Living creatively, psychedelically

How consciousness-altering journeys enhance creativity

What do Steve Jobs, Yoko Ono, Harry Styles, and Nobel-prize-winning scientists Francis Crick (discoverer of the double helix structure of DNA) and Kary Mullis (inventor of PCR) have in common?

They’ve all publicly attributed some of their creative genius to the use of psychedelic medicines.

These anecdotal reports are enriched by a long-standing history of psychedelic use in technology, dating back to the origins of Silicon Valley and personal computing. As

Daniel Pinchbeck

writes, “many of the computer programmers and technical engineers responsible for creating the personal computer and the Internet were devout acidheads in their youth”.

It seems that psychedelics are not only medicines for trauma healing but that they also have the potential to unlock creative forces within you. Or perhaps, those are two sides of the same coin?

The thesis that psychedelics enhance creativity was historically primarily an anecdotal one, but in recent years, a growing body of research has emerged substantiating the claims. It’s no longer a question of if but how, and the answer, as so often with psychedelics, is both mystical and scientific.

The connection between psychedelic journeys and creative insight (and expression)

I wouldn’t be writing this if it weren’t for my experiences with psychedelics. The Journey would not exist. Not only because this is a newsletter about psychedelics, but because the psychedelic experience has connected me with Self, and Self has a desire to be expressed, to be seen.

It’s an inevitable part of the journey inward that, once you meet yourself more intimately, a desire to share this newfound core identity with the world emerges. This can occur in many forms. Some start making music or art, writing, or sharing openly about their journey, others become yoga teachers, guides, or coaches. Those who cringe at newly liberated beings who “found themselves” (or rather, embarked on the journey of finding themselves, a never-ending quest) are often the ones living in the painful reality of being severely disconnected from their core selves.

“In order to have self-expression we must first have a self to express.” - Anton Chekhov

Rick Rubin even questions if it’s possible to know who you are without somehow expressing it. In his mind, the creative act is a way of being.

On a conceptual level, psychedelics are hallucinogens. When you hallucinate, by definition, you imagine things that don’t exist. (Or, things that always exist but are imperceptible in your regular waking consciousness — but that’s a topic for another time.)

Hallucinogens can trigger processes of deep trauma healing, which often involve your inner child. Your inner child is simply an abstract concept housing all the subconscious programming you adopted in early childhood. No matter how severe or mild the trauma, we all carry beliefs from our childhood into adulthood. When you heal the wounds of your inner child by releasing repressed emotions and replacing limiting beliefs, a welcome side-effect is not only that darkness subsides, but that you also reconnect with the awe, curiosity, and playfulness of your inner child.

Through this connection with your core being, your soul — whatever you’d like to call it — you expand your sensitivity, the birthplace of creativity.

In addition, the psychedelic experience can reveal the inherent goodness and bliss of the human existence, a condition largely forgotten by most who experience it. Henry Thoreau describes this best in Walden:

“We have settled down on earth and forgotten heaven. (…) We have built for this world, a family mansion, and for the next, a family tomb. The best works of art are the expression of man’s struggle to free himself from this condition. But the effect of our art is merely to make this low state comfortable. And that higher state to be forgotten.”

Thoreau speaks to the painful reality that the human experience is one of suffering, lived in separation from the earth, from fellow humans, from unity consciousness. Many artists create because they must. It’s their best attempt to make meaning from the suffering.

As Rainer-Maria Rilke writes in Letters to a Young Poet:

“There is only one thing you should do. Go into yourself. Find out the reason that commands you to write; see whether it has spread its roots into the very depths of your heart; confess to yourself whether you would have to die if you were forbidden to write. This most of all: ask yourself in the most silent hour of your night: must I write? Dig into yourself for a deep answer. And if this answer rings out in assent, if you meet this solemn question with a strong, simple “I must,” then build your life in accordance with this necessity.”

It’s not uncommon to emerge from psychedelic experiences with not only the desire but the duty to create. You’ve reconnected with the part of you that is inherently creative, your Self, and have likely acquired some nuggets of wisdom. Indigenous cultures speak of the responsibility of the gift, which is certainly how I view all I’ve received from plants (and self-inquiry) over the years. What’s the point of all of it if not to share? To make the world a little more beautiful, more connected, more real?

Emerging research explains the neurological workings

There’s a growing body of evidence that illuminates the creativity-enhancing neurological states enabled by altered states.

Here’s a selection of research:

• James Fadiman’s 1966 study was the first of its kind, showing that psychedelic agents such as LSD and mescaline facilitate creative problem-solving

• Robin Carhart-Harris’s 2016 study proves that the brain on LSD shows higher resting state functional connectivity between the visual cortex and the rest of the brain

• This 2016 study from the Beckley / the Imperial Research Program found that LSD increased “global entropy”, which enhances changes in openness which is further linked to “imagination, aesthetic appreciation, novelty-seeking, non-conformity, and creativity”

• This 2018 study shows that psychedelics such as LSD and DMT promote structural and functional neural plasticity

• A 2021 study shows that seven days after a psilocybin journey, the number of novel ideas increases, substantiated by brain imaging which found acute and persisting effects within- and between-network connectivity of the default mode network

• This study published in 2022 confirmed that brain network modularity is “significantly reduced one day after psilocybin therapy,” which researchers say implies an increase in functional connectivity between the brain’s main intrinsic networks, which is foundational for creative thinking.

• Another 2022 paper suggests that LSD increases novelty and symbolic thinking while decreasing utility and convergent thinking

5 things I’ve learned about the creative process (+ 2 things I’m still learning)

Here are some of the lessons I’ve learned about the creative process, not only from psychedelics but also from my partner, a classical composer and creative genius.

1. You are inherently creative, just as you were as a child. The child-like qualities foundational for creativity — awe, wonder, curiosity, imagination — they’re all still in you. To access them, you need to unburden your inner child.

2. You cannot will creations into existence but have to surrender to the flow of them emerging from within.

3. Creative offerings are bred in the subconscious (a place psychedelics are known to stir up). Utilize the time after journeys, when it’s easier to connect with it.

4. Psychedelics can help dismantle beliefs that directly interfere with your creativity, such as I am not good enough (or: what I create is not good enough), it doesn’t matter, and so on.

5. Your ability to create will be curbed by how much you consume. In James Clear’s words: "The more you create, the more powerful you become. The more you consume, the more powerful others become." The place this rings true most for me is social media.

Here’s what I’m still working on:

1. Shifting the focus from the outcome to the process. Creating for the sake of creating, not because it will result in something worth having, or sharing.

2. Similar to how you may find yourself tempted to dive into more medicine experiences to avoid integration, I often fall into the trap of planning my creative endeavors elaborately, just to avoid creation. The work is in the work.

Have you noticed any impact on your ability and desire to create through the use of psychedelics? What’s your creative outlet of choice? Which parts of you are asking to be expressed?

〰️ Rick Rubin shares his wisdom on The Creative Act

〰️ Artist Ry X on how to unleash your creativity and find your voice

〰️ More details on the seven ways in which psychedelics enhance creative thinking

〰️

Susan Cain

says it’s never too late to fulfill your creative dream in her recently launched Substack The Quiet Life (a haven for introverts)

〰️ Rainer Maria Rilke guides a young poet on the compulsion to create

〰️

Susannah Conway

shares her annual, free New Year’s journaling guide (highly recommend, I do it every year)

“Whatever pain you can’t get rid of, make it your creative offering.” - Susan Cain