5-Methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine: An Ego-Dissolving Endogenous Neurochemical Catalyst of Creativity
Christopher B. Germann

Activitas Nervosa Superior
The Journal for Neurocognitive Research
ISSN 2510-2788
Act Nerv Super
DOI 10.1007/s41470-019-00063-y
https://doi.org/10.1007/s41470-019-00063-y

IDEAS AND PERSPECTIVES

5-Methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine: An Ego-Dissolving Endogenous
Neurochemical Catalyst of Creativity
Christopher B. Germann 1
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-HT1A/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 network, increased global functional connectivity, neuroplasticity, σ1 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-HT2A agonism . Creativity . Nonduality . Anthropocene . Cognitive liberty . Neuroethics

* Christopher B. Germann
mail@christopher-germann.de; https://www.cognovo.net/
christopher-germann
1 CogNovo.eu, Plymouth, United Kingdom

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 subsequent 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 classified. Consequently, they live far more in the real world
of nature than in the verbalized world of concepts, abstractions, expectations, beliefs and stereotypes that
most people confuse with the real world. This is well
expressed in [Carl] Rogers’ phrase ‘openness to experience’ (Maslow 1968, p. 145, content in brackets added).
Humanity is currently de facto confronted with an unprecedented existential crisis which could be described as an “anthropogenic planetary emergency.” One major acute threat to
the survival of the species comes from the military and the

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constant danger of nuclear annihilation, another from the destruction of the global ecosystem, and the significant and extremely 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 contemporary 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 Bertrand Russell, inter 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 agriculture. But, if population continues to increase at the present 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.
Such a situation can hardly fail to lead to world war. If
there is not to be an endless succession of wars, population 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 Förster1 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 following hyperbolic equation:
N¼

C
t 0 −t

1
The cybernetician Heinz von Förster worked successfully in radar laboratories 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 subsequent section.

where C and t0 are constants, whereas t0 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 t0 = A.D.
2026.87 ± 5.50 (op. cit., p. 1293) but rather that the prognosticated longitudinal trend would change into a different direction before the critical calendrical value is reached. Other researchers 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
Anthropocene2 (Lewis and Maslin 2015) are primarily caused
by the irrational, short-sighted, reckless, and ego-driven behavior 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 outcomes in the future are regarded as less important (time-additive discounted utility function),3 a phenomenon which is also
observable in nonhuman primates (Hwang et al. 2009).
However, there appear to be significant cross-cultural variations 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, countless 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 successful long-term strategies.
However, our current capitalistic “economic” system is primarily based on marketing principles which systematically
2

The present epoch is also termed the sixth mass extinction or “Holocene
extinction” (Barnosky et al. 2011; Ceballos and Ehrlich 2018; Ripple et al.
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; Worm et al. 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.
3
Temporally discounted utility refers to the value of a delayed reward multiplied 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 “impulsivity construct” (e.g., poor self-control) has also been associated with
genetic predispositions (Anokhin et al. 2011).

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create desires and exploit impulsivity, e.g., methods of “nagging psychology” which explicitly target developing children,
and, more recently, highly effective “neuromarketing” techniques 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 hedonic processes (cf. Olds and Milner 1954). According to resource models of self-control (e.g., Baumeister et al. 2007),
the inherently limited capacity to regulate impulses and desires needs to be practiced (the “muscle analogy of self-control”, 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”4 (cf. Williams and Grisham 2012) which is combined with wasteful production principles such as “planned
obsolescence” (Guiltinan 2009) in order to stimulate economic growth (one of the explicit maxims of contemporary macroeconomics). There exists a ubiquitous focus on material
externalities which is evidenced by the abundance of consumer 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 difference 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” consumption dichotomy and a “separationist Weltanschauung” which
conceptualizes nature as an objectifiable and exploitable resource 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 principally based on utilitarian premises which do not incorporate
human values, ethics, and morality. Terms like “sustainability” and “responsibility” are strategically employed by the
massive public relations industry as described by Orwell in
the context of “newspeak,” i.e., psycholinguistic semantic inversion techniques are widely utilized as a facade (see also
Chakravartty and Schiller 2010; Wals and Jickling 2002). In
sum, these psychosocioeconomic factors destroy nature,
4

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).

antagonize rationality, and foster egocentrism, irrationality,
and short-sighted thinking.
The present modus operandi is congruent with the destructive philosophy of neoliberalism5—a doctrine which is highly
influential among the “financial power élit”6 (Harvey 2007;
Hill and Kumar 2009). The continuation of the current irrational course of action will predictably lead to total ecological
catastrophe in the foreseeable future (Ceballos et al. 2017)
unless humanity comes up with a radical7 creative solution.
Due to inherent species-specific cognitive and epistemological limitations, prescience is intrinsically bound. Human
beings cannot possibly know the exact threshold of the “multifactorial nonlinear complex systems equation” which determines 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 “Laplacian Demon”8 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 equilibrium state and a “singularity” ensues (not to be confused with
the dystopian AI singularity advertised by prominent advocates of transhumanism). The grand concept of the fine5

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 significantly factors into the equation of “the great acceleration” (Steffen et al. 2015).
It is important to emphasize that the problem has interdisciplinary ramifications which cannot be fragmented—a creative transdisciplinary solution is
needed.
6
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 population) 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-getricher” mechanism.
7
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).
8
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, humankind has changed the natural order (the Humboldtian
Kosmos) for rather dubious reasons. Irrational primitive psychological 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 illusionary. 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 psychological defense mechanisms (e.g., quasi-Freudian suppression at
the level of mass psychology).
In 2018, the figurative “Doomsday Clock” maintained by
the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists was set to “2 minutes to midnight.”9 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
sapiēns10 wants to survive this century. A creative solution to
this far-reaching existential problem is thus literally a matter of
life or death.11 As Einstein put it in a New York Times interview: “… a new type of thinking is essential if mankind is to
survive and move toward higher levels.”12 One of the key
components of the solution is a deep first-person emotive comprehension that the earth is a single complex system—an interconnected whole to which we as human beings belong.
Deeply intertwined with sociopolitical factors, there are systematic psychological barriers which impede rational change:
for instance, the “status quo bias” which refers to an unconscious (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 advantageous (Kahneman
et al. 1991). From a social group-dynamics perspective,
9

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 neologism Homō consumens has been proposed (Fromm 1976) as a more accurate/
realistic designation given the contemporary utilitarian production and consumption orientation of the species (Baudrillard 1998).
11
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.
12
Source: New York Times—May 25, 1946, p. 13—“Atomic Education
Urged by Einstein” URL: https://nyti.ms/2NpSc8L
10

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 contagious (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 rejecting the default, a mechanism
that may be important in a range of difficult choice scenarios”
(S. M. Fleming et al. 2010, p. 6005). The experimental study
documented a selective increase in neuronal activity in the subthalamic 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 neuropsychophysiological data might
provide important insights how to overcome the persistent status quo bias and the results indicate the importance of inhibitory
cognitive control mechanisms (cf. studies on self-control/resource models of executive prefrontal functions).13 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

13
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 selfcontrol) 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 selfdiscipline 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 utmost importance and governmental institutions and funding
bodies should acknowledge the significance and urgency14 of
this “wicked problem” (DeFries and Nagendra 2017) which has
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’s New Clothes” (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 all likelihood be 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 quasiBayesian epistemological desideratum). Per contrast, humans
defend elementary belief tenets which fundamentally
(axiomatically) structure their perspective on reality, consciously and/or unconsciously, and one might argue that Hebbian
principles of long-term potentiation provide a neuronal “morphometric” explanation for cognitively inflexible “belief networks”15 (i.e., consolidation/dominance of specific neuronal
pathways—any deviation is associated with computational outcome uncertainty). “Belief bias” (Evans et al. 1993) is one
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 a priori beliefs. 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 dualprocess 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 cognitive 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 heuristic 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 psychology,” the eugenist Sir
Francis Galton formulated the following quasi-Darwinian argument on behavioral/cognitive/attitudinal conformity in his
book “Inquiries into the Human Faculty” (1983, p. 51 et seq.,
cap.: “Gregarious and Slavish Instincts”):

14
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).
15
The Quinan “Web of Beliefs” (Quine and Ullian 1978) provides an applicable semantic analogy to (Bayesian) neural network connectivity and the
process of “belief updating” (i.e., modification of weights between neuronal
nodes).

“When we see that almost everything men devote their
lives to attain, sparing no effort and encountering a thousand 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, decorations, but also wealth, nay, even knowledge and art, are
striven for only to obtain, as the ultimate goal of all effort,

“An incapacity of relying on oneself and a faith in others
are precisely the conditions that compel brutes to congregate 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 barbarians. [...] 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 individual 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 modern days must have had a frightful influence in eliminating independence of character from the human race.”
Much earlier, in 1851, the charismatic German philosopher
Arthur Schopenhauer wrote the following on the detrimental
effects of conformity and “public opinion”:

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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 civilization, 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 people 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 accordingly 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 important 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 celebrated romance, Juzman de Alfarache, that many infatuated
criminals, instead of devoting their last hours to the welfare of their souls, as they ought to have done, neglect this
duty for the purpose of preparing and committing to
memory a speech to be made from the scaffold.”
(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 prerequisite 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 consciousness—a superficial assumption which fits into the dominant contemporary materialistic and utilitarian “production habitus”16 which places
16
The computer analogy (Casey and Moran 1989) forms the conceptual metaphoric 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 eighteenth 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.

