Sacred drugs

Mind-expanding drugs are often used for religious and ritual purposes, in particular to open the awareness to other worlds. Not only are sacred drugs used extensively in "primitive" and magical cultures, they also seem to have an important role in the main religious traditions. For example: soma in the vedic religion; hashish in various Islamic, Sufi and Hindu (Shaivism) traditions; alcohol (wine) in Christianity and Sufism. In Sufism, "intoxication with the divine spirit" is a common phrase. The Sufi is "drunk with love", lost in ecstasy.