Infinite Perception

      

By Ocean Malandra and Natalie L. Dyer

Infinite Perception By Ocean Malandra and Natalie L. Dyer (www.o-books.com)   How Will the Psychedelic Renaissance Transform the World?   Psychedelics are in the media spotlight. Touted as potent treatments for the crisis level mental health afflictions facing humanity right now, from addiction to depression, they are one of the few hopes filled topics in the news cycle. And that’s for good reason. Psychedelic plant medicines have been used by Indigenous societies all around to world as an integral component of healing systems that go back to time immemorial. Study after study also proves their efficacy, as more and more universities, scientists, and medical institutions begin testing them out on real world subjects and documenting their therapeutic powers.   Infinite Perception: The Role of Psychedelics in Global Transformation is an anthology of voices from the frontline of the psychedelic renaissance. From the organizations that have helped usher in this new age of psychedelic therapy, like MAPS and Cosmic Sister, to Indigenous people themselves, who have guarded these medicines for thousands of years.   The book takes a deep dive into what exactly the psychedelic renaissance will accomplish. And this requires taking a close look at why so many social and psychological problems, from mental illness to war to environmental degradation, are growing at such a high rate that humanity is facing an existential perfect storm in the first place.   While psychedelic medicines are often good at treating symptoms, many contributors to this anthology argue that psychedelics are a tool for investigating much deeper into the human psyche. For discovering places where belief systems and ideals, ways of seeing and understanding the world, have brought us to the brink of global collapse.   From unraveling the roots of racism through the lens of the psychedelic experience to firsthand accounts of how plant medicines are used to resist colonialization and exploitation in the Amazon rainforest, the book is a kaleidoscope of different perspectives and voices.   These voices also revolve around a central point: psychedelics are a catalyst for consciousness change. It is this change of consciousness that is the true cure for our mental health epidemic. It is this change of consciousness that will lead us out of the aggressive stance of nation against nation, and towards a global society of respect and peace. It is this change of consciousness that will direct our resources towards restoring, renewing, and enriching our natural environment instead of degrading it, and in ways that will benefit the many and not just the few.   This book takes the position that psychedelics are going to play not just an important but a key role in the transformation of human society right now when that transformation is needed the most. Right now.   This does not mean that psychedelics are panaceas. In other words, they do not simply change human consciousness on their own. They need your participation. They are active medicines, not passive ones.   This is why psychedelic plant medicines have been referred to as “teachers” in many different Indigenous societies. Like a good teacher, they show us what needs to be corrected, show us what needs to be learned, show us how we got ourselves into the mess we are in and how we can get ourselves out. They are a bright torch lighting the way in a dark tunnel.   But they are not going to do the work for us.   When all is illuminated, the way out becomes apparent. But the steps must still be taken by everyone, and by society at large. Just like how Indigenous societies used psychedelic plant medicines to preserve community harmony, reinforcing through ritual and often raw gut-wrenching experience how actions based on greed, anger, hate, or fear, lead to harm and disunity, global humanity now has a powerful tool at its disposal.   The fact that psychedelics are being integrated into the modern health system is already a sign that the paradigm has shifted. But there is still a lack of clarity on exactly how these powerful medicines, many with long Indigenous traditions attached to their use that cannot be replicated in laboratories and clinics, will be utilized.   This book hopes to clear up some of these issues. A running theme of the anthology is that psychedelics give users a taste of the “mystical experience”, a state that is respected in all spiritual traditions around the world. This is because the prophets of these traditions, the ones who laid down the ethical, moral, and spiritual dimensions of how to live properly, usually gained that information while in a mystical state.   Psychedelics are a key to this mystical experience, this mystical state. Just at the time when human society needs full-scale re-imagining, the most direct and potent catalysts to the mystical state have arisen and are being mainstreamed. This is no coincidence….   Even the name of the book, Infinite Perception, is a nod to the mystical state and is derived from the Parable of the Cave, by Plato. Written at the dawn of western civilization, this small tale is a poignant exploration of what is gained from the mystical state, and what is lost when it is ignored, downplayed, or outright repressed.   The crossroads humanity now finds itself at is more like a dead end. Business as usual simply cannot go on for much longer. Psychedelics, with their ability to catalyze a mystical state and shine light on an otherwise too-dark-to-discern-situation, are like a traffic signal pointing to a new path. While this path is just as old as it is new, since mysticism has been pushed underground in western culture, readers will find themselves in new territory yet feeling that they have always known all this to be true.   A book for the dreamers, the activists, the wounded, and the awake, Infinite Perception is simply a collection of voices, that together, help bring some real clarity and focus to the fast-accelerating psychedelic renaissance currently sweeping the globe.   *** Infinite Perception: The Power of Psychedelics for Global Transformation is an anthology of voices from the front line of the Psychedelic Renaissance, co-edited by journalist Ocean Malandra and neuroscientist and Harvard researcher Natalie Dyer, PhD.   After being culturally dormant for decades, a new mainstream global psychedelic revolution is upon us. This pioneering anthology takes the reader on a renewed journey through the cultural, social, and personally transformative power of psychedelics. Discover unique perspectives from indigenous healers to scientists, anthropologists, artists, and activists. From this multidimensional exploration, the reader will gain a comprehensive new understanding of psychedelics and their impact that's not found in other books. This volume includes contributions and interviews from prominent voices such as Dennis Mckenna of the Mckenna Academy, Rick Doblin of MAPS, Zoe Helene of Cosmic Sister, and Rick Strassman of the Spirit Molecule, as well as indigenous shamans from the Amazon rainforest to the Arctic Circle.   Infinite Perception by Ocean Malandra and Natalie L. Dyer is available from www.o-books.com and from wherever books are sold.   BOOK LINK: https://www.collectiveinkbooks.com/o-books/our-books/infinite-perception-psychedelics-global-transformation