Psychonautics

"A psychonaut (from the Greek ψυχοναύτης, meaning literally a sailor of the mind/soul) is a person who uses altered states of consciousness, intentionally induced, to investigate his or her mind, and possibly address spiritual questions, through direct experience.

Goals of psychonautic practices may be to answer questions about how the mind works, improve one's psychological state, answer existential or spiritual questions, or improve cognitive performance in everyday life."...Psychonaut

To be shaken out of the ruts of ordinary perception, to be shown for a few timeless hours the outer and inner world, not as they appear to an animal obsessed with survival or to a human being obsessed with words and notions, but as they are apprehended, directly and unconditionally, by Mind at Large — this is an experience of inestimable value to everyone and especially to the intellectual....Aldous Huxley, The Doors of Perception (1954)

• Psychonautics (Wikipedia)
• Erowid: Documenting the Complex Relationship Between Humans & Psychoactives
• Contemporary Psychonauts
• LSD and Dying
• Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Study on Mushrooms
• Magic Mushrooms Expand the Mind By Dampening Brain Activity
  A new brain-scan study helps explain how psilocybin works — and why it holds promise as a treatment for depression, addiction and post-traumatic stress.
  
• Psilocybin can occasion mystical-type experiences having substantial and sustained personal meaning and spiritual significance....by R R Griffiths, et. al.
• Mystical-type experiences occasioned by psilocybin mediate the attribution of personal meaning and spiritual significance 14 months later...RR Griffiths, et. al.

Back to Previous Level