Dear reader, you might be thinking, “What’s a soulship?”
Or, “What is soulship? Is it the state of being a soul?”
Well, sure, but I’m thinking of a vehicle: a ship for exploring souls. Something like a spaceship or an airship.
Now you might be wondering, “Who would need a ship for exploring souls?”
I think anyone could benefit from a soulship. With exploration comes understanding, and with understanding comes solutions to problems, no matter whether you were looking for them or even realized the problems were there. That’s how I approach the problems of my soul.
The pilot of a soulship is called a psychonaut, meaning “sailor of the soul” in Ancient Greek. The practice of piloting a soulship is called psychonautics.
As I see it, psychonautics is the pursuit of knowledge about your own soul, or mind, or psyche, or whatever. I mean whatever it is about you that has thoughts, emotions, experiences, desires, and knowledge. One way to put it is that your soul comprises what it’s like to be you. So here’s what psychonautics is essentially looking for: what is it like to be you, and why? For example, what do you think and why do you think it? What do you want, and why? Do you need to want the things you do? What makes you tick? Further, what can you change about your soul to make it better? Can one soul be better than another?
The traditional definition of psychonautics involves altered states of consciousness, but I don’t really see it that way. By my definition, psychonautics can be carried out just by observing yourself and thinking about your observations. That’s one reason I love being a psychonaut: all you need is your brain and some free time! Drugs do, however, have a role to play. Some drugs can provide new perspectives that make the nature of sober consciousness more clear, as well as being absolutely fascinating. That said, using drugs is a bit like using machine tools: if you don’t want to get your fingers cut off, you better know what you’re doing. The difference is that the risks and benefits of using drugs are a lot less clear-cut, so being informed requires more time and effort.
By the way, I think the only way to know whether you should do something is to know in detail the benefits and risks of doing it. Then you'll already know whether you should do it. This “should” only applies to you in the present, though, which is why parents and other mentors are good to have, because they take it upon themselves to watch out for you in the future. Good to have if you care about the future you, that is. It's reasonable not to because future you is not really you, just something similar to you that's in the future. I guess this means you're the only one who can decide whether mentors are good to have. You know what, I think whatever decision you make when fully informed is the right decision, the only problem being that it's impossible to be fully informed, which I guess is what the concept of risk is supposed to solve. Anyway, I've gotten sidetracked, but what I just said is really the soul of psychonautics: being fully informed about yourself.
I’ve made the decision for myself (and only myself!) that some drugs have psychonautic benefits that outweigh the risks (and the potential for unknown risks) of responsible use. MDMA and ketamine are two examples. However, I have the strongest opinions about psychedelics like LSD and mescaline, since the states they induce are so profoundly and beneficially different from sober consciousness. Psychedelics reveal contents of your soul that are very hard to find in other ways. Alexander Shulgin, a brilliant chemist and hero of mine, had this to say about his first mescaline experience:
“Everything I had recognized came from the depths of my memory and my psyche. I understood that our entire universe is contained in the mind and the spirit. We may choose not to find access to it, we may even deny its existence, but it is indeed there inside us, and there are chemicals that can catalyze its availability.”
Being a psychonaut means exploring your inner universe, so in the spirit of Shulgin, I don’t think any psychonaut’s journey is complete without a psychedelic trip or two, assuming these trips happen in a good setting and with a good mindset. As it happens, I’m very interested in drugs and how they work. Drugs could be one of the main topics of this blog, if it becomes a regular thing.
Another practice that could fall under the umbrella of psychonautics is the pursuit of knowledge about other people’s souls. How are their perspectives different from yours, and why? Why do they have different opinions and want different things? I mean, really, where do people’s opinions and desires come from? Where should they come from, if anywhere? At this point I’m just describing armchair psychology and philosophy, which I guess is kind of what psychonautics is all about.
After this, there are always more general questions. What are the properties of a human soul? What is it really good at, and what makes it so successful at this? What does it mean to be conscious? Is consciousness unique to biological brains, or could it be achieved by a computer? (huh? huh?)
All the questions I’m asking are very difficult to answer. In fact, I’m not sure whether they’re possible to answer completely. I don’t claim to know much neuroscience or psychology or philosophy, so it’s possible that anything I write here is wrong or already covered by any of these fields. Well, whatever, I’m writing it anyway. Deal with it.
Sorry, maybe I shouldn’t put it so harshly. I do my best to be constantly learning, but I figure it’s not a bad idea to write my thoughts in their current state, as a record if nothing else. Maybe my ideas are the result of aimless overthinking. Maybe they’re worthwhile philosophy. Maybe both. I want to find out. Please help me reach a more complete understanding of reality.
Now that introductions are out of the way, I invite you to join me as I try to better understand myself and others. Hell, I really don’t know what I’ll end up putting on this blog, if anything. It could go very differently than I expect. In any case, I think a soulship is a good starting point for some interesting adventures.
Or, “What is soulship? Is it the state of being a soul?”
Well, sure, but I’m thinking of a vehicle: a ship for exploring souls. Something like a spaceship or an airship.
Now you might be wondering, “Who would need a ship for exploring souls?”
I think anyone could benefit from a soulship. With exploration comes understanding, and with understanding comes solutions to problems, no matter whether you were looking for them or even realized the problems were there. That’s how I approach the problems of my soul.
The pilot of a soulship is called a psychonaut, meaning “sailor of the soul” in Ancient Greek. The practice of piloting a soulship is called psychonautics.
As I see it, psychonautics is the pursuit of knowledge about your own soul, or mind, or psyche, or whatever. I mean whatever it is about you that has thoughts, emotions, experiences, desires, and knowledge. One way to put it is that your soul comprises what it’s like to be you. So here’s what psychonautics is essentially looking for: what is it like to be you, and why? For example, what do you think and why do you think it? What do you want, and why? Do you need to want the things you do? What makes you tick? Further, what can you change about your soul to make it better? Can one soul be better than another?
The traditional definition of psychonautics involves altered states of consciousness, but I don’t really see it that way. By my definition, psychonautics can be carried out just by observing yourself and thinking about your observations. That’s one reason I love being a psychonaut: all you need is your brain and some free time! Drugs do, however, have a role to play. Some drugs can provide new perspectives that make the nature of sober consciousness more clear, as well as being absolutely fascinating. That said, using drugs is a bit like using machine tools: if you don’t want to get your fingers cut off, you better know what you’re doing. The difference is that the risks and benefits of using drugs are a lot less clear-cut, so being informed requires more time and effort.
By the way, I think the only way to know whether you should do something is to know in detail the benefits and risks of doing it. Then you'll already know whether you should do it. This “should” only applies to you in the present, though, which is why parents and other mentors are good to have, because they take it upon themselves to watch out for you in the future. Good to have if you care about the future you, that is. It's reasonable not to because future you is not really you, just something similar to you that's in the future. I guess this means you're the only one who can decide whether mentors are good to have. You know what, I think whatever decision you make when fully informed is the right decision, the only problem being that it's impossible to be fully informed, which I guess is what the concept of risk is supposed to solve. Anyway, I've gotten sidetracked, but what I just said is really the soul of psychonautics: being fully informed about yourself.
I’ve made the decision for myself (and only myself!) that some drugs have psychonautic benefits that outweigh the risks (and the potential for unknown risks) of responsible use. MDMA and ketamine are two examples. However, I have the strongest opinions about psychedelics like LSD and mescaline, since the states they induce are so profoundly and beneficially different from sober consciousness. Psychedelics reveal contents of your soul that are very hard to find in other ways. Alexander Shulgin, a brilliant chemist and hero of mine, had this to say about his first mescaline experience:
“Everything I had recognized came from the depths of my memory and my psyche. I understood that our entire universe is contained in the mind and the spirit. We may choose not to find access to it, we may even deny its existence, but it is indeed there inside us, and there are chemicals that can catalyze its availability.”
Being a psychonaut means exploring your inner universe, so in the spirit of Shulgin, I don’t think any psychonaut’s journey is complete without a psychedelic trip or two, assuming these trips happen in a good setting and with a good mindset. As it happens, I’m very interested in drugs and how they work. Drugs could be one of the main topics of this blog, if it becomes a regular thing.
Another practice that could fall under the umbrella of psychonautics is the pursuit of knowledge about other people’s souls. How are their perspectives different from yours, and why? Why do they have different opinions and want different things? I mean, really, where do people’s opinions and desires come from? Where should they come from, if anywhere? At this point I’m just describing armchair psychology and philosophy, which I guess is kind of what psychonautics is all about.
After this, there are always more general questions. What are the properties of a human soul? What is it really good at, and what makes it so successful at this? What does it mean to be conscious? Is consciousness unique to biological brains, or could it be achieved by a computer? (huh? huh?)
All the questions I’m asking are very difficult to answer. In fact, I’m not sure whether they’re possible to answer completely. I don’t claim to know much neuroscience or psychology or philosophy, so it’s possible that anything I write here is wrong or already covered by any of these fields. Well, whatever, I’m writing it anyway. Deal with it.
Sorry, maybe I shouldn’t put it so harshly. I do my best to be constantly learning, but I figure it’s not a bad idea to write my thoughts in their current state, as a record if nothing else. Maybe my ideas are the result of aimless overthinking. Maybe they’re worthwhile philosophy. Maybe both. I want to find out. Please help me reach a more complete understanding of reality.
Now that introductions are out of the way, I invite you to join me as I try to better understand myself and others. Hell, I really don’t know what I’ll end up putting on this blog, if anything. It could go very differently than I expect. In any case, I think a soulship is a good starting point for some interesting adventures.
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