Introduction

“There were three kinds of self-transcendence downward, upward, and horizontal. Drug-taking, elemental sexuality, and herd poisoning were avenues toward the first category. Chemical methods of self-transcendence gave at best only momentary revelation and at considerable cost. After taking mescaline, however, he wrote … this drug can be used to raise the horizontal self-transcendence … so that it becomes an upward transcendence.” (Huxley, 1999)

Huxley considered psychedelics could lead to what he calls ‘self-transcendence’ – a mystical religious “visionary experience” but in today’s world it is not a religious experience it might be a way to ease as he called “tension” without any higher purpose. The question is do psychedelics – ‘mind altering’ substances as they are considered allow us to experience reality ‘as it truly is’ beyond the normal or do they just restrict our normal experience providing an escape. Further can psychedelics be more than escapes that give us experiences about reality which are meta-physical yet these are not transcendental spiritual awakenings as described by Huxley and others – they are more real about the world in a psychiatric way too such that they supplement our normal state of consciousness not going above and beyond it.

Is there a Meta-physical realm

“… psychedelic use has a causal influence on metaphysical beliefs – shifting them away from ‘hard materialism’ [towards] transcendentalism, non-naturalism, panpsychism, primacy of other realms, dualism and solipsism/idealism.” (Timmermann, Kettner & Letheby, et al., 2021)

This study shows that psychedelics are ‘mind’ altering and remove users from a physical view of reality giving them a sense of beyond which is transcendent. However, closely analysing this shift is just from one metaphysical view to another and not physical to meta-physical i.e., even after this shift the user with their enhanced experience still experiences this reality. There is not really any experience that goes beyond our conscious experiences it is only altered perceptually. What changes is the way we perceive things around us in the world or the way we think about it – this is the philosophical question of an objective, real, mind-independent world. The position of the psychedelic metaphysician here is that of idealistic monism which argues for a pure consciousness and oneness with it that can only be reached through spiritual awakening, interestingly, the study mentions also this “feeling of oneness”.

The problem with this conception is that it is it relies on indescribable notions of ‘self’ and a higher entity which if at all has a basis it is spiritual and not logical or scientific. Moreover, if we make sense of a higher transcendental reality such that it is a subjective experience and consider it as real it puts us in more trouble as it implies only the world as it is experienced is real but how can it be the case without a mind-independent, material or physical world. Even if this were the case the user the ‘I’ who clearly is part of the physical world experiencing the higher reality has to be real but this involves a contradiction – the higher realm of ‘truth’ whatever it is if experienced must have the experiencer who is outside it who transcends to reach it but it is held that this higher truth is the only reality which means the experiencer is part of it. If so then either the physical user is unreal or this higher reality is a delusion – in the first case even if it were so we can never know it (not even for short periods under the effect of psychedelics) because we would experience the world as we do it normally but we can know the second case for the same reason that such a higher reality if at all it exists it is experienced only temporarily when the effects vary the user comes back to the normal the physical experience of the world.

No sense of ‘Self’

‘Ego Death’ is the often the description of psychedelic substance use which raises an important question – the idea of ‘self’. In debates on personal identity, Giles (1993) proposed the “no-self” theory as he puts it, “although we may on various occasions have experiences of something that we take to be ourself, on closer examination this object of our awareness turns out to be nothing more than a collation of related images.” It is based on an eliminative materialist and phenomenological approach and can be used to think about experiences produced by psychedelic substance use. Interestingly the philosophical concept of no self is similar to the experience of lack of self produced by psychedelics – does this mean psychedelic experiences offer a view to reality which is otherwise inaccessible? Not really, as discussed above there is no meta-physical reality and all psychedelics do is alter the reality we normally experience, which is the only reality. However, psychedelic experiences can contribute to metaphysics but not in the traditional transcendental way.

There is no mental ‘self’ which we think we are and it seems to be the case on the basis that we don’t experience such a purely mental entity as we experience the physical world. However, the loss of identity of a ‘self’ or ‘I’ in a psychedelic experience though the same view has the opposite basis namely a purely mental experience. These two though maintain the same view of no self but they conflict with each other. This experience of no self also happens in depersonalisation disorder but it isn’t considered a transcendent experience rather it leads to anxiety. Hence though no self and experiences of lack of self or identity are compatible what is required is a physicalist approach which is also non-reductive to account for such experiences.

To begin with we have ‘self-awareness’ but how do we move from this to no self in a non-transcendental rather psychiatric manner. Letheby & Gerrans (2017) point out psychedelics lead to “… decentring and the objectification of self-related phenomena which ordinarily are taken very personally … the contents of consciousness are less filtered through considerations of self-relevance than is usual.” They explain this “ego dissolution” occurs because “perceptual representations are organised in egocentric space” and as psychedelics alter these, we find the conception we have of ourselves as a ‘self’ which we consider an entity is changed. Further as stated above they too say that this loss of sense of ‘self’ is “just one more conscious experience, rather than a transcendental precondition of all such experiences.” This explains the experience of no self occurs not because of any revelation rather the realisation that our view of ourselves and the physical world do not arise from within – it is experienced as we perceive it.