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-breaking creative ideas can emerge from “nonordinary” states of consciousness (Tart 1972, 2008). A welldocumented 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 Ouroboros (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 development of modern chemistry can hardly be overstated.
Interestingly, the Swiss depth-psychologist C.G. Jung assigned
particular archetypal and alchemical significance to this ancient
symbol17 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 consciousness, and
which will remain psyche no matter how far our egoconsciousness extends. For all ego-consciousness is isolated; because 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, besides dreams, parapraxis, and free-association techniques,

17

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 excavations 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 unconscious psychic contents more accessible.18 Certain neuroactive chemical substances, colloquially termed “psychedelics,”19 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 substances20 (i.e., substances that produce or enhance dream-like states of consciousness which is of pertinence for modern oneirology).21 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).
18
Much later, Walter Frederking utilized mescaline and LSD-25 for psychotherapy in order to facilitate “deep relaxation and free ideation” via “druginduced 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.”
19
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 manifesting” or “soul revealing” substances. Similarly decomposed, psychology is “the
study of” the “mind, soul, and spirit”—even though most contemporary psychologists 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.
20
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 (Nacetyl-5-methoxy-tryptamine) and 5-MeO-DMT (5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine). There are numerous hypotheses which link dream states to creativity (e.g., Bob and Louchakova 2015).
21
It has been shown that the emotional valence of dreams can be systematically influenced by extraneous (i.c., olfactory) stimuli. It has been experimentally demonstrated that a positive smelling stimulus (rose smell) induced positive 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 purposes). Furthermore, in relation to dreams and creativity research, “disjunctive
cognitions” are another dream-state phenomenon of significant interest.
During the perception of “interobjects,” the dreamer experiences novel disjunctive 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 noncontradiction, and the law of identity. It has been argued that dream events oftentimes
feel bizarre but that disjunctive cognitions usually do not. The following example 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
the fact that Capgras’ 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).

From a purely pragmatic vantage point on creativity,
the crucial importance of psychedelics in the technological 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 (and interconnected)
the world we inhabit (see Markoff 2005; Nelson 1975).
A similar argument could be made with respect to the
development of cybernetics as an interdisciplinary metadiscipline, e.g., the Macy conferences.1122 Besides the
influence of psychedelics on the development of uniting
(i.e., boundary dissolving) information technologies like
the world-wide-web, innumerable artists across disciplines, epochs, and cultures have been deeply inspired
by transcendental experiences occasioned by psychedelics, 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 expression (e.g., Kandel 2015). For reasons of space and
parsimony, we omit a discussion of this extremely rich
area.
Eminent contemporary instances of “psychedelically-inspired creativity” include, for example, the entrepreneur
Steve Jobs and Nobel laureate Karry Mullis.23 Jobs famously reported that his experience with lysergic acid
diethylamide (LSD) was one of the most important things
he did in his whole life, a statement which recently gained
experimental empirical support. 24 Biochemist Karry
Mullis was even more explicit (Mullis was honored for
his ground-breaking work on the polymerase chain reaction 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 lot 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). Mullis claimed that his
ability to “get down with the molecules” was facilitated by
LSD (Slattery 2015). Moreover, he wrote in his autobiography: “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 title of Aldous Huxley’s
influential book “The Doors of Perception” (Huxley 1954)
22

Cf.: Glaser, Gilbert (1955). “Neuropharmacology—transactions of the first
conference”. The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine. 28(1), 78–79.
23
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).
24
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 (3,4,5trimethoxyphenethylamine) which was administered to
him by the British psychiatrist Humphrey Osmond25 who
initially coined the term “psychedelic.” Huxley wrote the
following couplet in a letter to Osmond:
“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”
Huxley26 adopted the title of his mescaline-inspired book
from a phrase found in William Blake’s 1793 poem “The
Marriage of Heaven and Hell”. Blake wrote: “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.”27 According to Huxley and
Blake, the transcendence of the self-centered perspective which
is associated with rigid ego structures enables the percipient to
perceive reality in “new light” and from a more impartial and
universal perspective. Likewise, Schopenhauer28 wrote the following in 1831 in a chapter entitled “Genius and Virtue”: “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 contemplation 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).
25

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).
26
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 MKULTRA program (discussed subsequently) which entailed psychological experimentation with psychedelic substances on naïve and nonconsenting subjects (oftentimes with extremely harmful consequences).
27
A connatural conception can also be found in Plato’s “Allegory of the
Cave.” Plato was very much concerned with eternal forms and most mathematicians 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).
28
Eristische Dialektik: Die Kunst, Recht zu behalten (transl.: Eristic dialectic:
the art of winning an argument)

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 neurochemical tools which profoundly change perception and reveal states of consciousness that lie far beyond ordinary waking “states.” Moreover, these pharmacological agents possess
the ability to catalyze the most “extraordinary” psychological
phenomena known to science, e.g., transcendence of experiential space–time, synesthesia/somasthesia/ideasthesia, spectacular visual hallucinations/illusions,29 ineffable imaginations/phantasmagoria, indescribable feelings of awe,30 intense
emotional catharsis, out-of-body experiences, expansion of
consciousness, phenomenological access to higher dimensions of being, experiential access to unconscious/archetypal
contents, profound noetic insights, enhanced biophilia, amplified 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.31 In a
“state” of nondual consciousness, habitual categorical dichotomies which ordinarily structure all experiences are dissolved,
29

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 appearances 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 correlated 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 understanding of illusions and hallucinations seems to be important for a more
detailed understanding of the processes which undergird creativity. This epistemological 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).
30
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).
31
The concept of nonduality constitutes the nucleus of the Indian philosophical 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 contextualize various perceptual, affective, or cognitive contents
without fragmenting the field of experience into habitual dualities” (Josipovic 2014). The discussion of nondual consciousness has an extensive history in various ancient contemplative 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 recently become a topic in the neurosciences, and we are unaware of any controlled research which explicitly connects
nondual consciousness with creativity. We submit that interdisciplinary 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 research, 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 neurochemical research tools that can significantly broaden our understanding 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 rational scientific problem solving (Harman et al. 1966). After
an initial phase of systematic scientific research, the legal prohibition of psychedelics in the late 1960s put an abrupt halt to
the short-lived but very promising research agenda,32 primarily due to the questionable “War on Drugs” which was initiated by the Nixon administration for evidently perfidious/
ominous motives.33

32

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 psychedelics 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.
33
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.”

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; Sessa 2012)
using modern psychological methodologies and advanced
neuroimaging technologies (Carhart-Harris et al. 2012;
Muthukumaraswamy et al. 2013; Roseman et al. 2016;
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 specifically on the role of psychedelics on creativity is virtually absent34 and the compound 5-MeO-DMT has to date not been
investigated in a rigorous manner.35 In connection to our previous 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 neurotransmitters 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 2013). Today,
the fact that neurotransmitters influence cognition is taken for granted. However, before 1952, serotonin was
thought to be a vasoconstrictor (hence the composite lexeme “sero-tonin ”). In 1952–1953, serotonin (5hydroxtryptamine, 5-HT) was discovered in the brain by
Betty Twarog, Irvine Page, and Sir Henry Gaddum (for a
historical review, see Twarog 1988). 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 compounds and theorized that the neurocognitive effects 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 connection for the first time in the documented history of
34
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.
35
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 neurobiology 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 5HT might play a role in cognition (Cozzi 2013). This
historical example clearly demonstrates that the systematic study of psychedelic compounds is indispensable if
science wants to deepen its understanding of various psychological 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 provide important novel insight into the neural correlates of its currently only vaguely and anecdotally characterized 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 psychopharmacological interventions and aid in the elucidation of hitherto
unidentified neurotransmitter systems (cf. the pathbreaking discovery of the endogenous cannabinoid system
which heralded a new and rapidly growing field in medicine). In addition, 5-MeO-DMTs’ molecular structure
could be systematically varied (cf. Shulgin and Shulgin
1997) in order to rigorously explore structure–activity relationships. Such research might in theory lead to the discovery of “super-agonists” (Langmead and Christopoulos
2013).36 The exploration of synergistic effects with other
naturally occurring psychoactive substances (e.g.,
ibogaine; Barsuglia et al. 2018; Glick and Maisonneuve
1998; Winkelman 2015) is another hitherto uncharted and
potentially very fruitful research area. In addition, allosteric modulators are of great scientific interest in this respect (cf. Schwartz and Holst 2007). 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. SanchezRamos 2015). The appurtenant open research question
is: What are the neuropsychopharmacological and phenomenological differences between the pure compound
(5-MeO-DMT synthesized in the laboratory) and the compound 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, we will now discuss two
36
Supraphysiological describes a level of efficacy which is unseen in organisms which evolved according to the principles of natural evolution.

