Carl Jung: In Defense and Critique

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Much has been said about Carl Jung over the years, and despite the fact that many now in psychiatry and even some therapists seem to find him irrelevant, the amount that has been written about his ideas belies this claim. So much as is possible in a short article, I would like to consider his contribution as well as provide a possible critique of some of his thought. Through that I hope to highlight the value of relating to symbols as psychological facts.

I think it best to begin with a psychological event that Jung himself considered important enough to mention in at least two of his published works (Man and His Symbols and Memories, Dreams and Reflections). This was a reoccurring dream he apparently had for some time, and we might turn some of his own approach toward it, though not nearly as thoroughly as there is only one point I’m looking to get at. 
I was in a house that I did not know, which had two stories. It was “My House.” I found myself in the upper story, where there was a kind of salon furnished with fine old pieces in rococo style. On the walls hung a number of precious old paintings. I wondered that this should be my house, and thought, “Not bad.” But then it occurred to me that I did not know what the lower floor looked like. Descending the stairs, I reached the ground floor. There everything was much older, and I realized that this part of the house must date from about the fifteenth or sixteenth century. The furnishing were medieval; the floors were of red brick. Everywhere it was rather dark. I went from one room to another, thinking, “now I really must explore the whole house.” I came upon a heavy door, and opened it. Beyond it, I discovered layers of brick among the ordinary stone blocks, and chips of brick in the mortar. As soon as I saw this I knew that the walls dated from Roman times. My interest was by now intense. I looked more closely at the floor. It was of stone slabs, and in one of these I discovered a ring. When I pulled it, the stone slab lifted, and I again I saw a stairway of narrow stone steps leading down into the depths. These, too, I descended, and entered a low cave cut into the rock. Thick dust lay on the floor, and in the dust were scattered bones and broken pottery, like remains of a primitive culture. I discovered two broken skulls, obviously very old and half disintegrated. Then I awoke.

In this dream, the house is built up in layers, a level and room atop the next, and it later occurred to him that these showed an ideological history which shaped his thought to that point, but in which he was also an active participant — the basement was built upon by the first floor, and so on, just as the “primitive” world was, according to this narrative, proceeded by the dark ages and Christian eras that were quickly losing power by the late 1800s.

To his thinking, this dream demonstrated the way that what he calls the collective unconscious overlaps the personal one, or perhaps how it is all a progressive shade of grey without a single defining line, save the ones we bring.

Man and His Symbols (Audiobook)

We can at this point move away from his own interpretation to consider it in its own context. The specific history this dream lays out is in fact quite telling, as it is at least one vantage point of Jung’s sense of his own collective history, the history of western “progress.” A linear history, such as one presented within a worldview or ideology as the Enlightenment, is also a narrative. In fact, in literary analysis, the basis of narrative is generally understood as just that: the narrative skeleton is the collection of facts in a particular order. From the choices made in terms of which pieces to value, and in what order they are presented, one’s authorship is defined. The final flesh would be style, meaning, and the aesthetics that reflect back at the surface.

He chose to interpret a room in a multi-level house in terms of a cultural history of religion, industry, and colonialism, and that those strata should be arranged in such and such a way. (Chronological-historical is not the only way to arrange a narrative, indeed, our experience of life is multi-threaded and non-linear. For example, as you walk down the street you think of a song from your youth, you laugh and it makes you think of a school dance ten years later, then you hear a car honk in the moment, and it puts you in another time. Meditation is such a challenge in part because it seeks to make our time-travelling more at our will, rather than the whim of our unconscious). It may even be a symptom of the Enlightenment ideology to hang Foucault’s pendulum in the center of the city of one’s birth and arrange the whole world round that psychological center. This was frequently the metaphorical-spatial sense he used when creating symbols, as we see in the layout of his mandalas or the quadripartite ‘types’, or the many other circular center oriented symbols he uses as guides.

So we can see that Jung’s thought is in some sense structured by the meta-narratives of the Enlightenment, and one might expect to see this structure the process and stated goals of his approach to psychology, which he clearly defines as the striving for and attainment of individuation.

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These aren’t isolated incidents. The biases of the Enlightenment run through all of his work, even more than the light and dark of the religious or industrial myths that were more germane to his place and time to some extent, excepting the obvious influence of a particular version of Enlightenment ideology that entered the German speaking world in the 20th century. He seems to mostly share its ideals, and its perspectives toward other cultures, for instance the concurring idyllic, somewhat romantic image of women (wherever well and ill dignified.) This is helped little by the fact that archetypes, which factor heavily into his analysis, are by their very natures sort of symbolic cliches; but they are cliches that have retained their psychological power. In fact it is precisely through all that psychological common ground that they gain their “manna” so to speak.

 
Evidence for this rather sweeping claim is seen both in the language used, though much if not all of this is merely picked up from his own social environment rather than appearing as the result of particular malice. For instance, the constant reference to “primitive people” implies a kind of wistful, noble savage myth, and this seems cognate with the ultimate goal of the Jungian psychoanalytic approach, which is to say, individuation. In the case of the materially castrated Christian world, this process involves re-integrating some of the “primitive’s psychology,” though now under the light of reason. This isn’t at all unique; what is unique is that these larger cultural biases had an effect on the specific models that Jung constructed. We must begin here if we want to make sense and use of them now. More on this in a moment.

Before going on, it’s worth saying that we might recognize much good about the Enlightenment, especially in its ideals. It not only paves the way for the transition from the medieval world (built atop what he calls “primitive society”) and modernity, but also prioritizes the scientific method in intellectual matters. It is characterized in fact by this kind of optimism that the faculties of human reason can overcome all obstacles. However, it was also the cultural force that supported rampant colonialism, and in the path of paving that route to industry, re-enslaved much of the world. This would be, in his terms, its shadow. And so, by extension, it is a part of his as well.

Some credit is due, for unlike Sigmund Freud, Jung seemed aware of the possible dangers of the psychological imbalance presented within this ideology — much as each individual in his thinking has a prominent mode, whether thinking, feeling, sensing or intuiting, so a given group consciousness might present the same. For instance, the following passage from Memories, Dreams and Reflections shows some of the history bound up with Enlightenment optimism.

“We always require an outside point to stand on, in order to apply the lever of criticism… How, for example, can we become conscious of national peculiarities if we have never had the opportunity to regard our own nation from outside? Regarding it from outside means regarding it from the standpoint of another nation. To do so, we must acquire sufficient knowledge of the foreign collective psyche, and in the course of the process of assimilation we encounter all these incompatibilities which constitute the national bias and national peculiarity.”

When speaking with Ochiaway Biano of the Pueblo Indians, this seems to come together most clearly:

“See,” Ochiaway Biano said, “how cruel the whites look. Their lips are thin, their faces furrowed and distorted by folds. Their eyes have a staring expression; they are always seeking something. What are they seeking? The whites always want something; they are always uneasy and restless. We do not know what they want. We do not understand them. We think they are mad.”
I asked him why he thought the whites were all mad.
“They say that they think with their heads,” he replied.
“Why of course. What do you think with?” I asked him in surprise.
“We think here,” he said, indicating his heart.
I fell into long meditation. For the first time in my life, or so it seemed to me, someone had drawn for me a picture of the real white man…. I felt rising within me like a shapeless mist something unknown and yet deeply familiar. And out of this mist, image upon image detached itself: first Roman legions smashing into the cities of Gaul, and the keenly incised features of Julius Caeser, Scipio Africanus, and Pompey. I saw the Roman eagle on the North Sea and on the banks of the White Nile. Then I saw St. Augustine transmitting the Christian creed to the Britons on the tips of Roman lances, and Charlemagne’s most glorious forced conversions of the heathens; then the pillaging and murdering bands of the Crusading armies…. What we from our point of view call colonization, etc., has another face — the face of a bird of prey seeking with cruel intentness for distant quarry — a face worthy of a race of pirates and highwaymen.

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So it is somewhat unfair to dismiss his work entirely for presenting a historical or ideological bias, especially since it is absolutely impossible for any writer or thinker to do otherwise, unless they deal purely in the realm of axiomatic fact without adding a shred of their own perspective to an analysis. Nevertheless, some particular repercussion of these biases is frequently used to dismiss the Jungian approach entirely. I raise this brief critique of Jung for the opposite purpose — to help contextualize his work and emancipate his ideas from his corpse. As with anyone, he must be a product of his time. In a sense, none of our work can be seen for its self while we still live and block its light. But in that post-mortem unveiling of a life’s work, it is just as common for it to be misunderstood or shoved aside.

Fritz Perls may have had the Jungians in mind when he objected that ‘many psychologists like to write the self with a capital S, as if the self would be something precious, something extraordinarily valuable. They go at the discovery of the self like a treasure-digging. The self means nothing but this thing as it is defined by otherness.

By taking the Self seriously, in other words, in applying what is often seen as a lightly Buddhist-influenced, “oriental” approach to psychotherapy, to a philosophy that contradicts a very important tenet of Buddhism — that the self is transient to the extent of absolute phantasm — there is, no question, an ideological bias. Libidinal hangups seemed to lead Freud to an obsession that blocked all in its path; Jung discusses his growing horror in recognizing this in his friend ranting about “the world being consumed under a flood of occult mud.” In Jung, what we are seeing is not so much a holdover of Enlightenment thinking as a central part of a gnostic ideology. Jung was perhaps most profoundly influenced by a variety of gnostic and alchemical texts, and it was in this research that the true significance of symbol as indispensable psychological tool was seen.

As is often the case, the worst in someone or something, from a certain perspective, yields the very best it has to offer, from another. It is my opinion that the gnostic current provided his most interesting insights.

Further, it is in Carl Jung’s willingness to consider so-called paranormal activity, UFOs and so on, as well as in his willingness to consider literary and artistic symbols within the same context as all experience that his work has at times been used to support a sort of “loose thinking” that he would have likely found abhorrent.

 
We must be careful to separate the historic individual and the context of his work from the bias of those who might wish to take up his name as a means of legitimizing something quite different. He was careful to distinguish between falsifiable, testable scientific hypotheses and data and the vast realm of experience in which these things are impossible and otherwise irrelevant. However, this distinction is often ignored by those who wish to somehow prove the material reality of psychic or occult phenomena. To do so is to ignore what was quite possibly Jung’s most interesting insight (which is not to say it is an entirely unique one). That is the relationship between symbol and psyche.

Before we can look at this insight, I’d like to tie off this point about Enlightenment ideology. A critique of Jung’s theories might also make us ask how we might entertain so-called “Jungian ideas” independent of his writing. This is the project undertaken by many groups such as the PAJA, though in such organizations one often sees a conflict between truth toward the source and a question of what direction to move forward, if that work isn’t merely a collection of museum pieces. What might the Jungian method look like when used from a different ideological / historical context? How might we unmoor it from the precepts of the Enlightenment?

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The general narrative (which itself might be called a product of Enlightenment thinking) is that following the Enlightenment came the Industrial Revolution, and hard upon that came the World Wars and Postmodernism. It is natural to consider the postmodern / ideological re-terrialization in the West, namely the transition from the centrally arranged quadripartite city and self model, so well emulated in Jung’s interpretation of the Mandala process, to the post-modern city that has no center. In other words we might consider Jung’s model of the self as similar to the planned city of the 18th-early 20th centuries, while we have since been presented with models that see no centralized principle. (Of course plenty of “organic” cities like London and Boston have followed the supposedly organic growth process long before the 20th century, and most cities actually contain a mixture of planned and naturally grown structures.)

 
Nevertheless, as this narrative goes, the orderly mechanical process is replaced by the organic process, seemingly chaotic in its arrangement. But is a collection of bacterial cells more or less chaotic than the inner workings of a clock? In a simplified sense, applying this idea to psychology was part of Deleuze’s Anti-Oedipus project, the “body without organs,” etc. although the subject of this deterritorialization was Freudian rather than Jungian psychoanalysis. Though there are significant differences, they are grounded in a similar cultural environment, even if that culture sprouted differently in the mind of Freud and Jung. It would be equally interesting to see a similarly off-kilter but passionate approach taken to Jung, perhaps through vivisecting it with the opposed world-view of Adorno’s Dialectic of Enlightenment?

This raises a significant problem. Are we still in the post World War Two anxiety? Is post-modernism really the End of History? I’m not personally satisfied with leaving ourselves in more or less the same condition as the psycho-historical framework that was punctuated by the mutual annihilation of modernity in the fires in Dresden, the death camps, or the leveling of Hiroshima. Psychology is always rooted in history, but what it reacts to is rarely clear to the conscious mind except in retrospect.

Unfortunate we must raise some of these questions without being able to answer them in a simple way. The present is, in some sense, always the End of History. At this very moment we too are subject to a new structural model, a force of mythic history and culture, and are under the sway of myths that flow from that schema, but we can’t see it yet. Not entirely, although it is up to the artists to help us see the contours of that narrative.

In other words, it is precisely because we are no longer living in Jung’s time that the bias that was naturally invisible to him should be all too clear to us. But we must beware the ever-present delusion that we live at the end of history when we are instead merely standing in its shadow. This perhaps shows the clearest distinction between what we might call narrative and myth. Myth seems to originate from the past, and yet if it is still living, we remain in its wake. A myth too is a type of narrative, but it is much more common for us to use the word “narrative” to refer to what is immediately under our noses. (I have certain discomforts with such pat distinction and simplistic analysis, but exploring that would too easily lead us off topic.)

Before moving on to what is, at least to my mind, Jung’s greatest contributions, we should also provide a final critique, in similar terms, about the Enlightenment concept of gender, and how this can impact the psychoanalytic process. This too could easily be the topic of a book in its own right, but suffice it to say there are ideas about the roles, psychology, and innate desires of the sexes which were the result not of material fact, but rather cultural stereotype.

In other words, gender essentialism was the norm, and heterosexuality was generally considered the only healthy and logical sexual expression. You see evidence of this in Jung’s otherwise apt schema of the anima or animus, the anima being the female projection of the male, and animus of the female. There is little flexibility then, as now in some circles, regarding different family or sexual relationships, and therefore little consideration of how these might structure the patterns of the psyche, short of the bigotry of the inherent pathology of the homosexual, etc. Despite this rather glaring issue, there is a surprising amount of experiential support for at least the general shape of the anima/animus concept, and that confirmation is in itself a demonstration of psychological validity in the sense of symbols, though not in any way of some kind of underlying or objective truth.

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The distinction between these two senses of the word ‘truth’ point us toward the heart of the matter: tossing out an inquiry because it raises psychological discomfort is precisely the kind of behavior that will forever keep us in the dark about ourselves. Problems of this sort don’t point to falsity, but instead to a particular type of truth in the form of psychological energy, which is almost without fail tied up in paradox and contradiction.

We should not therefore discard Jung’s schemas as out-of-date relics. There are many corollary reasons but I will sketch out two, as well as outline related concepts:

1. Functional Appropriation. Jung had a talent for creating relatively simple, functional psychological models (“schemas”), which are straightforward enough that they have often entered the common modern lexicon. For instance, introvert/extrovert, the four-way or quaternary arrangement of the self types, the shadow —  these are all dangerously practical ideas. I say dangerously because they are often so straightforward that people seem to frequently treat them as facts in themselves, despite Jung himself being quite clear that all schemas are merely inventions so we might get any kind of handle on what might be a completely muddled mess otherwise. So the self may not “actually” have four parts or be organized around a central point; certainly you won’t find any indication of that in the structure of the brain, nor will we find the symbolic illustration of the chakras in our spines.

 
But these models must arise from somewhere. Even the most abstract or bizarre fantasy is acting as representation of some deep structure of thought or emotion, of structure or form.

It is precisely this organizing principle that is under critique in this article, not because it is flawed, but because we cannot create a schema without giving away our cultural bias and position in history. The best we can do is be aware of it.

2. The Central Role of Symbols In The Psyche. Jung’s greatest contribution is sadly also his most overlooked, outside those that are explicitly following from his work. This is the crack he opened in the impenetrable divide between science and myth, which Joseph Campbell further explored and popularized. This is the recognition that all symbols are every bit as “real” as any other phenomena, as they are all psychological experiences first and foremost. This does demand an active discernment between those things known also through axiomatic, so-called objective experiment — but it does not in itself provide a hierarchy of value, only a fundamental ontological distinction between a proton shot through gold foil and the tentacles of a sea monster encountered in dream. But those who dismiss the latter as merely empty fantasy will be cursed to never know themselves, and so we see the outline of the present cultural dilemma, where we learn more and more about the external world, and know ourselves less with every turn.

Jung was aware of this problem, and was quite frank about it in the final chapters of Memories, Dreams, and Reflections. The language and schemas of psychology are confused and misunderstood (especially in pop cultural portrayals), by the fact that all pathology that doesn’t seem to arise directly from biological morphology or genetics is processes that occur in nearly every human psyche in some form. This has been commonly observed in the introduction of psychological “abnormality.” In other words, pathology is simply “normal” process that is out of proportion or unbalanced, and even then we can only evaluate that in relative terms of what is culturally accepted. This is most clearly demonstrated with so called cultural illnesses, psychological “disease” that occurs only in one culture. (See also: Cultural Illness and the Curse of Shifting Sands.)
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However, diagnosis as well as symptoms may vary from group to group, and so here too is a very large philosophical issue within psychology that is often brushed under the rug as a curiosity.

Narrative and myths play a principal role in our lives from the inside out (sense- and identity-making), and from the outside in (narratives place ourselves in relation to one another, conceptualizing the structure and nature of the outside world), and they are self perpetuating (narratives as pedagogical or even mimetic device).

 
This cannot be emphasized enough. The entirety of our lives that doesn’t arise through independent natural process is story. Even those can only be understood when they’re brought into relation through narrative processes. We can agree or disagree about whether a given narrative is good or bad, accurate or not, but this is in a sense adding a layer, not cutting down to some underlying truth. This is why the metaphor I so frequently refer back to for the self is the palimpsest. We can never hope to somehow clear away or sidestep the “mythic process.” (Much more thought on this subject can be found in The Immanence of Myth, which itself is meant much more as a collection of philosophical meditations on these themes rather than the presentation of a complete or finished model of the world, as that would be self contradictory.)

If we have any doubt about the centrality of narrative in our extended, communal, and personal lives, one need only turn on the news or witness how, without changing one’s own behavior, another may change their story from how amazing and wonderful you are to how awful and villainous. What has changed in this case except their internal narrative? The levels and dimensions of this process are quite simply endless, and try as we might to extricate ourselves, it is our investment in a particular narrative over another that defines belief.

For all these reasons, I see Carl Jung as an important beginning to a conversation on symbol, self and the psyche which in no way ended with him. In fact, this topic is still in its infancy, at least insofar as it has been adopted and understood by the majority of the world. Yet nothing is more desperately needed, as so long as we misunderstand the psyche, we misunderstand one another, and so long as we do that, atrocity is inevitable.

 

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How Much Does LSD Cost? When shopping around for that magical psychedelic substance, there can be many uncertainties when new to buying LSD. You may be wondering how much does LSD cost? In this article, we will discuss what to expect when purchasing LSD on the black market, what forms LSD is sold in, and the standard breakdown of buying LSD in quantity.   Navy Use of LSD on the Dark Web The dark web is increasingly popular for purchasing illegal substances. The US Navy has now noticed this trend with their staff. Read to learn more.   Having Sex on LSD: What You Need to Know Can you have sex on LSD? Read our guide to learn everything about sex on acid, from lowered inhibitions to LSD users quotes on sex while tripping.   A Drug That Switches off an LSD Trip A pharmaceutical company is developing an “off-switch” drug for an LSD trip, in the case that a bad trip can happen. Some would say there is no such thing.   Queen of Hearts: An Interview with Liz Elliot on Tim Leary and LSD The history of psychedelia, particularly the British experience, has been almost totally written by men. Of the women involved, especially those who were in the thick of it, little has been written either by or about them. A notable exception is Liz Elliot.   LSD Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety LSD, Lysergic acid diethylamide, or just acid is one of the most important psychedelics ever discovered. What did history teach us?   Microdosing LSD & Common Dosage Explained Microdosing, though imperceivable, is showing to have many health benefits–here is everything you want to know about microdosing LSD.   LSD Resources Curious to learn more about LSD? This guide includes comprehensive LSD resources containing books, studies and more.   LSD as a Spiritual Aid There is common consent that the evolution of mankind is paralleled by the increase and expansion of consciousness. From the described process of how consciousness originates and develops, it becomes evident that its growth depends on its faculty of perception. Therefore every means of improving this faculty should be used.   Legendary LSD Blotter Art: A Hidden Craftsmanship Have you ever heard of LSD blotter art? Explore the trippy world of LSD art and some of the top artists of LSD blotter art.   LSD and Exercise: Does it Work? LSD and exercise? Learn why high-performing athletes are taking hits of LSD to improve their overall potential.   Jan Bastiaans Treated Holocaust Survivors with LSD Dutch psychiatrist, Jan Bastiaans administered LSD-assisted therapy to survivors of the Holocaust. A true war hero and pioneer of psychedelic-therapy.   LSD and Spiritual Awakening I give thanks for LSD, which provided the opening that led me to India in 1971 and brought me to Neem Karoli Baba, known as Maharajji. Maharajji is described by the Indians as a “knower of hearts.”   How LSD is Made: Everything You Need to Know Ever wonder how to make LSD? Read our guide to learn everything you need to know about the procedures of how LSD is made.   How to Store LSD: Best Practices Learn the best way to store LSD, including the proper temperature and conditions to maximize how long LSD lasts when stored.   Bicycle Day: The Discovery of LSD Every year on April 19th, psychonauts join forces to celebrate Bicycle Day. Learn about the famous day when Albert Hoffman first discovered the effects of LSD.   Cary Grant: A Hollywood Legend On LSD Cary Grant was a famous actor during the 1930’s-60’s But did you know Grant experimented with LSD? Read our guide to learn more.   Albert Hofmann: LSD — My Problem Child Learn about Albert Hofmann and his discovery of LSD, along with the story of Bicycle Day and why it marks a historic milestone.   Babies are High: What Does LSD Do To Your Brain What do LSD and babies have in common? Researchers at the Imperial College in London discover that an adult’s brain on LSD looks like a baby’s brain.   1P LSD: Effects, Benefits, Safety Explained 1P LSD is an analogue of LSD and homologue of ALD-25. Here is everything you want to know about 1P LSD and how it compares to LSD.   Francis Crick, DNA & LSD Type ‘Francis Crick LSD’ into Google, and the result will be 30,000 links. Many sites claim that Crick (one of the two men responsible for discovering the structure of DNA), was either under the influence of LSD at the time of his revelation or used the drug to help with his thought processes during his research. Is this true?   What Happens If You Overdose on LSD? A recent article presented three individuals who overdosed on LSD. Though the experience was unpleasant, the outcomes were remarkably positive.

The Ayahuasca Experience
Ayahuasca is both a medicine and a visionary aid. You can employ ayahuasca for physical, mental, emotional and spiritual repair, and you can engage with the power of ayahuasca for deeper insight and realization. If you consider attainment of knowledge in the broadest perspective, you can say that at all times, ayahuasca heals.

 

Trippy Talk: Meet Ayahuasca with Sitaramaya Sita and PlantTeachers
Sitaramaya Sita is a spiritual herbalist, pusangera, and plant wisdom practitioner formally trained in the Shipibo ayahuasca tradition.

 

The Therapeutic Value of Ayahuasca
My best description of the impact of ayahuasca is that it’s a rocket boost to psychospiritual growth and unfolding, my professional specialty during my thirty-five years of private practice.

 

Microdosing Ayahuasca: Common Dosage Explained
What is ayahuasca made of and what is considered a microdose? Explore insights with an experienced Peruvian brewmaster and learn more about this practice.

 

Ayahuasca Makes Neuron Babies in Your Brain
Researchers from Beckley/Sant Pau Research Program have shared the latest findings in their study on the effects of ayahuasca on neurogenesis.

 

The Fatimiya Sufi Order and Ayahuasca
In this interview, the founder of the Fatimiya Sufi Order,  N. Wahid Azal, discusses the history and uses of plant medicines in Islamic and pre-Islamic mystery schools.

 

Consideration Ayahuasca for Treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Research indicates that ayahuasca mimics mechanisms of currently accepted treatments for PTSD. In order to understand the implications of ayahuasca treatment, we need to understand how PTSD develops.

 

Brainwaves on Ayahuasca: A Waking Dream State
In a study researchers shared discoveries showing ingredients found in Ayahuasca impact the brainwaves causing a “waking dream” state.

