Psychedelic Society

"Exploring the far-out spaces of human consciousness is the fastest way to social transformation."

- John C. Lily

If there is any one thing that everybody today could probably agree on, its that we are living on a planet in crisis and something has got to change. Where most would disagree, however, is what steps ought to be taken in order to divert the impending variety of apocalyptic forecasts. What I propose, rather, is that instead of addressing individual symptoms or topical remedies, we assess the ailment at root; the insidious malady being, to my mind, a feeling of disconnection and helplessness when faced with the daunting enterprise of the modern human condition. Yet it need not be so.

The interconnectivity of the universe can indeed be an immediate presence in felt human experience. When people can connect on this fundamental level, the dangers and fears inherent in modernity can be moderated via new reality filters. Although these connections and filters can be learned from experience and integrated into mental life, it is much more likely to occur if taught. Since the technique for paradigm integration that is taught today is one of conformity, complacency, apathetic ideology, and a misplaced idea of normality, the ideals that people are looking up to are generally unattainable and in the long run unsustainable. By teaching a reality filter that includes the opportunity to undermine ingrained mental structures, the less desirable ones are more easily weeded out and replaced. As it seems to me, the most desirable models are those that can include concepts such as the interconnectivity of the universe, and especially the inter-relationship of all life on earth. People too, no matter what denomination.

That's what it will take to have a sustainable cultural enterprise; to relate to others as one experiences oneself, a lofty ideal indeed, but I don't think too far out. Instead of thinking of everyone in terms of their appropriate social category, we can consider ourselves participants in the development and manifestation of the archetypes that all arise from a common source, our experience itself. This is what psychedelic society means, and all societies are psychedelic; defined succinctly, 'mind made manifest', all societies make manifest what is on their mind. The individuals that make up the group can decide on what sort of manifestations they want to bring to the table. We can come together by embracing the diversity and differentiation of each individual with strict compassion, strictly of course, to bring about the better experience for each individual so that they're able to do the same for those that follow.

In a positive society there would be less use for erroneous and superfluous language as the immediacy of interpersonal relationships makes so much of what happens in today's culture totally irrelevant. The limited capacity afforded us by language need not be a constraint to our communication and interaction, insofar as the imperative to action need not be spoken. It's been said, by whom I forget, that the best way to evaluate a society is to check how they treat their most desolate and disenfranchised members. When we're helping it along tacitly by complacently accepting, whether conscious of the fact or not, the society that is manifesting itself around us just doesn't seem up to par with what people had in mind. This is why we need to open the collective unconscious eye, have a good couple blinks, and really pay attention to what the mind of our species is inflicting on the planet and ourselves.