r/PsychonautReadingClub

Note: psychedelics, like life, can clearly be used in any way and for any purpose and with any perspective that anyone chooses and wants. My personal experiences described here are in no way meant as canonical or the right way. Yuck. My purpose here is only as a possible map, path lights and bread crumbs for that small percentage that have a similar bent in their search, or are feeling lost or scared, in hopes that it saves them years, maybe decades, of time and prevents a lot of grief and heartache.

I came into psychedelics in the mid 1970s by chance, meeting a small group of work and play friends who were about 10 years older than my young 20s self. They had studied and followed the steps outlined in a book called The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead, which stated that the whole reason psychedelics existed, their entire chemical and compound purpose, was to experience deeper and deeper levels of one's connection to the universe. There was no screwing around, no "let's party at concerts" no let's just get high and see. It was a guided step-by-step, deeply non-religious but naturally awe-of-the-mystery manual with each direction meant to help towards this goal, and an understanding that the inevitable points of fear, horror, uncertainty, anxiety, death, nightmarish blood and guts were nothing but illusions, and doors of perception that required only to remember to breathe and to have courage in order to not get stuck at that door of perception and therefore being able to move through to the next level.

My friends' description of all of this, and what seemed to me like their embodiment of a certain grounded, phenomenally courageous and vulnerable and deeply curiously human way of being that they each had made me want what they had, and what they had seen and experienced. Over that winter of working together, I would ply them for details of their journeys (they used only psilocybin mushrooms), how they set up the space around them, what time of day they would start, what music, and most of all, what they did when fear came up. Looking back, I must've looked like a young naive reporter, asking how to do life. But I gleaned a lot from those 30 or so talks, and got the basic gist of what to do.

The steps are outlined in that book, but basically you schedule ahead and set up a series of heroic dose journeys, perhaps 4-6 experiences about a 4-6 weeks apart. You do them at dusk, making sure there are no distractions, no noise, in a room that is right for a journey out into the cosmos. I felt confident to do the journeys by myself, and felt that's where I'd feel most free from self-consciousness, but doing a journey with a group of very like-minded travelers, schooled in the same direction was also suggested. My friends taught me a method that worked well for me, which is to set up a large mirror on the floor (2x3 foot or larger would do), place a single candle in front of it (elevated on a box 6-18" high helps), and then some pillows and blankets so that you sat on the floor, and looked at the mirror 6" or so over the top of the flame. The journey would mainly be looking at my eyes in the mirror in that lighting, with the room behind me.

What becomes apparent fairly quickly is that the eyes, no joke, are the window through to the soul and ones connection to the universe. There are quite a few stages in the beginning and in the beginning of the series, where the self gets caught up in the face and masks and layers of.. for lack of other words, the ego... which can be utterly frightening and it's where most people get stopped. Every imaginable image and fear comes u during this phase, along with every imaginable negative emotion. Self hatred, meaningless, blah blah blah. You name it, it seems to come up. But with the guidance of that book and my friends, even in the throes of the worst of this, I would somehow remember my friends' advice: "Just breathe long slow breaths and bring your gaze right back to the center of your eyes." I can still remember the first time I did this in earnest, as I was surrounded by ghosts and every imaginable bad thought, so so afraid but took a large breath if air, looked directly back into my eyes over the candle and was so caught off guard by the sudden clarity in my eyes, and realizing beyond a shadow of a doubt that what I was seeing was absolute purity, pure consciousness, and somehow I and each of us were an extension or spark of that.

I locked onto that realization just as they had told me I would, as if it were the trail outward and forwards to where I wanted to go and what I wanted to be shown. The bogeymen and horror show continued in my periphery but now it didn't stop me. I got Huxley's "Doors of Perception" idea, and could just keep remembering to gaze right into the worm hole that was my eyes.

What gets shown to each person probably has as many probabilities as snow flakes, or stars in the sky. But the key shared experiences that come from this are the same in all humans: you are left with an indelible, unshakable sense that we are never, ever alone. That we never need to feel truly alone or lonely. That we are so deeply loved for just who we are with all of our faults and transgressions. And that these alone can help us navigate life forward.

I think from that viewpoint of the sacredness of what the journey is really about, is the main separating point between those that find peace-of-mind and a sense of purpose and meaning, to those fellow travelers who can get lost at times and not sure how to get unstuck.

I am beyond grateful for meeting those experienced travelers back in the mid-70s who shared their maps of how to get the most from plant medicine, and it's in that spirit that I share my own experiences here. Again, this won't help but a small percentage of travelers, and I suspect that's the way it's supposed to be. For that small group, I hope this helps.

