Alchemy from Hyperspace: Psychedelics in Contemporary Science and Spirituality, 2017
Recent years have seen a resurgence of scientific and scholarly interest in psychedelic drugs, le... more Recent years have seen a resurgence of scientific and scholarly interest in psychedelic drugs, leading some to proclaim the advent of a “psychedelic renaissance”. Since the controversial introduction of psychedelic use in the West during the countercultural days of the sixties’ hippie generation, psychedelic substances have been associated both with spiritual enlightenment and emotional healing, as well as being seen as psychologically destructive and destabilizing.
Reflecting on the history of psychedelic culture, we can observe a particular set of associations that continue to influence both expert and non-expert interpretations of these phenomena. For instance, within the American counter-culture the appetite for novel ideas, radical reform, and the deconstruction of established norms could very well be linked with the boundary dissolution that occur on psychedelic chemicals. In popular culture psychedelics are presented in the context of rich galleries of craziness and surrealism, of artistic descent into the liminal – often colourfully communicated in movies. But what are the more essential characteristics of psychedelics?
In this study I intend to explore the ambiguity that results from asking a question of essentials to a such an opaque subject. I will highlight certain themes, that, although expressed in many different forms and domains, carry enough family resemblance to be seen as distinct patterns. These patterns play out in many different dimensions, historically expressed in attitudes, ideas, and behaviors. They are also seen in the realm of psychodynamics, in subjective experiences which are highly non-linear, but nonetheless formally coherent in a deep way. It can even be observed neuroscientifically through the shifts in brain function that occur in the psychedelic state. These patterns could be called first transgression, or boundary dissolution, and secondly, derivatively, of connectivity, or integration. I will argue that the whole range of psychedelic effects distributed across all these domains are concrete instances of an abstract pattern of entropy, a concept which I develop and explore as symbolic of themes of both chaos and creativity, disorder and integration.
Alchemy from Hyperspace: Psychedelics in Contemporary Science and Spirituality, 2017
Recent years have seen a resurgence of scientific and scholarly interest in psychedelic drugs, le... more Recent years have seen a resurgence of scientific and scholarly interest in psychedelic drugs, leading some to proclaim the advent of a “psychedelic renaissance”. Since the controversial introduction of psychedelic use in the West during the countercultural days of the sixties’ hippie generation, psychedelic substances have been associated both with spiritual enlightenment and emotional healing, as well as being seen as psychologically destructive and destabilizing.
Reflecting on the history of psychedelic culture, we can observe a particular set of associations that continue to influence both expert and non-expert interpretations of these phenomena. For instance, within the American counter-culture the appetite for novel ideas, radical reform, and the deconstruction of established norms could very well be linked with the boundary dissolution that occur on psychedelic chemicals. In popular culture psychedelics are presented in the context of rich galleries of craziness and surrealism, of artistic descent into the liminal – often colourfully communicated in movies. But what are the more essential characteristics of psychedelics?
In this study I intend to explore the ambiguity that results from asking a question of essentials to a such an opaque subject. I will highlight certain themes, that, although expressed in many different forms and domains, carry enough family resemblance to be seen as distinct patterns. These patterns play out in many different dimensions, historically expressed in attitudes, ideas, and behaviors. They are also seen in the realm of psychodynamics, in subjective experiences which are highly non-linear, but nonetheless formally coherent in a deep way. It can even be observed neuroscientifically through the shifts in brain function that occur in the psychedelic state. These patterns could be called first transgression, or boundary dissolution, and secondly, derivatively, of connectivity, or integration. I will argue that the whole range of psychedelic effects distributed across all these domains are concrete instances of an abstract pattern of entropy, a concept which I develop and explore as symbolic of themes of both chaos and creativity, disorder and integration.
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hippie generation, psychedelic substances have been associated both with spiritual enlightenment and emotional healing, as well as being seen as psychologically destructive and destabilizing.
Reflecting on the history of psychedelic culture, we can observe a particular set of associations that continue to influence both expert and non-expert interpretations of these phenomena. For instance, within the American counter-culture the appetite for novel ideas, radical reform, and the deconstruction of established norms could very well be linked with the boundary dissolution that occur on psychedelic chemicals. In popular culture psychedelics are presented in the context of rich galleries of craziness and surrealism, of artistic descent into the liminal – often colourfully communicated in movies. But what are the more essential characteristics of psychedelics?
In this study I intend to explore the ambiguity that results from asking a question of essentials to a such an opaque subject. I will highlight certain themes, that, although expressed in many different forms and domains, carry enough family resemblance to be seen as distinct patterns. These patterns play out in many different dimensions, historically expressed in attitudes, ideas, and behaviors. They are also seen in the realm of psychodynamics, in subjective experiences which are highly non-linear, but nonetheless formally coherent in a deep way. It can even be observed neuroscientifically through the shifts in brain function that occur in the psychedelic state. These patterns could be called first transgression, or boundary dissolution, and secondly, derivatively, of connectivity, or integration. I will argue that the whole range of psychedelic effects distributed across all these domains are concrete instances of an abstract pattern of entropy, a concept which I develop and explore as symbolic of themes of both chaos and creativity, disorder and integration.
hippie generation, psychedelic substances have been associated both with spiritual enlightenment and emotional healing, as well as being seen as psychologically destructive and destabilizing.
Reflecting on the history of psychedelic culture, we can observe a particular set of associations that continue to influence both expert and non-expert interpretations of these phenomena. For instance, within the American counter-culture the appetite for novel ideas, radical reform, and the deconstruction of established norms could very well be linked with the boundary dissolution that occur on psychedelic chemicals. In popular culture psychedelics are presented in the context of rich galleries of craziness and surrealism, of artistic descent into the liminal – often colourfully communicated in movies. But what are the more essential characteristics of psychedelics?
In this study I intend to explore the ambiguity that results from asking a question of essentials to a such an opaque subject. I will highlight certain themes, that, although expressed in many different forms and domains, carry enough family resemblance to be seen as distinct patterns. These patterns play out in many different dimensions, historically expressed in attitudes, ideas, and behaviors. They are also seen in the realm of psychodynamics, in subjective experiences which are highly non-linear, but nonetheless formally coherent in a deep way. It can even be observed neuroscientifically through the shifts in brain function that occur in the psychedelic state. These patterns could be called first transgression, or boundary dissolution, and secondly, derivatively, of connectivity, or integration. I will argue that the whole range of psychedelic effects distributed across all these domains are concrete instances of an abstract pattern of entropy, a concept which I develop and explore as symbolic of themes of both chaos and creativity, disorder and integration.