Sacred and Profane
How Psychedelics Help Men Engage with Spirituality
This article is from my Men + Mushrooms research project accompanying my MSc Psychedelics: Mind, Medicine and Culture degree course at The University of Exeter, UK.
‘How Psychedelics Help Men Engage with Spiriutality’ debuted on US university Boston College’s London campus, as at its Psychology and the Other 2024 conference.
I’d be delighted to discuss themes from Men + Mushrooms at upcoming events. Get in touch here and find out more about me here.
Why are men exploring spirituality with psychedelics?
Men in crisis – on acid
Today’s psychedelic revival happens while men face challenges:
Precarious masculinity
Men’s issues, ranging from chronic unemployment to personal violence, cost the USA alone $500billion annually (Seidler et al., 2017).
Three times more men’s lives end in “deaths of despair” (Pattee & Farber, 2008). Male suicide is a global concern (Naghavi, 2016).
Attainting Western standards denoting successful masculinity is less likely now: plus, once achieved, any status is more “precarious” to maintain, affecting male health (Vandello et al., 2023).
No more heroes?
Trends like infantilisation suggest a need for male role models (Reeves, 2022).
Additionally norms always evolve and masculinity too (Bridges & Pascoe 2014; Connor et al, 2021).
Besides socially desirable feminised approaches, fresh male archetypes are emerging (Reeves, 2022; Walsh, 2010) alongside the psychedelic revival (Springer, 2023). Some adopt spiritual and mystic approaches to issues presented by the ‘male crisis’, helping redefine notions of success and meaning.
Gaining strength through god(s)
Psychedelic experiences cater for men’s spiritual and wellbeing needs:
Mystical experiences assist psychedelic therapy
Psychedelic treatments, considered promising by healthcare, share characteristics with therapeutic approaches recommended for men (Seidler et al., 2023).
Spiritual characteristics of the psychedelic experience played a major role in mental health breakthroughs among patients with treatment resistant depression (TRD) in medical trials (Griffiths, 2006; McDaniel, 2017; Palitsky et al., 2023).
Men’s wellbeing, psychedelic effects + spiritual benefits align
Psychedelics aside, men seek to address spiritual needs in general (Men's Health, 2020; The Guardian, 2022; NHS, 2022; THEOS, 2022).
But more men leave clinical mindfulness programs before completion (Landau & Jones 2021), plus men benefit less from them overall (Ford et al, 2020).
However, schoolboys engaged more successfully with adapted mindfulness programs (Kang, 2018) suggesting tailored masculine approaches have potential to improve services.
Men search for meaning, connection, self-esteem...
‘Meaning-making’, a sense of direction or purpose, is believed key to men’s mental health (Brown et al., 2023). It’s also among masculine needs shown to benefit from the psychedelic experience. Likewise, senses of: connection, self-compassion, embodiment, and enchantment (Ko et al., 2022; Rabinowitz, 2017; Seidler et al., 2023).
Defined as a sense of purpose, ‘Meaning-making’ can be stimulated by spiritual and religious practices (Park, 2013).
Many men choose psychedelics over talk therapy
Psychedelic ceremonies with spiritual themes like ayahuasca rituals attract and retain higher proportions of men than therapy services (Palmer & Maynard, 2022). Archaeological evidence of psychedelic use in South America dates to 3500BC.
Clinical frameworks for integrating spiritual and religious beliefs emerging from, or prior to, psychedelic therapies are used legitamtely (Kamboj et al, 2015; Sjöstedt-Hughes, 2023).
How do men benefit by exploring spirituality with psychedelics?
Knights of the Jaguar
Psychedelic experiences illuminate mystical paths to modern manhood:
Bottom-up metaphysics
Sanitised ‘new age’ spiritualities fail men just like simplistic therapy narratives do (Spiers, 2022).
Organically-acquired faith in, for example, Amerindian cosmology adapted during ayahuasca use, personal Christian adaptations, or the neo-pagan revival, can claim theological authenticity (Whitehead & Letcher, 2023), especially so in comparison to ‘new age’ platitudes.
Rediscovering visionary tradition
‘Shamanism’ is a problematic Western construct. But psychedelic heritage almost always refers to visionary tradition (Williams et al., 2022).
A British example is visionary poet and artist William Blake (Jerusalem, The Tyger) used by clinical psychologist Carol Leader (2015) to guide clients.
Mysticism is an evolutionary marker…
Widespread popularity of the Dune movies for example shows an interest in complex, subjective, spiritual philosophies (Crickmore, 2023).
Ritual participation increases placebo effects and mating chances, plus cultivates senses of belonging and community connection (Boyer, 2001; Kettner et al., 2019; Nesse & Williams 1994; via Orsolini et al., 2017).
Prophecy of the Eagle + Condor
Amazonian tradition insists on localised relational cosmologies, supporting hyper-national, intensely personal interpretations of psychedelic animism (Bournemann et al 2021; Engel et al 2022; Thal et al., 2022; Turkia 2022; Stengers & Bononno, 2010).
This tradition already occurs: Westerners name/give spirits to EG their cars (Doroud et al., 2018; Harvey, 2019).
Decolonising Masculinity
Psychedelic spirituality helps men thrive by encouraging new and diverse successful identities:
Psychedelics encourage self-exploration
Under psychedelics men can examine male stereotypes, developing new strategies on individual terms (Petersen et al., 2022).
Psychedelics aid confusion around identity and social roles during these ‘liminal times’ (Bhatt & Wiseman, 2024; Roseman et al., 20021).
Interpretations of nature religions provide inspiration (Feraro, 2022, 2023a & 2023b).
Beyond cucks and chads
Decolonisation, taken in a psychedelic sense, can be a metaphor for shedding entrenched belief systems (Hauskeller et al., 2023).
A decolonised psychedelic framework, such as that currently only available through traditional or ‘underground’ practicioners, permits the exploration of concepts, identities, strategies and cognition outside of rigid, Western, post-Enlightenment dualism (Hauskeller et al., 2023; Whitehead & Letcher, 2023).
Decolonise yourself
‘Decolonisation of the self’ is a lifelong process of growth, towards a personal vision, aligning values and relationships (Matahela & van Rensburg 2023; Shields, 2008).
Decolonisation initiatives amongst South African hopsital workers led to wider appreciation and wiser choices (Jooste & Frantz 2017) – AKA ‘sense making’ an external form of ‘meaning-making’ also sought after amongst Western men.
A lived experience of our own
Indigenous values seen as desirable to some men also include primacy of ‘knowledge how’ or first hand experience (Dev, 2018), supported by cognitive science (Wallis 2008; Devitt 2011; Roth & Cummins 2011).
Psychedelic tradition also promotes masculine values correlating with widespread prosocial norms: for example ‘Heart’ in a neo-shamanistic context equates to authenticity and sincerity (Hill, 2015).
What can go wrong when men explore their spirituality with psychedelics?
Bum Trips
What happens when the high wears off:
Can you play with madness?
The same authority that criminalised psychedelic use because it caused insanity and social withdrawal, wants to use it to cure our mental ill health and increase productivity.
Identity hijack, epistemicide and epistemic injustice (Hauskeller, 2023; Heggen & Berg, 2021; Schultz, 2008).
Chasing the unicorn
‘Peak’ mystical experience is rare: we must avoid tendency to chase, demand, or mandate it (Ko et al., 2022).
Platitudinous jargon abounds (Carharrt-Harris & Friston, 2019; Crane, 2022; Davies et al., 2023; Hauskeller, 2022; Yaden, 2020).
This is not what the divine feminine looks like (Crane, 2022; Erlam, 2019; Yakushko, 2021). Ersatz 'pharmahuasca' is a clinical, ethical and theological affront (Fotiou, 2019; Tupper & Labate, 2015).
Reification/deification fad trivialises, deceives, self-deceives, exploits, breaks law (Breen, 2023; Boseley, 2016; Celidwen et al., 2023; Gerber et al., 2021; Hillberg, 2021).
Where is this psychedelic renaissance anyway?
The medical debate is already suffocated by inevitable academic hot air (Letcher, 2023).
Group LSD therapy research concludes psychological interventions were often required before transpersonal elements as per Grof validating role for existing services (Oehen & Glasser, 2022).
Faith healing for the mental health crisis?
Clinical language comparable to spiritualism (Yaden, 2020, ch14 pp4) – is that any change (Smail, 1987) – ?
Perceived supernatural treatment aspects require better management (Carharrt-Harris & Friston, 2019). Current fallout includes ‘fake’ Western ‘shamans’ (Churchill, 2010; Singh, 2018), abuse at ceremonies, and in the treatment rooms (Peluso et al., 2020).
…and Recolonising Masculinity
Psychedelics may not provide the answers for men:
No brave new world
Goodwill towards psychedelic culture will inevitably fade (Harvey & Wilkinson, 2007; Yaden et al., 2022) and tensions fester as adjustments are made and social norms violated (Petersen et al., 2022).
Implicit norms are inevitable leading to epistemic conflict (Davis, 2022; Hauskeller, 2022 & 2023; Hauskeller et al., 2023).
Back to the office
“Negative externalities of luxury communism,” are near-inescapable (Davis, 2010; Fisher, 2011 & 2022).
It’s not men themselves who insist on capitalist patriarchal systems (Petersen et al., 2022) and the plantation always needs more bodies (Ouma & Premchander, 2022).
What’s the future of men’s psychedelic spirituality?
Holding space for the lads
How psychedelics can benefit more men:
True initiation still awaits
What to do about the woo, the frisson and the forca? (Carharrt-Harris & Friston, 2019; Whitehead & Letcher, 2023; Sadowska, 2020 & 2022).
Diverse psychedelic approaches are required to fulfil any clinical potential (Thal et al., 2023).
Can metaphysics provide further frameworks? Or is exploring spirituality best left to religious professionals (Cheung & Yaden, 2024)?
Merry pranksters outlawed
Inexperienced WEIRD clinicians present challenges (Nielson & Guss, 2018; Phelps, 2017 & 2019).
Black disengagement may or may not be due to cultural unfamiliarity (Smith et al., 2021) and racial disconnect (George et al., 2020). UK thought leaders encourage bottom-up education (Springer, 2023).
No more B-word (Smith, 2024)! What does a psychedelic ceremony for the bloke next door look like? Further study is required.
From:
Psychology and the Other
Boston College, Northeastern University, London 2024
‘How Psychedelic Treatments Can Help Men Engage with Spirituality’
More:
I’m Steve Langsford Beale, recently MSc. Psychol. (GMBPsS). I’m a journalist and magazine editor: this has included working in what are considered ‘male spaces’ like magazines Arena, Homme Plus and FHM, for menswear brands Stone Island and Ben Sherman, plus in the sport of mixed martial arts (not competing).
Here’s my website and work email plus a sample piece on how to talk to your boss about mental health in Mr Porter Journal. By all means hit me up on LinkedIn. The especially intrigued can read this interview with me by Harriet Sheperd on Resident Advisor.
I blog about my psychedelic studies here at newpsychonaut.com and via @newpsychonaut. All emails go to the same place but get in touch about psychedelic stuff via steve@newpsychonaut.com.