In my latest interview, Rev. Dr. Seth D. Jones shares a profound and deeply personal account of his participation in a groundbreaking psilocybin study designed for religious professionals. This study, titled Effects of Psilocybin on Religious and Spiritual Attitudes and Behaviors in Clergy from Various Major World Religions (2025), was led by researchers at Johns Hopkins and NYU. It was also the focus of The New Yorker‘s recent article, “This Is Your Priest on Drugs,” which raised essential questions about the intersection of psychedelics and organized religion.
Seth, a spiritual and grief counselor currently pursuing ordination as a Lutheran pastor, speaks with clarity, vulnerability, and wisdom about what happened during his psilocybin journey—and how it reoriented his entire sense of calling. His reflections are not abstract. They are rooted in lived experience, theological training, and decades of pastoral care, including work in Midcoast Maine, Yellowstone National Park, and interfaith communities across the country.
Like many participants in the study, Seth entered the experience with reverence and caution. What he encountered during the guided session was not simply a rush of sensation or emotion, but a spiritual encounter—one that felt aligned with the transcendent insights reported by mystics across cultures and centuries. Light, presence, vastness, and an intimate knowing of God’s love emerged—not as metaphor, but as embodied truth.
As he describes it, the experience dismantled rigid theological constructs and reignited a deeper trust in the ineffable. “I didn’t lose my faith,” he says. “I found the space beneath it.”
This interview is not a celebration of psychedelics as a quick fix or spiritual shortcut. Rather, it is a contemplative look at how expanded states of consciousness—when approached with structure, support, and intention—can reinvigorate the inner life of religious leaders and seekers alike.
We also discussed the cultural implications of the study and its place within a larger movement to reexamine mystical experience through both science and sacred tradition. Psychedelics, once relegated to the margins of counterculture, are now being explored in seminaries, hospitals, and therapeutic contexts. For clergy, the implications are especially significant: how might direct encounters with the divine inform ministry, prayer, and pastoral care?
Seth is not alone in asking these questions. As the New Yorker article notes, the psilocybin study included participants from a range of religious traditions—Jewish, Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim—each seeking deeper insight into the mystery that underpins their faith. The common thread? A renewed sense of connection, compassion, and calling.
Seth reminds us that we are living in a time when ancient questions about God, death, and meaning are being asked with new openness—and perhaps, new tools.
To listen to the full interview, visit my YouTube channel
If you’re a reader from The New Yorker, welcome. I believe this conversation—like the best journalism and the deepest mystical experience—isn’t about answers, but about asking the most courageous questions.
Seth also holds a Master of Divinity from Luther Seminary and a Master of Arts in Religious Studies from United Theological Seminary. Before ministry, he taught Tai Chi, worked in finance, and explored the mystical and unusual—passions that continue to shape his work today. He’s a father, dog companion, occasional guitarist, and is writing a book on Extraordinary Spiritual Experiences.
Here is his website https://revdrsethdjones.me/
Also, this is the New Yorker article we talked about in the beginning titled, “This is Your Priest on Drugs”
Tricia Barker 