Western culture, or, WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) has little framework for psychedelics.
One paper examines the WEIRD perspective on psychedelics and points out that
Scholarly understanding of acute subjective effects is overwhelmingly guided by research in industrialized Western societies.
The research illustrated how researcherss attempts to measure psychedelics were biased, despite their intentions. For example, they found people having experiences which were not included in the questionaries they were provided with to analyse their experiences. Things like ESP or connections to ancestors therefore were not included in the research, while in other cultures these ideas are far more accepted, so may well have been given more credence, had the research been carried out elsewhere.
WEIRD cultures are very new on the psychedelic scene, with many still deprogramming the impact of the “war on drugs”. We are learning how to use psychedelics safely and effectively.
Perhaps the biggest challenge is exploring what they mean to us as individuals and how they fit into our culture.
Many advocates suggest that psychedelics could “change the world.” While it is true psychedelics can and will impact parts of our culture, they cannot be removed from it. (And it seems unlikely psychedelics will destroy culture entirely.)
Take for example the ’60s counterculture movement. Artistic expression, sexual liberation, new spiritual possibilities, political views, and experimentation with drugs stretched existing culture so far that it snapped back like an elastic band, bringing lasting prohibition and stigma.
Culture, by its nature, is stuck in its ways. But that doesn’t mean it doesnt, and can’t change.
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I always wondered why people advise the setting should be a clean place, I get its the same way to keep a clean mind entering the psychedelic realm.
Amazing!!!