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 argue that an understanding of the psychological and neurophysiological processes which undergird ego dissolution
(i.e., nonduality) is pivotal for advancing our scientific understanding 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 falsifiable 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-dimethyltryptamine) is an indole alkaloid (a structural relative of 5-MeODMT)2537 first synthesized and named by the Swiss chemist
Albert Hofmann2638 (Hofmann et al. 1959, Hofmann et al.
1958a, 1958b). After the elucidation of its chemical properties, the active principle, psilocin (4-hydroxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine), 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 numerous 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 (serotonin). In humans, psilocybin functions as a prodrug and is
rapidly dephosphorylated to psilocin which acts as a nonselective partial 5-HT receptor agonist. It shows particularly
high binding affinity for the 5-HT1A, 5-HT2A, and 5-HT2C
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 personality changes in the domain “openness to experience,” as measured by the widely used NEO-PI (Personality Inventory).
37
Even though the chemical structure of both compounds is very similar, their
psychological effects are incommensurable.
38
Albert Hofmann (1906–2008) also discovered LSD in 1938, but he was
unaware of its psychoactivity until 1943 when he conducted the first selfexperiment. 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 miracles 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) esthetic appreciation and sensitivity, (2) fantasy and imagination, (3) awareness of feelings in self and others, and (4) intellectual engagement, inter alia.39 Most relevant for the context at hand is the fact that OTE has a strong and reliable
correlation with creativity (Ivcevic and Brackett 2015;
Kaufman et al. 2016; Silvia et al. 2009).40 Individuals with
high scores on the OTE dimension are “permeable to new
ideas and experiences” and “motivated to enlarge their experience into novel territory” (DeYoung et al. 2005).
Furthermore, OTE is associated with personality trait “absorption” (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 dichotomy between the sensor and sensed, the percipient and perceived, the seer and seen, transiently dissolves into a state of
union which is devoid of any intermediary imagistic, symbolic, or linguistic cognitive preconceptions which usually intercede 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 interval41 which generally mediates between subject and object
and therefore prestructures the field of experience in a dualistic 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 intensity 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
39

Interestingly, in the present context, OTE has been correlated with the
ability to recall dreams (Watson 2003).
40
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 correlation 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).
41
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 associated with phenomenological aspatiality and atemporality.

peak experience of nonduality. Based on this evidence, we hypothesize 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 before. OTE is associated with explorative behavior, novelty seeking,42 and cognitive flexibility. From a neuroscientific perspective, 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.43 The social environment may thus entrain
the “Hebbian status quo”, i.e., the social milieu consolidates specific neuronal circuitry (via social conditioning, education, enculturation, 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 conceptualize 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 topology, 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 network connectivity pattern which balances and synchronizes the
polar extremes (i.e., adaptive/dynamic cognitive coherence). We
argue that the balance between neuronal differentiation and integration 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 “associationist/
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., psilocybin, LSD, or 5-MeO-DMT) are mediated by increases in functional connectivity in specific networks, i.e., specifically those

42

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 psilocybin or 5-MeO-DMT) which in turn reinforce their open-mindedness.
43
Using human cerebral organoids and in silico analysis, it has been demonstrated 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 σ1 receptor. Because σ1R 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; Smigielski et al. 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 consciousness 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 intravenously to healthy volunteers. The researchers found that LSDinduced ego dissolution was statistically significantly correlated
with an increase in global functional connectivity density (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. (2011), mystical44 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 connectivity under the acute influence of the psychedelic. In concreto,
increased global activity was observed bilaterally in the highlevel association cortices and the thalamus (often regarded as the
brains “central information hub” which relays information between various subcortical areas and the cerebral cortices). The
global activity increase in the higher-level areas partially overlapped with the default mode, salience, and frontoparietal attention networks. The FCD changes in the default mode and salience network were predicted a priori due to their association
with self-consciousness. As predicted, a significant correlation
between subjectively 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).45 The observed changes in activity significantly correlated with the anatomical distribution of
5-HT2A receptors. We argue that these findings are highly
44
Bertrand Russel discussed the links between mysticism, creative intuition/
insight, and logic in great detail in his excellent essay “Mysticism and logic”
(Russell 1981).
45
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), specifically the chapter entitled “On the Associations of Ideas.”

relevant for the identification of the neural correlates of creativity
because it is reasonable to postulate that an enhanced communication répertoire between previously disconnected neuronal
network modules is crucial for the generation of novel ideas
(cf. Moore et al. 2009). Moreover, associative processes are
generally assumed to play a key role in creativity (Lee et al.
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
neurophysiological marker of creative thinking ability.”
Tagliazucchi et al. concluded that LSD reorganizes the richclub 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 modular networks of the brain.46 In conclusio, Tagliazucchi et al.
(2016) demonstrated that LSD-induced ego dissolution is accompanied by significant changes in neuronal rich-club architecture and that ego dissolution is accompanied by the downregulation of the default mode network (DMN).47 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 accompanied by the phenomenology of ego dissolution) is an important component for understanding the functional connectome
which undergirds creativity. Based on these findings, we propose a novel neuropsychopharmacological mechanism for the
enhancement of creativity which has, to our best knowledge,
never been proposed before. Our hypothesis highlights the importance of ego dissolution for the enhancement of creativity.
That is, a reduction of the influence of self-referential ego structures (ex hypothesi mediated via DMN disintegration) on perception and cognition enables perspectival multiplicity and cognitive flexibility which is crucial for creative ideation. Based on
the conjecture that ego dissolution provides a “cognitive reset”
46

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 associated 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.
47
Recent evidence focusing on changes in the coupling of electrophysiological 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 bottomup information transfer from inhibition (Francesc Alonso et al. 2015).

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which enables human beings to perceive and conceptualize reality from a more unconstrained (and ultimately nondualistic)
perspective, we argue that 5-MeO-DMT is an especially intriguing 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 structuring and organizing influence of perceptual schemata48 (i.e., preconception 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 compared, and the results showed that only psychedelics were significantly correlated with the experience of ego dissolution. Per
contra, other psychoactive substance like alcohol or cocaine
enhances an egoic style of cognition (ego inflation).49 In the
same study, participants also responded to a subset of items from
the “Mystical Experiences Questionnaire” (MEQ) (Barrett et al.
2015). The results indicated a positive correlation between psychedelic 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 other 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 consciousness 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 boundlessness)—a sensation of being one with universe. In fact, Romain
Rolland formulated the phrase in a letter to Freud. Rolland argued 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 formation of the self-concept has
48
A potential explanatory mechanism might be found in the entropic brain
hypothesis (Carhart-Harris et al. 2014; Lebedev et al. 2016). Pertinent experimental 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.
49
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 conclusions are possible. Systematic experimental research is needed to elucidate this
important topic which has obvious societal relevance.

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 administration of 5-MeO-DMT in the form of a snuff preparation called
“Cohoba”50 by the Taíno people of Hispaniola was first observed around 1496 by Friar Ramón Pané who reported his
observation to Christopher Columbus who in 1492 made initial contact with this culture (Nunn and Qian 2010; Shultes
1976; Torres and Repke 2006). As regards contemporary science, 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 published 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.51 Moreover, it has
been detected in blood, urine, and cerebrospinal fluid (Shen
et al. 2010a, 2010b). Its extremely powerful acute effects are
50
The snuff was administered in a ceremonial setting in which the ground
seeds of the cojóbana tree (Anadenanthera peregrina) were inhaled via a Yshaped pipe called Cohoba (Wright and Ortiz 1941).
51
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 photoreceptor 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 development and neurogenesis strongly suggest that “the pineal eye and the lateral
eyes share a common genetic and embryologic basis” (Benoit et al. 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 5MeO-DMT might further our understanding of the molecular and neurobiological 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 “focuses” 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 specifically 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, 5MeO-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 nonselective 5-HT agonist and causes a broad spectrum of highly
interesting psychological effects. It displays a relatively high
binding affinity for the 5-HT1A, 5-HT2A, and 5-HT2C subtypes52 (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).53 The 5-HT system is associated with cognition, 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 serotonergic axons project widely throughout the cortex. The raphe
nucleus produces the majority of brain serotonin and it contains ≈ 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-HT receptors are
present in the hypothalamus which connects the central nervous system to the endocrine system. It can be cogently argued that 5-MeO-DMT causes hypothalamic release of significant 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 descriptors 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 amine-associated receptors (TAARs), a class of G
protein–coupled receptors that were only recently discovered
in 2001 (Carbonaro and Gatch 2016). It has been hypothesized that TAARs are involved in sensory perception
(Wallach 2009). Moreover, TAARs have been associated with
pathological neuroadaptations associated with prolonged exposure to addictive drugs (e.g., alcohol, heroin, cocaine, etc.).
Consequently, this molecular target might partially explain 5MeO-DMT’s promising neurorestorative and neuroprotective
52
Interestingly, the 5-HT1A receptor appears to be more important for the
stimulus effects of 5-MeO-DMT than the 5-HT2A receptor (Shen et al.
2010). This has been experimentally demonstrated by various tests of antagonism of stimulus control with the 5-HT1A antagonists pindolol (also a
nonselective β-blocker) and the silent agonist WAY-100635 (Winter et al.
2000).
53
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 terpenoid 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).

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 neuropsychological “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) demonstrated that 5-MeO-DMT
has modulatory effects on neuroplastic processes, long-term
potentiation, cytoskeletal reorganization, and microtubule dynamics (cf. Hameroff and Penrose 2014). Specifically, it was
found that 5-MeO-matches the σ1 receptor which regulates
cytoskeletal dendritic spine morphology and neurite outgrowth. Therefore, σ1 receptor agonism may potentially mediate neuroplastic processes which are crucial for creativity,
cognitive flexibility, and sustained cognitive/behavioral
changes (Sun et al. 2016). In addition, agonism of the σ1
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 activity) (see Wolkowitz et al. 2011; Zhang et al. 2016). A related 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 proliferation of granule cells (GC) within the dentate gyrus (DG) of the
subgranular zone of the hippocampus. Neurogenesis was accompanied by a complexification of GC dendritic morphology, i.e., more complex dendritic trees relative to controls.
These findings indicate that 5-MeO-DMT can increase
neuronal survival, stimulate cell proliferation, and accelerate maturation of newborn neurons in the hippocampal
DG region.54 Comparable results have previously been
obtained with psilocybin (Catlow et al. 2013) which is
suggestive of a common serotonergic mechanism of action which is causative for the observed increases in adult
hippocampal neurogenesis.