Even when the sense of ‘self’ or ‘I’ is dissolved it is not such that the physical world becomes unreal – there still are objects in the world and they are perceived what breaks is continuity of ‘impressions’ or images which normally give a sense of reality. It is just that our perception is altered it is not the physical reality which is altered and since our perception at least plays a role in conscious experience psychedelics influence our conscious experience hence our construct of reality which though is conceptual requires a basis in sense experience. Here when sense experience is altered or limited what remains is the concepts but doesn’t that mean there are no objects. The problem is not that there remain only concepts in psychedelic experiences as there are concepts for objects that don’t exist it seems on the contrary there are perceptions without concepts which is not the case in normal states of conscious experience.

Conscious of no self

Based on the above discussion experiences of psychedelic substance use do not transcend consciousness rather they alter conscious experience by affecting neurotransmitters most commonly serotonin so psychedelics are more biochemical than mystical. To further the metaphysical aspect, they do not reveal another reality all they reveal is that there is no self. Since they break the continuity of similar images we perceive when we normally perceive objects in the physical world such a break alters our conception about them, this gives us the wrong notion that they are unreal. Further since psychedelic experiences also feature perception without concepts they limit our understanding of these sense experiences as a result there is no ‘personal’, subjective or ‘intentional’ aspect left it is loss of the ego or ‘I’. Psychedelic substances offer an escape in a social or cultural respect which lead to debates on the ethics of their use, however it is this aspect of ‘escape’ which quite correctly can be compared to a delusion that provides the metaphysical account.

What is described as transcendental experience of self is on close examination the act of perception of sense experience – our conscious experience of such an act gives us a sense of self however under psychedelic influence there is the act but no conscious experience of the act hence no self. Here it is noteworthy that we might not always be aware of our conscious experience when it happens and in case of psychedelic influence what is lost is conscious experience though we might have an awareness of this loss i.e., we have the awareness that we have sensation but no conscious experience of it. Letheby (forthcoming) discusses “phenomenal consciousness” and it’s relation to self-consciousness it seems the above can be regarded as a case of phenomenal consciousness without self-consciousness. Hence psychedelics do not necessarily help us reach the limit of experience into a higher consciousness on the contrary they limit our experience, our consciousness of such an experience, and our ‘self’. Thus, ego death is not to be interpreted as awareness of a higher consciousness rather it is the simply the awareness of a lack of self additionally it does not signify that this loss of self is merger into a larger unity contrarily it shows there is no higher consciousness, there is no self, there is mind independent reality.

Psychedelia in therapy

It has been suggested that psychedelic substances can be used in treatment of psychiatric disorders given their mind-altering nature. The question is how do they affect the psychological and emotional state of the patients – Letheby (2021) argues against “Pure Neuroplasticity Theory” such that it is the psychedelic experience which leads to the beneficial effects and he says it does so by altering “mental representations of the self”. He goes on to argue that use of psychedelics in therapy can have “spiritual benefits” due to their epistemic effects which lead to metaphysical beliefs. Since psychedelic experiences produce a delusional effect giving false notions of idealistic higher metaphysical beliefs which Letheby also questions, how can we say their therapeutic effect on patients is not a delusional escape from their daily lives. Further, given the no-self theory the question is do psychedelics offer a solution to the causes of psychiatric disorders or do they simply distract the patient from the illness by their “mystical experience”?

The knowledge that psychedelic experiences can provide us about our metaphysical beliefs is that there is no self and there is a real world both of which from a therapeutic point of view don’t seem comforting they are rather bleak and almost crisis inducing. Letheby’s response to the realisation of lack of any self is that of the existentialist or absurdist who argue life despite what might seem the crisis of meaning and value is worth living exactly because there is no fixed meaning or value to it thereby allowing us the freedom to choose and create hence live life happily. However, this stands in contradiction to the conception of the world as objective and physicalist hence falls into the same subjective zone as the idealistic unity or oneness that is reported in psychedelic experiences. Thus, this line of thought might be helpful in a psychological and emotional way given the experience produced by psychedelics but not in a metaphysical or philosophical way because it’s basis is either in some higher reality in a spiritual sense or in reinforcing notions of personal identity.

