Episode 7: La-La Land

When people take certain types of psychedelic drugs, they enter into a mystical state characterized by a depersonalized fusion with a divine light. Proponents of psychedelic use claim that such states (which are also at the heart of many Eastern religious practices) are ultimately good for humanity and society. In addition, some scientists claim that mystical states, when induced by psychedelics, can have curative effects (e.g., reducing anxiety and depression). In this episode we deconstruct the psychedelic mystical experience and analyze the popular claim that such experiences are beneficial. Bibliography Books: Bancarz, S. & Peck, J. (2018). The Second Coming of the New Age: The Hidden Dangers of Alternative Spirituality in Contemporary America and Its Churches. Huxley, A. (1954). The doors of perception. Leary, T. (1980/1998). The Politics of Ecstasy: Fourth Edition. Ronin Publishsing. Leary, T., Metzner, R. & Alpert, R. (1992/2017). The psychedelic experience: A manual based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Mech, Timothy J. (2012). Pastors and Elders: Caring for the Church and One Another. Peterson, Eugene H. (1991). Answering God: The Psalms as Tools for Prayer. Strassman, R. (2001). DMT: The spirit molecule. Strassman, R. (2014). DMT and the soul of prophecy. Journal Articles: Anderson, T., Petranker, R., Rosenbaum, D., Weissman, C. R., Dinh-Williams, L. A., Hui, K., ... & Farb, N. A. (2019). Microdosing Psychedelics: Personality, mental health, and creativity differences in microdosers. Psychopharmacology, 236(2), 731-740. Griffiths, R. R., Johnson, M. W., Carducci, M. A., Umbricht, A., Richards, W. A., Richards, B. D., ... & Klinedinst, M. A. (2016). Psilocybin produces substantial and sustained decreases in depression and anxiety in patients with life-threatening cancer: A randomized double-blind trial. Journal of psychopharmacology, 30(12), 1181-1197. Gurin, L., & Blum, S. (2017). Delusions and the right hemisphere: a review of the case for the right hemisphere as a mediator of reality-based belief. The Journal of neuropsychiatry and clinical neurosciences, 29(3), 225-235. Polito, V., & Stevenson, R. J. (2019). A systematic study of microdosing psychedelics. PloS one, 14(2), e0211023. Ramachandran, V. S. (1995). Anosognosia in parietal lobe syndrome. Consciousness and cognition, 4(1), 22-51. Smith, S. D., Dixon, M. J., Tays, W. J., & Bulman-Fleming, M. B. (2004). Anomaly detection in the right hemisphere: The influence of visuospatial factors. Brain and cognition, 55(3), 458-462. News: National Post: Is microdosing LSD a solution to the 'crisis of meaning' in modern life? Videos: NBC News New York: As 'Microdosing' Explodes in Popularity, New Look at Benefits, Side Effects of Daily Psychedelics Use Ted2008: Jill Bolte Taylor - My Stroke of Insight YouTube: Russell Brand Wants to Know About DMT | Joe Rogan YouTube: Jordan Peterson - Psilocybin Research YouTube: Yoda - Attachment leads to jealousy YouTube: Excited Delirium - Man ingests large quality of hallucinogenic mushrooms WHERE TO FIND US Website: notconformed.show notconformedshow.ca Email: [email protected] RSS Feed: (NEW! SimpleCast 2.0) https://feeds.simplecast.com/Q7v05iI6