54

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 relatively ubiquitous phytochemical distribution, 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 numerous parotoid glands as a defensive chemical mechanism 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, toad effigies (with oftentimes accentuated glands) are prominent
in the historical remains of the Mayan and Aztec cultures
(Davis and Weil 1992). 55 Moreover, 5-MeO-DMT is
sometimes used as an adjunct in certain variations of
Ayahuasca (a drinkable plant-based concoction, which
is utilized by indigenous tribes in the Amazonian
rainforest for divinatory and healing purposes). For instance, the leaves of the plant “Chaliponga” (Diplopterys
cabrerana) are occasionally added to the concoction to
intensify its psychoactive effects (Callaway et al. 2006;
Rätsch 1998). Therefore, synergistic effects between 5MeO-DMT and DMT should be systematically examined
in future studies. We suggest nonlinear interactions between these compounds, i.e., the effects are not additive
but multiplicative, and this hypothesis should be testable
using various neuroimaging techniques. Furthermore, interactions between compounds may reveal novel insights
into the differential phenomenological aspects of 5-MeoDMT 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. Indeed, a “bio-psycho-socio-spiritual model”
has recently been proposed which is based on the persuasive premise that tryptaminergic psychedelics may
have “therapeutic effects against various diseases of civilization” (Frecska et al. 2016). The unique transcendental phenomenology which is elicited by 5-MeO-DMT has
influenced the “visionary arts.” Artworks inspired by 5MeO-DMT experiences are oftentimes geometrically
highly complex and depict multidimensional fractal-like
55
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).

symmetric mathematical structures, 56 an observation
which is particularly intriguing from a neuroesthetics
point of view (cf. Ramachandran and Hirstein 1999).
Despite its long-standing usage in the course of human
evolution,57 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 research community; ibid., p. 14). In line with prior related
arguments (Osmond 1957), it has recently been argued
that 5-MeO-DMT is of “potential interest for schizophrenia research owing to its hallucinogenic properties” and
that research on this compound can “help to understand
the neurobiological basis of hallucinations” (Riga et al.
2014).58 However, it is noteworthy that 5-MeO-DMT–
induced visual hallucinations are much less commonly
reported compared to its structural analog N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) which is reliably capable of inducing
the most spectacular and vivid visual phenomena possibly imaginable (but see Strassman 2001). We would like
to emphasize that the current research Zeitgeist is very
biased toward neuromechanistic explanations and we
56

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 investigate “the correlation between the fractal structure of spider’s web and the
fractal dynamics of its brain signal” (Namazi 2017). Mathematics and particularly its subordinate branch geometry have always been regarded as cognitive
activities which enable access to transcendental/metaphysical realms (e.g.,
Pythagoras’s theorem, Plato’s transcendent forms) and there is a longstanding well-documented interrelation between geometry, mathematics, and
mysticism (e.g., sacred geometry, Fibonacci numbers, etc.), as has been pointed 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:
यन्त्र) and Mandala (मण्डल) 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, he 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).
57
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 neurological, genetic, and epigenetic problems in the long run (cf. Kim et al. 2009), for
instance, the widespread prescription of methylphenidate (e.g., Ritalin) in preschool children (Keane 2008), based on questionable DSM-5 nosology
(Phillips et al. 2012a, 2012b, 2012c, 2012d). In contrast to patentable psychopharmacological agents, there is no revenue model for naturally occurring
psychedelics in the merely profit-oriented capitalistic paradigm.
58
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 reduced to molecular mechanism and neuronal interactions.
The Crickean59 stipulation that “a person’s mental activities are entirely due to the behaviour of nerve cells, glial
cells, and the atoms, ions, and molecules that make them
up and influence them” is not very plausible. In accordance 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 materialistic reductionist framework) for some unknown reason
changed his mind on this most fundamental topic. He
wrote the following in a 2014 Scientific American article
entitled “Is Consciousness Universal”:
Yet the mental is too radically different for it to arise
gradually from the physical. This emergence of subjective 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’t be able to
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 into the ultimately nondual nature
of mind and matter and the universality of consciousness—i.e., a higher perspective on human existence. In
contemporary consciousness research, the mind is often
equated with consciousness. However, mind ≠ consciousness. This is easily verifiable because cognition
(thought) is an object of consciousness (otherwise introspection on mental events would be impossible). Thus,
the mind is situated 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 self59

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)

referential (autopoietical/recursive) question about the
relationship between the seer and the seen (Sanskrit:
Dṛg-Dṛśya): Can the seer be seen? Can consciousness
investigate itself? 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 following précis of the timeless nondual philosophy:

Even in the state of ignorance, when one sees something, through what instrument should one know
That owing to which all this is known? For that
instrument of knowledge itself falls under the category 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 knower can have no knowledge of a thing that is 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 subject, absolute and one without a second, through
what instrument, O Maitreyī, should one know that
Knower?
Nonduality is first-hand experience. It cannot be objectified. This fact does not exclude it from scientific discourse. Science is an open-ended enterprise and its
methods evolve (n.b., there is no “scientific” consensus
about what exactly constitutes the scientific method, e.g.,
the Popperian demarcation problem). By definition, science is concerned with knowledge (lat. scire = “to
know”)—that is, any kind of knowledge (but see the
Jamesian “radical empiricism” argument in the discussion
section). Science does not preclude nonobjectifiable selfknowledge. 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 aspects of existence. Paradoxically, 5-MeO-DMT provides a neurochemical (material) method which reliably induced the firsthand transcendental experience of nonduality. There are
other much more arduous pathways to achieve nondual
insights such as mediation and sophisticated yogic exercises. However, they are much more demanding and hence
unreliable than the “direct” neurochemical route.
Consequently, it would be of great interest to investigate

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whether these ancient techniques induce neuronal and psychological changes which are similar to those induced by
5-MeO-DMT and its structural relatives. Specifically, future studies should clarify whether the production and release of DMT-related endogenous substances can be intentionally 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). Based on this quantity,
it has been argued that the endogenous amount of DMT is
1
a b o u t 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 (and elsewhere) can be stimulated, and if so, to
determine the maximum output capacity of various glandular systems under varying conditions.60 Further, it may
be assumed that there are interindividual differences in the
production and release of various tryptaminergic neurohormones (which may be rooted in genetic variability). 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 “disorder” of consciousness. Chronobiology and various “states”
of consciousness (e.g., dreaming/waking states) are closely
related and tryptamines such as melatonin have been related to various mental disorders such as depression and
anxiety.61
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 the classical Freudian tripartite 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.62 The
founder of quantum physics, Nobel laurate Erwin
Schrödinger, was deeply impressed by the depth of
Vedāntic philosophy in relation to consciousness and he
expressed this eloquently in his seminal book “What is
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
and that, which seems to be a plurality, is merely a
series of different aspects of this one thing, produced by a deception (the Indian Maya); the same
illusion is produced in a gallery of mirrors, and in
the same way Gaurisankar and Mt. Everest turned
out to be the same peak seen from different valleys.
(Schrödinger 1944, p. 89).
We suggest that the ancient Indian concept of Māyā is
essential in order to appreciate the unveiling effects of
psychedelics. Māyā connotes “that which exists, but is
constantly changing and thus is spiritually unreal”
(Hiriyanna 1995). It has been roughly translated as illusion even though this translation has its shortcomings
(translations from Sanskrit into English face many hermeneutical difficulties, a better twofold Vedantic translation
is “projection” and “veil”).63 Apropos the propounded
differentiation between mind and consciousness Māyā refers to the fluctuating contents of the mind.
In this theoretical/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 timeless unity. Pure consciousness lies beyond the mind and
the ego construct and is “that which perceives” (cf.

60

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 availability 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.
61
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 effects). 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.

62
Interestingly, a related idea can be found in Islam. The concept of Jihad alNafs 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 diseases (see AlKhomeini 1940; Al-Arba’ūn Ḥadīthān, transl.: “Forty Hadith”).
63
A connatural concept can also be found in Plato’s “Allegory of the cave”
(Res Publica, book 7, 514a–520a). Plato was very much concerned with eternal forms and most mathematicians can be regarded as 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; Tanner 1970). Interestingly, Plato’s allegory has recently been revived in the context of quantum dynamics and quantum computation, 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 ephemeral contents of sensory experience,
consciousness itself does not (Sivananda 1972).
Consciousness itself has no associated identity. It is a
detached unchanging witness of experience.64
Sir Arthur Eddington articulated similar thoughts:
The mind-stuff of the world is, of course, something
more general than our individual conscious minds.
[…] The mind-stuff is not spread in space and time;
these are part of the cyclic scheme ultimately derived out of it. […] It is necessary to keep reminding
ourselves that all knowledge of our environment
from which the world of physics is constructed,
has entered 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 postulate something indefinite but yet continuous with
our mental nature. […] It is difficult for the matterof-fact physicist to accept the view that the substratum 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 interpretation,” also referred to as “consciousness caused collapse
of Ψ,” postulates that consciousness is an essential factor
in quantum measurements. Von Neumann used the term
“subjective perception” (Von Neumann 1955) which is
closely related to the complementarity principle in psychophysics, viz., the complementarity of sensation and
perception (Baird 1997). Accordingly, Henry Stapp argued in his seminal paper “Quantum Theory and the
Role of Mind in Nature”:
From the point of view of the mathematics of quantum theory it makes no sense to treat a measuring
device as intrinsically different from the collection

64

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 schools 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 environment which is crucial in the context of modern quantum physics (see
Atmanspacher 1997).

