Beyond hallucinations?
Originally published on Substack, follow me there.
Wilseyville, California — 2013. Cabin in the woods. My friends and I laid back, looking at the ceiling, giggling on MDMA. I rubbed my hands together and when I parted my palms, gaseous sparks wafted from them into the air. I could play with it, poke through it, and swirl it around. “Are you seeing this ?! ” “Whoa, yes…” My friends began to draw their fingers through it too.
Tokyo, Japan — 2018. Alone on a crowded train. Every head bowed into a phone. I was on acid and began to see waves emitting from every device, expanding up and out, finding their signal.
I’m not sure if all the psychedelic visions we call “hallucinations” are merely hallucinations (the apparent perception of something not present). No one really is.
These experiences felt hyperreal, as if I was seeing some hidden lattice — waves, particles — usually filtered from view. This isn’t new thinking. Many psychonauts have claimed certain visions feel realer than real (even closed-eye trips to interdimensional realms and meetings with strange beings…).
More often than not this kind of musing is filed away as pure loon — rejected as fabrications or malfunctions of the brain (or in the case of drug use: proper functioning).
But to dismiss this inquiry outright as bonkers — with a kinda ‘nope, we have this all sorted out and understood’ attitude — is as outlandish and unscientific as giving credence outright given our nascent understanding of consciousness, the brain, dreams, near-death experiences, etc. Yes, there have been several scans of brains mid-trip, lighting up, with certain regions quieting, but major gaps remain in our understanding. These scans do not yet prove or disprove an outer connection.
There has been research comparing open-eye hallucinations (OEHs) with closed-eye hallucinations (CEHs). Some theories propose that CEHs are more internally driven, while OEHs result from failed predictive processing, where the brain incorrectly interprets reality…
But what if certain altered states (and for some minds: more routine states, but I’ll get to that in a bit…) reveal views into unseen realities? What do we even call that kind of sight? Where is the connection and to which outer mechanism? Is there some morphic field we’re all tapped into and can explore deeper with certain tools and training?
Terence McKenna routinely suggested psychedelic visions, though labeled “hallucinations,” could reveal deeper layers of reality, consciousness, or alternate dimensions. McKenna did not claim that all hallucinations were objectively “true,” but he did argue that they often possess a subjective or experiential reality that is significant and incredibly worthy of investigation. Signals pointing to something somewhere…
Rick Straussman, too, wondered if what’s perceived in altered states might not be mere hallucinations but glimpses of other dimensions or realms of existence. However, he recently clarified his position on Rogan: “I’m more inclined to believe these are simply projections taking the garb of the personal milieu.”
I’d argue, given our common origin, our “personal milieus” may still indeed point to intrinsic, and testable, truths. Plus, it’s too strange that these visions tend to share so much aesthetically/philosophically across time, culture, and space (eg: the cosmic serpent/DNA).
There have already been several scientific discoveries birthed from psychedelic or dream-state visions and later backed IRL by third parties/procedures. From the benzene ring to Bruce Damer’s new wet-dry origin of life hypothesis.
Throughout the ages, mystics and scientists have co-mingled — sometimes as collaborators, sometimes as one and the same. Albert Hofmann once said, “When you study natural science and the miracles of creation, if you don’t turn into a mystic you are not a natural scientist.”
Exchanges of this sort — delving into the paranormal, central mysteries, and God — are seemingly happening more and more out in the open. Maybe it’s always been this way, but the quantity/quality of inquiry seems to be accelerating (thanks, World Wide Web) and less hushed/confined. Some might argue it’s because we’re descending into a less-reasonable dark age. Some will say we’re seeing the light.
I’m writing/thinking about this because 1) it’s going on around me 2) it’s fun and 3) I recently listened to the Telepathy Tapes, as did many others (more “mainstreaming” evidence: this hit #1 on Apple Podcasts for a bit). It’s received plenty of skepticism re: people wanting to believe in psi abilities and continued criticism re: spelling boards, but for now, I remain curious about the potential validity and certain mysteries at hand. I’ve met a nonverbal woman (and published a poem by her) who uses a spelling board and I believe in its usefulness as a method for communication, although a rudimentary output compared to her internal capacity.
