This is a conversation about the relationship between psychedelic experience, mental health, society, the prominent role of the mystical experience in positive outcomes, and more – charted through the lens of one of the field’s leading research scientists, Dr. Matthew Johnson.

It’s also the first of a series of conversations which took place at Beyond Psychedelics in Prague, June 2018. The aim of the conference can be stated as follows:

‘To provide a platform for global cooperation among people with a professional interest in psychedelics. We aspire to facilitate the exchange of both scientific knowledge and real practical experience – at a global level and across a variety of disciplines, thus creating new synergies.’

Voiceclub is not affiliated with Beyond Psychedelics.

Conversation Waypoints

• 2.00 What led Matthew to have an interest in consciousness and psychedelics, answered through the lens of behaviour and pharmacology.
• 3.50 Tools in the toolbox to alter consciousness from undesirable states to desirable states.
• 5.25 The betterment of well people and self actualisation.
• 6.00 The mystical experience as predictive of better outcomes.
• 6.45 De-habituation as a way to understand the mechanism of these better outcomes.
• 9.20 The negative self-story understood from a phenomenological perspective, and how someone could understood the de-habituating experience of a mystical induced change.
• 14.10 Psychedelics and meditation
• 16.00 Experiences of research participants in psychedelic trials
• 17.40 Altered traits
• 18.40 Difference in psychedelic experience for meditators and non-meditators
• 20.00 Sense of awe, wonder and engagement with majesty
• 21.40 Peak experience and mystical experience
• 22.40 What drives Matthew to put his life to this cause
• 24.00 The importance of recognising our interconnectedness
• 25.00 The importance of the insight arguably afforded by the mystical experience.

About the guests:

Dr. Matthew W. Johnson

Matthew W. Johnson, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, is a leading expert on the effects of psychedelics. He is an experimental psychologist with expertise on psychoactive drugs and the psychology of addiction and risk behavior. Matt has received >8 million US dollars in research funding as principal investigator from the US National Institutes of Health and non-profit foundations. For 20 years he has conducted academic research in psychopharmacology and addictions, and for 14 years he has conducted human research with psychedelics.

Matthew Johnson at Johns Hopkins: https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/profiles/results/directory/profile/0800020/matthew-johnson

Matthew Johnson on Researchgate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Matthew_Johnson14

Melissa Warner

Melissa is co-founder of The Australian Psychedelic Society and board member of PRISM (Psychedelic Research in Science and Medicine). She is a commentator on the science and philosophy of psychedelic substances on radio, print and online. Melissa holds a BSc in Neuroscience with a minor in computer programming. She is an avid meditator, yogi, performance artist, bio-hacker, and futurist. Her intellectual focus is currently the development of tools and frameworks to facilitate creative output, personal healing, and self-actualization. A survivor of complex PTSD, she lives as a case study for the efficacy of psychedelics as therapeutic tools.

Melissa on Twitter: https://twitter.com/neuronymph_

PRISM: https://www.prism.org.au/

The Australian Psychedelic Society: https://www.facebook.com/AustralianPsychedelicSociety/

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Music: Ours Samplus – Spell On You www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4ypU_3e_3E