government surveys indicate that about 8 percent of the general population has used psychedelics. In his book The New Buddhism: The Western Transformation of an Ancient Tradition (Oxford University Press, 2001), he states that sixty-two percent of the Buddhist practitioners he surveyed had used psychedelics. According to sociologist James Coleman, there is a significant correlation between psychedelic use and Buddhist practice. Zig Zag Zen harkens back to the psychedelic experimentation of the 1960s and 1970s, when many of today's prominent western meditation teachers and artists began to explore the expansion of consciousness and investigate other ways of knowing and being. It uses a newer, more descriptive name for psychedelics - entheogens (en=inner, theo=spirit/god, gen=creation) - a term that acknowledges the capacity of certain substances to reveal the inner sacred spirit that is generated within the mind/body phenomena. The book is a cornucopia of art, essays, and interviews that explore the influence that psychedelics have had on well-known artists and meditation teachers, as well as the ways in which those experiences serve as gateways to deeper religious understanding. It is in this loaded context that Zig Zag Zen: Buddhism and Psychedelics, arrives to challenge the widespread misperceptions about drug use, and to reassess the contribution that the psychedelic experience can make to spiritual inquiry. The current political culture has made the legal consequences of psychedelic drug use so draconian that any reasonable public experimentation with them either by citizens or scientists is impossible. Drug crimes often get harsher punishments than violent assaults, rapes, or murders. The Economist reported in 2002 that the United States locks up nearly 175 out of every 100,000 Americans for drug-related offenses. For over thirty years, due to drug policy politics, it has not been possible to explore the wise use of psychedelics. The normative consensual status quo has been so threatened by psychedelics that they have instead been outlawed and demonized. The contribution they have made in opening revolutionary vistas in art, music, ecology, religion, community, and politics should be honored. © Institute of Labor and Mental Health, Jan/Feb 2004 Psychedelics were the most important paradigm shifting catalyst for the baby boomer generation. Michael Ziegler is a rabbi who leads Shir Hashirim Minyan in Berkeley, CA.
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