Drugs and Mysticism

Chapter V: Data Used in Matching of Subjects

Pre-drug Questionnaire and Interview Data

Rating Scale

For use in matching pairs of subjects, groups of items from the pre-drug questionnaire were combined into categories which were scored by the experimenter with the following rating scale:

5 – Very Strong
4 – Strong
3 – Moderate
2 – Slight
1 – So slight as to be Doubtful
0 – None or Not at All.

This scale was adapted to the phenomena of each category. These categories and the score distribution for the twenty subjects are listed in Table 1.

Categories

The first main division of categories was religious background. The formal religious commitment and activities of the parents were scored “5” if they were in full-time Christian service such as ministers or missionaries, “4” if they were very active in the life of the church as well as in attendance, “3” if they were faithful in attendance at services but did not participate in many other activities, “2” if they were interested enough to be irregular attenders, and “1” if they were only interested enough to send their children to Sunday school or church. Religious atmosphere, influence, and training in the home were scored “5” if there were regular and meaningful family worship, prayers, grace, and religious discussions; “4” if only some of these activities were regularly practiced but in a meaningful way; “3” if they were irregular and partial, but meaningful; “2” if they were irregular, partial, and generally unmeaningful; and “1” if they were only occasional. Participation in the life of the church through high school graduation was scored “5” if the person regularly, actively, and meaningfully participated in all the activities of the church which were available to him such as Sunday school, church, young people’s meetings, and summer church camp, “4” if he participated regularly and meaningfully as an attender but took no active part in planning or helping, “3” if he participated only in some of the activities he could have, “2” if he was an irregular participator because he found such activities not particularly interesting or meaningful, “1” if only an occasional participator, and “0” if he did not participate at all. The preparation for, and meaningfulness of, joining the church were also given consideration in this score.

Theological conservatism was scored according to degree of orthodoxy, with “5” representing fundamentalism; “3” neo-orthodoxy, and “1” the most liberal liberalism. “4” and “2” indicated gradations between these positions. Theological discussions, however, were avoided during the interview.

The second major division of categories and the one on which the most time was spent during the pre-drug interview was past religious experience. Meaningfulness of public worship (including communion services) was scored “5” if it was usually very meaningful; “4” if it was sometimes very meaningful; “3” if it was usually moderately meaningful; “2” if it was usually slightly meaningful; and “1” if it was usually unmeaningful. Conversion or vocation decision experience was scored according to the intensity of original emotional expression in relation to the present significance of the experience. A “5” experience was one that was sudden, climactic, dramatic, and intense and provided considerable emotional release. The person at the time of the interview still regarded the experience as a peak experience, a turning point, and still significant in his on-going life. A “4” experience was similar but not as intense, although still meaningful. A “3” experience was similar to “5” or “4” in intensity of original emotional expression but one which was not still considered particularly important, valuable, or meaningful. A “2” experience did not have the sudden or “twice-born” character, but was a slowly-dawning gradual decision which was made after considerable thought, yet remained very significant for the on-going life of the subject. A “1” experience was purely a gradual intellectual decision without much emotional involvement.

Certainty of vocational commitment combined such elements as sense of call, dedication, and definiteness of future plans, but was scored on strength of certainty. Intensity and regularity of prayer life (exclusive of public worship) were scored “5” if the person had an active and regular personal devotional life which had great meaning for him. Sin combined both general and specific senses of sin.

The more characteristic mystical elements were divided into four categories: 1) experiences in nature; 2) transcendence of time and space; 3) sense of presence, mystical union, or experience of the Numinous; and 4) joy, blessedness, and peace. These categories were scored “5” only if they corresponded to the most complete or intense degree of the typology of mysticism. A score of “4” meant a definite though less complete resemblance. Lesser degrees were scored from 1–3 with a score of “1” having only the faintest general similarity.

