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The volume stands as a trip. Among other things, it copiously details all the drugs consumed by this US-raised academic specializing in philosophical history has taken. Among them are psychedelic fungi, acid, cannabis; prescription drugs to manage stress; venlafaxine, fluoxetine, escitalopram and traditional treatments; stimulants (“I've consumed caffeine daily since September 13, 1990”); and, personally speaking, the always disappointing booze.

The Deeply Mind-Bending Aspect

The really trippy thing, though, is not so much the philosopher’s accounts of his psychedelic episodes, rather that they come from a rigorous logical thinker, who knows analytic philosophical texts just as much as mystical expansive perceptual explorations. Additionally, they are offered with the aim of melting the perceptions of his philosophical peers and the rest of us arguing that entheogens transcend individual identity and make us part of universal awareness, thus making true freedom as defined by the 17th-century Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza conceived it (paraphrased by Smith-Ruiu as “a pleasant surrender in the way the self functions within the inevitable cosmic structure”).

Melting the Philosophical Tradition

The dissolving metaphor fits well, since the foundational moment of early modern European thought was exemplified when René Descartes scholar René Descartes heated a solid lump. The lump could alter its properties, odor, length, breadth, but still, Descartes supposed, we still claim that we know that it remains the same piece. The observer can be wrong about all experiences about the substance however not, he insisted, that they are thinking: this is the foundation of his well-known “Cogito ergo sum” – by means of which the rationalist made us the rational, science-respecting individuals we have been ever since.

The author, discombobulatingly, reverses the narrative on Descartes’ philosophical exercise: imagine if, rather than heating the substance, he had “altered his perception” via psychedelics, or with hallucinogens newly introduced to the West from overseas along with potatoes and nicotine, like sacred cactus or DMT brews? Imagine if rather than emphasized logic but rather extolled the visionary powers which he argues, are unleashed through substances? European thought may have evolved seeing the world through a transformed lens, and people as “boundless sources of light and knowledge”.

Transcending Traditional Epistemology

There is greater depth in this consciousness expansion, as suggested, than is dreamt of in rigid colleagues’ philosophies. His perspective appears related to these contemporary, reality-altering schools of thought like contemporary realist new realism, and Timothy Morton’s philosophies and ecological thought. The German philosopher claimed the divine was by definition behind an impenetrable veil, deducible maybe yet never experienced. One cannot within empirical reality, see God. In this work, consciousness-expanders could assist lift that veil. Because of this idea merely it is astonishing – and inspired – that such ideas are accepted.

Clarity Insights

Crucial to highlight here that this isn’t like those gonzo books composed while the author is under the influence. The philosopher is not Hunter S Thompson. Titled On Drugs yet it wasn’t created under influence (except, likely, from the drugs he describes earlier and the odd espresso hit). “During composition, sober, lucid, and completely engaged in the project.”

A Remarkable Turn

The book concludes with a remarkable plot twist (key revelation). Recently, Smith-Ruiu attended religious ceremony after many years since his youth at a local chapel next door to his residence. His claim here is that entheogenic journeys is analogous to that of religious ceremonies: normal consciousness is seen as a distortion, and during mass individuals can sense, as he did during trips, a glimpse of eternity. Another parallel is that an individual surrenders personal agency in church similar to an entheogenic experience. He writes: “Substances, like religion, like poetry represent a letting go of the will to maintain isolation.” Smith-Ruiu shows awareness to admit how strange this appears: that psychedelics are now his gateway drug to the Catholic church.

Accessible Transcendence

And you don’t even need to use entheogens from some geezer in a shop (like the author) to expand consciousness. The author references the initial section of literary works À la Recherche du Temps Perdu, when little Marcel creatively fantasizes that he has become {some of the things