Historical Shifts
Ancient Eleusis and Modern Psychedelic Integration Groups
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Walter Ward
Birmingham, AL (USA) is home to a psychedelic integration group that meets every Wednesday to discuss the intersection of psychedelics, spirituality, religion, and personal growth. It was founded as an outgrowth of therapy sessions involving psychedelics, such as ketamine, psilocybin, LSD, and MDMA; however, as the group has evolved, there has been an increasing focus on spirituality and religion. Some members of the group are intensely interested in the ancient use of psychedelic substances, seeking inspiration from a number of sources. For example, they cite Road to Eleusis, which first proposed a connection between the Greek mystery cult at Eleusis and the potential use of psychedelic substances, and The Immortality Key, which argues that early Christianity adopted the psychedelic Eleusinian potion as the eucharist. My research focuses on why members of this psychedelic integration group are so interested in ancient examples of psychedelic use (whether these examples are factual or modern inventions is unimportant for this project). I recruited several members of this community to conduct interviews on this subject. I am curious about several issues. For example, do these participants see the putative ancient examples as a justification for their own use of psychedelics? Are they seeking a new paradigm in which to practice the faith in which they were raised? Are they seeking alternatives to their faith? Have they had a psychedelic experience that they thought connected them to ancient psychedelic use?
“Le Devoir de Décolonisation”: The Catholic Church and the Politics of Colonialism and Decolonization in France (1900-1954)
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Didier Course
This paper explores the politics of the French Catholic Church in the larger context of the French colonial empire in Africa during the first half of the 20th century. Between the religious ideals and the concept of the “civilizing hand,” the Catholic Church became paradoxically the porte-parole of a French order that was based on an anticlerical and socialist concept of the Republic. The religious calling of several generations of clerics was used to promote the double political objective of serving both the Catholic agenda and the agenda of the French Republic: proselytism and imperialism. But, on February 23, 1954, in response to an invitation from the Catholic organization Pax Christi, Father Joseph Michel (1912-1996), a Spiritan and professor at the Institut Catholique in Paris, gave a guest lecture with a provocative title, Le devoir de décolonisation (The obligation to decolonize), for a course on rue de Varennes in Paris. The father’s views represented a complete departure from the vision of the first primate of Africa and Archbishop of Carthage and Algiers, Cardinal Charles Lavigerie (1825-1892) who “ wanted all Africa for France”. Father Joseph Michel, with the realism of a young historian has arrived at a very different conclusion.: “Missionaries entered a system where slavery was the basis” (J. Michel, “Le devoir de décolonisation”).
Courage in Vulnerability as a Psychological Quality and Civic Virtue
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Ivana Ryška Vajdová
Fragility and vulnerability are motifs in both religion and depth psychology. It doesn't mean that psychology is an evolutionary stage of religion, since these are distinct domains. However, both reflect aspects of human existence that are overlooked in a society oriented on performance and dominance. While in religion, the human vulnerability crystallizes in the notion of "mortal" and fragility in the notion of „sinner,“ psychoanalysis faces the problem of sensitivity, which is a component of reflection and a necessary condition of personal development, and with the problem of complexity, which demands a constant seeking and renewing mental balance. I look at the topic of fragility and vulnerability from a point of view that synthesizes the above-mentioned moments. Through the connected perspective of philosophy, depth psychology and the history of religion, we examine what can be called “courage in vulnerability.” On a social level it manifests itself as the ability to ask a question sincerely, admit mistake and to forgive. Although these are the basic elements of an interpersonal relationship with a curative psychological effect, they are suppressed in the field of politics, economics and social networks, i.e. in the areas that fundamentally determine our life.
Strength Through Song: How Crypto-Jews in the American Southwest Maintained Their Religious Identity Through Music
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Cara Schreffler
As Spain colonized the southwestern areas of North America, Conversos, Jewish citizens who converted to Catholicism to maintain citizenship and avoid the Spanish Inquisition, moved in significant numbers to these areas. Many of the Conversos who undertook this journey were Crypto-Jews, a group who maintained their Judaic practices, culture, and identity in secret to avoid persecution. In the 1600s, a significant number of Crypto-Jews settled in what is now the American state of New Mexico. Several forms of music in this region, including Ladino musics and the romancero and villancico song genres, helped Crypto-Jews maintain their Jewish identity. These musics also help contemporary scholars track the historical movement and modern expression of this vulnerable ethnoreligious group. Many of these musical practices are still performed, and the music, as well as other cultural expressions, has blended with those of other culture groups in the area, creating a unique expression of cultural identity. This paper discusses how the musics of the Crypto-Jewish community in the southwestern region of the United States reflect, express, maintain, sustain, and transmit their identity.
