For our last issue of the year, Michael Pollan reached out to several dozen figures in the psychedelic community for their takes on 2021, and their expectations for the year to come.
Feeling grateful this New Year’s Day for this newsletter and the information. After spending time last night with family who are suffering with depression and addictions I hope this treatment option helps.
I look forward to the support and development of relations with indigenous peoples that respects and protects them while allowing a transfer of knowledge and experience to those outside.
While I do not see psychedelics as a panacea for all that ails the human condition, I do see them as a necessary part of restoring balance between our species and the ecologies of our planet. (This point cannot be overstated: The psychedelics are a necessary part of establishing a visceral awareness of our interrelation with world ecologies which will be part of how we can rebalance our relationship to be sustainable, benign, and meaningful rather than abusive, exploitive, instrumental and dangerously dysfunctional.)
I also hope that the failures of human systems with disinformation susceptibility, selection and confirmation biases which have been on clear display during the pandemic will provide lessons going forward when we grapple with the far more dangerous climate crisis. There will be bad actors who are vested in the status quo who will do what they can to derail efforts that disrupt their profit models.
All in all though, I think the door is open for advances in the field of psychedelic research, decriminalization, and the introduction of them in therapeutic and religious contexts to advance our species past what appears to be a great filter - our dysfunctional and exploitive relationship with planetary ecologies.
Feeling grateful this New Year’s Day for this newsletter and the information. After spending time last night with family who are suffering with depression and addictions I hope this treatment option helps.
I look forward to the support and development of relations with indigenous peoples that respects and protects them while allowing a transfer of knowledge and experience to those outside.
While I do not see psychedelics as a panacea for all that ails the human condition, I do see them as a necessary part of restoring balance between our species and the ecologies of our planet. (This point cannot be overstated: The psychedelics are a necessary part of establishing a visceral awareness of our interrelation with world ecologies which will be part of how we can rebalance our relationship to be sustainable, benign, and meaningful rather than abusive, exploitive, instrumental and dangerously dysfunctional.)
I also hope that the failures of human systems with disinformation susceptibility, selection and confirmation biases which have been on clear display during the pandemic will provide lessons going forward when we grapple with the far more dangerous climate crisis. There will be bad actors who are vested in the status quo who will do what they can to derail efforts that disrupt their profit models.
All in all though, I think the door is open for advances in the field of psychedelic research, decriminalization, and the introduction of them in therapeutic and religious contexts to advance our species past what appears to be a great filter - our dysfunctional and exploitive relationship with planetary ecologies.
Wow, all really great points. I'm predicting that for 2022, more people will be interested in exploring psychedelics for creativity.