The Psychedelic Election⁠↗

The great popularizer of psychedelics, Aldous Huxley, gave us a somewhat sobering description of what might be our future in “Brave New World”, and many in the West have been terrified of these substances for quite a while.

When you think of the reverence the Romans had for the ancient Greeks, and when you think of the countless gifts the Greeks gave the Romans, from philosophy to democracy, Cicero decided that this was the most “exceptional and divine” contribution Athens made? And he associated it not with tripping hippies or social decay or trivial licentiousness, but with civilization itself?

The recipe for the psychedelic brew and the preparation of it was restricted to women, who passed on the secret recipes from mother to daughter, and was the particular preserve of older women.

A profound psychedelic experience can give a human being a new perspective, a sense of overpowering divine love, of the unimportance of death, and of the power unleashed by the love of others. It changes you because you cannot unsee the view from the mountaintop. It disappears from view in normal practical life, but your knowledge that it is there, that transcendence is possible, mitigates the jagged and ugly impulses of the primate mind.

The collapse in religious faith has exacerbated our lack of perspective, and made our divisions more intractable. Our online lives have become a source of acute anxiety and distraction. Our psychological dependence on consumerism, entertainment, and materialism has deepened the spiritual crisis. In this context, the psychedelic experience is a strange shortcut to serenity. And the more who have access to it — safe, responsible, moderated access — the more possibility we have that these wounds can heal and our civilization can endure and thrive.