Sacred Economics: Chapter 7, “The Crisis of Civilization” (Pt. 8)

Jump to Section

Jump to Section

 

 

The following is the eighth installment from Sacred Economics: Money, Gift, and Society in the Age of Transition, available from EVOLVER EDITIONS/North Atlantic Books. You can read the Introduction here, and visit the Sacred Economics homepage here.   

 

We have bigger houses but smaller families;

more conveniences, but less time.

We have more degrees but less sense;

more knowledge but less judgment;

more experts, but more problems;

more medicines but less healthiness.

We've been all the way to the moon and back,

but have trouble in crossing the street to meet our new
neighbor.

We built more computers to hold more copies than ever,

But have less real communication;

We have become long on quantity,

but short on quality.

These are times of fast foods but slow digestion;

Tall men but short characters;

Steep profits but shallow relationships.

It's a time when there is much in the window

But nothing in the room. –Authorship unknown

 

 

The financial crisis we are facing today arises from the
fact that there is almost no more social, cultural, natural, and spiritual
capital left to convert into money. Centuries of near-continuous money creation
have left us so destitute that we have nothing left to sell. Our forests are
damaged beyond repair, our soil depleted and washed into the sea, our fisheries
fished out, and the rejuvenating capacity of the earth to recycle our waste
saturated. Our cultural treasury of songs and stories, of images and icons, has
been looted and copyrighted. Any clever phrase you can think of is already a
trademarked slogan. Our very human relationships and abilities have been taken
away from us and sold back, so that we are now dependent on strangers, and
therefore on money, for things few humans ever paid for until recently: food,
shelter, clothing, entertainment, child care, cooking. Life itself has become a
consumer item.

Today we sell away the
last vestiges of our divine endowment: our health, the biosphere and genome,
even our own minds. Pythagoras's dictum, "All things are number," has nearly
come true: the world has been converted into money. This is the process that is
culminating in our age. It is almost complete, especially in America and the
"developed" world. In the "developing" world (notice how these terms assume our
own economic system as the destination of other societies) there still remain
people who live substantially in gift cultures, where natural and social wealth
is not yet the subject of property. Globalization is the process of stripping
away these assets, to feed the money machine's insatiable, existential need to
grow. Yet this strip-mining of other lands is running up against its limits
too, both because there is almost nothing left to take and because of growing
pockets of effective resistance.

The result is that the
supply of money — and the corresponding volume of debt — has for several decades
outstripped the production of goods and services that it promises. It is deeply
related to the problem of overcapacity in classical economics. To defer the
Marxian crisis of capital — a vicious circle of falling profits, falling wages,
depressed consumption, and overproduction in mature industries — into the future,
we must constantly develop new, high-profit industries and markets. The
continuation of capitalism as we know it depends on an infinite supply of these
new industries, which essentially must convert infinite new realms of social,
natural, cultural, and spiritual capital into money. The problem is that these
resources are finite, and the closer they come to exhaustion, the more painful
their extraction becomes. Therefore, contemporaneous with the financial crisis
we have an ecological crisis and a health crisis. They are intimately
interlinked. We cannot convert much more of the earth into money, or much more
of our health into money, before the basis of life itself is threatened.

An ancient Chinese
myth helps illuminate what is happening. There was a monster, it is said,
called the tao tie, which was possessed of an insatiable appetite. It
consumed every creature around it, even the earth itself, yet it was still
hungry. So it turned finally to its own body, eating its arms, legs, and torso,
leaving nothing but the head.

A head cannot live
without its body. Faced with the exhaustion of the nonmonetized commonwealth
that it consumes, financial capital has turned to devour its own body: the
industrial economy that it was supposed to serve. If income from production of
goods and services is insufficient to service debt, then creditors seize assets
instead. This is what has happened both in the American economy and globally.
Mortgages, for example, were originally a path toward owning your own home free
and clear, starting with 20 percent equity. Today few ever dream of actually
one day repaying their mortgage, but only of endlessly refinancing it, in
effect renting the house from the bank. Globally, Third World countries find
themselves in a similar situation, as they are forced to sell off national
assets and gut social services under IMF austerity programs. Just as you might
feel your entire productive labor is in the service of debt repayment, so is
their entire economy directed toward producing commodity goods to repay foreign
debt.