Hello! I've been interested in the subject of psychedelia for a while now, and I have cornered a few questions in my head that aroused my curiosity: why is it that a mushroom of all things can teach us in the profound way that it does? And where is the fiction, people? There is a lot of non-fiction out now about how psychedelics, specifically psilocybin mushrooms, are making impacts in the worlds of psychological research; but as a creative person, I was curious about a fable that would attempt to explain why certain mushrooms give you visions, and how experiencing said mushrooms can lead one through some strange and interesting territories and encounters.
The Pitch: It's a Leguin/Vonnegut style portal fantasy novel. Orated from the mouth of an omniscient morel mushroom after mushroom society’s collapse, two human brothers discover a living fungus city beyond a mysterious doorway, and it’s inhabited by sentient mushroom people. As they learn more about the fungus city and its citizens, the fungus city also learns about the human world and its citizens, and everything falls into chaos.
TLDR: I’m seeking volunteer readers, if you’re interested and have the time. I’m trying to push for publication, so if all goes well and you like the story I’ll send you a copy when it arrives! DM me if you’re interested. I’d love to know what more folks in this community think.

Are you a member of a Spiritualist Church? Are you confused about what this community is? Send me a chat or post something, it’s time to gather….

Hey man don’t give up. I have gone through this too. I’m in my thirties and when I look around and see how we treat each other and allow those with power to dictate how we run our lives with the laws and rules and back door deals that are a true infringement on our freedom and ability to experience this experience; we’ll it makes me feel like giving up. What’s worse than that, is how we allow ythose in power make us hate one another either because of our race, our sex, where Im from, the clothes I wear, the way I keep my hair, the body modifications or lack there off i have,the food I eat, the music I listen to, the people I vote for, etc.etc. However, I remember why I am here. I am here because on the other side I am at a certain level of enlightenment, do I know which level, no. Is it an upper level, a lower level, I don’t know for sure. I have an idea but, I don’t know for sure. At “said”l evel, I exist with equal level beings. Thus my ability to move closer to the light or, towards the dark, is suppressed ; because we are all existing there together because we are all equally enlightened . One of the reasons I am here is, no matter how much time I have spent as a “conscious” being on the visible light spectrum, our current reality, I have the opportunity to interact with others, that have come here from all different stages of “enlightenment”. It is my duty, to do my time here and try my hardest, to not let the time do me; learn not only from books but, why my fellow brothers and sisters here, have chosen their personal beliefs and ways and means for how they use their time. That collection of input will be exponentially more complex and dense than what I could learn back at my true state of enlightenment in the same quanity of time. Thus, when I cross over I hope to bring that input with me and share with my fellow beings and perhaps find other beings that can help expound on that cornucopia of insight-fullness about what we really are as our one true selves. Hopefully, if we work together or, if its just myself that understands what I have
returned with, that input will allow me to move to a higher state being. Yes, the same concept applies to those who have done true wrong here and used their time to do the work of the dark. That will allow them to either go deeper or, the knowledge will help them see, that living in the dark is not where they want to be. I’ve come close my man to ending this chapter of my existence but, it’s hard when you view yourself as a potentially infinite being. Who knows the next time you will be granted the opportunity to help yourself get closer to the light; more importantly, help those on the other side that haven’t had this privilege, move in the direction of their own choosing due to the input you have returned with. Don’t do it man, don’t be a quitter! That action may have an impact on the next leg of your time line. I’m here for you, all of these people are. We love you, we need you. We need you to fight, to fight, and to fight. It’s clear the battle here is not going well. But we need you so we can win on the other side. Based on what you’ve written I believe you are of the light don’t let the dark begin to creep in. Out fellow brother bud sisters are depending on us.

Your life has a limit, but knowledge has none. If you use what is limited to pursue what has no limit, you will be in danger. If you understand this and still strive for knowledge, you will be in danger for certain! If you do good, stay away from fame. If you do evil, stay away from punishments. Follow the middle; go by what is constant and you can stay in one piece, keep yourself alive, look after your parents, and live out your years.

Please read chapter: 2,3, 11,12 and 26 in advance. A PDF of the text can be found here:

This group examines the history of Metaphysics by looking primarily at European thinkers in chronological order. Great effort is made to include lesser known thinkers whose thought has historical significance. We will occasionally examine non-European metaphysics too to provide context and comparison.

The organizer is not an expert on Metaphysics but has a long experience in organizing similar meetings. He also has an Oxford PhD in European History as well as a Cambridge MPhil on the same discipline. He currently teaches foreign languages.

