4 Quotes & Sayings By Rick Doblin

Dr. Rick Doblin is the founder and executive director of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). MAPS is a non-profit with a mission to change the way that psychedelics are perceived by the general public. Dr Read more

Doblin is also the author of The Visionary Experience with LSD: A Doctor's Report on his 25 Years of Prescription Extraction with LSA in 1976, which is based on his book The Psychedelic Experience. He has started more than eighty psychedelic studies worldwide in over 120 locations, with almost 250 subjects receiving more than sixty different substances. Dr. Doblin received his Ph.D in Biopsychology at Harvard University in 1974 under Dr.

Timothy Leary, conducting research into the behavioral effects of psychedelics in human subjects.

1
If we recognize the power of entheogenic substances to open us to the universal truth and full dimension of human experience, and if we accept the role of the shaman as hierophant and psychopomp into this realm, as enacted for example by the Huichol mara'akame, we have to conclude that today in Western society we are deprived of two key resources for complete human growth. Young people, in their hunger for meaning, will still gravitate toward entheogens. The more experienced among us may try to ease their journey, but in the absence of qualified guides not all will benefit from their experience. Rick Doblin
2
Students of the psychedelic realm know that one's expectations are a powerful determinant of the direction, content, and outcome of the experience. So, we should say at the outset that the experiences recounted here were preceded by careful preparation, where the trip was presented as a learning experience and a process of self-discovery. They all took place in safe, supportive environments. They generally did not fit the stereotypical model of teenagers dropping acid at a rock concert, looking for awesome visuals and good vibes. . Rick Doblin
3
We've been told that with regard to seduction, "candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker, " but in truth, rather, properly selected: "candy makes randy; liquor makes desire flicker"; or, as Shakespeare's porter said to Macduff: "[drink] provokes the desire but it takes away the performance." The wines and beers of antiquity, however, which were potent infusions of innumerable psychoactive plants, often requiring dilution with water and in which alcohol served rather as preservative then inebriating active principle. Rick Doblin