IMF austerity measures
are exactly analogous to a court-imposed debt-payment plan. They say, "You are
going to have to make do with less, work harder, and devote a greater
proportion of your income to debt payments. You will give me everything you own
and turn over all your future earnings to me!" Worker pensions, teacher
salaries, minerals, oil-all are turned to debt service. The forms of slavery
have changed over the years, but not the essential directive. The irony is that
in the long term, austerity measures don't even benefit the creditors. They
choke off economic growth by reducing consumption, demand, and business
investment opportunities. Jobs evaporate, commodity prices fall, and the debtor
people and nations are less able than ever to make their payments.

Incapable of thinking
beyond the short term, the money interests love austerity because the debtor is
essentially saying, "We will devote more of our labor and resources toward the
servicing of debt." It allows unserviceable debts to be serviced just a little
while longer. This is what is happening in Europe at the time of this writing
(2010), as governments slash pensions and agree to privatize social services so
that they can assure bondholders that they will be paid. The rumblings of
austerity are audible here in America too, in the form of alarums about the
federal deficit. From within the logic of bond markets and budget deficits, the
case for greater fiscal responsibility is unassailable. From outside that
logic, it is absurd: are we to be forced by mere numbers, mere interpretation
of bits, to erode the standard of living of the many for the sake of preserving
the wealth of the few?

Eventually, debtors
run out of disposable income and seizable assets. The crash underway today
should have actually happened many years ago, except that various phony and
inflated assets were created to keep it going a little longer as the financial tao
tie
cannibalized itself, covering debt with more debt. The efforts to shore
up this edifice cannot work, because it must keep growing — all those debts bear
interest. Yet the authorities keep trying. When you hear the phrase "rescue the
financial system," translate it in your mind into "keep the debts on the
books." They are trying to find a way for you (and debtor nations too) to keep
paying and for the debt to keep growing. A debt pyramid cannot grow forever,
because eventually, after all the debtors' assets are gone, and all their
disposable income devoted to debt payments, creditors have no choice but to
lend debtors the money to make their payments. Soon the outstanding balance is
so high that they have to borrow money even to pay interest, which means that
money is no longer flowing, and can no longer flow, from debtor to creditor.
This is the final stage, usually short, though prolonged in our day by Wall
Street's financial "wizardry." The loans and any derivatives built on them
begin to lose their value, and debt deflation ensues.

Essentially, the
proximate financial crisis and the deeper growth crisis of civilization are
connected in two ways. Interest-based debt-money compels economic growth, and a
debt crisis is a symptom that shows up whenever growth slows.

The present crisis is
the final stage of what began in the 1930s. Successive solutions to the
fundamental problem of keeping pace with money that expands with the rate of
interest have been applied, and exhausted. The first effective solution was
war, a state that has been permanent since 1940. Unfortunately, or rather
fortunately, nuclear weapons and a shift in human consciousness have limited
the solution of endless military escalation. War between the great powers is no
longer possible. Other solutions — globalization, technology-enabled development
of new goods and services to replace human functions never before commoditized,
technology-enabled plunder of natural resources once off limits, and finally
financial autocannibalism — have similarly run their course. Unless there are
realms of wealth I have not considered, and new depths of poverty, misery, and
alienation to which we might plunge, the inevitable cannot be delayed much
longer.

The credit bubble that
is blamed as the source of our current economic woes was not a cause of them at
all, but only a symptom. When returns on capital investment began falling in
the early 1970s, capital began a desperate search for other ways to maintain
its expansion. When each bubble popped — commodities in the late 1970s, S&L
real estate investments in the 1980s, the dotcom stocks in the 1990s, and real
estate and financial derivatives in the 2000s — capital immediately moved on to the
next, maintaining an illusion of economic expansion. But the real economy was
stagnating. There were not enough needs to meet the overcapacity of production,
not enough social and natural capital left to convert into money.

To maintain the
exponential growth of money, either the volume of goods and services must be
able to keep pace with it, or imperialism and war must be able to escalate
indefinitely. All have reached their limit. There is nowhere to turn.

