The secret diary of a microdoser # 2
My psychiatrist looks straight at me . His body completely still , his eyes piercing with total concentration . I précis the last hour , “ So , basically , I ’ ve given up drinking and taken up mushrooms and DMT …” And his answer ?… “ Great !”… Seriously . Hand on heart . I shit you not . He closes his notebook , wrapping up the session and repeats , “ Great .”… If ever I needed validation , that was the moment . I could have kissed him .
I float out to his reception desk and am less bothered by his astronomical fees than usual . I wave a plastic card over a plastic box to make a plastic sound . I ponder whether that “ friendly ” beep has been acoustically engineered to hide the laugh of bankers . But I shrug it off . Sometimes you get fleeced . Sometimes it ’ s worth it .
I didn ’ t get the chance for him to expand on why he thought psychedelics were better for me than alcohol . But do I need to ? Who am I kidding ? How many trippers do you meet in A & E on a Saturday night , nursing their smashed up heads or broken arms ? Zero . Zip . Nadda .
Booze was just the best thing we could come up with at the time . Liquid bread . Goes well with a fag . Something to throw in the air when England score a goal … The thing is that the world isn ’ t that simple anymore . The world has changed , and our needs have changed with it . And it ’ s not going back because reversing isn ’ t an option offered by its gear box . It can only travel in one direction .
Evolution is a journey towards complexity . It is inexorable . Relentless . It started with simple cell division and it ends with ?… Well , I guess that ’ s the million dollar question … Telepathy ? Teleporting ? Interdimensional travel ? Perhaps we become the gods . Wherever we ’ re going , whether you lubricate the wheels with psychedelics or not , it will undoubtedly blow our minds .
Often when I dose on psilocybin , I think of a coral reef in The Red Sea called Ras Mohammed . The metaphor is as simple as it is beautiful . A giant figure of Mohammed is standing with his feet planted on the Earth ’ s core , and the top of his head ( specifically his scalp or “ Ras ”, the most spiritual part of the brain according to Islamic scriptures , being “ closest to God ”) is a huge coral reef , bursting with life and exploding with colour .
But you don ’ t need to have scubadived off the Sinai Peninsula and witnessed the intricacy and symbiosis of a coral reef to bathe in the beauty of natural psychedelia . You can experience the same complexity and harmony by walking through the stunning woods and countryside that surround our city . You only need to open your eyes a little wider and study a leaf whose veins divide and divide again until you enter the mesh of its photosynthesising cells . Follow the light that refracts through a droplet of dew on a bed of moss ; marvel at its suspension in space and time by the perfection of surface tension ; allow your mind to bend with its lens . Enable your senses to reach into the roots of a vine winding round its host with will and intent , and grasp its strength , yoke its power .
What I ’ m trying to say is that , if you dive into the detail and increase your true connection with nature , you will find your nirvana . In a world where our food is sterilised in cylinders of tin , wrapped in plastic or presented in polystyrene , ( none of which exist in the natural world ), we are often barred from quenching our thirst for spiritual grounding . Earthing is not a paradox , it is a human requirement . Whether you believe in the ionic exchange between your body and the Earth ’ s magnetism , whether you consciously bridge that gap with psychedelics or you ’ ve developed your own method , modern society ’ s hellbent determination to contain us with concrete , cover us with plastic and encase us with metal , leads to a schism with the natural environment and that … makes … you … sad … Why ? Well , this is the hilarious secret . Hilarious , because it ’ s so obvious : You Are Nature .
Nature is not something separate to you .
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You are not simply the Observer . Nature is not something you only watch on TV . Yes , it is out there , sure , but it is also within . It is You . It is Me . It exists in each and every exchange of our breath . In our beauty . In our faults and mistakes . In our skills and talents . In our empathy . In our senses , our thoughts , our beliefs and our emotions . In our smiles . In our tears . Even in our dreams … If you can ’ t see that , at our finest , we are the coral reef , then maybe it ’ s time to take off your mask .
With love .
Ray , Brighton , 2024
Editor ’ s note : The Whistler does not condone Ray ’ s opinions . We chose to publish this as we know there are many microdosers in the city . But remember , what works for Ray may not work for anyone else .
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