Subjectivity of experience

If we hold that psychedelic experiences have phenomenal consciousness but no self-consciousness it goes against the “subjectivity principle” but we have awareness of this lack and since conscious experience leads to self-consciousness in psychedelic experience this awareness of a lack of conscious experience is what implies there is no self or subjectivity. It is this awareness of a lack of self that is a revelatory spiritually unifying experience or an escape from the crisis of life or a scary ‘bad trip’. The question is what is this awareness that there is a lack of self – isn’t it self-consciousness. But according to the above it is conscious experience which gives a sense of self and it’s lack produces lack of self so for an act of sense perception not being conscious of it is different from the awareness that there is no conscious experience of the act.

This requires an understanding of what is “subjectivity” – is it conscious experience or is it awareness that there is a conscious experience. In normal state there is always conscious experience of an act of sense perception though there might not be an awareness that there is a conscious experience for e.g., in watching a movie or reading a book ‘while doing it’ there is sense perception and conscious experience of it but there might not be an awareness that there is conscious experience ‘in that moment’. However, in psychedelic experiences there is no conscious experience of the act of sense perception for e.g., seeing objects, shapes, colours etc. is there but there is no conscious experience there is just experience and there is awareness that there is no conscious experience. Here conscious experience is making sense of the experience ‘one’ is undergoing the same sense perception might invoke different experiences in different people depending upon their psychological state. While awareness of a conscious experience involves the sense that this is the conscious experience or state of one’s mind. The former focuses on impressions or images of sense perception which constitute the subjective experience which the latter focuses on the subject of that experience.

Letheby (2020) cites experiences of users which describe as he says “total ego dissolution”. What all these descriptions clearly show is that there is experience though it is not conscious or subjective and there is awareness of the lack of the ego or the subject or the one who is experiencing the reality whether it is hallucinatory or of altered perception of real objects in that experience. “… in certain altered states, the human brain can generate vivid phenomenal simulations of a world in which experiences happen to no-one.” (Letheby, 2020) Hence psychedelic experiences are altered states of consciousness in which there is no subjectivity to experience, it is just experience, there is no subject of that experience – what is there is the awareness of this subject-lessness. However, this subject-lessness does not imply another reality, it merely explains the nature of ‘our’ experience of this reality.

What is there without the subject

Millière (forthcoming) examines how does the claim of self-consciousness as “consciousness of one’s experience” sit with phenomenology. Here this consciousness is of one’s conscious experience and not (one)self, further the question is about the relation of “mental state” to a subject’s phenomenology. Since the metaphysical framework as shown by psychedelic experience doesn’t allow a subject in the sense of a self – how is mental state related to phenomenology, if it holds a subject in a traditional sense then there is no useful relation here but if we consider it cognitively then there are phenomenal states. Taken another way, if we consider consciousness as ‘consciousness of one(self)’ (which Millière also rejects) in psychedelic experiences the self breaks hence phenomenological approach based on a subject (in the sense of a self) too breaks further if there is no subject/ self then who does the mental state being experienced belong to? However, if we take consciousness as awareness regarding ‘conscious experience’ the psychedelic experience just tells us that we no longer have conscious experience but there still is awareness of this lack of conscious experience. Hence consciousness has to be taken as awareness of one’s conscious experience which means that phenomenology with a subject as self doesn’t hold and has to be taken as phenomenal states which are related to mental states.

Regarding this phenomenal state, in psychedelic experiences as argued above there is sensory experience but no conscious experience, moving further the mental state is that of experience of the objects which are being seen whether they are distorted or hallucinatory. Since phenomenal state is the “what is it like” of mental state here it is the awareness that there is no self or lack of a conscious experience despite the sensory experience of objects that is the phenomenal state. Now this phenomenal state which involves lack of self is objective as confirmed by different users and is ‘not subjective’ in being restricted to a user like the sensory experience such as the distortions in the objects or hallucinations a user might have which would differ from one to another. Here to explain this with an example, seeing the colour red different people might have different sensory experience such that a colour-blind person might not see red at all whereas the awareness that I am seeing a colour is objective and common to everyone.

This works for an objective realist worldview with ‘no self’ but awareness of conscious experience. It is based phenomenological but without a subject yet not transcendental here the ‘subjective’ mental state is not metaphysical it is psychological. Hence metaphysically speaking there is only objective experience without a subject/self. So far it is established that there can be phenomenologically derived objective awareness of conscious experience whereas the subjective aspect of it is psychological but this would raise the question that there has to ‘someone’ who is experiencing this awareness even if it is objective but this is to say there has to be a ‘self’ for experience which is not true as sensory experience leading to mental states does not depend on ‘self’ rather it is the opposite. It is so because the awareness of these mental states – the phenomenal states themselves depend on the conscious experience which is based on the knowledge of one’s mental states.

