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of it" by directing hostility toward him or by leaving him alone. The therapist can teach
only be example. An LSD session spent in being ill or in being psychotic is much less
rewarding than one spent constructively but as Gibran (20) has pointed out "Even those
who limp go not backwards". Subsequent sessions may lead to much more profitable
experiences.
Chapter 17. STAGES IN THE EXPERIENCE
V DISCUSSION
While discussion is an important development in both individual and group
experiences, the group experience presents wider scope. The nature of the discussion
will depend upon the personalities of the participants. The importance of this period lies
in the fact that the subject, having gained a level of self-acceptance and acceptance of
others can learn a great deal through the association that this period permits. He is
actually learning how to relate to others at a new level a level based on self-
understanding an unashamed trust of his deepest emotions. He is learning about other
ways of feeling and of sensing the world. Music is extremely useful in this learning
process. Each person tends to hear music in his own way and in a group setting once the
empathic bond has been established each person hears the music in a manner which is
influenced to some degree by the others in the experience. The subject can learn that by
blending his perception of the music with that of the other participants, the enjoyment of
all is enhanced. This fusion of points of view or ways of feeling is mot readily
observable in the perception of music, but having observed the phenomenon in that
particular situation, the person can more readily understand the possibility of generalizing
this knowledge and capacity to all other aspects of the experience and hence to his day
interpersonal relations.
The nature of what is likely to be learned through the experience offers a guide to
profitable areas of discussion. The commonly reported areas of experience which
Chwelos (13) has enumerated have been mentioned earlier. These include a feeling of
being at one with the universe; changes in the perception of time and space; enhancement
in the sensory fields, a feeling of profundity of understanding which engenders
conviction; increased emotional sensitivity leading to a widening of the range of emotion;
an increased tendency to emotional fluctuation; and increased sensitivity to the emotions
of others.
These changes are closely related. The alteration in the self-concept and the
depersonalization to which it gives rise may be a result of changes in the perception of
space and time. In any case, they appear to vary concomitantly. Depersonalization, by
altering the self-concept, permits objective self-assessment and when coupled with
apparent freedom in space and time brings one to a sense of unity with the infinite.
Further, this reduction of the self, which has hitherto been the basic referent for all
sensation and ideation permits both a remarkable enhancement in the sensing of the non-
self and a new profundity and range in ideation which the self-concept has previously
tended to circumscribe and modify. So vast and so intense is the experience that the
emotional responses engendered cover the spectrum of affect and appear because of the
time distortion to shift with remarkable rapidity.
It is important to realize, with regard to the points which follow, that the feeling
of reality which accompanies the experience are often remarkably vivid. Where this is
the case, the ideas outlined below, once arrived at, are accepted with an intense
conviction.
The person's individuality tends to break down. He begins through the
breakdown and synthesis of usual gestalts, to see through the subject upon which he
happens to be concentrating, into the microcosm and into the macrocosm. Because his
thinking is analogical he can see the same pattern of extension in all things. Each object
or person has an infinite number of aspects.
He becomes aware that he too, is part of this pattern of infinity and that the barrier
to awareness of this fact has been his accustomed sense of self. This realization renders
complete self-acceptance much easier than it otherwise would be.
The objectivity toward the usual self-concept which depersonalization occasions,
permits him to examine his relationship to others without any defensive screening. He
begins to learn that self concern, implying as it does a feeling of some insufficiency in the
self, is synonymous with anxiety and tends not only to isolate him from others but also to
make him distinctly uncomfortable.
Complete self-acceptance on the other hand, which implies complete faith in his
infinite nature, not only permits him to feel very closely with others and to understand
them more completely than he ever has before, but also produces in him feelings of
content and well-being.
He comes to the realization that faith and anxiety are mutually exclusive. They
cannot be experienced at the same time. Chwelos (13) in discussing this area of
experience states of the subject:
He then sees that lack of faith, or acceptance that he is essentially infinite, is the
exact counterpart of anxiety --. He also sees that guilt is disrupting in that it is a denial of
the infinite self which is the same for everyone. This equalizing tends to remove any
form of pride, prejudice, guilt or anxiety. The person then sees that faith, which is the
acceptance of himself as infinite, and love, which is the acceptance that everything
around him, is equal to him in substance, in the clue to a smooth, pleasant, useful LSD
experience. The patient then ceases the tragedy of desiring to be other than he is in
essence and realizes that he can only be other than he is in terms of his acts. The energy
thus released from attempting to alter his basic nature will now be used to alter his acts in
a way which can make his life more peaceful and satisfying and his outlook more
compassionate.
Almost certainly the most valuable knowledge which the subject may attain in the
experience is the realization that his feelings are very largely under his own control.
Generally speaking, our culture accepts the view that one s feelings are determined by
circumstance. In the experience, however, the subject learns that his feelings are
determined by their direction. Self-concern makes him feel badly, outwardly directed
feelings of affection and trust make him feel good. Knowing this, he can feel as he wants
to and can realize the wisdom of Lincoln s statement, a man is just as happy as he makes
up his mind to be . The subject should learn too that the ability to control ones feelings
comes only with practice. As Chwelos (13) puts it: He can feel as he pleases but this
takes some practice, as one learns to walk by walking, so one learns to love by loving .
It is the role of the therapist during this stage to try to discuss and work through
with the subject some of these extremely complex ideas. As a rule, the subject will
broach the ideas himself and the therapist can offer another point of view or aspect of the
problem involved. At times the therapist may feel it wise to introduce a topic for
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