PT 605 - Jeff Breau - Exploring Psychedelic Churches at Harvard Divinity School
Psychedelics Today
Psychedelics Today, LLC
4.6 • 598 Ratings
🗓️ 27 May 2025
⏱️ 100 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode of Psychedelics Today, hosts sit down with Jeff Breau from Harvard Divinity School's Center for the Study of World Religions. Key themes include the intersection of psychedelics and religion, harm reduction practices, and the burgeoning psychedelic church movement. Jeff brings insights from his ethnographic research on psychedelic churches and discusses the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration for advancing understanding in this field. He also delves into the role of music in psychedelic therapy, critiques of the Mystical Experience Questionnaire (MEQ), and the potential for psychedelic chaplaincy. Tune in for an enlightening conversation on the evolving landscape of psychedelics in society and spirituality.
00:00 Introduction and Welcome
00:18 Music in Psychedelic Therapy
02:13 Cultural Context of Music in Therapy
06:08 Personal Journey into Psychedelics and Religion
08:40 Living at an Ashram and Spiritual Practices
15:52 Mystical Experience Questionnaire (MEQ)
33:01 Psychedelic Churches and Legal Challenges
46:11 The Intersection of Law and Religion
46:34 Emergence of Psychedelic Churches
48:41 The Democratization of Mystical Experiences
49:49 Technologies of Revelation
51:10 Novel Rituals and Spiritual Practices
53:49 Humor and Irreverence in Religion
56:44 Reevaluating the Term 'Cult'
01:10:11 Psychedelic Chaplaincy and Spiritual Care
01:18:44 Burning Man as a Model for Religiosity
01:22:43 The Rise of Iboga in American Christianity
01:25:56 Conclusion and Future Directions
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, everybody and welcome back to you psychedelics today. |
| 0:05.0 | This is Joe Moore. And today on the show we have Jeffrey Brof. Hello, everybody, and welcome back to you psychedelics today. |
| 0:21.2 | This is Joe Moore. |
| 0:22.6 | And today on the show, we have Jeffrey Bro from the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard Divinity School. |
| 0:31.0 | Just like last week, I was able to record this program in Jeffrey's office. |
| 0:36.2 | At Harvard, it was great. |
| 0:39.6 | Jeffrey is the program lead for the Center's Psychedelics and Spirituality Program and a social science researcher |
| 0:44.4 | focusing on contemporary psychedelic churches and psychedelic chaplaincy. Jeffrey is conducting |
| 0:50.8 | a multi-year ethnography of novel psychedelic churches in the United States. |
| 0:56.2 | The study explores these communities, ritual practices, theology, social structures, and approaches |
| 1:01.8 | to safety. Jeffrey also researches psychedelic chaplaincy. In that capacity, he is a member |
| 1:06.7 | of the Academy and Chaplaincy Advisory Group at Brigham and Women's Faulkner Hospital, where he |
| 1:12.3 | formerly completed an internship providing ketamine integration chaplaincy. Jeffrey is also a project |
| 1:18.8 | affiliated researcher of pulse, psychedelic use, law, and spiritual experience at the Petrie Flom |
| 1:25.1 | Center for Health and Law Policy, Biotechnology and Bioethics at Harvard Law School. |
| 1:31.3 | He received his MDIV from Harvard Divinity School in 2024. |
| 1:35.8 | Jeffrey co-founded the annual Psychedelic Intersections Conference and organizes among other programs |
| 1:41.7 | to workshop series at CSWR, psychedelics and ethics, and psychedelics |
| 1:46.9 | and the future of religion. He has published on intention setting rituals in new psychedelic communities |
| 1:52.3 | and on the Hindu origins of the mystical experience questionnaire. He is now working on a |
| 1:57.9 | monograph tentatively titled altering the Sacred, Sacred, |
| 2:00.8 | about Emerging Psychedelic Traditions. |
... |
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