Excellent. Really nice to get more insight into your journey. We share that meeting point of McKenna & Co. esoteric philosophies during university years.
I feel a confluence of people (and myself) recognising the necessity of philosophy to mystical experience and of mystical experience to philosophy. I have been thinking of network's of peer-to-peer dialogos as being essential to psychedelic integration and also the proper ground for philosophical learning to be exchanged. I'm curious where the role of psychotherapy fits relative to this. In what way it would remain necessity amidst the dialogos-philosophical community, the shamanic ritual and the religious (ratio-religio).
I am glad that you are seeing a confluence of people that see this necessity. I have seen steps in this direction as well, and hopefully Dr. Sjostedt-Hughes work can helps us build out a bigger infrastructure and normativity that also recognises this as a necessity. Otherwise we will have a lot of people struggling to mediate their existence post-mystical state.
For me, psychotherapy/psychoanalysis is about free association and transference. I agree that dialogos-philosophical community and shamanic ritual/religious holding spaces are necessary, but neither can (or should) accommodate the space for free association and working through dynamics of transference. Ideally, in my opinion, we would have some sort of triadic relation between the three, where each of the domains respected each of the other domains, and understood their function/purpose. I do see the seed potentials for that in Dr. Sjostedt-Hughes work. But as I have experienced each of these spaces, all three realms often conceptualise themselves as separate and disconnected from the others.
On an interesting/potentially relevant philosophical side note: Hegel conceptualises the Absolute Idea with a triad of Art, Religion and Philosophy. In this context, I would put psychotherapy/psychoanalysis in the category of an Art, the Art of helping the subject articulate its own unknown knowledge (via free association with transference energy).
Excellent exchange, and I really like the idea that psychotherapy/psychoanalysis falls under the category of Art. I entirely agree. Beauty works on the subject, and work on the subject shapes what beauty the subject can drink.
A magnificent piece, and I appreciated the biographical elements you incorporated, which were weaved in beautifully. I really appreciate Dr. Sjöstedt-Hughes and how he points to ‘the importance of finding some bridge of meditation between psychedelics and psychotherapy on the one hand, and the revival of philosophical metaphysics proper on the other’—I couldn’t agree more. The distinction between “metaphysics” and “mystical” is also paramount, and I agree this distinction calls for us to wrestle with Plato, Aristotle, Plotinus, Spinoza, and the like.
‘It is in the mediation of these conceptual systems where one can find a safety net for self-reflection that allows one to sense-make the overwhelming power of the mystical immediacy and convert it into a drive for in one’s own life.’ – Completely agree, and this in my view will only become more apparent as the consequences for the loss of sociological “givens” becomes clearer and clearer. ‘Thus, what is ultimately at stake, in my view, is a type of logic of the “negation of negation.” What we find in the mystical is a negation of the world (as fallen, as temporal, as finite, as X, Y, Z negative thing), and what is at stake in conceptual mediation is the negation of this negation in the affirmation qua return to this world (like I am writing, i.e. conceptually mediating, to you right now).’ – Beautifully and perfectly put. Excellent, excellent work!
Always great to hear from you, Daniel. I am glad we are going to get a chance to reflect deeply about this relation between the mystical and the metaphysical. Indeed, Dr. Sjöstedt-Hughes will be presenting on just this topic at the SOL conference. Can't wait!
I guess you were hooked from the start! I think your situation with needing metaphysical explorations post-psychedelic experience, and encountering an "integration" process, whether in psychotherapy (or for some others, religion) that is ill-equipped to handle that process, is one more and more will experience as psychedelic experiences become more and more a part of people's spiritual process. I guess it is that very need that we should try to meet, and indeed, as you state, it is a challenge worth living for. The paradox is that, in order to establish an "integration" process that includes a path of metaphysical explorations, it would need "leaders" or "teachers" or "guides" that have had some experience with the process itself. So our experiences become the very "thinking material" for building out the structures and meeting the needs at work here.
