The Bible Speaks to You July 8, 1967 Issue

[The above is an abbreviated, postproduction text of the program released for broadcast the week of June 30—July 6 in the radio series, "The Bible Speaks to You." Heard internationally over approximately 1,000 stations, the weekly programs are prepared and produced by the Christian Science Committee on Publication, 107 Falmouth Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02115.]

RADIO PROGRAM NO. 274 - Students and Drugs, Part II

Questioner: Last week we discussed the manner in which drugs lead students to problem-dodging instead of problem-solving. How do you feel that LSD fits into this context? Many of the students who take LSD feel that this drug leads them to a new awareness, a new understanding of life itself.
Speaker: One hears that a great deal. They also often say that it doesn't cause addiction, isn't that right?
Questioner: Yes. Many students certainly feel that way. And that's why they ask what's wrong with taking LSD in a controlled, responsible way.
Speaker: I think perhaps that we might just note in passing that there is such a thing as psychological addiction, which is different from physical addiction. And certainly it might be very possible to be psychologically addicted to such a drug as LSD. But let's look at the point you raise about its providing what might be called a religious experience.

There have been theological students, for instance, who have taken it and have said that it gave them their clearest experience of God and their deepest religious experience up to that time. That does raise important questions, and I think one of the biggest questions is, Can religion be reduced to chemistry?

And here we're back to the same question that we talked about last week, that is, How does one look at man? Is man basically a physicochemical organism? And is his unity with the rest of the universe the unity of millions of dancing atoms? Is he one with the outermost galaxies, as some of the people who've taken LSD say they feel, simply because he is made of the same material stuff as they are?

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

Words of Current Interest