Hence it is not the case that there is a ‘self’ or awareness which is the basis of experiencing the world rather there is an objectively real physical world which ‘is’ experienced giving ‘us’ the sense of ourselves as a ‘subject’ in relation to it thus, instead what we have is not a self but the awareness of conscious experience of the world which unlike the self is objective. But we do experience ourselves as subjects and it is realised when there is awareness regarding lack of this continuous conscious experience. So, it can be said that consciousness of self is something that is generated between consciousness of experience of objects and awareness of this experience but this self-consciousness exists only if there is an objective world as self-consciousness is nothing but consciousness of experience or consciousness regarding conscious experience.

Are psychedelics anti-metaphysical

Millière & Metzinger (2020) discuss the possibility that our ‘introspection’ about our experience might give us a sense of ‘self’ just like the refrigerator light in the “refrigerator light fallacy”, however psychedelic experiences or depersonalisation experiences allow us to have awareness of a lack of ‘self’ or ‘conscious experience’. This is an instance where we open the refrigerator door to find the light is not turned on. Just like this instance can allow us to think that it is possible that the refrigerator light is not always turned on similarly we can use psychedelic or depersonalisation experiences to argue that it there might not be a ‘self’ – it is an error to think that there is a ‘self’, we think it is there because of continuous conscious experience just like one might think the light of the refrigerator is always turned on because it is so every time one opens the door.

Then given this discussion are psychedelics anti-metaphysical since not only is it denied that there is a transcendental idealistic reality but also that there is no self even though we experience the world as a subject. Here the former view clearly is spiritual and escapist in the sense that it can be a reason for psychedelic use but it cannot tell us anything about metaphysics. Regarding the latter phenomenologically speaking what is rejected is the traditional conception of ‘consciousness of consciousness’ which is simply obscure and tells us nothing about consciousness it rather projects consciousness in the style of the former as a mysterious, other worldly, unknowable or undefinable entity. Now in a modified phenomenological understanding focusing on it cognitively it can be said that psychedelic experiences are metaphysical but not in the subjective sense but the objective one.

If we say there is experience of the world rather than saying we experience it subjectively it would clear the confusion since what is subjective in it is cognitive aspect not the metaphysical one. Thus, on the metaphysical plane there is experience and we know the mental states generated by this experience through the awareness pertaining to conscious experience. Here it should be noted that this awareness is not that there is conscious experience but also that there is a lack of it as in psychedelic or depersonalisation experiences. We know about our experience but the world does not depend on our ‘subjective experience’ even though we experience it so as the world and its experience is objectively real such that there are facts and properties of objects. Therefore, on psychedelic use, the self disappears but the world is still there as the experiences it generates are anti-Metaphysical regarding a reality beyond but they are metaphysical regarding this reality.

Conclusion

Thus, there is nothing beyond this reality is not nihilistic especially contrasted with the transcendental reality which meant this world is unreal as initially thought to be suggested by psychedelics. On the contrary it just means that there is no beyond such that ego death is only objective as no subjective truly exists. Since there is no self all there is to the world is what it is as it is outside us and it is only objective facts which are experienced through sense experience. Hence the revelation is that ‘there is no revelation’ i.e., nothing beyond. Once that is known psychedelics might not even be an escape let alone revelationary substances yet they would still offer life changing experiences as they not only alter vision and consciousness but also metaphysical conceptions of ‘self’ and the world experienced by it.

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References:

Giles, J. (1993). The no-self theory: Hume, Buddhism, and personal identity. Philosophy East and West 43 (2):175-200.

Huxley, A. (1999). Moksha: Aldous Huxley’s Classic Writings on Psychedelics and the Visionary Experience (C. Palmer & M. Horowitz, Eds.). Inner Traditions/Bear.

Letheby, C. (2020). Being for no-one: Psychedelic experience and minimal subjectivity. Philosophy and the Mind Sciences,1(I), 5.

Letheby, C. (2021). Philosophy of Psychedelics. Oxford University Press.

Letheby, C. (forthcoming). Psychedelics: Recent Philosophical Discussions. In T. Schramme & M. Walker (eds.), Handbook of the Philosophy of Medicine (2nd ed.). Springer.

Letheby, C. & Gerrans, P. (2017). Self unbound: ego dissolution in psychedelic experience. Neuroscience of Consciousness 3:1-11.

Millière, R., & Metzinger, T. (2020). Radical disruptions of self-consciousness: Editorial introduction. Philosophy and the Mind Sciences, 1(I), 1.

Millière, R. (forthcoming). Constitutive Self-Consciousness. Australasian Journal of Philosophy.

Timmermann, C., Kettner, H., Letheby, C., Roseman, L., Rosas, F.E. & Carhart-Harris, R.L. (2021). Psychedelics alter metaphysical beliefs. Scientific Reports 22166 (11):1-13.

Consciousness, Culture, Mind, Philosophy, psychedelic