Everything about Psychedelic totally explained
» For "psychedelics," see psychedelic drug.
The word
psychedelic is an English term coined from the Greek words for "soul," ψυχή (
psyche), and "manifest," δήλος (
delos). A
psychedelic experience is characterized by the perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ostensibly ordinary fetters. Psychedelic states are an array of experiences elicited by
sensory deprivation as well as by psychedelic substances. Such experiences include
hallucinations, changes of
perception,
synesthesia, altered states of awareness,
mystical states, and occasionally states resembling
psychosis.
The term was first coined as a noun in
1957 by
psychiatrist Humphry Osmond as an alternative descriptor for
hallucinogenic drugs in the context of
psychedelic psychotherapy. The term featured prominently in a now-famous exchange with
Aldous Huxley, in which the little-used term
phanerothyme (derived from roots relating to "spirit" or "soul") was suggested:
» To make this trivial world sublime,
take half a gram of phanerothyme.
Osmond responded:
» To fathom Hell or soar angelic,
just take a pinch of psychedelic.
Timothy Leary, who was largely responsible for the popularization of the term "psychedelic", was a well-known proponent of their use, as was Aldous Huxley. Both, however, advanced widely different opinions on the broad use of psychedelics by
state and
civil society. Leary promulgated the idea of such substances as a
panacea, while Huxley suggested that only the cultural and intellectual elite should partake of
entheogens systematically.
The use of psychedelic drugs became widespread in the modern
West in the mid-
1960s. One of the first uses of the word in the music scene of this time was in the 1964 recording of "
Hesitation Blues" by the
Holy Modal Rounders. The term was introduced to rock music and popularized by the
13th Floor Elevators 1966 album
The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators.
Psychedelia
The fashion for psychedelic drugs gave its name to the visual style of
psychedelia, a term describing a category of
rock music known as
psychedelic rock,
visual art,
fashion, and
culture that's associated originally with the high
1960s,
hippies, and the
Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of
San Francisco,
California. Psychedelia generally began in
1966, but truly took off in
1967 with the
Summer of Love. Although associated with San Francisco, the style soon spread across the
US, and worldwide.
The
counterculture of the 1960s had a strong influence on the popular culture of the early
1970s, and is well recognized even by those who are naïve to its psychedelic origins. It later became linked to a style of electronic dance music commonly known as
psytrance (Also known as Psychedelic Trance or Goa Trance)
Modern usage
The impact of psychedelic drugs on western culture in the 1960s led to
semantic drift in the use of the word "psychedelic", and it's now frequently applied to describe any brightly patterned or colored object. In objection to this new meaning, and to what some consider
pejorative meanings of other synonyms such as "
hallucinogen" and "
psychotomimetic", the term "
entheogen" was proposed and is seeing increasing use. However, many consider the term "entheogen" best reserved for religious and spiritual usage, such as certain Native American churches do with the peyote sacrament, and "psychedelic" left to describe those who are using these drugs for recreation, psychotherapy, physical healing, or creative problem solving. In science,
hallucinogen remains the standard term.
At the same time as psychedelic drugs were being used by the
counterculture of the 1960s, they were also being used in experiments by governments, who saw them and
sensory deprivation as useful agents for
mind control; see
MKULTRA for the
CIA involvement in the use of psychedelic drugs.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Psychedelic'.
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