of atomic constituents that make it up. A device is
just another part of the physical universe. [...]
Moreover, the conscious thoughts of a human observer ought to be causally connected most directly
and immediately to what is happening in his brain,
not to what is happening out at some measuring
device. [...] Our bodies and brains thus become
[...] parts of the quantum mechanically described
physical universe. Treating the entire physical universe in this unified 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 perceptive challenges the predominant reductive materialism
stance and it might ultimately facilitate a Kuhnian paradigm shift with far-reaching ramification across disciplines (i.e., a transdisciplinary paradigm shift). A nondual
conception of reality might enable new ways of psychophysical scientific experimentation which are unthinkable
in the current materialistic paradigm (which entails a significant amount of unjustified Cartesian/Newtonian assumptions which might implicitly “block” alternative
ideas). With respect to scientific experimentation (and data collection), Eddington provided the following brilliant
analogy in his book “The Philosophy of Physical Science”
(Eddington 1938) which illustrates how the “conceptual/
perceptual cognitive net” determines the character of scientific 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 tentatively that they will remain true however often he repeats 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

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net is not adapted to catch them.’ The icthyologist dismisses this objection contemptuously. ‘Anything uncatchable 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 knowledge of the physical universe discovered in some other
way than by the methods of physical science, and admittedly unverifiable by such methods. You are a metaphysician. Bah!’
We submit that 5-MeO-DMT is by far the most effective 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 states
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 “substance,” a tertium quid,65 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 consciousness.” Consciousness is an immutable singular—it
is the experiencer (that which experiences change—viz.,
“it” is the nontransient observer of the fluctuating contents of the mind).
5-MeO-DMT has been described as a prototypical
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) is a
65
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.

chemical substance (used in a religious, shamanic, or spiritual 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 ancient Greek ἔνθεος (entheos) and γενέσθαι (genesthai)
and translates into “generating the divine from within”
(cf. “enthusiasm”). 5-MeO-DMT is a ceremonial sacrament (eucharist) of the “Church of the Tree of Life.”
Hence, interdisciplinary research on 5-MeO-DMT might
provide further impetus for the emerging new neuroscientific paradigm which goes by the name “neurotheology”
(Winkelman 2004). Following this line of thought, it has
been stated by the eminent neurobiologist 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 argument: Given its phenomenological profundity and its unparalleled efficiency to dissolve ego structures, we propose that the psychological effects of 5-MeO-DMT and
associated neural correlates should be systematically investigated 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 associated with a breakdown of linguistic structures66 (hence
the characteristic ineffability of its phenomenology/
quale). According to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis of linguistic relativism (Sapir 1929), language structures cognition and perception in significant ways. Ergo, we hypothesize that a release from the strong aprioristic schematizing 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 dissolution, i.e., ego death) is emotionally and cognitively extremely 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 significant positive therapeutic/cathartic effects which are of

66

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; Kavan 2004) 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 unconscious materials, surfacing of archetypal symbolisms,
etc.). The experiences induced by 5-MeO-DMT are tremendously radical67 and therefore capable to disperse
deeply engrained cognitive/perceptual schemata,68 thereby enabling a more unrestricted style of cognition.69
Specifically, we argue that due to its unparalleled egodissolving properties, 5-MeO-DMT facilitates a less selfcentered 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 procedures70 could be utilized to test this hypothesis experimentally. (Creativity is generally conceptualized as a
multidimensional construct and various facets of creativity may be affected differentially.) The logic which undergirds our theorizing can be formalized using propositional logic, i.e., in form of a syllogistic argument (see
Syllogism #1 below). Specifically, we postulate that ego
dissolution can culminate in a state of nondual consciousness which is phenomenologically, biochemically,
67

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).
68
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.
69
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’s and Wernicke’s area and the arcuate fasciculus are likely
involved. We suggest that temporarily induced receptive and expressive aphasia 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 inhibition, that is, does it influence hemispheric dominance (i.e., local vs. global
processing in the context of asymmetric hemispheric lateralization of function); cf. “right hemispheric dominance theory of creative thinking” (Shen
et al. 2013).
70
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 incidence 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).

and neuroanatomically similar to those reported in numerous 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 systematic 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 states of
consciousness induced by 5-MeO-DMT shift the global
connectivity patterns between intrinsic networks and extrinsic networks. These networks are thought to be
anticorrelated. In terms of large-scale neuroanatomical
organization, according to current knowledge, the intrinsic network includes rather broadly defined areas in the
medial prefrontal cortices, the posterior cingulate cortices, the precunei, the inferior parietal lobule, and temporal 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 selfawareness and self-reflection, executive functions like
future planning, and also creativity. For instance, it has
been experimentally demonstrated that distraction (i.c.,
mind-wandering) can enhance creativity (Baird et 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 is that signal transduction in neuroanatomical areas associated with self-referential cognition is reduced. For instance, it has been demonstrated that meditation is associated with decreased activity in the default
mode network, i.c., decreased activity in medial prefrontal and posterior cingulate cortices (Brewer et al. 2011).
We expect similar (but more pronounced) effects with 5MeO-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 states in meditators, it seems indicated to examine if the neuronal activity changes induced
by 5-MeO-DMT are 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 research is particularly warranted given the plethora of
studies which correlate meditation with creativity (Baas
et al. 2014; Capurso et al. 2014; Colzato et al. 2012;
Dawson 2004; Ding et al. 2014; Domino 1976; Horan
2009; Müller et al. 2016; Ostafin and Kassman 2012;

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Peet 1979). Our primary argument can be stated in the
form of a logically valid Aristotelian categorical
syllogism.71
Syllogism #1
Major premise:

Ego dissolution enhances creativity.

Minor premise:
Deductive conclusion:

5-MeO-DMT induces ego dissolution.
∴ Ergo, 5-MeO-DMT enhances 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)72 which appears as the subject or predicate of
the categorical proposition, in casu, [Ego dissolution].
According to the principles of propositional logic, the conclusion follows deductively73 iff the major and minor premise are
accepted as veridical. Based on these syllogistic arguments,
we formulate the ensuing falsifiable a priori hypotheses:

Syllogism #2
Major premise:
Minor premise:
Deductive conclusion:

Increases in FCD are predictive of creativity.
5-MeO-DMT increases global functional
connectivity density.
∴ Ergo, 5-MeO-DMT enhances creativity.

Syllogism #3
Major premise:

Downregulation of the DMN enhances creativity.

Minor premise:
5-MeO-DMT downregulates the DMN.
Deductive conclusion: ∴ Ergo, 5-MeO-DMT enhances creativity.

According to syllogistic logic each of the three distinct
terms represents a category, i.c.: [Ego dissolution]—[5MeO-DMT]—[Creativity].
71

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 schemata which form the basis of inferential logic. From an embodied cognition/
conceptual metaphor perspective, humans mentally represent (Boolean/settheoretical) inferential laws in a quasi-Venn diagrammatic manner (Venn
1880) by utilizing specific spatiorelational image schemata (cognitive container 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.

H1. Downregulation of the DMN predicts subsequent increases 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 reduction in depressive symptoms and isochronous increases
in creativity.
H2. The self-reported intensity of 5-MeO-DMT phenomenology (post eventum introspective assessment) predicts subsequent increases in global functional connectivity density
which are in turn predictive of creativity (the differential
effects on various facets of creativity should be
investigated—we suggest that “mathematical creativity”
is a specifically interesting aspect given the highly geometrical 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 addition, we predict based on prior research that 5-MEO-DMT
induces neurogenesis via various neurotrophic growth factors, 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,” personal 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
72

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).
73
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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H5.

H6.

H7.

H8.

interconnectedness74 (viz., OTE—similar to studies
which focused 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 neuroimaging data and qualitative phenomenological
differences).
The intensity of ego dissolution predicts the longitudinally measured significance of the life event in a nonlinear dose-dependent manner, similar to the patterns
observed in studies with the psilocybin (Griffiths et al.
2008).
5-MeO-DMT modulates activity in the limbic system
(i.e., amygdala, insular cortex) in a longitudinal manner
(cf. Kraehenmann et al. 2015). Various biomarkers
(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 treatment of anxiety disorders such as PTSD.
Given that 5-MeO-DMT can have strong somatosensory and viscerosensory effects (somasthesia, changes in
proprioception and body image, and in some cases outof-body experiences), we hypothesize that various
somatosensitive areas are involved, specifically the
temporoparietal junction (potentially also the anterior
insular cortex; Yu et al. 2018). This hypothesis is particularly intriguing from an embodied cognition perspective on creativity and also in relation to Damasio’s somatic marker hypothesis.
The peak experience of ego death (sometimes colloquially referred as “break-through” or in the extensive
Indian literature Nirvikalpa Samādhi75) is marked by a
rapid phase shift in global neuronal activity (e.g., quantifiable via simultaneous EEG/fMRI). We predict a
marked increase in creativity in comparison with states

74
The concept of interconnectedness is of utmost importance from an
ecopsychology point of view (cf. Key and Kerr 2011). The formulated hypothesis thus has significant real-world societal significance. The illusion of disconnection from nature (Fromm 1962) lies at the root of many destructive
human behaviors which have far-reaching detrimental consequences (individual 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-relatedness (Forstmann and Sagioglou 2017; Lyons and
Carhart-Harris et al. 2018).
75
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 absorption without self-consciousness in which there is no distinction between knower and known (epistemology and ontology, the seer and the seen; cf. DṛgDṛśya-Viveka).

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 accompanied by marked epigenetic changes (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 between mediation, mental health, and genetics (Alda
et al. 2016; Epel et al. 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 5MeO-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 psychological receptiveness in which defense mechanisms are
curtailed. We specifically predict that 5-MeO-DMT
has strong longitudinal synergistic effects when combined with mediation (particularly types of mediation
that foster nondual philosophical contemplations).
This hypothesis is partly motivated by recent neuroimaging work which reported quantitative synergistic effects between psilocybin and mindfulness training
(Smigielski et al. 2019). The combinatorial effects of
mediation and 5-MeO-DMT on 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 objectively quantifiable and reliably replicable in rigorously controlled experimental settings. The paucity of research on 5MeO-DMT is surprising, specifically given that it is an endogenous component of neurobiology which implies an evolutionary function (neurochemical vestigiality is an unlikely explanation). Up to date, we are unaware of any systematic scientific research which focuses specifically on the effects of 5MeO-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.

