As a child we are informed that there are substances, molecules and compounds that when taken are bad for society and canlead to the user being ostracised from it. However, as we mature and start tothink, we are challenged by this information. We may start to understand that there are many more things that are drugs than we had previously been aware of;such as sugar, caffeine and especially medicine.
So what is a medicine? How can it be defined; and are we looking for medicines in all the wrong places?
With the current ecological awakening, we are seeing that processing and plastics have created mechanised products for the mass-market. We are now exploring our desire to live at one with nature. In Robin Carharatt-Harris’s paper, “TheEntropic”, he explains that mankind’s ability to live in a “sub-critical state” separates us from nature and therefore allows our modern society to wield ourpowers over it. By re-establishing a balance back to a “critical state” we may achieve greater unity with the natural world. We may rediscover the natural forms of medication from living things. By applying the principles of quantum, there is energy and the potential for intelligent substances, molecules and organic compounds. There is growing understanding that the very things that humans have coexisted and evolved with for millennia have impacted and shape our development through symbiosis. There should be no surprise that if endocannabinoid receptors are the most prominent receptor in the brain, we must have coevolved with cannabis through our shared history.
So how can we differentiated drugs into useful and useless and have we got this right?
I believe that an understanding ofcocaine, heroin and diazepam can tell us much about our shared psychology. All these substances have medical uses which coexist alongside the potential for abuse, addiction and long-term societal destruction.
Cocaine, a favourite of both Victoria and Freud is one of the most effective dopamine releasing substances. It is reward…100%, served up in the best way possible... Immediately!
It tells us that animals and in particular human beings, do almost anything in search of reward, even, at times, to the detriment of their own well-being.
Heroine has a long history of medical use bothunder prescription and on the black market. Currently, there are several morphine-based products that have become vehicles for generating maximal profits for the US pharmaceutical market at an atrocious human cost. Heroine is the most potent pain-relieving molecule we know and within its shared history with humans has led to significant amounts of destruction and pain. It has brought whole countries to their knees, emblemised through its early international trading, which saw the British Empire continue to stamp its dormancy on the world by trading opium grown in India to appease the British publics insatiable appetite of Chinese tea.
Societies use of heroine highlights to use that we fear pain and take extraordinary steps to avoid it, in the best way we know how. Immediately!
Diazepam, the favourite of the 1960s housewife who may have felt castrated and impotent, living through an age of gender inequality that resulted in society requesting women to stay at home when they could have been actualising the hopes and dreams that they wish for. It is highly addictive and supposedly one of the most severe medications to detox from.
Diazepam works so well in taking away people's fear and anxiety, in the best the way we know how. Immediately!
What should we be learning?
A greater awareness of both our individual and societies relationships with these substances can inform us all about our personal psychology. We could consider that understanding the effects of these drugs may illuminate our sense of self and be the function of the Freudian ego.I greater awareness of our ego could be achieved through regular engagement in critical self-reflection and healthy group discussion amongst others engaging in their personal self-reflection. By creating a space to think we may be able to consider how actions may be little more than the product of impulsive reactions driven by our need for reward and avoidance of fear or pain.
Relating to our drives in this way may be one of the mechanisms that can help us change our sense of self and dissolve our ego. Could we potentially move into a different psychological plane? Somewhere higher up in our developmental progress towards self-actualisation?
Psychedelics, with their ability to change perspective sof how we interpret our perceptions, may be one way to open us up to see this other side. They have powers to dissolve our ego and an ability to make us feel very special and can even offer us the greatest honour of all, conversing with God. Being given this information and allowing our mind, body and soul to believe this deep knowledge, gives us some space to move out of the near-constant request for reward and freedom from pain or fear.
Psychedelics have the potential to show us that there are possibilities outside of these drives which we can nurture by being moral and having virtues that are worthy of providing direction to our life’s journey. To be in the pursuit of compassion, kindness and sharing. To work together and advocate for greater interconnectivity of people, ecosystems and even objects.
TO BE EXCELLENT TO ONE ANOTHER AND IN THIS TRUTH WE WILL ALL PARTY ON.
These experiences commonly influence users to feel like these drugs are medicine. They have abilities to promote self-awareness and reflection and allow us to see with greater clarity through the current confusions within society that may obstruct our thinking.
Some people are so affected by these transformative teachings that they come across so exuberant or even evangelical in the pursuit of explaining their insights to others. Psychodynamic thinking would suggest that observing infants in their early development gives us a greater insight into our own psychology. Consider a child watching a cartoon for the first time. Preverbal and clearly mesmerised by the images and sounds, they look around to see if the magic affects others. There is a desire for us to connect in our moments of joy. To be free from the fear of pain and suffering and to be offered experiences that give us joy, would for many be a magical experience.
The reflective potential of psychedelics requires more than just experiential learning. Integration after a deep and meaningful experience is necessary. One must learn how to recalibrate themselves and develop an understanding of how the new knowledge could be used in our present world. A process of symbiosis. Acknowledging, articulating and interpreting their experiences must eventually lead to action and to “be the change that they want to see the world”. Psychedelics may have the potential to help mankind actualise our life’s potential and move towards a more holistic, synergistic state of connectivity.