This book is about what actually happens to the human mind in the psychedelic experience, and seeks to understand the complex mythologies, symbols, ritual trappings, and belief systems which pop up in its paradigm-shattering wake. This book is not about some radical theory or some psychedelic prophecy handed down from on high, this book tries to break it down like it is, no apologies, no excuses, no value judgments. What you believe is up to you, but I have gone out of my way to take belief out of the equation here, and only report on what I know to be accurate and true, extrapolating the missing pieces from the parts that we know to be true, and providing my own holistic interpretation of reality the way I see it. In the end, the truth of what I present here will be proved through the accuracy and repeatability of the models and methods I provide, and as one who has nothing but respect for the scientific method I wouldn't have it any other way.
With that said, I feel compelled to tell you that all of the theories and explanations of the underlying mechanics of psychedelic experience that I present are not really my own, but are taken from the latest scientific research in these areas. There are some parts of this text that will move away from hard science and ebb into bouts of pure speculation on my part, but all of the theories and suppositions presented within are based entirely on the following pillars:
1. My basic understanding of how the brain functions, informed by the latest public domain research, widely available to anyone with access to the internet or a public library.
2. My own first-hand observations of psychedelic phenomena in action, observed in myself and other subjects over the course of many trips, crossing many substances and types of substances, and rigorously cross-referenced in my own notes and mental reconstructions of such events.
3. Public domain reports of other subjects who have experimented with psychedelics, either obtained through personal interviews or via books, websites, e-mails, or other personal correspondence.
The spiritual purists among you will groan at my dogged clinging to science as a foundation in accuracy for this text, and the scientific purists among you will groan at the undue weight I give to babbling trippers about the freaky mind-trips copped from their latest high, but rest assured both of you, a clear and present picture will eventually emerge from these two sides, a holistic view that both embraces the paranormal and gives it a solid foundation within a scientific context.
read it.