Tuning In: Experiencing Music in Psychedelic States

a new book by former Hare Krishna devotee Steven J. Gelberg

Liberation (moksha) is the state in Hindu philosophy by which the practitioner becomes self-actualized and freed from the cycle of birth and death in the material world. During the 1960s, this core idea and a mission to spread the teachings to the West became the foundation of various Hindu cults, including Hare Krishna (a/k/a ISKCON). These teachings led many to lose themselves in various forms of Hindu mysticism and to membership in organizations characterized by authoritarian and often corrupt organizational structures. Steven J. Gelberg entered the cult in 1970 at the age of 18 and exited in 1987 at 35 years old. While in the organization he authored the 1983 Grove Press book Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna: Five Distinguished Scholars on the Krishna Movement in the West.

On leaving the organization, Steven explored spirituality and the academic study of religion more personally and entered Harvard Divinity School, receiving his Master of Theological Studies degree in 1990. Later, he wrote India in a Mind’s Eye: Travels and Ruminations of an Ambivalent Pilgrim, published in 2012 (link at end). More recently, he’s written a new book, Tuning In: Experiencing Music in Psychedelic States, where he explores the role of music in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy and psychedelic use generally. The book, set to be released this year, offers firsthand testimony of music and its effects through “trip reports” and relevant insights from psychologists, musicologists, religion scholars, scientists, and others.