Today, the impasse in
our ability to convert nature into commodities and relationships into services
is not temporary. There is little more we can convert. Technological progress
and refinements to industrial methods will not help us take more fish from the
seas-the fish are mostly gone. It will not help us increase the timber
harvest — the forests are already stressed to capacity. It will not allow us to
pump more oil — the reserves are drying up. We cannot expand the service
sector — there are hardly any things we do for each other that we don't pay for already.
There is no more room for economic growth as we have known it; that is, no more
room for the conversion of life and the world into money. Therefore, even if we
follow the more radical policy prescriptions from the left, hoping by an
annulment of debts and a redistribution of income to ignite renewed economic
growth, we can only succeed in depleting what remains of our divine bequest of
nature, culture, and community. At best, economic stimulus will allow a modest,
short-lived expansion as the functions that were demonetized during the
recession are remonetized. For example, because of the economic situation, some
friends and I cover for each other's child care needs, whereas in prosperous
times we might have sent our kids to preschool. Our reciprocity represents an
opportunity for economic growth: what we do for each other freely can be
converted into monetized services. Generalized to the whole society, this is
only an opportunity to grow back to where we were before, at which point the
same crisis will emerge again. "Shrink in order to grow," the essence of war
and deflation, is only effective, and decreasingly so, as a holding action
while new realms of unmonetized social and natural capital are accessed.

The current problem is
therefore much deeper than today's conventional wisdom holds. Consider this
typical example from a financial journal:

"[Paul] Volcker is right. The collateralized debt
obligations, collateralized mortgage-backed securities, and other
computer-spawned complexities and playthings were not the solutions to basic
needs in the economy, but to unslaked greed on Wall Street. Without them, banks
would have had no choice but to continue to devote their capital and talents to
meeting real needs from businesses and consumers, and there would have been no
crisis, no crash, and no recession."1

This describes only the most superficial level of a deeper
problem of which the collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) and so forth are
mere symptoms. The deeper problem was that there were insufficient "real needs"
to which banks could devote their capital, because only those needs that will
generate profits beyond the interest rate constitute valid lending
opportunities. In an economy plagued by overproduction, such opportunities are
rare. So, the financial industry played numbers games instead. The CDOs and so
on were a symptom, not a cause, of the financial crisis that originated in the
impossibility of economic growth keeping pace with interest.

Various pundits have
observed that Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme was not so different from the
financial industry's pyramid of mortgaged-based derivatives and other
instruments, which themselves formed a bubble that, like Madoff's, could only
sustain itself through an unceasing, indeed exponentially growing, influx of
new money. As such, it is a symbol of our times — and even more than people
suppose. It is not only the Wall Street casino economy that is an unsustainable
pyramid scheme. The larger economic system, based as it is on the eternal
conversion of a finite commonwealth into money, is unsustainable as well. It is
like a bonfire that must burn higher and higher, to the exhaustion of all
available fuel. Only a fool would think that a fire can burn ever-higher when
the supply of fuel is finite. To extend the metaphor, the recent
deindustrialization and financialization of the economy amount to using the
heat to create more fuel. According to the second law of thermodynamics, the
amount created is always less than the amount expended to create it. Obviously,
the practice of borrowing new money to pay the principal and interest of old
debts cannot last very long, but that is what the economy as a whole has done
for ten years now.

Yet even abandoning
this folly, we still must face the depletion of fuel (remember, I mean not
literal energy sources, but any bond of nature or culture that can be turned
into a commodity). Most of the proposals for addressing the present economic
crisis amount to finding more fuel. Whether it is drilling more oil wells,
paving over more green space, or spurring consumer spending, the goal is to
reignite economic growth — that is, to expand the realm of goods and services. It
means finding new things for which we can pay. Today, unimaginably to our
forebears, we pay even for our water and our songs. What else is left to
convert into money?

As far as I know, the
first economist to recognize the fundamental problem and its relation to the
money system was Frederick Soddy, a Nobel laureate and pioneer of nuclear
chemistry who turned his attention to economics in the 1920s. Soddy was among
the first to debunk the ideology of infinite exponential economic growth,
extending the reasoning of Thomas Malthus beyond population to economics.
Herman Daly describes Soddy's view succinctly:

"The idea that people can live off the interest of their
mutual indebtedness … is just another perpetual motion scheme — a vulgar delusion
on a grand scale. Soddy seems to be saying that what is obviously impossible
for the community — for everyone to live on interest-should also be forbidden to
individuals, as a principle of fairness. If it is not forbidden, or at least
limited in some way, then at some point the growing liens of debt holders on
the limited revenue will become greater than the future producers of that revenue
will be willing or able to support, and conflict will result. The conflict
takes the form of debt repudiation. Debt grows at compound interest and as a
purely mathematical quantity encounters no limits to slow it down. Wealth grows
for a while at compound interest, but, having a physical dimension, its growth
sooner or later encounters limits."2