The point is these nonverbal kids seem to present remarkable telepathic abilities. And it’s more than that: prophetic visions and precognition, love as a central message, and the ability to meet up in another dimension (they call it The Hill). One kid claims to see code/math all around him. Are hundreds of people — kids, their families, teachers, the people covering this — all bullshitting/misinformed or is there something else coming to the surface?
And again, why now? If these abilities have indeed been happening, wouldn’t we have heard of them by now? Wouldn’t there already be people using them for both good and evil? I do wonder if it’s an emergent upgrade… especially given the autism link and exponentially rising rates.
I’m not here to confirm or deny anything (that much is clear). And when it comes to my personal grasp on reality, I’m somewhere between the girl, the sun, and the angel with horns:
Listening to the tapes brought up these filed-away psychedelic visions, and got me wondering. What if there is some kind of “second sight?” What if it’s not secondary at all? (My neighbor who’s into this stuff told me “It’s not your sixth sense, it’s your primary sense. Keep an eye out for the mantis.”)
It checks out that our cultural understanding of these phenomena (regardless of confirmation status, even as concepts to explore) remains vague because so is our language. What would you even call a vision that’s not a hallucination — if they are glimpses into true aspects of reality?
“Clairvoyance” is likely our closest word for it in English. If someone’s a clairvoyant, they can see beyond the range of ordinary perception. But clairvoyance is currently attributed to the practices of specific mystics and channelers (add: a rising number of nonverbal autists and savants (I reckon it may be trainable too, in anyone)).
What about a bout of clairvoyance, stemming from an altered state?
“Supersight” or “unveiling” were suggested to me. I’ve heard “second sight” (and used it above) but none of these quite satisfy. Sure, we can call them “visions,” “revelations,” or “illuminations”… but these are too broad and I’m seeking a Germanic specificity.
Aneil suggested “psychegnosis,” a contrast to “psychedelic,” which comes from the Greek root “delos,” meaning revelation, with less emphasis on the truth of what’s revealed. That’s why “gnosis” might be the right direction → direct knowledge via the mind.
A friend Kenan suggested some words from ancient Arabic and Sanskrit (one: Haqiqat-i haqa’iq حقیقت حقایق : the unitary essence encompassing all realities). It makes sense that language back then was more poetic in this vein, given their rich connection to spirit and felt sense beyond the visible (white pill: I believe this is on the rise, for the better, and the internet plays a big part in it).
As psi abilities become more openly tested and hotly debated, the same will go for psychedelic visions — whether they’re purely mental constructs or gateways elsewhere, and in that case, we’ll need better terms.
Alas, the current lexicon is latent, undergoing eternal editing. For fun, I consulted the robot for a few ideas:
- Cryptovision (crypto + vision): “Seeing the hidden.”
- Opticrypha (optic + krypha): “Hidden sight.”
- Luciview (lucid + view): “A clear view of the unseen.”
- Occultview (occult = hidden + view): “A view into the hidden.”
- Spectralia (spectra = a range of light/waves + -ia): “Perception of unseen spectrums.”
- Invisios (invisible + vision): “Seeing the invisible.”
- Dimensight (dimension + sight): “Sight into hidden dimensions.”
- Unveilos (unveil + -os): “The act of unveiling unseen reality.”
- Lattiview (lattice = underlying structure + view): “Viewing hidden frameworks.”
- Energos (energo = energy + -os): “Seeing flows of energy.”
Although words can help us unearth ideas — to speak into being or “spell cast” in a way, with sounds as addresses — we’ll see how new sublime language emerges naturally/colloquially. Maybe we’re entering an era where the words are less important than the connection itself.
