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Activitas Nervosa Superior

The Journal for Neurocognitive

Research

ISSN 2510-2788

Act Nerv Super

DOI 10.1007/s41470-019-00063-y

5-Methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine: An

Ego-Dissolving Endogenous Neurochemical

Catalyst of Creativity

Christopher B.Germann

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IDEAS AND PERSPECTIVES

5-Methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine: An Ego-Dissolving Endogenous

Neurochemical Catalyst of Creativity

Christopher B. Germann

Received: 14 June 2019 / Revised: 10 August 2019 / Accepted: 13 August 2019

Neuroscientia 2019

Abstract

5-Methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (acronymized as 5-MeO-DMT) is sui generis among the numerous naturally occurring

psychoactive substances due to its unparalleled ego-dissolving effects which can culminate in a state of nondual consciousness

that is phenomenologically similar to transformative peak experiences described in various ancient contemplative traditions (e.g.,

Advaita Vedānta, Mahāyāna Buddhism, inter alia). The enigmatic molecule is endogenous to the human brain and has profound

psychological effects which are hitherto only very poorly understood due to the absence of scientifically controlled human

experimental trials. Its exact neuronal receptor binding profile is a matter of ongoing research; however, empirical evidence

indicates that its remarkable psychoactivity is partially mediated via agonism of the 5-HT

1A/2A

(serotonin) receptor subtypes.

Anthropological/ethnopharmacological evidence indicates that various cultures utilized 5-MeO-DMT containing plants for

medicinal, psychological, and spiritual purposes for millennia. We propose that this naturally occurring serotonergic compound

could be fruitfully utilized as a neurochemical research tool with the potential to significantly advance our understanding of the

psychological and neuronal processes which underpin cognition and creativity (e.g., downregulation of the default mode net-

work, increased global functional connectivity, neuroplasticity, σ

receptor interactions, etc.). An eclectic interdisciplinary

perspective is adopted, and we present converging evidence from a plurality of sources in support of our conjecture.

Specifically, we argue that 5-MeO-DMT has significant neuropsychopharmacological potential due to its incommensurable

capacity to completely disintegrate self-referential cognitive/neuronal processes (viz., ego death). The importance of unbiased

systematic scientific research on naturally occurring endogenous psychoactive compounds is discussed from a Jamesian radical

empiricism perspective, and potential scenarios of abuse are addressed, particularly in the context of neuroethics, cybernetic

manipulation, and military research on torture.

Keywords 5-MeO-DMT

5-HT

agonism

Creativity

Nonduality

Anthropocene

Cognitive liberty

Neuroethics

Introduction

The following prefatory quotation is adapted from Abraham

Maslow’s seminal book “Towards a psychology of being” and

it provides an apt primer and semantic grounding for the sub-

sequent disquisition.

An essential aspect of SA [Self-Actualized] creativeness

was a special kind of perceptiveness that is exemplified

by the child in the fable who saw that the king had no

clothes on - this too contradicts the notion of creativity

as products. Such people can see the fresh, the raw, the

concrete, the ideographic, as well as the generic, the

abstract, the rubricized, the categorized and the classi-

fied. Consequently, they live far more in the real world

of nature than in the verbalized world of concepts, ab-

stractions, expectations, beliefs and stereotypes that

most people confuse with the real world. This is well

expressed in [Carl] Rogers’ phrase ‘openness to experi-

ence’ (Maslow 1968, p. 145, content in brackets added).

Humanity is currently de facto confronted with an unprec-

edented existential crisis which could be described as an “an-

thropogenic planetary emergency.” One major acute threat to

the survival of the species comes from the military and the

* Christopher B. Germann

mail@christopher-germann.de; https://www.cognovo.net/

christopher-germann

CogNovo.eu, Plymouth, United Kingdom

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https://doi.org/10.1007/s41470-019-00063-y

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constant danger of nuclear annihilation, another from the de-

struction of the global ecosystem, and the significant and ex-

tremely worrisome anthropogenic (man-made) reduction of

biodiversity which will soon cause a global systemic collapse

(Steffen et al. 2018). The term “biological annihilation” has

been proposed to describe this ongoing scenario (Ceballos

et al. 2017).

In 1798, Thomas Malthus predicted exponential population

growth in his “Essay on the Principle of Population” which

influenced the ratification of the Census Act 1800 (41 Geo. III

c.15) in Great Britain. Malthus foresaw numerous contempo-

rary challenges, and the topic of overpopulation has since then

been centrally discussed by numerous influential thinkers

such as Sir Charles Galton Darwin, Sir Julian Huxley, and

Nobel laureate Lord Bertran d Russell, in ter alia. In 1952,

Russel wrote the following in his seminal book entitled “The

Impact of Science on Society”:

The danger of a world shortage of food may be averted

for a time by improvements in the technique of agricul-

ture. But, if population continues to increase at the pres-

ent rate, such improvements cannot long suffice. There

will then be two groups, one poor with an increasing

population, the other rich with a stationary population.

Suchasituationcanhardlyfailtoleadtoworldwar.If

there is not to be an endless succession of wars, popu-

lation will have to become stationary throughout the

world, and this will probably have to be done, in many

countries, as a result of governmental measures. This

will require an extension of scientific technique into

very intimate matters. There are, however, two other

possibilities. War may become so destructive that, at

any rate for a time, there is no danger of overpopulation;

or the scientific nations may be defeated and anarchy

may destroy scientific technique. (Russell 1952,p.27)

In 1960, Heinz von Förster

et al. published a paper in Science

Magazine which introduced the “Doomsday Equation .”

Based on mathematical extrapolation of an elongated J-curve,

this equation predicts that population growth would become

infinite at a specific (finite) point in time, that is, by Friday the

13th of November, A.D. 2026 (von Förster et al. 1960). Based

on statistical analyses, they concluded that the growth of the

world population N is most fittingly approximated by the fol-

lowing hyperbolic equation:

N ¼

−t

where C and t

are constants, whereas t

corresponds to an

absolute upper limit of the increase at which N ≈∞(for details

see also Korotayev and Malkov 2016). Obviously, van Förster

at al. did not actually believe that the world population would

become infinite within the doomsday interval t

=A.D.

2026.87 ± 5.50 (op. cit., p. 1293) but rather that the prognos-

ticated longitudinal trend would change into a different direc-

tion before the critical calendrical value is reached. Other re-

searchers have propounded an elongated L-shaped curve, i.e.,

a stabilization at a minimum positive level at ≈ 2050 A.D.

(Konar 2012; cf. Korotayev and Malkov 2016).

We maintain that there are other factors which are much

more important than Malthusian demographic developments

per se. The fundamental problems of the twenty-first century

Anthropocene

(Lewis and Maslin 2015) are primarily caused

by the irrational, short-sighted, reckless, and ego-driven be-

havior of the human species, viz., overconsumption and a

myopic profit-oriented exploitation of the ecosystem

(Fromm 1962, 1976). In the field of behavioral economics,

short-sighted thinking has been studied in extenso under the

header “temporal discounting” (van den Bos and McClure

2013). In brevi, immediate rewards are preferred and out-

comes in the future are regarded as less important (time-addi-

tive discounted utility function),

a phenomenon which is also

observable in nonhuman primates (Hwang et al. 2009).

However, there appear to be significant cross-cultural varia-

tions in “long versus short-term orientation,” a variable which,

according to factor analytic computations, constitutes a basic

cultural dimension (Minkov and Hofstede 2012). Since the

1970s, cou ntless studies on “delay gratification” (Mischel

et al. 1972) have been conducted and recent neuroimaging

work indicates that neuroanatomical loci associated with

self-control (i.c., higher-order prefrontal executive functions)

play a crucial role in the top-down regulation of impulsivity/

temptation (i.c., nucleus accumbes) (Luerssen et al. 2015).

Sufficient self-control capacity is thus a neurocognitive

condicio sine qua non for su ccessful long-term strategies.

However, our current capitalistic “economic” system is pri-

marily based on marketing principles which systematically

The cybernetician Heinz von Förster worked successfully in radar laborato-

ries during the Nazi Germany era, and he later immigrated to the USA via the

secret operation PAPERCLIP which brought more than 17,000 German Nazi

scientists to the USA (Jacobsen 2014). We will return to this topic in a subse-

quent section.

The present epoch is also termed the sixth mass extinction or “Holocene

extinction” (Barnosky et al. 2011; Ceballos and Ehrlich 2018;Rippleetal.

2017) due to the rapid anthropogenic biodiversity loss which is comparable to

other exogenously caused mass extinctions in the history of the planet earth

(Régnier et al. 2015;Wormetal.2006). That is, we are currently witnessing

the first mass extinction caused by the behavior of a species. For comparison,

the last Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event was with a high likelihood

caused by the impact of a meteorite or comet.

Temporally discounted utility refers to the value of a delayed reward multi-

plied by the discount function F(D), where D signifies the delay. Specifically,

the ratio F′(D)/F(D) constitutes the discount rate which signifies how rapidly

the discount function decreases as a function of diachronic reward delay

(Hwang et al. 2009). In the context of neuroeconomics, high discount rates

have been associated with various forms of addiction, i.e., substance and

behavioral addictions (Monterosso et al. 2012; Saville et al. 2010). The “im-

pulsivity construct” (e.g., poor self-control) has also been associated with

genetic predispositions (Anokhin et al. 201 1).

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create desires and exploit impulsivity, e.g., methods of “nag-

ging psychology” which explicitly target developing children,

and, more recently, highly effective “neuromarketing” tech-

niques which monitor and scrutinize the fine-grained effects

of various advertising strategies on neuronal processes in the

brain (Stanton et al. 2017). It could be argued that prefrontal

executive control circuitry (which is necessary for reflective

rational thought) is systematically compromised by various

methods which target and exploit dopaminergic/limbic hedon-

ic processes (cf. Olds and Milner 1954). According to re-

source models of self-control (e.g., Baumeister et al. 2007),

the inherently limited capacity to regulate impulses and de-

sires needs to be practiced (the “muscle analogy of self-con-

trol”, but see Muraven and Baumeister 2000). By contrast,

present Western society is highly seductive (Biehl-Missal

and Saren 2012) and it reinforces a “mindless consumption

mindset”

(cf. Williams and Grisham 2012) which is com-

bined with wasteful production principles such as “planned

obsolescence” (Guiltinan 2009) in order to stimulate econom-

ic growth (one of the explicit maxims of contemporary mac-

roeconomics). There exists a ubiquitous focus on material

externalities which is evidenced by the abundance of consum-

er objects. This observation is associated with a much more

general ascertainment, namely, the widespread dominance of

a thought pattern which is primarily quantitative, materialistic,

outward oriented (extrospective), and egocentric, as opposed

to qualitative, inward directed (introspective), and unitive (the

psychoanalyst Erich Fromm emphasized the fundamental dif-

ference between the “having mode” and the “being mode” of

existence in much of his work, e.g., op. cit.). We argue that this

imbalance is reflective of a “subject versus object” consump-

tion dichotomy and a “separationist Weltansc ha uung” which

conceptualizes nature as an objectifiable and exploitable re-

source which is perceived as entirely detached from the self.

This perceptual paradigm is based on a purely materialistic

and mechanistic conceptualization of biology which leaves

no room for qualitative aspects like purpose and meaning

(i.e., télos & lógos)(cf.“hormic” theoretical approaches to

psychology, e.g., McDougall 1930; Wolman 1981). It is prin-

cipally based on utilitarian premises which do not incorporate

human values, ethics, and morality. Terms like “sustainabili-

ty” and “responsib ility” are strategically employed by the

massive public relations industry as described by Orwell in

the context of “newspeak,” i.e., psycholinguistic semantic in-

version techniques are widely utilized as a facade (see also

Chakravartty and Schiller 2010; Wals and Jickling 2002). In

sum, these psychosocioeconomic factors destroy nature,

antagonize rationality, and foster egocentrism, irrationality,

and short-sighted thinking.

The present modus operandi is congruent with the destruc-

tive philosophy of neoliberalism

—a doctrine which is highly

influential among the “financial power élit”

(Harvey 2007;

Hill and Kumar 2009). The continuation of the current irratio-

nal course of action will predictably lead to total ecological

catastrophe in the foreseeable future (Ceballos et al. 2017)

unless humanity comes up with a radical

creative solution.

Due to inherent species-specific cognitive and epistemo-

logical limitations, prescience is intrinsically bound. Human

beings cannot possibly know the exact threshold of the “mul-

tifactorial nonlinear complex systems equation” which deter-

mines the trajectory of our habitat in state-space (which might

indeed be a multidimensional Hilbert space). There are simply

to many unknown variables and deterministic predictions by a

hypothetical omniscient “Lap lacian Demon”

might be in

principle impossible due to the intrinsically stochastic nature

of fundamental physics (cf. recent experimental falsifications

of local realism, e.g., Gröblacher et al. 2007). However, it is a

plausible cautious “Bayesian prior” to assume that once a

critical tipping point is reached the system loses its equilibri-

um state and a “singularity” ensues (not to be confused with

the dystopian AI singularity advertised by prominent advo-

cates of transhumanism). The grand concept of the fine-

According to Hofstede’s recently updated 6D model, “indulgence versus

self-restraint” constitutes the newly added sixth cultural dimension and it

would be interesting to examine if this is cross-cultural difference is reflected

at the neuronal level (e.g., differences in prefrontal inhibitory control circuitry).

“Restrain stands for a society that controls gratification of needs and regulates

it by means of strict social norms” (Hofstede 2011,p.15).

In fact, the neologism “Capitalocene” has been proposed as a more accurate

descriptor (Altvater 2016). Human pressure on the Earth system is primarily

caused by the wealthy OECD countries. Their “ecological footprint” (cf. Dietz

et al. 2007) is proportionally much larger vis-à-vis the rest of the world, i.e.,

due to overconsumption (a sheer waste) of resources. Hence, equity signifi-

cantly factors into the equation of “the great acceleration” (Steffen et al. 2015).

It is important to emphasize that the problem has interdisciplinary ramifica-

tions which cannot be fragmented—a creative transdisciplinary solution is

needed.

The terminology is adopted from sociology, in casu, power structure analysis

(Domhoff 1975), where the topic of power concentration has been thoroughly

studied (e.g., Froud et al. 2017; Harvey 2007; Hill and Kumar 2009), for

instance, with regard to the “fractional reserve banking system” (Foster and

Holleman 2014) which has been described as “economic parasitism.”

Currently, financial disparity has reached an extreme climax and statistics

indicate that an extremely small ultra-rich segment (> 1% of the total popula-

tion) owns ≈ 50% of the world’s entire wealth (i.e., ≈ $140 trillion are owned

by an infinitesimal small minority; but see the “Global Wealth Report” from

2018 published by the Credit Suisse Research Institute). According to Forbes,

wealth concentration in the USA has spiked in recent years. For example,

“three men own as much as the bottom half of Americans” and the “richest

American in 2018 was worth 31 Times as much as in 1982.” A recent big-data

study conducted at the ETH Zürich provided insightful results. Based on

graph-theoretical network topology analysis, a “super-entity” consisting of a

network of global corporate control was identified (Vitali et al. 2011). The

researchers concluded that “transnational corporations form a giant bow-tie

structure and that a large portion of control flows to a small tightly-knit core of

financial institutions,” an empirical finding which is indicative of a “richer-get-

richer” mechanism.

The term “radical” is etymologically derived from the Latin word “radix”

meaning “root” (cf. the radical sign √ in mathematics). That is, a “radical

solution” refers to a solution which targets the very roots of the problem, as

opposed to peripheral symptomologies (in the case under consideration, the

roots are primarily psychological).

See Laplace’s “Essai philosophique sur les probabilités” (1814, p. 4).

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tuned universe (Holder 2002) can be generalized to the Earth

system. Human beings can only exist in a very narrow band of

fine-tuned environmental parameters (the “Goldilocks” zone

of sapient life). Within an evolutionary blink of an eye, hu-

mankind has changed the natural order (the Humboldtian

Kosmos) for rather dubious reasons. Irrational primitive psy-

chological motives like cupidity and imperiousness provide

the primary impetus for this pervasive development.

Sapientiæ & virtutis appear to play a subordinate role (if

any) in this scenario which is often depicted as progress.

Our self-image (as a species) is hubristic, unrealistic, and illu-

sionary. To come vis-à-vis with the truth about our current

condition might be the most difficult task which is prevented

by constant distraction and various self-deceptive psycholog-

ical defense mechanisms (e.g., quasi-Freudian suppression at

the level of mass psychology).

In 2018, the figurative “Doomsday Clock” maintai ned by

the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists was set to “2 minutes to mid-

night.”

According to this heuristic multicriterial assessment,

humanity was never that close to annihilation since 1953 when

the USA tested the first hydrogen bomb (Guglielmi 2018).

Ergo, creativity, and a fundamentally new way of thinking are

of utmost evolutionary importance if the species Homō sapiēns

sapiēns

wants to survive this century. A creative solution to

this far-rea ching existential problem is thus literally a matter of

life or death.

As Einstein put it in a New York Times inter-

view: “… a new type of thinking is essential if mankind is to

survive and move toward higher levels.”

One of the key

components of the solution is a deep first-person emotive com-

prehension that the earth is a single complex system—an inter-

connected whole to which we as human beings belong.

Deeply intertwined with sociopolitical factors, there are sys-

tematic psycholog ical barriers which impede rational change:

for instance, the “status quo bias” whichreferstoanuncon-

scious (system 1) preference for the current state of affairs

(which is perceived as a comparative baseline level). Any

change which deviates from this reference anchor is perceived

as a loss (cf. loss-aversion, regret avoidance, existence bias,

mere exposure effect, i.a.), despite the fact that an alternative

course of action may be objectively advantage ous (Kahneman

et al. 1991). From a social group-dynamics perspective,

individuals who challenge the perceived dominant status quo

(which constitutes an implicit group norm) are socially

punished by the in-group (e.g., loss of reputation, discreditation,

ostracism, etc.). In this way, the status quo is socially

“cemented” (consolidated), and possible alternatives are

prevented. It is noteworthy that norm-defection is socially con-

tagious (for a pertinent historical Nazi Germany case study, see

Geerling et al. 2015). Based on recent fMRI neuroimaging data,

it has been concluded that “specific prefrontal-basal ganglia

dynamics are involved in reje cting the defau lt, a mechanism

that may be important in a range of difficult choice scenarios”

(S.M.Flemingetal.2010, p. 6005). The experimental study

documented a selective increase in neuronal activity in the sub-

thalamic nucleus (STN) when the status quo was rejected.

Further , statistical analysis indicated that there was a correlative

increase in activity in the inferior frontal cortex for difficult

decisions (as compared to easy defaults). In line with other

conceptually related experimental studies, the results indicated

that the frontal cortex has a modulatory top-down influence on

the STN during switches away from the status quo (i.e., the

nondefault option). Such neuropsychoph ysiological data might

provide important insights how to overcome the persistent sta-

tus quo bias and the results indicate the importance of inhibitory

cognitive control mechanisms (cf. studies on self-control/re-

source models of executive prefrontal functions).

We suggest

that social group pressure (e.g., conformity à la Asch) should be

systematically investigated as an additional variable in future

behavioral and neuroimaging studies along these lines. The

URL: https://thebulletin.org/2018-doomsday-clock-statement

The binomial taxonomical nomenclature (introduced by Carl Linnæus) is

etymologically derived from the Latin “homō” meaning “human being” and

“sapiēns” meaning “wise”—thus the “wise human.” By contrast, the neolo-

gism Homō consumens has been proposed (Fromm 1976) as a more accurate/

realistic designation given the contemporary utilitarian production and con-

sumption orientation of the species (Baudrillard 1998).

Realistic thinkers have argued that the chances of species survival are de

facto minute (Fromm 1962). However, classical game-theoretical calculi are

not applicable to this situation. Even if the chance of success is < 1%, humanity

needs to mobilize all its resources to come up with a solution to the problem of

self-destruction.

Source: New York Times—May 25, 1946, p. 13—“Atomic Education

Urged by Einstein” URL: https://nyti.ms/2NpSc8L

The importance of top-down executive control for the functioning of society

has already been discussed by Plato in his Res Publica (Politeia). Plato placed

great emphasis on the relation between self-discipline (synonymous with self-

control) and justice, at the level of the individual and likewise the city-state

(póli), as demonstrated in the following Socratic dialog:

Socrates: ‘It is not the same as courage and wisdom. Each of those was

located in a particular part, and yet one of them made the whole city

wise, and the other made it brave. Self-discipline does not operate in

the same way. It extends literally throughout the entire city, over the

whole scale, causing those who are weakest - in intelligence, if you

like, or in strength, or again in numbers, wealth or anything like that —

together with those who are strongest and those in between, to sing in

unison. So we would be quite justified in saying that self-discipline is

this agreement about which of them should rule — a natural harmony

of worse and better, both in the city and in each individual.‘[...] ‘The

title `brave`, I think, is one we give to any individual because of this

part of him, when the spirited element in him, though surrounded by

pleasures and pains, keeps intact the instructions given to it by reason

about what is to be feared and what is not to be feared.’ Glaucon:

‘Rightly so,’ he said. Socrates: ‘And the title “wise” because of that

small part which acted as an internal ruler and gave those instructions,

having within it a corresponding knowledge of what was good both for

each part and for the whole community of the three of them together.’

Glaucon: ‘Exactly.’‘What about “self-disciplined”?Isn’t that the result

of the friendship and harmony of these three? The ruling element and

the two elements which are ruled agree that what is rational should rule,

and do not rebel against it.’ Glaucon: ‘Yes. That’s exactly what self-

discipline is,’ he said, ‘both for a city and for an individual.’

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problem how to overcome the detrimental status quo is of ut-

most importance and governmental institutions and funding

bodies should acknowledge the significance and urgency

this “wicked problem” (DeFries and Nagendra 2017)whichhas

far-reaching ramifications for the species as a whole. The status

quo bias relates to the prefatory quotation by Abraham Malow

who refers to Hans-Christian Andersons fable entitled “The

Emperor’sNewClothes” (published in 1837). However, what

Anderson and Maslow do not mention is that the child whose

innocent veridical perception of reality challenges the status

quo will by a ll like lihood b e severely punished, verbally

abused, and verboten by those who proudly escort the naked

emperor and praise the nonexistent dress most profusely (i.e.,

those who benefit from the corrupt status quo, who identify

with it, whose self-esteem depends on it, and who by no means

want to see the truth). Thus, the child will painfully learn the

consequences of not conforming to fallacious socially shared

beliefs (via Bandura-type operant conditioning). Ritualism and

orthopraxy (Ellul 1973) are additional pertinent concepts in this

situation. Moreover , this hypothetical punitive scenario does

not include the reaction of the royal propagandists and the king

himself.

In general, people do not readily give up core beliefs

(Weltanschauungen) in the light of new evidence (a quasi-

Bayesian epistemological desideratum). Per contrast, humans

defend elementa ry belief tenets which fundamental ly

(axiomatically) structure their perspective on reality, conscious-

ly and/or unconsciously, and one might argue that Hebbian

principles of long-term potentiation provide a neuronal “mor-

phometric” explanation for cognitively inflexible “belief net-

works”

(i.e., consolidation/dominance of specific neuronal

pathways—any deviation is associated with computational out-

come uncertainty). “Belief bias” (Evans et al. 1993)isone

mechanism which works at the automatic/implicit level, i.e.,

the syntactical logical validity of a given syllogistic argument

is frequently neglected and conclusions are primarily judged

based on their semantic congruence with certain aprioribe-

liefs. Around 2000 years ago, Lucius Seneca summarized this

irrational human tendency concisely in one sentence: “Every

man prefers belief to the exercise of judgment.” The elaboration

likelihood model (Petty and Cacioppo 1986) provides a dual-

process framework which distinguishes between two modes of

information processing—a peripheral (heuristic) mode versus a

central (analytic) mode. The latter constitutes the reflective and

rational mode of reasoning, while the former is reflexive and

belief based. “Rational intelligence” (RQ; Stanovich and West

2008) is an individual differences variable that refers to people’s

propensity to utilize critical thinking skills and analytic cogni-

tive processes (note that RQ ≠ IQ). If conditions for rational/

analytic processing are not met, the status quo is passively

adopted as the effortless default (i.e., cognitively economic heu-

ristic decisions which do not engage any elaboration or system

2 intervention and are cost-effective in prefrontal energetic

terms). Characterological idiosyncrasies and group conformity

propensities are additional significant factors in this regard.

In connection to “herd psy chology,” the eugenist Sir

Francis Galton formulated the following quasi-Darwinian ar-

gument on behavioral/cognitive/attitudinal conformity in his

book “Inquiries into the Human Faculty” (1983, p. 51 et seq.,

cap.: “Gregarious and Slavish Instincts”):

“An incapacity of relying on oneself and a faith in others

are precisely the conditions that compel brutes to congre-

gate and live in herds; and, again, it is essential to their

safety in a country infested by large carnivora, that they

should keep closely together in herds. No ox grazing

alone could live for many days unless he were protected,

far more assiduously and closely than is possible to bar-

barians. [...] If any brute in a herd makes itself obnoxious

to the leader, the leader attacks him, and there is a free

fight between the two, the other animals looking on the

while. But if a man makes himself obnoxious to his chief,

he is attacked, not by the chief single-handed, but by the

overpowering force of his executive. The rebellious indi-

vidual has to brave a disciplined host; there are spies who

will report his, doings, a local authority who will send a

detachment of soldiers to drag him to trial; there are

prisons ready built to hold him, civil authorities wielding

legal powers of stripping him of all his possessions, and

official executioners prepared to torture or kill him. The

tyrannies under which men have lived, whether under

rude barbarian chiefs, under the great despotisms of

half-civilised Oriental countries, or under some of the

more polished but little less severe governments of mod-

ern days must have had a frightful influence in eliminat-

ing independence of character from the human race.

