Preview: Erik Davis's High Weirdness: Drugs, Esoterica, and Visionary Experience in the Seventies

Erik Davis, a writer and religious studies scholar, has been a favorite of mine every since I discovered his podcast Expanding Mind. Part journalist, part psychedelic seeker and part scholar, he explores the world of shamans, mystics and believers of the paranormal while keeping one foot solidly in rigorous academic and journalistic skepticism. So, when High Weirdness, his PhD thesis from Rice University's Department of Religion, was published, I picked up a copy right away. 

Cover Art by Erik Roper

"Weird" may not strike readers as an academic term, but perhaps the broadest goal of Davis's book is to define "weirdness" within the scholarly discourse. "Weird" is a distinctly contemporary term, a common exclamation that crosses all class of jargon. If something is off, out of order or remarkably inexplicable, it's "weird!" Within a scholarly context, Davis argues, that weirdness occurs when something unexpected, or unexplained, breaks into our otherwise rational conscious reality. Weirdness is when a person or group of people see and experience phenomenon that disobey the rules of our rational world. Weirdness encompasses religious miracles (Jesus walking on water), hallucinogenic drug trips, UFO sightings and everything in between.  

To explain Weirdness in a religious setting, Davis explores three individuals: psychedelic seeker and ethnobotanist Terrence McKenna, countercultural figure and mystic Robert Anton Wilson and famed sci-writer, Philip K. Dick. Davis also explores the cultural milieu of 1970's California as a ground-zero for Weirdness -a sort of modern "holy" land of new mystical and religious movements, illustrated by the extraordinary experiences of McKenna, Wilson, Dick and their contemporaries. 

In his intro, Davis lays out an impressive academic groundwork, building on the theories of Michel Foucault, Georges Bataille and, most notably, William James. In the rest of his book, Davis hopes to examine the concept of weirdness in the California counter-culture of the 60's and 70's through the lens of religious studies.     

High Weirdness: Drugs, Esoterica, and Visionary Experience in the Seventies was published by The MIT Press and Strange Atractor Press in 2019.