28 Sept 2026
Are Spiritual Insights on Psychedelics Bull$#!* or What?
On September 21 — just a week ago — Rolling Stone published, “Inside the New Psychedelic Awakening. (https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/psychedelic-spiritual-awakening-religion-1235627865/)” The article, written by the journalist Claire Hoffman, focuses on one question:
Are psychedelics starting a religious revival?
The idea that drugs could cause real religious experiences might seem comical to some people, & fair enough. But for many who have done psychedelics, it’s no joke.
In fact, a scientific paper that helped kickstart the “psychedelic renaissance” (https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/psychedelic-spiritual-awakening-religion-1235627865/) made the argument in its title: “Psilocybin Can Occasion Mystical-Type Experiences Having Substantial and Sustained Personal Meaning and Spiritual Significance.”
So what gives?
Why do people trust the spiritual insights from psychedelics?
&, just as important, why do they doubt them?
Chapters
(00:00) Intro
(04:20) Alex’s story, part 1
(08:05) The feeling of knowing.
(12:35) The absurdity of the mythic.
(18:30) Alex’s story, part 2
Notes
Alexandra’s episode: “Why Did I Cut Myself? Therapist Meets Hidden Self with Psychedelics”
Ravi’s episode: “Did Psychedelics Break My Brain?”
Citations:
James, William. The Varieties of Religious Experience. Digireads.com, 2004. Reference for James’s description of the “noetic quality” of mystical experience.
Cole-Turner, Ron. “Psychedelic Epistemology: William James and the ‘Noetic Quality’ of Mystical Experience.” Religions 12, no. 12 (2021): 1058. Source for James’s noetic quality & how the concept is used in current research.
Hoffman, Claire. “Inside the New Psychedelic Awakening.” Rolling Stone, September 21, 2026. Source for concept of a psychedelic religious revival & support of the notion that “Psilocybin Can Occasion Mystical-Type Experiences Having Substantial and Sustained Personal Meaning and Spiritual Significance” was a catalyst for the psychedelic renaissance.
Edits: To focus this episode’s themes and narrative, we cut down our guests’ analysis, observations, narrativizations, & story. We also cut all of Alex’s questions & comments. Other edits are limited to dead space, audio blemishes, unnecessary words, & unessential content. We consulted with our guests during the original production of these edits, & they approved of the flow.
Theme song: Secret Wilderness’ theme song is “Winter Solstice” by Löwenzahnhonig. Released by Inselgruppe, published by A Tree in a Field.
Other music: We used additional tracks covered by our Artlist subscription.
Other sounds: We used the tracks:
“Early morning sun ruse at Cocha Cashu research station in Peru.mp3 by pmarcush -- https://freesound.org/s/555536/ -- License: Creative Commons 0”
“Generic Censor Tone by deleted_user_3656686 -- https://freesound.org/s/245892/ -- License: Creative Commons 0”
“Car Crash by squareal -- https://freesound.org/s/237375/ -- License: Creative Commons 0”
“Police highway chase - car theft_kevman.wav by Kevin_Manickam -- https://freesound.org/s/513248/ -- License: Creative Commons 0”