The third main division was general psychological makeup. Moralism was evaluated by asking the person about his attitude toward smoking and drinking in himself and others. A score of “5” indicated a very puritanical and legalistic attitude. The degree of apprehension that the person felt about participation was scored after review of several points in the interview. There had been a discussion of direct fears about immediate or long-term effects, the appropriateness of using drugs in a religious service (to discover any prejudice against such an experiment), and the motivation for volunteering. The person had also been asked how apprehensive he felt. A score of “5” for suggestibility meant that the person fell backwards almost immediately without trying to fight the suggestion of the wind. Scores of 4–2 represented persons who eventually fell with varying degrees of resistance. A score of “1” meant that the person did not fall backwards, but was suggestible enough so that he had to fight to maintain balance. Each person’s interpretation of the proverb about the rolling stone was listed as either P (for positive), meaning that a person who keeps active and moving does not get stagnant, or N (for negative), meaning that a person who doesn’t settle down to one thing is shiftless and will never accomplish anything. This was assumed to be one measure of the person’s background and general outlook on life.

The data in Table 1 show the homogeneity of the volunteers in terms of religious background, interest, and experience. Other pre-drug questionnaire data also supported this conclusion. The very fact that they were all undergoing professional training for the Christian ministry at a denominational seminary tended to serve as a screening factor. All volunteers were healthy young males between the ages of 22 and 35. The average age was 24. 17 out of the 20 were first year students and had recently graduated from college. They were all from the free church tradition. Denominations represented were Baptist (9), United Church of Christ (7), Congregationalist (1), and Swedenborgian (3).

Description of Average Subject

The average subject came from a home where there was interest in religion but not in an extreme way, and the parents were active in the church. He attended Sunday school as a child and joined the church in his early teens. During high school he attended the church youth group and perhaps went to summer church camp. The decision to take ministerial training was a gradual one which was made during college after much consideration of vocational possibilities. It was done with serious commitment although at present the exact type of ministry was not certain. At some point there had been a sudden conversion which was prompted by the kind of religious service which stressed a “personal decision for Christ” in order to be “saved”. The theology behind the experience had been rethought and modified, but the experience was regarded as important in the religious development of the person. His theological position was neo-orthodox. He was generally unfamiliar with the characteristics of mystical experience either through experience or reading. The elements which were present were only of low intensity and completeness. Prayer was regarded as important and some kind of private devotional life was practiced in addition to public worship, which was usually moderately meaningful. Sense of sin was moderately well developed. Moralism was low. There was openness to the possibility of a meaningful religious experience through the use of psilocybin. Apprehension about participation was moderate. Suggestibility was high.

California Psychological Inventory Data

Certain categories of the California Psychological Inventory were chosen as most relevant for matching subjects whom it was hoped would have similar natural inclination for the mystical state of consciousness. The assumption was made that psychological makeup would have something to do with the potentiality for such experiences. The categories which were used in matching are listed in Table 2 which gives a summary of the range of scores, median score, and average score for each category. As a whole the medians and averages were all between 55 and 63 except for socialization and self control which were just below 50. There were more scores above 50 than below and not too many extremely high or low scores. The majority of scores were between 40 and 60. Self acceptance had the most scores above 60. Flexibility had the widest range (37–79).

The data in Tables 1 and 2 plus the general impression from the two-hour interview were used in matching the twenty subjects into ten pairs. The categories listed under past religious experience were given the most weight, especially the more mystical elements, conversion or vocation decision experience, vocational commitment and devotional life. Next in importance were the categories under religious background. Categories under general psychological makeup and scores on the California Psychological Inventory were not given as much weight in the matching decisions. The general impression of the person by the interviewer also played a significant part, especially where the other data did not indicate a clear cut match. The pairings were done mostly on the basis of subjective impressions by the interviewer, because he scored the pre-drug questionnaires, but were done before the administration of the drug. The initial impressions which the volunteers gave were confirmed, rather than changed, by subsequent interviews.