ABSTRACT
In some texts, gnosis, understood as "knowledge of the self," was conflated with "knowledge of God," which was discussed using the image of a "divine spark" that had become trapped in matter and, when "redeemed," returned to its divine source. The "gnostic impulse" within psychedelic discourses is difficult to ignore. Psychedelic states become moments of redemption when gnosis is experienced. These moments are thought about in a number of ways, not least as an awakening from the sleep of ignorance. Arguably the most influential psychedelic thesis was posited by Aldous Huxley in his seminal The Doors of Perception. As far as Timothy Leary was concerned, the psychedelic revolution was the latest moment in a long history which included the "Gnostics" and "hermetics". For some, such as Leary, psychedelic experiences should be understood as "thought-forms made visible and audible," "radiances of your own intellect," none of which "exist in reality," but "only within your skull.".
