Deliriants and Spirituality: AA Founder Bill Wilson’s Path to Sobriety

Many members of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) may not be aware that the organisation’s founder, Bill Wilson, was an advocate of LSD. This may seem like a strange fact, given that for AA members, achieving ‘sobriety’ tends to mean total abstinence not just from alcohol but all mind-altering substances. However, Wilson – based on his own…

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Seeing the World Anew: Psychedelics, Child-Like Wonder, and the Will to Novelty

A commonly reported feature of the psychedelic experience is seeing the world with fresh eyes – as if for the first time. This has also been likened to a child-like state of wonder, where everything in the world is transformed from dull and lifeless to fascinating and animated.  While reverting back to this child-like form…

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Jacob’s Ladder (Adrian Lyne, 1990): A Meditation on Making Peace With Death

Jacob’s Ladder (1990) – directed by Adrian Lyne and written by Bruce Joel Rubin – is, in my opinion, one of the greatest psychological horror films ever made. It is a multilayered film that draws on many spiritual and religious influences and themes. Rubin, the screenwriter, is also a meditation teacher and has a long-standing…

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25I-NBOMe: A Dangerous Psychedelic Commonly Sold as LSD

In the world of unregulated drugs, there is nothing to stop dealers from adulterating the drugs they sell or misselling them (giving you one thing, promising it’s something else). Most dishearteningly, the black market has encouraged dealers to adulterate drugs like heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, and fraudulent prescription medications (opioids, sedatives, and stimulants) with the highly…

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The Effects of Sleep Deprivation on a Psychedelic Experience

‘Set’ – what you as an individual bring to a psychedelic experience – plays a significant role in how a specific trip will turn out. This one half of ‘set and setting’ (the latter encompassing environmental factors) is often framed as your mood and emotional state going into an experience. Do you feel positive and…

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