This post is about our newly released article on psychedelic research: "Psilocybin enhances insightfulness in meditation: a perspective on the global topology of brain imaging during meditation".
You can find the original article here:
Before I started with this project, I had many experiences with psilocybin and meditation and have developed some intuitive understanding of how it can help me to deal with mental struggles that I am familiar with (depression, bipolarity, addiction…).
At that time I was finishing my PhD thesis in pure mathematics and I was looking for a meaningful project to apply my skills. I started to learn more about applied topology (particularly in data science and machine learning) in various natural sciences. At the same time, I was fascinated by some presentations in the seminar on psychedelic research at the University of Zurich.
I started to investigate how topology might give an elegant, new perspective on psychedelic neuroscience, and bring about some discoveries that would help destigmatize psychedelics and create a better understanding of how we can use them beneficially.
For this reason, I was curious about how the properties of psilocybin could be described on the brain's functional level and how topology could uncover some useful latent structures.
At this time, I came across an article on a new approach to studying the dynamic organization of brain images (fMRI) using topological methods. I was delighted. I had the idea to create a sort of map of the topological landscape of brain activity patterns associated with psychedelic, meditative, and mystic states of mind and to analyze how their organization can be linked to the phenomenology of the experience.
Yet, I would probably not have come up with these results without having explored the workings of psilocybin through my own perception. I already had a certain amount of experience and intuition about how psilocybin works in my consciousness, and how meditation helped me during the acute effects to ground the informational richness with awareness and openness, thereby creating enhanced insightfulness. Notably, for the process after the psilocybin effects, I knew how much meditation would help me integrate what I have found during my journey.
Needless to say, I also had a couple of difficult experiences with psilocybin (and other medicines). Yet, I have learned from them and would not want to miss them. Indeed, they have their challenges. The right approach should be to learn to use those powerful medicines with respect, to know how to reduce the risk, and to create a network of support.
Science is a great tool, but it is a lousy master. It seems that time is ripe for an integrated use of science while reconnecting with our intuition and intrinsic wisdom that goes beyond the rational mind. At this point, I also wish that we become more open to learning from the tremendous wisdom of endogenous cultures and other ancient traditions, which have studied the mind from the inside for many centuries using plant medicines, yogic techniques, and meditation.
I hope these results and discussions have a positive impact on how society thinks about this controversial theme. Open our minds to what these beautiful medicines, especially the natural ones, have to teach us and how we can collaborate with them to heal many of our wounds, individually and collectively.
I am very grateful to share our research with you. Yet, one sentence that a Monk friend of mine had mentioned did not go out of my mind ever since. He said to us neuroscientists, approximately in these words:
“You study the mind from the outside, I like to study it from the insight.”
Indeed, this is so true.
After all, my conclusion is... of course... that the direct experience of these healing mushrooms, meditation, and similar techniques are way more insightful than any article that I could ever write about them.