The Psychedelic Experience

The Psychedelic Experience is a book whose purpose is to provide an interpretative framework for psychedelic experiences with drugs like LSD or mescaline. Such a framework isn’t needed if one only wants to see pretty colors, but if one seeks to understand more of the experience, it can be helpful. Every interpretative framework has a different degree of usability, so how usable is this one?

I’m not sure. It’s based on The Tibetan Book of the Dead, a Tibetan Buddhist text written to guide the transition from death to rebirth. In this context, it’s interpreted metaphorically, representing the death of the ego or the state of non-duality.

It does seem difficult for a Westerner, who may be unfamiliar with these concepts, to remember them all properly. But, as with everything, this likely becomes easier with time. It’s not enough to read this book once and forget it, it should be remembered and used as an active ingredient during a session.

As I haven’t yet had a session where I used this book, I can’t say how helpful it truly is, but the idea is pretty neat.