TO JOIN THIS EVENT:

Nicomachean Ethics Book III. Chs 6 to 9 - my notes, reflections, meditations

Chapters 6 to 9 – On Courage

When we study accounts of history, one of the things we come to recognise is that we humans are perfectly willing to spend lifetimes, several centuries even, ruled by laws and institutions which were never intended to be of service to us. We are capable of tolerating life conditions which destitute us, dehumanise us, degrade us, simply because we grew up in them, built our habits around them, came to accept them as “the order of things”. Where a farmer will not hesitate to axe and burn trees too old or diseased to bear good fruit, we tend to hold onto our circumstances, no matter how terrible, as to a mother’s bosom. We accept them as given once and for all.

We may surely come to criticise some thing or another which bothers us, complain about it endlessly, condemn it secretly or in public. Such activities, however, serve more often than not as a safety valve for pent-up tension. They may even hinder movements toward authentic change and merely contribute as a precondition for keeping everything as it is. If what we desire is change, then one ingredient is missing but which one?

Let us visualise a children’s climbing structure. Like little monkeys, several children are effortlessly navigating the ropes and metal bars. They hardly remember how their little hearts tickled with fear when they first encountered the balancing bars and climbing ropes of this structure. Yet, every one of them had to choose to face their fear in order to gain the confidence and competence with which they carry themselves now.

With every challenge in which we face our fear, we take a leap from a place safe and known to a place we perceive unsafe and unknown. We take a leap of courage. To be courageous means to carry a double-edged sword. As you pierce with it the thing that causes you fear, the sword pierces simultaneously that part inside of you which fears the thing you are fighting. On the river of our lives, courage is the boat which ferries us from a place of fear to a place of confidence. That is why Aristotle locates it as the mean(s) between them.

Chapter 6 – First observations on courage

Courage is a virtue of character. We think of it as the opposite of cowardice. It is not fearlessness, however, i.e. it is not the absolute absence of fear. We qualify courage rather as the mean between cowardice and fearlessness. Still, this is only a preliminary outline of how we understand courage. To gain a more sophisticated understanding we start by contemplating Aristotle’s observations below:

• (i) we do not call someone brave simply because they do not suffer from phobias about things outside their control. (e.g. earthquakes, draughts, war)

• (ii) Those who without noble reason put themselves in the way of a danger they cannot handle (e.g. running into a building in flames because of a game of chicken) we do not consider brave but stupid.

• (iii) People who experience no hesitation in compromising or humiliating themselves and people of their group in front of others for no good reason, we do not think courageous but shameless.

• (iv) In the occasion, however, where a person chooses to suffer any terrible thing, especially death, for a noble reason (e.g. to protect others, to fight for what they love, to secure a benefit for their community) such people we consider brave. First and foremost, we regard those brave who become fearless in the face of noble death.

Chapter 7 – the fearless, the brave, the rash and the cowards

Courage is a particular attitude, i.e. a disposition towards fear in general and towards the particular things we all fear (e.g. disgrace, abandonment, disease, destitution, death.) We express courage in our actions and it is through the actions of others that we determine whether they are courageous or not. Courage we find thus in the way we choose to face things generally regarded as fear-inspiring when we encounter them in our lives. With this we mean (i) what things we face, (ii) under what circumstances and (iii) how we choose to face them.

Now, to further inform our outlook about what makes one courageous, Aristotle discusses and compares courage with three other dispositions we find in the spectrum between fear and confidence:

• (i) an absolutely fearless human mostly exists as a thought experiment. Theoretically, a person can experience such absolute fearlessness if they are mentally deranged, or find themselves under the influence of some drug, or in some other type of altered state of mind. (e.g. the historical berserkers, assassins etc.)

• (ii) people we describe as rash enjoy creating little spectacles in public in which they posture as daring, fearless and powerful. They do this because they are boastful and want to be perceived as such. Such People develop a good radar for opportunities of this kind and never hesitate to pick them up whenever they appear. Whether they will stick around when confronted by a real threat to them has yet to be officially determined.

• (iii) a coward is in essence a person afraid of everything and everyone. They move through life as though forced to walk along a precipitous cliff occupied by terrible monsters.

• (iv) courageous we are, in this way, when we face what we fear for the sake of those we love, the principles we stand for, the noble future we want to bring about. The implicit message here is that in order to be courageous one must be able to love, to have principles, to cultivate a vision for the future worth fighting for.

Chapter 8 – examining popular representations of courage

In this chapter, Aristotle discusses with us five popular representations of courage which do not really constitute courage in its literal sense.

• (i) Aristotle first talks about what he calls “political courage”. With political courage we understand circumstances in which people make choices and actions we typically consider courageous. They do these, however, not for some noble reason per se but to gain a reward or avoid a punishment decreed by the state. In this sense, courage is mixed with compulsion and/or opportunism.

