Will psychedelics save the world?

Are you suffering with fear of the unknown? Are you carrying the load of existential dread? Have you found yourself lying awake wondering what will happen next and if you can make it through? If so, you are not alone. Fear has been infiltrating our energy field for a long time and we have grown a collective backache from the burden of the fear we’ve been given to bear. At this time in our existence, psychedelics have made the headlines, with promises to heal us and set us free. Will they?

Generally speaking, I am a positive person. I have an enduring faith in humanity. But I am not oblivious to the presence of evil. I know that evil is unconsciousness…fear…itself. I know that some human beings walk around completely asleep—disconnected from their divinity and our shared humanity. When we are unconscious, we are capable of unconscionable things. Greed. Hatred. Lust. Murder. If it’s the sleeping, power-hungry among us who bring us all down, God help us, we don’t deserve it. We are, at our core, really loving beings. And somehow, we made it here for a time such as this. All we have to do is wake up from the nightmare of our separation into the realized state of our belonging to oneness. What does it take to have such an awakening? Usually a loss. Either the death of a loved one or your own impending disease, illness, or brief rush with a near death scenario.

As a child, I lived on a farm in the middle of the country. The night sky belonged to me. Lying on my back in the grass, enveloped by darkness, the infinite was obvious, and my existential questions were born. As I got older, I would stargaze in silence. But rather than feeling comforted by the cosmos, I was often terrified. Somehow, we are all here. Spinning on this rock in outer space. But why? And how? And what happens next? And what about the sun?! It will expire eventually, they say—then what? Who will be the poor souls who have to suffer the end of it all? The sheer scale of existence, the reality that all as I know it must, will end…it was overwhelming. And impossible to ignore.

After my developing years of stargazing, I grew up and became a therapist, and for the last 20 years, I have treated a vast spectrum of mental illness: Depression, Anxiety, Anorexia, Bulimia, OCD, Addiction—you name it, we have it. Again, I found myself wrestling with the big questions. How strange that we have so much mental illness. What a shame we have so much suffering. Well, at least there are things I can do to help people.

So, I learned how to do those things. And, I have helped people. But as I have evolved, as illnesses have evolved, as humans have evolved, I have come to a stark realization: We are not mentally ill—we just live here. And because we live here, under these conditions, we struggle, and appear mentally ill. Colonialism, Imperialism, Patriarchy, White Supremacy, Inequality, Loneliness, Isolation, Fear, Irresponsible Capitalism… these are not normal conditions for life to thrive in. This is not how human beings are meant to live. That is why we are sick. These conditions are not designed for us to thrive; they are designed to keep us in fear of one another, complacent, and satiated enough that we don’t seek to close the gap of our own cognitive dissonance.

However we got here, it’s safe to say we got into this together. The truth is, we belong to one another and to this beautiful mother, Gaia, in her beautiful abundance. That’s the good news. The bad news? In spite of our abundance of resources, we are not grown-up enough to share them. How tragic. This is why we must work on ourselves. Because if we don’t, then a narcissistic and ignorant bully does represent the whole of our people.

We may not want to admit this, but we are all narcissists to some degree. If we can acknowledge it, we can modulate it. We can use our desire for comfort—combined with awakened empathy—for the greater good. But we have to be willing to face it. We are each, in our own way, a little ignorant, a little greedy, and a little selfish. The question is: What are we willing to do about it?

I suggest we get to work. I think that’s just what we are going to do. We are going to work on ourselves. We are going to grow up. It’s already happening. We are going to accept the reality of who we are now, so that we can become who we came here to be. We did not come here to suffer. We came to love. To live. To be. To learn. Let’s do that.

How do we know ourselves? How do we confront ourselves? How do we evolve so we can be the change we want to see? There are many paths, but these days, psychedelics are emerging as a powerful tool—offering us a raw and profound way to repair the human psyche. And yes, they can heal us. They can help us. They can humble us. They can awaken us.

Will psychedelics save the world? Probably not. Unless we lace the water supply with psilocybin or drop pink clouds of psychedelic vapor over Capitol Hill and Wall Street, psychedelics will not be what saves the world. We will. Human beings—willing to know themselves, work on themselves, and evolve themselves.

But, psychedelics might lift the crushing weight of existential grief, fear, or rage off your chest. They may help you endure moments like these. They may offer you peace on your journey through planet Earth. They may gift you a breath of fresh, hopeful air—the first one you’ve had in years.

The Buddhists have a saying: The bad news is, you’re falling… the good news is, there’s no ground. Change is the only constant. The landscape of living shifts beneath us at all times. It always has; it always will. We are co-creating this universe together. How will you contribute to the great painting we are making?

If you want to know more about how psychedelics can help you heal, register for this free event to attend LIVE for a special Q and A or receive the link in the your inbox of the recording. Register at the link below.