![dmt the spirit molecule dmt the spirit molecule](https://www.alexgrey.com/art-images/DMT---The-Spirit-Molecule-2000-Alex-Grey-watermarked.jpg)
There is intense friction between what we know intellectually or even intuitively, and what we experience with the aid of DMT. This approach will satisfy no one in every respect. Harman said firmly, “At the very least, we must enlarge the discussion about psychedelics.” It is in response to his request that I include highly speculative ideas and my own personal motivations for performing this research. Mitchell’s mystical experience, stimulated by viewing the Earth on his return home, inspired him to study phenomena outside the range of traditional science, which, nevertheless, might yield to a broader application of the scientific method.ĭuring a long walk together along the central California coastal range one day, Dr. When I met him 30 years later in 1994, he was President of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, an organization founded by the sixth man to walk on the moon, Edgar Mitchell. Earlier in his career, Willis had published the first and only scientific study using psychedelics to enhance the creative process. The late Willis Harman possessed one of the most discerning minds to apply himself to the field of psychedelic research. Based upon what we learned in the New Mexico research, I offer a wide-ranging vision for DMT’s role in our lives, and conclude by proposing a research agenda and optimal setting for future work with DMT and related drugs. Despite the difficulties we encountered, I am optimistic about the possible benefits of the controlled use of these drugs. Problems inside and outside of the research environment led to the end of these studies in 1995. I hope these many excerpts from over 1000 pages of my bedside notes provide a sense of the remarkable emotional, psychological, and spiritual effects of this chemical. On the other hand, I have written nearly nothing about the volunteers’ stories.
![dmt the spirit molecule dmt the spirit molecule](https://d28hgpri8am2if.cloudfront.net/book_images/onix/cvr9781594773426/dmt-and-the-soul-of-prophecy-9781594773426.jpg)
The project generated a wealth of biological and psychological data, much of which I have already published in the scientific literature. The studies were not intended to be therapeutic, although all of us believed in the potentially beneficial properties of psychedelic drugs. Our research subjects were healthy volunteers. It then traces the DMT research project from its earliest intimations through a maze of committees and review boards to its actual performance.
![dmt the spirit molecule dmt the spirit molecule](https://www.porchlightbooks.com/globalassets/book-covers/9781801123389.jpg)
“DMT: The Spirit Molecule” reviews what we know about psychedelic drugs in general, and DMT in particular. One of these was a decade-long relationship with a Zen Buddhist training monastery. However, my own background powerfully affected how we prepared people for, and supervised, their drug sessions. The DMT project was founded on cutting-edge brain science, especially the psychopharmacology of serotonin.
![dmt the spirit molecule dmt the spirit molecule](https://covers.audiobooks.com/images/covers/full/9781094298641.jpg)
Only later, while the study was well under way, did I also begin considering DMT’s role in the “alien abduction” experience. These states might include birth, death and near-death, psychosis, and mystical experiences. Perhaps excessive DMT production, coming from the mysterious pineal gland, was involved in naturally occurring “psychedelic” states. I was drawn to DMT because of its presence in all of our bodies. This research took place at the University of New Mexico’s School of Medicine in Albuquerque, where I was a tenured Associate Professor of Psychiatry. During the project’s five years, I administered approximately 400 doses of DMT to 60 human volunteers. These studies investigated the effects of N,N-dimethyltryptamine, or DMT, an extremely short-acting and powerful psychedelic. In 1990, I began the first new human research with psychedelic, or hallucinogenic, drugs in the United States in over 20 years.