"Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd." - Voltaire
Hi there,
We can share a common humanity and experience radically different realities. We can hold strong convictions and recognise that our understanding is incomplete. These truths can coexist, even when it feels uncomfortable to hold them together. Yet our minds often seek the relief of choosing one side of an apparent contradiction. What if we could hold that tension a little longer, allowing it to deepen our understanding?
Our minds have a tendency to reach for certainty. Psychologists call this the “need for cognitive closure”: the desire for a definite answer, even when the fuller picture is ambiguous. It helps explain why we can be quick to settle on a view and slower to take in something that challenges it. But understanding also means allowing two apparently opposing things to be true at once.
Psychedelics can invite us into that unfamiliar territory. One scientific theory proposes that they temporarily loosen the influence of established beliefs, making room for experiences and perspectives we might otherwise dismiss. The possibility is worth exploring beyond personal healing: what might change in our relationships and communities if we felt less compelled to resolve every tension? We might become better at listening, more willing to revise an opinion, or just more comfortable saying, “I haven’t figured this out yet.”
That wider potential is at the heart of Psychedelics, Peacebuilding & Collective Liberation, an upcoming conversation with researcher Leor Roseman about how psychedelic experiences might change the way we relate to difference and to one another through the lens of the Israel-Palestine conflict. Join us in London or online 👇
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retreats & weekends
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