Can Psychedelics Change the Collective?

Welcome to the Psychedelic Blog. I write about the Impact of Psychedelics on Grieving, Relationships, Culture & Death.

This week: Can Psychedelics Change the Collective? I explore how these medicines ripple outward beyond the self…reshaping empathy, community, and even our social fabric.

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““The next Buddha may take the form of a community — a community practicing understanding and loving-kindness.” — Thích Nhất Hạnh

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I. Intro

Most Psychedelic journeys begin with ‘me’ — my pain, my grief, my thoughts. At times, the work feels solitary, even selfish. A private reckoning with the self. And yet, beneath that deeply personal terrain lies a paradox: what if the greatest gift of these substances isn’t found in how they change the individual, but in what they unlock for the collective?

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II. The Individual Entry Point

The entry point is the individual. Psychedelics are portrayed as tools for healing trauma, loosening rigid personality structures, softening the grip of anxiety or depression. They open doors to forgiveness, presence & curiosity where before there was only pain or repetition.

That’s where most of the research stops. “Congrats, you feel less awful!”

My own path began here too. In the wake of loss, Psychedelics helped me stitch together a self that had been torn apart. Over time, though, they did more than heal…they widened the frame. They carried me from survival to thriving, from managing grief to rediscovering joy, intimacy & creativity. (Which is how you end up with a grown man writing a blog about Mushrooms instead of doing something respectable with his life.)

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III. Psychedelics as Social Technology

Here’s the part people forget: Psychedelics have never just been about the individual:

• The Eleusinian Mysteries of ancient Greece weren’t private therapy sessions; they were mass initiations that shaped an entire culture’s relationship to death & meaning.

• The Native American Church has long used Peyote in group ceremonies, creating a shared spiritual framework that strengthened communal bonds & offered collective healing.

• In the Amazon, Ayahuasca ceremonies functioned as community rituals, binding people through shared visions, songs & healing.

Across history, Psychedelics have acted less like personal medicine and more like social technology — tools to align individuals with something larger than themselves.

We can see echoes of that today. Group Ayahuasca retreats, MDMA-assisted couples therapy, even the rise of Microdosing circles all point toward a truth we’re only beginning to remember: the power of Psychedelics doesn’t end at the boundary of the individual psyche.

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IV. Dissolving Boundaries

One of the most consistent outcomes of Psychedelic use is the softening of boundaries. Under their influence, empathy expands, walls come down and the rigid edges of identity become porous.

Research has begun to capture what countless journeyers describe: MDMA reliably increases trust & interpersonal closeness; Psilocybin heightens feelings of connection to nature & dissolves the illusion of separateness.

If Psychedelics can reliably amplify empathy & reduce defensiveness, then their potential reaches beyond therapy: they could soften political polarization, invite dialogue where there was only shouting & seed an imagination rooted in cooperation rather than fear. At scale, these substances hint at something even more radical: the possibility of a shared vision grounded in connection rather than division.

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V. When the Soil Is Sick

Psychedelics aren’t a magic wand. They won’t dissolve corruption, erase inequality, or repair the deeper rot of our institutions. To imagine otherwise is to confuse chemistry with utopia. Collective trips can be as easily weaponized as they can be healing: history is full of cult leaders who used altered states to manipulate followers (see: Aubrey Marcus), and the modern landscape is littered with commercialization that sells “community” while delivering little more than branding.

The truth is, these medicines don’t discriminate. They amplify what’s already present. Fear, greed, narcissism? Psychedelics can supercharge those too. If the soil is rotten, the roots come out fucked up.

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VI. A Vision of What’s Possible

And yet — the possibility is extraordinary. Imagine local councils, communities, even governments making decisions seasoned by Psychedelic empathy. Picture collective rituals replacing isolation the way Sunday services once did.

This isn’t a dream of a drugged-out society. It’s what happens when enough people carry the imprint of connection into their daily lives.

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VII. Closing Thoughts

In the end, the self is just the warm-up act. Psychedelics may begin as medicine for private wounds, but their real test is whether the healing ripples outward…into families, communities & everyday life.

The most radical thing they might teach us isn’t how to repair the self. It’s how to remember we were never separate to begin with.

(And if they can also make online discourse a little less unbearable? Sign me up.)

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