Stopping Becoming Otherwise: Psychedelics as a Technology for Regaining the Self

• In Event: Becoming Otherwise: STS Inroads into Techniques of the Better Self - I: Potential

Abstract

Since the beginning of the 21st century, Western societies are undergoing what has been called a “Psychedelic Renaissance.” After several decades of mere underground existence, psychedelic substances such as psilocybin (the psychoactive component in magic mushrooms), LSD, and MDMA are again scientifically examined for their potential to cure mental disorders, the betterment of well people, and their power to occasion spiritual experiences. Simultaneously, the practice of microdosing—taking minuscule, almost unnoticeable amounts of psychedelics to improve creativity and performance—has gained traction in Western society, especially in Silicon Valley. This makes contemporary psychedelic practices an apt case to explore core questions of this session: how can we, from an STS perspective, make sense of “psychedelic technologies” that do not fit into simple, one-dimensional readings of bettering the self for neoliberal reasons? And what can psychedelics tell us about the nature of subjectivity as such? Based on an analysis of current scientific research and subcultural discourses on psychedelics, this paper proposes that underlying all attempts of becoming otherwise is a culturally entrenched belief of the Self as lacking and therefore in need of becoming otherwise. Psychedelics—if used with this belief in mind, as in some practices of microdosing—may most likely not engender psychological or broader sociocultural change, however, if used with a therapeutic, spiritual mindset, psychedelics seem to allow to regain an understanding of the Self as being inherently whole and not in need of change, thus re-establishing what could be called “peace of mind.”

Author

• Claudia Schwarz-Plaschg, University of Vienna