Not just bad trips: LSD used as cultural tool

"I'll talk mostly about LSD," quipped John Baker at the beginning of his lecture. "I know that's why everyone is here." Baker bears a striking resemblance to Sam Elliott, and just like the lovable Stranger from "The Big Lebowski," he had some words of wisdom to share. Baker, president of the Society for the Anthropology of Consciousness, visited Youngstown State University this week, giving a lecture Monday night about the psychedelic drug LSD and its role in other cultures.

His lecture, "Shamans, Possession, LSD!!! What is the Anthropology of Consciousness?," showed that psychedelics have had a useful role in some traditional cultures.

"We can look at consciousness from an archaeological perspective, how certain groups of people have utilized states of consciousness (including voluntary induced states of consciousness) for socially constructive purposes in the past," he said. He noted that many cultures have been using these drugs in a productive way for many years.

The main difference between these experiences and those from Western counterculture is guidance. In other societies, psychedelics are used under supervision of and experienced elder as a rite of passage. Use of the drugs is reserved for those "who are assumed to have a certain level of maturity."

In the American '60s, however, there was none of that.

"A lot of people were being offered the opportunity to have these extraordinary, powerful states of consciousness, but in contrast to [other cultures], you didn't have any elders who were experienced and knew what it all meant," he said.

This, along with racial tension, war, and spiritual disconnect, resulted in a very individualistic experiences: "bad trips."

In other cultures, people are given these drugs to achieve a sense of oneness he said, to "transcend the sense of being separate."

Baker was careful to note that he was not encouraging use of drugs, but merely pointing out his belief that psychedelics can be used in ways that are socially constructive. The point for their drug use was not recreational, but to learn something. He said most people from other cultures don't enjoy their experience. They may be nervous, or become ill. It is simply a tool for understanding something beyond themselves.

While socially acceptable elsewhere, psychedelics may never be a means for cultural meditation here, perhaps because perceived past misuse. John Baker says it is important to remember that there are infinite ways to understand the world around you, and he believes they can all be used for good, given a little wisdom.

Continuing the psychedelics discussion next semester, Chris Bache will teach a seminar course titled "Philosophy and Psychedelics.