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Internet article – Dr Oscar Janiger and the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) project

Ernest Pipes, 71, was one of eight Unitarian ministers who dropped acid in Janiger’s office one day in the late 1950s. Now retired and living in Santa Monica Canyon, not far from Janiger’s house, Pipes says he was disappointed with his trip only because it was not a transcendent experience.

"As it turned out," he recalls, "each of us had a very different experience — some went very deeply into a state of transcendent ecstasy, others did not. I had an intensified aural and visual experience, but I was unable to surrender fully to the effects of the drug in that setting."

Pausing a moment, he adds, "But I have always regretted that I was not transported more effectively into altered states of consciousness, and thus enabled to be in touch with other dimensions of reality."

Pipes and his colleagues had eagerly accepted Janiger’s invitation to participate in the study.

"We, as clergy, knew that one’s inner life can be altered through music and liturgy and devotional reading, a beautiful sunset or a nature walk. So when it became possible for us to experiment, we thought that professionally we were obliged to do it."

Though Pipes has never tried other drugs, he says wistfully, "I’ve always wanted to try it again. Wouldn’t it be great, in the proper set and setting, to have an inward journey?"