9 Drug-Induced Mysticism Revisited: Interview with Charles Upton Samuel Bendeck Sotillos charles upton (b. ) 1 poet, author, activist, and veteran of the counter-culture has voyaged and experienced firsthand the many facets of the New Age cul-de-sac and its pitfalls which are all too often ignored. Psychedelics 2 or hallucinogens, now termed entheogens, 3 have played a pivotal role in the modern and post- 1. For more biographical information on Mr. Charles Upton see: www.serious- seekers.com. 2. British psychiatrist Humphry Fortescue Osmond (–) coined the term “psychedelic” or “mind-manifesting” via his correspondence with Aldous Huxley. In responding to a letter that Dr. Osmond received from Huxley written on March, he wrote in poetic reflection: “To fathom Hell or soar angelic, / Just take a pinch of psychedelic”, thus giving birth to the term “psychedelic”, yet it was not known to the public at large or the scientific community until [Michael Horowitz and Cynthia Palmer (eds.), Moksha: Aldous Huxley’s Classic Writings on Psychedelics and the Visionary Experience (Rochester, VT: Park Street Press, ), p. ]; see also Humphry Osmond, “A Review of the Clinical Effects of Psychoto- mimetic Agents”, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Vol. , No. (), pp. –. It is also relevant to point out that it was Dr. Osmond who in May of first introduced Huxley to a synthesized form of mescaline, the psychoactive compound in peyote (among other psychedelic cacti) which in turn produced his work The Doors of Perception in , which according to some launched the psy- chedelic revolution. 3. “‘Entheogen’ means simply ‘God generated within you!’” [Robert Forte, “A Conversation with R. Gordon Wasson” in Entheogens and the Future of Religion, ed. Robert Forte (San Francisco, CA: Council on Spiritual Practices, ), p. ]; see ppp