”

ch earlier, in 1851, the charismatic German philosopher

Arthur Schopenhauer wrote the following on the detrimental

effects of conformity and “public opinion”:

“When we see that almost everything men devote their

lives to attain, sparing no effort and encountering a thou-

sand toils and dangers in the process, has, in the end, no

further object than to raise themselves in the estimation of

others; when we see that not only offices, titles, decora-

tions, but also wealth, nay, even knowledge and art, are

striven for only to obtain, as the ultimate goal of all effort,

In this context, another cognitive bias is of pertinence: the “omission bias.”

In sensu lato, omission bias refers to the irrational human tendency to judge

omissions that cause harm as less significant compared to actions that cause

harm because actions are perceived as more salient and hence consequential

than inactions (DeScioli et al. 2011).

The Quinan “Web of Beliefs” (Quine and Ullian 1978) provides an appli-

cable semantic analogy to (Bayesian) neural network connectivity and the

process of “belief updating” (i.e., modification of weights between neuronal

nodes).

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greater respect from one’s fellowmen, — is not this a

lamentable proof of the extent to which human folly

can go? To set much too high a value on other people’s

opinion is a common error everywhere; an error , it may

be, rooted in human nature itself, or the result of civiliza-

tion, and social arrangements generally; but, whatever its

source, it exercises a very immoderate influence on all we

do, and is very prejudicial to our happiness. We can trace

it from a timorous and slavish regard for what other peo-

ple will say, up to the feeling which made Virginius

plunge the dagger into his daughter’s heart, or induces

many a man to sacrifice quiet, riches, health and even life

itself, for posthumous glory. Undoubtedly this feeling is a

very convenient instrument in the hands of those who

have the control or direction of their fellowmen; and ac-

cordingly we find that in every scheme for training up

humanity in the way it should go, the maintenance and

strengthening of the feeling of honor occupies an impor-

tant place. [...] There was much the same kind of thing in

the case of Lecompte, who was executed at Frankfurt,

also in 1846, for an attempt on the king’s life. At the trial

he was very much annoyed that he was not allowed to

appear , in decent attire, before the Upper House; and on

the day of the execution it was a special grief to him that

he was not permitted to shave. It is not only in recent

times that this kind of thing has been known to happen.

Mateo Aleman tells us, in the Introduction to his celebrat-

ed romance, Juzman de Alfarache, that many infatuated

criminals, instead of devoting their last hours to the wel-

fare of their souls, as they ought to have done, neglect this

duty for the purpose of preparing and committing to

memoryaspeechtobemadefromthescaffold.”

(Schopenhauer 1851, p. 46, et seq.,cap.IV“Position, or A

Man’s Place in the Estimation of Others”). In conclusio,these

quotations demonstrate the restrictive impact of public doxa

(Bourdieu 1977), impression management, social desirability,

and the fundamental “need to belong” (Baumeister and Leary

1995) on independent thought which is an essential prerequi-

site for creativity and modifications of the status quo.

The “single-state fallacy” (Roberts 2006, p. 104) pertains to

the widely held naïve belief that worthwhile cognition exclusively

takes place in “normal” alert waking consciousne ss—a superfi-

cial assumption which fits into the dominant contemporary ma-

terialistic and utilitarian “production habitus”

which places

great emphasis on “ordinary” states of consciousness and socially

discriminates against “altered” states of consciousness as being

unimportant, irrational, prejudicial, libidinous, and even infantile

(cf. Fromm 1976). Per contra, there exists copious evidence that

important path-br eaking creative ideas can emerge from “no n-

ordinary” states of consciousness (Tart 1972, 2008). A well-

documented paradigmatic historical example is August Kekulés

discovery of the benzene structure in 1858, a landmark in the

history of science which heralded the birth of the structural theory

of organic chemistry (Kekulé 1866, 1890). Kekulé, a German

chemist, had a daydream of the Our oboros (an ancient symbol of

a snake seizing its own tail). This dream-image provided him

with the idea of the cyclic structure of benzene (Gillis 1966;

Rocke 2015), i.e., a symmetrical ring comprised of six carbon

atoms with alternating single and double bonds. The far-reaching

scientific ramifications of Kekulés insight for the rapid develop-

ment of modern chemistry can hardly be overstated.

Interestingly, the Swiss depth-psychologist C.G. Jung assigned

particular archetypal and alchemical significance to this ancient

symbol

which can be found in numerous cultural traditions

across various epochs and locations (Jung 1969). Jung wrote:

“The dream is a little hidden door in the innermost and most

secret recesses of the soul, opening into that cosmic night which

was psyche long before there was any ego conscio usness, and

which will remain psyche no matter how far our ego-

consciousness extends. For all ego-consciousness is isolated; be-

cause it separates and discriminates, it knows only particulars,

and it sees only those that can be related to the ego. Its essence is

limitation, even though it reach to the farthest nebulae among the

stars. All consciousness separates; but in dreams we put on the

likeness of that more universal, truer , more eternal man dwelling

in the darkness of primordial night. There he is still the whole,

and the whole is in him, indistinguishable from nature and bare

of all egohood. It is from these all-uniting depths that the dream

arises, be it never so childish, grotesque, and immoral. ” (Jung

1933, p. 304).

Jung’s mentor, Sigmund Freud, famously characterized

dreams as “the royal road to the unconscious” (Freud 1939).

However, unbeknownst to early Freudian psychoanalysts, be-

sides dreams, parapraxis, and free-association techniques,

The computer analogy (Casey and Moran 1989) forms the conceptual met-

aphoric basis of much of contemporary thought (Lakoff and Johnson 1981).

Norbert Wiener wrote the following on Zeitgeist in his cybernetics book with

the telling title “The human use of human beings” (1950): “… the thought of

every age is reflected in its technique. […] If the seventeenth and early eigh-

teenth centuries are the age of clocks, and the later eighteenth and nineteenth

centuries constitute the age of steam engines, the present time is the age of

communication and control.” A similar argument could be articulate with

respect to Cartesian and Freudian “hydraulic” theories.

It is curious to remark that the Ouroboros shares numerous topological

similarities with the Möbius band (a paradoxical geometrical object which

has been eponymously named after the German mathematician August

Ferdinand Möbius who described it in 1885). Interestingly, archeological ex-

cavations demonstrate that the Möbius band has been depicted in artworks

across numerous ancient cultures and epochs (Cartwright and González 2016).

The mathematical symbol for the concept of infinity, the lemniscate, shares

central defining features with the Möbius band. We submit that the symbolism

of the Möbius band can be interpreted as a visual conceptual metaphor, a figure

of thought (Lakoff 1986), for the psychophysical “Pauli-Jung conjecture” of

dual-aspect monism (Atmanspacher 2012). In abstracto, the Ouroboros is thus

a symbol for second-order cybernetics (von Förster 2003), i.e., the recursive

relationship between the seer and the seen (psyche and physis).

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there exist other much more effective methods to render un-

conscious psychic contents more accessible.

Certain neuro-

active chemical substances, colloquially termed “psyche-

delics,”

are particularly potent tools in this regard. From a

psychoanalytic perspective, it is noteworthy that psychedelics

produce dream-like effects and may also be classified as

oneirogenic substances

(i.e., substances that produce or en-

hance dream-like states of consciousness which is of perti-

nence for modern oneirology).

There is a significant amount

of anecdotal significant evidence that psychedelics can, inter

alia, enhance creative ideation (indeed the term “ideagens” has

been suggested; Roberts 2006).

From a purely pragmatic vantage point on creativity,

the crucial importance of psychedelics in the technologi-

cal development of the internet and the personal computer

should be highlighted (the digital revolution). Prima vista,

this might appear like a hyperbolic statement. However,

there exists considerable historical evidence in support of

the claim that psychedelics played a pivotal role in the

highly creative and innovative 1960s computer revolution

which fundamentally transformed(andinterconnected)

the world we inhabit (see M arkoff 2005;Nelson1975).

A similar argument could be made with respect to the

development of cybernetics as an interdisciplinary meta-

discipline, e.g., the Macy conferences.11

Besides the

influence of psychedelics on the development of uniting

(i.e., boundary dissolving) information technologies like

the world-wide-web, innumerable artists across disci-

plines, epochs, and cultures have been deeply inspired

by transcendenta l e xperiences occasioned by psyche-

delics, especially within the branch termed “visionary

arts” (e.g., Grey 2001). Indeed, it has been argued that

unconscious processes play a pivotal role in artistic ex-

pression (e.g., Kandel 2015). For reasons of space and

parsimony, we omit a discussion of this extremely rich

area.

Eminent contemporary instances of “psychedelically-in-

spired creativity” include, for example, the entrepreneur

Steve Jobs and Nobel laureate Karry Mulli s.

Jobs fa-

mously reported that his experience with lysergic acid

diethylamide (LSD) was one of the most important things

he did in his w hole life, a statement which recently gained

experimental empirical support.

Biochemist Karry

Mullis was even more explicit (Mullis was hono red f or

his ground-breaking work on the polymerase chain reac-

tion which is currently widely used to replicate DNA). He

stated in an interview: “ Back in the 1960s and early ‘70s I

took plenty of LSD. A l ot of people were doing that in

Berkeley back then. And I found it to be a mind-opening

experience. It was certainly much more important than any

courses I ever took” (Schoch 1994). M ulli s claimed that his

ability to “get down with t he molecules” was facilitated by

LSD (Slattery 2015). Moreover, he wrote in his autobiog-

raphy: “The concept that there existed chemicals with the

ability to transform the mind, to open up new windows of

perception, fascinated me” (Mullis 2000, p. 62). Mullis

articulation reverberates with the tit le of Aldous Huxley’s

influential book “The Doors of Perception” (Huxley 1954)

Much later, Walter Frederking utilized mescaline and LSD-25 for psycho-

therapy in order to facilitate “deep relaxation and free ideation” via “drug-

induced dream-like states” in order to “shorten the course of psychoanalysis”

by facilitation of profound insights (Frederking 1955, p. 262). Frederking

postulated that these psychoactive chemicals could be used to establish a

“close connection between the subject and his dreams.”

The etymology of the term is derived from the Ancient Greek ψυχή

(psukhḗ, “mind, soul, spirit”)+δῆλος (dêlos, “to manifest, to reveal”), i.e.,

“psychedelic substances” could be adequately translated as “mind manifest-

ing” or “soul revealing” substances. Similarly decomposed, psychology is “the

study of” the “mind, soul, and spirit”—even though most contemporary psy-

chologists would reject this “deep” definition. Previously, psychedelics were

also labeled as “psychotomimetics” because they were thought to produce

symptoms similar to those of a psychosis. Interestingly, schizophrenia and

other psychopathologies involving psychotic symptoms (e.g., bipolar disorder)

have been linked to creativity (e.g., Claridge and Blakey 2009; Power et al.

2015), possibly due to a reduction of latent inhibition (cf. Burch et al. 2006),

inter alia.

It is a plausible hypothesis that psychoactive tryptamines are involved in

naturally occurring dream states. Given its central function in biochronological

processes, the pineal gland is an important neuroanatomical ROI (cf. Barker

et al. 2013). Also note the close structural similarity between melatonin (N-

acetyl-5-methoxy-tryptamine) and 5-MeO-DMT (5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyl-

tryptamine). There are numerous hypotheses which link dream states to crea-

tivity (e.g., Bob and Louchakova 2015).

It has been shown that the emotional valence of dreams can be systemati-

cally influenced by extraneous (i.c., olfactory) stimuli. It has been experimen-

tally demonstrated that a positive smelling stimulus (rose smell) induced pos-

itive dreams while a negative smelling stimulus (the smell of rotten egg)

induced negative dreams (Schredl et al. 2009). Similar perceptual/

phenomenological interactions may be predicted for the emotional valence

of psychedelic states (such techniques might be utilized to foster conditions

which are conducive to the unfoldment of creativity or for therapeutic pur-

poses). Furthermore, in relation to dreams and creativity research, “disjunctive

cognitions” are another dream-state phenomenon of significa nt interest.

During the perception of “interobjects,” the dreamer experiences novel dis-

junctive phenomena such as objects and geometrical structures that do not

occur in general waking consciousness. These objects are self-contradictory

and paradoxical, viz., they are incongruent with the axiomatic Aristotelian

“laws of thought,” i.c., the law of the excluded middle, the law of noncontra-

diction, and the law of identity. It has been argued that dream events oftentimes

feel bizarre but that disjunctive cognitions usually do not. The following ex-

ample illustrates the point: “I’m sitting in a dream beside a man I do not

recognize, but I know in the dream is my father” (Boas 1994, p. 155). This

example could be interpreted as an inversion of the “Capgras’ delusion”

(Young 2008), an interpretation which is particularly interesting in view of

thefactthatCapgras’ syndrome has been associated with the alteration of time

perception (Aziz and Warner 2005), a factor which is common to dreams and

psychedelic states. Echoing early Freudian theorizing, it has been suggested

with regard to the emerging interdisciplinary field of neuropsychoanalysis that

by “careful examination of the experiences in dreams, we may gain insight into

the workings of our mind/brains” (Blechner 2001).

Cf.: Glaser, Gilbert (1955). “Neuropharmacology—transactions of the first

conference”. The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine. 28(1),78–79.

It should be emphasized that these chosen examples should not reinforce the

superficial conception that creativity only “matters” if it produces material

dividends and has no intrinsic value in itself (Fromm 1976).

In a recent randomized double-blind trial, ≈ 70% of participants rated their

experimentally induced psychedelic experience as one of their top 5 spiritually

significant lifetime events (Griffiths et al. 2016).

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in which Huxley details his extraordinary experiences with

the ancient psychedelic compound mescaline (3,4,5-

trimethoxyphenethylamine) which was administered to

him by the British psychiatrist Humphrey Osmond

who

initially coined the term “psychedelic.” Huxley wrote the

following couplet in a letter to O smond:

“To make this mundane world sublime,

Take half a gram of phanerothyme”

Osmond likewise responded to Huxley in poetic rhyme

form:

“To fathom Hell or soar angelic,

Just take a pinch of psychedelic”

Huxley

adopted the title of his mescaline-inspired book

from a phrase found in William Blake’s 1793 poem “The

Marriage of Heaven and Hell”.Blakewrote:“If the doors of

perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as

it is, Infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things

thro’ narrow chinks of his cavern.”

AccordingtoHuxleyand

Blake, the transcendence of the self-centered perspective which

is associated with rigid ego structures enables the percipient to

perceive reality in “new lig ht” and from a more impartial and

universal perspective. Likewise, Schopenhauer

wrote the fol-

lowing in 1831 in a chapter entitled “Genius and V irtue”: “The

man who is devoted to knowledge of this character is not

employed in the business of the will [ego]. Nay, every man

who is devoted to the purely objective contemp lation of the

world (and it is this that is meant by the knowledge of ideas)

completely loses sight of his will and its objects, and pays no

further regard to the interests of his own person, but becomes a

pure intelligence free of any admixture of will.” (Schopenhauer

1831; content in bracket added).

The transcendence of psychologically conditioned habitual

(aprioristic/automatic) self-centered perceptual schemata is

crucial with respect to creative cognition. Psychedelics are

unique in this regard because they are highly effective neuro-

chemical tools which profoundly change perception and re-

veal states of consciousness that lie far beyond ordinary wak-

ing “states.” Moreover, these pharmacological agents possess

the ability to catalyze the most “extraordinary” psychological

phenomena known to science, e.g., transcendence of experi-

ential space–time, synesthesia/somasthesia/ideasthesia, spec-

tacular visual hallucinations/illusions,

ineffable imagina-

tions/phantasmagoria, indescribable feelings of awe,

intense

emotional catharsis, out-of-body experiences, expansion of

consciousness, phenomenological access to higher dimen-

sions of being, experiential access to unconscious/archetypal

contents, profound noetic insights, enhanced biophilia, ampli-

fied empathy and compassion, etc.

In the context at hand, one of the most important qualities

of these chemically well-defined compounds is their ability to

catalyze novel cognitions and perceptions and their capacity to

induce the process of ego dissolution (Carhart-Harris et al.

2018; Davis and Canty 2013; Millière 2017; Nour et al.

2016), viz., the experience of nondual consciousness.

In a

“state” of nondual consciousness, habitual categorical dichot-

omies which ordinarily structure all experiences are dissolved,

Osmond first used the term in the scientific literature in 1957 in an article

published in the “Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences” entitled “A

review of the clinical effects of psychotomimetic agents” (Osmond 1957).

Huxley was a repeated nominee for the Nobel Prize in literature and his

genealogy is related to many high-grade British scientists (Berra et al. 2010).

An interesting factoid (especially in the context of ego dissolution/ego death) is

that Huxley wrote a note to his wife while on his deathbed asking her to inject

him with 100 μg of LSD (IM). Huxley died while under the influence of the

consciousness-expanding substance. Another interesting piece of information

is that Huxley was allegedly intimately involved in the illegal CIA MK-

ULTRA program (discussed subsequently) which entailed psychological ex-

perimentation with psychedelic substances on naïve and nonconsenting sub-

jects (oftentimes with extremely harmful consequences).

A connatural conception can also be found in Plato’s “Allegory of the

Cave.” Plato was very much concerned with eternal forms and most mathe-

maticians can be regarded as implicit Platonists (Burnyeat 2000; Mueller

2005) even though they might not be explicitly aware of this philosophical

heritage (cf. the importance of Δianoia in Plato’s “Theory of Forms”; Cooper

1966).

Eristische Dialektik: Die Kunst, Recht zu behalten (transl.: Eristic dialectic:

the art of winning an argument)

There is a crucial distinction between hallucinations and illusions which has

been concisely pointed out by Sir Francis Galton: “A convenient distinction is

made between hallucinations and illusions. Hallucinations are defined as ap-

pearances wholly due to fancy; illusions, as fanciful perceptions of objects

actually seen.” (Galton 1883, p. 132). In sum, illusions have an ontologically

existent object as a reference while illusions appear seemingly ex nihilo.

Hallucinations and illusion can occur in all modalities (e.g., visual, auditory,

tactile, olfactory, etc.) and there appear to be interindividual differences. Future

studies should address these idiosyncrasies which might help to identify cor-

related receptor polymorphism and associated genetic loci of such perceptual

predispositions. From an empiricist stance, sensory input forms the foundation

of creative ideation (and cognition in general). The classical “Aristotelian

Peripatetic Axiom” is of pertinence in this respect. Hence, a deeper under-

standing of illusions and hallucinations seems to be important for a more

detailed understanding of the processes which undergird creativity. This epis-

temological argument highlights the importance of sensory input in the context

of reasoning and knowledge: Nihil est in intellectu quod non sit prius in sensu

(transl.: nothing is in the intellect that was not first in the senses).

Interestingly, it has been experimentally demonstrated that the feeling of

awe expands perception of time, enhances well-being, and makes “life feel

more satisfying than it would otherwise” (Rudd et al. 2012).

The concept of nonduality constitutes the nucleus of the Indian philosoph-

ical system of “Advaita Vedānta” (Sanskrit: , literally, “not-two”)

which is one of the most ancient spiritual paths to self-realization (cf.

Maslow’s concept of self-actualization). Overcoming/dissolving the illusion

of the ego or I-ness principle (Ahaṃkāra) plays a crucial role in this meditative

spiritual tradition which fosters deep insights into the transcendental nature of

the Self.

The experience of ego dissolution is fundamentally ineffable. Hence, the

profundity of ego dissolution will not be fully comprehended by those readers

who have not experiences it first-hand. It relates to the problem of

noncommunicable quale: One cannot appreciate the taste of sugar by listening

to elaborate descriptions or by studying its molecular structure. One must taste

it (cf. Nagel 1974). In philosophy of mind, this is known as the “knowledge

argument” (Jackson 1986).

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for instance, the duality between subject and object, psyche

and physis, epistemology and otology, knower and known,

inside and outside, percipient and perceived, self and other,

ingroup and outgroup, good and bad, etc. With reference to

recent neuroimaging research it has been eloquently stated

that nondual consciousness is “a background awareness that

precedes conceptualization and intention and that can contex-

tualize various perceptual, affective, or cog nitive contents

without fragmenting the field of experience into habitual du-

alities” (Josipovic 2014). The discussion of nondual con-

sciousness has an extensive history in various ancient contem-

plative knowledge traditions (for example, in India, where it is

associated with sophisticated yogic techniques which place

great emphasis on self-control). Nonduality has only very re-

cently become a topic in the neurosciences, and we are un-

aware of any controlled research which explicitly connects

nondual consciousness with creativity. We submit that inter-

disciplinary research along this line of thought would be both

light-bearing and fruitful (in the Baconian sense of lucifera &

fructifera).

Among numerous experts in the field of psychedelic re-

search, there exists general consensus that psychedelics (i.e.,

consciousness expanding substances) can augment cognitive

processes and enable states of “unconstrained cognition”

(Carhart-Harris et al. 2012; cf. Sheldrake et al. 2001).

Therefore, it is argued that psychedelics are important neuro-

chemical research tools that can significantly broaden our un-

derstanding of creativity. However, this idea is not new. An

early pilot study from the 1960s (which is by modern research

standards methodologically confounded/unsound) indicated

that psychedelics can significantly enhance creativity and ra-

tional scientific problem solving (Harman et al. 1966). After

an initial phase of systematic scientific research, the legal pro-

hibition of psychedelics in the late 1960s put an abrupt halt to

the short-lived but very promising research agenda,

primar-

ily due to the questionable “War on Drugs” which was initi-

ated by the Nixon administration for evidently perfidious/

ominous motives.

After an elongated legally enforced research hiatus, science

is currently witnessing a “psychedelic renaissance,” a new

rising wave of psychedelic research (Bolstridge 2013;

Cameron and Olson 2018; Roseman et al. 2018;Sessa2012)

using modern psychological methodologies and advanced

neuroimaging technologies (Carhart-Harris et al. 2012;

Muthukumaraswamy et al. 201 3; Roseman et al. 20 16;

Tagliazucchi et al. 2016). One can only speculate how far

science would have progressed in this domain without the

inhibiting effects of the judicially imposed interregnum.

Hitherto systematic scientific research which focuses specifi-

cally on the role of psychedelics on creativity is virtually ab-

sent

and the compound 5-MeO-DMT has to date not been

investigated in a rigorous manner.

In connection to our pre-

vious argument on nonduality and creativity, we predict that

future research along these lines will be very probative.

Research on psychedelic agents is especially pertinent for

our understanding of the neuroscience of creativity because

many psychedelics have endogenous counterparts; in other

terms, they are structurally similar or identical to neurotrans-

mitters which constitute human physiology/neurochemistry.

Many neuroscientists are unaware that the discovery of

LSD-25 led to the idea that neurochemicals might play a

central role in cognitive processes (Cozzi 20 1 3). Today,

the fact that neurotransmitters influence cognition is tak-

en for granted. However, before 1952, serotonin was

thought to be a vasoconstrictor (hence the composite lex-

eme “sero-tonin”). In 1952–1953, serotonin (5-

hydroxtryptamine, 5-HT) w as discovered in the brain by

Betty Twarog, Irvine Page, and Sir Henry Gaddum (for a

historical review, see Twarog 19 88 ). In 1953, Sir Gaddum

took LSD in a self-experiment. Shortly afterward, he and

his colleague published a paper on the antagonistic effects

of LSD on 5-HT (Gaddum and Hameed 1954). Gaddum

conjectured a common site of action between both com-

pounds and theorized that the neurocognitive e ffects of

LSD result from its action on 5-HT (Amin et al. 1954).

Because he had experienced the effects of LSD first-hand

(self-experiments were quite common), he knew that it

produces significant mental changes. Knowing that LSD

antagonizes 5-HT, he made the novel theoretical connec-

tion for the first time i n the documented history of

Psychedelic were not only of interest to academic scientists. After initial

studies in German concentration camps (e.g., Auschwitz), the CIA developed

its own undercover programs (e.g., Project MK-Ultra) in order to test psyche-

delics compounds on vulnerable and naïve (nonconsenting) populations, e.g.,

prisoners, homeless people, and mental patients. We will briefly discuss these

illegal research programs in a subsequent section.

John Daniel Ehrlichman who was at this time Assistant to the President (for

Domestic Affairs) stated in an interview in 1994 (published in “Harpers” in

2016): “The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that,

had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m

saying? We knew we could not make it illegal to be either against the war or

black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and

blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those

communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their

meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know

we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”

This is changing while we are writing this article. For instance, subthreshold

microdosing of psychedelics has become a topic of renewed interest in the

context of creativity (Anderson et al. 2019). While we were in the process of

revising this paper (after initial submission), a first pilot study on 5-MeO-DMT

was conducted by researchers in the Netherlands (Uthaug et al. 2019). This

study experimentally demonstrated the positive effects of 5-MeO-DMT on

convergent creative thinking, inter alia.

In the UK, the recently ratified “Psychoactive substances act” which

reached Royal Assent in January 2016 complicates the matter by creating

societal, political, and fiscal impediments to scientific research into the neuro-

biology of psychedelics. For more information, see: http://www.legislation.

gov.uk/ukpga/2016/2/contents/enacted.

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science. That is, Gaddum was the first to postulate that 5-

HT might play a role in cognition (Cozzi 2013). This

historical example clearly demonstrates that the systemat-

ic stud y of psychedelic compounds is indisp ensable if

science wants to deepen its understanding of various psy-

chological processes (e.g., creativity) and their neuronal

correlates. We agree with other creativity researchers that

“evidence gleaned from the structure and function of the

brain [can] enhance our ability to foster creativity”

(Vartanian 2013, p. 257; content in brackets added). We

propound that the systematic scientific exploration of the

yet uninvestigated endogenous compound 5-MeO-DMT

may provi de im por ta nt no ve l in si ght i nt o the n eu ral c or-

relates of i ts currently only vaguely and anecdotally char-

acterized psychological and phenomenological effects.