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The present discussion is just a start in order to motivate future
studies along these lines. Among the various psychoactive
tryptamines (e.g., psilocybin/psilocin, DMT/NMT/α,NDMT, Nω-methylserotonin, convolutindole A, 5-bromoDMT, etc.), 5-MeO-DMT is specifically suitable for controlled scientific experimentation due to the short duration of
its acute effects. It can be utilized as an inhalant (e.g., vaporization) 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
administration76 include IV, intracerebroventricular, intramuscular, intranasal, intrarectal, intravaginal, sublingual, or oral
administration in combination with a monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI) to prevent enzymatic deamination in the GI
tract (Halberstadt 2016). However, the latter synergistic method may change pharmacodynamics (and psychoactivity) in
hitherto unknown ways, and negative side effects such as
increased “body-load” have been mentioned in anecdotal reports. Data indicates that 5-MeO-DMT may, under some circumstances, be toxic77 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 pharmacokinetics and phenomenology. Given the existence of
considerable interindividual variations in the efficiency and
amount of CYP2D6 enzyme produced, it is plausible to hypothesize that there are subgroups who metabolize 5-MeODMT 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 phenomenological variables. For instance, slow 5-MeO-DMT metabolism 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 correlates => subjective phenomenology => psychological impact => creativity).

76
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).
77
The toad venom itself contains numerous bufotoxins which interact with the
functioning of the cardiovascular system, e.g., the bufadienolide derivative
bufagin—C24H34O5 (Jensen 1932).

We suggest that the effects of 5-MeO-DMT on creativity
(and cognition in general) should be investigated in a longitudinal design. Controlled experimentation should be interdisciplinary and multimodal (i.e., brain imaging,78 self-reports, introspective measures, etc.) in order to gain a complete picture
of the effects of the compound (i.e., methodological
triangulation/complementary measurement methods). For instance, brain-wide network dynamics which undergird creativity 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
Volkow 2010). The general idea is that creative thought involves dynamic interactions between large-scale brain systems, specifically between cortical hubs within the default
mode network, the salience network, and the prefrontal executive systems. Note that this is a somewhat “fuzzy” neuroanatomical analysis as each of the networks includes a vast number of anatomical structures. Our hypothesis contributes more
precise predictions and we argue that specifically the downregulation of the default mode network (which, according to
theory, is accompanied by the phenomenology of ego dissolution) 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).79 Hence, pertaining to brain dynamics 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 neuropharmacological 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 diachronically). Given the profundity of the experience
78
We hypothesize that 5-MeO-DMT increases functional connectivity (a reorganization 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 regard. 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 wholebrain 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 global functional connectivity maps could be utilized for the purpose of visualization, and local density variations could be contrasted post hoc (e.g., intrinsic
connectivity contrasts).
79
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).
Preliminary (quasi-experimental) research suggests 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 (H8) entails a prediction
pertaining to potential epigenetic changes induced by 5MeO-DMT. This idea is derived from recent genetic studies
which reintroduced Lamarckian elements into quantitative biology and thereby challenge the “central dogma of molecular
biology”80 (Crick 1970) which was for a long time unquestionably axiomatic to genetic research. For instance, it has
been shown that acquired olfactory conditioning can be epigenetically 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 paradigm) revealed CpG hypomethylation in the Olfr151 gene.
We argue that if simple olfactory conditioning can cause quantifiable 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 associated 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 relation to depression and anxiety; cf. hypotheses H1 and H6). For
instance, it has been reported that individuals with specific
serotonin transporter (5-HTT) promoter polymorphism (associated with reduced 5-HTT expression) exhibit greater amygdala 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 amygdala reactivity and that this limbic downregulation correlates
with enhanced positive 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 heuristic), 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 considered very carefully and thoroughly. Deliberate ethical considerations 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 caution and ethical conscience (e.g., frontal lobotomy/leucotomy, electroconvulsive
“shock therapy,” destructive psychopharmacological interventions 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 excellent 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 psychopharmacology”, see Breggin (2003, 2016).
We submit that endogenous compounds such as 5-MeODMT (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 formulated). However, besides “side effects” such as neurotoxicity,
there are other significant complications pertaining to powerful 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 ineffability of quale). Moreover, 5-MeO-DMT can induce the phenomenon of timelessness, or to use William Blakes poetic
expression: “Eternity in an hour”.81 Superficial descriptions
such as “the experiment lasts one hour” thus become meaningless because the compound interacts with consciousness
per se (cf. Kant on space and time as a priori mental constructs).82 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 sensitive and fine-tuned biological processes.

80
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 handle ambiguity.

81
From the poem “Auguries of Innocence” from William Blake’s notebooks
named “The Pickering Manuscript” (1803)
82
“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.83 The PSA generically prohibits 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 cocaine. 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 LD50 and TD50
toxicity indices. For instance, psilocybin is nonaddictive (in
fact, it has been effectively utilized for addiction treatment;
Bogenschutz and Forcehimes 2017) and it exhibits remarkably low toxicity. The in vivo LD50 in humans remains unknown due to the paucity of any intentional or accidental
poisoning death data.84 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
50
toxic dose as a ratio of the effective dose: TI ¼ TD
ED50 . From a
toxicological point of view, a higher TI is thus preferable to a
lower one.
Rank-ordered therapeutic indices for various psychoactive
substances:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Heroin ≈ 6
Alcohol ≈ 10
Cocaine ≈ 15
Psilocybin ≈ 1000

Based on this hierarchical collocation, it has been argued that “psychedelic drugs should be legally
reclassified so that researchers can investigate their therapeutic potential” (this is indeed the title of the article by
Rucker 2015). A common metric in comparative risk
assessment is the margin of exposure85 (MOE), defined
83

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 LD50 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).
85
URL: http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/topics/topic/margin-exposure
84

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 safety profile for psilocybin, especially compared to widely
used neurotoxic agents like alcohol which, per contra,
has a very low MOE (Lachenmeier and Rehm 2015)
and has been associated with numerous detrimental
neurocognitive (Weitemier and Ryabinin 2003), genetic,
and epigenetic effects (Chen et al. 2013). Despite these
scientific facts, psilocybin is classified as a “class A substance” in the UK. The PSA 2016 can be regarded as a
lex specialis which introduces serious burdens (viz., judicial onus) on researchers interested in neurobiology
and consciousness. Ergo, scientific research on psychedelics is currently legally highly restricted due to the
irrational class A status of psychedelic substances (despite numerous “privileged” exceptions). The classification of psilocybin is de jure based on the fallacious presupposition that psilocybin has “no medicinal value”—a
conjecture which is de facto clearly not veridical as psilocybin has numerous medical applications (but see
Bogenschutz and Johnson 2016). Therefore, the legal
classification is, a fortiori, inadequate. The case of 5MeO-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 psychedelics in the public sphere. Contrary to widespread public doxa (Bourdieu 1977), epidemiological data indicate
that psychedelics are not linked to psychopathology or
suicidal behavior (Johansen and Krebs 2015; Krebs and
Johansen 2013; cf. Müller et al. 2013a, 2013b) as purported by numerous coordinated transnational large-scale
mass media campaigns (starting in the 1960s) which utilized propagandistic/PR methods à la Bernays (Bernays
1928; L’Etang 1999) in order to justify the 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 minorities and to serve the “prison-industrial complex”
(Douglas and Pond 2012; Moore and Elkavich 2008).
Given the extensive initial media coverage of the campaign, the public mind is till this day still under the
influence of this intentional misinformation (unconscious/implicit associations play an important role in social attitudes). It would require enormous orchestrated
long-term efforts to counterbalance these negative stereotypical attitudes (pro bono publico).
Well-informed legal scholars interpret the PSA as an explicit violation of the fundamental right to mental selfdetermination (i.e., cognitive liberty; Walsh 2016)—particularly with respect to Article 9 of the European Convention on
Human Rights 1988 (§1–2) which should protect the right to

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freedom of thought.86 It is obvious that cognitive liberty is a
prerequisite for creativity. The PSA reduces neurodiversity
and it juridically justifies the homogenization87 of cognitive/
neuronal processes. It selectively restricts cultural and
memetic diversity and, consequently, cultural and cognitive
evolution (per analogiam with the crucial importance of genetic diversity for biological evolution). The loss of memetic
and cultural diversity (i.e., variability in Weltanschauungen) 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 reduction 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 scaleindependent 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 psychological and, hence, behavioral capacity of the human species
to react to novel (unpredictable) challenges. In a similar manner, 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 pathogens, etc. A reduction of diversity ipso facto implies a reduction 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 compared 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 societal systems as genetic diversity is to biological systems.
Summa summarum, the PSA has far-reaching ramifications. 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 liberty (see also Boire 2000).

86
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 international law (jus cogens).
87
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; Mumford 1967).

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 structures (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 scientific 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 torture (see also O’Mara 2009), for example, the collaboration
of Donald Hebb88 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 interrogation manuals (known as the KUBARK “torture manuals”).89 For various reasons, the military has vested interests
in research on neurochemistry and creativity, and the “weaponization of neuroscience” is a general problem with extensive ethical ramifications which should be much more prominently 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 explicitly articulates that their “success depends on the vibrant
ecosystem of innovation within which the agency operates”.90
It is important to keep in mind that DARPAs enunciated mission is “to create revolutions in military science and to maintain 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 organizations 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 technology for future overwhelming intelligence advantage.”91
IARPA provides significant funding for academia and industry research across a broad array of areas including
88
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 …”.
89
URL: https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu//nsa/archive/news/dodmans.htm
90
URL: https://www.darpa.mil
91
Its neuroscience-related agenda can be found under the following URL:
https://www.iarpa.gov/index.php/research-programs/neuroscience-programsat-iarpa.

