THE HALLUCINOGENS
CONTENTS 1 PROLEGOMENA TO A PHENOMENOLOGY OF PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCES ? ? 1 1 1 PROPAEDEUTIC ? ? 2 1 2 THE MAP IS NOT THE TERRITORY ? ? 7 1 3 PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE QUA MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE ? 16 1 4 BACK TO THE THINGS THEMSELVES ? 25 1 5 PSYCHEDELIC REALISM ? 32 REFERENCES ? 36 2 SUBJECT ? 43 2 1 THE EMPEROR WEARS NO CLOTHES ? 44 2 2 I CONTAIN MULTITUDES ? 54 2 3 I WENT IN SEARCH OF MYSELF ? 64 REFERENCES ? 71 3 MODE ? 75 3 1 THE PRIMACY OF PERCEPTION ? 76 3 2 TYPES OF HALLUCINATION IN THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE ? 84 3 3 CLEANSING THE DOORS OF PERCEPTION ? 92 3 4 CONCLUSION ? 99 REFERENCES 100 4 OBJECT 103 4 1 OBJECTS ESSENCES AND INTUITION 105 4 2 OBJECTS IN WONDERLAND 111 4 3 EPISTEMOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS 115 4 4 CONSCIOUSNESS WITHOUT AN OBJECT 118 4 5 CONCLUSION 126 REFERENCES 127 5 METAMORPHOSES TRANSFORMATION MEANING AND THE VIA PSYCHEDELICA 129 5 1 TRANSFORMATIVE EXPERIENCES 130 5 2 PSYCHEDELIC PHILOSOPHY 137 5 3 THE VIA PSYCHEDELICA 144 5 4 SUMMARY 149 REFERENCES 150 6 CODA PRAXIS BOLD AS LOVE 153 6 1 EPILOGUE 155 REFERENCES 156 CHAPTER 1 PROLEGOMENA TO A PHENOMENOLOGY OF PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCES TODAY A YOUNG MAN ON ACID REALISED THAT ALL MATTER IS MERELY ENERGY CONDENSED TO A SLOW VIBRATION THAT WE ARE ALL ONE CONSCIOUSNESS EXPERIENCING ITSELF SUBJECTIVELY THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS DEATH LIFE IS ONLY A DREAM AND WE ARE THE IMAGINATION OF OURSELVES HERE S TOM WITH THE WEATHER WHILE COMEDIAN BILL HICKS WAS JOKING ABOUT HIS HOPE TO ONE DAY SEE A POSITIVE LSD STORY IN THE NEWS HE ALSO TOUCHED ON KEY PHILOSOPHICAL QUES TIONS RAISED BY THESE EXPERIENCES WHAT IS THE NATURE OF REALITY HOW SHOULD WE UNDERSTAND CONSCIOUSNESS WHAT IS THE MEANING OF LIFE DO PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCES PROVIDE GENUINE INSIGHTS INTO REALITY OR ARE THEY MERELY DRUG INDUCED PHENOMENA A DEFINITIVE ANSWER TO SOME OF THESE QUESTIONS MAY BE BEYOND THE SCOPE OF A SINGLE BOOK OR EVEN A LIFETIME BUT THEY REMAIN PHILOSOPHICALLY SIGNIFICANT PARTICULARLY GIVEN PSYCHEDELICS THERAPEUTIC EFFICACY IN TREATING VARIOUS PSYCHIATRIC CONDITIONS THE PHILOSOPHICAL ANALYSIS OF THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE IS A NASCENT FIELD OF ACADEMIC EXPLORATION THIS BOOK CONTRIBUTES TO THE BURGEONING CANON OF PSYCHEDELIC PHILOSOPHY BY APPLYING REALIST PHENOMENOLOGY AN APPROACH NOT YET ENGAGED WITH THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE THE AIM OF THIS MONOGRAPH IS TO TAKE THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE QUA EXPERIENCE AND TO 1 ANALYSE ITS MODIFICATIONS OF