“ The life I touch for good or ill will touch another life, and that in turn another, until who knows where the trembling stops or in what far place my touch will be felt. ” - Frederick Buechner

Psychedelics: again the pilgrimage - current experience, low/moderate dose

             "The universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper."   Eden Phillpotts

                 "You'll never enjoy the word aright, until the sea itself floweth in your veins,                                                                         till you are clothed with the heavens and crowned with the stars."       Thomas Traherne

“

Our lives are not our own. From womb to tomb, we are bound to others, past and present, and by each crime and every kindness, we birth our future.

” - David Mitchell

        Psychedelics: again the pilgrimage - current experience, high dose

              "To reach the other shore with each step of the crossing is the way of true living."    Shunryu Suzuki

            "My house having burnt down, nothing now impedes my bright vision of the moon."  Zen saying

“ I expect to pass through life but once. If therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again. ” - William Penn

         Psychedelics: again the pilgrimage - current experience, preparing

                                            "No man was ever wise by chance."   Lucius Seneca

               "Who will prefer the jingle of jade pendants if he once has heard stone growing in a cliff?"   Lao Tzu

“

Life is an endless unfolding, and if we wish it to be, an endless process of self-discovery, an endless and unpredictable dialogue between our own potentialities and the life situations in which we find ourselves. By potentialities I mean not just intellectual gifts but the full range of one’s capacities for learning, sensing, wondering, understanding, loving and aspiring.

” - John Gardner

                                  potential benefits of psychedelics

The conventional view serves to protect us from the painful job of thinking.    J. K. Galbraith

It's important to keep an open mind, but not so open that your brains fall out.    Traditional

I've been asked to write a short book section on "Psychedelics and dying" and that has nudged me into looking at this territory here on the blog.  It's a fascinating subject in all kinds of ways.  With the limited space I have, I'd like to comment briefly on four overlapping areas.  One is the growing body of research showing that psychedelic-assisted therapy can dramatically ease severe existential distress associated with terminal illness.  A second, less well studied area, is the observation that psychedelic experience reduces death anxiety in the general population.  Thirdly, it's interesting to note the similarities between some descriptions of psychedelic states and reports of near death experiences.  And lastly I'd like to talk about how psychedelics might produce these effects.

I read a lot of research.  When I find an article of particular interest I download it to my bibliographic database - Endnote - which currently contains well over 27,000 abstracts.  I also regularly tweet about emerging research, so following me on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ (click on the relevant icon at the top of this web page) will keep you up to speed with some of what I'm finding interesting. Additionally you can view this highlighted research by visiting Scoop.it (click on the "it!" icon at the top of the page).  At Scoop.it, I stream publications into five overlapping topic areas: Cognitive & General Psychotherapy, Depression, Compassion & Mindfulness, Healthy Living & Healthy Aging, and Positive Psychology ...

    Sapere aude!  Dare to use your own intelligence!  This is the battle cry of the Enlightenment.  Immanuel Kant

                  God-speed ... To heart-opened light-burst ... Love-drenched ... Out-breath, walls melt                                       To the tender darkness ... Mithril to wings.    Willie Grieve (a friend sending good wishes for the journey).

  "The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes."    Marcel Proust

"There isn't any formula or method.  You learn to love by loving - by paying attention and doing what one thereby discovers has to be done."    Aldous Huxley

"Qualitative research has a rich tradition in the study of human social behaviour and cultures. Its general aim is to develop concepts which help us to understand social phenomena ... Qualitative approaches have particular potential in psychiatry research, singularly and in combination with quantitative methods."  Stephen Agius

"The brains of human beings seem built to process stories better than other forms of input"   Thomas Newman, Professor of Epidemiology & Biostatistics