Freelance writer and author of Altered Perspectives: Critical Essays on Psychedelic Consciousness (2024). Editor for https://xitter.cf/t.co/XtGPQsdVj1

London, England
Joined June 2009
The human need for meaning, in what can appear a meaningless world, is a cause for extreme pessimism, believed philosopher Peter Wessel Zapffe. | iai.tv/articles/human-consci… However, @samwoolfe argues that Zapffe forgets that human consciousness, although giving rise to the tragic in life, also gives birth to existential joy.
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Our new review of the insightful 'Altered Perspectives: Critical Essays on Psychedelic Consciousness' by @samwoolfe S*bstack link in bio! ❤️📖
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Enjoying Altered Perspectives by @samwoolfe today - review coming soon! ❤️📖
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The human need for meaning, in what can appear a meaningless world, is a cause for extreme pessimism, believed philosopher Peter Wessel Zapffe. | iai.tv/articles/human-consci… However, @samwoolfe argues that Zapffe forgets that human consciousness, although giving rise to the tragic in life, also gives birth to existential joy.
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Coming soon...
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Sam Woolfe retweeted
Replying to @samwoolfe
Good article @samwoolfe - we surveyed people reporting HPPD and found personality differences between those with positive/neutral 'type I' HPPD (who had higher absorption & visual apophenia) and negative 'type II' (who had higher trait anxiety) - doi.org/10.1556/2054.2022.00…
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I watched some of the paywalled telepathy tapes and sadly every case I saw includes blatant facilitated communication. In some cases, to the point that the facilitator (who knows the answer!) controls both the face and the 'spelling board'. I hate being this guy. But we need to consider how badly this can affect children and adults with disabilities who's true intentions and desires are being replaced by a facilitators projections, which have previously lead to false accusations of sexual abuse. This is not about telepathy. It's about something much more serious - the humane treatment of vulnerable humans. I'm also sorry for all those with renewed optimism about spiritual phenomena after hearing the telepathy tapes. I hope you can ride that openness towards practices that give you your own meaningful, surprising, and outright magical experiences. They exist. But this ain't it. See the detailed thread in comments.
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‘Mind, Reality & Nature w/ Bernardo Kastrup and Peter Sjöstedt-Hughes’, via Adalin’s Voicecraft: youtu.be/OLuPLQK8e-g?si=OSjH…
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Recommend watching the interview @JulesEvans11 did with someone who had long term anxiety from ayahuasca sessions. Humbling as she was prepared, knowledgeable, and well experienced with meditation and mental health practice. She reports feedback from psychedelic practitioners that put the blame on her and shamed her for the the distress. I've seen this first hand in clinical trials research when a heavy handed approach is applied. Difficulties are put on the patient for allowing their "ego" to trick them. Every difficulty can be construed as their failure to be open to the experience. I strongly suspect the "retreat" practice of massing multiple psychedelic sessions within a few days was a major factor in her case. They try to pack in all these sessions into a brief visit, with sessions every day or every other day. Then off on a plane home a day or two after the last session. This hardly sounds optimal to me, and seems to be more a product of the retreat industry trying to sell folks more bang for their buck. Link in the post below.
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What's the best(ish) predictor of therapeutic benefits on psychedelics? INSIGHT! Often outperforms mystical experiences. CF: The first systematic review of insight as a core mechanism in psychedelic therapy: osf.io/preprints/osf/5en4u
Replying to @joshkugel
Of greatest clinical relevance, 86% of studies found insight was associated with therapeutic benefit. Notably, the relationship was often stronger than mystical-type experiences, which have received more research attention.
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"We need person-centred mental health care, not more psychiatrists.... Studies have shown that a person-centred, non-diagnosis-led and least-medicalised approach is more effective, quicker and with fewer clinical returns over the longer term." theguardian.com/society/2024…
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In many years of covering health and wellness, I have often thought: why am I hearing about quantum physics so much? I wrote about "quantum woo" or "quantum flapdoodle," the (mis)use of quantum theories in New Age and alternative medicine. Gift link: theatlantic.com/health/archi…
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Sam Woolfe retweeted
In this ep I also touch on 'alternate' therapies and the cult of wellness / perfectionism (mainly quoting @rrrins book). Mirroring a few ideas that @samwoolfe outlines in this article about the potential harms of wellness culture Thanks Sam and Rina 👍🏼 samwoolfe.com/2024/10/the-ha…
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Sam Woolfe retweeted
After years of debate and contemplation, philosopher @Philip_Goff has come to think a heretical form of Christianity might be true. Read his Aeon essay and listen to his podcast with @capturingchristianity to find out why aeon.co/essays/i-now-think-a… ⁠
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