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The volume is a mind-bending experience. In particular, it meticulously recounts numerous substances consumed by this US-raised scholar in history and philosophy of science has experimented with. They include psilocybin, lysergic acid, cannabis; prescription drugs to manage stress; venlafaxine, SSRIs, Lexapro and traditional treatments; stimulants (“I've consumed espresso daily since the early 90s”); and, at least for him, the always disappointing spirits.

The Truly Mind-Bending Aspect

The really trippy thing, however, is less about Justin Smith-Ruiu’s narratives of his psychedelic episodes, instead that they’re written by a tough-minded logical thinker, one as familiar with AJ Ayer’s Foundations of Empirical Knowledge as Aldous Huxley’s expansive perceptual explorations. Furthermore, he delivers them seeking to melting the perceptions of his fellow thinkers and the public arguing that psychedelics dissolve individual identity merging us with cosmic consciousness, thereby rendering us free as defined by Baruch Spinoza’s Dutch philosopher the ethicist explained it (expressed in the book with “a willing acquiescence regarding how one’s own body operates amid the fixed order of things”).

Melting the Western Framework

The melting comparison is appropriate, since the foundational moment of Enlightenment-era European thought occurred when the 17th-century scholar Descartes heated a piece of wax. The lump may change its shape, scent, length, breadth, however, Descartes supposed, we continue to believe to know that it is the very entity. The observer may err regarding every their perceptions related to the wax however not, the philosopher maintained, whether thought occurs: here lies the foundation of his famous “I think therefore I am” – through which Descartes made us the rational, empiricism-loving beings we have been from then on.

The author, discombobulatingly, challenges the tradition regarding the thought experiment: imagine if, in place of transforming the object, the philosopher had “melted his mind” via psychedelics, or through entheogens beginning to appear in Europe from overseas alongside agricultural products and nicotine, such as peyote or ayahuasca? Imagine if he had not emphasized reason and had praised the visionary abilities which Smith-Ruiu suggests, are unleashed via entheogens? The west may have evolved seeing the world in a wholly new way, and human beings as “boundless sources of insight and wisdom”.

Transcending Mainstream Philosophy

There’s more in Smith-Ruiu’s consciousness expansion, it could be argued, than imagined in rigid academics’ frameworks. His perspective bears resemblance to current voguish, reality-altering movements like Markus Gabriel’s new realism, and Timothy Morton’s frameworks and non-human-centric views. The German philosopher argued the noumenal remains unknowable, deducible maybe but never knowable. It was impossible in this world, see God. According to the author, psychedelics might help transcend that barrier. Due to this proposition alone I’m amazed – and inspired – that he got tenure.

Lucidity Insights

Crucial to highlight now that this is not similar to wild narratives typed when the writer is under the influence. The author differs from the gonzo journalist. Named About Psychedelics however it is not created under influence (excluding, presumably, including the prescription meds he details above and regular coffee boost). “During composition, lucid, focused, and entirely dedicated to the task at hand.”

A Surprising Revelation

The volume ends with a fascinating turn of events (philosophical spoiler alert!). Recently, the philosopher participated in church service for the first time since his youth at the church near his Paris apartment. His proposition at this point states that substance-induced states parallels the experience of religious ceremonies: everyday perception is seen as a limited view, and through ritual one might perceive, as he did on mushrooms, something like eternity. An additional connection concerns how a person relinquishes egoic control in church just as with a psychedelic trip. Smith-Ruiu expresses: “Psychedelics, akin to spirituality, like poetry are among other things a release of ego to remain separate.” Smith-Ruiu shows awareness enough to note how ironic this may seem: that substances serve as his pathway to spirituality.

Accessible Psychedelia

One need not to use psychedelics from any source in a Dutch head shop (as described) to alter perception. He points to the initial section of literary works À la Recherche du Temps Perdu, as the young character dreamily imagines that he transforms into {some of the things