The 'Impossible'

When psychedelic visions come true

Let’s get weird with this one.

The Aztecs used psilocybin mushrooms to see into the future for military advantage. To prepare for war, they would go into ‘hyperspace’ (or whatever the Aztecs called it) to see what’s coming (Plants of the Gods, S3E6).

They’re not alone. Many cultures have intentionally used altered states of consciousness – drumming, dancing, chanting, drugs, or other types – to divine the future, speak with spirits, heal, or sway the probability of the future in a personally favorable direction. In fact, psychedelic plants have been used for psychic or transpersonal experiences across all five continents, from the use of datura on the Indian subcontinent (1), to iboga in central Africa (2), Syrian rue in north Africa and the Middle East (3), mandrake in Europe (4), and fly-agaric (Amanita muscaria) mushrooms in Siberia (3) (see Luke 2013 (5) for full review).

Western culture tends to not take these stories seriously as they conflict with the Western worldview (which is based on scientific materialism, physicalism, Cartesian rationalism, etc), often derisively referring to the practices and cultures from which they originate as “primitive,” “magical thinking,” and “undeveloped.” However, I believe it’s crucial to point out that these techniques have been applied for millennia, successfully. Truly, little credit has been given to the ability of non-Westerners to be able to discern cause and effect. In reflection, it seems preposterous that Western culture actually believes that the majority of the world’s cultures for the majority of human history would have continued such practices if they hadn’t offered anything of value and hadn’t been linked to particular results.

But, this is another reason why I love altered states of consciousness, particularly psychedelics. Because weird stuff that happens during psychedelic sessions that shouldn’t be happening according to the Western worldview – things that Jeffrey Kripal, PhD calls “the impossible” – do happen. And not just in the context of a far-off land with people of a different culture, but also in the psychotherapy room.

“The transpersonal aspect of the psychedelic experience cannot be dismissed, no matter how much we emphasize the science,” argue psychotherapists Tim Read and Maria Papaspyrou in the book, Psychedelics & Psychotherapy: The Healing Potential of Expanded States (6).

There are innumerable accounts of transpersonal experiences with psychoactive substances from psychedelic psychotherapy (7-11). Coming from the West, it can be easy to dismiss these occurrences as simply unimportant hallucinations – until one realizes that many of the things perceived turn out to be true. Accounts of veridical visions from psychoactive substances abound in the literature.

A subject from an LSD session, for instance, once described seeing “a ship caught in ice floes, somewhere in the northern seas,” and even mentioned the name of the ship – France – that they saw on the ship’s bow. After the session, the researchers discovered that a ship named France had in fact been stuck in ice close to Greenland at the time of the subject’s LSD experience (9).

During a psilocybin session in 1962, researcher Stanley Krippner had a vision of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination that came true in 1963 (12).

Colonel Morales is said to have experienced a vision while on ayahuasca (deep in the jungle, isolated from communications) where he perceived his father to have passed away and his sister to be ill, both things he did not know to be true at the time of the trip. One month later, he learned that the vision was true (13). There are many, many stories from using ayahuasca similar to these, especially of visions of distant dying or deceased relatives who weren’t known to be doing so at the time of the trip (14).

Rejecting these stories, labeling them as “anecdotes,” and hoping they slip away to drown in the depths of all other “impossible” evidence becomes a challenge given the sheer volume. (Also, just as a side note, as a scientist I can tell you that the most interesting research begins with anecdotes, so we shouldn’t be so quick to throw them away.) In any case, we can’t just brush things under the rug when they contradict our worldview.

Altered states of consciousness invite us to re-evaluate our relationship with what we deem real, important, and healing. What we deem spiritual. What we deem worthwhile.

The transpersonal is part of that reckoning. If we approach the transpersonal with curiosity rather than fear and arrogance, we might be able to hear what it’s trying to tell us. Whether you consider it “reality” or not, these explorations can help us question what we know, for the better.

Maybe the Aztecs had it right. Maybe Alduous Huxley did, too, with his “Mind at Large” hypothesis, in which he proposed that consciousness is filtered through the human brain, and psychedelics widen the filter. And William Blake with the “Doors of Perception.” Maybe the shamans who believe that altered states of consciousness remove the blindfolds of our everyday consciousness know more than we do.

Maybe not.

But how will we know if we don’t keep an open mind?

Maybe now you want to dismiss me as a neuroscientist who doesn’t properly understand physics and that these things can’t really be true. Well, that’s the thing about altered states of consciousness: the literature is filled to the brim with multidisciplinary conversations between anthropologists, physicists, neuroscientists, psychologists, philosophers, and healers excavating the mysteries for us and with us (see DMT Entity Encounters as just one example (15)).

“Anybody who has had experiences with these altered realities, knows that there are other realities.” – Mark Plotkin, PhD, ethnobotonist

No one has all the answers yet. We’re in the mystery together. Perhaps this doesn’t just have to be a psychedelic renaissance, though. Perhaps it can be a renaissance of consciousness and culture.

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I explore the transpersonal, science, spirituality, consciousness and more weird shit in my upcoming book: pre-order here, sold wherever books are sold 9/6

** Catch me on twitter @monasobhaniphd or my website **

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1.        Schultes RE, Hoffman A. Plants of the Gods: their sacred, healing, and hallucinogenic powers. Rochester, Vermont: Healing Arts Press, 1992.

2.        Pinchbeck D. Breaking open the head: A psychedelic journey into the heart of contemporary shamanism. New York: Broadway Books, 2002.

3.        Rudgley R. The encyclopedia of psychoactive substances. New York: Thomas Dunne, 1998.

4.        MÜLLER-EBELING C, RÄTSCH C, TORL W-D. Witchcraft medicine: Healing arts, shamanic practices, and forbidden plants. Rochester, Vermont: Inner Traditions, 2003.

5.        Luke D. Anthropology and Parapsychology: Still Hostile Sisters in Science? http://dx.doi.org/102752/175169610X12754030955850 2013; 3: 245–265.

6.        O’Reilly J, Read T. Therapeutic Use of MDMA for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Recovering the Lost Good Objects. In: Read T, Papaspyrou M (eds) Psychedelics & Psychotherapy: The Healing Potential of Expanded States. Rochester, Vermont: Park Street Press, 2021, pp. 163–176.

7.        Grof S. Varieties of transpersonal experiences: Observations from LSD psychotherapy. In: Dean S (ed) Psychiatry and Mysticism. Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 1975, pp. 311–345.

8.        Harman WW. Some Aspects of the Psychedelic-Drug Controversy. J Humanist Psychol 1963; 3: 93–107.

9.        Masters R EL, Houston J. The Varieties of Psychedelic Experience. Dell Publishing, 1966.

10.      Pahnke WN, Richards WA. Implications of LSD and experimental mysticism . J Transpers Psychol 1969; 1: 69.

11.      Stolaroff MJ. The secret chief revealed: Conversations with a pioneer of the underground psychedelic therapy movement. Sarasota, FL, 2004.

12.      Krippner S, Davidson R. Religious implications of paranormal events occurring during chemically-induced ‘psychedelic’ experience. Pastoral Psychol 1970; 21: 27–34.

13.      Luke D. Psychoactive Substances and Paranormal Phenomena: A Comprehensive Review. Int J Transpers Stud 2012; 31: 97–156.

14.      Luna LE, White SF. Ayahuasca reader: Encounters with the Amazon’s sacred vine. Santa Fe: Synergistic Press, 2000.

15.      Luke D, R. S. DMT Entity Encounters: dialogues on the spirit molecule. Rochester, Vermont: Park Street Press, 2021.