Thoughts on psychedelics influencing the evolution of mankind.

[elucidator]

Hi everyone,

I have been noticing a recent paradigm shift in how reality is being viewed on a larger scale. I believe it may have something to do with the rising popularity of the use of consciousness expanding chemicals in the mainstream community.For the last 50 years or so, psychedelics have been a greatly influencing agent for many, and I'd say a large percentage of useful inventions have been somehow influenced by psychedelics.

In the more recent years, with so many different compounds available, the range of the influence drawn from these drugs would be wide. I am trying to paint a picture of how things would evolve in the socio-political world with the integration of all of these new chems into our culture.

We have seen the rise and dispersion of True Hippieism with LSD in the 60s. We have seen the rise and dispersion of True Raverism with MDMA in the 90s. I am very curious as to how the dispersion of the MXE phase will pan out. Plus others.

Any thoughts on the subject?

 

[buildersoftime]

Yes... It's a chicken and egg situation. Is the increasing interest in psychedelic use a result of postmodernism or visa versa?

Also taking psychedelics tends to subtly change the way you think. There's definitely the tendency to assume that society is changing along with you. Humans are inherently pattern seekers and we are good at making these false positive correlations.

 

[Achten]

I have been noticing a recent paragym shift in how reality is being viewed on a larger scale. I believe it may have something to do with the rising popularity of the use of consciousness expanding chemicals in the mainstream community.

I believe the rise in popularity of psychedelics is because of the general change in consciousness in humans (as in human kind, not in human individuals).
Psychedelics are a symptom, just like the Internet, veganism, buddhism, mindfulness, general eastern influences and others that are being integrated in the western model of society.

I believe it's the Universe moving towards a state of One-ness. Unfortunately the Universe doesn't count in years, as humans do.
Thus "the Great Paradigm Shift" of consciousness will move so slowly that we, humans, that are in the middle of it, won't notice it happening.
Well, we do notice it, it is happening now (hence your post), but I don't see it happening (in our lifetime, or in anyone else's, for that matter) that western man collectively steps out of the Matrix. It's a gradual, and more over, *individual* process. We are all One Being, but our Matrix is highly personalized so we are the only ones that can get out of it.

 

[elucidator]

^^Most definitely, very well said. Highly individual process. Personal evolution is where it all happens.

Does anyone think that psychedelic compounds could somehow influence the slow process of the Paradigm Shift of collective consciousness? I somehow feel that popular new things like mxe and nBomes have already boosted some indescribable aspect of something.

 

[buildersoftime]

Have we established we are at the dawn of some sort of new age for humanity? I personally don't think so.

Human culture is constantly evolving. There's nothing new other than the exponential acceleration of innovation.

Have you looked into the study of memetics? It's about how ideas are held in the cultural consciousness.

 

[Si Dread]

Nor me.

But, I do believe that the recent upsurge in the study & examination of the nature of conciousness is fundamentally related to the increase awareness & use of psychedelic drugs, actually!

& on that subject, I came to a conclusion of my own the other day. Graham Hancock postulates that psychedelic drugs played a role in the appearance of conciousness in the human animal & uses the DMT experience & ancient cave drawings of strange creatures as evidence that ancient pre-human apes used psychedelic drugs.

I would go further. I wonder if perhaps the use of psychedelic drugs brought the idea of God to the mind of concious human beings or pre-human apes, & that our obsession with the possible existance of a deity might have come from the use of mind expanding psychedelic drugs in our collective history.

 

[surf.shaman]

I believe psychedelic drugs influenced the evolution of humans many thousands of years ago - more than they are today.

 

[buildersoftime]

The stoned ape theory. I'm not sure it ever got much traction among evolutionary biologists/archeologists.

It could be said that the first generation of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs were strongly influenced by the LSD scene in Haight Asbury and they've definitely shaped our world more than almost any other group. But I still think it's about the give/take, chicken/egg nature of social cause and effect rather than some cosmic consciousness thingy.

 

[Asante]

In our world where everything is fake, is hyped, where everything comes with a hidden agenda, it makes a lot of sense to take a substance that unfolds your mind as if it is given to you anew, and let your Inner Self fill your senses for a precious few hours.