This type of innovative research has the potential to foster

our basic understanding of the evolutionary functions of

various tryptamines in human consciousness. Further, this

research agenda may lead to novel psychopharmacologi-

cal interventions and aid in the elucidation of hitherto

unidentified neurotransmitter systems (cf. the path-

breaking discovery of the endogenous cannabinoid system

whichheraldedanewandrapidlygrowingfieldinmed-

icine). In addition, 5-MeO-DMTs’ mol ecular structure

could be systematically varied (cf. Shulgin and Shulgin

1997) in order to rigorously explore structure– activity re-

lationships. Such research might in theory lead to the dis-

covery of “super-agonists” (Langmead and Christopoulos

2013).

The exploration of synergistic effects with other

naturally occurring psychoactive substances (e.g.,

ibogaine; Barsuglia et al. 2018; Glick and Maisonneuve

1998;Winkelman2015) is another hitherto uncharted and

potentially very fruitful research area. In addition, alloste-

ric modulators are of great scientific interest in this re-

spect (cf. Schwartz and Holst 200 7). That is, the agonistic

actions of 5-MeO-DMT can in principle be enhanced (>

100% efficacy) by various allosteric modulators (e.g., via

allosteric modulators of G protein–coupled receptors; cf.

May et al. 2007). Yet another related important research

question concerns the “entourage effect” (cf. Sanchez-

Ramos 2015). The appurtenant open research question

is: What are the neuropsychopharmacological and phe-

nomenological differences between the pure compound

(5-MeO-DMT synthesized in the laboratory) and the com-

pound as found in nature, i.e., within a whole complex

biologism organism (toad venom, tree bark, seed pods,

etc.)?

In order to provide corroborating empirical evidence for

our hypothesis that psychedelics are important research tools

in regard to creativity research, w e will now discuss two

contemporary experimental studies which are pertinent to

the psychology and neuroscience of creativity. Based on the

relevant literature (e.g., Nour et al. 2016), we specifically ar-

gue that an understanding of the psychological and neuro-

physiological processes which undergird ego dissolution

(i.e., nonduality) is pivotal for advancing our scientific under-

standing of creativity. After introducing the corroborating

studies, we will provide more detailed information on the

underappreciated and virtually unresearched endogenously

occurring compound 5-MeO-DMT. Based on this empirical

background, we will then formulate several empirically falsi-

fiable hypotheses (the main hypothesis is presented in the

form of a concise and logically valid syllogistic argument).

Psilocybin Increases the Personality Trait

“Openness to Experience”

Psilocybin (O-phosphoryl-4-hydroxy-N,N-dimethyltrypta-

mine) is an indole alkaloid (a structural relative of 5-MeO-

DMT)25

first synthesized and named by the Swiss chemist

Albert Hofmann26

(Hofmann et al. 1959, Hofmann et al.

1958a, 1958b). After the elucidation of its chemical proper-

ties, the active principle, psilocin (4-hydroxy-N,N-dimethyl-

tryptamine), was identified (Hofmann and Troxler 1959).

Various experimental chemical modifications were made to

both structures (Troxler et al. 1959). The psilocybin molecule

is present in more than 200 fungal species which span numer-

ous taxa, some of which are endemic to the USA and Europe,

e.g., Psilocybe semilanceata (colloquially known as “Liberty

Cap”). In cross-cultural shamanic contexts, psilocybin has

been reportedly utilized for spiritual and healing purposes

for millennia (Akers et al. 2011; Hofmann et al. 1958a,

1958b). Its molecular structure closely resembles 5-HT (sero-

tonin). In humans, psilocybin functions as a prodrug and is

rapidly dephosphorylated to psilocin which acts as a nonse-

lective partial 5-HT receptor agonist. It shows particularly

high binding affinity for the 5-HT

, 5-HT

, and 5-HT

receptor subtypes (Kraehenmann et al. 2015; Nichols 2004).

A landmark study conducted at Johns Hopkins University

by MacLean et al. (2011) experimentally demonstrated that a

single high-dose of psilocybin can induce long-lasting person-

ality changes in the domain “openness to experience,” as mea-

sured by the widely used NEO-PI (Personality Inventory).

Supraphysiological describes a level of efficacy which is unseen in organ-

isms which evolved according to the principles of natural evolution.

Even though the chemical structure of both compounds is very similar, their

psychological effects are incommensurable.

Albert Hofmann (1906–2008) also discovered LSD in 1938, but he was

unaware of its psychoactivity until 1943 when he conducted the first self-

experiment. Hofmann, who later served as a member of the Nobel Prize

Committee, stated on his 100th birthday: “It gave me an inner joy, an open

mindedness, a gratefulness, open eyes and an internal sensitivity for the mir-

acles of creation. [...] I think that in human evolution it has never been as

necessary to have this substance LSD. It is just a tool to turn us into what

we are supposed to be.”

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Openness to experience (OTE) is one of the core dimensions

of the extensively employed quinquepartite (big five) model

of personality (i.e., factor V). OTE is an amalgamation of

several interconnected personality traits which include (1) es-

thetic appreciation and sensitivity, (2) fantasy and imagina-

tion, (3) awareness of feelings in self and others, and (4) in-

tellectual engagement, inter alia.

Most relevant for the con-

text at hand is the fact that OTE has a strong and reliable

correlation with creativity (Ivcevic and Brackett 2015;

Kaufman et al. 2016;Silviaetal.2009).

Individuals with

high scores on the OTE dimension are “permeable to new

ideas and experiences” and “motivated to enlarge their expe-

rience into novel territory” (DeYoung et al. 2005).

Furthermore, OTE is associated with personality trait “absorp-

tion” (Glisky et al. 1991) and we argue that absorption is a

state of primordial awareness akin to nondual consciousness.

That is, absorption is a type of awareness in which the dichot-

omy between the sensor and sensed, the percipient and per-

ceived, the seer and seen, transiently dissolves into a state of

union which is devoid of any intermediary imagistic, symbol-

ic, or linguistic cognitive preconceptions which usually inter-

cede between the experience and the experienced (i.e., the

thing “in itself” and the experienced percept). It is therefore

an undistorted state of pure and total awareness without any

abstraction and without a Kantian a priori space–time inter-

val

which generally mediates between subject and object

and therefore prestructures the field of experience in a dualis-

tic format. “Boundaries of the mind” is another conceptually

related trait associated with OTE and creativity. It relates to the

boundaries between fantasy and reality, sleeping and waking,

self and other, and furthermore, the “permeability of ego

boundaries” (Hartmann et al. 1998; McCrae 1994).

In the described study by MacLean et al. (op. cit.), the

psilocybin-induced increase in OTE was mediated by the inten-

sity of the mystical experience. Importantly, ego dissolution is a

central feature of mystical experiences (see also Griffiths et al.

2006) and we argue that ego dissolution can culminate in the

peak experience of nonduality. Based on this evidence, we hy-

pothesize that the experience of ego dissolution (viz., nonduality)

predicts post eventum increases in creativity and we postulate a

causal relationship between factors. We term this the “less ego =>

more creativity hypothesis”. Furthermore, we argue that OTE is

an important factor relating to the status quo bias discussed be-

fore. OTE is associated with explorative behavior , novelty seek-

ing,

and cognitive flexibility. From a neuroscientific perspec-

tive, the status quo bias may be based on Hebbian principles of

long-term potentiation (LTP). That is, repeatedly utilized neural

circuits are diachronically strengthened (Hebb 1949) and become

dominant and rigid.

The social environment may thus entrain

the “Hebbian status quo”, i.e., the social milieu consolidates spe-

cific neuronal circuitry (via social conditioning, education, encul-

turation, etc.). Interestingly , the complex system theory suggests

a bipolar (orthogonal) continuum ranging from rigidity on one

end to chaos on the other . Integration lies interjacent between the

extremes. Given that the cognitive system can be regarded as a

complex system, this generic account might lend itself to con-

ceptualize a “cognitive continuum of information processing

states” (Faust and Kenett 2014) ranging from rigid cognition to

chaotic cognition (i.e., closed-mindedness to open-mindedness).

In a rigid neural network, nodes are only sparsely interconnected

(i.e., cognitive hyper-rigidity). In a chaotic neural network topol-

ogy, on the other hand, virtually all nodes are interconnected (i.e.,

cognitive overflexibility/chaos). According to this schematic,

cognitive integration (viz., the linkage of differentiated parts;

Siegel 2010) is characterized by an intermediate neuronal net-

work connectivity pattern which balances and synchronizes the

polar extremes (i.e., adaptive/dynamic cognitive coherence). We

argue that the balance between neuronal differentiation and inte-

gration is of pertinence with respect to creativity research and the

subsequent section provides further details on this proposal, i.e.,

specifically with respect to the effects of LSD-25 on brain-wide

connectivity. In support of this quasi-Lockean “associatio nist/

connectivist” idea, recent neuroimaging work has correlated

OTE with increased functional connectivity within mesocortical

networks (Passamonti et al. 2014). It would therefore be of great

interest to explicitly test the hypothesis that increases in OTE

(experimentally induced by psychedelics such as, e.g., psiloc y-

bin, LSD, or 5-MeO-DMT) are mediated by increases in func-

tional connectivity in specific networks, i.e., specifically those

Interestingly, in the present context, OTE has been correlated with the

ability to recall dreams (Watson 2003).

For instance, the Pearson correlation coefficient for “global creativity” and

OTE is r = 0.655 and for “creative achievement” r = 0.481. By contrast,

“Math–science creativity” is not statistically significantly correlated with

OTE (r = 0.059; ns; for further correlation between various facets of

creativity and the Big Five factors, see Silvia et al. 2009). The salient correla-

tion between OTE and creativity has been reported in many studies (a pertinent

meta-analysis has been conducted by Feist 1998; a recent study reporting a

strong relationship between OTE and creativity has been conducted by

Puryear et al. 2017). Furthermore, a meta-analytical structural equation model

of 25 independent studies showed that OTE is the strongest FFM predictor of

creative self-beliefs (r = 0.467; Karwowski and Lebuda 2016).

The interposition of the “space–time interval” which divides the percipient

from the percept is an idea adopted from Jiddu Krishnamurti mentioned in his

book “Freedom from the Known” (Krishnamurti 1969), while the reference to

Kantian apriorism is an annexure. The importance of space–time in duality is

especially intriguing given the fact that the effects of psychedelics are associ-

ated with phenomenological aspatiality and atemporality .

Novelty or sensation seeking is a robust predictor of risk taking and drug

use. This might lead to a feedback loop in which those who are open to new

experiences are more likely to be exposed to new experiences (such as psilo-

cybin or 5-MeO-DMT) which in turn reinforce their open-mindedness.

Using human cerebral organoids and in silico analysis, it has been demon-

strated that 5-MeO-DMT has modulatory effects on proteins associated with

the formation of dendritic spines and neurite outgrowth (Dakic et al. 2017)

which may influence neuroplasticity and hence ideoplasticity. 5-MeO-DMT

has been found to match the σ

receptor. Because σ

R agonism regulates

dendritic spine morphology and neurite outgrowth, it affects neuroplasticity

which forms the neural substrate for unconstrained cognition.

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associated with introspection, self-control, and self-referential

processing (cf. Parkinson et al. 2019;Smigielskietal.2019).

LSD Expands Global Functional Connectivity

Density in the Brain

LSD-25 is one of the most potent psychedelic compounds

known to science, producing profound alterations of conscious-

ness after submilligram oral doses ≥ 20 μg (Nichols 2018a). A

recent multimodal fMRI study by Tagliazucchi et al. (2016)

conducted at Imperial College London administered LSD intra-

venously to healthy volunteers. The researchers found that LSD-

induced ego dissolution was statistically significantly correlated

with an increase in global functional connectiv ity densi ty (FCD)

between various brain networks, indicating that the psychedelic

enabled novel configurations of brain states. As discussed in the

previous study by MacLean et al. (201 1), mystical

experience

(i.c., ego dissolution) is correlated with an increase in OTE

(which in turn is strongly correlated with creativity). One of

the key findings of the LSD/fMRI study was that high-level

cortical regions and the thalamus displayed increased connectiv-

ity under the acute influence of the psychedelic. In concreto,

increased global activity was observed bilaterally in the high-

level association cortices and the thalamus (often regarded as the

brains “central information hub” which relays information be-

tween various subcortic al areas and the cerebral cortices). The

global activity increase in the higher-level areas partially over-

lapped with the default mode, salience, and frontoparietal atten-

tion networks. The FCD changes in the default mode and sa-

lience network were predicted a priori due to their association

with self-consc iousness. As predicted, a significant correlation

between subje ctively reported ego dissolution and an increase in

global connectivity between networks was detected. The results

of this milestone study demonstrate for the first time that LSD

increases global intermodule connectivity (while at the same

time decreasing the integrity of individual modules).

Specifically, LSD enhanced the connectivity between normally

separated brain networks (as quantified by the widely used Φ

connectivity/associativity index).

The observed changes in ac-

tivity significantly correlated with the anatomical distribution of

5-HT

receptors. We argue that these findings are highly

relevant for the identification of the neural correlates of creativity

because it is reasonable to postulate that an enhanced commu-

nication répertoire between previously disconnected neuronal

network modules is crucial for the generation of novel ideas

(cf. Moore et al. 2009). Moreover , associative processes are

generallyassumedtoplayakeyroleincreativity(Leeetal.

2014), and a recent fMRI study provided corroborating evidence

for the assumption that greater functional connectivity is related

to the capacity to generate novel ideas (Beaty et al. 2018). The

researchers argued that “the ability to simultaneously engage the

default, executive, and salience brain systems may provide a

neurophysi ological marker of creative thinking ability.”

Tagliazucchi et al. concluded that LSD reor ganizes the rich-

club architecture of brain networks and that this restructuring

is accompanied by a shift of the boundaries between self and

environment. That is, the ego-based dichotomy (i.e., dualism)

between self and other, subject and object, internal and external,

dissolves as a function of specific connectivity changes in mod-

ular networks of the brain.

In conclusio, Tagliazucchi et al.

(2016 ) demonstrated that LSD-induced ego dissolution is ac-

companied by significant changes in neuronal rich-club archi-

tecture and that ego dissolution is accompanied by the down-

regulation of the default mode network (DMN).

Pertaining to

creativity research, this finding is particularly intriguing because

the DMN may be associated with habitual thought and behavior

patterns (Beucke et al. 2014; Koçak et al. 2012). We suggest that

downregulation of the DMN by psychedelics (which is accom-

panied by the phenomenology of ego dissolution) is an impor-

tant component for understanding the functional connectome

which undergirds creativ ity. Based on these findings, we pro-

pose a novel neuropsychopharmaco logical mechanism for the

enhancement of creativity which has, to our best knowledge,

never been proposed before. Our hypothesis highlights the im-

portance of ego dissolution for the enhancement of creativity.

That is, a reduction of the influence of self-referential ego struc-

tures (ex hypothesi mediated via DMN disintegration) on per-

ception and cognition enables perspectival multiplicity and cog-

nitive flexibility which is crucial for creative ideatio n. Based on

the conjecture that ego dissolution provides a “cognitive reset”

Bertrand Russel discussed the links between mysticism, creative intuition/

insight, and logic in great detail in his excellent essay “Mysticism and logic”

(Russell 1981).

The rich-club coefficient Φ is a networks metric which quantifies the degree

to which well-connected nodes (beyond a certain richness metric) also connect

to each other. Hence, the rich-club coefficient can be regarded as a notation

which quantifies associativity. Conceptually related research concluded that

“associative abilities represent valid elementary cognitive abilities underlying

creativity” (Benedek et al. 2012). We submit that this line of thought connects

to the quasi-Newtonian principle of idea formation described by John Locke in

his seminal book “An Essay Concerning Human Understanding” (1689), spe-

cifically the chapter entitled “On the Associations of Ideas.”

Furthermore, the authors argue convincingly that the notion that LSD (and

other psychedelics) “expand” consciousness is quantitatively supported by

their data. Specifically, they argue that the neurophysiological changes asso-

ciated with psychedelic states contrast with states of diminished consciousness

(e.g., deep sleep or general anesthesia). The obtained results are congruent with

the idea that psychedelic and unconscious states can be conceptualized as polar

opposites on a continuous spectrum of conscious states. Furthermore, the

authors suggest that the level of consciousness is quantitatively determined

by the level of neuronal entropy (in accord with the entropic brain hypothesis

formulated by Carhart-Harris et al. 2014). It has been suggested that Aldous

Huxley’s “reduction valve” hypothesis appears to be relevant in this context.

Recent evidence focusing on changes in the coupling of electrophysiolog-

ical brain oscillations by means of transfer entropy suggests that serotonergic

psychedelics temporarily change information transfer within neural hierarchies

by decreasing frontal of top-down control, thereby releasing posterior bottom-

up information transfer from inhibition (Francesc Alonso et al. 2015).

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which enables human beings to perceive and conceptualize re-

ality from a more unconstrained (and ultimately nondualistic)

perspective, we argue that 5-MeO-DMT is an especially intrigu -

ing molecule in this regard because its ego-dissolving effects are

much more pronounced than those of psilocybin or LSD (or in

fact any other known psychedelic). The “reset theory” is a first

primitive attempt to formulate a causal mechanism which could

explain why ego dissolution is associated with the hypothesized

increase in creativity . Ego dissolution could enable humans to

“see things with new eyes”—i.e., via a reduction of the structur-

ing and organizing influence of perceptual schemata

(i.e., pre-

conception vs. apperception). Empirical data indicates that ego

dissolution is a unique property of psychedelic substances (Nour

et al. 2016). In a web-based study utilizing the “Ego-Dissolution

Inventory” (EDI), several psychoactive substances were com-

pared, and the results showed that only psychedelics were sig-

nificantly correlated with the experience of ego dissolution. Per

contra, other psychoactive substance like alcohol or cocaine

enhances an egoic style of cognition (ego inflation).

In the

same study, participants also responded to a subset of items from

the “My stical Experiences Questionnaire” (MEQ)(Barrettetal.

2015). The results indicated a positive correlation between psy-

chedelic dose and the strength of the mystical experience. As

discussed, a defining feature of the mystical experience is an

ego-dissolving “unitive” (nondual) experience, in ot her terms,

the noetic insight that human beings are ultimately all connected

via consciousness (which is singular and not plural, i.e., the

apparent multiplicity is a superficial phenomenon and con-

sciousness is in actuality not dividable). This topic has already

been addressed by William James more than a century ago

(James 1985/1902). Unity experience is closely related to the

Freudian concept of “oceanic feeling” (oceanic boundless-

ness)—a sensation of being one with universe. In fact, Romain

Rolland formulated the phrase in a letter to Freud. Rolland ar-

gued that it is this nondual experience which lies at the core of all

religious feelings (theistic or nontheistic). Freud utilized this idea

in his later writings and hypothesized that this nondual state of

consciousness is a psychological residue from the infantile stage

in which the egoic schism between self and other (object and

subject) has not yet occurred (Freud 1930). That is, according to

Freud, nondual experiences are a relic of the developmental

stage in which the infant’s formatio n of the self-concept has

not yet taken place and has consequently not yet dichotomized

experience (perception) into universal “self versus non-self”

dichotomies.

5-MeO-DMT: An Endogenous Neurochemical

Catalyst of Creativity

According to documented history, the intranasal administra-

tion of 5-MeO-DMT in the form of a snuff preparation called

“Cohoba”

by the Taíno people of Hispaniola was first ob-

served around 1496 by Friar Ramón Pané who reported his

observation to Christopher Columbus who in 1492 made ini-

tial contact with this culture (Nunn and Qian 2010; Shultes

1976; Torres and Repke 2006). As regards contemporary sci-

ence, 5-MeO-DMT is a relatively unknown member of a

group of naturally occurring psychoactive indolealkylamines

(Glennon and Rosecrans 1982; Shulgin and Carter 1980). It

was first synthesized by Japanese chemists in 1936 who pub-

lished their results in German (Hoshino and Shimodaira

1936). It was later extracted and isolated from Dictyoloma

incanescens bark (Pachter et al. 1959), a flowering plant that

belongs to the family Rutaceae. The tryptamine is an analog

of tryptophan and endogenous to human physiology.

Research indicates that 5-MeO-DMT may be endogenously

synthesized in human pineal and retina.

Moreover, it has

been detected in blood, urine, and cerebrospinal fluid (Shen

et al. 2010a, 2010b). Its extremely powerful acute effects are

A potential explanatory mechanism might be found in the entropic brain

hypothesis (Carhart-Harris et al. 2014; Lebedev et al. 2016). Pertinent exper-

imental evidence comes from a recent magnetoencephalographic (MEG) study

which showed that classical psychedelics increase signal diversity (Schartner

et al. 2017), a quantitative finding which appears highly relevant in the context

of contemporary creativity research.

Interestingly, ego dissolution was also statistically significantly correlated

with enhanced well-being/life satisfaction (ρ = 0.392). For alcohol (ρ = −

0.112) and cocaine (ρ = − 0.083), this positive effect was absent. However ,

due to the quasi-experimental nature of this study, no solid inferential conclu-

sions are possible. Systematic experimental research is needed to elucidate this

important topic which has obvious societal relevance.

The snuff was administered in a ceremonial setting in which the ground

seeds of the cojóbana tree (Anadenanthera peregrina) were inhaled via a Y-

shaped pipe called Cohoba (Wright and Ortiz 1941).

From an evolutionary vantage point, it is intriguing to note that the pineal

functions as a photoreceptive neuroendocrine organ in numerous vertebrates

(Lamb 2013). Functional and morphological congruencies between photore-

ceptor cells on the pineal and the retina are indicative of a close evolutionary

relationship (Mano and Fukada 2006). Phylogenetically, the “pineal eye” was

a paired organ with a similar structure to the lateral eyes. This ontogenetic

development and the associated genetic pathway that regulates its develop-

ment and neurogenesis strongly suggest that “the pineal eye and the lateral

eyes share a common genetic and embryologic basis” (Benoitetal.2016)That

is, a shared genetic and molecular mechanisms undergirds their similarities

(Tosini 1997). However, the pineal-specific physiological functions remain

largely elusive. Note that our knowledge of the photoreceptor system is in

general very incomplete; for instance, only recently, a new opsin (labeled

melanopsin) has been identified (Provencio et al. 2000). We suggest that 5-

MeO-DMT might further our understanding of the molecular and neurobio-

logical basis of visual perception (and imagination)—especially with relation

to the shared properties of the pineal and the retina. It is furthermore interesting

to note that the “visionary” properties of 5-MeO-DMT might not be “merely”

metaphorical, but that metaphorical linguistic descriptions convey a biological

meaning which is hitherto only poorly understood (e.g., the expression “inner

vision” or “introspection” might describe an actual visual process which “fo-

cuses” on a domain which is hitherto not sufficiently recognized). According

to simulation theories of cognition (Hesslow 2012), it may be hypothesized

that the visual system is intrinsically involved in “DMT-vision” and specifi-

cally the function of the pineal is of interest against this adumbrated empirical

and theoretical background (cf. Benoit et al. 2016). To put it more poetically, 5-

MeO-DMT might shed “new inner light” on molecular and psychological

processes associated with vision, visionary power, and imagination.

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pharmacokinetically short-lived, i.e., ≈ 20–40 min (Ott 2001).

As with many other tryptamine psychedelics, it acts as a non-

selective 5-HT agonist and causes a broad spectrum of highly

interesting psychological effects. It displays a relatively high

binding affinity for the 5-HT

, 5-HT

, and 5-HT

sub-

types

(Krebs-Thomson et al. 2006), but other mechanisms

of actions appear to be involved in its psychoactivity (e.g.,

inhibition of enzymatic monoamine oxidase activity; but see

Nagai et al. 2007).

The 5-HT system is associated with cog-

nition, emotion, and memory, inter alia. For example, 5-HT

receptors are located in the cerebral cortex (cognition), in the

amygdala (emotions), and in the raphe nucleus (its projection

regulates circadian rhythms, alertness, inhibition of pain, inter

alia). The raphe nucleus is located in the phylogenetically

most primitive part of the brain, the brainstem, and its seroto-

nergic axons project widely throughout the cortex. The raphe

nucleus produces the majority of brain serotonin and it con-

tains ≈ 85% of all the of the serotonin neurons in the brain

(Hornung 2003). Ergo, when it is stimulated by 5-MeO-DMT,

it causes extensive serotonergic activation throughout many

interconnected neural networks. Moreover, 5-HTreceptors are

present in the hypothalamus which connects the central ner-

vous system to the endocrine system. It can be cogently ar-

gued that 5-MeO-DMTcauses hypothalamic release of signif-

icant amounts of the neuropeptide oxytocin via the pituitary

gland. This hypothetical increase in oxytocinergic activity

might explain why the qualitative linguistic descriptions of

5-MeO-DMTs phenomenology frequently include words like

“love,”“unity,” and “connectedness” (these semantic descrip-

tors are obviously very imprecise, vague, and ambiguous—a

general problem of human language). Accumulating evidence

indicates that 5-MeO-DMT is an endogenous ligand of the

trace ami ne-associat ed rec eptors (TAARs), a class of G

protein–coupled receptors that were only recently discovered

in 2001 (Carbonaro and Gatch 2016). It has been hypothe-

sized that TAARs are involved in sensory perception

(Wallach 2009). Moreover, TAARs have been associated with

pathological neuroadaptations associated with prolonged ex-

posure to addictive drugs (e.g., alcohol, heroin, cocaine, etc.).

