The Bigger Picture, Psychedelics & Making Sense

tldr: Why I think Alexander Beiner’s “The Bigger Picture” is one of the most important books you can read if you want to make sense of our times. And why it is so aligned with what you and I are up to here.

If you take but a moment to think about it, you will notice that you enter a different state of consciousness when you are interacting with a screen. It is different than when you are interacting face to face with a person. Different than when you are with a group of people made of flesh and blood. And it is even different from the state you get into when you are reading from an actual book. A book that you can touch.

Our states shape our experience of reality. And they shape how we interact with each other. This is why people talk to each other online in ways that would embarrass them if they were to speak that way to each other in person. 

The fact is that we are switching codes and changing states every time we shift from our screen to real life. But we don’t even know it’s happening. And so we get our “realities” confused. This is one of many reasons why I think that “The Bigger Picture” by Alexander Beiner is an essential book for our times. 

The book brings together what we are learning from the Psychedelic Renaissance with what we have to learn in order to interact with the “collective unconscious” that now moves through the digital realms of the internet.

A collective unconscious that seems to be coming “alive” as AI.

Psychedelics shift our consciousness so profoundly that we are left with no option but to navigate our way in and out of different states. 

What would happen if we became more aware that the internet offers not one but many, many states of consciousness. And that we think and behave differently when we are in different virtual spaces. 

Perhaps we would stand a better chance against the “limbic hijacking” that seems to grab a hold of us when we are exposed to certain algorithms. Maybe we could get better at setting the terms of engagement.

I’ve been following Beiner for a while. He is an important part of the constellation of people that I turn to as I dive into “heterodox” thought. As I follow this deep desire to think and work beyond the political polarities of our time.

Beiner says that:

“Taking seriously the idea that the Internet acts as a kind of collective unconscious means recognizing that our politics and culture are increasingly influenced by non-rational motivations. It means recognizing that in many ways, we live in religious times, and that religious times utilize a different language.”

And he proposes that we can learn some of this language in the psychedelic experience – a language that includes reason but goes beyond it.

If you have not yet noticed that arguing with facts and science is not enough to get us where we have to go, then you haven’t been paying attention.

But where does this “different” language come from? 

This is where my work and the work that Beiner is doing really start to come together.

“[W]hat we are truly missing, and what we need in order to meet the crisis of the times, is a shared reality. Touching this reality is both incredibly simple and profoundly difficult. Simple, because what really binds us together, no matter what our political views or cultural identities may be, is our essential humanity – our hopes, our pain, our longings. Difficult, because our journey back to that place is the greatest journey any of us can undertake. It’s full of twists and turns, angels and demons, hidden wisdom and aching deceits.”

It is a deeply personal journey, but it is also a journey that we can only embark on together. Those of you who have worked closely with me know that this is the place we get to when we really get to the sweet spot. The development of “self-sovereignty.” And with it, the ability to deepen community and engage in a collective endeavor. The ability to be deeply together without losing Self or freedom in the process.

Those of you who have been with me on this journey can see how much I agree with Beiner when he says that:

“[I]f we really want to adapt and thrive in the complex age we live in, we need to evolve not just what we think and do, but how we do it. This means staying curious and learning to flow with change and contradiction with an attitude of playfulness, compassion, discernment, and creativity. It also means learning how to see beyond our existing frames of reality to find new insights. Psychedelics can open our minds to this way of seeing the world, more reliably than anything else I’m aware of.”

But none of it matters much if we are not turning towards each other in the process. If we are not integrating what we are learning into the embodied flesh, blood and interactions that make up our daily lives. If we are not learning to see better together.

Get the book. Read it! Tell me what you think. And keep up with Beiner on his Substack, The Bigger Picture. 

Always grateful for the GIFT of your attention.