-called Eastern approaches that
would "kill off the ego," as in my experience those attitudes often
culminate in inner-directed anger and deepened depression. The ego may
be transcended by accepting the emhrace of unconditional love from the
depths of the psyche. The ego then may be experienced as melting into
sacred realms of consciousness in harmony with the classic Hindu image
of the drop of water that constitutes the Atman merging with the ocean of
Brahman. In retrospect egos may not be viewed as the most real or
fundamental manifestation of reality, but they have their place in the
totality of created being. Indeed, it is the ego that manifests the
Bodhisattva Ideal or who becomes the Suffering Servant described by the
Second Isaiah once mystical consciousness fades and the ego is reborn in
the world of time.

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Journal of the Association for Music and Imagel)' (2003-2004), Vol. 9

The importance of Accepting Where One Finds Oneself

Martin Heidegger, the well-known existentialist who wrote Being and Time
(1926), atticulated a concept I have found very helpful, called B~findlichkeit.
Perhaps it might be translated "discovering oneself in the present moment."
The idea is that you imagine tbat you just awaken, look around you, and
"discover" who you are and wbere yon find yourself. For example, I might
discover that r am a man in my early 60's on the planet earth in the early 21"
Century who has a certain collection of memories and tends to think,
perceive and value in certain ways. There is a certain freshness about such
"discovery." To extend this principle into a session with music, with or
without the additional catalyst of entheogenic action, I stress the importance
of accepting the content being experienced without judgement. Though I
alluded to this principle earlier, now I would further underscore its
importance.
Many persons appear to work through various personal psychodynamic
contl icts en route to arriving at the threshold of ego transcendence and the
encounter either with archetypes such as gods, goddesses, temples and
precious metals and gemstones, or immersion in unitive, mystical states of
consciousness. In Ederveen, Holland, a suburb of Amsterdam, a psychiatrist
by name of Hemmo Arendsen-Hein designed and built a structure at the
psychiatric hospital where he worked that included several small rooms for
so-called "psycho lytic therapy." There he would administer entheogens in
low dosage over a period of several weeks to first help his patients work
through traditional psychodynamic issues on a personal level. Then, when he
felt the patient was ready, he would lead the patient into a very beautifullyappointed larger room, complete with carpeting and Eastern art, looking out
onto a grassy area with swans swimming in a pond. There, with the
additional use of music, he would arhninister a higher dose of an entheogen
in a session he called "psychedelic" in hopes of facilitating a profoundly
tTansformative transcendental experience.
Some persons, however, appear to quite easily experience
.transcendental forms of consciousness and then, empowered with the
enhanced security provided by such experiences, zero in on very ordinaryand often velY painful-- psychodynamic and interpersonal issues. Some
persons seem to progress through the stages of so-called "perinatal
experience" conceptualized by Stanislav Grof (1975); others find their
journeys differently designed.
I have come to believe that it is very important simply to accept
wherever one finds oneself and to trust each unique process of discovery and
resolution. There are heavens and hells in all of us, and much to learn in each
realm. Mystical experiences inevitably are experienced as gifts. In terms of
Christian theology, they are manifestations of Grace something we receive

37

NA VIGATJON WITHIN CONSCIOUSNESS

with all due humility, not sometmng we cause to occur. Thus I suggest that
we honor whatever experience is occurring in the moment, whether mundane
or dramatic. There is no competition here, no "hrownie points" given for
ecstatic discoveries. If a person discovers himself in a dusky hasement, I
would suggest it is profoundly important for the guide to honor that place and
steadily provide support as the person seeks out the darkest corner he can
find and smnes his searchlight into it. The most trivial detail can open into
Transcendence, and experiences of Transcendence can lead hack into time to
focus on the reexamination of matters we often tend to label mundane.
III

Concerning the Value of Transcendental Experiences

Awe-inspiring as archetypal and mystical fOlOlS of consciousness can be, it
always is wise to keep in mind the distinction articulated by Huston Smith
(1964,2000) between "religious experiences" and "religious lives." "Having
experiences" of whatever kind can be a helpful beginning, akin to the
concept of "Awakening" in classical mysticism. However, the ongoing task
must focus on the integration of our knowledge and insights. Perhaps this is
the assignment of our journeys through time and the function of spiritual
communities to support and nurture us in this endeavor. Let us recall the Zen
ideal of being fully awake in the present moment as we "chop wood and
carry water."

Clearly there is value to be found in many different varieties of alternate

states of consciousness, especially in psychodynamic, archetypal and
mystical realms of experience. Though in my experience, no one encounter
with the personal self or transpersonal dimensions of being automatically
ensures good mental health or spiritual maturity, it is clear to me that such
experiences can facilitate human growth and self-actualization (Richards,
2003). Mystical forms of consciousness in particular appear to have a lasting
effect on one's self-concept. It is hard to return to a mind-set characterized
by alienation and estrangement when potent memories of unitive
consciousness remain. It is all but imp~ssible to view oneself as worthless,
once love and beauty have been encountered within, which incidentally may
be a primary contribution these approaches to psychotherapy can make in the
treatment of addictions. Death ceases to be a specter, once the memory of
mystical consciousness is present in one's awareness (Richards, Grof,
Goodman, & Kurland, 1972).
Empirical support for the value of transcendental experiences still is
limited, but for those interested in such studies I reference a project I did with
terminal cancer patients in which the subset of patients who experienced
mystical consciousness manifested some measurable differences in

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38

psychological test scores, when compared with the subset of patients who
only experienced non-mystical forms of consciousness (Richards, Rhead,
DiLeo, Yensen, & Kurland, 1977). Also of interest is Rick Doblin' s (2001)
recent follow-up study of the theological students who volunteered for
Walter Pahnke's "Good Friday Experiment," close to 40 years after their
psilocybin experiences .
.The role of archetypal and mystical experiences in the origin and
evolution of world religions constitutes another promi sing area of inquiry in
a world that yearns for peace and understanding between diverse cultures.
Paul Tillich was beginning to envisage a systematic theology of world
religions at the time of his death (Eliade, 1966; Tillich, 1963) and frontier
contributions in this creative arena of thought have been published by Diana
Eck (1993), Wayne Teasdale (1999) and Huston Smith (2000). It could be
quite fascinating to see what the next four decades hold for us all as, with
appreciative spirits, we continue to explore the mysteries of music and of

conSCIOusness.

References

Bonny, H., & Savary L. (1973). Music and your mind: Listening to music
with a new consciousness. New York: Harper.
Clark, W. H. (1969). Chemical ecstasy: Psychedelic drugs and religion. New
York: Sheed & Ward.
Doblin, R. (2001). Pahnke's Good Friday experiment: A long-term follow-up
and methodological critique. In T. B. Roberts (Ed.), Psychoactive
sacramentals: Essays in entheogens and religion (pp. 7 1-76). San
Francisco: Council On Spiritual Practices.
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