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Connecting, Diverging, and Reconnecting: Putting the PSI back into Psychedelic Research


Pages: 5 - 20

Abstract

So what can be learned from such an enterprise, investigating what I like to mischievously call “para-psychopharmacology”? Well, perhaps we can learn something about the neurochemistry underlying parapsychological processes (Luke & Friedman, 2010), given that people generally report far more of them under the influence of psychedelics than when not (Luke, 2008). Any discoveries forthcoming about the neurochemistry of these processes equally applies whether these experiences are shown to be genuine or not, because we can learn something about the neurobiology of paranormal experiences at the very least. Nevertheless, the state of neurochemistry is a complex affair, and a sophisticated approach is needed to unravel the intricacies of human-chemical interaction. This includes an investigation of situation/person variables, such as in Nicola Holt and Chris Roe’s recent work looking into person lability and task lability (e.g., Holt & Roe, 2006). There are also a wealth of different psychedelic substances, which have been increasing in number since 1900 by a factor of 10 every 50 years according to expert psychedelic chemist Alexander Shulgin (2004), meaning that there will likely be a jump from 200 to 2,000 known psychedelic substances between the years 2000 and 2050. It must also be considered that there are a wealth of different exceptional experiences that people may have whilst on these substances; in this regard there is a lot to be learned from the lineage of shamans who have been using these substances for millennia and who are well practiced in navigating the altered states they produce. From direct research and from the literature, it seems that most every type of transpersonal experience can be had under the influence of psychedelics (e.g., Grof, 2001; Luke & Kittenis, 2005) and these may teach us something about the phenomena that are ordinarily studied in psychical research. For instance, the apparent contact with discarnate entities, particularly under the influence of one of the body’s naturally occurring psychedelics, DMT, can inform studies into mediumship, apparitions, sleep paralysis, and alien abduction experiences (Luke, in press). However, the multitude of these complex experiences means that a taxonomic approach is also required so that we can ultimately determine which substances, under which environmental conditions and for which people, best activate a particular sort of experience; that is, what experiences arise out of a combination of set, setting, and substance? That is a lot of factors and a lot of questions to ask, so you see that this is a completely nascent field of study, and we are wise to admit that currently we know virtually nothing. One insight we might begin with is that Theophile de Gautier, the founder of the 19th century Le Club des Hachichins in Paris, not far from here, once had an experience outside of time in which 15 minutes passed by in what felt like just a couple of hundred years (Devereux, 2008). Perhaps an experience like that can begin to help us unravel some of the paradoxes of time that occur with precognition. This seems as good a starting point as any, and so, I thank you for your patience during the eons of this talk and hope that this short journey down the rabbit hole did not feel like a few centuries. “Down, down, down,” said Alice. “Would the fall never come to an end!”