Michael Pollan described Griffiths as “the ultimate straight arrow”. But the direction of this arrow radically shifted following encounters with mystical states. A leading and well-respected drug researcher with an international reputation and over 400 scientific papers to his name, Griffiths was prominent in the field of drug abuse psychology. In 1994, he was introduced to the practice of Siddha Yoga by a close friend and connected with the meditation practice. Much like Hofmann, Griffiths underwent a number of mystical experiences, and as a result of his meditation practice, he described encountering:
something way, way beyond a material world view that I can’t really talk to my colleagues about, because it involves metaphors or assumptions that I’m really uncomfortable with as a scientist.
While sparking an interest in altered states and the nature of inner experience, Griffiths struggled to find meaning in his research work, and he entertained ideas of departing academia for an ashram in India.
In 1996, his old friend Charles R. (Bob) Schuster, formerly head of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), recommended he talk to Bob Jesse, who was interested in reviving the science of psychedelics to explore their spiritual potential for “the betterment of well people.” Jesse had established a nonprofit, the Council of Spiritual Practices, which had the aim of “making direct experience of the sacred more available to more people.”
The same year, the Council of Spiritual Practices organised a meeting at Esalen that was attended by Bob Schuster. Esalen is an influential non-profit retreat centre and international community in Big Sur, California, which focuses on humanistic alternative education.
Wanting to revive research into psychedelics, Jesse knew he would need an investigator with impeccable credentials and reputation, and Schuster recommended Griffiths as the person he was looking for. Their meetings and conversations would eventually lead to a study conducted at Johns Hopkins, with Griffiths teaming up with psychologist Bill Richards.
Unlike Griffiths, Richards had applied experience of psychedelic psychotherapy, being the last person to administer a dose of psilocybin prior to the government ban on psychedelic research. Their study would seek to evaluate any enduring psychological effects of a high dose of psilocybin administered in a supportive setting to a healthy, spiritually interested and active group of people.
Despite his intrigue, Griffiths was deeply sceptical that a drug like psilocybin could provide a reliable conduit to mystical states. But over two-thirds of study participants rated their psilocybin experience among the five most spiritually significant events of their lives – with a third ranking it as the single most significant. Participants reported the significance of the psilocybin session as equivalent in impact to the birth of a child or the death of a parent.
The depth of the mystical experience was also linked to significant enhancements in well-being, life satisfaction, and positive behaviour change following it. Ratings were largely sustained 14 months later, and in addition to self-assessment, the researchers used assessments of family, friends, and co-workers to enhance the validity of the findings. Griffiths was particularly struck by how people would continue to attribute positive changes to their previous experience in the months following it, this being distinct from any other substances he had worked on previously.
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As a person with academic, scientific and experiential training I am deeply motivated towards meanings and healing vis a vis psychedelics. Mystical experiences seem to me to be integral to both, and I’m intrigued to discover more about the mechanisms that promote many fundamental changes in individuals’ health as a result of exposure to psychedelic-assisted therapy.