Drug-Induced Mysticism Revisited: Interview with Charles Upton (original) (raw)

2013, Psychology and the Perennial Philosophy

Charles Upton (b. 1948), poet, author, activist, and veteran of the counter-culture has voyaged and experienced firsthand the many facets of the New Age cul-de-sac, including its pitfalls which are all too often ignored. Since the 1960s, psychedelics 2 or hallucinogens, now termed entheogens, 3 have played a pivotal role in the modern and postmodern seeker's quest to circumvent the trappings of the empirical ego and attain self-realization. After a hiatus of nearly thirty years, psychedelic research has now made a revival, which should provoke much inquiry as to what underlies this phenomenon. It is interesting to note that the New Age Movement, the Human Potential Movement, Humanistic Psychology, and Transpersonal Psychology all emerged in a common setting; they do not only share many similarities but have also assisted in each other's development. For example, the English writer Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) could be said to be a single figure connecting all of the above movements via his popularizing of the perennial philosophy and his writings on psychedelics, both of which are acknowledged by the above movements and or disciplines. Huxley not only helped shape each of the above but provided an integrative theory in which they could take root. That said, while he popularized the perennial philosophy he is not considered to be a traditionalist or perennialist. Where Charles Upton parts ways with his New Age and counter-culture comrades is that since his introduction to the works of the traditionalist or perennialist school-most significantly René Guénon (1886-1951), Frithjof Schuon (1907-1998), and Ananda Coomaraswamy (1887-1947)-he has affiliated himself with this orientation. Upton has written numerous books and articles on traditional metaphysics and the perennial philosophy, the most noteworthy of which are The System of Antichrist: Truth and Falsehood in Postmodernism and the New Age (2001), including its sequel, Vectors of the Counter-Initiation: The Shape and Destiny of Inverted Spirituality (2012). Although he has abandoned the practices of his early search in the New Age and counter-culture movements, he acquired an abundant knowledge and understanding of these pseudo-spiritualities and is in a position to inform and also caution contemporary seekers. The following interview offers a unique look at psychedelics in the light of the perennial philosophy by way of perennialist theory and also personal accounts of the author. 1 Editor's Note: This interview was conducted electronically with Charles Upton between March and May of 2011. The footnotes were compiled by the editor. 2 British psychiatrist Humphry Fortescue Osmond (1917-2004) coined the term "psychedelic" or "mind-manifesting" via his correspondence with Aldous Huxley. In responding to a letter that Dr. Osmond received from Huxley written on 30 March, 1956 he wrote in poetic reflection: "To fathom Hell or soar angelic, / Just take a pinch of psychedelic," thus giving birth to the term "psychedelic"; yet it was not known to the public at large or the scientific community until 1957 (Michael Horowitz and Cynthia Palmer (eds.), Moksha: Aldous Huxley's Classic Writings on Psychedelics and the Visionary Experience [Rochester, VT: Park Street Press, 1999], p. 107). It is also relevant to point out that it was Dr. Osmond who in May of 1953 first introduced Huxley to a synthesized form of mescaline, the psychoactive compound in peyote (among other psychedelic cacti) that in turn produced his work The Doors of Perception in 1954, which according to some launched the psychedelic revolution. 3 "'Entheogen' means simply 'God generated within you!'" (Robert Forte, "A Conversation with R. Gordon Wasson," in Entheogens and the Future of Religion, ed. Robert Forte [San Francisco, CA: Council on Spiritual Practices, 1997], p. 69).