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neuroscience, cognitive psychology, chemistry, biology,
mathematics, physics, computer science, linguistics, and political 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 “hybrid forecasting competitions” which aims to “improve accuracy in predicting worldwide geopolitical issues, including
foreign political elections, interstate conflict, disease outbreaks, and economic indicators by leveraging the relative
strengths of humans and machines”92 (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 21st Century” by Moreno (2012) provides a
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 capable 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 benefit 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 seeing, a method that would be far too clumsy for the instantaneous 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 themselves, 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 creativity is of fundamental interest to AI research which is currently utterly unable to emulate genuine creativity in silico (cf.
Boden 2014), a problem which, we argue, is intimately related
92
URL: https://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/press-releases/pressreleases-2017

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 consciousness (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 creative systems” (Saunders 2012), “creative cognitive computation” (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., enhancing one’s own creativity while reducing the opponent’s
capacity for creativity is an effective stratagem). For example,
artificial swarm intelligence systems utilize game-theoretical
calculi which require “computational creativity” for the selforganization 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 alluded to in the introduction of this paper (see also Lin et al.
2008). It needs to be accentuated that surveillance of the general 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; Mausfeld 2017, 2019). We argue that the developments of creative military AI have to be evaluated
against this broader historical and societal background as
these systems, once installed and implemented, could be utilized 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 demonstrably effective “foot-in-the-door” technique, as social psychologists 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 deceptive maneuvers, as for example evidenced by operation

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NORTHWOODS.93 That is, the ability to lie is linked to various 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 interrogation tactics (which frequently include torture).
A historical vantage point is crucial to frame the discussion
appropriately. Psychopharmaceutical interventions were a decisive component of the German Blitzkrieg in WWII, for instance, the utilization of methamphetamine (Heal et al. 2013)
as an analeptic cognitive and physical performance booster.
During the Third Reich, Nazi “scientists” conducted extremely inhuman medical and psychological experiments in concentration camps (even on children). These experiments also
involved psychedelics (and other neuroactive chemicals)94 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
93

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 included 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 creativity in U.S. military expansionism and it shows the importance of gametheoretical 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 background information on the case, and obvious parallels to the 9/11 “terrorist
attacks” have been drawn (Elliston 1999). The original NORTHWOODS document (which was declassified in 2001) is accessible under the following
URL: https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/news/20010430/northwoods.pdf.
94
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 associated 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 electrical stimulation of the amygdala via brain implants—intracerebral radio stimulation (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 popularized by Elon Musk et alii (see Anjana 2019). In theory, the cortical implant
provides (hackable) read and write access (770/777) to the brain. Musk outspokenly expressed the transhumanist long-term goal to achieve “symbiosis
with artificial intelligence.”

(Jay 2019). The specified objective was “to eliminate the will
of the person examined”95 with the overarching goal to develop a “truth serum” (see also Keller 2004).96 The mescaline
experiments were conducted by Dr. Kurt Plötner (University
of Leipzig).97 After the war, more than 1700 high-ranking
German scientists (some of whom committed the most appalling 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 jointly in classified programs with code names such as CHATTER,
BLUEBIRD,98 ARTICHOKE, and MK-ULTRA (but see
Jacobsen 2014).99 Dr. Plötner was among them and joined
the BLUEBIRD task force.100 A review of Jacobson’s book
(op. cit.) which is published on the official CIA website (see
URL in footnote)101 provides the following synopsis:

95
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 concentration camp” (1945).
96
Such pharmacologically assisted techniques facilitate “coercive interrogation 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).
97
More humanistically oriented researchers worked on the psychotherapeutic
effects of mescaline using “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). 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.
98
To “sing” like a bluebird
99
Several CIA subprograms systematically investigated extrasensory perception and telepathy (Jacobsen 2017). Note in this regard that the harmala alkaloid “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
violate any ethical norms 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.
101
https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csipublications/csi-studies/studies/vol-58-no-3/operation-paperclip-the-secretintelligence-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, traveled to Germany to set up a special program to interrogate 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 creating a ‘Manchurian candidate’ through behavioral
modification. Thus, Operation Bluebird was born.
Bluebird, later called MKULTRA, was a research activity 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 researcher, was given the drug LSD without his knowledge, 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 intentionally destroyed, the full scope and the scientific results
o f t h e M K - U LT R A p r o g r a m s r e m a i n u n k n o w n .
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 enemy 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 documents were “boiler plate” cover files.103 However, even
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 world total was ≈ 1822 (Stockholm
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 dominance includes the physical battlespace; air, surface and sub-surface as well as
the electromagnetic spectrum and information space. Control implies that freedom 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 interest, 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/CIARDP99-00498R000100120112-7.pdf

the superficial cover stories are clearly extremely
alarming from a human rights perspective.
Initially, psychedelics were intended for a new type of
warfare. For instance, Dr. Wilson Greene was a proponent
of “psychochemical warfare”, i.e., “hallucinogenic or psychotomimetic 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 psychochemical warfare on the battlefield and it extended
these initial programs into new domains (e.g., for the purpose of interrogation and to destabilize individuals and
certain “uncongenial” groups within society—such as
anti-war political 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 application 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 program). The covert program was outright illegal and utilized LSD-25 and other psychoactive compounds in the
most unethical ways possibly imaginable (on unwitting
“subjects”). The main purpose of the program was to manipulate and control human beings, both on the individual
level and the level of mass psychology. MK-ULTRA
weaponized science, while the general populace was absolutely nescient about the unethical experiments which
were conducted with the aid of taxpayers’ money. In
1975, the “Church Committee” (formally the “United
States Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental
Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities”) investigated the voluminous case. The committee’s final report
was published in 1976 in 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 thought and behaviors, e.g., via hypnosis
104

Source document: https://archive.org/details/DOC_0000190090
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.

105

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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, hypnosis, sleep and sensory deprivation, electroshock experiments, induction of traumata and dissociation, 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 psychology and behavior was
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 MKULTRA is the legal case referred to as the “Unabomber”
(alias Ted Kaczynski). From 1959 to 1962, Harvard psychologist Henry Murray subjected sophomores to psychologically damaging experiments which entailed the administration of LSD-25 and subsequent severe attacks on
the personality structures of participants. Evidence indicates that Murray’s experimentations were covertly
funded via the MK-ULTRA program (Chase 2000).
Interestingly, Murray founded Harvard’s Social Relations
Department “which was funded by covert intelligence
agencies and the Rockefeller agency through which much
of his research was conducted” (Sand 2007, p. 8). One of
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 advertised description of the experiment 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 applied to them (no informed consensus) and the experiments involved psychological methods which are ethically indefensible (such as brutal attacks on the ego under the influence of psychedelics). It is of course difficult
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.

to say in how far Kaczynski’s intense hate of psychology
and science was influenced by these profoundly traumatic
psychedelic experiences and if there is any causal relation
between these events and his later crimes which killed
numerous people (correlation ≠ causation; i.e., the “cum
hoc ergo propter hoc” logical fallacy of implied causality). However, he writes the following in his manifesto
“Industrial Society and its Future” (Kaczynski 1995):
(§157) Assuming that industrial society survives, it
is likely that technology will eventually acquire
something approaching complete control over human behavior. It has been established beyond any
rational doubt that human thought and behavior
have a largely biological basis. As experimenters
have demonstrated, feelings such as hunger, pleasure, anger and fear can be turned on and off by
electrical stimulation of appropriate parts of the
brain. Memories can be destroyed 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 human 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 that human thoughts and feelings are so
open to biological intervention shows that the problem of controlling human behavior is mainly a technical problem; a problem of neurons, hormones and
complex molecules; the kind of problem that is accessible 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 certainly would if an attempt were made to introduce such
control all 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 scientific abuse of psychedelic substances, that is, for military
dominance objectives, psychological manipulation, and for
the purpose of cybernetic social engineering. Unfortunately,

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humanity has clearly not learned from history107 and immoral
torture programs (which make perfidious use of psychology
and neuroscience) are still being conducted in the twenty-first
century, e.g., Abu Ghraib108 (Otterman 2017). Only very recently, APA psychologists were accused of psychological torture in the context of military operations which led to a public
refusal of the APA to participate in future operations.109 In
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 pharmacological interventions. According to Harper, workshop attendees were asked questions such as “What are the effects
of sensory overload on the maintenance of deceptive behaviors? How might we overload the system or overwhelm the
senses and see how it affects deceptive behaviors? What pharmacological agents are known to affect apparent truth-telling
behavior?”110 In a post festum attempt to justify the leaked
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 statement 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 assumption 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” industry, etc.) generally depicts the military as an honorable and virtuous organization 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 realitybased emotional priming. However, it can be argued that humanity has already
been thoroughly de5sensitized toward moral transgressions (and the suffering
of others) due to constant habituation and associated adaptive homeostatic
receptor–downregulation processes, i.c., emotion-dependent amygdala habituation (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 conditioning 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/

information, the APA subsequently wrote a statement which
later disappeared from their website111: “The workshop provided 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 especially 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 Conventions and the U.N. Convention Against
Torture) are deemed to be no longer applicable for utilitarian
reasons (as implicitly argued, for instance, by David
Horowitz—founder of the conservative think tank “David
Horowitz Freedom Center”). Here is an example of a ticking
bomb Gedankenexperiment 112 (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 investigated 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 argue 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
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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relativism).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 heuristic, 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 universal law.”
~ Immanuel Kant (1785), Grounding for the
Metaphysics of Morals115
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 defenseless 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 psychological 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
113
There are rather complex epistemological reasons for this position which
we omit in the interest of parsimony (e.g., based on Sôritês paradoxon, deductive 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 pertinence 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 “I am not
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 detachment 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).

