Michael Pollan's Book - "How to Change Your Mind"

[snoringdog]

This is a fascinating book.
I remember the times that I took (unguided) acid and mescaline trips in high school as really profound. Sometimes wonder if I could/should revisit...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Change_Your_Mind

And I just came across this podcast interview with the author-
https://tim.blog/2018/05/06/michael-pol ... your-mind/

He covers a lot of ground here including current studies on effectiveness in treating several mental health issues. (Work started in the 50's but was totally shut down in the 60's along with scheduling the drug in the same category as Heroin (!) mostly for sociological reasons, also discussed).

Discusses a theoretical paper around minute 83 called "The Entropic Brain", and the "Default Mode Network" which has only recently been discovered thru brain imaging.

The Default Mode network in the brain appears to act like a "policeman" (i.e. the Ego) patrolling the boundaries between Self and Other and the Subconscious.
Psychedelics appear to quiet this network, and allow areas of the brain to communicate with each other in more direct ways.

Also the theory that brains function along a spectrum running from Entropy to Rigidity. Schizoprehia & Childhood consciousness (!) fall on the entropy side and Depression, Obsession, Addiction toward rigidity. Psychedelics add entropy, and bias the mind away from rigidity.

There are a number of other interviews on these subjects. Listening to Stanislov Grof next..