Cleansing the Doors of Perception
Subtitle: The Religious Significance of Entheogenic Plants and Chemicals
Publisher: Tarcher
Published: June 1, 2000
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 173
ISBN-13: 9781585420346
Subjects: Anthropology; Botany & plant sciences; Comparative religion; Ethnic studies; Mind, body, spirit: mysticism & self-awareness; Mysticism; Social History; Life Sciences - Botany; Ethnobotany; Science; Body, Mind & Spirit; Religion - Commentaries / Reference; Religious aspects; New Age; History; Sociology of Religion; Religion / General; Hallucinogenic drugs; Hallucinogenic drugs and relig; Hallucinogenic drugs and religious experience
First sentence: This book opens with a description of my first entheogen experience, and - because objective understanding of these substances is the book's primary aim - this leaves me with no alternative but to talk about myself; for there is no direct line from chemical brain states to the experiences they occasion.
Description: "Here is an inquiry into the religious significance of consciousness-magnifying substances, by one of the leading religious thinkers of our time. In Cleansing the Doors of Perception, Huston Smith combines historical insight, personal experience, and an understanding of the cognitive sciences to produce the only comprehensive book written for the general public on the mysterious relation among entheogens, consciousness, and faith."--BOOK JACKET.