NaBloPoMo Day 2: Mind

We're two months away from the end of 2023 but I am confident that this book will be my favorite read of the year: How to Change Your Mind- Michael Pollan. It came out 5 years ago to rave reviews and has been on my TBR (to be read) list ever since. The subtitle of the book is What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence.

It is fortuitous that I waited all this time to read it, because when I did pick it up, it was at the right time and the book just hit me differently than it would have before. I have thought more about "consciousness" this year than in any of the preceding 4 decades. When I was in grad school for biology, there was a standing joke that whenever the big shots in the field got their Nobel prizes, they would stop working on whatever they used to work on, and start working on consciousness. Basically consciousness had that "woo-woo" reputation and with good reason, because it is one of the biggest (if not the biggest) mysteries of the universe, very complicated to study objectively, and also a field rife with charlatans of different stripes. Now, I'm reading different books, thinking about consciousness and the mind, and interested in learning more the way I never was before. 

How to Change Your Mind is a tour de force of narrative nonfiction by Michael Pollan. I used to think of psychedelic drugs in the way most people do, my immediate associations being rave parties and '60s hippies with those iconic psychedelic colors and patterns. Well, Pollan did change my mind and I now have a less superficial understanding of this. Pollan starts off the book by covering the history of psychedelic drugs and why they are experiencing a renaissance now. 

Then, in an amazing first-person narrative chapter called "travelogue" he describes journeying underground (because these drugs are illegal in the US) to find underground guides or therapists who work with a variety of psychedelic substances in a carefully prescribed manner, and trying LSD, Psilocybin, and 5-MeO-DMT or the Toad for himself. (It struck me that there is a strong privilege in being able to try illegal drugs without repercussions, and write a best-selling book about the experience, even as tens of thousands of predominantly poor and minority people are behind bars for low-level non-violent drug offenses in the US).

My absolute favorite chapter in this book was about the neuroscience of psychedelics. I am going to say that it is the best chapter of any book I have read, ever. This is where he discusses the neuroscience of consciousness, which is that unmistakeable sense we have that we are, or possess, a self that has experiences. Most scientists believe that consciousness is a product of brains but some suggest that it could be a property of the universe or a fundamental building block of reality, like gravity. 

How can the ingestion of a compound/molecule created by a mushroom/toad/chemist cause a novel state of consciousness? All these three compounds are tryptamines and mimic a tryptamine that our body produces naturally, serotonin or 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT). The classical psychedelics have a strong affinity for the 5-HT2A receptor and that is how they unlock the door to the mind. Anesthetics disrupt normal consciousness by shutting it down, while psychedelics disrupt normal waking consciousness in ways that may force its fundamental properties into view. 

What do we know about physical structures in the brain related to this? The big player is the default mode network (DMN), a critical central hub which appears to be the brain's orchestra conductor. It is called the “default mode” because it lights up with activity when we have no mental tasks to perform and our minds go to wander- this may be where our stream of consciousness flows and it consumes a disproportionate share of the brain’s energy. The DMN plays a role in creating mental constructs, including the self or ego, and it is responsible for autobiographical memory or the story of who we are. When activity in the DMN falls off precipitously, the ego temporarily vanishes and the usual boundaries between self and world, subject and object melt away. The psychedelic experience of non-duality suggests that consciousness survives the disappearance of the self despite what we and it think. 

Psychedelics can quiet the DMN, loosen the ego’s grip on the mind machinery, and increase entropy in the brain, allowing a thousand mental states to bloom- many bizarre and senseless but some that can be revelatory or transformative. Finally, the link between psychedelics and meditation is that both of those achieve the same thing (only the latter is legal, free, and available to everyone.) Deactivating the DMN can be achieved through psychedelics and meditation, holotropic breathwork, sensory deprivation, fasting, prayer, extreme sports, near death experiences and so on. 

The final chapters of the book talk about the use of psychedelics in helping terminally ill patients lose their fear of dying, and in the treatment of addiction and depression. But psychedelic treatment is not just for the sick, it can be used for the betterment of well people. The reason to focus on meditation and not rush off to find psychedelics is that the effects of psychedelics fade away but can be recaptured in meditation. All in all, this is a fascinating, must-read book. 

"Succulents"
Painting by my Dad

One more on this subject- Based on a recommendation I saw on one of the book loving websites I frequent, I picked up this book from the library: The Happiness Trap- Russ Harris. This book is an easy to understand introduction to Acceptance And Commitment Therapy (ACT), an evidence-based model of behavior change. 

As I've said before, different books and models converge on the same small set of principles, and here too, the advice from this book boils down to not identifying with our thoughts and emotions, which come and go endlessly, but instead pay attention to the present moment and start understanding our "observing self". Here are some sample quotes from this book. 

• Like a lion placed in a paper cage, human beings are generally most trapped by the illusions of their own mind. 
• Evolution has shaped our brains so that we are hardwired to suffer psychologically: to compare, evaluate and criticize ourselves, to focus on what we are lacking, to become rapidly dissatisfied and imagine frightening scenarios.
• We have little control over our thoughts and feelings but we have a huge amount of control over our actions.
• Your mind will never stop telling you unpleasant stories because that’s just what minds do, but you can make dramatic improvements and learn to unhook yourself.
• The thinking self gets bored because boredom is a thought process, a story about how life could be more interesting.
• The observing self is incapable of boredom and registers everything with openness and interest.
• Our society places a lot of emphasis on thinking but there is more to you than your thoughts.
• Life gives most to those who make the most of what life gives.
• Put your life's energy into action and attention because those are the two things you can control.

See you tomorrow for a discussion of something much less lofty than consciousness- Snacks!