In 1927, the French dramatist Romain Rolland wrote a letter to the founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, in which he coined the phrase ‘oceanic feeling’. It is oceanic because the experience seems to be “without perceptible limits”. Rolland believed that this feeling of ‘the eternal’ was a religious feeling independent of any organised religion, but…
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Many people who use DMT report that it is the most earth-shattering, revelatory and mystical experience they could ever imagine taking place (or never imagine such an experience was possible in the first place). But perhaps the most frustrating part of the DMT experience is the amnesia – being unable to remember clearly what felt…
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When you go on a trip, perhaps it is similar in many ways to other kinds of ‘trips’, like those that people have when they take LSD, or those inner journeys of the mind experienced in dreaming, or another altered state. I think it can be stated without being too facetious that there are noticeable…
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I had heard and read about the infamous post-travel blues that long-term travellers get when returning home. And I came to realise that it can be quite a challenging experience. However, I think referring to the experience of coming home as post-travel depression – as many travel bloggers do – is somewhat problematic: it can diminish the seriousness…
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Using smart drugs to boost performance is not without its ethical issues. While some may claim that it’s cheating to take a substance to outcompete others, others will say that there’s actually a moral imperative to do so in some professions; say, in biomedical research or space exploration, where peak performance can benefit humanity in…
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