Hi Oni,
I largely agree with your assessment of spirituality and hallucinogens. In my experience of taking such substances, I have experienced a wide range of effects, from a feeling of numinous transcendence and flashes of heightened insight, to moments of dread or just extended periods of giggling. I have never experienced anything that I would call spiritual, but maybe others might have described the same experience in exactly those terms.
My opinion is that your drug experience will be shaped by your cultural expectations. If you expect to feel "spiritual" (and I'm never quite sure what that
means exactly), then you will. If you expect to giggle and see pretty colours, you will. Environment has a big impact, as does the company you are in.
In my opinion, none of it is to be taken too seriously. The experiences that hallucinogens produce can be profound and important, even life-changing, but any insight you gained by effectively poisoning your brain should be taken with a pinch of salt.
I think that the reason why so many religions around the world are linked to hallucinogen use is simply that these drugs create a state of mental "otherness" and make the subjects highly suggestible. Add pre-existing superstitions to that mix and - presto! - you got yourself a religious experience.
The fact that we can so effectively trigger such experiences with chemicals is telling evidence that religion comes from inside our heads and this is a point that I often bring up when confronted with "I felt the love of Jesus" style anecdotes from believers.
Oh, and... regardless of whether or not it is a drug and how you choose to define that term, mushrooms are fungi, not plants. Fungi are actually more closely elated to animals than plants.
Also, I don't feel that magic mushrooms (I am referring to
Psilocybe semilanceata here) have any advantage over LSD for those seeking a spiritual experience. In fact LSD, with its steadier dosage and less unpredictable effects may be the better bet. I also associate mushrooms with muddiness of thought which does not seem to me to be especially helpful. Perhaps other magic mushroom species, like
P. cubensis, are different.
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Now, a "oneness" is different. But this would require use to define what we mean by "oneness." I have felt a oneness with nature, both on LSD and shrooms. Maybe some consider that spiritual, I wouldn't, though.
I feel that way almost whenever I am alone amidst nature, no drugs necessary. This is the closest thing in my experience to what others seem to regard as spiritual. I don't feel that it would be improved by the addition of any kind of supernatural or religious element though. In fact, I find that what heightens this feeling is an understanding of the manifold species and natural processes going on around me.
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