Consequently, this molecular target might partially explain 5-

MeO-DMT’s promising neurorestorative and neuroprotective

effects (Dakic 2017). Because 5-MeO-DMT is able to target

these receptors, it might be able to regulate the pathological

neurological adaptations, for example those caused by various

substance (and possibly behavioral) addictions (cf. the neuro-

psychological “reset-hypothesis”; e.g., Carhart-Harris et al.

2017). Hence 5-MeO-DMT might counteract rigid cognitive

and behavioral patterns and facilitate cognitive flexibility (cf.

Gruner and Pittenger 2017). In support of this view, a recent

cutting-edge in vivo and in silico study using human cerebral

organoids (Dakic et al. 2017)demonstratedthat5-MeO-DMT

has modulatory effects on neuroplastic processes, long-term

potentiation, cytoskeletal reorganization, and microtubule dy-

namics (cf. Hameroff and Penrose 2014). Specifically, it was

found that 5-MeO-matches the σ

receptor which regulates

cytoskeletal dendritic spine morphology and neurite out-

growth. Therefore, σ

receptor agonism may potentially me-

diate neuroplastic processes which are crucial for creativity,

cognitive flexibility, and sustained cognitive/behavioral

changes (Sun et al. 2016). In addition, agonism of the σ

receptor has been shown to have anti-inflammatory effects

(Szabo 2015) which may positively influence various

creativity-related cognitive processes and also genetic/

cellular health, e.g., a hypothetical link between creativity,

depression, inflammation, and telomeres (via telomerase ac-

tivity) (see Wolkowitz et al. 2011; Zhang et al. 2016). A relat-

ed study recently demonstrated that 5-MeO-DMT increases

in vivo adult hippocampal neurogenesis in mice (Lima da

Cruz et al. 2018). The researchers administered a single dose

of 5-MeO-DMT (via intracerebroventricular injection) and

measured subsequent quantitative increases in cell prolifera-

tion of granule cells (GC) within the dentate gyrus (DG) of the

subgranular zone of the hippocampus. Neurogenesis was ac-

companied by a complexification of GC dendritic morpholo-

gy, i.e., more compl ex dendritic trees relative to controls.

These findings indicate that 5-MeO-DMT can increase

neuronal survival, stimulate cell proliferation, and accel-

erate maturation of newborn neurons in the hippocampal

DG region.

Comparable results have previously been

obtained with psilocybin (Catlow et al. 2013)whichis

suggestive of a common serotonergic mechanism of ac-

tion which is causative for the observed increases in adult

hippocampal neurogenesis.

Interestingly, the 5-HT

receptor appears to be more important for the

stimulus effects of 5-MeO-DMT than the 5-HT

receptor (Shen et al.

2010). This has been experimentally demonstrated by various tests of antago-

nism of stimulus cont rol with the 5-HT

antagonists pindolol (also a

nonselective β-blocker) and the silent agonist WAY-100635 (Winter et al.

2000).

It is important to note that 5-HT agonism does not explain the effects of all

psychedelics. For instance, the naturally occurring dissociative hallucinogen

salvinorin A (the active principal in the mint plant Salvia divinorum which has

been utilized by indigenous Mazatec shamans) is not an alkaloid but a terpe-

noid which agonizes the κ-opioid receptor, but is inactive at the 5-HT receptor

(Roth et al. 2002). It is therefore called an atypical psychedelic. Hofmann and

Wasson were the first Westerners to collect a specimen of this extraordinary

plant in Oaxaca/Mexico in 1962 (Casselman et al. 2014).

The researchers did not measure neurotrophins such as NGF and BDNF.

Various growth factor concentrations would be a factor of great interest (cf.

Rossi et al. 2006). Further, we suggest that 5-Meo-DMT affects mitochondrial

bioenergetics and that this stipulated mechanism is pertinent in the context of

5-MeO-DMT–induced neurogenesis and neurorestoration (cf. Martorana et al.

2018). To facilitate a deeper understanding of the underlying mechanisms,

future studies should also examine the expression of associated genes such

as BCL2 gene (cf. Kuhn et al. 2005). Research along this line might provide

important insights into the anti-addictive mechanisms of 5-MeO-DMT which

are currently mainly hypothetical (Barsuglia et al. 2018; cf. McClintick et al.

2013).

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5-MeO-DMT is widespread in the plant kingdom and

has been used in shamanic rituals for millennia (Torres

et al. 1991). While its structural relative psilocybin is

exclusively present in fungi, 5-MeO-DMT is present in

various plants, for instance Virola theiodora (Agurell

et al. 1969), a tree species belonging to the

Myristicaceae (nutmeg) family. In additions to its rela-

tively ubiquitous phytochemical distributi on, it is present

in high concentrations in the venom of Incilius alvarius

(known as the Sonoran Desert toad), an Amphibia which

produces significant amounts of 5-Meo-DMT in its nu-

merous parotoid glands as a defensive chemical mecha-

nism against predators (Erspamer et al. 1965;Hutchinson

and Savitzky 2004). The salience of toad symbolism in

Mesoamerican art and mythology is remarkable and well

documented by anthropologists, for example, t oad effi-

gies (with oftentimes accentuated glands) are prominent

in the historical remains of the Mayan and Aztec cultures

(Davis and Weil 1992).

Moreover, 5-MeO-DMT is

sometimes used as an adjunct in certain variations of

Ayahuasca (a drinka ble pla nt-based concoction, which

is utilized by indigenous tribes in the Amazonian

rainforest for divinatory and healing purposes). For in-

stance, the leaves of the plant “Chaliponga” (Diplopterys

cabrerana) are occasionally added to the concoction to

intensify its psychoactive effects (Callaway et al. 2006;

Rätsch 19 9 8). Therefore, synergistic effects between 5-

MeO-DMT and DMT should be systematically examined

in future studies. We suggest nonlinear interactions be-

tween these compounds, i.e., the effects are not additive

but multiplicative, and this hypothesis should be testable

using various neuroimaging techniques. Furthermore, in-

teractions between compounds may reveal novel insights

into the differential phenomenological aspects of 5-Meo-

DMT and DMT which would not be possible if each

compound would be investigated in isolation.

5-MeO-DMT has been utilized for spiritual purposes

as a religious sacrament in the rituals of the Christian

“Church of the Tree of Life” and other syncretic

churches. In deed, a “b io-psycho-socio -spiritual mode l”

has recently been proposed which is based on the per-

suasive premise that tryptaminergic psychedelics may

have “therapeutic effects against various diseases of civ-

ilization” (Frecska et al. 2016). The unique transcenden-

tal phenomenology which is elicited by 5-MeO-DMT has

influenced the “visionary arts.” Artworks inspired by 5-

MeO-DMT experiences are oftentimes geometrically

highly complex and depi ct multidimensi onal fractal-like

symmetric mathematical structures,

an observation

which is particularly intriguing from a neuroesthetics

point of view (cf. Ramachand ran and Hirstein 1999).

Despite its long-standing usage in the course of human

evolution,

controlled human trials are currently lacking,

and science knows very little about the psychological

effects of 5-MeO-DMT. This research area is thus truly

uncharted novel scientific territory (and its exploration

required openness to experience on the part of the re-

search community; ibid., p. 14). In line with prior related

arguments (Osmond 1957), it has recently been a rgued

that 5-MeO-DMT is of “potential interest for schizophre-

nia research owing to its hallucinogenic properties” and

that research on this compound can “help to understand

the neurobiological basis of hallucinations” (Riga e t al.

2014).

However, it is noteworthy that 5-MeO-DMT –

induced visual hallucinations are much less commonly

reported compared to its structural analog N,N-dimethyl-

tryptamine (DMT) which is reliably capable of inducing

the most spectacular and vivid visual phenomena possi-

bly imaginable (but see Strassman 2001). We would like

to emphasize that the current research Zeitgeist is very

biased toward neurom echanistic expl anations and we

For example, toad effigies and iconography (with accentuated glands) are

found in archeological excavation from ancient Mayan and Aztec cultures,

e.g., artworks of “Tlaltecuhtli”—the earth or earth mother as a monstrous toad

(Furst 1972).

See, for example, https://www.fractalimagination.com.

Interestingly, under the influence of low doses of LSD, spiders spin webs of

greater regularity (Witt 1951). Other researchers applied fractal theory to in-

vestigate “the correlation between the fractal structure of spider’s web and the

fractal dynamics of its brain signal” (Namazi 2017). Mathematics and partic-

ularly its subordinate branch geometry have always been regarded as cognitive

activities which enable access to transcendental/metaphysical realms (e.g.,

Pythagoras’stheorem,Plato’s transcendent forms) and there is a long-

standing well-documented interrelation between geometry, mathematics, and

mysticism (e.g., sacred geometry, Fibonacci numbers, etc.), as has been point-

ed out by eminent mathematicians who argue for the pivotal importance of

mystical influences in the history of mathematics (e.g., Abraham 2015, 2017).

For instance, it has been argued that there is a close relation between geometry,

space–time, and consciousness (Beutel 2012), a perspective which can be

found in many religions and ancient wisdom traditions, e.g. Yantra (Sanskrit:

) and Mandala () in ancient Indian schools of thought

(also found in Buddhism, inter alia). Moreover, geometry was pivotal for the

progress of the exact sciences like cosmology and astronomy. For example,

when the Lutheran astronomer Johannes Keppler’s published his “mysterium

cosmographicum” at Tübingen in 1596, h e based his theory on five

Pythagorean polyhedra (Platonic solids) which he conjectured form the basis

of the structure of the universe and thus realize God’s ideas through geometry

(Voelkel 1999).

The long history of human usage of this naturally occurring compound in

various cultures suggests that it does not convey a significant disadvantage in

terms of evolutionary fitness i.e., mutation/natural selection (cf. Martin and

Nichols 2018). Profit-oriented pharmaceutical companies, on the other hand,

actively market patented synthetic designer drugs which do not have any

evolutionary track record and might cause all kinds of unforeseen neurologi-

cal, genetic, and epigenetic problems in the long run (cf. Kim et al. 2009), for

instance, the widespread prescription of methylphenidate (e.g., Ritalin) in pre-

school children (Keane 2008) , based on questionable DSM-5 nosology

(Phillips et al. 2012a, 2012b, 2012c, 2012d). In contrast to patentable psycho-

pharmacological agents, there is no revenue model for naturally occurring

psychedelics in the merely profit-oriented capitalistic paradigm.

An animal neuroimaging study conducted by Riga et al. (2014) showed that

5-MeO-DMT decreased BOLD responses in the striate cortex (V1) and the

medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC).

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maintain that the most intriguing effects of psychedelics

on the human psyche (i.e., consciousness) cannot be re-

duced to molecular mechanism and neuronal interactions.

The Crickean

stipulation that “aperson’smentalactiv-

ities are entirel y due to the behaviour of nerve cells, glial

cells, and the atoms, ions, and molecules that make them

up and i nfluence them” is not very plausible. In accor-

dance with our view, Cristof Koch (who collaborated

with Crick over several years in an unsuccessful attempt

to solve the hard problem of consciousness in a materi-

alistic reductionist framework) for some unknown reason

changed his mind on this most fundamental topic. He

wrotethefollowingina2014ScientificAmericanarticle

entitled “Is Consciousness Universal”:

Yet the mental is too radically different for it to arise

gradually from the physical. This emergence of subjec-

tive feelings from physical stuff appears inconceivable

and is at odds with a basic precept of physical thinking,

the Ur-conservation law—ex nihilo nihil fit. So if there

is nothing there in the first place, adding a little bit more

won’t make something. If a small brain won’tbeableto

feel pain, why should a large brain be able to feel the

godawfulness of a throbbing toothache? Why should

adding some neurons give rise to this ineffable feeling?

The phenomenal hails from a kingdom other than the

physical and is subject to different laws. I see no way for

the divide between unconscious and conscious states to

be bridged by bigger brains or more complex neurons.

We propose that 5-MeO-DMT can help to shed new

light quanta on the hard problem of consciousness

which has engaged philosophers since time immemorial

(neuroscience has only very recently joined the debate).

Specifically, the tryptamine can provide first-hand

(qualitative) insights i nto the ultimately nondual nat ure

of mind and matter and the universality of conscious-

ness—i.e., a higher perspective on human existence. In

contemporary consciousness research, the mind is often

equated w ith consciousnes s. However, m ind ≠ con-

sciousness. This is easily verifiable because cognition

(thought) is an object of consciousness (otherwise intro-

spection on mental events would be impossible). Thus,

the mind is situat ed within consciousness and it needs

to be accentuated that science is an activity of the mind.

Ergo, science is an activity within the mind which, in

turn, is situated within consciousness. The statement

that science can objectively investigate consciousness is

thus a non sequitur. This relates to the ancient self-

referential (autopoietical/recursive) question about the

relationship between the seer and the seen (Sanskrit:

Dṛg-D ṛ śya): Can the seer be seen? Can consciousness

investigate itsel f? Thus, the quintessential question is:

Who introspects on the mind and its contents (thoughts,

feelings, perceptions, etc.). In other words, who is the

experiencer, who is the knower, who is the seer? Who

is the ultimate conscious “I”? The eighth century Indian

logician Jagadguru Shankaracharya provided the follow-

ing précis of the timeless nondual philosophy:

Even in the state of ignorance, when one sees some-

thing, through what instrument should one know

That owing to which all this is known? For that

instrument of knowledge itself falls under the cate-

gory of objects. The knower may desire to know not

about itself, but about objects. As fire does not burn

itself, so the self does not know itself, and the know-

er can have no knowledge of a thing that i s not its

object. Therefore through what instrument should

one know the knower owing to which this universe

is known, and who else should know it? And when

to the knower of Brahman who has discriminated

the Real from the unreal there remains only the sub-

ject, absolute and one without a second, through

what instrument, O Maitreyī, should one know that

Knower?

Nonduality is first-hand experience. It cannot be objec-

tified. This fact does not exclude it from scientific dis-

course. Science is an open-ended enterprise and its

methods evolve (n.b., there is no “s

cientific” consensus

about what exactly constitutes the scientific method, e.g.,

the Popperian demarcation problem). By definition, sci-

ence is concerned with knowledge (lat. scire = “to

know”)—that is, any kind of knowledge (but see t he

Jamesian “radical empiricism” argument in the discussion

section). Science does not preclude nonobjectifiable self-

knowledge. In fact, the Greek intellectual tradition (which

laid the very groundwork for contemporary thought)

placed great emphasis on self-knowledge as exemplified

by the aphorism γνῶθι σεαυτόν (“know thyself”). In

opposition to the dominant Zeitgeist, science is thus not

exclusively concerned with the material a spects of exis-

tence. Paradoxically, 5-MeO-DMT provides a neurochem-

ical (material) method which r eliably induced the first-

hand transcendental experience of nonduality. There are

other much more arduous path ways to achieve nondual

insights such as mediation and sophisticated yogic exer-

cises. However, they are much more demanding and hence

unreliable than the “direct” neurochemical route.

Consequently, it would be of great interest to investigate

Quotation by Francis Crick (*1916, †2004; co-discoverer of the molecular

double-helix structure of DNA) from his book “The Astonishing Hypothesis:

The Scientific search for the Soul” (published in 1994)

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whether these ancient techniques induce neuronal and psy-

chological changes which are similar to those induced by

5-MeO-DMT and its structural relatives. Specifically, fu-

ture studies should clarify whether the production and re-

lease of DMT-related endogenous substances can be inten-

tionally increased by various techniques (e.g., meditation,

music, yoga, physical exercise, mood manipulation, stress,

pain, anxiety, mortality salience, etc.). It has been reported

that average daily output of melatonin from the pineal

gland is ≈ 30 μg (Nichols 2018b).Basedonthisquantity,

it has been argued that the endogenous amount of DMT is

about

1000

of what would be needed to achieve

psychoactivity (the exact threshold is currently undefined).

It would therefore be of fundamental interest to investigate

if the endogenous synthesis of various tryptamines in the

pineal (a nd elsewhere) can be stimulated, and if so, to

determine the maximum output capacity of various glan-

dular systems under v arying conditions.

Further, it may

be assumed that there are interindividual differences in the

production and release of various tryptaminergic neurohor-

mones (which may be rooted in genetic variabil ity). It is a

well-established fact that there are individual differences in

pineal gland volume and these have been related to autism

(Maruani et al. 2019) which can be regarded as a “disor-

der” of consc io u s nes s. Chro n obi ol o gy and variou s “states”

of consciousness (e.g., dreaming/waking states) are closely

related and tryptamines such as melatonin have been relat-

ed to various mental disorders such as depression and

anxiety.

5-MeO-DMT exerts extremely profound acute and chronic

effects on the self-concept (ego). Here, the term ego is not

used as defined in th e clas sica l Freudian t ripa rti te model

(Freud 1923), but it refers to the concept of an encapsulated

ego identity, that is, who we think we are as human beings.

Thus, the usage of the term ego is more closely aligned with

the ancient Sanskrit term “Ahaṃkāra” as defined in Vedic

philosophy (cf. Cartesian positional identity; Comfort 1979).

For example, the great scientist of the mind Patañjali writes in

Sanskrit:

“To identify consciousness with

that which merely reflects consciousness – this is

egoism.” (Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali, cap. 2, aphorism 6).

In the Indian contemplative tradition, the overcoming of

egocentrism is a precondition for spiritual progress.

The

founder of quantum physics, Nobel laurate Erwin

Schrödinger, was d eeply impressed by the depth of

Vedāntic philosophy in relation to consciousness and he

expressed this eloquently in his seminal book “What i s

Life”:

The only possible alternative is simply to keep the

immediate that consciousness is a singular of which

the plural is unknown; that there is only one thing

andthat,whichseemstobeaplurality,ismerelya

series of different aspects of this one thing, pro-

duced by a deception (the Indian Maya); the same

illusion is produced in a gallery of mirrors, and in

the same way Gaurisankar a nd Mt. Everest turned

out to be the same peak seen from different valleys.

(Schrödinger 1944, p. 89).

We suggest that the anc ient Indian concept of Māyā is

essential in order to appreciate the unveiling effects of

psychedelics. M ā yā connotes “that which exists, but is

constantly changing and thus is spiritually unreal”

(Hiriyanna 1995). It has been roughly translated as illu-

sion e ven though th is tr anslation has its shortcomin gs

(translations from Sanskrit into English face many herme-

neutical difficulties, a better twofold Vedantic translation

is “projection” and “veil”).

Apropos the propounded

differentiation between mind and consciousness Māyā re-

fers to the fluctuating cont ents of the m ind.

In this th eoretical/phenomenological framework, the

ego can be conceptualized as a filter or a lens which

converts experiences and creates the appearance of

change and diversity, while the underlying reality is time-

less unity. Pure consciousness lies beyond the mind and

the ego construct and is “that which perceives” (cf.

It has been argued that the amount of L-tryptophan (a precursor of 5-HT and

DMT) is only available in minute amounts in human serum, i.e., the reported

concentration is ≈ 12.98 ± 0.37 μg/mL (Comai et al. 2010) and that the avail-

ability of biochemical basic material constitutes a limiting factor. However, if

this data is generalizable across various populations remains an open question

which warrants further exploration.

Interestingly, the adaptogenic properties of melatonin have recently been

emphasized (Zakharov et al. 2019) and we submit that 5-MeO-DMT likewise

has adaptogenic properties which support organismal homeostasis on various

levels (cf. recent research on its anti-inflammatory and neurorestorative ef-

fects). The “adaptogen concept” is controversial in mainstream science, but

there is exists a plethora of evidence in support of its validity—mainly from

Chinese research (Chen et al. 2008). Western science is slowly integrating the

concept (Panossian et al. 2012). 5-MeO-DMT is specifically interesting in this

regard as creativity might be seen as a psychological aspect of adaptation and

psychological and physiological homeostasis might be intimately interlinked.

Interestingly, a related idea can be found in Islam. The concept of Jihad al-

Nafs can be translated as “an inner striving or struggle to overcome the ego/

nafs”—i.e., the great inner struggle to heal the heart’s dis eases (see Al-

Khomeini 1940; Al-Arba’ūn Ḥadīthān, transl.: “Forty Hadith”).

A connatural concept can also be found in Plato’s “Allegory of the cave”

(Res Publica,book7,514a–520a). Plato was very much concerned with eter-

nal forms and most mathematicians can be regarded as Platonists (Burnyeat

2000;Mueller2005) even though they might not be explicitly aware of this

philosophical heritage (cf. the importance of Δianoia in Plato’s “Theory of

Forms”; Cooper 1966; Tanner 1970). Interestingly, Plato’s allegory has recent-

ly been revived in the context of quantum dynamics and quantum computa-

tion, particularly with regard to the quantum Zeno effect (Misra and Sudarshan

1977; Peres 1980; Stapp 2001) and “projected” reality perceived through

noncommutative “sequences of measurements” (but see Burgarth et al. 2014).

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Josipovic 2010, 2014). While the ego identifies with the

dualistic and e phemeral contents of sensory experience,

consciousness itself does not (Sivananda 1972).

Consciousness itself has no associated identity. It is a

detached unchanging witness of experience.

Sir Arthur Eddington articulated similar thoughts:

The mind-stuff of the world is, of course, something

more general t han our individual conscious minds.

[…] The mind-stuff is not spread in space and time;

these are part of the cyclic scheme ultimately de-

rived out of it. […] It is necessary to keep reminding

ourselves that all knowledge of our environment

from which the world of physic s is con structed,

has e ntered in the form of messages transmitted

along the nerves to the seat of consciousness. […]

Consciousness is not sharply defined, but fades into

subconsciousness; and beyond that we must postu-

late something indefinite but yet continuous with

our mental nature. […] It is difficult for the matter-

of-fact physicist to accept the view that the substra-

tum of everything is of mental character. But no one

can deny that mind is the first and most direct thing

in our experience, and all else is remote inference.

(Eddington 1929, pp. 276–281)

More recently, it has been argued along the same vein that

physics faces its final frontier—i.e., consciousness (Stapp

2007). For instance, the “von Neumann-Wigner interpre-

tation,” also referred to as “consciousness caused collapse

of Ψ,” postulates that consciousness is an essential factor

in quantum measurements. Von Neumann used the term

“sub jective perception ” (Von Neumann 1955)whichis

closely related to the complementarity principle in psy-

chophysics, viz., th e c omplementarity of sensation an d

perception (Baird 1997). Accordingly, Henry Sta pp a r-

gued in his seminal paper “Quantum Theory and the

Role of Mi nd in Nature”:

From the point of view of the mathematics of quan-

tum theory it makes no sense to treat a measuring

device as intrinsically different from the collection

of atomic constituents that make it up. A device is

just anot her part of the ph ysical universe. [...]

Moreover, the conscious thoughts of a human ob-

server ought to be causally connected most directly

and immediately to what is happening in his brain,

not to wha t is h appening out at some me asuring

device. [...] Our bodies and brains thus become

[...] parts of the quantum mechanically described

physical universe. Treating the entire physical uni-

verse in this unifie d way provides a conceptually

simple and logically coherent theoretical foundation.

(Stapp 2001)

We argue that these epistemological and ontological

considerations have deep implications for the philosophy

(and hence practice) of science (n.b., there is no science

devoid of philosophy —only science which incorporates

philosophical axioms as a priori given without explicit

reflection on their validity/veridicality). The nondual per-

ceptive challenges the predominant reductive materialism

stance and it might ultimately facilitate a Kuhnian para-

digm shift with far-r eaching ramification across disci-

plines (i.e., a transdisciplinary paradigm shift). A nondual

conception of reality might enable new ways of psycho-

physical scientific experimentation which are unthinkable

in the current materialistic paradigm (which entails a sig-

nificantamountofunjustified Cartesian/Newtonian as-

sumptions which might implicitly “block” alternative

ideas). With respect to scientific experimentation (and da-

ta collection), Eddington provided the foll owing brilliant

analogy in his book “The Philosophy of Physical Science

”

(Edd

ington 1938) which i llustrates how the “conceptual/

perceptual cognitive net” determines the character of sci-

entific inquiry:

Let us suppose that an ichthyologist is exploring the life

of the ocean. He casts a net into the water and brings up

a fishy assortment. Surveying his catch, he proceeds in

the usual manner of a scientist to systematise what it

reveals. He arrives at two generalisations:

1) No sea-creature is less than two inches long.

2) All sea-creatures have gills.

These are both true of his catch, and he assumes tenta-

tively that they will remain true however often he re-

peats it. In applying this analogy, the catch stands for the

body of knowledge which constitutes physical science,

and the net for the sensory and intellectual equipment

which we use in obtaining it. The casting of the net

corresponds to observation; for knowledge which has

not been or could not be obtained by observation is

not admitted into physical science. An onlooker may

object that the first generalisation is wrong. ‘There are

plenty of sea-creatures under two inches long, only your

Note that this statement is not objectively verifiable in a detached manner. It

can only be derived from the first-hand phenomenological experience (i.e., ego

dissolution caused by meditation, introspection, psychedelics, spontaneous

epiphany, etc.). Ego-less pure awareness plays a central role in many ancient

philosophical s chools of thought (Advaita Vedānta, Mahāyāna and Zen

Buddhism, Taoism, Sufism, i.a.). It also relates to the Western literature on

the Cartesian and Heisenbergian cut, where the former refers to the dichotomy

between the material world (res extensa) and its nonmaterial counterpart (res

cogitans), while the latter refers to the cut between an object and its environ-

ment which is crucial in the context of modern quantum physics (see

Atmanspacher 1997).

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net is not adapted to catch them.’ The icthyologist dis-

misses this objection contemptuously. ‘Anything un-

catchable by my net is ipso facto outside the scope of

icthyological knowledge. In short, what my net can't

catch isn't fish.’ Or — to translate the analogy —‘If

you are not simply guessing, you are claiming a knowl-

edge of the physical universe discovered in some other

way than by the methods of physical science, and ad-

mittedly unverifiable by such methods. You are a meta-

physician. Bah!’

