“What gets managed, gets done.
” - Tom Peters
"And now let us believe in a long year that is given to us, new, untouched, full of things that have never been." Rainer Maria Rilke
“It has been my observation that most people get ahead during the time that others waste.
” - Henry Ford
"Today we can walk around together, talk, eat, and be silent together. Later I believe we'll have the opportunity to act and suffer together. All that is necessary to 'make someone's acquaintance' as they say." Pierre Sogol, professor of mountaineering, speaking in Rene Daumal's book "Mount Analogue".
'Breaking Convention' - the fifth biennial international conference on psychedelics - took place at Greenwich University in London from 16th-18th August. There were apparently 1,200 or so attendees for the 6 concurrent programmes - academic, workshop, performance, cinema, entertainment & installations - as well as an art exhibition. I went primarily because it allowed me to hear pretty much all the relevant research groups in the UK present on their current findings. As you can see from the other quite extensive writing about psychedelics on this website, I'm very interested in the encouraging emerging research highlighting potential therapeutic value of psychedelics. Although I focussed on the academic programme, there was much too much even here to manage an ove
“What's in the way is the way
” - Mary O'Malley
" ... the current system for bringing promising biomedical research to the bedside is operating at an obsolete level of efficiency, causing great delay, and consequently resulting in the loss of many lives." Roger Rosenberg (JAMA 2003;289:1305-6)
"Any unexplained phenomenon passes through three stages before the reality of it is accepted. During the first stage it is considered laughable. During the second stage, it is adamantly opposed. Finally, during the third stage, it is accepted as self-evident." Arthur Schopenhauer
“ What is to give light must endure burning. ” - Victor Frankl
"The universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper." Eden Phillpotts
"You'll never enjoy the word aright, until the sea itself floweth in your veins, till you are clothed with the heavens and crowned with the stars." Thomas Traherne
“ Honest criticism is hard to take, particularly from a relative, a friend, an acquaintance, or a stranger. ” - Franklin Jones
"To reach the other shore with each step of the crossing is the way of true living." Shunryu Suzuki
"My house having burnt down, nothing now impedes my bright vision of the moon." Zen saying
“ The life I touch for good or ill will touch another life, and that in turn another, until who knows where the trembling stops or in what far place my touch will be felt. ” - Frederick Buechner
"No man was ever wise by chance." Lucius Seneca
"Who will prefer the jingle of jade pendants if he once has heard stone growing in a cliff?" Lao Tzu
“ A bird will drop frozen from a bough without once having felt sorry for itself. ” - D.H. Lawrence
The conventional view serves to protect us from the painful job of thinking. J. K. Galbraith
It's important to keep an open mind, but not so open that your brains fall out. Traditional
I've been asked to write a short book section on "Psychedelics and dying" and that has nudged me into looking at this territory here on the blog. It's a fascinating subject in all kinds of ways. With the limited space I have, I'd like to comment briefly on four overlapping areas. One is the growing body of research showing that psychedelic-assisted therapy can dramatically ease severe existential distress associated with terminal illness. A second, less well studied area, is the observation that psychedelic experience reduces death anxiety in the general population. Thirdly, it's interesting to note the similarities between some descriptions of psychedelic states and reports of near death experiences. And lastly I'd like to talk about how psychedelics might produce these effects.
I read a lot of research. When I find an article of particular interest I download it to my bibliographic database - Endnote - which currently contains well over 27,000 abstracts. I also regularly tweet about emerging research, so following me on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ (click on the relevant icon at the top of this web page) will keep you up to speed with some of what I'm finding interesting. Additionally you can view this highlighted research by visiting Scoop.it (click on the "it!" icon at the top of the page). At Scoop.it, I stream publications into five overlapping topic areas: Cognitive & General Psychotherapy, Depression, Compassion & Mindfulness, Healthy Living & Healthy Aging, and Positive Psychology ...
