"The Will to Sacred Ecstasy" by Wayne Martin Mellinger Ph.D.
The Will to Sacred Ecstasy: Ritual Intoxication, Liberation, and Dionysian Naturalism Author: Wayne Martin Mellinger, Ph.D. Abstract This paper proposes a reframing of human drug use through the lens of the "Will to Sacred Ecstasy," an evolved and culturally embedded drive to alter consciousness, seek transcendence, and forge connection with the sacred. Drawing on insights from Critical Drug Studies, evolutionary anthropology, ethnomycology, and poststructuralist philosophy, this essay explores how altered states of consciousness are neither modern perversions nor clinical symptoms, but ancient, sacred practices of transformation and resistance. Through a fusion of autoethnographic narrative and philosophical reflection, I draw on personal experiences with methamphetamine, chemsex, and psilocybin ritual to illustrate the diverse meanings of intoxication. Sacred ecstasy, I argue, is not a deviation from normality but a human birthright, distorted by prohibitionist ideology...