How feeling connected to all things during psilocybin therapy can change you.
Heard the joke about the Zen monk and the hot dog vendor? If not, let me indulge you.
A Zen monk goes to a hot dog kiosk and says to the vendor “Make me one with everything”. He then gives the vendor a $10 bill. The vendor takes the money and stares blankly at the monk. Awkwardly, the monk says, “Sir, that hot dog is $4. What about my change?”. To this, the vendor breaks into a chuckle and replies, “Change must come from within”.
In Zen Buddhism, Sufism, Hinduism, and many of the other wisdom traditions, the idea of being “one with everything” encapsulates the essence of unity consciousness, a state of mind that can increase our sense of empathy and compassion for plants, animals, minerals and our fellow human beings.
Unity consciousness describes a state where a person is aware that everything in the universe is connected, that they too are connected to everything, and that everything is connected to them. It is also one of the effects of psilocybin and other psychedelics. “I am the universe, and the universe is me” was how one client described how she felt after her psilocybin therapy. “I encountered the everything and I was a part of it”, said another.
During my own experience of unity consciousness on psilocybin, it occurred to me that my consciousness was limitless, but because I was “trapped” in the mind of “Michele”, this limitless consciousness could only experience sensory input and processing through a single, limited view finder – Michele’s brain and nervous system. In that psilocybin-induced non-ordinary state, I was convinced that if I weren’t confined to this material vessel known as Michele, I’d actually be able to see, hear, taste, touch and feel the world through a multitude of perspectives. I would know what it was like to be the plant in the corner of the room, my cats, a sheep, my friends, a stranger, a crystal or seashell, a toaster oven, a pencil, or a chair. While having this experience, I felt that I was all these things and could exist within them all. If only I were not locked up, stuck, in this designated “Michele container”, I could indeed be "one with everything".
The neuroscience behind unity consciousness
A study by Vollenweider and Geyer suggests that psychedelic states allow more sensory content to enter one’s consciousness at any given time, so a larger than usual amount of sensory information can make it through to one’s conscious awareness. Research with LSD by Enzo Tagliazucch and colleagues found that psychedelics increase global functional connectivity – this means more parts of your brain communicate with each other than they normally would with psychedelic therapy. MRI scans from this study showed that areas of the brain rich in serotonin receptors were more active when participants were on LSD. In particular, Tagliazucch noted that the brain’s sight and touch processing sensory cortices became more connected than usual to the frontal parietal network – the part of the brain associated with maintaining our sense of self. “The stronger that communication [between the sensory cortices and the frontal parietal network], the stronger the experience of the dissolution [of self],” says Tagliazucchi who speculates that this crisscrossing of signals between the different brain regions muddles how we process what we see, taste or hear in our environment, resulting in a radically different way of perceiving things. “This can create the perception that you and, say, the pizza you’re eating, are no longer separate entities. You are the pizza and the world beyond the windowsill. You are the church and the tree and the hill,” writes Angus Chen in an NPR article. In his book “LSD: My Problem Child”, Albert Hoffman described unity consciousness as when “a portion of the self overflows into the outer world, into objects, which begin to live, to have another, a deeper meaning.” Hoffman also expressed his belief that if more people had this “fundamental re-experience of the oneness of all living things” then the world might be a better place.
Changing from within
The idea of unity consciousness may sound intriguing, but how exactly can it help us live a more fulfilling life and be better people? How can it evoke that “change from within” that the hot dog seller chuckled over?
When we can step into the skin of someone or something else, a big shift happens. Barriers get broken down and for a while, we feel a little less separate, alone and different from others and from nature. This breaking down of barriers increases our ability to feel empathy and compassion as we can better “feel” what it’s like to be say, an animal, an insect, or someone who is of a different culture, religion or gender, or whose life circumstances are very different from our own. An experience of unity consciousness can help us see the value in all lifeforms, points of view, and even in ideologies that we may have once been vehemently opposed to. By learning to value all of life (the good, the bad and the ugly) and honor differences, we become more accepting, and we may find ourselves becoming more concerned for the welfare of others and nature rather than looping on our own problems or misery. For many people, the experience of unity consciousness improves social connection and interpersonal relationships, increases a desire for community, and increases one’s ability to trust others, oneself and life. The experience of unity consciousness can move us from me-focused to we-focused thinking.
So the next time you order a hot dog, why not make it one with everything!
By Michele Koh Morollo, NUMEN NoSC Therapies
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