We submit that 5-MeO-DMT is by far the most effec-

tive pharmacological agent for the controlled induction of

nondual states of consciousness and consequently the

restructuring of the “cognitive net.” Given the postulated

complementarity between psyche & physis, nondual s tates

of consciousness are accompanied by physiological

changes in the neuronal architecture of the brain, i.e.,

the conceptual net (mind) and the neuronal net (matter)

are complementary aspect of the same underlying “sub-

stance,” a tertium quid ,

viz., universal consciousness. In

simplistic terms, by changing the brain, the mind changes

and, vice versa, by changing the mind, the brain changes.

Consciousness itself remains unaffected. Therefore, it

does not make much sense to speak about “states of con-

sciousness.” Consciousness is an immutable singular—it

is the experiencer (that which experiences change—viz.,

“it” is the nontransient observer of the fluctuating con-

tents of the mind).

5-MeO-DMT h as been descri bed as a proto typical

entheogen (Metzner 2015), and it is psychologically and

pharmacologically much more potent than its structural

relatives (e.g., N,N-dimethyltryptamine), i.e., qualitatively

and quantitatively. An entheogen (Ruck et al. 1979)isa

chemical substance (used in a religious, shamanic, or spir-

itual contexts) that has the potential to produce profound

psychospiritual insights and changes. From a philological

point of view, the etymology of the neologism

“entheogen” is a compound lexeme derived from the an-

cient Greek ἔνθεος (entheos)andγενέσθαι (genesthai)

and translates into “generating the divine from within”

(cf. “enthusiasm ”). 5-MeO-DMT is a ceremonial sacra-

ment (eucharist) of the “Church of the Tree of Life.”

Hence, interdisciplinary research on 5-MeO-DMT might

provide further impetus for the emerging new neuroscien-

tific paradigm which goes by the name “neurotheology”

(Winkelman 200 4). Following this line of thought, it has

been state d by the e minent neurobiolo gist Efrain C.

Azmitia that “ the ability of these drugs to induce a feeling

of closeness to God is a special property of the indoles

and this property is attributed to activation of the cortical

2A serotonin receptor” (Azmitia 2012).

We would like to recapitulate the crux of our argu-

ment: Given its phenomenological profundity and its un-

paralleled efficiency to dissolve ego structures, we pro-

pose that the psychological effects of 5-MeO-DMT and

associated neural correlates should be systematically in-

vestigated in order to elucidate the postulated connection

between nondual (ego-less) states of consciousness and

the stipulated enhancement of creativity. One pillar of

this hypothesis is the idea that ego dissolution is associ-

ated with a breakdown of linguistic structures

(hence

the characteristic ineffability of its phenomenology/

quale). According to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis of lin-

guistic relativism (Sapir 19 2 9 ), language structures cog-

nition and perception in significant ways. Ergo, we hy-

pothesize that a release from the strong aprioristic sche-

matizing influences of linguistic processes facilitates a

more unrestrained (prelinguistic) style of cognition and

perception. Further, we argue that the collapse of the

psychophysical “ subject versus object” dichotomy into

nondual experience has enormous potential for complex

cognitive restructuring at multiple levels of analysis (cf.

Josipovic 2010). “Ego exitus” (the apex of ego dissolu-

tion, i.e., ego death) is emotionally and cognitively ex-

tremely challenging, an observation which resonates with

the “hardship model of creativity” (Forgeard 2013). At

the same time, the extremely challenging experience of

ego dissolution and ultimately ego death may have sig-

nificant positive therapeutic/cathartic effects which are of

Irenæus (c. AD 196) wrote the following in “Against Heresies” (§2.1.3):

“Since they say that something exists outside the Pleroma, into which they

think that Power wandering from above came down, they must choose one of

two views. Either this “outside” will contain the Pleroma and the Pleroma will

be contained—otherwise there will not be something “outside,” for if anything

is outside the Pleroma the Pleroma will necessarily be within what they call

outside the Pleroma, and the Pleroma, with the first God, will be contained by

what is outside; or else the Pleroma and what is outside it will be immensely

distant and separated from each other. But if they say this, there will be a

‘tertium quid’ with this immense separation between the Pleroma and what

is outside it, and this ‘tertium quid’ will limit and contain the other two, and

will be greater than both the Pleroma and what is outside it, since it contains

both in its bosom.” (Grant 1996,p.108,cap.“Divine transcendence”). Here,

the term pleroma could be translated as “fullness” and it thus emphasizes

holism and totality in contrast to reductionism and the separation of constituent

parts, e.g., pleroma tes theotetos (transl.: “the whole completeness of the divine

nature” (Colossians 2:9). The antonym of pleroma is hystêrema

(incompletion). Interestingly, a diagrammatic representation of pleroma (after

the gnostic Valentinus) which consists of nested triangles and pentagrams is

very similar to the Sri Yantra in Hinduism which symbolizes nonduality.

Valentinus held there exists a tripartite typology of human beings, (1) the

material, (2) the psychical, (3) the spiritual, while only the latter would be able

to receive gnosis (knowledge) of the ultimate.

Indeed, anecdotal reports indicate that it can cause glossolalia and xenolalia

which are very interesting linguistic phenomena that have been investigated in

the context of religion and altered states of consciousness (cf. Grady and

Loewenthal 1997;Kavan2004) and also from a neuroscientific perspective

(Philipchalk and Mueller 2000). We therefore suggest that 5-MeO-DMT is of

great interest to researchers in these fields.

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essential pertinence in relation to creativity research (e.g.,

release from severe traumata, access to repressed uncon-

scious materials, surfacing of archetypal symbolisms,

etc.). The experiences induced by 5-MeO-DMT are tre-

mendously radical

and therefore capable to disperse

deeply engrained cognitive/perceptual schemata,

there-

by enabling a more unrestricted style of cognition.

Specifically, w e argue that due to its unparalleled ego-

dissolving properties, 5-MeO-DMT facilitates a less self-

centered and, hence, more unbiased style of cognition

which is a condicio sine qua non for creativity. This

hypothesis is empirically falsifiable in the Popperian

sense and various established cognitive testing proce-

dures

could be utilized t o test this hypothesis experi-

mentally. (Creativity is generally conceptualized as a

multidimensional construct and various facets of creativ-

ity may be affected differentially.) The logic which un-

dergirds our theorizing can be formalized using proposi-

tional l ogic, i.e., in form of a syllogistic argument (see

Syllogism #1 below). Specifically, we postulate that ego

dissolution c an culminate in a state of n ondual con-

sciousness which is phenomenologically, biochemically,

and neuroanatomically similar to those reported in nu-

merous ancient wisdom traditions such as Advaita

Vedānta and Mahāyāna Buddhism. Nondual experiences

have been reported since time immemorial, and for the

first time, science is now in a position to investigate

them in a systema tic fashion (ideally in a holistic manner

across multiple levels of explanation, i.e., by combining

the epistemic/qualitative with the ontic/quantitative level

of analysis). It is hypothesized that nondual s tates of

consciousness induced by 5-MeO-DMT shift the global

connectivity patterns between intrinsic networks and ex-

trinsic networks. These networks are thought to be

anticorrelated. In terms of large-scale neuroanatomical

organization, according to current knowledge, the intrin-

sic network includes rather broadly defined areas in the

medial prefrontal cortices, the posterior cingulate corti-

ces, the precunei, the inferior parietal lobule, and tempo-

ral areas such as parts of the hippocampi (Cavanna 2007;

Josipovic 2014). Its activity has been associated with a

broad array of self-referential cognitions such as self-

awareness and self-reflection, executive functions like

future planning, and also creativity. For instance, it has

been experimentally demonstrated that distraction (i.c.,

mind-wandering) ca n enhance creativity (Baird e t al.

2012). We argue, in abstracto,that“a release from the

limiting self” is an important aspect in the context of

creativity enhancement (to put it metaphorically, the

unleashing of creativity from the grip of the ego). The

general idea i s that signal transduction in neuroanatomi-

cal areas associated with self-referential cognition is re-

duced. For instance, it has been demonstrated that med-

itation is associated with decreased activity in the default

mode network, i.c., decreased activity in medial prefron-

tal and posterior cingulate cortic es (Brewer et al. 2011).

We expect similar (but more pronounced) effects with 5-

MeO-DMT, specifically given the phenomenological

similarities between 5-MeO-DMT and meditative

(nondual) states of consciousness. Based on previous

conceptually related work which investigated the neural

correlates of nondual s tates in meditators, it seems indi-

cated to examine if the neuronal activity changes induced

by 5-MeO-DMT a re congruent with ROIs related to

nondual states of consciousness achieved via mediation,

e.g., the involvement of the DMN and specifically the

central precuneus (cf. Josipovic 2014). This line of re-

search is particularly warrante d given the plethora of

studies which correlate meditation with creativity (Baas

et al. 2014; C apurso et al. 20 14; Colzato et al. 2012;

Dawson 2004;Dingetal.2014;Domino1976;Horan

2009;Mülleretal.2016; Ostafin and Kassman 2012;

It has been argued elsewhere that “increased creativity may […] constitute a

manifestation of posttraumatic growth, defined as retrospective perceptions of

positive psychological changes that take place following experiences of highly

challenging life circumstances” (Forgeard 2013,p.245).

Interestingly, preliminary evidence suggests that psilocybin is effective in

the treatment of addiction, depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorders

(Bogenschutz et al. 2015; Carhart-Harris et al. 2016). This is congruent with

the formulated idea that 5-MeO-DMT has the potential to change persistent

habitual modes of thought.

This idea could be empirically tested, for instance, by utilizing a semantic

priming paradigm in order to investigate spread of activation (as proxy for

verbal creativity). Exemplary studies have been conducted with the dopamine

precursor L-Dopa by, for example, Kischka et al. (1996) in order to investigate

the role of dopaminergic neurotransmission in verbal creativity. Anecdotal

evidence suggests that serotonergic psychedelics can enhance verbal creativity

significantly (longitudinally). In the acute phase, many psychedelics interfere

strongly with the linguistic system (a breakdown of semantic and syntactic

facilities is oftentimes reported). Ergo, frontal and temporal lobe language

areas such as Broca’sandWernicke’s area and the arcuate fasciculus are likely

involved. We suggest that temporarily induced receptive and expressive apha-

sia are of interest in this context. Further, the differential influence on the left

and right hemisphere is a topic of great interest. It would be interesting to

examine if 5-MeO-DMT releases the right hemisphere from contralateral in-

hibition, that is, does it influence hemispheric dominance (i.e., local vs. global

processing in the context of asymmetric hemispheric lateralization of func-

tion); cf. “right hemispheric dominance theory of creative thinking” (Shen

et al. 2013).

It should be noted that psychedelics might cause serious psychological harm

to certain populations with psychopathological dispositions (possibly due to

specific 5-HT receptor polymorphisms). In rare cases, the DSM-5 diagnosis

“hallucinogen persisting perception disorder” (HPPD) is applied (low inci-

dence rate) (for a review, consult Halpern et al. 2016). Careful psychological

screening is crucial for ethically responsible research (for research safety

guidelines, see Johnson et al. 2008).

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Peet 1979). Our primary argument can be sta ted in the

form of a logically valid Aristotelian categorical

syllogism.

Syllogism #1

Syllogism #2

Syllogism #3

According to syllogistic logic each of the three distinct

terms represents a category, i.c.: [Ego dissolution]—[5-

MeO-DMT]—[Creativity].

For example, in Syllogism #1, the category [Creativity] is

the major term and [5-MeO-DMT] constitutes the minor term.

Crucially, the premises have a single term in common (the

middle term)

which appears as the subject or predicate of

the categorical proposition, in casu, [Ego dissolution].

According to the principles of propositional logic, the conclu-

sion follows deductively

iff the major and minor premise are

accepted as veridical. Based on these syllogistic arguments,

we formulate the ensuing falsifiable a priori hypotheses:

H1. Downregulation of the DMN predicts subsequent in-

creases in creativity (see below for details on the

incubation/integration phase and the “DMN rebound

effect”). In addition, we conjecture that 5-MeO-DMT

decreases depression similar to results obtained with

psilocybin and we predict a correlation between reduc-

tion in depressive symptoms and isochronous increases

in creativity.

H2. The self-reported intensity of 5-MeO-DMT phenomenol-

ogy (post eventum introspective assessment) predicts sub-

sequent increases in global functional connectivity density

which are in turn predictive of creativity (the differential

effects on v arious facets of creativity should be

investigated—we suggest that “mathematical creativity”

is a specifically interesting aspect given the highly geomet-

rical characteristics of DMT phenomenology). Further , we

predict that 5-MeO-DMT induces neuro/synaptoplastic

changes which are crucial in the context of creativity and

cognitive/neuronal restructuring (cf. Dakic 2017). In addi-

tion, we predict based on prior research that 5-MEO-DMT

induces neurogenesis via various neurotrophic growth fac-

tors, e.g., hippocampal neurogenesis (Catlow et al. 2013).

Dendritic complexification and synaptic sprouting may

have a psychological analogon.

H3. Self-reported ego dissolution phenomenology predicts

subsequent enhancements in creativity, as quantified by

various creativity test batteries (e.g., Kaufman 2012)in

a dose-dependent manner. This effect is mediated by the

profundity of the experience, e.g., how challenging the

experience was, intensity of the “peak experience,” per-

sonal meaningfulness of the experience, etc. (cf. Barrett

et al. 2016; Forgeard 2013; Griffiths et al. 2006;Majić

et al. 2015).

H4. The intensity of 5-MeO-DMT–induced ego dissolution

predicts longitudinal increases in esthetic perception,

biophilia, and feelings of fundamental existential

Major premise: Ego dissolution enhances creativity.

Minor premise: 5-MeO-DMT induces ego dissolution.

Deductive conclusion: ∴ Ergo, 5-MeO-DMT enhances creativity.

Major premise: Increases in FCD are predictive of creativity.

Minor premise: 5-MeO-DMT increases global functional

connectivity density.

Deductive conclusion: ∴ Ergo, 5-MeO-DMT enhances creativity.

Major premise: Downregulation of the DMN enhances creativity.

Minor premise: 5-MeO-DMT downregulates the DMN.

Deductive conclusion: ∴ Ergo, 5-MeO-DMT enhances creativity.

A categorical syllogism (Greek: συλλογισμός, syllogismos, conclusion or

inference) consists of three parts: the major premise, the minor premise and the

conclusion, for example:

Major premise: All men are mortal.

Minor premise: Socrates in a man.

Conclusion: Ergo, Socrates is mortal.

Or in Aristotle’s terms: “Whenever three terms are so related to one another

that the last is contained in the middle as in a whole, and the middle is either

contained in, or excluded from, the first as in or from a whole, the extremes

must be related by a perfect syllogism. I call that term middle which is itself

contained in another and contains another in itself: in position also this comes

in the middle. By extremes I mean both that term which is itself contained in

another and that in which another is contained. If A is predicated of all B, and

B of all C, A must be predicated of all C: we have already explained what we

mean by ‘predicated of all’. Similarly also, if A is predicated of no B, and B of

all C, it is necessary that no C will be A.” (Aristotle, Organon Analytica

Prioria, Book 1, §4). Based on an extensive psychological analysis of the

foundational question “Where does mathematics come from” (Lakoff and

Núñez 2000), it has been argued that syllogistic reasoning is based on the logic

of containment, i.e., it makes use of mental manipulations of container sche-

mata which form the basis of inferential logic. From an embodied cognition/

conceptual metaphor perspective, humans mentally represent (Boolean/set-

theoretical) inferential laws in a quasi-Venn diagrammatic manner (Venn

1880) by utilizing specific spatiorelational image schemata (cognitive contain-

er schemata). Container schemata serve as mental representations of classical

logical laws (e.g., principium tertii exclusi, modus ponens, modus tollens, etc.).

Recent neuroimaging data support this “line of thought.” For instance, an

event-related fMRI study (Goel and Dolan 2001) reported the involvement

of the parietal visuospatial system in abstract three-term syllogistic reasoning

(occipital–parietal–frontal network). Investigations of the neuroanatomical

correlates of syllogistic reasoning thus corroborate the notion that syllogistic

reasoning recruits neuronal circuitry associated with the computation of spatial

relations (see also Goel et al. 1998) as already implicitly psycholinguistically

implied by Aristotle’s formulation.

The absence of the middle term in both premises leads to a syllogistic

fallacy, i.e., the fallacy of the undistributed middle (viz., non distributio medii).

From a philological vantage point, the term “deduction” is etymologically

derived from the Latin deducere “to lead, to derive.” Thus, the premises lead

(automatically) to the conclusion, i.e., the conclusion is logically derived. This

formalization constitutes the basis of the deductive-nomological model

(Popper–Hempel model) of scientific explanation.

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interconnectedness

(viz., OTE—similar to studies

which focus ed on the structural analogue psilocybin

(MacLean et al. 2011), but more pronounced; a direct

comparison between compounds would be of interest to

infer structure–activity relationships based on neuroim-

aging data and qualitative phenomenological

differences).

H5. The intensity of ego dissolution predicts the longitudi-

nally measured significance of the life event in a non-

linear dose-dependent manner, similar to the patterns

observed in studies with the psilocybin (Griffiths et al.

2008).

H6. 5-MeO-DMT modulates activity in the limbic system

(i.e., amygdala, insular cortex) in a longitudinal manner

(cf. Kraehenmann et a l. 2015). Var ious bioma rkers

(GSR, plasma glucocorticoid levels, etc.) could be

quantified to test this prediction. This hypothesis is not

only interesting in relation to interplay between stress

and creativity (Byron et al. 2010) but also for the treat-

ment of anxiety disorders such as PTSD.

H7. Given that 5-MeO-DMT can have strong somatosenso-

ry and viscerosensory effects (somasthesia, changes in

proprioception and body image, and in some cases out-

of-body experiences), we hypothesize t hat various

somatosensitive areas are involved, specifically the

temporoparietal junction (potentially also the anterior

insular cortex; Yu et al. 2018). This hypothesis is partic-

ularly intriguing from an embodied cognition perspec-

tive on creativity and also in relation to Damasio’sso-

matic marker hypothesis.

H8. The peak experience of ego death (sometimes colloqui-

ally referred as “break-through” or in the extensive

Indian literature Nirvikalpa Samādhi

)ismarkedbya

rapid phase shift in global neuronal activity (e.g., quan-

tifiable via simultaneous EEG/fMRI). We predict a

marked increase in creativity in comparison with states

of consciousness which still include rudimentary traces

of the self-concept. We term this mnemonically the “less

ego => more creativity hypothesis.” We conjecture that

this transformative nondual peak experience is accom-

panied by marked ep igene tic ch anges (cf. Dias and

Ressler 2014). Further, we predict that 5-MeO-DMT

affects genetic health on multiple levels (e.g., telomeres

and telomerase activity) and that overall genetic health

is associated with creativity. This hypothesis is based on

studies which demonstrated positive correlations be-

tween mediation, mental health, and genetics (Alda

et al. 2016;Epeletal.2009).

H9. We predict that 5-MeO-DMT affects social cognition in

numerous ways. The “realization of unity” fosters

prosocial attitudes, empathy, and altruism/reciprocity.

This hypothesis can be tested using standard procedures

from social psychology and we predict interactions of 5-

MeO-DMT with the oxytocin/vasopressin neuropeptide

systems. The link between empathy and creativity has

been noted in prior research (Carlozzi et al. 1995).

Further, we suggest that the terror management theory

is an interesting explanatory framework with respect to

ego death and creativity (cf. Arndt and Vess 2008;

Routledge and Arndt 2009).

H10. Finally, we predict that 5-MeO-DMT synergizes with

other therapeutic modalities in a nonlinear fashion, i.e.,

the effectiveness of other therapies can be enhanced by

5-MeO-DMT because it creates a state of psychologi-

cal receptiveness in which defense mechanisms are

curtailed. We specifically predict that 5-MeO-DMT

has strong longitudinal synergistic effects when com-

bined with mediation (particularly types of mediation

that foster nondual p hilosophical conte mplations).

This hypothesis is partly motivated by recent neuroim-

aging work which reported quantitative synergistic ef-

fects between psilocybin and m indfulness training

(Smigielski et al. 2019). The combinatorial effects of

mediation and 5-MeO-DMTon creativity are predicted

to be significantly “larger than the sum of its parts”

(i.e., larger than would be predicted based on a linear

additive model).

Ex hypothesi, we argue that the conjectured effects are ob-

jectively quantifiable and reliably replicable in rigorously con-

trolled experimental settings. The paucity of research on 5-

MeO-DMT is surprising, specifically given that it is an endog-

enous component of neurobiology which implies an evolu-

tionary function (neurochemical vestigiality is an unlikely ex-

planation). Up to date, we are unaware of any systematic sci-

entific research which focuses specifically on the effects of 5-

MeO-DMT on ego dissolution and creativity. Consequently,

we suggest that future studies should be designed in order to

elucidate this rich and potentially very fruitful research area.

The concept of interconnected ness is of utmost importance from an

ecopsychology point of view (cf. Key and Kerr 2011). The formulated hypoth-

esis thus has significant real-world societal significance. The illusion of dis-

connection from nature (Fromm 1962) lies at the root of many destructive

human behaviors which have far-reaching detrimental consequences (individ-

ual and society, micro and macro are not separable—therefore individual

changes translate into global changes). Impetus for the hypothesis at hand is

partially derived from recent studies which indicate that classical psychedelics

increase nature-rela tedness (Forstmann and Sagioglou 2017; Lyons and

Carhart-Harris et al. 2018).

The English language lacks terminology to describe many nonordinary

states of consciousness (cf. Sapir-Whorf hypothesis of linguistic relativism).

Sanskrit, on the other hand, is linguistically very rich in this respect. The word

Nirvikalpa is a composite lexeme composed of the negatory/contra-existential

prefix ni (not, without) and the term vikalpa (thought, conception), and it can

be translated as “without conception, free from conceptual thought.” In the

ancient but timeless Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali, it refers to the highest form of

samadhi, i.e., mediation without thought and object, a nondual state of absorp-

tion without self-consciousness in which there is no distinction between know-

er and known (epistemology and ontology, the seer and the seen; cf. Dṛg-

Dṛśya-Viveka).

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The present discussion is just a start in order to motivate future

studies along these lines. Among the various psychoactive

tryptamine s (e. g., p silocybin/psilocin, DMT/NMT/α,N-

DMT, N

-methylserotonin, convolutindole A, 5-bromo-

DMT, etc.), 5-MeO-DMT is specifically suitable for con-

trolled scientific experimentation due to the short duration of

its acute effects. It can be utilized as an inhalant (e.g., vapor-

ization) and its onset is extremely fast (a single inhalation is

sufficient for its full effects which manifest instantaneously,

often before the exhalation of the vapor). Alternative routes of

administration

include IV, intracerebroventricular, intramus-

cular, intranasal, intrarectal, intravaginal, sublingual, or oral

administration in combination with a monoamine oxidase in-

hibitor (MAOI) to prevent enzymatic deamination in the GI

tract (Halberstadt 2016). However, the latter synergistic meth-

od may change pharmacodynamics (and psychoactivity) in

hitherto unknown ways, and negative side effects such as

increased “body-load” have been mentioned in anecdotal re-

ports. Data indicates that 5-MeO-DMT may, under some cir-

cumstances, be toxic

if administered orally in combination

with a MAOI. Specifically, there may be genetic/phenotypic

interindividual differences in polymorphic cytochrome P450

2D6 (see Shen et al. 2010a, 2010b) which is encoded by the

CYP2D6 gene. Future studies should address interindividual

differences in CYP2D6 and their systematic relation to phar-

macokinetics and phenomenology. Given the existence of

considerable interindividual variations in the efficiency and

amount of CYP2D6 enzyme produced, it is plausible to hy-

pothesize that there are subgroups who metabolize 5-MeO-

DMT rapidly while others are “moderate or slow

metabolizers.” Furthermore, interethnic differences in genetic

polymorphism of CYP2D6 have been indicated (Teh and

Bertilsson 2012), and it would be of interest how these relate

to psychological variables. Pharmacogenomic investigations

are thus warranted and we specifically suggest that genetic

differences should be correlated with neuronal and phenome-

nological variables. For instance, slow 5-MeO-DMT metabo-

lism should have significant effects on fMRI/EEG signatures

and the duration of the experimental time course. This in turn

should correlate significantly with qualitative phenomenology

and intensity of the experience and, hence, with the overall

psychological impact and consequently changes in creativity

(i.e., genetics variability => pharmacokinetics => neural cor-

relates => subjective phenomenology => psychological im-

pact => creativity).

We suggest that the effects of 5-MeO-DMT on creativity

(and cognition in general) should be investigated in a longitu-

dinal design. Controlled experimentation should be interdisci-

plinary and multimodal (i.e., brain imaging,

self-reports, in-

trospective measures, etc.) in order to gain a complete picture

of the effects of the co mpound (i.e., met hodological

triangulation/complementary measurement methods). For in-

stance, brain-wide network dynamics which undergird crea-

tivity are currently a cutting-edge neuroscience topic of great

interest (Beaty et al. 2016, 2018) and functional connectivity

density mapping (FCDM) is widely utilized (Tomasi and

Vo lk o w 2010). The general idea is that creative thought in-

volves dynamic interactions between large-scale brain sys-

tems, specifically between cortical hubs within the default

mode network, the salience network, and the prefrontal exec-

utive systems. Note that this is a somewhat “fuzzy” neuroan-

atomical analysis as each of the networks includes a vast num-

ber of anatomical structures. Our hypothesis contributes more

precise predictions and we argue that specifically the down-

regulation of the default mode network (which, according to

theory, is accompanied by the phenomenology of ego disso-

lution) is an important component for the enhancement of

creativity. Further, we predict a priori that the downregulation

of DMN activity creates a rebound effect (based on the

Aristotelian principle of homeostatic self-regulation, which

is incorporated into numerous contemporary complex

systems/cybernetics theories).