This association of
economic growth with resource consumption is especially common today among Peak
Oil theorists, who forecast economic collapse as oil production begins its
"long descent." Their critics contend that economic growth can and does happen
independent of energy use, thanks to technology, miniaturization, efficiency
improvements, and so on. Since 1960, U.S. economic growth has outstripped energy
use, a trend that accelerated in the 1980s. (See Figure 1.) Germany has done
even better, having essentially flat energy use since 1991 despite considerable
economic growth. However, this objection only illustrates a larger point. Yes,
it is possible to maintain economic growth by displacing it from the
consumption of one part of the commons to another-by burning gas instead of oil
or by commoditizing human services or intellectual property instead of the cod
fishery-but aggregated over the totality of the social, natural, cultural, and
spiritual commons, the basic argument of Peak Oil remains valid. Instead of
Peak Oil, we are facing Peak Everything.

When the financial crisis hit in 2008, the first government
response, the bailout and monetary stimulus, was an attempt to uphold a tower
of debt upon debt that far exceeded its real economic foundation. As such, its
apparent success was temporary, a postponement of the inevitable: "pretend and
extend," as some on Wall Street call it. The alternative, economic stimulus, is
doomed for a deeper reason. It will fail because we are "maxed out": maxed out
on nature's capacity to receive our wastes without destroying the ecological
basis of civilization; maxed out on society's ability to withstand any more
loss of community and connection; maxed out on our forests' ability to
withstand more clear-cuts; maxed out on the human body's capacity to stay
viable in a depleted, toxic world. That we are also maxed out on our credit
only reflects that we have nothing left to convert into money. Do we really
need more roads and bridges?3 Can we sustain more of them, and more
of the industrial economy that goes along? Government stimulus programs will at
best prolong the current economic system for two or three years, with perhaps a
brief period of growth as we complete the pillage of nature, spirit, body, and
culture. When these vestiges of the commonwealth are gone, then nothing will be
able to stop the Great Unraveling of the money system.

Although the details
and timeline of this unraveling are impossible to predict, I think we will
first experience persistent deflation, stagnation, and wealth polarization,
followed by social unrest, hyperinflation, or currency collapse. At that
moment, the alternatives we are exploring today will come into their own,
offering an opportunity to build a new and sacred economy. The farther the
collapse proceeds, the more attractive the proposals of this book will become.

In the face of the impending crisis, people often ask what
they can do to protect themselves. "Buy gold? Stockpile canned goods? Build a
fortified compound in a remote area? What should I do?" I would like to suggest
a different kind of question: "What is the most beautiful thing I can do?" You
see, the gathering crisis presents a tremendous opportunity. Deflation, the
destruction of money, is only a categorical evil if the creation of money is a
categorical good. However, you can see from the examples I have given that the
creation of money has in many ways impoverished us all. Conversely, the
destruction of money has the potential to enrich us. It offers the opportunity
to reclaim parts of the lost commonwealth from the realm of money and property.

We see this happening
every time there is an economic recession. People can no longer pay for various
goods and services, and so have to rely on friends and neighbors instead. Where
there is no money to facilitate transactions, gift economies reemerge and new
kinds of money are created. Ordinarily, though, people and institutions try to
hang on to the old ways as long as possible. The habitual first response to
economic crisis is to make and keep more money — to accelerate the conversion of
anything you can into money. On a systemic level, the debt surge is generating
enormous pressure to extend the commodification of the commonwealth. We can see
this happening with the calls to drill for oil in Alaska, commence deep-sea
drilling, and so on. The time is here, though, for the reverse process to begin
in earnest-to remove things from the realm of goods and services and return
them to the realm of gifts, reciprocity, self-sufficiency, and community
sharing. Note well: this is going to happen anyway in the wake of a currency
collapse, as people lose their jobs or become too poor to buy things. People
will help each other, and real communities will reemerge.

Even if you care
mostly about the security of your own future, community is probably the best
investment you can make. When the financial system unravels, most investments
become mere pieces of paper or electronic data files. They derive value only
from the web of social agreements that contains and interprets them. Even
physical gold doesn't provide much security when things get really bad. In
times of extreme crisis, governments typically confiscate private gold
holdings — Hitler, Lenin, and Roosevelt all did so. If even the government falls
apart, then people with guns will come and take your gold or any other store of
wealth.

