What if I am well?
Should one engage with Psychedelics if they have nothing to “solve”? + Self work should not end with the Self.
In an AMA (Ask Me Anything) dinner, where I was the M in the AMA, someone asked a question worth sharing. Having heard many stories of positive transformations, of people coming out of depression, anxiety, addiction, trauma and so on, he wondered: “What if I’m well? What if I don’t have any problem to solve? Why rock the boat? What’s in it for me?” I’ll answer in more words than I did in person.
What Yes vs. What Not
When psychologist Martin Seligman became the American Psychological Association (APA) President in 1998, he was frustrated with the constant focus on the negative - trauma, mental illness and suffering. He felt that more attention ought be paid to the other side of the coin: happiness, well-being, and flourishing. He termed the coin “Positive Psychology” and made it the theme of his term as APA leader.
Introducing: Betterment
Bob Jesse, a former VP of Oracle and a humble giant of the psychedelics movement did something similar for psychedelics. Following Nixon’s war on drugs, at a time when psychedelics research initiatives were focused solely on treating a myriad of conditions, Bob Jesse brilliantly introduced a different priority: researching the effect of psychedelics “for the betterment of well people”. He didn’t just coin the term “Betterment” but went on to help establish and guide John Hopkins Psilocybin Research team, now one of the leading Psychedelics research institutions worldwide.
(Having spent time with Bob Jesse in person many years ago at a meaningful infliction point in my life, him and I very much shared a curiosity around this very topic and I consider him an influential figure to date).
Upgrading our code
We upgrade almost if not every aspect of our lives- our homes, vehicles, devices... psychedelics, done right, offer a tool to upgrade our source code, our consciousness. To go beyond the unconscious patterns, to rewire, reframe, rewrite. In the same way we don’t wait for our phones to break in order to upgrade them, we need not (and better not) wait for a crisis to upgrade our being.
Beyond the self: Impact
Philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti said: “It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.”
With or without Psychedelics, self work must not end with the self. Being well should be thought of not as the end goal but as the baseline. “OK I’m well. Now what?” We ourselves may be well. The world around us is unwell.
Connection to purpose not only leaves a better world, it leaves US better. Countless research shows that purposeful life is a happy life. Psychedelics, done right, can act as a compass to help us navigate our path to purpose.(42’s next macro retreat On Purpose in Holos, Costa Rica is dedicated to this very exploration)
For the love of the game
Like meditation, music or art, at the highest form one engages with psychedelics like a child engages in play, not for any benefits, but for the love of the game.
If none of this calls you, don’t partake.