74 Comments
Jan 26, 2023Liked by Jack Leahy

While the absorption of psychedelics by the machine is indeed disheartening, I think both you and the author of the UnHerd article may be throwing out the baby with the LSD laced bathwater. I agree that drugs are not the permanent path to spiritual enlightenment, but the right drug at the right time in the right context can be a postcard from the place you're trying to go. They can bring about an understanding that otherwise can only be gained by many decades of work, and may very well help one to find a path that is otherwise lost. I urge you not to discount them entirely without a deep and personal understanding of their effects.

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Jan 27, 2023Liked by Jack Leahy

The explosion of the psychedelic industry over the last decade is fascinating. To see it go from sub culture to Amazon product shelves is just....trippy. If you want a clear example of how fast The Machine works here ya go.

The Machine colonized much of the world now its colonizing us on a psychic level.

I worry we are not a healthy enough culture to properly hold this new avenue of "saving grace." It does feel like the beginning of everyone being encouraged to take Soma. And who could fault people for wanting to?

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Jan 26, 2023Liked by Jack Leahy

Further to my earlier remarks

I ‘just’ came across a passage I’d highlighted in Iain McGilchrist ‘The Matter with Things’

“ The conscious articulating mind, not knowing what is going on, prefers anything to accepting the truth of the matter – that we are getting along OK without its input.”

That I suggest is a rabbit hole potentially far more Enlightening than psychedelics :)

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I’ve never taken psychedelics and I’m pretty partial to the view you’ve laid out. However, I wonder if it’s not better for our culture than the cold materialism that proceeded it. At least it breaks the atheistic smugness of absolute control. I wonder if (for us who believe) it’s not better to have to cut down trees than to irrigate deserts?

Might be even worse. Who knows

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I’m appreciating the nuanced discussion on psychedelics. In many ways, I am excited about their growing popularity because I do think, in some cases, they might be helpful in healing people from conditions where the current standard of care isn’t working.

But I also share your concern with the psychedelic utopianism. I’ve heard psychonauts make claims that “if only everyone would try psychedelics” the world would be a better place. And some have trouble admitting that the same experiences offered by psychedelics, can be had through other means. I’ve had psychedelic-like experiences in both meditation and shamanic ritual that did not use any drugs.

My overall opinion is that psychedelics may have therapeutic and spiritual value for some people in some circumstances, but they are not humanity’s salvation.

Much like you, I am also wary of people who want to transcend the human experience -- however, I think this is sometimes a step some of us have to work through rather than be argued out of. Sometimes on the journey to deify-oneself, become enlightened, or fly over the rainbow, we encounter important lessons that ultimately bring us back to our humanness.

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Jan 26, 2023Liked by Jack Leahy

Thank you so much , Jack, especially for the Hieromonk Damascene quote which blew my mind - He is saying, in that quote, what I have dimly fumbled, stumbled and staggered my way towards these last 20 years of retreat. It is by giving up my mind's need to 'solve' while at the same time opening my heart to god/flow/faith that I will be able to see everything from a different perspective - in fact new perspectives appear on an almost daily basis. It is not that the same situation isn't there in one sense, because clearly it is - it is just that it has actually transformed into something entirely different - the lead-heavy glueball has turned into a soap bubble, floating in the air. I have never heard of this chap before, but I googled him. His books on Amazon costs a bomb - can you recommend alternative access to his writings?

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Jan 25, 2023Liked by Jack Leahy

Thank you, Jack. The Unherd article caught my attention because my Aunt had just been telling me that she tried this out in hopes it might heal her depression. She was disappointed that it did not. She told me that she found out after that for major depression one needs a higher dose. She is planning to attempt that in the future. She also heard that it might take repeated trips. Hmmm.... who is selling this to her? That was the first I heard of this whole trend.

Actually, in retrospect it wasn't. There has been lots of talk about mycelial networks that connect trees, communication between plants, and soil health measures that conserve these mycelium, such as no-till. Often in discussion of these fascinating properties of forests and soil there is made mention of the potential for mushrooms to replace plastics or bring enlightenment to modern people. I have noticed that for a couple years. I''m interested in the soil health stuff but the other claims are thrown in there under the heading, "mushrooms may save the world!".

I was surprised to read that Alduous Huxley promoted psychedelics, never having read his books. Because the drug soma from Brave New World is used in such a nefarious way as Paul Kingsnorth brought out recently, I was amazed to learn that he promoted the use of various drugs in his later life. He himself did not choose the savage reservation but went for LSD on his deathbed!?

So, are you friends with the author of that UnHerd piece, or was he interviewing you as an expert on mysticism and the spiritual path in preparing his article? It seems almost exactly like the Elvis example from your last post... using a drug induced state to bypass the fasting, seeking, suffering, or other effort required to get to a goal.

Clara

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Jan 25, 2023·edited Jan 25, 2023Liked by Jack Leahy

Booze, and pills, and powders/You gotta choose your medicine ~ Keith Richards. Timely and important essay you have written here. The age of Timothy Leary 2.0 is upon us. The Apple's temptation is still here as an offering. I am not different from any other person in sometimes wanting the quick fix and have, in the past, succumbed to it. It's a false idol. May we have the wisdom to "know the difference" and choose The Way.

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Like most things, psychedelics are often a shortcut to states that humans are capable of, unaided. In this way they seem similar to ready meals.

As for the direction of transhumanism my pet theory is that it ends in 2 versions of Homo Sapiens. One lives, suffers & knows joy in the world. The other lives in unbridled pleasure states for a lot longer, in VR.

Tomorrow's radicals are those who could afford to take it, but who ultimately refuse the fun option.

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Jan 28, 2023Liked by Jack Leahy

Hi Jack, hope things are well at the monastery. Thanks for another interesting article. I don’t know much about this medical psychedelic ‘industry’ and will read the article you recommend but in my experience taking psychedelics is like playing Russian roulette with your mind. Some people (Syd Barrett as a notable example) never make it back. I just agree with you: it is a dangerous mirage and not the true path to peace

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Jan 26, 2023Liked by Jack Leahy

I think it’s in large part the work of abandoning self-consciousness

As you say, entering’flow’

I’m about 50% sure

When I think about it ;-)

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Jan 26, 2023Liked by Jack Leahy

To be slightly provocative- isn’t there Something of The Elder Son in demanding we all slave away?

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Jan 26, 2023Liked by Jack Leahy

Saint Sophrony rocks!

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Thank you for the thought provoking essay. I’m interested in your view on the Orthodox notion of Theosis, or what Thomas Keating would call Christ Consciousness. Is the difference in that the transhumanist movement desires to merge with some false sense of proto-human-divinity, or something like that, versus the idea of union with Christ?

Here’s a clip of Keating on the subject:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cwTsEhm0CBI

Forgive me if you’ve already discussed this, I’m fairly new to your Substack.

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Jan 25, 2023Liked by Jack Leahy

Thank you for the excellent article.

You might want to read the chapter on "Psychology and Psychedelic Experience" in American Mysticism: From William James to Zen by Hal Bridges. I was fortunate to be in Professor Bridges' seminar on mysticism at UCR many years ago. His thoughtful reflection on drug use and genuine spirituality has not lost any of its power. I'd be interested in your thoughts about his views.

Best wishes, Jack!

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Jack, where is that quotation of St Sophrony from?

Brilliant piece BTW, thanks very much.

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