Page 190 - Berkshire Encyclopedia Of World History Vol I - Abraham to Coal

alcohol 75

An early-twentieth-century industrialized distilling plant. Note the contrast with the
traditional Irish plant shown in the inset.

safer alternative to river or pond water, particularly if they “the equivalent,on a low level,of the spiritual thirst of our
had been boiled at some stage in their preparation.Very being for wholeness; expressed in medieval language: the
weak alcoholic drinks were nutritious and safe, and often union with God” (Jung 1975, 2:623–624).The psychic
consumed by all members of society, including children. power of this search was such that all societies have
sought to control the use of psychoactive substances. In
The Psychosocial the case of shamans,the control takes the form of rigorous
Uses of Alcohol training in the use of such substances to enable psychic
With care, however, it was always possible to brew journeys. In village communities in alcohol-using soci-
stronger drinks, and we have evidence of these from all eties, it has taken the form of communal rituals designed
alcohol-producing civilizations.Stronger alcoholic drinks to regulate intoxication.The historian George Duby has
had much more psychic power and created a complex of argued that in the European Middle Ages, drinking festi-
opportunities and problems that are common to all psy- vals aimed “at one and the same time to half-open the
choactive substances.Alcoholic drinks seem to have been gates of the unknowable and to reinforce group cohesion
widely used in rituals of hospitality. But their importance for mutual protection” (Duby 1974, 53). And the phar-
went beyond mere hospitality for, like all mind-altering macologist and medical historian C.D.Leake argued that
substances,they could transport those who drank them to
Generally,the use of [alcoholic drinks],which were thought
different psychic places, adding new dimensions to the
to have magical powers, became socially and ritually con-
experience of existence. It is likely that in many alcohol- trolled. Under these circumstances, whatever excesses
using societies, such experiences have been conceived of might occur were indulged in by all the group, so that there
in spiritual or religious terms.The psychologist Carl Jung remained a sense of social unity.The ritualistic use was often
(1875–1961) once described the craving for alcohol as part of the organized religious services which tended to