#119 | Three for a dark eternity on the moon
"The only reason, for example, that you are not a rattlesnake is that your mother and father weren't rattlesnakes. You deserve very little credit for being what you are." — Dale Carnegie
“My emphasis is on verbs, not on nouns; avoid nouns as much as possible. In language you cannot avoid, that I know; but in life, avoid - because life is a verb. Life is not a noun, it is really living not life. It is not love, it is loving. It is not a relationship, it is relating. It is not a song, it is singing. It is not a dance, it is dancing.
See the difference, savour the difference. A dance is something complete; the last touches have been made, now there is nothing else to do. Something complete is something dead. Life knows no full stop; commas are okay, but no full stops. Resting places are okay, but no destination.” — Osho
We're lucky to live in changing times; if nothing else, it's interesting. Today, society evolves more in a week than previously varied between millennia. It's both remarkable and frightening.
One of the more exciting inflexion points (in just the last month!!) is the legalisation of psychedelics. First in Colorado for supervised recreational use and then for therapeutic purposes in Australia. Australia deems the psychedelics as "relatively safe" and thinks they will benefit those with treatment-resistant depression and PTSD.
This inflexion point comes along just as a weary world recovers post-pandemic. In this new world, our mental health is worse than ever. 60% more young people had a probable mental health condition in 2021 compared to 2017. Similarly, before the pandemic, the adult prevalence of depression was at 10% — this rose to 19% by June 2020 and 21% by March 2021. It's since fallen to 17%.
Perhaps our poor mental health is caused by isolation, home-schooling and social media? I don't know, but it’s a tragedy of modernity.
Unsurprisingly, I think, a search for alternative medicines has begun as people's mental health deteriorates. For many, traditional anti-depressant drugs aren't working. Psychoactive drugs are being turned to: Even in the UK, ketamine-assisted psychotherapy is available in a clinical setting, and MDMA-assisted therapy is now trialled.
It begs the question, Are we moving towards A Brave New World, where 'soma' maintains our inward stability? Soma is the drug that citizens of Huxley's World State receive to make them feel good (in small doses) and gives them hallucinations (in large ones). It dims the lights of consciousness and offers an easy, ecstatic experience. Huxley himself took mescaline, so it's based on that.
"..there is always soma, delicious soma, half a gramme for a half-holiday, a gramme for a week-end, two grammes for a trip to the gorgeous East, three for a dark eternity on the moon..." (A Brave New World)
I don't think we are headed into Huxley's future. Soma delivers unrelentingly positive experiences. But the personal significance of intense psychedelic trips is often not rapt joy. Instead, the experience is challenging and scary, and the lessons are powerful because it's so challenging.
Before Christmas, I spent four days on retreat with Alalaho, an organisation that runs legal psychedelic retreats in the Netherlands (recommended). The magic, or Mystery, of the experience is difficult to surmise.
For me, the mere fact of leaving the present, and entering this altered state, is not at all inviting. The world we live in, in the present, is comfortable: There are books, decaf coffee etc., and I have arms and legs.
Leaving my body for a few hours and entering a realm so inexplicable it's impossible to write about induced a ton of worry in me. I was scared to go; I was scared I would not return. It took bravery to sip the psilocybin-infused tea. And when the dose had worn off, it was delighted to be back.
For the last forty years, these medicines have been the most illegal of illegal substances. This is changing rapidly. Soon most psychedelic interventions will be available in a clinical setting. Then, as in Colorado, pharmacies will be dolling out these medicines.
William Gibson famously said, "The future is already here – it's just not evenly distributed." Well, in this case, the future is in Australia. Who would have thought!
My week in books
How To Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. I bought this at school, but my housemates found it in my drawer and ridiculed me. I never finished it. I'm reading Snowball about Warren Buffet, and HTWFAIP was one of Buffet's early reads, so I decided to pick it up again. It's awesome. If only I had finished it 16 years ago! Thanks, lads…
It's uniquely quotable, too:
"It isn't what you have or who you are or where you are or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about it."
"Don't be afraid of enemies who attack you. Be afraid of the friends who flatter you."
"The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated."
Live well
Hector
PS. Writing about intentional dosing is essential to normalise these experiences. Reddit is a bible of information. Having spoken with friends, the prevalence of psychedelics in the press means people are looking to 'experiment'. It's irresponsible (and dangerous) to cobble together your own experience, as I did a few years ago, because the perceptual shift is overwhelming. There is no way to hold on to reality with larger doses. Getting a bus or crossing a road is impossible. So talk to somebody and make sure you're safe.