Epilogue

To comment first of all on the preceding chapter, it should be clearly understood that we make no judgment as to whether confrontation or union with a literal God has occurred in the experiences described. Such a determination could have no foundation other than our own wishes and personal beliefs. No more could we make such a judgment were we present with a Saint Theresa in her cell or a Saint Francis of Assisi in the chapel. Only within the accepted limitations of our phenomenologi-cal approach do we say that some of these experiences are "authentic."

But if we cannot say of the psychedelic journey that God certainly is waiting to welcome each voyager, still it should be clear that this experience holds out the promise of rewards of incalculable value. Can there be any justified doubt, for example, that we have been describing regions of mind and states of consciousness hitherto inaccessible or accessible only very rarely and under conditions hardly favorable to careful study? We think there can be no such doubt and that we have done what we said at the outset we would do—"make credible our belief that the psychedelic drugs afford the best access yet to the con-tents and processes of the human mind."

Do these dugs then promise discoveries about mind as important and far-reaching in their ultimate effects as have been the revolutionary findings of this century conceming the physical universe? At the very least, the promise is so great that every effort should be made to deter-mine whether, with the new psycho-chemicals, we now have the means of exploring and charting the whole or large segments of the human psyche, or a tool of more limited application. 'That the right kind of research will, in any case, yield rewards of very great value seems to us absolutely certain.

The question thus arises: Shall this potential slip from our grasp, or its realization be for long delayed, because of unwarranted restrictions imposed on the basis of excessive caution or for reasons even less worthy? Or shall we work out a practical program of research with essential safeguards provided, but without the crippling limitation of control by a single profession whose members necessarily are ignorant in many of the areas where psychedelic work could be most fruitful? Overcoming the psychedelic drug status quo with its unrealistic prohibitions and mis-understandings will be very difficult; but surely the effort should be made.

As regards our own work, it has been pioneering and therefore is crude and tentative, as such work has to be. Had legal restrictions not blocked its continuance, refinement and perhaps some additional and altered conclusions would have been possible. As it is, we must present only partial findings—with the hope that others will be able to use our work as a foundation upon which to build.

Nonetheless, we have thought a book warranted at this time. For one thing, there has not existed up to now a single realistic work detailing an approach to guiding drug sessions or providing any theoretical basis for psychedelic work that is grounded in the psychedelic experience itself. These we have sought to provide, and now it remains for others to test our approach and attempt to repeat our results in their own work. We look forward to learning the outcome of any and all such efforts.

We want to mention, too, that we hope we have established the very great importance and challenge of the eidetic images and the need to study them exhaustively both within the context of the psychedelic drug-state and outside it. Most curiously, the importance of these images has been all but overlooked by most workers, and the symbolic dramas have been ignored or 'barely mentioned by writers with whose work we are familiar. If these images and dramas still are but little understood, at least we now have a much better understanding of their potential value for the psychedelic subject.

The revolution in the study of mind is at hand. The Varieties of Psychedelic Experience may suggest that that revolution can effect an evolution of mind also. For we doubt that extensive work in this area can fail to result in eventually pushing human consciousness beyond its present limitations and on towards capacities not yet realized and per-haps undreamed of.