Excellent. Really nice to get more insight into your journey. We share that meeting point of McKenna & Co. esoteric philosophies during university years.
I feel a confluence of people (and myself) recognising the necessity of philosophy to mystical experience and of mystical experience to philosophy. I have been thinking of network's of peer-to-peer dialogos as being essential to psychedelic integration and also the proper ground for philosophical learning to be exchanged. I'm curious where the role of psychotherapy fits relative to this. In what way it would remain necessity amidst the dialogos-philosophical community, the shamanic ritual and the religious (ratio-religio).
Hope to attend the conference if I can!
Thanks for your comment Jacob.
I am glad that you are seeing a confluence of people that see this necessity. I have seen steps in this direction as well, and hopefully Dr. Sjostedt-Hughes work can helps us build out a bigger infrastructure and normativity that also recognises this as a necessity. Otherwise we will have a lot of people struggling to mediate their existence post-mystical state.
For me, psychotherapy/psychoanalysis is about free association and transference. I agree that dialogos-philosophical community and shamanic ritual/religious holding spaces are necessary, but neither can (or should) accommodate the space for free association and working through dynamics of transference. Ideally, in my opinion, we would have some sort of triadic relation between the three, where each of the domains respected each of the other domains, and understood their function/purpose. I do see the seed potentials for that in Dr. Sjostedt-Hughes work. But as I have experienced each of these spaces, all three realms often conceptualise themselves as separate and disconnected from the others.
On an interesting/potentially relevant philosophical side note: Hegel conceptualises the Absolute Idea with a triad of Art, Religion and Philosophy. In this context, I would put psychotherapy/psychoanalysis in the category of an Art, the Art of helping the subject articulate its own unknown knowledge (via free association with transference energy).
Excellent exchange, and I really like the idea that psychotherapy/psychoanalysis falls under the category of Art. I entirely agree. Beauty works on the subject, and work on the subject shapes what beauty the subject can drink.
A magnificent piece, and I appreciated the biographical elements you incorporated, which were weaved in beautifully. I really appreciate Dr. Sjöstedt-Hughes and how he points to ‘the importance of finding some bridge of meditation between psychedelics and psychotherapy on the one hand, and the revival of philosophical metaphysics proper on the other’—I couldn’t agree more. The distinction between “metaphysics” and “mystical” is also paramount, and I agree this distinction calls for us to wrestle with Plato, Aristotle, Plotinus, Spinoza, and the like.
‘It is in the mediation of these conceptual systems where one can find a safety net for self-reflection that allows one to sense-make the overwhelming power of the mystical immediacy and convert it into a drive for in one’s own life.’ – Completely agree, and this in my view will only become more apparent as the consequences for the loss of sociological “givens” becomes clearer and clearer. ‘Thus, what is ultimately at stake, in my view, is a type of logic of the “negation of negation.” What we find in the mystical is a negation of the world (as fallen, as temporal, as finite, as X, Y, Z negative thing), and what is at stake in conceptual mediation is the negation of this negation in the affirmation qua return to this world (like I am writing, i.e. conceptually mediating, to you right now).’ – Beautifully and perfectly put. Excellent, excellent work!
Always great to hear from you, Daniel. I am glad we are going to get a chance to reflect deeply about this relation between the mystical and the metaphysical. Indeed, Dr. Sjöstedt-Hughes will be presenting on just this topic at the SOL conference. Can't wait!
Hi Sacha, great to hear from you.
I guess you were hooked from the start! I think your situation with needing metaphysical explorations post-psychedelic experience, and encountering an "integration" process, whether in psychotherapy (or for some others, religion) that is ill-equipped to handle that process, is one more and more will experience as psychedelic experiences become more and more a part of people's spiritual process. I guess it is that very need that we should try to meet, and indeed, as you state, it is a challenge worth living for. The paradox is that, in order to establish an "integration" process that includes a path of metaphysical explorations, it would need "leaders" or "teachers" or "guides" that have had some experience with the process itself. So our experiences become the very "thinking material" for building out the structures and meeting the needs at work here.