The Psychedelic Origins, and Future, of Western Thought

Plato, Nietzsche, and psychedelics

“Under the influence of narcotic potions hymned by all primitive men and peoples… those Dionysiac urges are awakened.”—Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy

It is now widely accepted by researchers such as Michael Pollan and Brian Muraresku that the Ancient Greeks took a psychedelic-like narcotic at their Eleusinian mysteries, which were annual ritual initiations. The taking of this narcotic led to what Williams James called ‘the mystical experience’. Plato is known to have attended these mysteries and would have taken this psychedelic-like narcotic, named Kykeon. The influence this had on Plato, and as a result, Western culture as a whole, is clear to see, and was seen by Nietzsche, in ideas like Plato’s cave and in religion more broadly. In this piece, contributing editor Ricky Williamson, argues that Nietzsche's critique of Plato, Christianity, and the morality that still shapes our lives today, all have the psychedelically-induced mystical experience at their core. The modern psychedelic prohibition has left thinkers afraid to draw this clear and obvious conclusion in Nietzsche’s thought, argues Williamson. Western thought was shaped and has its origins in these psychedelically-induced mystical experiences. With the psychedelic renaissance in full swing, its future may lie in them too.

To read the article in full go to: https://iai.tv/articles/the-psychedelic-origins-and-future-of-western-thought-auid-3186?_auid=2020

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