Who Controls Your Cortex?: New at Reason

In the latest issue of Reason Jacob Sullum reviews Michael Pollan’s new book How to Change Your Mind. A snippet:

On a Saturday night in July, I swallowed a tiny square of paper containing about 100 micrograms of LSD and took a walk on the Las Vegas Strip. On the way back to my hotel, the garish lights suddenly seemed lovely. I stopped short, a beatific smile on my face. “America is awesome!” I thought, enchanted by the economic freedom and entrepreneurial energy that had created this entertainment mecca. Surrounded by roving packs of bros and bachelorettes, I resisted the urge to pass judgment on the tastes and preferences of the people who flock to Las Vegas from all over the world in search of a good time. The main point was that they mostly had found what they were looking for, whatever that might be, which is no small thing in a life that is too short and too serious.

Even as I was thinking these deep thoughts, I recognized their banality, but I still felt their truth in a way I never had before. As the journalist Michael Pollan notes in How to Change Your Mind, making familiar insights seem new again is one of the favors psychedelics can do for us.

View this article.

from Hit & Run https://ift.tt/2PdfZ08
via IFTTT

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *