My Latest New Yorker Article

May 19, 2025

Friends and Readers,

I wanted you to know that in the Monday, May 26 issue, and online today, the New Yorker will publish my latest article, “High Priests: What Psychedelic Research Means for Organized Religion.” The occasion for the piece is a fascinating study done at Johns Hopkins and NYU, in which nearly 30 religious leaders of many stripes—priests, ministers, rabbis, and pastors as well as a Muslim and a Buddhist—were given a high dose of psilocybin to see what they could tell us about the experience, spirituality, the nature of God, and their own faiths. I had never interviewed religious professionals before, and found them to be absolutely fascinating—thoughtful and disarmingly open when talking about some very big questions. I hope you will read the story online here, or in print next week, and share your thoughts about it.

You haven’t seen me in print very much lately. That’s because I’ve been finishing up my book on consciousness, which as you can imagine was a long, hard slog. But it is done! The working title is A World Appears and it will appear in the world in February of next year.

All best,