Hence, pertaining to brain dy-

namics and FCD, the time course should be taken into account

in order “serialize” creative idea formation. The “incubation

and integration phase” (after the acute/proximal neuropharma-

cological effects subside) is of particular interest with regard

to neuroplasticity and creativity (i.e., statistical time series

analysis should be employed to map various parameters dia-

chronically). Given the profundity of the ex perience

We are nescient about intraocular administration of purified 5-MeO-DMT.

However, given its relation to the pineal (which contains photoreceptors), this

is a topic of empirical interest (the pineal has been referred to as the parietal

“reptilian third eye” (Eakin and Westfall 1959).

The toad venom itself contains numerous bufotoxins which interact with the

functioning of the cardiovascular system, e.g., the bufadienolide derivative

bufagin—C

(Jensen 1932).

We hypothesize that 5-MeO-DMT increases functional connectivity (a re-

organization of the rich-club architecture) and that this modulation of neuronal

connectivity is associated with enhancement of creativity. In brevi, as neuronal

activity patterns change and neuronal circuitry is reorganized, new connections

between concepts and ideas evolve. We argue that John Locke’s classical

quasi-Newtonian theory “On the Association of Ideas” is relevant in this re-

gard. Connectome-based predictive (CPR) modeling could be employed to

evaluate this hypothesis quantitively. CPR is a relatively new statistical method

which uses (linear) models to predict cognition (or behavior) based on whole-

brain dynamics (i.c., functional connectivity patterns are used as predictors for

specific outcomes) (Shen et al. 2017). Relating to the proposed hypothesis, the

predictor would be functional connectivity (e.g., rich-club coefficient Φ)and

the outcome criterion creativity (e.g., associative thinking). Whole-brain glob-

al functional connectivity maps could be utilized for the purpose of visualiza-

tion, and local density variations could be contrasted post hoc (e.g., intrinsic

connectivity contrasts).

Aristotle stated: “But as all influences require to be counterbalanced, so that

they may be reduced to moderation and brought to the mean [...] nature has

contrived the brain as a counterpoise to the region of the heart with its

contained heat, and has given it to animals to moderate the latter, combining

in it the properties of earth and water.” (quotation adapted from “The Complete

Works of Aristotle,” Revised Oxford Translation, ed., J. Barnes, Princeton:

Princeton University Press, 1984).

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occasioned by 5-MeO-DMT, the integration phase can span

several weeks and even months (some would even verify that

it lasts a human lifetime).

Preliminar y (quasi- experimental) r esearch suggest s that

structurally related tryptamines can foster proenvironmental

“nature-relatedness” and (antineoliberal) egalitarian attitudes

(Forstmann and Sagioglou 2017; Lyons and Carhart-Harris

2018; Nour et al. 2017). Controlled experimental research

along these lines is of great importance in the current survival

threatening economic/sociopolitical climate (see also

Sugarman 2015). Hypothesis 8 (H

) entails a prediction

pertaining to potential epigenetic changes i nduced by 5-

MeO-DMT. This idea is derived from recent genetic studies

which reintroduced Lamarckian elements into quantitative bi-

ology and thereby challenge the “central dogma of molecular

biology”

(Crick 1970) which was for a long time unques-

tionably axiomatic to genetic research. For instance, it has

been shown that acquired olfactory conditioning can be epi-

genetically inherited by subsequent generations (at least up to

F2) (Dias and Ressler 2014). The odorant receptor (Olfr151)

was used to condition F0 mice and subsequent generations

(which were utterly naïve to the olfactory conditioning para-

digm) revealed CpG hypomethylation in the Olfr151 gene.

We argue that if simple olfactory conditioning can cause quan-

tifiable quasi-Lamarckian epigenetic effects than a profound

5-MeO-DMT, experience should be equally quantifiable at the

genetic level (cf. Heard and Martienssen 2014; Trerotola et al.

2015). We suggest that genes a ssociated with the 5-HT

(serotonin) system (e.g., SLC6A4 gene associated with

sodium-dependent serotonin transporter) are a likely genetic

locus for a priori (planned) comparisons (specifically in rela-

tion to depression and anxiety; cf. hypotheses H

and H

). For

instance, it has been reported that individuals with specific

serotonin transporter (5-HTT) promoter polymorphism (asso-

ciated with reduced 5-HTT expression) exhibit greater amyg-

dala activation (fear and anxiety-related behaviors) as assessed

by BOLD functional magnetic resonance imaging (Hariri

2002; see also Heinz et al. 2005). Interestingly, it has been

experimentally demonstrated that psilocybin decreases amyg-

dala reactivity and that this limbic downregulation correlates

with enhanced positi ve mood (Kraehenmann et al. 2015).

Ergo, we predict similar effects for 5-MeO-DMT.

N.B.: We close this section with a cautionary note. Despite

the centrality and prominence of neuroscientific research in

contemporary popular discourse (cf. representativeness heu-

ristic), our current knowledge about the brain is very limited

(neuroscience is still in its infantile developmental phase) and

therefore any intervention (be it electrical, chemical, or

otherwise) into this highly complex system should be consid-

ered very carefully and thoroughly. Deliberate ethical consid-

erations are of utmost importance (intellectual humility is a

genuine scientific virtue in this respect; see Gregg et al. 2017).

The rather “dark” history of neuroscience (unfortunately)

demonstrates an absolute lack of cauti on and ethical con-

science (e.g., frontal lobotomy/leucotomy, electroconvulsive

“shock therapy,” destructive psychopharmacological inter-

ventions in children, etc.). Some of these ethically highly

questionable “treatments” are still utilized today (cf. Müller

et al. 2013a, 2013b; Schläpfer and Kayser 2014). For an ex-

cellent discussion of neuroethics and the amoral history of

psychiatry and neurosurgery, see Breggin (1998, 2008). For

a critique of psychopharmacology with reference to human

values and various “rational principles of psychopharmacolo-

gy”,seeBreggin(2003, 2016).

We submit that endogenous compounds such as 5-MeO-

DMT (with a long evolutionary history of human usage) are a

casus specialis. Note that 5-MeO-DMT has been associated

with neurorestorative adaptations (Dakic 2017), whereas

widely prescribed psychopharmaceuticals such as selective

serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs, e.g., fluoxetine/

Prozac®) and norepinephrine–dopamine reuptake inhibitors

(NDRIs, e.g., methylphenidate/Ritalin®) are known to cause

chronic brain impairment (CBI) and various psychological

disorders (Breggin 2008, 2011; Breggin and Breggin 1996).

Consequently, 5-MeO-DMT should not be grouped together

with novel/synthetic psychopharmacological substances

which are oftentimes completely alien to human neurobiology

(an evolutionary/pharmacokinetic argument could be formu-

lated). However, besides “side effects” such as neurotoxicity,

there are other significant complications pertaining to power-

ful psychedelic agents which can produce dramatic changes in

consciousness. For instance, how can anyone give “informed

consensus” to an experience which is ineffable (cf. the ineffa-

bility of

quale).

Moreover, 5-MeO-DMT can induce the phe-

nomenon of timelessness, or to use William Blakes poetic

expression: “Eternity in an hour”.

Superficial descriptions

such as “the experiment lasts one hour” thus become mean-

ingless because the compound interacts with consciousness

per se (cf. Kant on space and time as a priori mental con-

structs).

Thus, it should be explicitly emphasized that the

human brain and consciousness are still largely terra

incognita (we do not even understand their relation; cf. “the

explanatory gap”), and consequently, a high degree of caution,

foresight, and genuine ethical consideration are advisable with

respect to any intervention which might interfere with sensi-

tive and fine-tuned biological processes.

The obvious question is: Should science ever be dogmatic? According to

current research, “intellectual humility” and “dogmatism” are antithetical polar

constructs (e.g., Leary et al. 2017), with the former being conjugate with

intellectual traits such as openness, curiosity, tolerance, and the ability to han-

dle ambiguity.

From the poem “Auguries of Innocence” from William Blake’s notebooks

named “The Pickering Manuscript” (1803)

“Kritik der reinen Vernunft” (transl.: Critique of Pure Reason) published in

1781

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Brains in Chains: Neuropolitics,

Neurodiversity, and Cognitive Liberty

In January 2016, the “Psychoactive Substances Act” (PSA)

reached Royal Assent in the UK.

The PSA generically pro-

hibits all mind-altering substances besides the most harmful

and addictive ones which are of commercial significance (e.g.,

alcohol and tobacco were explicitly exempted; but see Nutt

et al. 2010). This novel legal framework classifies relatively

harmless substances like psilocybin on par with the most

harmful and detrimental substances such as heroin and co-

caine. The UK thus became the first country in human history

which generically banned all psychoactive substances, viz., a

juridical omnibus prohibition of all mind-altering chemicals

was ratified, irrespective of their well-documented historicity

and their comparative safety profile (King 2013), for example,

as objectively quantified by the conventional LD

and TD

toxicity indices. For instance, psilocybin is nonaddictive (in

fact, it has been effectively utilized for addiction treatment;

Bogenschutz and Forcehimes 2017) and it exhibits remark-

ably low toxicity. The in vivo LD

in humans remains un-

known due to the paucity of any intentional or accidental

poisoning death data.

The therapeutic window (also known

as “pharmaceutical window”) for psilocybin is comparatively

very safe (Gable 1993), and the maximum tolerated dose

(MTD) is very high (Zhuk et al. 2015). Further, the therapeutic

index (TI) is very high (Rucker 2015). The TI quantifies the

toxic dose as a ratio of the effective dose: TI ¼

.Froma

toxicological point of view, a higher TI is thus preferable to a

lower one.

Rank-ordered therapeutic indices for various psychoactive

substances:

1. Heroin ≈ 6

2. Alcohol ≈ 10

3. Cocaine ≈ 15

4. Psilocybin ≈ 1000

Based on this hierarchical collocation, it has been ar-

gued that “psychedelic drugs should be legally

reclassified so that researchers can investigate their ther-

apeuti c pot ent i al” (this is indeed the title of the article by

Rucker 2015). A common metric in comparative risk

assessment is the margin of exposure

(MOE), defined

as the ratio between the toxicological threshold (defined

as the benchmark dose) and the estimated average human

intake. Both MTD and MOE indicate a very benign safe-

ty profile for psilocybin, especially compared to widely

used neurotoxic agents like alcohol which, per contra,

has a very low MOE (Lac henmeier and Rehm 2015)

and has been a ssociated with numer ous detrimental

neurocognitive (Weitemier and Ryabinin 2003), genetic,

and epigenetic effects (Chen et al. 2013). Despite these

scientific facts, psilocybin is classified as a “clas s A s ub -

stance” in the UK. The PSA 2016 can be regarded as a

lex specialis which introduces serious burdens (viz., ju-

dicial onus) on researchers interested in neurobiology

and consciousness. Ergo, scientific research on psyche-

delics is currently legally highly restricted due to the

irrational class A status of psychedelic substances (de-

spite numerous “privileged” exceptions). The classifica-

tion of psilocybin is de jure based on the fallacious pre-

supposition that psilocybin has “no medicinal value”—a

conjecture which is de facto c learly not veridical as psi-

locybin has numerous medical applications (but see

Bogenschutz and Johnson 2016). The refore, the legal

classification is, a f ortiori, i nade qua te. The case of 5-

MeO-DMT is specifically paradoxical given that it is a

natural endogenous component of the neurochemical

composition of the human brain. Furthermore, the PSA

has obvious implications for the perception of psyche-

delics in the public sphere. Contrary to widespread pub-

lic doxa (Bourdieu 1977), epidemiological data indicate

that psychedelics are not linked to psychopathology or

suicidal behavior (Johansen and Krebs 2015;Krebsand

Johansen 2013; cf. Müller et al. 2013a, 2013b)aspur-

ported by numerous coordinated transnational l arge-scale

mass media campaigns (starting in the 1960s) which uti-

lized propagandistic/PR m ethods à la Bernays (Bernays

1928;L’Etang 1999) i n order to justify t he governmental

“War on Drugs” (initiated by the Nixon administration)

which was clearly politically motivated, for instance, in

order to target Vietnam War opponents and racial minor-

ities and to serve the “prison-industrial complex”

(Douglas and Pond 2012; Moore and Elkavich 20 08).

Given the extensive initial media coverage of the cam-

paign, the public mind is till this day still under the

influence of this intentional misinformation (uncon-

scious/implicit associations play an important role in so-

cial attitudes). It would require enormous orchestrated

long-term efforts to counterbalance these negative stereo-

typical attitudes (pro bono publico).

Well-informed legal scholars interpret the PSA as an ex-

plicit violation of the fundamental right to mental self-

determination (i.e., cognitive liberty; Walsh 2016

)—pa

rticu-

larly with respect to Article 9 of the European Convention on

Human Rights 1988 (§1–2) which should protect the right to

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2016/2/contents/enacted

Alcohol, which is legal and indeed systematically promoted by the alcohol

industry (even in academia), has a very unsafe LD

profile and is proven to be

neurotoxic (Da Lee et al. 2005; Jacobus and Tapert 2013). Recent longitudinal

research has shown that even moderate alcohol consumption has detrimental

effects on various neuroanatomical structures (e.g., hippocampal atrophy).

Psilocybin, on the other hand, has been shown to induce neurogenesis in the

hippocampus in animal studies (Catlow et al. 2013).

URL: http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/topics/topic/margin-exposure

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freedom of thought.

It is obvious that cognitive liberty is a

prerequisite for creativity. The PSA reduces neurodiversity

and it juridically justifies the homogenization

of cognitive/

neuronal processes. It selectively restricts cultural and

memetic diversity and, consequently, cultural and cognitive

evolution (per analogiam with the crucial importance of ge-

netic diversity for biological evolution). The loss of memetic

and cultural diversity (i.e., variability in Welt an schauungen)is

a serious problem. From an anthropological vantage point,

memetic homogenization (i.e., the rapidly accelerating trend

toward cultural and psychological monomorphisms due to

Western hegemony) is a global and rapidly accelerating trend

(this “Eurocentric phasing” is also reflected in a global reduc-

tion of linguistic diversity, inter alia). Cultural and memetic

diversity are as important to the “human superorganism” as

genetic diversity is for adaptivity of immune systems (a scale-

independent quasi-Darwinian argument which emphasizes the

general importance of diversity for evolution at the micro and

the macro level of various complex systems). In sensu lato,

the loss of cultural and memetic diversity reduces the psycho-

logical and, hence, behavioral capacity of the human species

to react to novel (unpredictable) challenges. In a similar man-

ner, immunodiversity (e.g., antibody diversity) is crucial in

order to react to novel immunological challenges, e.g., de

novo mutations in the genome of viral and bacterial patho-

gens, etc. A reduction of diversity ipso facto implies a reduc-

tion in degrees of freedom (e.g., possibilities to respond to a

given stressor) and hence robustness and mobility, due to a

reduction in combinatorial possibilities. “Conformational

flexibility” (Rizzo et al. 1999) can thus be conceptually com-

pared to “cognitive flexibility” (Scott 2006), and perhaps,

similar dynamical/topological models can be applied. In short,

cultural and memetic diversity are as important to human so-

cietal systems as genetic diversity is to biological systems.

Summa summarum, the PSA has far-reaching ramifica-

tions. It is de facto not evidence-based and presents a serious

legal impediment to scientific research, creativity, memetic

and cultural diversity, cognitive innovation, and cognitive lib-

erty (see also Boire 2000).

Potential for Military Abuse: Neuroethics

and the “Ticking Bomb Scenario”

Given the fact that 5-MeO-DMT is unparallel in its ability to

virtually instantaneously dissolve psychological ego struc-

tures (viz., ego dissolution par excellence), it can in principle

be utilized as a “neuropsychological weapon,” for instance, in

the context of military operations. Like every powerful scien-

tific tool, it is a two-sided sword (a neurochemical Janus) that

can be used to elevate and unfold human potential, creativity,

and consciousness or, vice versa, to manipulate, control, and

suppress it. In the past, methods that are capable of dissolving

ego structures have been of great interest to the military in

relation to “enhanced interrogation”—a euphemism for tor-

ture (see also O’Mara 2009), for example, the collaboration

of Donald Hebb

with the CIA and various military agencies

which focused on sensory deprivation/overload and other

techniques to “dismantle the self” (Brown 2007;McCoy

2006, 2007). Many of the resulting procedures can be found

in the only recently declassified U.S. Army and CIA interro-

gation manuals (known as the KUBARK “torture man-

uals”).

For various reasons, the military has vested interests

in research on neurochemistry and creativity, and the “wea-

ponization of neuroscience” is a general problem with exten-

sive ethical ramifications which should be much more prom-

inently discussed under the generic header of “neuroethics”

(e.g., Farah 2005). In sensu lato, creativity is a prerequisite for

scientific innovation. On their official website, DARPA ex-

plicitly articulates that their “success depends on the vibrant

ecosystem of innovation within which the agency operates”.

It is important to keep in mind that DARPAs enunciated mis-

sion is “to create revolutions in military science and to main-

tain technological dominance over the rest of the world […]

with an annual budget of roughly $3 billion” and that

“DARPA as an agency does not conduct scientific research.

Its [on average 120] program managers and directors hire

defense contractors, academics, and other government organi-

zations to do the work” (Jacobsen 2015; content in bracket

added). A related agency which was founded in 2006 is the

IARPA (Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity)

which describes its mission as follows: “To envision and lead

high-risk, high-payoff research that delivers innovative tech-

nology for future overwhelming intelligence advantage.”

IARPA provides significant funding for academia and indus-

try research across a broad array of areas including

Freedom of thought is crucial for democracy as it forms the very basis (s.c.,

a condicio sine qua non) for the right to freedom of speech/expression. As

Erich Fromm articulated in his book entitled “The fear of freedom”: “The right

to express our thought, however, means something only if we are able to have

our own thoughts; freedom from external authority is a lasting gain only if the

inner psychological conditions are such that we are able to establish our own

individuality” (Fromm 1942, pp. 207–208). It can be juridically argued that

freedom of thought (mental self-determination) is a cardinal principle in inter-

national law (jus cogens).

In an age in which public opinions are systematically manipulated (Bernays

1928;L’Etang 1999)and“consent is manufactured” (Chomsky 1992;Fleming

and Oswick 2014), cognitive diversity is regarded as a disruptive factor which

might interfere with the smooth workings of the “mega-machine” (cf. Fromm

1962;Mumford1967).

In a symposium in 1958 Hebb stated that: “The work that we have done at

McGill University began, actually, with the problem of brainwashing. We were

not permitted to say so in the first publishing …”.

URL: https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu//nsa/archive/news/dodmans.htm

URL: https://www.darpa.mil

Its neuroscience-related agenda can be found under the following URL:

https://www.iarpa.gov/index.php/research-programs/neuroscience-programs-

at-iarpa.

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neuroscience, cognitive psychology, c hemistry, biology,

mathematics, physics, computer science, linguistics, and po-

litical science, inter alia. IARPA’s “moon-shot” programs are

intended to enable researchers to engage in “ideas that are

potentially disruptive to the status quo.” Other research areas

are “forecasting tournaments” (Tetlock et al. 2014)and“hy-

brid forecasting competitions” which aims to “improve accu-

racy in predicting worldwide geopolitical issues, including

foreign political elections, interstate conflict, disease out-

breaks, and economic indicators by leveraging the relative

strengths of humans and machines”

(see also Weinberger

2011). Moreover, artificial intelligence is a highly prioritized

domain which is actively pursued by DARPA and IARPA.

The book entitled “Mind Wars: Brain Science and the

Military in the 21

Century” by Moreno (2012)providesa

broader picture on the tight interconnections between science,

academia, and the military-industrial complex, specifically

with respect to “mind control.” Moreno submits the following

“hypothetical” scenario which highlights the importance of

creativity research from a military perspective.

Here’s a science fiction scenario: an army of robots ca-

pable of movement nearly as precise as that of a human

soldier, each controlled by an individual hundreds or

even thousands of miles away. These automata could

undertake actions that would be foolhardy for human

beings but worth the tactical risk for machines; because

they are controlled by people, they would have the ben-

efit of creativity that might limit even the most advanced

android. But the old-fashioned remote control scenario

would have the operator pushing buttons or moving

levers while seeing on a monitor what the robot is see-

ing, a method that would be far too clumsy for the in-

stantaneous reactions often required in combat. What is

wanted is a technology that would allow the robot to

respond as soon as the distant operator does. Such a

technology would, in effect, have to be able to read the

intentions of the operator, his or her thoughts them-

selves, not merely respond to the operator's muscle

movements through a mechanical apparatus. (Moreno

2012,p.39).

Human creatures have the unique capacity for creativity which

even the most complex automata hitherto lack. Creativity is

thus a topic of great interest with regard to brain–computer

interfaces (Vaadia 2009), and a detailed understanding of the

cognitive, neurochemical, and neuromechanical basis of cre-

ativity is of fundamental interest to AI research which is cur-

rently utterly unable to emulate genuine creativity in silico (cf.

Boden 2014), a problem which, we argue, is intimately related

to the “hard problem of consciousness” (Chalmers 1995), i.e.,

the unsolved question of how quantitative processes such as

electrochemical neuronal signal transduction relate to con-

sciousness (and hence creativity) . This “explanatory gap”

(Block and Stalnaker 1999), which is based on a dualistic

Cartesian mind–matter conceptualization, is a serious obstacle

for reductive materialism (Levine 1983) and, consequently,

military research on robotics and AI. This research domain

is currently heavily funded by various sectors of the industry.

Particularly, autonomous weapon systems are a very active

area of research (but see Bohannon 2015). “Autonomous cre-

ative systems” (Saunders 2012), “creative cognitive computa-

tion” (d’Inverno and Luck 2012), and “creative evolutionary

systems” (Bentley and Corne 2002) are at the cutting edge of

contemporary transdisciplinary AI research.

Closely related to computational applications, creativity is

also a crucial asset with respect to the game theory (e.g., en-

hancing one’

s own creativity while reducing the opponent’s

pacity for creativity is an effective stratagem). For example,

artificial swarm intelligence systems utilize game-theoretical

calculi which require “computational creativity” for the self-

organization of networked multi-agent systems (al-Rifaie et al.

2012) and it could be argued that creativity determines the

“degrees of freedom” of a given system. In sum, autonomous

systems are most effective when they have the capacity to

execute creative maneuvers (predictability and cognitive/

computational inflexibility are an operational and strategic

disadvantage). With history in sight, the question of how these

evolving “creative” autonomous systems are utilized in the

future is a topic of great humanistic concern, specifically given

the concentration of financial and, hence, political power al-

luded to in the introduction of this paper (see also Lin et al.

2008). It needs to be accentuated that surveillance of the gen-

eral civil populace is an ongoing issue (Bauman et al. 2014)

and that we are currently observing a restriction of freedom of

speech (e.g., algorithmic censorship) in many domains

(Arquilla 2011;Mausfeld2017, 2019). We argue that the de-

velopments of creative military AI have to be evaluated

against this broader historical and societal background as

these systems, once installed and implemented, could be uti-

lized for plutocratic/totalitarian cybernetic social control (and

not just the ostensible “war” on alleged terrorists which might

indeed be a deceptive pretext—a fairly creative and demon-

strably effective “foot-in-the-door” technique, as social psy-

chologists call it; Freedman and Fraser 2017).

With respect to “deceptive pretexts,” another obviously

related area of vested military interest is research on lying

and the detection of lies. Numerous studies have demonstrated

that creativity is related to the ability to deceive and to conceal

information (Gino and Ariely 2012; Gino and Wiltermuth

2014; Kapoor and Khan 2017) which is pivotal in relation to

military operations as the military routinely makes use of de-

ceptive maneuvers, as for example evidenced by operation

URL: htt ps:// www.dni.gov/index .php/ newsro om/pr ess- relea ses /press -

releases-2017

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NORTHWOODS.

That is, the ability to lie is linked to var-

ious facets of creativity such as divergent thinking (Walczyk

et al. 2008). Likewise, the ability to detect deception (e.g.,

deception detection accuracy) appears to be correlated with

creativity measures (cf. Walczyk and Griffith-Ross 2008).

Hence, creativity is pivotal with regard to military interroga-

tion tactics (which frequently include torture).

A historical vantage point is crucial to frame the discussion

appropriately. Psychopharmaceutical interventions were a de-

cisive component of the German Blitzkrieg in WWII, for in-

stance, the utilization of methamphetamine (Heal et al. 2013)

as an analeptic cognitive and physical performance booster.

During the Third Reich, Nazi “scientists” conducted extreme-

ly inhuman medical and psychological experiments in con-

centration camps (even on children). These experiments also

involved psychedelics (and other neuroactive chemicals)

for

the purpose of interrogation and psychological control, e.g.,

mescaline experiment in concentration camps in Dachau and

Auschwitz. Mescaline was the first psychedelic known to

Western science and it was used in the brutal “aviation tests”

at Dachau in which prisoners were crushed and frozen to death

(Jay 2019). The specified objective was “to eliminate the will

of the person examined”

with the overarching goal to devel-

op a “truth serum” (see also Keller 2004).

The mescaline

experiments were conducted by Dr. Kurt Plötner (University

of Leipzig).

