Hey Larry! Great to see you here my friend. What a treat on a Friday afternoon after a long and exhausting work week!

My question is as follows: Do you believe psychedelics have anything to say about the nature of objective reality? I've always thought that these substances might actually be tools which can be used to study what reality is, from an entirely scientific and objective standpoint. Obviously we are not there yet, and a lot would have to change in terms of our culture, priorities and public perception of psychedelic substances but I'm talking about in some more enlightened future when we actually have a place in science and medicine for evaluating and exploring psychedelic states.

Do you think psychedelics have anything at all to say about the nature of objective reality? Objective being the key word there. Obviously when we take these things in sufficient doses we get the impression that they are lifting the veil on reality, so to speak, but this is a purely subjective perception and doesn't necessarily say anything about what is going on "out there" if you will, away from the subjective scaffolding of animal mind and experience.

As Terence once said; "I don't know who discovered water, but it certainly wasn't a fish." I agree with this and I don't know how we get around it... the only methods we have for analyzing and studying reality are still within the confines of that reality. We can't ever truly pan out far enough to get perspective on what this is, because all phenomenon we have ever and can ever hope to know seem to be inextricably attached to the event-space we call "reality." My question is whether or not we will ever be able to use psychedelic substances to disturb animal sense perception in such a manner that allows us to sort of step outside the box of reality as interpreted through sensory perceptions and animal mind and catch a glimpse of reality "in and of itself"? Again I always think about this question from the standpoint of modern science. Will we ever be able to bring the razors of scientific analysis to the various psychedelic states and be able to scientifically draw some conclusions about the nature of reality itself?

Or is the scientific value of psychedelics likely going to remain limited to medical treatments, procedures and psychotherapy?

What are your thoughts on this? Don't get me wrong, all the research into treatments for depression, PTSD, end of life anxiety, etc is beautiful and I am so glad the public is starting to come around once again when it comes to the idea of psychedelics as medicine. But do you think their value, from a scientific standpoint, is going to be limited to medicine and therapy?

Thanks for stopping by brother. Keep up the great work in the Salon. And I sure hope a JRE round 2 is in your future somewhere... you've led an absolutely fascinating life and are a truly gifted storyteller.

We appreciate everything!