Our first guest on the podcast is philosopher, writer and researcher Jules Evans, Honorary Research Fellow at the Centre for the History of the Emotions, Queen Mary, University of London. Jules is the author of numerous books on practical philosophy, the stuff that aims to make a real difference to our human suffering and flourishing – and he’s also been writing personally about the history of fascism in spiritual movements and the phenomenon of “conspirituality”, the crossover between paranoid conspiracy theory and new-age woo subcultures.

His current project is the Challenging Psychedelic Experiences survey, which will be feeding into a research project to map out the emerging discipline of “psychedelic integration”, namely… how do we reconcile our psychedelic experiences with the everyday? If you’ve had any kind of challenging psychedelic experience, please do go and fill out the survey!

We had a wide-ranging romp around Jules’ own experience of recovering from a bad trip, near-death experiences, philosophy and ecstacy, and the profound ambivalence of psychedelics: they can be both medicines or weapons, depending on cultural context. I hope you enjoy the ride, and get in touch if this sparks any thoughts – you can reach me at [email protected]

3:45 | What brings you to harm reduction? “Messing up your brain” with a bad trip. Anxiety, isolation, breakdowns, seeking help.

9:43 | So what helps us recover? Where is the evidence base? Isolation and the nature of trauma.

15:15 | Stoicism and CBT in recovery from crippling social anxiety.

20:16 | Ecstatic experience, the ancient Greeks, and creating a culture of integration. Near-death experience and experiential healing.

25:35 | Maturity, morality, and responsibility: Jung’s perspective. Loss and acceptance, learning interdependence, messiah complexes.

35:03 | Coping with mundanity, post-ecstatic blues, avoidance of the ordinary.

39:11 | Bad trips, psychosis, spiritual emergence and psychedelic culture. The spirituality-psychosis continuum, maintaining ambivalence.

44:17 | Equanimity with mystical experience. What does a culture that can relate to these experiences look like?

48:50 | Wellness cult(ure), disclosure, diagnosis. Psychosis, disturbing behaviour, stigma and the human experience of suffering.

55:24 | Psychedelic research, services like PsyCare, and sharing learning between psychedelic culture and mental health.

57:24 | How do we bear human suffering together? Do we need a psychedelic religion? Counterculture, pluralism, and psychedelic Christianity.

1:07:02 | Possible futures for psychedelic religion: deep greens vs extropians. The myth of harmony, traps to watch out for.

1:10:50 | Psychedelics and power. Occultism, brujos and ayahuasca as a weapon. Ego trips and messiah complexes.

1:14:54 | Challenging psychedelic experiences study, and the Ecstatic Integration newsletter.

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