 

Cannabis and Ayahuasca: Mixing Entheogenic Plants
Cannabis and Ayahuasca: most people believe they shouldn’t be mixed. Read this personal experience peppered with thoughts from a pro cannabis Peruvian Shaman.

 

Ayahuasca Retreat 101: Everything You Need to Know to Brave the Brew
Ayahuasca has been known to be a powerful medicinal substance for millennia. However, until recently, it was only found in the jungle. Word of its deeply healing and cleansing properties has begun to spread across the world as many modern, Western individuals are seeking spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical well-being. More ayahuasca retreat centers are emerging in the Amazon and worldwide to meet the demand.

 

Ayahuasca Helps with Grief
A new study published in psychopharmacology found that ayahuasca helped those suffering from the loss of a loved one up to a year after treatment.

 

Ayahuasca Benefits: Clinical Improvements for Six Months
Ayahuasca benefits can last six months according to studies. Read here to learn about the clinical improvements from drinking the brew.

 

Ayahuasca Culture: Indigenous, Western, And The Future
Ayahuasca has been use for generations in the Amazon. With the rise of retreats and the brew leaving the rainforest how is ayahuasca culture changing?

 

Ayahuasca Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
The Amazonian brew, Ayahuasca has a long history and wide use. Read our guide to learn all about the tea from its beginnings up to modern-day interest.

 

Ayahuasca and the Godhead: An Interview with Wahid Azal of the Fatimiya Sufi Order
Wahid Azal, a Sufi mystic of The Fatimiya Sufi Order and an Islamic scholar, talks about entheogens, Sufism, mythology, and metaphysics.

 

Ayahuasca and the Feminine: Women’s Roles, Healing, Retreats, and More
Ayahuasca is lovingly called “grandmother” or “mother” by many. Just how feminine is the brew? Read to learn all about women and ayahuasca.

What Is the Standard of Care for Ketamine Treatments?
Ketamine therapy is on the rise in light of its powerful results for treatment-resistant depression. But, what is the current standard of care for ketamine? Read to find out.

What Is Dissociation and How Does Ketamine Create It?
Dissociation can take on multiple forms. So, what is dissociation like and how does ketamine create it? Read to find out.

Having Sex on Ketamine: Getting Physical on a Dissociative
Curious about what it could feel like to have sex on a dissociate? Find out all the answers in our guide to sex on ketamine.

Special K: The Party Drug
Special K refers to Ketamine when used recreationally. Learn the trends as well as safety information around this substance.

Kitty Flipping: When Ketamine and Molly Meet
What is it, what does it feel like, and how long does it last? Read to explore the mechanics of kitty flipping.

Ketamine vs. Esketamine: 3 Important Differences Explained
Ketamine and esketamine are used to treat depression. But what’s the difference between them? Read to learn which one is right for you: ketamine vs. esketamine.

Guide to Ketamine Treatments: Understanding the New Approach
Ketamine is becoming more popular as more people are seeing its benefits. Is ketamine a fit? Read our guide for all you need to know about ketamine treatments.

Ketamine Treatment for Eating Disorders
Ketamine is becoming a promising treatment for various mental health conditions. Read to learn how individuals can use ketamine treatment for eating disorders.

Ketamine Resources, Studies, and Trusted Information
Curious to learn more about ketamine? This guide includes comprehensive ketamine resources containing books, studies and more.

Ketamine Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
Our ultimate guide to ketamine has everything you need to know about this “dissociative anesthetic” and how it is being studied for depression treatment.

Ketamine for Depression: A Mental Health Breakthrough
While antidepressants work for some, many others find no relief. Read to learn about the therapeutic uses of ketamine for depression.

Ketamine for Addiction: Treatments Offering Hope
New treatments are offering hope to individuals suffering from addiction diseases. Read to learn how ketamine for addiction is providing breakthrough results.

Microdosing Ketamine & Common Dosages Explained
Microdosing, though imperceivable, is showing to have many health benefits–here is everything you want to know about microdosing ketamine.

How to Ease a Ketamine Comedown
Knowing what to expect when you come down from ketamine can help integrate the experience to gain as much value as possible.