After the war, more than 1700 high-ranking

German scientists (some of whom committed the most appall-

ing crimes against humanity) emigrated to the USA via the

top-secret operation PAPERCLIP (so named because of the

tons of “paperclipped” German documents which were

brought to the USA). Eventually, these scientists worked joint-

ly in classified programs with code names such as CHATTER,

BLUEBIRD,

ARTICHOKE, and MK-ULTRA (but see

Jacobsen 2014).

Dr. Plötner was among them and joined

the BLUEBIRD task force.

100

AreviewofJacobson’sbook

(op. cit.) which is published on the official CIA website (see

URL in footnote)

101

provides the following synopsis:

Operation NORTHWOODS is a paradigmatic historical example which

illustrates the dark side of creativity (Cropley et al. 2010). The pseudonym

refers to a plan which was formulated in 1962 (by the US Department of

Defense and the CIA) to commit acts of terrorism against American civilians

(false-flag attacks) in order to justify a war against Cuba (Bamford 2001). The

proposal included highly creative and deceptive strategies such as hijacking

planes and orchestrated violent terrorism in U.S. cities such as Miami and

Washington (inter alia). Moreover, the malignant (psychopathic) proposal in-

cluded the blowing up a U.S. ship, the attacking of a U.S. civil airliner (alleged

passengers were a group of college students off on a holiday), the spreading of

rumors in Cuba via clandestine radio, and even the manufacturing of evidence

to blame the Cuban government for the accidental death of the astronaut John

Glenn. The plan was approved by the Pentagon but rejected by President

Kennedy. This geostrategic example demonstrates that the importance of cre-

ativity in U.S. military expansionism and it shows the importance of game-

theoretical creative thinking. The world is seen as a “grand chessboard”

(Brzezinski 1997) and creative moves and deception are essential “to win

the war game.” The book entitled “PsyWar on Cuba” provides detailed back-

ground information on the case, and obvious parallels to the 9/11 “terrorist

attacks” have been drawn (Elliston 1999). The original NORTHWOODS doc-

ument (which was declassified in 2001) is accessible under the following

URL: https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/news/20010430/northwoods.pdf.

Given that the brain uses “electrochemical” signal transduction, there are

two pathways to interfere with its functions: (1) the chemical route and (2) the

electromagnetic route. Of course, both are of interest to the military and asso-

ciated intelligence agencies. The former is discussed here to some extent, while

the latter is omitted. We refer the interested reader to the highly controversial

and influential work of José Delgado on the electrical manipulation of the

brain (e.g., Delgado 1964; Delgado and Hamlin 1956) which has later been

used for the purpose of “behavior modification” in humans, e.g., direct elec-

trical stimulation of the amygdala via brain implants—intracerebral radio stim-

ulation (cf. Delgado, J.M.R. (1969). Physical Control of the Mind: Towards a

Psychocivilized Society. Harper and Row). Related contemporary

neurotechnological successor systems are, for example, implantable brain–

machine interfaces such as Neuralink™, a chronically implanted cortical

neuroprosthetic device (cf. Wang et al. 2013) which is currently widely popu-

larizedbyElonMusketalii(seeAnjana 2019). In theory, the cortical implant

provides (hackable) read and write access (770/777) to the brain. Musk out-

spokenly expressed the transhumanist long-term goal to achieve “symbiosis

with artificial intelligence.”

Further information on the utilization of mescaline in Dachau can be found

in the referenced report: U.S. Naval Technical Mission in Europe, Technical

report no. 331–45: “German aviation medical research at the Dachau concen-

tration camp” (1945).

Such pharmacologically assisted techniques facilitate “coercive interroga-

tion without causing physical assault.” In the context of contemporary praxis,

it has been pointed out that “shockingly, a great majority of countries despite

the implementation of laws against the torture and being signatories to various

international treaties are using torture (physical and mental) to ferret out truth

from an unwilling person” and further that “hypno-sedatives and psychotropic

drugs are presently being used to create a ‘twilight zone’ or ‘trance state’ to

break down the psychological defenses of enemy spies” (Kapoor et al. 2008).

More humanistically oriented researchers worked on the psychotherapeutic

effects of mescaline using “deep relaxation and free ideation” via “drug-in-

duced dream-like states” in order to “shorten the course of psychoanalysis” by

facilitation of profound insights (Frederking 1955, p. 262). During the therapy,

the patient is confronted with his “essential problems” while the substance is

psychologically active and further a “close connection between the subject and

his dreams” is established.

To “sing” like a bluebird

Several CIA subprograms systematically investigated extrasensory percep-

tion and telepathy (Jacobsen 2017). Note in this regard that the harmala alka-

loid “harmine” (which is found in the psychedelic phytochemical concoction

Ayahuasca) was previously termed “telepathine” (Chen and Chen 1939).

Harmine is a β-carboline which functions as a MAO blocker to enable the

oral activity of DMT (i.e., it is present in the vine Banisteriopsis caapi).

100

The recruitment of Plötner by the CIA is reported in the book “Mescaline:

A Global History of the First Psychedelic” (Jay 2019). A very different story is

disseminated on Wikipedia (*.de and *.com) according to which Plötner lived

in Schleswig-Holstein into the early 1950s under the alias “Kurt Schmidt.”

In recognition of his “scientific merits,” Plötner became in 1954 a professor

at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg. The university stated in 1961 in a

letter to the Ministry of Education (Baden-Württemberg) that Plötner did not

vio late any ethical norm s and that that his behavior was immaculate—

expressis verbis: “daß Herr Dr. Plötner in keiner Weise gegen menschliche

und ärztliche Ethik verstoßen, ja sich menschlich und ärztlich trotz der

gegebenen schwierigen Umstände ohne Tadel verhalten hat.” It is now evident

that Plötner lied during the investigations. For example, he conducted human

experiments with aggressively toxic chemical chlorine trifluoride and asserted

later that the compound would be completely harmless. See also: https://link.

springer.com/content/pdf/bbm%3A978-0-230-50605-3%2F1.pdf.

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https://www.cia.gov /librar y/ce nter-for-th e-st udy-of-intelligence/csi-

publications/csi-studies/studies/vol-58-no-3/operation-paperclip-the-secret-

intelligence-program-to-bring-nazi-scientists-to-america.html

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In 1949, the CIA created the Office of Scientific

Intelligence. Its first director, Dr. Willard Machle, trav-

eled to Germany to set up a special program to interro-

gate Soviet spies. The CIA believed the Russians had

developed mind-control programs and wanted to know

how US spies would hold up against this capability if

caught. He also aimed to explore the feasibility of cre-

ating a ‘Manchurian candidate’ through behavioral

modification. Thus, O peration Bluebird was born.

Bluebird, later called MKULTRA, was a research activ-

ity experimenting in behavioral engineering of humans.

The Nuremberg Code prohibits experimentation with

humans without their consent. During this program,

Dr. Frank Olson, a US Army biological weapons re-

searcher, was given the drug LSD without his knowl-

edge, leading to his death by leaping from a building.

DCI Richard Helms ordered much of the documentation

destroyed, and the circumstances of his demise remain

controversial to this day.

Given that a large proportion of documents were inten-

tionally destroyed, the full scope and the scientific results

of the MK-ULTRA programs remain unknown.

Furthermore, central figures were granted legal immunity

and numerous leading scientists simply continued their

prestigious careers in psychology, psychiatry, and

neuroscience—oftentimes in highly influential positions

within mainstream academia. The public never received

an adequate explanation why these illegal programs where

conducted (besides the usual exorbitantly exaggerated en-

emy image of Russia).

102

It is likely that the published

information only reveals the “tip of the iceberg” and one

can only speculate about how far MK-ULTRA really

went. It has been stated by Dr. Robert Lashbrook

(deputy director of MK-ULTRA) that the available docu-

ments were “boiler plate” cover files.

103

However, even

the superficial cover stories are clearly extremely

alarming from a human rights perspective.

Initially, psychedelics w e re intended for a new type of

warfare. For instance, Dr. Wilson Greene was a proponent

of “psychochemical warfare”, i.e., “hallucinogenic or psy-

chotomimetic drugs [...] whose effects mimic insanity or

psychosis.” Greene argued that if these substances would

be used against enemy soldiers that “there can be no

doubt that their will to resist would be weakened greatly,

if not entirely destroyed, by the mass hysteria and panic

which would ensue.” (Jacobsen 2014 ). Later, the CIA

foresaw much more extensive applications than just psy-

chochemical warfare on the battlefield and it extended

these initial programs into new domains (e.g., for the pur-

pose of interrogation and to destabilize individuals and

certain “uncongenial” groups within s ociety—such as

anti-war p olitical activists). For instance, MK-ULTRA

subproject #40 focused on “LSD-type compounds both

in laboratory and human beings” and the application of

aerosols (“nebulizing nonaqueous solvents”) to deliver

various psychochemicals of interest to “nonpsychotic

humans”.

104

One can only speculate about real-world ap-

plication methods of such creative ideas.

Psychedelics became a crucial component of the CIA

MK-ULTRA “mind control” agenda (which consisted of

more than 140 known subprojects, involved more than 80

universities and governmental institutions, and remained

completely unnoticed by the public—even congress was

allegedly entirely unaware of the multimillion-dollar pro-

gram). The covert program was outright illegal and uti-

lized LSD-25 and other psychoactive compounds in the

most unethical ways possibly imaginable (on unwitting

“subjects”). The main purpose of the program was to ma-

nipulate and control human beings, both on the individual

level and the level of mass psychology. MK-ULTRA

weaponized science, while the general populace was ab-

solutely nescient about the unethical experiments which

were conducted with the aid of taxpayers’ money. In

1975, the “Church Comm ittee” (formally the “United

States Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental

Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities”)inves-

tigated the voluminous case. The committee’s final report

was published in 1976 i n six books.

105

The report reveals

how clandestine and utterly unethical the governmental

agencies operated. Remarkably, one of the topics of focal

interest was retrograde amnesia, i.e., how to the erase

memory of past events and to then reprogram the mind

with new thoug ht and beh aviors, e.g., via h ypnosis

102

It is noteworthy that the USA is by a large margin the absolute world leader

in military spending—there is serious competition (but a lot of propaganda to

justify military spendings). The estimate for 2018 was ≈ $649 billion for the

USA, ≈ $61.4 for Russia, while the wo rld total was ≈ 1822 (Stoc kholm

International Peace Research Institute database, SIPRI). This expenditure is

reflective of the explicit goal of “full-spectrum dominance” (Joint Vision 2020,

U.S. Department of “Defense”). According to Wikipedia, “full spectrum dom-

inance includes the physical battlespace; air, surface and sub-surface as well as

the electromagnetic spectrum and information space. Control implies that free-

dom of opposition force assets to exploit the battlespace is wholly constrained”

(see also Armbrust and Chomsky 2005). The Nobel lecture by Harold Pinter

addresses this topic. URL: https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/2005/

pinter/25621-harold-pinter-nobel-lecture-2005/. Based on this ubiquitous

doctrine (i.e., a ruthless domination philosophy), it follows that the

domination of the “psychedelic space” is likewise of military/hegemonic in-

terest, specifically in reference to psychocybernetic control. We submit that

this topic is of utmost psychological relevance in the current political climate

which places great emphasis on indoctrination and mind control.

103

Source document: https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-

RDP99-00498R000100120112-7.pdf

104

Source document: https://archive.org/details/DOC_0000190090

105

Official reports on illegal intelligence gathering activities by U.S. federal

agencies can be accessed under the following URL: http://www.intelligence.

senate.gov/churchcommittee.html.

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(Winter 2011). Psychedelic played a crucial part in this

regard. The permanent changing of personality structures

was a related agenda. Techniques involved countless

drugs, hypno sis, sleep and sensory deprivatio n, electro-

shock experiments, induction of traumata and dissocia-

tion, etc. Experiments on tens of thousands of people

were carried out in the most callous and merciless ways

(in universities, hospitals, prisons, military facilities, i.a.,

without any regard for consensus of the naïve subjects). A

large spectrum of human psych ology and behavior w as

systematically investigated in this large-scale program

(Price 2007). It is noteworthy that one of the main private

sector funding bodies was the notorious Rockefeller

Foundation.

A disturbing case which has been associated with MK-

ULTRA is the legal case referred to as the “Unabomber”

(alias Ted Kaczynski). From 1959 to 1962, Harvard psy-

chologist Henry Murray subjected sophomores to psycho-

logically damaging experiments which entailed the ad-

ministration of LSD-25 and subsequent severe attacks on

the personality st ructures of participants. Evidence indi-

cates that Murray’s experimentations were covertly

funded via the MK-ULTRA program (Chase 2000).

Interestingly, Murray founded Harvard’s Social Relations

Department “whichwasfundedbycovertintelligence

agencies and the Rockefeller agency through which much

of his research was conducted” (Sand 2007,p.8).Oneof

the projects was the euphemistically termed “Multiform

Assessments of Personality Development Among Gifted

College Men”

106

which subjected participants to a series

of humiliating interrogations. The covert purpose of this

research agenda was to develop an “interrogation-stress

test.” The advertise d description of the exper iment was

vague and sounded rather harmless:

Would you be willing to contribute to the solution of

certain psychological problems (parts of an on-going

program of research in the development of personality),

by serving as a subject in a series of experiments or

taking a number of tests (average about 2 hours a week)

through the academic year (at the current College rate

per hour)?

Participants were not informed about the severity of the

ego-shattering psychological manipulations which would

be ap pl ied to them (no informe d consensus) and the ex-

periments involved psychological methods which are eth-

ically indefensible (such as brutal attacks on the ego un-

der the influence of psychedelics). It is of course difficult

to say in how far Kaczynski’s intense hate of psychology

and science was influenced by these profoundly traumatic

psychedelic e xperiences and if there is any causal relation

between these events and his later crimes which killed

numerous people (correlation ≠ causation; i.e., the “cu m

hoc ergo propter hoc” logical fallacy of implied causali-

ty). However, he writes the following in his manifesto

“Industrial Society and its Future” (Kaczynski 1995):

(§157) Assuming that industrial s ociety survives, it

is likely that technology will eventually acquire

something a pproaching complete co ntrol ov er hu-

man behavior. It has been established beyo nd a ny

rational doubt that human thought and behavior

have a largely biological basis. As experimenters

have demonstrated, feelings such as hunger, plea-

sure, anger and fear can be turned on and off by

electrical stimulation of appropriate parts of the

brain. Memor ies can be dest royed by damaging

parts of the brain or they can be brought to the

surface by electrical stimulation. Hallucinations can

be induced or moods changed by drugs. There may

or may not be an immaterial human soul, but if there

is one it clearly is less powerful that the biological

mechanisms of human behavior. For if that were not

the case then researchers would not be able so easily

to manipulate h uman feelings and behavior with

drugs and electrical currents.

(§158) It presumably would be impractical for all

people to have electrodes inserted in their heads so

that they could be controlled by the authorities. But

the fact tha t human thoughts a nd feelings a re so

open to biological intervention shows that the prob-

lem of controlling human behavior is mainly a tech-

nical problem; a problem of neurons, hormones and

complex molecules; the kind of problem that is ac-

cessible to scientific attack. Given the outstanding

record of our society in solving technical problems,

it is overwhelmingly probable that great advances

will be made in the control of human behavior.

Will public resistance prevent the introduction of

technological control of human behavior? It certain-

ly would if an attempt were made to introduce such

control a ll at once. But since technological control

will be introduced through a long sequence of small

advances, there will be no rational and effective

public resistance.

This very brief historical discourse provides an informative

background which emphasizes the enormous potential of sci-

entific abuse of psychedelic substances, that is, for military

dominance objectives, psychological manipulation, and for

the purpose of cybernetic social engineering. Unfortunately,

106

Full datasets (largely restricted access) and additional information on the

study are available under the following URL: https://dataverse.harvard.edu/

dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.7910/DVN/NKTIZD.

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humanity has clearly not learned from history

107

and immoral

torture programs (which make perfidious use of psychology

and neuroscience) are still being conducted in the twenty-first

century, e.g., Abu Ghraib

108

(Otterman 2017). Only very re-

cently, APA psychologists were accused of psychological tor-

ture in the context of military operations which led to a public

refusal of the APA to participate in future operations.

109

2003, the CIA and the APA conducted a workshop

(“Science of Deception: Integration of Practice and Theory”)

which discussed the use of sensory overload and pharmaco-

logical interventions. According to Harper, workshop at-

tendees were asked questions such as “What are the effects

of sensory overload on the maintenance of deceptive behav-

iors? How might we overload the system or overwhelm the

senses and see how it affects deceptive behaviors? What phar-

macological agents are known to affect apparent truth-telling

behavior?”

110

In a post festum attempt to justify the leaked

information, the APA subsequently wrote a statement which

later disappeared from their website

111

: “The workshop pro-

vided an opportunity to bring together individuals with a need

to understand and use deception in the service of national

defense/security with those who investigate the phenomena

and mechanisms of deception.” It has been argued that the

“attempt to hide its history is not surprising, because the kind

of activities discussed in these workshops are exactly like

those that involved CIA and military mind control torture

programs going back fifty years or more, and evidently still

operational today” (Kaye 2010).

5-Meo-DMT can be extremely destructive to the human

psyche when it is utilized with the wrong intentions. It is

therefore of utmost importance to develop legal frameworks

which prevent its application in military settings and especial-

ly in “situations of crisis” and in matters of “national security,”

the “ticking time bomb scenarios” (Brecher 2008) in which

the principles laid down by the human rights convention (e.g.,

Geneva Co nventions a nd the U.N. Convention Aga inst

Torture) are deemed to be no longer applicable for utilitarian

reasons (as implicitly argued, for instance, by David

Horowitz—founder of the conservative thin k tank “David

Horowitz Freedom Center”). Here is an example of a ticking

bomb Gedankenexperiment

11 2

(a hypothetical moral

dilemma):

Suppose that a person with knowledge of an imminent

terrorist attack, that will kill many people, is in the hands

of the authorities and that he will disclose the information

needed to prevent the attack only if he is tortured. Should

he be tortured? Should the most powerful psychoactive

substances known to science (in casu, 5-MeO-DMT) be

utilized to completely break down the persons sense of self

for the purpose of “enhanced” interrogation?

In the psychological literature on morality, similar provocative

decision-making scenarios have been experimentally investigat-

ed in extenso, e.g., the “trolley problem” and the “foot-bridge

dilemma” (more recently in virtual reality environments in order

to increase external real-world validity and generalizability of

results). There are generally two standpoints on morality: (1) a

utilitarian view and (2) a deontological view . We maintain that

torture should be denied on principle moral and ethical grounds.

That is, we ar gue from a deontological stance (à la Immanuel

Kant) as opposed to a utilitarian stance (à la David Hume).

Specifically, we submit that there are certain moral and ethical

boundaries which should never be transgressed, independent of

the contextual circumstances (viz., moral absolutism vs. moral

107

The following pertinent statements have been ascribed to John Edgar

Hoover who was the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation

(but see Gentry 1991): “When morals decline and good men do nothing, evil

flourishes. A society unwilling to learn from past is doomed. We must never

forget our history.” Furthermore, Hoover made the following epistemic state-

ment which is reminiscent of Festinger ’s cognitive dissonance theory

(Festinger 1957) and Lerner’s associated just-world belief hypothesis (Lerner

1997): “The individual comes face-to-face with a conspiracy so monstrous he

cannot believe it exists. The American mind has not come to a realization of

the evil which has been introduced into our midst. It rejects even the assump-

tion that human creatures could espouse a philosophy which must ultimately

destroy all that is good and decent.” On a different occasion, Hoover

reformulated this statement concerning “doxastic logic” : “The individual is

handicapped by coming face to face with a conspiracy so monstrous he cannot

believe it exists.”

108

For a morally engaging example which documents the “enjoyment” of

psychopathic torture by CIA personnel, see the following pictorial URL:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Ghraib_torture_and_prisoner_abuse#/

media/File:Sabrina-Harman.jpg. We provide this “emotionally disturbing”

information not as hyperrealist “war porn” (Baudrillard and Lotringer 2005)

but in order to raise awareness to the inhuman activities of the military—an

understanding which is crucial in order to appreciate the discussion at hand in a

realistic context. This is particularly necessary because the military–industrial–

entertainment complex (e.g., countless Hollywood movies, the “gaming” in-

dustry, etc.) generally depicts the military as an honorable and virtuous orga-

nization which “fights” for justice, freedom, and humanitarian values. The

military–industrial–entertainment complex thus creates implicit associations

(cf. Schreger and Kimble 2017) in the public mind (via hyperreal media in

the sense of Baudrillard) and scientists are not immune to these unconscious

associative imprints which often take place at a very early neuroplastic stage in

Piagetian/Kohlbergian cognitive/moral development. It is therefore necessary

to actively counteract these repetitive quasi-Hebbian strategies via reality-

based emotional priming. However , it can be argued that humanity has already

been thoroughly de

sensitized toward moral transgressions (and the suffering

of others) due to constant habituation and associated adaptive homeostatic

receptor–downregulation processes, i.c., emotion-dependent amygdala habit-

uation (for an fMRI-data based discussion of the phenomenon, see Plichta

et al. 2014). Such learning processes very likely have (quasi-Lamarckian)

epigenetic effects which thus affect the molecular biology (e.g., methylation/

gene expression) of subsequent generations of human beings (Dias and Ressler

2014), viz., besides direct environmental effects via Pavlovian/Skinnerian con-

ditioning and Bandura-type model learning/social learning).

109

See letter by the former APA President Alan E. Kazdin to George Bush:

https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2008/10/bush-interrogations.aspx

110

Source URL: https://harpers.org/blog/2010/05/apas-unpredictable-past/

111

The web never forgets and the statement has been mirrored by the Internet

Archive under the following URL: https://web.archive.org/web/

20030802090354/http:/www.apa.org/ppo/issues/deceptscenarios.html.

112

Adapted from the “Association for the Prevention of Torture” (APT).

URL: https://www.apt.ch/content/files_res/tickingbombscenario.pdf

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relativis m).

113

This is a meta-ethical position based on a priori

principles of moral rationalism.

There are several rather complex “special case” objections

to Kant’s categorical imperative, but as a general abstract heu-

ristic, the underlying moral principle is very accurate. It also

concords with Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolence

(Sanskrit: Ahimsā)

114

which is rooted in ancient Indian

Vedanta philosophy and asserts that violence against another

conscious being is never justifiable, under no circumstances

(categorically). We regard nonviolence as a moral axiom (an

aprioristic foundational moral primitive which defies further

reduction) in line with Kant’s unconditional stance.

“Handle nur nach derjenigen Maxime, durch die du

zugleich wollen kannst, dass sie ein allgemeines

Gesetz werde.”

Transl.: “Act only according to that maxim whereby you

can at the same time will that it should become a uni-

versal law.”

~ Immanuel Kant (1785), Grounding for the

Metaphysics of Morals

115

The application of 5-MeO-DMT in a military context can

have disastrous consequences because the compound

completely breaks down psychological defense mechanisms.

A person under the influence of 5-MeO-DMT is utterly de-

fenseless and the “interrogator” has consequently “god-like

sovereignty” (cf. Améry 1966). Stimuli which are normally

perceived as relatively harmless can be perceived as extremely

threatening and their impact can be synergistically amplified

in unpredictable ways—thereby causing irreversible psycho-

logical traumata. (We use the word trauma in the etymological

sense—a psychological wound.) Physical torture is always

also psychological torture, but it leaves open the theoretical

possibility to distance (dissociate)

116

psychologically from the

torturer which allows in principle for a partial coping with the

traumata. On the contrary, psychological torture targets the

very core of a human being and therefore destroys the entire

person and not “just” his/her physical body. In the hands of

malignant individuals, 5-MeO-DMT can be an extremely cru-

el and destructive neuropsychological weapon which can in-

duce a form of permanent damage which is unimaginable to a

normal person as it intervenes into the deepest core dynamics

of consciousness.

Given the rapid break down of 5- MeO-DMT within the

human organism (pharmacokinetic elimination), it is in prin-

ciple difficult to prove its illegal application post festum.It

follows on legal grounds that an absolute (universal) prohibi-

tion of the use of 5-MeO-DMT for military purposes is of

great importance (no “margin of discretion”).

117

Nullum

crimen, nulla poena si ne leg e (Jim enez de Asúa 1951;

Rauter 2017). This is especially pertinent in the present his-

torical context in which basic human rights have been repeat-

edly violated behind the facade of dubious political motives

(e.g., within the justificatory/exculpatory utilitarian frame of

“national security”). We cannot allow for double standards

and moral elasticity when it comes to human consciousness

itself!

118

Conclusion

We would like to close by reconnecting the topic back to the

introduction of this essay. In a recent PNAS article entitled

“T rajectories of the Earth System in the Anthropocene,” it has

been stated that: “Collective human action is required to steer

the Earth System [...] Such action entails [...] behavioral

changes, technological innovations, new governance arrange-

ments, and transformed social values” (Steffen et al. 2018,p.

8252).

We strongly agree with this general conclusion (note that

the term “Earth system” is used in the singular not in the

plural), and we argue that solidarity, collectivism, holism, mo-

rality, and altruism (as opposed to competition, individualism,

atomism, corruption, and egocentrism) are pivotal for the evo-

lution of humanity on this planet which Buckminster Fuller

metaphorically labeled as “spaceship earth” (Anker 2007)in

113

There are rather complex epistemological reasons for this position which

we omit in the interest of parsimony (e.g., based on Sôritês paradoxon, deduc-

tive logic, and the quasi-Popperian problem of demarcation, i.e., at what point

does a problem become a problem of “national security”).

114

In fact, ahimsā is not merely nonviolence but it is a principle of

nonharming. It is a principle with far-reaching moral implications (but see

Marques 2012) which also applies to animals and it is consequently of perti-

nence for experimentation on animals in science (see also Singer 1990).