If you take a psychedelic and lie in bed, in darkness, in silence, eyes closed, all of modern society is left behind and its just YOU and THE UNIVERSE, and the deeper you venture into either the more you will see that they indeed are ONE.

 

[surf.shaman]

Can we really even measure the prevalence as a percentage to say that there is "rising popularity of the use of consciousness expanding chemicals in the mainstream community"?

OP questions how new compounds will influence the "socio-political world" - probably to a lesser effect than the recent old ones (particularly LSD) did.

And OP asks "How's MXE going to pan out?"

It seems obvious that MXE will soon be illegal. Many people have re-dosing problems with MXE. MXE is a lot like K and PCP - hardly can be compared to LSD or MDMA.

 

[Achten]

Can we really even measure the prevalence as a percentage to say that there is "rising popularity of the use of consciousness expanding chemicals in the mainstream community"?

Don't know about statistics, but the rising popularity of sites like this, and vendor sites seems to indicate this. Also, 'drug problems' around the world are increasing; read: more and more people are drawn toward the experience of altering their consciousness. Not only through chemicals btw, look at the yoga/zen/... classes popping up everywhere.

OP questions how new compounds will influence the "socio-political world" - probably to a lesser effect than the recent old ones (particularly LSD) did.

I think so too. Mainly because in the 60's we got LSD, DMT and mushrooms. Now there's 100's of chemicals available.

And OP asks "How's MXE going to pan out?"
It seems obvious that MXE will soon be illegal. Many people have re-dosing problems with MXE. MXE is a lot like K and PCP - hardly can be compared to LSD or MDMA.

Illegality won't matter, IMO. Look at the popularity of LSD and mushrooms.

I believe psychedelic drugs influenced the evolution of humans many thousands of years ago - more than they are today.

I also believed they did, and still are. It's an unfolding process.

 

[Si Dread]

It seems obvious that MXE will soon be illegal.

I assume you are outside of the UK, where MXE has already been banned.

Obviously, while drugs such as LSD & other psychedelics remain illegal it will be difficult to find out what perentage of the population are using them because they will not tell the truth when they are asked. But the fact that new psychedelic drugs are being discovered all the time, & that sometime these discoveries are of chemicals that fall outside the law, it might be fair to assume that more people who are interested in psychedelic drugs are discovering them. It is just an assumption though.

 

[elucidator]

Have we established we are at the dawn of some sort of new age for humanity? I personally don't think so.

Human culture is constantly evolving. There's nothing new other than the exponential acceleration of innovation.

Have you looked into the study of memetics? It's about how ideas are held in the cultural consciousness.

Contrary to the insistence of some of my friends, I agree with you also. There are no sudden shifts. Personal and collective evolution are both continuous processes.
I will check out memetics. Sounds interesting.

Can we really even measure the prevalence as a percentage to say that there is "rising popularity of the use of consciousness expanding chemicals in the mainstream community"?

OP questions how new compounds will influence the "socio-political world" - probably to a lesser effect than the recent old ones (particularly LSD) did.

And OP asks "How's MXE going to pan out?"

It seems obvious that MXE will soon be illegal. Many people have re-dosing problems with MXE. MXE is a lot like K and PCP - hardly can be compared to LSD or MDMA.

In no way does mxe even compare to the level that lsd influenced the socio-political world, as it is not nearly as widely used, nor as socially accepted. It is vastly influential as a tool for mind expansion, and I think it has much potential to instigate lasting impressions into the collective consciousness. As much potential as lsd, imo.

 

[Si Dread]

Remember that when LSD was impacting all corners of social life in the 60's, it was mostly legal. Perhaps, given the upheaval in social context that LSD brought to the world of the 60's, this might be why drugs such as MXE are so quickly legislated against in our own time..?

 

[Gratuitous Grace]

Contrary to the insistence of some of my friends, I agree with you also. There are no sudden shifts. Personal and collective evolution are both continuous processes.

Hmmm ... not sure about this one. Leaving aside for a second the fact that sudden (versus gradual) is highly contextual...

From a biological perspective, it seems that evolutionary changes actually do occur suddenly. That, unlike Darwin's version of continuous and gradual change, evolution tends to come in bursts. (I don't have links handy, but I'd bet you could throw together a google search using a few of those words in order to bring up a range of thought on this.) Basically, we see biological "complacency" for generation after generation after generation ... followed by biological "revolution."

