There are certain 'downloads' from the psychedelic or entheogenic experience which seem to stand out as what we could call 'Psychedelic Scriptures'. These are revelations of numinous information which, in the hands of talented scribes, have produced cultural artefacts going beyond what most users of synthetic or plant sacraments report, whether that be alien 'contact' experiences, hyperspacial travel or heart-melting unification.

Perhaps there is no clear dividing line between Psychedelic Scriptures and a large range of reports, but whereas reports tend not to attract much commentary, Psychedelic Scriptures have both a large degree of initial elaboration from the author, and extensive commentary develops around them. That is, they take on the status of cultural artefacts. In addition, reports that are elevated to the status of Scriptures are highly unusual, having to do with quite specific content, rather than being merely exemplary versions of typical experiences, as we get with, say, William James' account of nitrous oxide, or Aldous Huxley's account of using mescaline in The Doors of Perception.

Some examples that might qualify are:

Coleridge's Kubla Kahn, composed during an opium dream.

The McKennas' Time Wave Zero revelation, detailed in True Hallucinations, The Invisible Landscape, and Brotherhood of the Screaming Abyss

Philip K. Dick's encounter with God, given literary form in Valis, and in more detail in The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick

Diana Slattery's 'Glide' version of xenolinguistics following the 'bright trauma' of alien contact.

In a broader sense, every Indigenous cosmology generated under the influence of entheogens would be a collective and anonymous Psychedelic Scripture. But these cultures are not literate, or, in the case of para-shamanic empires like the Aztec, Maya and Inca, the cosmologies have to be reconstructed from codexs and other highly ambiguous materials. Likewise, we might speculate that The Book of Revelation, or the Koran, qualify, but the evidence for the role of entheogens is sketchy.

Do you think the distinction between reports and Psychedelic Scriptures holds up? Any additions to the list?