Psychedelics
The use of psychedelics in spiritual and therapeutic settings if finally starting to gain the recognition it once had, shortly after the discovery of LSD. This is detailed in the popular book How to Change Your Mind, which is a good starting point if you are interested but new to psychedelics, or want to learn more about the scientific research and therapeutic techniques being developed.
This page details the history and various forms of modern psychedelic use, and how it has helped reveal universal truth to spiritual seekers throughout the ages.
That Hallucination is a Fractal
Most depictions of psychedelic and spiritual hallucinations take the shape of fractal patterns. This is most likely due to the inherent fractal structure of our self-organized neural networks. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
We see fractals because our brains and minds are organized using fractal structures. They are the thumbprint of the universe made visible through psychedelic amplification.
Eyes and faces are also really common, since facial recognition is one of our most important brain functions. But even those are often arranged in fractal patterns.
The subject of Sacred Geometry is focused on this topic, though a lot of it crosses over into pseudoscientific fractal woo.
Historic Spiritual Uses
Detail the history of psychedelic use in different cultures and religious contexts.
This museum explores the art and culture surrounding psychedelics.
Modern Therapeutic Uses
Current therapeutic uses of psychedelics, research showing its effectiveness at treating various disorders, structure of a guided session.
The focus on therapeutic uses is necessary to open the door to legalization, since recreation is not a good enough reason to do something according to ascetic religious traditions that dominate mainstream politics. If you need a therapeutic breakthrough then a guided trip offers a lot of potential benefit.
Although Huberman has since taken a turn towards the grift, his earlier videos offer some very good conversations and advice.
Best Recreational Uses
How to create a set and setting that will bring joy, friendship, ecstasy, wonder, revelation, inner peace, and/or total ego destruction.
Sometimes, as humans in the pursuit of happiness, we just need to have a really, really, really good time. Recreational psychedelics may or may not offer that, depending on the set and setting. Protip: it's hard to go wrong at a music festival.
If you really want to go down the rabbit hole and experience the effects of deep meditation without the years of practice, or get therapy without hiring a therapist, just sit in a dark room for several hours with some spacey tunes. In this setting, it is recommended that a trusted sober friend be on call from another room.