School #58

Psychedelic / Entheogenic Worldview

Aldous Huxley, Terence McKenna, Stanislav Grof, Robin Carhart-Harris

The psychedelic worldview holds that ordinary waking consciousness is a narrow filter on a vaster, multidimensional reality. Altered states of consciousness — induced by entheogens, meditation, or breathwork — reveal deeper layers of existence normally screened out. The observer's state of consciousness determines which layer of reality is accessible.

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I. Time

Extent	Infinite
Ontological Status	Emergent
Grain	Continuous
Freedom	Non-Deterministic
Traversability	Branching
Dimensionality	N
Direction	Multi-directional

Time is emergent and infinite — in altered states of consciousness, ordinary temporal flow dissolves into the "eternal now." Time is continuous and non-directional: past, present, and future may merge in psychedelic experience. The entheogenic worldview holds that the everyday experience of linear, uni-directional time is a limited mode of consciousness that can be transcended through visionary experience.

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II. Space

Extent	Infinite
Ontological Status	Emergent
Curvature	Undefined
Dimensionality	N
Locality	Non-local

Space is emergent and infinite — psychedelic experience dissolves ordinary spatial boundaries, revealing a space that is non-local, interdimensional, and alive with significance. Curvature is curved or undefined: ordinary Euclidean geometry does not apply in visionary states. Dimensionality is N because psychedelic experience accesses spatial dimensions beyond the ordinary three.

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III. Matter

Extent	Finite
Ontological Status	Emergent
Conservation	Conserved
Dimensionality	N
Locality	Non-local

Matter is emergent and finite — in the psychedelic worldview, ordinary material reality is one layer of a multidimensional cosmos. Matter is non-conserved in the sense that material forms are fluid, transformable, and interpenetrated by consciousness. It is non-local because the boundaries between material objects dissolve in visionary experience, revealing underlying interconnectedness.

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IV. Observer

Time Instance	Multiple
Space Instance	Multiple
Extent of Knowledge	Total
Retainment of Knowledge	Immediate
Physicality	Both
Agency	Active
Number	Plural

Time Instance: Multiple — under the influence of entheogens, the observer can experience time dilation, time loops, apparent access to past lives or future events, and the "eternal now"; McKenna's timewave theory posits that the observer surfs multiple temporal frequencies simultaneously

Space Instance: Multiple — the psychedelic observer travels through inner landscapes, visionary spaces, and transpersonal realms that are experienced as genuinely spatial; Grof's perinatal and transpersonal matrices describe distinct spatial domains accessed in altered states

Extent of Knowledge: Total — mystical experience often carries the phenomenological quality of direct, total knowing (gnosis); Huxley's "Mind at Large" suggests that the brain normally filters out most of reality, and psychedelics open the valve

Retainment of Knowledge: Immediate — a defining feature of psychedelic experience is that insights gained in altered states are often difficult to retain or translate into ordinary consciousness; the "ineffability" of mystical experience limits stable retainment

Physicality: Both — the observer is embodied during the experience (the body is profoundly affected) yet simultaneously experiences disembodied travel through visionary realms

Agency: Active — the observer actively navigates the psychedelic space through intention, set, and setting; the quality of the experience depends on the observer's active engagement

Consciousness: Present — consciousness is not merely present but is the central instrument of exploration; expanding consciousness is the explicit goal

Number: Plural — psychedelic experience often reveals a multiplicity of conscious entities (plant intelligences, ancestral presences, geometric beings); the observer is one among many minds

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V. Energy

Extent Infinite

Ontological Status Emergent

Conservation Variable

Dispersibility Reversible

Infinite and emergent — energy in the psychedelic worldview is not merely physical but includes subtle, psychic, and cosmic energies that emerge from deeper layers of reality. Conservation: Variable — in altered states, the normal conservation laws of ordinary experience appear suspended; energy seems to be created, amplified, or transformed in ways that defy everyday physics. Dispersibility: Reversible — psychedelic experience suggests that entropy and dispersal are not final; healing, renewal, and the reversal of psychic entropy are central themes, as Grof's holotropic breathwork demonstrates.

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VI. Information

Ontological Status Relational

Conservation Non-conserved

Granularity Continuous

Expanded states of consciousness reveal informational dimensions normally inaccessible — psychedelic experience suggests that ordinary awareness filters out vast amounts of information. Information is relational because what is accessible depends on the state of consciousness. It is non-conserved because the insights of altered states are notoriously difficult to retain. It is continuous because the psychedelic experience is a seamless, flowing expansion of awareness.

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