{"article":{"id":296751,"heading":"Psychonaut Michael Pollan And Psychedelic Therapy \t","author":"SNS","created":"2018-05-18 20:47:32","modified":"2018-05-18 20:47:32","last_modified":"Sat, 19 May 2018 03:47:32","article":"<p>For years animal rights workers have shaken their heads <br>  <br> at Michael Pollan who hunted a wild boar, bought a calf <br>  <br> and followed his progress including castration for a year, <br>  <br> finally arranging his killing and the eating of his cadaver, <br>  <br> and titled one of his books Conscientious Omnivore. <br><br> However, listening to his interview on Terry Gross' Fresh <br>  <br> Air and on OnPoint of WBUR (both audio versions <br>  <br> available online) one is amazed by his awakened <br>  <br> spirituality. <br><br> Pollan wrote that an outcome of his research into <br>  <br> LSD, peyote, and magic mushrooms was that <br>  <br> he no longer objectifies animals or nature. <br><br> He spoke of cancer patients in psychedelic therapy being given magic mushrooms <br>  <br> and coming out of the experience having lost their fear of death. <br>  <br> and describes Bill Wilson cofounder of Alcoholics Anonymous in <br>  <br> a New York hospital in 1934 being given belladonna (deadly <br>  <br> nightshade) in a controlled environment. After that Bill had no desire to drink. <br><br> Pollan recounts experiencing an ego dissolution as if <br>  <br> his mind's post it notes were caught in a windstorm. <br>  <br> Another psychonaut (Pollan's term), J Pear, official LSD researcher at Ohio State, wrote \"I felt like a ripe orange, deliciously being pulled apart segment by segment.\" But Pollan <br>  <br> says, to those who are not ready, the experience <br>  <br> of ego dissolution is not blissful but terrorizing. <br><br> He warned that the use of these drugs is illegal, and that <br>  <br> no one who is sad or mentally ill should take LSD without <br>  <br> a guide. Art Linkletter's daughter killed herself under <br>  <br> the influence of LSD. <br><br> A woman calling into WBUR's On Point spoke <br>  <br> of psychedelics helping her to transcend <br>  <br> limited ideas of right and wrong. It was as if <br>  <br> she lived Rumi's poem \"There is a field beyond <br>  <br> the dualities of right and wrong. It is there I shall meet <br>  <br> you.\" <br><br> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/magazine\/2015\/02\/09\/trip-treatment\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/magazine\/2015\/02\/09\/trip-treatment<\/a> <br><br> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wbur.org\/onpoint\/2018\/05\/16\/psychedelics-michael-pollan\" rel=\"nofollow\">http:\/\/www.wbur.org\/onpoint\/2018\/05\/16\/psychedelics-michael-pollan<\/a> audio of Pollan interview <br><br> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/programs\/fresh-air\/2018\/05\/15\/611301978\/fresh-air-fo\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/www.npr.org\/programs\/fresh-air\/2018\/05\/15\/611301978\/fresh-air-fo<\/a> audio of Pollan on Fresh Air <br>  <br> See also: <br>  <br> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/magazine\/2015\/02\/09\/trip-treatment\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/magazine\/2015\/02\/09\/trip-treatment<\/a> <br>  <br> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wbur.org\/onpoint\/2018\/05\/16\/psychedelics-michael-pollan\" rel=\"nofollow\">http:\/\/www.wbur.org\/onpoint\/2018\/05\/16\/psychedelics-michael-pollan<\/a> audio of Pollan interview<\/p>\n","contact":"","link":"https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/magazine\/2015\/02\/09\/trip-treatment","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","summary":"On magic mushrooms, cancer patients lose their fear of death.\r\nOthers like Pollan experience a blissful ego dissolution. Pollan\r\ndescribes his odyssey in the world of magic mushrooms, peyote\r\nand psilocybin","numcomment":0,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/2018\/05\/cover.jpg","filesize":"350.4 kibibytes","article_url":"\/news\/2018\/05\/296751.php","image":{"original":"\/uploads\/2018\/05\/cover.jpg","small":"\/uploads\/2018\/05\/cover.jpgthumb.jpg","medium":"\/uploads\/2018\/05\/cover.jpgmid.jpg"}},"attachments":[],"comments":[]}