Psychedelics, Consciousness & the Self

An unusual inquiry into complexity and connection

We have just come to the end of a trip of sorts – a learning journey (as part of our RISE community of practice) into the renaissance of psychedelic research and what it has to do with our work as practitioners in collaboration and complexity consulting. Besides learning individually and collectively, our inquiry brought up various unexpected and delightful insights – including some surprising stories about people’s experiences with expanded states of consciousness...

As it was my turn to pick a topic for this season’s inquiry, I decided to get us thinking and delving into a subject that had been on my mind since reading Michael Pollan’s ‘How to Change Your Mind: The New Science of Psychedelics’.  I was intrigued that I learnt more about the human mind, consciousness and ego in a book about psychedelics than in many others that I have come across so far. And I was fascinated that, wherever I look these days, everything seems to lead us back to the ancient wisdom traditions and the theme of connection, with the ultimate recognition of ‘all is one’ and ‘ubuntu’ (I am because we are).

As part of our inquiry, we had the privilege of hearing from Leor Roseman, PhD, who is a senior Psychedelic Researcher and Senior Lecturer at the Department of Psychology, University of Exeter – it was in conversation with Leor that we looked at aspects to do with softening of the ego, the re-shifting / relearning that can happen during a window of plasticity of the mind and the increased levels of connection (between regions of the brain but also the sense of connection with others and nature)… all under the influence of specific molecules, and with the appropriate ‘set and setting’.

So, what does this mean for us and our work?

To be clear, we are not suggesting that our work supports our clients to use psychedelics to shift their states of consciousness (although there are people who do this). But looking beyond the (psychoactive) substance to the substance of the matter, we could see some obvious links to our work with clients and our helping us work better together in complexity.

Firstly, meditation and, more recently, breathwork are enjoying a wave of popularity in the business world and beyond. With practice, these can be very effective routes into expanded states of consciousness. But even for the less experienced, these practices support shifting awareness and deepening connection to ourselves and others. We have been paying increasing attention to this kind of embodied awareness in our work and its impact on the quality of leadership and collaboration. 

Secondly, experts like Otto Scharmer (‘Theory U’) have long been emphasising the importance of building a process that allows us to access a new perspective on the past/present in order to see the complex problems we are facing differently. The ‘U-process’ takes individuals/groups on a journey, asking them to open their heads and hearts to new solutions and different levels of knowing, individually and collectively, leading to better decisions and solutions for the problem at hand.

Connection, connection, connection

As our conversations oscillated between the mystical (‘Is this the doorway to all understanding?’) and the mundane (‘Is microdosing becoming a fad and a performance-enhancing, creativity-boosting habit in the workplace?’), we kept coming back to our work with clients and the way we support noticing and shifting the focus between doing and being – to help our clients see and relate differently to themselves, and the complex challenges they are facing. The key enabler in all of this is connection, with ourselves, with others, and the world around us, which gives meaning and fuels collaboration.

There is an even bigger underlying theme here, though: In his book ‘Leading from the Emerging Future’, Otto Scharmer speaks of the need for a fundamental shift to happen – from what he calls ‘ego-system’ to ‘eco-system’ awareness. Essentially, this is about overcoming the widespread disconnects between ourselves and others, nature, and often, our own selves – which lead to detrimental, if not disastrous, outcomes for individuals (think burn-out and mental health crisis) to societies (think the rise in nationalism and authoritarianism) and the planet (think extreme weather phenomena). More than 10 years after the publication of Scharmer’s book, the need to overcome these disconnects and come to better solutions seems more urgent than ever.

Why now?

Why then, we wondered, is this psychedelic renaissance happening just now? Is it in response to this widespread sense of disconnect? And is ‘Western’ culture running the risk of looking for the usual ‘quick fix’ answer to the complexities of life and human existence? (And here we mean the use of psychedelics outside of the therapeutic context, where these substances are used very effectively to assist psychotherapy for trauma, depression or in the context of terminal illnesses.) For sure, it feels like we are in an era of accelerated change and are facing huge personal, societal, and workplace transformations due to AI, demographic changes, climate impacts, etc. It feels like we will need all the consciousness, connection and sense of oneness we can get – whichever way we get there.