Once dismissed as dangerous drugs, substances like psilocybin and ayahuasca are now being studied at major universities, approved for therapeutic trials, and increasingly accepted as potential treatments for depression, PTSD, addiction, and end-of-life anxiety. Yet as venture capital floods into the space, we also have to ask: Are we witnessing the birth of a new spiritual consciousness, or just the next phase of "McMindfulness"?Just as meditation was stripped of its ethics and sold as a corporate productivity tool, psychedelics are now being packaged as "performance enhancers" for Silicon Valley CEOs. If the goal of the trip is just to help us work harder in a broken system, have we missed the point entirely?
The current media narrative is overwhelmingly positive: "Mushrooms cured my depression!" But in our rush to destigmatize, are we suppressing any valid risks? We rarely talk about the "bad trips" that don't end in a breakthrough.
Whether you've never touched a psychedelic, microdose regularly, or think the whole thing is overblown hype, tonight’s Questions That Matter is about what happens when medicine, spirituality, and capitalism collide.
Some potential prompts, questions and angles we’ll be working with for the discussion:
1. For those who've tried psychedelics—do you see your experience as medicinal, recreational, or spiritual?
2. Should there be restrictions on who can guide psychedelic experiences and based on what criteria?
3. Alan Watts famously said, "When you get the message, hang up the phone." If psychedelics show you a truth about yourself, why would you need to keep taking them? What changes between someone who trips once and someone who trips monthly for years?
4. Do you feel there’s a difference between reaching a state of peace through 10 years of meditation versus 4 hours of chemistry? And if so, does it matter?
5. If you’re microdosing solely to code faster, handle more stress, or tolerate a toxic workplace, are you actually "waking up," or are you just chemically numbing yourself to fit better into the machine?
6. Are we using psychedelics to heal a sick society, or are we just trying to chemically engineer a human brain that can cope with a modern world that has become psychologically unlivable?
7. There is a common trope that "if everyone took mushrooms, there would be no more war." Do you believe there’s a degree of truth to this, or would we just have wars with better visuals?
8. Many people have profound realizations while "under the influence," only to lose them a week later. Even after seeing the "truth", how do we live or sustain our realizations?
9. If your psychedelic-induced "enlightenment" makes you intolerant of the "low vibes" of ordinary people, are you actually evolved, or are you just dissociated?
As usual, the goal of the night isn’t simply to agree, disagree, or learn. It’s also to connect through genuine, lively, interactive discussion and, potentially, to go to some of the unexpected and uncharted places that deep and free conversation can take us.
When we wrap up, around 8 p.m., we hope you’ll mingle, exchange numbers, and head out with some of us for something to eat or drink. As polarized as the world is right now, one of the deepest connections still available to human beings is a shared meal or drink.
Whether you’re in Chiang Mai for a short visit or you’re a longer-term expat or resident, we hope you can join us, not only in exploring the deeper questions but in making new connections and friendships through the discussions.
If possible, please support the venue, 4seas, by purchasing a beverage or a snack. They are kindly providing the space to us at no charge.
See you Wednesday!
Event Venue
4seas Nimman, 57 นิมมานเหมินท์ ซอย 17, สุเทพ, หมู่ที่ 8, เชียงใหม่ 50200, ประเทศไทย, Chiang Mai, Thailand
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