Normally, I would not have gone to a seminar about sacramental plants and fungi, but when the people within the group I was with heard that Richard Rohr was on the panel, we all decided to go hear what he had to say on the subject.
While sitting through this seminar, others, including Richard Rohr, discussed how, in 1993, psychedelics were used for treating OCD and depression, but then the thought came up of “what happens to happy normals take psychedelics”. The answer was finding meaning in transcending our sense of self. But the main interest is connecting psychedelics and the church. The panel went into how psychedelics have helped people encounter God in very deep and powerful ways. One of the panelists stated she had experienced a range of emotions of joy, an awe of wonder, grandeur, majesty, and she had cried and cried some more. The final experience she had was this feeling of rest and in communion with God. The goal is not the religious experience of this but this needs to be implemented into religious life.
Others talked about their experiences taking psychedelics, but the takeaway was there were changes in the ways how they taught and spoke; there’s a need to train clergy within the use of psychedelics, there needs to be psychedelic chaplaincy, psychedelic assistant therapy, and other people creating resources for other Christians to help them achieve this experience.
Richard Rohr then spoke, stating that he loves the scriptures and teaches the scriptures but that we pay the price for not paying attention to nature. We live in a world where religious experience is expected and is seen as sacramental. He then stated that when the whole world becomes sacramental, we should use psilocybin. Experiences with plant medicine shouldn’t be seen as something scary or wrong. It has been given and should be made known. That all we need is a mystical moment and then it becomes experiential.
The Truth of the Matter:
No offense, Richard Rohr, but someone who is well-kept within the scriptures should know that 1 Peter 5:8-9 states, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.” The key word here is to be of sober mind. So, what does being of sober mind mean?
Titus 2:12 defines this by stating, “Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world.” Meaning we should not be as the world is. As Christians, we should think clearly, not having anything come into our bodies and influence our thinking or judgment.
Here, on the other hand, we have people saying to experience God, you need to take psychedelics to get the fullness of him. Ephesians 3:19 states, “and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” Meaning if you believe Jesus is Lord and Savior, then you are already filled with his love and the fullness of him. Meaning you don’t need to take something to experience God. John 15:4-5 states, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” This means that as long as we abide in Christ, we experience his fullness, and it will show by seeking him, letting him guide and making him Lord over your life