• (ii) We follow with a comparison of courage with training and experience. A band of professional mercenaries may display more prowess in live war and combat situations compared to a group of citizen-conscripts. This is because of the level of training and experience. With that said, in the face of overwhelming force it is the citizen-conscripts who will choose to stay and fight to the death, lest they submit to having their loved ones taken as slaves by another.

• (iii) Thymos, i.e. spiritedness is not per se courage. A courageous person is spirited in nature but courage is not spiritedness alone. People who exceed in spiritedness appear rather to be possessed by it than to possess it. Homer’s Ajax is one example of such a man in Greek mythology. After losing the contest for Achilles’ weapons, he succumbed to blind rage, slaughtered a few flocks of sheep and finally took his own life in shame. Another example is that of children who scream, cry and jump up and down in despair when the time to leave the playground arrives. People who are easily dared into reckless games of chicken we also include here.

• (iv) Overconfidence is not courage. The difference lies in that overconfident person believes they can handle the danger they confront but simply miscalculate their abilities. The courageous know what they are up against and why they must face it.

• (v) Lack of knowledge is not courage. A person may simply not know the level of difficulty of a challenge when it confronts them and they may appear courageous when they choose to engage it but the appearance will fall apart once they figure out they cannot handle it and run away.

Chapter 9 – final thoughts

The more we convenience ourselves in our life, the more difficult and challenging living becomes. The more challenges we pick up in our life, the more we will find that we live a life worth living. A life worth living is at once the fight most worth fighting and the fight where one has the most to lose.

We wonder at the boxers who risk their health for the sake of the honours of the crowd. It is, however, the boxers who find themselves in top physical condition while most people risk their health by spending so much of their life sitting down.

In the next part of the third book we will discuss the concept of temperance as behaviour and habit

"Let us suppose the mind to be, as we say, white paper, void of all characters, without any ideas. How comes it to be furnished? Whence comes it by that vast store, which the busy and boundless fancy of man has painted on it, with an almost endless variety? When has it all the materials of reason and knowledge? To this I answer, in one word, from experience." (Locke)

VS

"From this it appears that necessary truths, such as we find in pure mathematics and particularly in arithmetic and geometry, must have principles whose proof does not depend on instances nor, consequently, on the testimony of the senses, even though without the senses it would never occur to us to think of them." (Leibniz)

Join this Zoom reading group discussion on Thursday October 6 at 5pm ET here -

Participants who haven't done the reading are most welcome, but they will benefit a lot more by reading in advance. In particular, we will discuss extracts 5 and 6 from Part I of Cottingham's anthology – you may find it .

This reading group examines the history of Ideas and Science. Great effort is made to include lesser known thinkers whose thought has historical significance. We will also examine non-European Philosophy and Science to provide context and comparison.

The organizer is not an expert but has a long experience in organizing similar meetings. He also has an Oxford PhD in European History as well as a Cambridge MPhil on the same discipline. He currently teaches foreign languages.

In late 1913, Carl Jung set out on an exploration of his psyche, a quest he called his "confrontation with the unconscious". In doing so, he would enter an imaginative state of consciousness and experience visions, a process that continued with varying intensity for the next 10 years. He recorded his visions in six black-covered journals that he referred to as the “Black Books”, which provided a chronological record of his visions and dialogues with his soul. 

Along the way, he used this material to begin drafting the manuscript of his legendary Red Book, a red leather-bound illustrated volume that was the formal document of this journey and which he kept private during his lifetime. He maintained that the visions recorded in the Red Book represented the nucleus of all his later work. 

The Seven Sermons to the Dead, or "Septem Sermones ad Mortuos", is the only portion of the Red Book manuscript that Jung shared during his lifetime. He had the "Septem Sermones" privately printed as a small book in 1916 and occasionally gave copies to friends and students; it was never published and was only available as a gift from Jung himself. Jung’s heirs denied access to the Red Book after his death in 1961 until 2009, when it finally published, and it was discovered that the "Septem Sermones" was the closing section of the book. 

This context, combined with the tone and content, led one Jungian scholar to consider them as the "summary revelation of the Red Book".

You are cordially invited to join us in the study of Carl Jung’s masterpiece Seven Sermons to the Dead, every Thursday starting July 2022 until we finish the book.

Sign up for the next meeting on Thursday July 14 here for the Zoom link -

We'll be discussing Sermo 2 and 3.

Find future meetings in the group's . The assigned reading to be discussed is listed on each event.

This is a short work: you can listen to it in 40 minutes:

Read Seven Sermons to the Dead here: