In a fascinating article on UnHerd we learn about the idea of the Altered States Economy and how it is bastardizing the spiritual process of human growth.
From the post:
This language goes beyond aspiration, or even idealism: it’s a simulated religion. Inconveniently, there are dangers in viewing our search for God as a technical problem — one that can be solved through human ingenuity. The current psychedelic landscape is greatly influenced by Carl Jung, whose acolyte Stanislav Grof administered LSD in more than 5,000 sessions in communist Czechoslovakia. Yet Jung was famously suspicious of what he called “the pure gifts of the Gods”, described and promoted by early “psychonauts” such as Osmond and Huxley. More than anything, Jung suggests, we ought to engage with the psyche on its own terms, as a mysterious and subterranean layer of reality that can’t necessarily be gauged in the terms of Reason that govern our everyday lives.
Our take? While there is room in the industry for religion, the idea that the psychedelics industry is being bastardized by commerce is difficult to support. Both the spiritual and scientific side of the industry are important and they’re going to have to learn to coexist.
