Psychedelics and species connectedness

Irvine, A., Luke, D., Harrild, F., Gandy, S., & Watts, R. (2023). Transpersonal ecodelia: Surveying psychedelically induced biophilia. Psychoactives, 2, 174-193. doi: 10.3390/psychoactives2020012 Abstract: Objective: To explore the perceived influence of psychedelic experiences on participants’ relationship with the natural world. Method: A total of 272 participants reporting previous use of psychedelics completed free-text response requests via an online survey. Thematic analysis was used to explore group participant responses. Results: Participants who described a pre-existing relationship with nature reported that psychedelics acted to re-establish and bolster their connection to nature. Those reporting no previously established connection to nature described psychedelics as helping them bond with the natural world. Underlying both of these were reports of transpersonal experiences, of which ‘interconnectedness’ was most frequently linked to shifts in attitudes and behaviours. Participants were also asked to reflect on previous psychedelic experiences that took place in nature and reported a range of benefits of the natural setting. Conclusions: These findings suggest that psychedelics have the capacity to elicit a connection with nature that is passionate and protective, even among those who were not previously nature oriented. More research is needed to explore the potential implications of psychedelic use outside laboratory-controlled settings in order to enhance these important effects.

Frontiers in Psychology, 2021

Our hominin ancestors inevitably encountered and likely ingested psychedelic mushrooms throughout their evolutionary history. This assertion is supported by current understanding of: early hominins’ paleodiet and paleoecology; primate phylogeny of mycophagical and self-medicative behaviors; and the biogeography of psilocybin-containing fungi. These lines of evidence indicate mushrooms (including bioactive species) have been a relevant resource since the Pliocene, when hominins intensified exploitation of forest floor foods. Psilocybin and similar psychedelics that primarily target the serotonin 2A receptor subtype stimulate an active coping strategy response that may provide an enhanced capacity for adaptive changes through a flexible and associative mode of cognition. Such psychedelics also alter emotional processing, self-regulation, and social behavior, often having enduring effects on individual and group well-being and sociality. A homeostatic and drug instrumentalization perspective suggests that incidental inclusion of psychedelics in the diet of hominins, and their eventual addition to rituals and institutions of early humans could have conferred selective advantages. Hominin evolution occurred in an ever-changing, and at times quickly changing, environmental landscape and entailed advancement into a socio-cognitive niche, i.e., the development of a socially interdependent lifeway based on reasoning, cooperative communication, and social learning. In this context, psychedelics’ effects in enhancing sociality, imagination, eloquence, and suggestibility may have increased adaptability and fitness. We present interdisciplinary evidence for a model of psychedelic instrumentalization focused on four interrelated instrumentalization goals: management of psychological distress and treatment of health problems; enhanced social interaction and interpersonal relations; facilitation of collective ritual and religious activities; and enhanced group decision-making. The socio-cognitive niche was simultaneously a selection pressure and an adaptive response, and was partially constructed by hominins through their activities and their choices. Therefore, the evolutionary scenario put forward suggests that integration of psilocybin into ancient diet, communal practice, and proto-religious activity may have enhanced hominin response to the socio-cognitive niche, while also aiding in its creation. In particular, the interpersonal and prosocial effects of psilocybin may have mediated the expansion of social bonding mechanisms such as laughter, music, storytelling, and religion, imposing a systematic bias on the selective environment that favored selection for prosociality in our lineage.

