Psychedelic Deep Adaptation
The Case for Psychedelic Awakening in the Age of Ecological Collapse
Introduction to the Full Paper, which you can read here on Academia.edu
The Good News:
We are in the midst of a Psychedelic Renaissance. We know more about psychedelics, their effects and how to use them to our benefit than ever before. Unprecedented numbers of people are experimenting with psychedelics and finding their lives enriched and even transformed for the better. Scientific research means that psychedelics are closer than ever to being accepted as psychotherapeutic medicines.
The Bad News:
We are in the midst of the sixth mass extinction on Earth,. With 4°C global warming predicted by as early as 2060 (consistent with the IPCC’s ‘likely range’), and the best estimate being closer to 2070, climate scientists forewarn the upheaval and premature deaths of up to 6 billion people due to global climate and ecological collapse. We simply do not know whether humanity will be able to avert this outcome, let alone adapt and survive if it does occur, but it is our clear and urgent moral duty to do all we can to prevent it.
“Deep Adaptation” is the view that we need to be preparing for the worst case scenario: the near-future collapse of our society and civilisation. It is in this space of incredible uncertainty and urgency that we must now act and live, mindful of the fact that for many peoples, particularly in the Global South, climate-driven collapse is already here: famine, war, displacement and drought are everyday realities, driven by the disproportionate polluting effects and neocolonial oppression of industrial countries in the Global North.
This paper calls on the global psychedelic and activist communities to explore the immense, untapped but proven potential of psychedelic experiences to catalyse our psychological and spiritual development, within the context of a widespread mental health crisis and the deep adaptation scenario.
Our society-wide neglect of the overwhelmingly negative climate science, has led us into a crisis situation. In a similar way, our neglect of the overwhelmingly positive psychedelic science literature is holding us back from a clinically viable end to the mental health crisis and the cultivation of a psychologically and ecologically healthier society. These are evolutionary leaps that, in the face of deep adaptation, we need to make. Given that the solutions exist but are not being implemented, it is clear that the biggest barriers to successful adaptation and the prevention of collapse are psychological in nature.
The system perpetrating the destruction of life on Earth has its origins in the manifold complexes and neuroses of the Western psyche. Psychological development is therefore needed for each of us to gain a clearer understanding of our ecological context (as embodied beings on a living planet), our internal responses to that context (through emotions, beliefs, and ideas) and an acceptance of the extremity of our predicament. Such development empowers us to respond to global collapse with compassion, creativity and calm.
The collective Western psyche is currently paralysed in a state of fear and denial. This enables a sleep-like “business as usual” mentality to continue driving our civilisation towards climate-induced collapse. However, as an increasing number of people experience psychedelic-assisted healing, insight and transformation, our collective trajectory grows in its potential to avert the worst-case scenarios of global collapse and realise the brightest possible future for all life on Earth. This paper explores how, with a society-wide embrace of psychedelic therapies, we might do exactly that.
