“What if we could give people who are depressed or suffer from PTSD or anxiety or obsessive-compulsive disorder a medication, and they could wake up the next day and be fine without any side effects? That would be transformative.”

Concerns with the over-emphasis of inner-spirituality are described extensively in new-age research (Heelas, 2009; Simchai, 2009). In short, while new-age culture sees itself as a counter-culture, it can actually reinforce dominant cultural trends of individualism, something which has been observed in some neoshamanic ayahuasca circles as well (Gearin, 2015; Rodd, 2018; Apud, 2020a). For example, some Australian ayahuasca practitioners believe that “The primacy of the individual is reflected in the idea that social transformation is only possible after the individual transforms their consciousness” (Rodd, 2018). This is aligned with the Israeli new-age ethos (Simchai, 2009), including the ethos of the population observed in this study. Within this ethos, ‘peace starts from within’ and social change happens through personal change which ‘ripples’ out, or by achieving a ‘critical mass’ of individuals who have gone through personal transformation. Important to note, that such new-age ideology in Israel can sometimes support political amotivation, and lead to ‘identity blindness’ which can serve hegemonic power relations (Simchai, 2014; Simchai and Keshet, 2016).

I’m preparing to teach a weaving class. It’s the first time I’ve done one in a few years – the last big effort was 2017, when I did a class for the DFW Fiber Fest board members, trying to get my brain back into teaching mode. It didn’t really take. Don’t get me wrong – class went well, everybody had a good time, and we got excellent results – but I didn’t feel inspired to keep going and teach. Since then, I’ve done a lot of psychedelic-assisted therapy work, and have fixed a decade of treatment-resistant depression – and I’m ready to teach again. I’m not going to talk about the therapy part here… but if you want to know more, get in touch: wormspit@gmail.com and I’ll share more in private.

Yes my understanding was a that ego death is the goal, and this is done in a controlled setting with a trusted therapist.I have no experience with these dosage levels but what I have heard is that some people don’t experience the full ego death at 3.5 grams but most people do at 5 grams, and I have also heard that there isn’t much additional effect from higher doses. So the thinking is to make sure to get everyone over that edge.However there are other forms of treatment and I’m only talking about what I learned a few years ago, I’ve not studied the latest work and I am not a medical professional at all.I did a quick google search to find more info for you and it seems there’s a lot of new work being done. I didn’t find any convenient link with the answer to your question though.

Scientific research on psychedelics begannearly 70 years ago, with over 1,000 clinicalarticles being written between 1950 and 1972showing promising results

Moreover, psychedelics are particularlypromising for enhancing cognitive functions, asthey appear to be nontoxic and medically safe,even when consumed at standard hallucino-genic dosages (Bogenschutz & Johnson, 2016),producing no dependence or addiction in ani-mals or humans (Nichols, 2004;Nichols, 2016;Nichols & Grob, 2018)

Distinct acute effects of LSD, MDMA, and D-amphetamine in healthy subjects

Safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamics of low dose lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) in healthy older volunteers

Psychedelic Microdosing: Prevalence and Subjective Effects

Preliminary Report on the Effects of a Low Dose of LSD on Resting-State Amygdala Functional Connectivity

A review of emerging therapeutic potential of psychedelic drugs in the treatment of psychiatric illnesses

Mood and cognition after administration of low LSD doses in healthy volunteers: A placebo controlled dose-effect finding study

Psychedelics in Psychiatry: Neuroplastic, Immunomodulatory, and Neurotransmitter Mechanisms

Classic serotonergic psychedelics for mood and depressive symptoms: a meta-analysis of mood disorder patients and healthy participants

The acute effects of classic psychedelics on memory in humans

Survey of subjective "God encounter experiences": Comparisons among naturally occurring experiences and those occasioned by the classic psychedelics psilocybin, LSD, ayahuasca, or DMT

Harvard Science of Psychedelics Club: The Hyperbolic Geometry of DMT Experiences

Parents have started using LSD and ‘magic’ mushrooms because they say it helps them be more present with their kids

Other situations might admit changes requiring years of special training, very expensive equipment, or the use of special drugs.

“The ordinary waking consciousness is a very useful and, on most occasions, an indispensable state of mind; but it is by no means the only form of consciousness, nor in all circumstances the best. Insofar as he transcends his ordinary self and his ordinary mode of awareness, the mystic is able to enlarge his vision, to look more deeply into the unfathomable miracle of existence.The mystical experience is doubly valuable; it is valuable because it gives the experiencer a better understanding of himself and the world and because it may help him to lead a less self-centered and more creative life.”

I think that the nature of the psychedelic experience is challenging to the rationalists’ basis of Western ideas.