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THE FUTURES OF PSYCHEDELIC RESEARCH «+ 335 We could explore further the hypothesis that Cesarean-born infants are not exposed to a primordial "high-dose DMT session" at birth. In chapter 4 I propose that DMT's absence in their deliveries is responsible for some of the psychological and spiritual difficulties Cesarean-born adults encounter later in life. Different responses to DMT in Cesarean-born adults compared to those born vaginally would support this idea. Con- trolled exposure to DMT in Cesarean-born adults might allow them to partake of the subjective experience of a normal vaginal birth, and there- fore may be remedial. Another series of experiments would give DMT to those who have undergone spontaneous psychedelic experiences, and then ask them to compare the two experiences. Substantial similarity would support a role for endogenous DMT in the original, naturally occurring event. Outside- administered DMT might then provide more controlled access to those states for us to study and utilize more effectively. The simplest of these projects would be to investigate the relationship between DMT and rapid eye movement, or dream, sleep. If giving DMT during sleep caused the immediate onset of typical dreams, this would sup- port a role for naturally produced DMT in this common altered state. If administering DMT reproduced part or all of a particular person's pre- vious spontaneous near-death, enlightenment, or abduction experience, we'd be on firmer ground proposing a role for natural DMT in these experiences. We began approaching the issue of natural and drug-induced enlight- enment with one of our volunteers, Sophie, a forty-two-year-old former nun. She had had a mystical experience during a retreat at her nunnery that the abbess confirmed as genuine. She demonstrated a minimal re- sponse to her high doses of DMT, an exciting initial confirmation of my hypothesis. That is, if DMT were involved in her mystical experience, perhaps her brain had learned to deal with naturally occurring elevated levels by reducing its sensitivity to the spirit molecule. This would be something like tolerance. However, the next volunteer who demonstrated even less of a re- sponse to 0.4 mg/kg DMT seriously challenged this theory. Charles, a thirty-four-year-old bartender, had never meditated a day in his life. In