How to Store Ketamine: Best Practices
Learn the best ways how to store ketamine, including the proper temperature and conditions to maximize how long ketamine lasts when stored.

How To Buy Ketamine: Is There Legal Ketamine Online?
Learn exactly where it’s legal to buy ketamine, and if it’s possible to purchase legal ketamine on the internet.

How Long Does Ketamine Stay in Your System?
How long does ketamine stay in your system? Are there lasting effects on your body? Read to discover the answers!

How Ketamine is Made: Everything You Need to Know
Ever wonder how to make Ketamine? Read our guide to learn everything you need to know about the procedures of how Ketamine is made.

Colorado on Ketamine: First Responders Waiver Programs
Fallout continues after Elijah McClain. Despite opposing recommendations from some city council, Colorado State Health panel recommends the continued use of ketamine by medics for those demonstrating “excited delirium” or “extreme agitation”.

Types of Ketamine: Learn the Differences & Uses for Each
Learn about the different types of ketamine and what they are used for—and what type might be right for you. Read now to find out!

Kitty Flipping: When Ketamine and Molly Meet
What is it, what does it feel like, and how long does it last? Read to explore the mechanics of kitty flipping.

MDMA & Ecstasy Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
Our ultimate guide to MDMA has everything you want to know about Ecstasy from how it was developed in 1912 to why it’s being studied today.

How To Get the Most out of Taking MDMA as a Couple
Taking MDMA as a couple can lead to exciting experiences. Read here to learn how to get the most of of this love drug in your relationship.

Common MDMA Dosage & Microdosing Explained
Microdosing, though imperceivable, is showing to have many health benefits–here is everything you want to know about microdosing MDMA.

Having Sex on MDMA: What You Need to Know
MDMA is known as the love drug… Read our guide to learn all about sex on MDMA and why it is beginning to makes its way into couple’s therapy.

How MDMA is Made: Common Procedures Explained
Ever wonder how to make MDMA? Read our guide to learn everything you need to know about the procedures of how MDMA is made.

Hippie Flipping: When Shrooms and Molly Meet
What is it, what does it feel like, and how long does it last? Explore the mechanics of hippie flipping and how to safely experiment.

How Cocaine is Made: Common Procedures Explained
Ever wonder how to make cocaine? Read our guide to learn everything you need to know about the procedures of how cocaine is made.

A Christmas Sweater with Santa and Cocaine
This week, Walmart came under fire for a “Let it Snow” Christmas sweater depicting Santa with lines of cocaine. Columbia is not merry about it.

Ultimate Cocaine Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
This guide covers what you need to know about Cocaine, including common effects and uses, legality, safety precautions and top trends today.

NEWS: An FDA-Approved Cocaine Nasal Spray
The FDA approved a cocaine nasal spray called Numbrino, which has raised suspicions that the pharmaceutical company, Lannett Company Inc., paid off the FDA..

The Ultimate Guide to Cannabis Bioavailability
What is bioavailability and how can it affect the overall efficacy of a psychedelic substance? Read to learn more.

Cannabis Research Explains Sociability Behaviors
New research by Dr. Giovanni Marsicano shows social behavioral changes occur as a result of less energy available to the neurons. Read here to learn more.

The Cannabis Shaman
If recreational and medical use of marijuana is becoming accepted, can the spiritual use as well? Experiential journalist Rak Razam interviews Hamilton Souther, founder of the 420 Cannabis Shamanism movement…

Cannabis Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
Our ultimate guide to Cannabis has everything you want to know about this popular substances that has psychedelic properties.

Cannabis and Ayahuasca: Mixing Entheogenic Plants
Cannabis and Ayahuasca: most people believe they shouldn’t be mixed. Read this personal experience peppered with thoughts from a procannabis Peruvian Shaman.

CBD-Rich Cannabis Versus Single-Molecule CBD
A ground-breaking study has documented the superior therapeutic properties of whole plant Cannabis extract as compared to synthetic cannabidiol (CBD), challenging the medical-industrial complex’s notion that “crude” botanical preparations are less effective than single-molecule compounds.

Cannabis Has Always Been a Medicine
Modern science has already confirmed the efficacy of cannabis for most uses described in the ancient medical texts, but prohibitionists still claim that medical cannabis is “just a ruse.”

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