The Reality of Hallucinogens

LSD is more than the weird and wonderful

Nigelleaney
9 min readAug 24, 2024
Photo by Ryan Grice on Unsplash

Like many of us I’ve always been fascinated with consciousness. What is it? What is its nature? And how do we change it?

Allied to this is the suggestion of a difference between brain and mind. We normally refer to the brain as that lump of greyish white matter encased within the skull. Perhaps, the mind suggests something different. Something that maybe apart from the brain despite their complex interconnections. Is it the mind that allows us to see and appraise the brain? Is the mind a non-material aspect of our consciousness that transcends our physicality and, therefore, survives death?

Questions about our consciousness also include the experience of consciousness itself and how it remains in a state of flux, fluid, and forever changing. Our everyday consciousness is often a challenge. Many of us take great steps to move away from our everyday awareness, and into a state that feels more elevated. Transitioning to a slightly higher state of consciousness often feels like this is where we should be. A natural state of returning home.

Writers like Colin Wilson spent a lifetime tackling the notion of raising human consciousness through various means and methods. This raised state of consciousness Wilson referred to as ‘Faculty X.’

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Nigelleaney

Recently retired and completed MA in creative writing. Trying for the writer’s life with no more excuses about the day job. Named top writer in music.