“From Visionary Experience to Spiritual Life: Entheogenic Plants and Chemicals”
Intersections: A Joint Offering of Columbia College Chicago and the Chicago Cultural Center
VIDEO: ONE HOUR
MOV Format, 98 MB (stream)
Requires Quicktime
AUDIO: ONE HOUR
MP3 Format, 55 MB
Presenters:
Louis Silverstein, Columbia College Chicago
Tom Roberts, Northern Illinois University
Kathleen Gillolgy, Columbia Columbia College Chicago
Entheogen [god within; god- or spirit-facilitating] a psychoactive sacramental; a plant or chemical substance taken to occasion primary religious experience.
Religious traditions, both East and West, have celebrated the direct mystical experience of the divine. Many people who have had such direct perception of spirit appear to lead lives of greater understanding, virtue, and joy as a result. From the time of the ancient civilizations to the present, entheogens have played a role in that spiritual quest. What is it about these substances and practices that contain the possibility of bringing insights, grace, and joy to individuals and to their communities?