Luke, D., Irvine, A., Harrild, F., Gandy, S., & Watts, R. (2024). Transpersonal ecodelia: A qualitative survey of psychedelically induced biophilia. Paper presented at the 6th Nature Connections conference, University of Derby, 24th June, Nature connectedness is a measure of one’s self identification with nature, encompassing “one’s appreciation for and understanding of our interconnectedness with all other living things on the earth.” Lifetime psychedelic use, especially that of psilocybin-containing ‘magic’ mushrooms, has been found to predict higher levels of nature relatedness and a prospective online study measuring a wide variety of psychological variables pre- and post-psychedelic use showed a significant increase in nature relatedness. One retrospective study found that psychedelic mystical experiences were commonly associated with positive changes in relationships with nature and self-reported pro-environmental behaviour. However, little is known about the mechanisms underlying these changes. The present study aimed to explore the perceived influence of psychedelic experiences on participants’ relationship with the natural world. A total of 272 participants reporting previous use of psychedelics completed free-text response requests via an online survey. Thematic analysis was used to explore group participant responses. Participants who described a pre-existing relationship with nature reported that psychedelics acted to re-establish and bolster their connection to nature. Those reporting no previously established connection to nature described psychedelics as helping them bond with the natural world. Underlying both of these were reports of transpersonal experiences, of which ‘interconnectedness’ was most frequently linked to shifts in attitudes and behaviours. Participants were also asked to reflect on previous psychedelic experiences that took place in nature and reported a range of benefits of the natural setting. These findings suggest that psychedelics have the capacity to elicit a connection with nature, especially via a transpersonal experience, that is passionate and protective, even among those who were not previously nature oriented. More research is needed to explore the potential implications of psychedelic use outside laboratory-controlled settings in order to enhance these important effects.

European Journal of Ecopsychology

From ecodelic triplit, the peyoteros’ sense of place, interspecies communication and animistic healing to ecocentric entheogenic rituals, psychedelic bioregionalism, biogenetic structuralist ecopsychology and transpersonal ecosophy – this special issue of the EJE explores the verdant intersection between neurobiology and botany, shamanism and animism, and psychology and ecology, fusing mind with Nature in a boiling cauldron full of entheogenic insight.

Frontiers in Pharmacology

Editorial on the Research Topic Psychedelic sociality: Pharmacological and extrapharmacological perspectives The heralded psychedelic renaissance is currently at a new level where psychedelics are being accepted by the scientific community and the public. Medicalization and the ongoing introduction of market forces are imposing a trend in which psychedelic treatments are reduced to focus into strictly pharmacological and psychological effects on the self, rather than interactions with broader social context. Such narrowing of how psychedelic treatments are being conceived, used, and researched is a source of concern for those who understand that psychedelics' therapeutic effects as also derived from socially and culturally meaningful elements. Alienation-the sense of isolation from others-and the mental health problems associated with it are on the rise. Consequently, there is not only a need for new therapies but also for a renewed social adhesion and a commitment to a more just and equal society. Psychedelics have a long history of bringing people together, facilitating intense shared experiences, and revitalizing cultures. This social dimension of use of psychedelics-psychedelic sociality-should be considered in the current mainstreaming, as therein lies their potential to support change in individual therapy and beyond. This multidisciplinary Research Topic of psychedelic sociality invited scholars to discuss these Research Topic through empirical research, reviews, perspectives, and theoretical papers. Overall, 21 papers were accepted to this Research Topic, covering

Daniel Pinchbeck – Psychedelic Initiations and Ecological Megacrisis. Divine Molecule Talks at Tyringham – Part II Exploring Entheogenic Entity Encounters, a private symposium, Tyringham Hall, September 2015 (curator and compère).

Luke, D. (2017, June). Ecodelia: Towards a transpersonal ecopsychology through psychedelics. Paper presented at Breaking Convention: 4th International Conference on Psychedelic Consciousness, University of Greenwich, London, 30th June - 2nd July.

Shamanism and psychedelics are central to understanding the evolutionary roots of ecopsychology and its basic principles. The ancient ritual roots of shamanism constituted the context within which psychedelic experiences contributed selective influences to the evolution of human neuropsychology. Both shamanic psychology and ecopsychology involve a neuroepistemology that reflects the neurotransmitter effects of psychedelics on cognition. Shamanism contributed to the development of our ecopsychology through influences on psychological, social and cognitive evolution. Shamanism embodies the concept of animism, the notion of the spiritual essence of all nature which is recognized as the core of the oldest of humanity’s religious beliefs. Shamanism provided the context within which this animistic attitude and the sense of the sentience of the many entities of the world were developed, especially in the relationship to animals. Animal species and their variant qualities provided a natural metaphoric system to structure psychological development and the evolution of social organization. Within the context of shamanism, the worlds of animal species and spirits intertwined in the creation of symbolic potentials for the differentiation of self – embodied in animal spirit powers – and the collective identity of society – embodied in totemic animals. This incorporation of the elements of nature into personal powers and social identity made shamanic ecopsychology a basic feature of human nature and culture.