Psilocybin boosts mind perception but doesn’t reduce atheism. A recent study found that while psychedelic experiences increased mind perception across various entities, they did not significantly change individuals’ Atheist-Believer status.
https://www.psypost.org/psilocybin-boosts-mind-perception-but-doesnt-reduce-atheism/
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I’ve linked to the news release in the post above. In this comment, for those interested, here’s the link to the peer reviewed journal article:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02791072.2024.2346130
From the linked article:
A recent study published in Journal of Psychoactive Drugs found that while psychedelic experiences increased mind perception across various entities, they did not significantly change individuals’ Atheist-Believer status.
The relationship between psychedelics and belief systems has long fascinated researchers, particularly the possibility that psychedelics like psilocybin might alter spiritual or religious beliefs. Previous cross-sectional studies suggested that psychedelic experiences could lead to shifts in metaphysical beliefs or religious identifications, with some participants reporting increased spirituality and reduced atheism after using these substances. However, these earlier studies had various biases, such as relying on retrospective accounts and self-selection among participants already interested in belief changes.
The results revealed an increase in participants’ attribution of consciousness to various living and non-living entities following their psilocybin experience, particularly non-human primates, quadrupeds (e.g., dogs and cats), insects, fungi, and plants. These shifts in mind perception were evident both at the 2-4 week follow-up and again at 2-3 months.
Participants who were psychedelic-naive—those experiencing psilocybin for the first time—showed greater increases in mind perception than those with prior psychedelic experience. In contrast, there was little to no change in participants’ metaphysical beliefs; the belief that mind and body are distinct (dualism) or that material phenomena stem from the mind (idealism) remained stable. A small increase in determinism (the belief that events are pre-determined) was observed at the 2-3 month follow-up.
Participants’ Atheist-Believer status also remained unchanged, with no significant shifts in the proportions of non-believers, agnostics, or believers, contradicting earlier studies that suggested psilocybin might increase spirituality or reduce atheism. Overall, the findings suggest that psilocybin’s effect on mind perception is stronger than its influence on core spiritual or philosophical beliefs.
I would think you’ll be more open to spiritualism, but you still won’t want to be in a money cult like most religions are.
It turned me from atheist to ‘atheist but wow I get what they’re all trying to say’.
Except for Christianity.
Atheism ≠ Absence of spirituality
This is why the study is misleading.
Interestingly enough I’ve actually observed the other effect. Those who have religious beliefs using psychedelics and realizing there’s no such thing as God.
I am open to the possibility of spirituality having some scientific existence.
I am simply not believing in an all powerful creator that made us. Alone for the fact that omnipotence doesn’t make sense already.
I don’t know, I just look at the mechanisms that drive the high and use it for those effects. I don’t feel spiritual afterwards, I feel whole–like I’ve studied and come to understand myself better, and I feel mental clarity.
Is there the possibility that under the influence, the perception of euphoria etc. negates the need for a spiritual reliance? If we boil it down, religion is most sought when one is unhappy, pained, sad, lost, etc. When one is feeling good and feeling like the mind has expanded and opened up to new thoughts and possibilities, solutions, religion doesn’t seem so necessary?
If anything I would imagine it would do the opposite. Once you have enough psychedelic experience you begin to see how anemic most religion is compared to what it could/should be if it were based on something more fundamental and grander. Eating a mushroom should not provide a more powerful experience than interacting with a cosmic divine entity, yet it does, and not by a small degree.
Speaking for myself, I used to view the world in a physicalist/Atheist/nihilist fashion. Ever since psilocybin and lsd several years ago I became a lot more open to the idea of God existing in a pantheistic way and the universe being some sort of play/script/lesson/fiction. oddly, I do the splits between the former and the latter and it makes sense to me.
I did a heroic dose many months ago – I’m slightly changed, still an atheist, although I give a bit more credence to the idea that there could be a universal consciousness although organized religion still doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. Consciousness to me is now something that gives me a bit more pause, but also now realizing the absolute smallness of me and the smallness of my perception. The ground doesn’t quake beneath our feet, but it might move a few inches.