And relatedly...

From a socio-political perspective, I kind of doubt that the increasing popularity of LSD in the '50s/'60s and beyond or the development of the mobile phone over the last few decades can really hold a candle to revolutionary upheaval. That is, I don't see how anyone could say "there are no sudden shifts" when we look at Russia in 1917, Spain in 1936, Hungary in 1956, Cuba in 1959, Chile in 1973, Poland in 1980. (Again, I don't have links handy, and some of my dates could be off by a year or two -- although I hope not!) Would anyone be comfortable going back in time and telling a resident of Havana in late-1958 that "there are no sudden shifts"?

I know there's a temptation to say that 1917 seems like a million years ago. But, there's really no precedent to believe that, simply because the world has experienced a certain event or another, that we've left a mode of thinking behind. Quite to the contrary, actually.

Now ... with respect to psychedelic (and other drug) use and the possibility that such could lead to anything from the development of cool tech gadgets to a revolution in a Central American jungle, it seems to me that there's the following (probably fatal) idiosyncrasy: the people most interested in drug taking tend to be adolescents and young adults who typically have very low or no social capital or influence; and the people who do have social capital and influence (namely, wealthy adults) tend to age out of drug taking and start focusing on more pragmatic, lucrative, and "socially responsible" endeavors. Folks like me -- a 40-year-old frequent psychedelic user -- are something of a rare species that many of my generational peers would deem growth-stunted and pathetic.

I would love to agree with the OP's observation on the "recent paradigm shift" -- I really would! Again, though, it seems problematic. Even though I wasn't present, I'm sure that millions of similar conversations took place all throughout the Summer of Love. And then came the 1968 election. (Another "sudden shift" perhaps?) In the end, anyone who takes a position like the OP's really has to explain some very unfortunate turns of events ... in order not to repeat them, perhaps?

 

[Ondine]

I've never been interested in the perceived spiritual effects and importance of psychedelics.
I think everything that exists, from astronomical phenomena, to human behavior, to the subjective effects of psychedelic drugs on the mind can ultimately be described in quantized, mathematical terms.

While I think it's possible for people to have a serious shift of perception during and after taking psychedelics, I would say it's only a pipe dream to hope that they'll directly influence human behavior on a global scale at any point. The ability of psychedelics to "open the mind" is not feasible for every person.

I think the most realistic benefit from psychedelic drugs will come from controlled scientific research on their effect on humans over the course of the next century. If we want to understand the inner workings of the human mind in full detail, psychedelics will be a powerful tool.

 

[Ondine]

Psychedelics are a symptom, just like the Internet, veganism, buddhism, mindfulness, general eastern influences and others that are being integrated in the western model of society.

This is very well said.

It's important to understand that something like LSD is just a (fairly) complex molecule of Carbon, Hydrogen, Nitrogen and Oxygen. Inherently, it's nothing special. What is special is the way that the psyche is transformed upon ingesting it. Without the mind to perceive the effects of LSD, it's just a collection of atoms.

Ergo, everything that people believe is special about LSD is actually what's special about humans.

The creation and popularity of the internet has already a much more massive effect on the general state of human consciousness world wide. I think that it's effect is not fully appreciated.

 

[elucidator]

^^^ Agreed completely.

Contrary to the insistence of some of my friends, I agree with you also. There are no sudden shifts. Personal and collective evolution are both continuous processes.
.

I was meaning there is no sudden shifts in the context of global evolution. There is definitely sudden shifts in smaller areas of evolution, ie personal evolution/tribal evolution, ect.

 

[Thanatos]

Geological/ecological shift influenced all the species of humanoids through the eons more than any psychotropic ever did. It was the opening of the African savannah and subsiquent departure from an arborea lifestyle was the impetus for increased brain mass, optical accuity, and bipedalism. Psychedelics had absolutely no role in the evolution of humanity as far as I'm concerned, eating a 5-HTa2 agonist had nothing to do with the emergence of our bipedal existence.
The concept itself is silly and quite frankly, shouldn't be considered from a scientific stand point.

 

[TweakFreak]

ever since ive started taking psychedelics ive had so much of more positive outlook to life it made me less depressed and lazy