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 cruel and destructive neuropsychological weapon which can induce 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 breakdown of 5-MeO-DMT within the
human organism (pharmacokinetic elimination), it is in principle difficult to prove its illegal application post festum. It
follows on legal grounds that an absolute (universal) prohibition of the use of 5-MeO-DMT for military purposes is of
great importance (no “margin of discretion”).117 Nullum
crimen, nulla poena sine lege (Jimenez de Asúa 1951;
Rauter 2017). This is especially pertinent in the present historical context in which basic human rights have been repeatedly 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
“Trajectories 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 arrangements, 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, morality, and altruism (as opposed to competition, individualism,
atomism, corruption, and egocentrism) are pivotal for the evolution of humanity on this planet which Buckminster Fuller
metaphorically labeled as “spaceship earth” (Anker 2007) in
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 unconscious” and we should be very cautious with any powerful interventions into
this domain of existence, especially 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 connection 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 appropriated 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 universe.” Humankind has traveled through outer space and we
now possess detailed charts of the moon and many other extraterrestrial objects. However, hitherto modern science is utterly unable to provide a comprehensive cartography of the
human mind (let alone consciousness). Ergo, the great frontiers of twenty-first century science are internal and psychological, and it should be psychologies primary focus to systematically 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 effectively 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 chemistry 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 moment”,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; Mausfeld 2017; Smith and
Chomsky 1987). That is, real (or strategically selfcreated) problems are used to legitimate measures (under
a false pretense) which would otherwise not be
admissable (cf. the politician’s syllogism).120 History has
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
changing things. Conclusion: Therefore, we are improving things. N.B.
Often the proposed solution is depicted as “the only alternative.”

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 egocentric, competitive, and intrinsically antidemocratic principles of neoliberal capitalism have invaded all domains
of life (Mausfeld 2019). Domains in which they are utterly inappropriate and obviously destructive, such as the
educational system,121 the health care system, geriatric
care, the family systems, and even the scientific endeavor
itself122 (cf. military Keynesianism within the military–
academic complex123). The egocentric neoliberal doctrine
has thus deeply influenced all aspects of human cognition
and behavior. As an implicit ideology, it has been gradually assimilated and is therefore largely imperceptible (indoctrinated ideologies govern behavior primarily via unconscious processes). Ludwig Wittgenstein termed this
type of imperceptibility “aspect blindness,” e.g., a fish
cannot see water. Sheldon Wolin (*1922, †2015) proposed the term “inverted totalitarianism” to describe a
situation in which suppression and servitude are inversely
perceived as the highest form of freedom because the
mind is no longer capable to make any meaningful comparisons as it is no longer able to even imagine any alternatives to the dominant status quo (imagination and creativity are cognate, ergo, the systemic antagonism of these
higher-order mental faculties consolidates the status quo).

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–industrial–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 psychologically 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 pharmacological 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) characterized 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 include 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 major electronic media, owned by six corporations nationwide, also routinely misinforms the public about domestic and foreign policy. A recent example is the “Fiscal
Cliff.” Another tool is to create insecurity in the population 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 insecurity. Changes in college education also silence dissent,
including the trend toward adjunct rather than tenured
professors. Adjunct professors, now comprising 85 percent 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.

to counteract its cumulative effects on the human psyche, or
else future generations will become incapacitated to even conceive 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 central role in answering this question, and a systematic investigation of the neurochemical substratum of consciousness (i.e.,
the essence of humanness) is consequently a decisive research
agenda which should be prioritized. Technological progress
and economic growth clearly cannot solve the present
problems—they are a part of it (mechanistic/materialistic solutions cannot substitute for the lack of love which lies at the
very heart of the problem at hand). So far, contemporary science has largely neglected the extraordinary experiences catalyzed 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 insights125 (Jones 2007; Tupper 2002). Further,
the potential of the extremely powerful endogenous neurochemical 5-MeO-DMT has not yet been explored at all (it is
wide-open uncharted scientific territory). Specifically, research in the domain of creativity appears to be vital for species survival because humanity needs to find alternative ways
of existence. If there is a chance that endogenous neurochemicals 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, altruism, emotional intelligence, and noetic epistemological insights into the interconnectedness of nature, and indeed all of
existence, then it is sciences moral obligation to take this potential very seriously as creative change is de facto an evolutionary matter of paramountcy. The transformational egodissolving experience of nonduality might prove to be the
125

These quotations indicate that the problems humanity is
facing are not confined to the physical sphere (i.e., militarization and loss of biodiversity) but that the obliteration and
eradication is furthermore psychological. The neoliberal agenda has devastating effects on human morals, values, and behaviors. It will take significant longitudinal collective efforts
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:
h t t p : / / d i g i t a l 2 . l i b r a r y. u c l a . e d u / v i e w I t e m . d o ? a r k = 2 1 1 9 8 /
zz00253vz2&maxPageItems=999.

The Ancient Greek aphorism “know thyself” (one of the 147 Delphic
maxims) is pertinent and some theorist hold that psychedelics were a quintessential 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, dualistic, 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 experiences
might provide significant impetus to realize this communal
goal. The transformation of deep-seated plutonic selfidentity schemata (i.e., how human 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-Harris
and Nutt 2017). It has been suggested that passive coping127
(stress moderation via passive toleration of the stressor) is the
brain’s default modus (status quo) which is mediated via 5HT1A receptor signaling. Active coping (engaging and changing the cause of stress), on the other hand, is conjectured to be
mediated via 5-HT2A signaling. Specifically, the authors proposed that 5-HT2A-mediated plasticity may be crucial “as the
level of adversity reaches a critical point.” The concept “plasticity” 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 dualistic 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 “financial
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 infiltrated, “Red Herring strategies” are employed, and effective activists are coopted or otherwise socially discredited via various
ad hominem arguments as a persona non grata. By this psychological 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
Vermeule 2008, 2009), internal/external cooptation, exploitation of the principles of group dynamics such as group pressure and conformity, cybernetic methods such as algorithmic
126
The Chinese logogram for the term “crisis” 危機 (pinyin: wēijī) is composed of “danger” 危and “opportunity” 機 (also “danger at a point of juncture”
but the exact meaning is 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-HT1A agonism/antagonism (cf. Wu 1999).

censorship of digital information, various forms of psychological 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 revolution 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 exploitation.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; Harvey 2007).
Besides challenging the destructive egocentric status quo,
epistemological insights into the nondual ontology of existence (e.g., dual-aspect monism/neutral monism)129 challenge
some of the most central assumptions of contemporary mainstream science, e.g., the notion of detached scientific objectivity which is a cognitive/epistemic illusion (Hoffman 2016; cf.
Wiseman 2015). A nondual conceptualization of reality might
force us to rethink our axiomatic (nonevidence based and
naïve) doxa (Bourdieu 1977) about the way we conceive reality and practice science, e.g., the stipulated dichotomy between observer and observed130 and the widespread belief that
the brain produces consciousness.131 A nondual reconceptualization 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 quantum physics, viz., the widely held and mainly unquestioned
metaphysical assumption of local realism is no longer empirically 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 revolutions,” Thomas Kuhn pointed out that it is a general phenomenon 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,
128

For example, Immanuel Kant’s leitmotif Sapere aude (dare to think for
yourself) which he used in his essay “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 unquestioned) “reductive materialism” working hypothesis which forms the predominant 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 explanatory 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 definitions, axioms, and concepts.” Fundamental research on extremely powerful consciousness-expanding substances like
5-MeO-DMT might thus force us to rethink largely unquestioned axiomatic epistemological and ontological assumptions. Prima vista, this critical line of thought might sound
far-fetched and even absurd132 but such an argumentum ad
lapidem constitutes no valid reason for the prima facie rejection 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 evolutionary 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 revolution
(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’s analogy 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 relevance (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 incorporates only a specific (a priori selected) subset of the
available quantitative and qualitative data is ipso facto at best
incomplete (and in the worst-case scenario prejudiced, dogmatic, 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 AbiRached 2014). Nil desperandum. Tempora mutantur, nos et

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)

mutamur in illis133—or to use the better-known Greek semantic 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 intrinsically interested in mystical and transcendental experiences (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 academic and critical minds are by far the best fitted ones to
interpret and discuss them - for surely to pass from mystical to scientific speculations is like passing from lunacy 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 themselves 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 debate 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 chemical compound nitrous oxide and the mescaline135 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
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
bonté de Dieu, la liberté de l’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 psychedelic 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 peyote136 was unfortunately unsuccessful. One can only speculate: Which turn
would Western psychology have taken if James’ mind would
have entered the psychedelic realm? James concluded his paper 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 was 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 moment; 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 terminating either in a laugh at the ultimate nothingness, or in a
mood of vertiginous amazement at a meaningless infinity. (James 1882)
Years later, James eloquently articulated the importance of
unbiased and eclectic inquiry in light of his “radical empiricism” 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 experienced, nor exclude from them any element that is directly 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 placing 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: FP7PEOPLE-2013-ITN-604764.

136

Radiocarbon dating of archeological specimens of peyote indicates that it
has in all likelihood been used since prehistoric times as long as ≈ 5700 years
ago (El-Seedi et al. 2005).

Compliance with Ethical Standards
Conflict of Interest
interest.

The author declares that he has no conflict of

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