115

Immanuel Kant, Gesammelte Schriften. Hrsg.: Bd. 1–22 Preußische

Akademie der Wissenschaften, Bd. 23 Deutsche Akademie der

Wissenschaften zu Berlin, ab Bd. 24 Akademie der Wissenschaften zu

Göttingen, Berlin 1900ff., AA IV, 421 / GMS, BA 52.

116

We suggest that “somatic disidentification” (i.e., the insight that “Iamnot

the body”) is a crucial therapeutic psychological mechanism with respect to the

treatment of various traumata with 5-MeO-DMT (e.g., sexual abuse, physical

abuse, but also body dysmorphic disorders such as anorexia nervosa which are

based on a strong identification with the physical aspect of human existence).

In another term, 5-MeO-DMT helps to transcendent the body/ego identity and

enables a higher “spiritual” identification which allows for emotional detach-

ment from traumata. This line of reasoning is based on the premise that the

transcendental experiences occasioned by 5-MeO-DMT facilitate a

remodeling/recasting of the self-concept (i.e., how the self is conceived).

117

The “Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form

of Detention or Imprisonment” adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1988

prohibits “methods of interrogation which impair the capacity of decision of

judgment.” (A/RES/43/173).

118

For instance, C.G. Jung wrote extensively about the “collective uncon-

scious” and we should be very cautious with any powerful interventions into

this domain of exi stence, espec ially when we are dealing with severely

(dissociative) traumatic procedures in a military context. Neuroscience has

only very recently begun to integrate the far-reaching implications which can

be derived from the rich history of analytical psychology (for a historical

discussion of various conceptualizations of unconscious processes in connec-

tion with contemporary neuropsychological findings, see Bob 2003).

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an attempt to emphasize the common fate of all “passengers.”

Fuller wrote the following in his final work entitled “Critical

Path” (Fuller 1981):

History shows that, only when the leaders of the world’s

great power structures have become convinced that their

power structures are in danger of being destroyed, have

the gargantuanly large, adequate funds been appropriat-

ed for accomplishing the necessary epoch-opening new

technologies. It took preparation for World War III to

make available the funds that have given us computers,

transistors, rockets and satellites to realistically explore

the Universe.

A similar argument could be articulated for the “inner uni-

verse.” Humankind has traveled through outer space and we

now possess detailed charts of the moon and many other ex-

traterrestrial objects. However, hitherto modern science is ut-

terly unable to provide a comprehensive cartography of the

human mind (let alone consciousness). Ergo, the great fron-

tiers of twenty-first century science are internal and psycho-

logical, and it should be psychologies primary focus to sys-

tematically chart the largely unexplored “antipodes of

mind”—the “terra incognita”—as Aldous Huxley eloquently

formulated it (Huxley 1954). In view of this, it has been ef-

fectively argued that the discovery of psychedelic neuroactive

substances is scientifically as important to the study of the

mind as the invention of the microscope to progress in chem-

istry or the telescope to astronomy (Grof 2000,p.297).We

would like to foreground that psychology is not reducible to

neuroscience—it is a different level of analysis (the persistent

“post hoc ergo propter hoc” fallacy is widespread; correlation

≠ causation).

Given the “extraordinary danger of the current mo-

ment”,

119

it is undeniable that we as human beings need

to radically change our egoistic behavior as a species;

otherwise, our existence on this planet will come to a

catastrophic end soon. It is of pivotal momentousness to

unveil perfidious attempts which try to exploit the present

potential for positive change for the justification of the

implementation of the neoliberal agenda which thrives

for further global centralization and hence concentration

of power (Coleman 2005; Mausf eld 2017; Smith and

Chomsky 1987). That is, real (or strategi cally self-

created) problems are used to legitimate measures (under

a false pretense) which would otherwise not be

admissable (cf. the politician’s syllogism).

120

History has

taught humanity that prima facie seemingly well-intended

motives have often been abused for the consolidation of

power, e.g., the “war on terror” (Melley 2017). The ego-

centric, competitive, and intrinsically antidemocratic prin-

ciples of neoliberal capitalism have invaded all domains

of life (Mausfeld 2019). Domain s in which they ar e utter-

ly inappropriate and obviously destructive, such as the

educational syste m,

121

the health care system, geriatric

care, the family systems, and even the scientific endeavor

itself

122

(cf. military Keynesianism within the military –

academic complex

123

). The egocentric neoliberal doctrine

has thus deeply influenced all aspects of human cognition

and behavior. As an implicit ideology, it has been gradu-

ally assimilated and is therefore largely imperceptible (in-

doctrinated ideologies govern behavior primarily via un-

conscious processes). Ludwig Wittgenstein termed this

type of imperceptibility “aspect blindness,” e.g., a fish

cannot see water. Sheldon Wolin (*1922, †2015) pro-

posed the term “ inverted totalitarianism” to describe a

situation in whi ch suppression and serv it ude are invers e ly

perceived as the highest form of freedom because the

mind is no longer capable to make any meaningful com-

parisons as it is no longer able to even imagine any alter-

natives to the dominant status quo (imagination and crea-

tivity are cognate, ergo, the systemic antagonism of these

higher-order mental faculties consolidates the status quo).

119

Expressis verbis from the official statement of the Bulletin of Atomic

Scientists. URL: https://thebulletin.org/2018-doomsday-clock-statement

120

The fallacy of the undistributed middle (non distributio medii): Major

premise: To improve things, things must change. Minor premise: We are

chan ging things. Conclusion: Therefore, we are improving things. N.B.

Often the proposed solution is depicted as “the only alternative.”

121

For example, Chomsky, N (2003). The functions of schools: Subtler and

cruder methods of control. In D. A. Saltman & D. Gabbard (Eds.), Education

as enforcement: the militarization and corporatization of schools. New York:

NY: Routledge, pp. 25–36.

122

The essential Humboldtian ideals of independent academic institutions

(which safeguard academic freedom) have been replaced by the military–in-

dustrial–academic complex and a profit-oriented business model (Chomsky

2015); see also the effects of intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation on creativity

(Prabhu et al. 2008).

123

The triad has been addressed in the book entitled “University in Chains:

Confronting the Military-Industrial-Academic Complex” (Giroux 2015).

Military Keynesianism refers to the stance that governments should increase

military expenditures to foster economic growth (see also Gilmore 1999). This

principle has been précised by Barney Frank: “These arguments will come

from the very people who denied that the economic recovery plan created any

jobs. We have a very odd economic philosophy in Washington: It’s called

weaponized Keynesianism. It is the view that the government does not create

jobs when it funds the building of bridges or important research or retrains

workers, but when it builds airplanes that are never going to be used in combat,

that is of course economic salvation.” Source URL: https://krugman.blogs.

nytimes.com/2009/06/24/weaponized-keynesianism/. Noam Chomsky wrote

extensively on the ubiquitous “militarization problem,” for instance in 1993 in

an article in Z MAGAZINE (entitled: The Pentagon System): “Social

spending may well arouse public interest and participation, thus enhancing

the threat of democracy; the public cares about hospitals, roads,

neighborhoods, and so on, but has no opinion about the choice of missiles

and high-tech fighter planes. The defects of social spending do not taint the

military Keynesian alternative, which had the added advantage that it was

well-adapted to the needs of advanced industry: computers and electronics

generally, aviation, and a wide range of related technologies and enterprises.”

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Aldous Huxley foresaw this development of psychologi-

cally manufactured consensus in a lecture entitled “The Final

Revolution”

124

delivered at the University of Berkley in 1962:

There will be, in the next generation or so, a pharmaco-

logical method of making people love their servitude,

and producing dictatorship without tears, so to speak,

producing a kind of painless concentration camp for

entire societies, so that people will in fact have their

liberties taken away from them, but will rather enjoy

it, because they will be distracted from any desire to

rebel by propaganda or brainwashing, or brainwashing

enhanced by pharmacological methods. And this seems

to be the final revolution.

In the present tense, Zeese and Flowers (2014)character-

ized the situation as follows:

We are living in a time of Inverted Totalitarianism, in

which the tools used to maintain the status quo are much

more subtle and technologically advanced. These in-

clude propaganda and control of the major media outlets

that hide the real news about conditions at home and our

activities around the world behind distractions such as

high-profile citizen trials and celebrity gossip. The ma-

jor electronic media, owned by six corporations nation-

wide, also routinely misinforms the public about domes-

tic and foreign policy. A recent example is the “Fiscal

Cliff.” Another tool is to create insecurity in the popu-

lation so that people are unwilling to speak out and take

risks for fear of losing their jobs and being unable to

afford food, a home and health care. Changes in the

work environment, such as the attack on unions and

the war on whistleblowers, have led to greater job inse-

curity. Changes in college education also silence dissent,

including the trend toward adjunct rather than tenured

professors. Adjunct professors, now comprising 85 per-

cent of faculty, are less willing to teach topics that are

viewed as controversial. This, combined with massive

student debt, are tools to silence the student population,

once the center of transformative action.

These quotations indicate that the problems humanity is

facing are not confined to the physical sphere (i.e., militariza-

tion and loss of biodiversity) but that the obliteration and

eradication is furthermore psychological. The neoliberal agen-

da has devastating effects on human morals, values, and be-

haviors. It will take significant longitudinal collective efforts

to counteract its cumulative effects on the human psyche, or

else future generations will become incapacitated to even con-

ceive alternative ways of thinking because the status quo is the

only Weltanschauung they have ever known.

Behavior is governed by thought and the basis of thought is

consciousness. Ergo, the deduced essential question is: How

can human consciousness be transformed for the better to

change the trajectories of the Earth system and to enable a

sustainable and free future for mankind? Science (and, ipso

facto, particularly psychology and neuroscience) plays a cen-

tral role in answering this question, and a systematic investi-

gation of the neurochemical substratum of consciousness (i.e.,

the essence of humanness) is consequently a decisive research

agenda which should be prioritized. Technological progress

andeconomicgrowthclearlycannot solve the present

problems—they are a part of it (mechanistic/materialistic so-

lutions cannot substitute for the lack of love which lies at the

very heart of the problem at hand). So far, contemporary sci-

ence has largely neglected the extraordinary experiences cat-

alyzed by various naturally occurring psychedelic materials,

some of which have been used as “neurocognitive tools” since

time immemorial across numerous cultures for the purpose of

healing and divination, in order to create states of communion,

empathy, and transcendence, and to facilitate deep inter- and

intrapersonal insights

125

(Jones 2007; Tupper 2002). Further,

the potential of the extremely powerful endogenous neuro-

chemical 5-MeO-DMT has not yet been explored at all (it is

wide-open uncharted scientific territor y). Spe cif ically, re-

search in the domain of creativity appears to be vital for spe-

cies survival because humanity needs to find alternative ways

of existence. If there is a chance that endogenous neurochem-

icals such as 5-MeO-DMT can catalyze a radical novel (less

egocentric and more loving) creative way of thinking which

fosters biophilia, egalitarian attitudes, solidarity, empathy, al-

truism, emotional intelligence, and noetic epistemological in-

sights into the interconnectedness of nature, and indeed all of

existence, then it is sciences moral obligation to take this po-

tential very seriously as creative change is de facto an evolu-

tionary matter of paramountcy. The transformational ego-

dissolving experience of nonduality might prove to be the

124

The lecture was delivered on the 20th of March 1962 at the Berkeley

Language Center. The original recording of the lecture can be found in the

UCLA Library Digital Collections as tape 157a under the following URL:

http://digital2.library.ucla.edu/viewItem.do?ark=21198/

zz00253vz2&maxPageItems=999.

125

The Ancient Greek aphorism “know thyself” (one of the 147 Delphic

maxims) is pertinent and some theorist hold that psychedelics were a quintes-

sential spiritual catalyst in the “Eleusinian mysteries” (Bizzotto 2018; Wasson

et al. 1979), a secret rite of passage which constituted a pivotal event in the

lives of numerous Greek thinkers who deeply influenced the very basis of

Western thought (among the initiates were with all likelihood eminent “lovers

of wisdom” such as Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Plotinus, and Cicero, i.a.).

According to Plato, the ultimate purpose of the initiation was the “assimilation

of divinity” and “to lead us back to the principles from which we descended”

(Taylor et al. 1969, p. 368) or what Plotinus described as the “the flight of the

alone to the alone,” an expression which echoes the Kaivalya Upanishad

(kaivalya means liberation; but see Deussen 1906). It is interesting to consider

Plato’s allegory of the cave this relation, e.g., the therein described immense

difficulty to face the sun after lifelong imprisonment in a confined cell of false

perception.

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quintessential antidote to the rigid, habitual, materialistic, du-

alistic, and egoic mindset which lies at the very core of the

existential crisis.

126

That is, an egoic and competitive mindset

is incompatible with the imperative need for collective action

and the interpersonal effects of transpersonal experienc es

might provide significant impetus to realize this communal

goal. The transformation of deep-seated plutonic self-

identity schemata (i.e., how h uman creatures conceive of

themselves) is perhaps the most pivotal aspect. The culturally

conditioned dualistic psychological schism which separates

man from nature (Fromm 1962) stands in sharp contrast with

an integral, interconnected, unitive, and holistic worldview.

Recently, a bipartite model of 5-HT signaling has been

proposed which is pertinent in this regard (Carhart-Ha rris

and Nutt 2017). It has been suggested that passive coping

127

(stress moderation via passive toleration of the stressor) is the

brain’s default modus (status quo) which is mediated via 5-

receptor signaling. Active coping (engaging and chang-

ing the cause of stress), on the other hand, is conjectured to be

mediated via 5-HT

signaling. Specifically, the authors pro-

posed that 5-HT

-mediated plasticity may be crucial “as the

level of adversity reaches a critical point.” The concept “plas-

ticity” was generically defined as the “capacity for change”

(but see Carhart-Harris and Nutt 2017).

With respect to paradigm change (i.e., a shift from a dual-

istic egocentric tier to an interconnected unitive tier), it is

important to note that in the past “revolutions of thought” have

been systematically subverted by the neoliberal “fin ancial

power élite” (Harvey 2007; Hill and Kumar 2009;Mausfeld

2019) which invests heavily into studies of social psychology,

group dynamics, and analyses of social movements (Mausfeld

2017; Sugarman 2015). Paradigm-shifting social energy is

intentionally diffused and systematically redirected toward

substitutional “strawman objectives.” Movements are infiltrat-

ed, “Red Herring strategies” are employed, and effective ac-

tivists are coopted or otherwise socially discredited via various

ad hominem arguments as a persona non grata.Bythispsy-

chological stratagem, real change, which targets the roots of

the problem, is prevented. In brevi, change is intentionally

inhibited by those who benefit from the corrupt status quo,

and powerful slogans such as “save the planet” and “change

for a better future” are taken advantage of to expedite the

ongoing process of centralization of power. Tactics to stymie

effective change include cognitive infiltration (Sunstein and

Vermeu le 2008, 2009), internal/external cooptation, exploita-

tion of the principles of group dynamics such as group pres-

sure and conformity, cybernetic methods such as algorithmic

censorship of digital information, various forms of psycholog-

ical manipulation such as induction of fear and distrust, etc.

(but see Chomsky 2016). The antagonism between creativity

and control is a long-standing issue which was central in the

historical context of the eighteenth-century enlightenment rev-

olution which shares many characteristics with the current

situation (Fromm 1962). Humanistic motives and neoliberal

capitalism are incompatible. The former seeks freedom and

equality, while the latter is based on control and exploita-

tion.

128

Creativity is fundamentally based on freedom and

liberty. Per contrast, neoliberal control is based on power

and suppression. Both are diametrically opposed and cannot

coexist in harmony (Gormley 2018;Harvey2007).

Besides challenging the destructive egocentric status quo,

epistemological insights into the nondual ontology of exis-

tence (e.g., dual-aspect monism/neutral monism)

129

challenge

some of the most central assumptions of contemporary main-

stream science, e.g., the notion of detached scientific objectiv-

ity which is a cognitive/epistemic illusion (Hoffman 2016;cf.

Wiseman 2015). A nondual conceptualization of reality might

force us to rethink our axiomatic (no nevidence based and

naïve) doxa (Bourdieu 1977) about the way we conceive re-

ality and practice science, e.g., the stipulated dichotomy be-

tween observer and observed

130

and the widespread belief that

the brain produces consciousness.

131

A nondual reconceptu-

alization is therefore implicitly perceived as a threat to the

widely adopted “quasi-Newtonian” status quo which has in

reality already been fundamentally revised by modern quan-

tum physics, viz., the widely held and mainly unquestioned

metaphysical assumption of local realism is no longer empir-

ically tenable (Handsteiner et al. 2017; Schlosshauer et al.

2013). A large proportion of mainstream science still operates

under an outdated deterministic Newtonian paradigm (from a

Bayesian epistemology perspective, an update of priors in the

light of new empirical evidence is required). “Belief bias”

plays a central part in this irrational situation (Evans et al.

1993). In his seminal book “The structure of scientific revo-

lutions,” Thomas Kuhn pointed out that it is a general phe-

nomenon that paradigm challenging anomalies “that subvert

the existing tradition of scientific practice” (Kuhn 1970,p.6)

are neglected as long as possible. Along the same line,

126

The Chinese logogram for the term “crisis” 危機 (pinyin: wēijī)iscom-

posed of “danger”

危and “opportunity” 機 (also “danger at a point of juncture”

but the exac t meaning i s polysemous and a matter of debate among

sinologists).

127

The concept of learned helplessness appears to be of relevance with respect

to passivity and 5-HT

agonism/antagonism (cf. Wu 1999).

128

For example, Immanuel Kant’s leitmotif Sapere aude (dare to think for

yourself) which he used in his es say “Beantwortung der Frage: Was ist

Aufklärung?” (Answering the Question: What Is Enlightenment?) from 1784.

129

As Bertrand Russel put it: “The whole duality of mind and matter [...] is a

mistake; there is only one kind of stuff out of which the world is made, and this

stuff is called mental in one arrangement, physical in the other.” (Russell 1913,

p. 15). Russel’s monism stands in sharp contrast with the (mainly unques-

tioned) “reductive materialism” working hypothesis which forms the predom-

inant basis of contemporary science.

130

Cf. Cartesian dualism and the Heisenberg cut (Atmanspacher 1997)

131

This view is gradually changing, for instance, Christof Koch stated in a

2014 Scientific America article that “the mental is too radically different for it

to arise gradually from the physical” (p. 2), thereby highlighting the explana-

tory gap in contemporary neuroscientific theorizing.

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Abraham Maslow discussed the “Psychology of Science” in

great detail in his eponymous book (Maslow 1962). Maslow

formulated a quasi-Gödelian critique of orthodox science and

its “unproved articles of faith, and taken-for-granted defini-

tions, axioms, and concepts.” Fundamental research on ex-

tremely powerful consciousness-expanding substances like

5-MeO-DMT might thus force us to rethink largely unques-

tioned axiomatic epistemological and ontological assump-

tions. Prima vista, this critical line of thought might sound

far-fetched and even absurd

132

but such an argumentum ad

lapidem constitutes no valid reason for the prima facie rejec-

tion of the idea.

From an anthropological perspective, it might be helpful to

look at the way indigenous cultures utilized 5-MeO-DMT

traditionally and how they related to the Earth system, to each

other, and to the Self (i.e., psyche and physis). From an evo-

lutionary vantage point, it might be argued that ego-dissolving

psychoactive plants and fungi played an important role in the

comparably harmonious (symbiotic) relationship which

governed man and nature before the industrial re volution

(McKenna 1992). Again, such a proposal predictably appears

absurd to the modern (hypertechnological) mind. However,

the present situation is more than merely absurd—it is clearly

pathological (e.g., nuclear weapons positioned all over the

globe—ready to launch at any time). Any real solution to

the “anthropogenic global crisis ” will be at odds with the

predominant status quo and will thus cause intensely virulent

cognitive dissonance in the minds of most passively obedient

dogmatic status quo followers (cf. Sir Francis Bacon’sanalo-

gy on “ants, spiders, and bees” expounded in his Novum

Organum,1620).

From a general philosophy of science and set-theoretical

perspective, it can be cogently argued that if science wants to

live up to its ideal to capture reality in its entirety, without

leaving any residue, it needs to integrate neurochemicals like

5-MeO-DMT into its modeling efforts—especially given the

fact that this alkaloid is an endogenous component of the

human brain and, ergo, in all likelihood of evolutionary rele-

vance (the role of 5-MeO-DMT in neurobiology is currently

utterly elusive and we argue that neurochemical vestigiality is

an unlikely explanation). In conclusio, any model which in-

corporates only a specific (a priori selected ) sub set of the

available quantitative and qualitative data is ipso facto at best

incomplete (and in the worst-case scenario prejudiced, dog-

matic, and systematically biased). We are confident that a

mature science will sooner or later investigate 5-MeO-DMT

in the context of human psychology and neurobiology. It is

just a matter of time—and of neuropolitics (cf. Rose and Abi-

Rached 2014). Nil desperandum. Tempora mutantur, nos et

mutamur in illis

133

—or to use the better-known Greek seman-

tic equivalent: Panta rhei. The fact that we are living in a

world which can change led Leibniz to the conclusion that

we are living in le meilleur des mondes possible.

134

We will end with three thematically interrelated quotations

from the distinguished polymath William James who was in-

trinsically interested in mystical and transcendental experi-

ences (as evidenced, inter alia, by his excellent book “The

varieties of religious experience”). In the introduction of his

essay “The hidden Self,” James articulated the following (a

quotation which might surprise those who stereotype James as

a prototypical exemplar of American pragmatism, while, in

actuality, his versatility and open-mindedness defies social

categorization):

The scientific-academic mind and the feminine-mystical

mind shy from each other’s facts, just as they shy from

each other’s temper and spirit. Facts are there only for

those who have a mental affinity with them. When once

they are indisputably ascertained and admitted, the aca-

demic and critical minds are by far the best fitted ones to

interpret and discuss them - for surely to pass from mys-

tical to scientific speculations is like passing from luna-

cy to sanity; but on the other hand if there is anything

which human history demonstrates, it is the extreme

slowness with which the ordinary academic and critical

mind acknowledges facts to exist which present them-

selves as wild facts with no stall or pigeon-hole, or as

facts which threaten to break up the accepted system. In

psychology, physiology, and medicine, wherever a de-

bate between the Mystics and the Scientifics has been

once for all decided, it is the Mystics who have usually

proved to be right about the facts, while the Scientifics

had the better of it in respect to the theories. (James

1890, pp. 361–362)

James conducted self-experiments with the gaseous chem-

ical compound nitrous oxide and the mescaline

135

containing

psychedelic cactus “peyote” (Lophophora williamsii). He was

enthusiastic about the effects of nitrous oxide (which is not a

genuine psychedelic) and it has been argued that his first-hand

experiences with this dissociative anesthetic played a central

132

“If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it.” ~ Albert

Einstein (as cited in Hermanns and Einstein 1983)

133

Transl.: “Times are changed; we, too, are changed within them.” In the

context at hand, this implies that no ideology ever survived the test of time.

Change is the only historical constant (a tautological statement evocative of the

self-referential “Liar paradoxon” and Gödel’s incompleteness theorem).

134

Transl.: “The best of all possible worlds” in Essais de Théodicée sur la

bontédeDieu,lalibertédel’homme et l’origine du mal (Essays of Theodicy on

the Goodness of God, the Freedom of Man and the Origin of Evil) published in

1710.

135

Mescaline (3,4,5-trimethoxyphenethylamine) is a naturally occurring psy-

chedelic alkaloid in the phenethylamine class which was first isolated by the

German pharmacologist and chemist in Arthur Heffter in 1897 who conducted

self-experiments to compare mescaline with peyote (cf. Kauder 1899;Lewin

1894).

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role for the development of some of his most central ideas on

mysticism and revelation (Moon et al. 2018). However, his

experimentation with the truly visionary peyote

136

was unfor-

tunately unsuccessful. One can only speculate: Which turn

would Western psychology have taken if James’ mind would

have entered the psychedelic realm? James concluded his pa-

per on nitrous oxide inhalation as follows:

It seems, indeed, a causa sui, or ‘spirit become its own

object’. My conclusion is that the togetherness of things

in a common world, the law of sharing, of which I have

said so much, may, when perceived, engender a very

powerful emotion; that Hegel w as so unusually

succeptible [sic] to this emotion; throughout his life that

its gratification became his supreme end, and made him

tolerably unscrupulous as to the means he employed;

that indifferentism is the true outcome of every view

of the world which makes infinity and continuity to be

its essence, and that pessimistic or optimistic attitudes

pertain to the more accidental subjectivity of the mo-

ment; finally, that the identification of contradictories,

so far from being the self-developing process which

Hegel supposes, is really a self-consuming process,

passed from the less to the more abstract, and terminat-

ing either in a laugh at the ultimate nothingness, or in a

mood of vertiginous amazement at a meaningless infin-

ity. (James 1882)

Years later, James eloquently articulated the importance of

unbiased and eclectic inquiry in light of his “radical empiri-

cism” stance. The entire disquisition is presented in his essay

“A World of Pure Experience”:

To be radical, an empiricism must neither admit into its

constructions any element that is not directly experi-

enced, nor exclude from them any element that is direct-

ly experienced. For such a philosophy, the relations that

connect experiences must themselves be experienced

relations, and any kind of relation experienced must be

accounted as 'real' as anything else in the system.

Elements may indeed be redistributed, the original plac-

ing of things getting corrected, but a real place must be

found for every kind of thing experienced, whether term

or relation, in the final philosophic arrangement. (James

1904,p.534)

Funding Information This work was funded by the European Union

Marie Curie Initial Training Network Marie Curie Actions: FP7-

PEOPLE-2013-ITN-604764.

Compliance with Ethical Standards

Conflict of Interest The author declares that he has no conflict of

interest.

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