Joanna Steinhardt at Noema Magazine:
In 1960, the beat poet Allen Ginsberg wrote about his ayahuasca experience in Peru: “Began to sense a strange Presence in the hut—a Blind Being—or a being I am blind to habitually—like a science-fiction Radiotelepathy Beast from another Universe.” Decades later, subjects in clinical psilocybin studies describe “spirit guides” who help them navigate their trips. Last May, a Muslim religious leader told The New Yorker that she had “felt God right behind her” while under the influence of psilocybin for a study on the effects of the drug in clergy.
There are qualities to these encounters that are consistent across a range of contexts and substances, although interpreted in vastly different ways. Oftentimes, beings deliver messages or try to communicate with the user; they’re perceived as autonomous, sentient and helpful or loving; the encounters are viewed retrospectively as deeply meaningful; and they feel hyperreal, revealing a reality that is truer than our everyday experience. My experience reflected all these qualities. Over time, I began to seriously wonder: What are these entities?
more here.
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