Psychedelics and Meditation: a Neurophilosophical Perspective - Dr. Chris Letheby

Psychedelics and Meditation: a Neurophilosophical Perspective (Plus Speaker’s Corner 15 Minutes Q&A) Psychedelic ingestion and meditative practice are both ancient methods for altering consciousness that became widely known in Western society in the second half of the 20th century. Do the similarities begin and end there, or do these methods – as many have claimed over the years – share some deeper common elements? In this talk, Dr. Chris Letheby takes a neurophilosophical approach to the question of whether there are deeper commonalities between psychedelics and meditation. Recent empirical studies have shown that both psychedelics and meditation modulate overlapping brain networks that are involved in the sense of self, salience, and attention. Moreover, psychedelics have been found to occasion lasting increases in “mindfulness-related capacities“ for taking a non-reactive stance on one’s inner experience. Dr. Letheby and Gerrans have advanced the self-binding theory of psychedelic ego dissolution to offer a plausible explanation of these findings. According to this theory, both psychedelics and meditation can disrupt self-related beliefs that are implemented in high-level cortical networks, allowing mental contents to move from phenomenal transparency to opacity. This can weaken our foundational beliefs about our own identity, enabling us to disidentify with these beliefs and see them as “just thoughts“. There are connections between these ideas and recent arguments suggesting that psychedelic use may have epistemic benefits that are consistent with philosophical naturalism. Dr. Letheby concludes with a proposal: these connections may help in thinking about the putative epistemic benefits of meditation practice from a naturalistic perspective. ——— Many questions remain, join INSIGHT 2023, help us come to real solutions, and shape the future of mental health and human development: All INSIGHT 2021 talks and panels are now publicly available on the MIND Community Platform.  Sign up on the network and become part of our community of professionals, students, and friends. MIND Community Platform: INSIGHT 2021 Replays: