Hi there,
This week, a man whose entire philosophy is "Don't Die" took the psychedelic substance most reliably described as simulating death. He livestreamed it, naturally. Bryan Johnson - centimillionaire biohacker, prophet of Immortalism, the most measured human in history - sat in a white clinical room, smoked 5-MeO-DMT accompanied by researcher Robin Carhart-Harris, and had his ego dissolved on the internet.
He emerged shaking and wordless. "Existence demanded that I submit," he wrote. "Yes to dissolution of self. Yes to release control." It was, by any measure, genuinely moving. But that wasn't enough. Within days, he was calling it his most efficacious longevity protocol -"a reset of me as a human." A goal reached. One step closer to The Real You.
It's had us thinking. A lot. Beyond the spectacle, we have built an entire civilisation around the optimisation of the self, and it isn't working.
Anxiety, depression, and loneliness are rising across the Western world even as our tracking technologies get better. John Vervaeke calls it the meaning crisis: a culture that replaced wisdom with information, leaving an entire generation feeling disconnected from themselves, each other, and the natural world.
Into the void, we pour data. On how to optimise, how to live longer. But the medicines and their spiritual traditions have always pointed in the opposite direction: learn to die, so you can learn to live. Wake up to the illusion of the self and separateness.
This week we're sitting with the deeper questions this moment raised for all of us - Why do we take these substances, and to what end? What would it mean to let them change not just how we feel, but what we want - what we build, who we serve?
Because the real work isn't in the trip itself. It is always in what you do with it.
👉Read the full story on our blog
If these questions are alive in you, join us this month as we explore the nature of consciousness, reality, and what it means to be human with two unmissable conversations:
🌀 Iain McGilchrist & Bernardo Kastrup: With Reality in Mind (7 April): Two of the most original thinkers of our time in dialogue on the nature of reality, consciousness, and how we attend to the world.
🍄 A Journey into Consciousness: Live discussion with Michael Pollan (14 April): Michael Pollan joins us to discuss his new book A World Appears, exploring consciousness through neuroscience, philosophy, contemplative traditions and his own lived experience. With live Q&A.
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MORE UPCOMING EVENTS
As always, you can find all our upcoming events and retreats on our events page.
learning to feel
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making sense of the journey
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getting to know yourself
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music as medicine
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UK socials & walks
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psychedelic retreats & facilitation
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Join our community of members!
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By becoming a member of The Psychedelic Society community, you get access to exclusive members-only events, a discount on events, and support the development of this alternative cultural space. Membership starts from just £5/month!
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