DMT: A Religious Model with Rick Strassman M.D.

Current models for the spiritual properties of the psychedelic drug state emphasize the bottom up neurotheological paradigm. In addition, the unitive-mystical state-a formless, ego-free, ecstatic experience, free of verbal content-has become the goal of the psychedelic experience both within the academic and lay communities. The challenges presented by DMT’s effects led me to develop a top-down, theistic model in which the interactive-relational experience attains co-equality with the unitive-mystical. This model also suggests the potential utility of the Hebrew Bible as a uniquely Western tool for understanding and integrating the spiritual properties of the psychedelic drug state.