As I placed my right leg over the guardrail, I became paralyzed by fear. I was stuck, unable to move my left leg. Eventually, I mustered the courage to get my left leg over the railing, looked out at the mountain in front of me, and jumped. Every ounce of the indescribable amount of fear I had felt just a moment before evaporated from my body. I was overcome by a sense of elation as I hurdled towards the earth. It’s a feeling I’ll never forget..
“I wouldn’t explore my consciousness without a gun & flashlight” - a friend of mine, after I shared my experience with Bufo (5-MeO-DMT).
This view of Psychedelics isn’t novel. As I have delved deep into the world of Psychedelics, the reactions I receive are generally confused…at times, judgmental.
Why? We live in a culture where alcohol is ubiquitous, people medicate with anti-depressants, painkillers & other drugs all the time. Even coffee, the #1 consumed drink in the United States, isn’t nearly as innocuous as people believe.
To showcase this, check out the image below. This is from a study NASA did in 1995. Caffeine was the only substance that adversely impacted a spiders ability to spin a web —
Peoples attitude towards substances can be attributed to the societally acceptable nature of alcohol, coffee & other drugs. We are all products of conditioning to a certain degree. But I suspect there is another theme at play — fear.
So many go through life perpetually afraid. Fear is a virus that infects the mind & results in irrational decisions. I suspect fear is a partial motivator for something very interesting happening in the Psychedelic world..
Companies are racing to create non-hallucinogenic versions of LSD, Psilocybin & MDMA. This is being presented as a way for people to take Psychedelics without the need for a facilitator & as a mitigant against recreational use.
But there is an underlying motivation — without the hallucination, there is nothing to fear. And with nothing to fear, more people will take ‘Psychedelics’…which comes with a material financial incentive.
The compounds being created will possess the same properties as actual Psychedelics. On that merit, they could help heal people. I have a different view..
The positive changes that follow a Psychedelic journey cannot be limited to the chemical interactions with our physiology. It’s what we learn in the hallucination that changes us. Traveling into the unknown requires courage, but we are rewarded for that boldness.
When I sit with a Psychedelic, I don’t know what’s happening on a physiological level. But I do know, with arrogant certitude, that the hallucination catalyzes a new perspective on life. Experiencing a reality that is previously unrevealed to you wakes you up to the naivete of the human condition. To the beauty & wonder of it all. To the mystery & enigmatic nature of what it means to be alive, having a felt experience while floating on a rock somewhere in the cosmos.
The joy I felt as I plummeted to the Earth was directly proportionate to the amount of fear I felt on the edge of that bridge. The bliss one feels after a Psychedelic journey correlates to the courage it requires to travel to the unknown. When we face fear, and have the bravery to do it anyway…life rewards us. Which is why we shouldn’t avoid being afraid, but embrace it.
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“Nature loves courage. Nature rewards courage by removing obstacles” (Terence McKenna)
I did not know about this development: what a Materialist fantasy that we could take away the journey and still get the effect! thanks, as always, for writing about it.