THE ORDINARY STRUCTURES OF CONSCIOUS EXPERI ENCE WHILE I DO NOT DIRECTLY ADDRESS THE NATURE OF REALITY THE NATURE OF THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE INEVITABLY RAISES DIFFICULT METAPHYSICAL QUESTIONS THE REALIST PHENOMENOLOGICAL APPROACH HELPS NAVIGATE THESE ISSUES WITH OUT BECOMING WAYLAID IN THEIR INTRACTABLE COMPLEXITY KEEPING THE FOCUS ON THE STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF CONSCIOUSNESS DURING PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCES THIS PERSPECTIVE WILL SHED LIGHT ON SOME POTENTIAL ANSWERS TO THESE BIG QUESTIONS WITHOUT FALLING PREY TO THE NA VET OF CONSIDERING THE CASE OF THE PHILOSOPHICAL EXAMINATION OF THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE TO BE ETER NALLY CLOSED BEFORE GETTING INTO A PHENOMENOLOGICAL EXAMINATION OF THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE IT IS ESSENTIAL TO FIRSTLY DETERMINE SOME PHILOSOPHICAL FOUNDA TIONS UPON WHICH TO BASE THE ANALYSIS TO COME IN THE FOLLOWING CHAPTERS AS SUCH THIS CHAPTER IS CONCERNED WITH CONTEXTUALISATION DEFINITION QUALI FICATION AND CIRCUMSCRIPTION OF THOSE TOPICS AND CONCEPTS WHICH ARE KEY TO A PHENOMENOLOGICAL EXAMINATION OF THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE THIS CHAPTER IS DIVIDED INTO FIVE MAIN SECTIONS FIRST I GIVE A GENERAL OUTLINE OF WHAT PSYCHEDELICS ARE DISCUSS THEIR THERAPEUTIC POTENTIAL AND GIVE AN OUT LINE OF THE EXPERIENCE SECOND I CONSIDER SOME WAYS OF UNDERSTANDING THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE AND CONSIDER THEIR MERITS AND SHORTCOMINGS THIRD I CONSIDER WHETHER THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE IS A GENUINE MYSTICAL EXPERI ENCE FOURTH I DETAIL THE APPROACH OF REALIST PHENOMENOLOGY AND DEFINE SOME KEY TERMS FIFTH I INTRODUCE THE CENTRAL IDEA OF THIS BOOK PSYCHEDELIC REALISM THIS IS THE NOTION THAT PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCES REVEAL MIND INDEPENDENT ASPECTS OF REALITY WHILE NOT ALL ELEMENTS OF THESE EXPERIENCES NECESSARILY CORRESPOND TO REALITY MANY ARE GENUINELY REALITY REVEALING RATHER THAN DELUSORY THIS WAS NOT A THESIS I INITIALLY SET OUT TO PROVE RATHER PHENOMENOLOGY ULTIMATELY LED ME TO THIS CONCLUSION 1 1? ? PROPAEDEUTIC THE PURPOSE OF THIS SECTION IS TO PROVIDE A CLEAR ORIENTATION REGARDING THE TARGET OF THIS WORK WHILE MUCH CAN BE SAID ABOUT THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERI ENCE I WILL LIMIT MY DISCUSSION TO ASPECTS THAT ARE STRICTLY RELEVANT AND FUNDAMENTAL TO THIS PROJECT THIS SECTION DOES NOT AIM TO BE AN EXHAUSTIVE ACCOUNT OF THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE INCLUDING DATA FROM PSYCHOPHAR MACOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL HISTORICAL OR PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH INSTEAD THE GOAL IS TO OFFER AN UNFAMILIAR READER A GENERAL UNDERSTANDING 2 THE HALLUCINOGENS OF WHAT PSYCHEDELICS ARE HOW THEY FUNCTION WHY THEY MIGHT BE USEFUL AND WHAT THE EXPERIENCE ENTAILS OVER THE PAST DECADE A PSYCHEDELIC RENAISSANCE HAS EMERGED MARKED BY A RESURGENCE IN EMPIRICAL RESEARCH INTO THE MECHANISMS USES AND PRAC TICAL APPLICATIONS OF PSYCHEDELIC DRUGS IN THERAPEUTIC SETTINGS A LANDMARK MOMENT CAME IN 2019 WITH THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE CENTRE FOR PSYCHEDELIC AND CONSCIOUSNESS STUDIES AT JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY AND THE CENTRE FOR PSYCHEDELIC RESEARCH AT IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON RESEARCH CONDUCTED AT THESE AND OTHER GLOBAL INSTITUTIONS HAS DEMONSTRATED THE REMARKABLE THERAPEUTIC POTENTIAL OF PSYCHEDELICS FOR TREATING DEPRESSION CARHART HARRIS ET AL 2017 DAVIS ET AL 2020 CANCER RELATED PSYCHOLOGICAL DIS TRESS GRIFFITHS ET AL 2016 ROSS ET AL 2016 AND ADDICTIONS JOHNSON ET AL 2017 KREBS JOHANSEN 2012 GARCIA ROMEU ET AL 2014 NOORANI ET AL 2018 AS A RESULT OF THESE STUDIES THERE IS NOW DATA FROM SEVERAL CLINICAL TRIALS APPROVED BY THE PROPER REGULATORY AGENCIES IN THE UNITED STATES EUROPE AND ELSEWHERE SUGGESTING SAFETY AND POTEN TIALLY PROFOUND EFFICACY TO TREAT A VARIETY OF PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS INCLUDING ANXIETY DEPRESSION AND ADDICTION NICHOLS HENDRICKS 2020 UNLIKE MOST MEDICINES WHICH WORK BY INDUCING DIRECT CHEMICAL AND PHYS IOLOGICAL CHANGES THE THERAPEUTIC EFFECTS OF PSYCHEDELICS PERSIST LONG AFTER THE DRUG HAS WORN OFF THESE ENDURING BENEFITS ARE BROADLY ASSOCIATED WITH THE MYSTICAL TYPE EXPERIENCES WHICH THEY INDUCE HAIJEN ET AL 2018 RESEARCH HAS FOUND THAT PSILOCYBIN CAN INDUCE MYSTICAL TYPE EXPERIENCES WITH SUSTAINED PERSONAL MEANING AND SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE GRIFFITHS ET AL 2006 2008 AND EVEN LEAD TO LASTING PERSONALITY CHANGES SUCH AS INCREASED OPENNESS MACLEAN ET AL 2011 IN ONE STUDY A SIGNIFICANT PERCENTAGE OF PARTICIPANTS RANKED THEIR PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE AMONG THE MOST MEAN INGFUL EVENTS OF THEIR LIVES COMPARABLE TO THE BIRTH OF A CHILD OR THE DEATH OF A PARENT GRIFFITHS ET AL 2006 THE PROFOUND AND TRANSFORMATIVE NATURE OF THESE EXPERIENCES NECESSITATES RIGOROUS PHENOMENOLOGICAL INVES TIGATION TO FULLY APPRECIATE AND UNDERSTAND THEIR EXISTENTIAL IMPORT PSYCHEDELICS ARE A CLASS OF CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS THAT PROFOUNDLY ALTER PERCEPTION MOOD SENSE OF SELF AND REALITY GRINSPOON AND BAKALAR 1979 DEFINE PSYCHEDELICS AS A DRUG WHICH WITHOUT CAUSING PHYSICAL ADDICTION CRAVING MAJOR PHYSIOLOGI CAL DISTURBANCES DELIRIUM DISORIENTATION OR AMNESIA MORE OR LESS RELIABLY 3 THE HALLUCINOGENS