Ketamine Logic

For God’s sake man, don’t pre-program!

If you ever find yourself floating in a sensory deprivation tank with a head so full of ketamine that the distance of your perceiving mind from your physical body seems light years apart, it would be wise to heed the advice of the late physician and philosopher, John Lilly. This eccentric, yet vastly intelligent explorer of altered mind states was keenly aware of the cognitive problems that arise from the natural human desire to adhere to an "explanatory principle." He saw this problem as becoming especially salient when navigating realms beyond 'normal' human consciousness.

Adherence to an explanatory principle, as he put it, is akin to having certain beliefs or faith in the objective reality of some idea. The placebo effect demonstrates this power of the mind to turn something believed to be true by the subject into a more objective truth (i.e. physical changes). This power of belief and its concomitant power of suggestion (belief inducer) can be immensely useful, but can also serve as roadblocks to any serious investigation of altered states through creating self-imposed limitations on how far into the abyss of mind one can go. Lilly saw the direct individual experience of these non-ordinary states of consciousness as the most useful tool for exploring potential metaphysical phenomena and advised future navigators of these realms (referred to as psychonauts in the psychedelic community) to take care in minimizing "pre-programmed" ideas or expectations when embarking on such a journey.

In "Programming the Human Bio Computer," Lilly specifically proposed using a “formalistic” paradigm when investigating altered mind-states, an approach “which assumes that the bio-computer itself generates all of the phenomena experienced” (p. 75). In other words, nothing is assumed to exist in reality independent of one’s own mind. He concludes that the formalistic view is simply the safest assumption to hold when pursuing the limits of our current knowledge; maintaining this view serves to safeguard one against the limitations of more restrictive assumptions of reality. An exploration of altered states while adhering to this construct is therefore seen as the best way to yield the most authentic knowledge in this area.

A deeper appreciation for consciousness exploration is in particularly high demand in our time. Recent advances in quantum physics are increasingly revealing that the nature of the smallest particles of matter behave in ways that are counter-intuitive to the traditional scientific, materialistic perspective of reality. Some in this field even suggest that there is evidence supporting the possibility of an infinite number of universes existing independent of our own. The idea that altered states of consciousness may be capable of performing hitherto unknown metaphysical feats does not seem so far-fetched in comparison.

The common experiences of psychedelic users (e.g. being visited by alien entities, traveling to other planes of existence, etc) may not all be the result of hallucinations and may instead reflect genuine encounters of alternate realities. Even if this is believed highly improbable, an exploration of this outstanding possibility would be no less useful. Just as Lilly proposed questioning our assumptions about consensus reality however, he also cautioned against becoming convinced of the reality of what one experiences in an altered state. His framework for investigating the depths of human consciousness is thus seen as the best model to assist with the new field of "inner science."

In order to get the ball rolling, I propose federal funding to assist with opening public sensory deprivation centers across the nation. In these centers, the full range of psychedelic compounds will be on the menu to assist users with exploring the boundaries of "alternity." Ideally, funding for consciousness exploration should parallel that currently spent on NASA. If the aforementioned proposals are accepted, I expect the field will grow exponentially. Children across the land would soon begin dreaming of becoming a psychonaut when they grow up.

"In the province of the mind, what one believes to be true is true or becomes true, within certain limits to be found experientially and experimentally. These limits are further beliefs to be transcended. In the mind, there are no limits."

RIP John Lilly