The Psychology of Entheogens: An Exposition of the 'Entheological Paradigm'

The following is a deconstruction of the methodology employed by Martin W. Ball Ph.D. in his essay 'Terence on DMT: An entheological analysis of McKenna's Experiences in the Tryptamine Mirror of the Self'. It is not intended to be reaching any particular 'truth' over the claims made in the essay's conclusions, rather, it intends to be an exposition of the analytical framework that Ball names the 'entheological paradigm'. The references are to a PDF copy of the essay, kindly passed onto PsypressUK by its author. All images are by drfranklin.

Martin W. Ball examines three talks given by Terence McKenna (1946-2000) on the topic of DMT and 5-MEO-DMT: 5-MEO-DMT and nn-DMT, Too much DMT and The Strangest Things Happen on DMT. He chose these talks as being typical of all the available material demonstrating McKenna's reading of, and relationship with, DMT and 5-MEO-DMT. Ball's aim is to critically analyse McKenna's reading and, in order to do so, he employs what he terms as the 'entheological paradigm' as a form of analysis. The question concerning this essay is: How does the 'entheological paradigm' function as a discourse; in both what it posits as 'truth' and necessarily excludes in its analysis?