Are Psychedelics the Reconnection to Love?

The stories of Psychedelic use in clinical, recreational and ceremonial settings are starting to become something hard to turn a blind eye too. I must admit that for many years while I was psychedelic naive, I would chalk up people’s stories of their psychedelic journeys to, “well you were just high on drugs” often followed by an eye roll. I never allowed it to be anything more than that and if i’m being really honest my internal judgements coded the stories people shared with me as “nothing to take with any seriousness”. Well as I write this today I am happy to be able to admit I was so wrong, and I deeply apologize for all those who shared their precious wisdom with me and did not receive it with the respect and love it truly deserved.

One of the lessons I’ve learned and continue to learn through psychedelic experiences either through my own journeys, supporting others through psychedelic experiences or in reading more than 300 stories from folks who have taken psychedelic medicine is that love is a key theme and our world is largely disconnected from it.

Curious what our working definition of love is? Check out our blog post on True Love

When I reflect on why most people come into therapy or seek alternative healing its often for some form of disconnection from love categorized in symptoms and diagnosis of Anxiety, Depression, Eating Disorders, Body Image Dissatisfaction, Loneliness, OCD, Suicidality, Self-Harm, Impulsivity, or Addiction. As helping professionals we are trained to treat what is presented in symptoms with the goal of symptom reduction with the hope of improving the person’s quality of life. However, what’s missing here is that these symptoms are largely byproducts of a disconnection from love, so addressing and “reducing” the symptom will likely result in new symptoms arising, leaving people suffering and their helping professionals in a never ending game of whack a mole.

Through expanded states of consciousness through psychedelic experiences we have access to looking with s compassionate, non-judgmental eyes at the symptoms that manifest within us and the conscious or unconscious patterns that maintain them, we are simply signing ourselves to forever be the puppy that chases its tail. It can be hard to explore these patterns in non expanded states, such as with psychedelics, because we remain in our reality in which these patterns serve a purpose to keep things familiar, safe, and predictable, even if it means we are experiencing ongoing suffering as a result. Our symptoms often at one point in our existence were our greatest protectors, that never stepped down from the line of duty in a living experience that perhaps never return back to the safety we once had or needed.

So what does all this have to do with psychedelics being a reconnection to love?

Although the mystical elements of psychedelic effects still remain largely unexplained in the scientific world, what we do know is people are regularly brought to deep profound experiences of love through psychedelic journeys. Many of these experiences being described by people are one that made a marked change in their life even years after the experience. These experiences of love are usually found through a deep understanding of why the symptoms “protectors” we developed showed up in the first place, grief and sadness, deep forgiveness of ourselves and others and insights that help to shine light on the ways in which our patterns are in fact limiting or blocking our access to truly profound love, a love that isn’t work for, achieved, or earned, but rather the truth that we are love, we are one, and we are born to be loved as we are.

When we can understand ourselves in this way by stepping outside of our everyday experience of life and reality it allows us to see the “full picture”, as if we at some point we zoomed in and the journey with psychedelics allows us to zoom out more and more each time, helping us find the path back to love, back home to ourselves, back home to each other. This inner knowing and truth is one of the strong predictors for not only symptom reduction, but symptom eradication and enhances quality of life. Why? Because when we can experience deep self understanding and forgiveness, we experience love. Through this we are able to actively create the conditions in our everyday life that allow us to access psychological safety, calming our nervous system, tuning in to listen and respond to our needs and desires through the wisdom of our bodies unapologetically, and experiencing unconditional love not as a check list of self-care items but as a way of being.

If psychedelics have the potential to do this, sometimes in one experience, something that may take years to achieve otherwise, how can we deny it’s potential to be a powerful reconnector to love, love for ourselves, for others, and for the world around us. Furthermore, how can we deny it’s place in the world of mental health, especially when we are in the mists of a mental health epidemic, with limited accessible options for services, successful pharmacological treatments, and with MAiD (Medical Assistance in Dying) being poses as an option for folks struggling with mental health concerns.