Fritjof Capra has stated that insights tend to come suddenly during a state of relaxation, such as lying in a bath or walking in the woods. However this is usually preceded by concentrated intellectual activity. Somehow the intuitive unconscious mind produces the answer.²²

According to Stanley Krippner, psychedelic drugs have also been used for creative purposes. Navy captain John Busby in 1966 reported using LSD to solve an elusive problem in pattern recognition during the development of equipment for a Navy research project. Busby stated, "With LSD, the normal limiting mechanisms of the brain are released and entirely new patterns of perception emerge.".²³...It also must be stated that the unsupervised use of any psychedelic agent can be very hazardous and is not recommended.

Over three decades of extensive psychedelic research using LSD has led Stanislav Grof to conclude that this substance is a non-specific catalyst or amplifier of mental processes that brings to consciousness various unconscious information. He has stated that the phenomena observed following the administration of LSD are very similar to that which has been seen in meditative practice, hypnosis, and other new experiential therapies.²⁴

Grof has witnessed the remarkable healing and transformative potential of these agents for producing non-ordinary or altered states of consciousness.²⁵...They have also given us a new tool for interpreting material from history, comparative religion, the ancient mysteries of death and rebirth, rites of passage of various cultures, shamanic procedures of all times, aboriginal healing ceremonies, spiritual and mystical traditions and other phenomena of great cultural significance.²⁶

According to Robert Mogar, investigation of LSD during the early and mid-1960s would suggest that it is also a liberator which facilitates accurate perception, self-insight, and performance enhancement.²⁷

Spencer reported in 1963 that the use of LSD enables the recovery of unconscious memories which are extremely realistic to the patient, to the extent that they are frequently accompanied by changes in body image. Patients reported that in recalling traumatic experiences there was a perceived change in body size and age corresponding to when the actual event occurred.²⁸

There are researchers who have recommended the use of psychedelic drugs to study creativity, since they appear to facilitate this process.²⁹...Experimental results suggest that psychedelic agents may facilitate a lasting change in the direction of increased creative expression and self-actualization.³⁰...According to Charles Tart, there appears to be increased access to unconscious data, more fluent free association, and a heightened ability for visual imagery.³¹

An exploratory experimental study conducted by Harman, McKim, Mogar, Fadiman and Stolaroff attempted to answer three empirical questions: (1) Does the psychedelic experience enhance creativity? (2) Are concrete, valid feasible solutions derived as viewed by the pragmatic criteria of science and industry? (3) Are there long-term personality changes in the direction of increased creativity and self-actualization? Twenty-seven male subjects participated in this study, including engineers, physicists, mathematicians, architects and others. Most had no previous experience with psychedelic drugs. The subjects were instructed to select one or more problems of professional interest which required a creative solution. Some of the participants had worked weeks to months on their chosen problems without finding a satisfactory solution. A protocol was developed and followed which allowed placement of the individuals into a psychedelic state. This required some participant training and instruction prior to the sessions.

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