Thanks for this. It’s always helpful to read an outline of one person’s journey, whether it’s about psychedelics or something else. I wonder if there could be a Substack that was every week a different person writing a one to two thousand word essay on their personal journey. Each writer could say what mistakes they believe they made or where they were misdirected. Something like the book: The Courage to Heal.
I did a few dozen journeys with ketamine (because that’s what was available to me) that were incredibly interesting and worthwhile in themselves, but didn’t seem to make a difference. Then I started using mushrooms and those journeys became increasingly difficult. My last was last July, and now I’m in a place where I don’t know if I am wisely using this time to integrate that complex journey (which seems to have made it possible for me to start my own Substack and to comment more), or if I’m just afraid of what will happen next. It’s always a question, I think, with mushrooms. They feel dangerous, but just how dangerous?
So lots of questions around how many journeys to do and when it’s time to do them and whether maybe you’ve done enough. I love what you say: “You don’t find wholeness by fixing the parts of you that don’t feel whole, you find wholeness by learning to be with the sense of lack.” But learning to be present with “the sense of lack” (which can be terrible) or anything like it is the hardest thing of all, and I am still so far from being able to do that.
O yes Newsletter fatigue here too. If unsubscribed numerous newsletters the last weeks as I don't read them anyway and they constantly remind me that I missed something out or didn't do beside the fact that my email inbox becomes quite confusing.
Great piece and perspectives. As you note, integration takes time and is where the real work begins. Made us think - you can definitely have too much medicine but hard to see how you can have too much integration.
Thanks for this. It’s always helpful to read an outline of one person’s journey, whether it’s about psychedelics or something else. I wonder if there could be a Substack that was every week a different person writing a one to two thousand word essay on their personal journey. Each writer could say what mistakes they believe they made or where they were misdirected. Something like the book: The Courage to Heal.
I did a few dozen journeys with ketamine (because that’s what was available to me) that were incredibly interesting and worthwhile in themselves, but didn’t seem to make a difference. Then I started using mushrooms and those journeys became increasingly difficult. My last was last July, and now I’m in a place where I don’t know if I am wisely using this time to integrate that complex journey (which seems to have made it possible for me to start my own Substack and to comment more), or if I’m just afraid of what will happen next. It’s always a question, I think, with mushrooms. They feel dangerous, but just how dangerous?
So lots of questions around how many journeys to do and when it’s time to do them and whether maybe you’ve done enough. I love what you say: “You don’t find wholeness by fixing the parts of you that don’t feel whole, you find wholeness by learning to be with the sense of lack.” But learning to be present with “the sense of lack” (which can be terrible) or anything like it is the hardest thing of all, and I am still so far from being able to do that.
O yes Newsletter fatigue here too. If unsubscribed numerous newsletters the last weeks as I don't read them anyway and they constantly remind me that I missed something out or didn't do beside the fact that my email inbox becomes quite confusing.
I wanted to quote you on Instagram and then realized I don’t know your last name. 😬😂
Great piece and perspectives. As you note, integration takes time and is where the real work begins. Made us think - you can definitely have too much medicine but hard to see how you can have too much integration.