I apologize for misunderstanding your perspective a bit! And I really appreciate you taking the time to clarify where you stand. I definitely understand you a little better now.

I'm always reluctant to speak too highly about the value of these experiences because I have seen people who struggled with psychosis afterward. But it's far more people I know who attribute colossaly positive changes to these experiences.

I think there's some sense to the idea that normal people shouldn't be taking these subtances just because, but I also do earnestly believe that it's a majority of people who stand to benefit from these experiences. There are plenty of people I know who, while aren't psychotic, are mired enough in their own subjective experience that they'd most likely benefit from this sort of consciounsess exploration.

One of the people who was most persuasive on this subject for me was Michael Pollan. So many of the big names in the field I think do these substances disservices by being such nebulous eccentrics (Like Tim Leery and Terrance McKenna.) But Pollan I think approaches the subject in an increedibly refreshing and well-researched way. By beginning to explore these substances so late in life, too, after spending years and years as a prolific author, I think Pollan's "How to Change your Mind" is the best book ever written on the subject.

Here's a brief link to him talking about it if you're at all curious! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBOcWgMD49o

There's one specific quote of his I'm trying to find and struggling. I'll see if I can unearth it.

Thanks again for so kindly clarifying where you stand!