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Mystical States volunteers. long and controversial tradition of recommending that any deep spiritual practice include psychedelic sacraments.’ KJne of the most compelling factors fueling my decision to make a career of psychedelic research was the similarity between high-dose psyche- delic experiences and mystical experiences. Years later, it was these types of sessions I hoped to see, study, and understand in our New Mexico DMT The debate regarding the spiritual relevance of psychedelic experi- ences has raged on for as long as people have used these chemicals for their profound psychological effects. For example, books such as The Varieties of Psychedelic Experience make the obvious connection to Will- iam James's early-twentieth-century book The Varieties of Religious Experience. Recently, Entheogens and the Future ofReligion continues a In my early visits to the Zen Buddhist community at which I studied, I raised this question with many of the young American monks. Nearly every- one I asked at this training center answered that psychedelic drugs, especially