I sometimes read the
financial website Zero Hedge for its remarkable insight into the pretenses and
machinations of the financial power elite. In that website's dim view, no asset
class except physical gold and other physical commodities is safe today. I agree
with its logic as far as it goes, but it does not go far enough. If the system
breaks down to the point of hyperinflation, then the institution of property — as
much a social convention as money is — will break down too. In times of social
turmoil, I can't imagine anything more dangerous than possessing a few hundred
ounces of gold. Really the only security is to be found in community: the
gratitude, connections, and support of the people around you. If you have
wealth now, I recommend, as your investment advisor, that you use it to enrich
the people around you in lasting ways.

In the meantime,
before the collapse of the current system, anything we do to protect some
natural or social resource from conversion into money will both hasten the
collapse and mitigate its severity. Any forest you save from
development, any road you stop, any cooperative playgroup you establish; anyone
you teach to heal themselves, or to build their own house, cook their own food,
or make their own clothes; any wealth you create or add to the public domain;
anything you render off-limits to the world-devouring Machine will help shorten
the Machine's life span. And when the money system collapses, if you already do
not depend on money for some portion of life's necessities and pleasures, then
the collapse of money will pose much less of a harsh transition for you. The
same applies on the social level. Any form of natural wealth, whether
biodiversity, fertile soil, or clean water, and any community or social
institution that is not a vehicle for the conversion of life into money, will
sustain and enrich life after money.

I am referring to
money as we know it. I will soon describe a money system that does not drive
the conversion of all that is good, true, and beautiful into money. It enacts a
fundamentally different human identity, a fundamentally different sense of
self, from what dominates today. No more will it be true that more for me is
less for you. On a personal level, the deepest possible revolution we can enact
is a revolution in our sense of self, in our identity. The discrete and
separate self of Descartes and Adam Smith has run its course and is becoming
obsolete. We are realizing our own inseparability, from each other and from the
totality of all life. Usury belies this union, for it seeks growth of the
separate self at the expense of something external, something other. Probably
everyone reading this book agrees with the principles of interconnectedness,
whether from a spiritual or an ecological perspective. The time has come to
live it. It is time to enter the spirit of the gift, which embodies the felt
understanding of nonseparation. It is becoming abundantly obvious that less for
you (in all its dimensions) is also less for me. The ideology of perpetual gain
has brought us to a state of poverty so destitute that we are gasping for air.
That ideology, and the civilization built upon it, is what is collapsing today.

Resisting or
postponing the collapse will only make it worse. Finding new ways to grow the
economy will only consume what is left of our wealth. Let us stop resisting the
revolution in human beingness. If we want to outlast the multiple crises
unfolding today, let us not seek to survive them. That is the mind-set
of separation; that is resistance, a clinging to a dying past. Instead, let us
shift our perspective toward reunion and think in terms of what we can give.
What can we each contribute to a more beautiful world? That is our only
responsibility and our only security.

I will develop this theme — right livelihood and
right investing — later in this book. We can engage in conscious, purposeful
money destruction in place of the unconscious destruction of money that happens
in a collapsing economy. If you still have money to invest, invest it in
enterprises that explicitly seek to build community, protect nature, and
preserve the cultural commonwealth. Expect a zero or negative financial return
on your investment-that is a good sign that you are not unintentionally
converting even more of the world to money. Whether or not you have money to
invest, you can also reclaim what was sold away by taking steps out the money
economy. Anything you learn to do for yourself or for other people, without
paying for it; any utilization of recycled or discarded materials; anything you
make instead of buy, give instead of sell; any new skill or new song or new art
you teach yourself or another will reduce the dominion of money and grow a gift
economy to sustain us through the coming transition. The world of the Gift,
echoing primitive gift societies, the web of ecology, and the spiritual
teachings of the ages, is nigh upon us. It tugs on our heartstrings and awakens
our generosity. Shall we heed its call, before the remainder of earth's beauty
is consumed?

 

 

1. Coxe, 13.

2. Daly,
"The Economic Thought of Frederick Soddy," 475.

3. Some
might say that Third World countries do need more roads and bridges to raise
their standard of living. Consider, however, that big infrastructure projects,
exemplary of World Bank investment, are key to the integration of formerly
autonomous economies into the global commodity economy. Perhaps what they need
is not more roads and bridges. Perhaps what they need is protection from the
depredations of the global commodity economy, of which roads and bridges are an
agent.

 

Image by Brooks Elliot, courtesy of Creative Commons license.

Psychedelic Resources

A Foraging Trip: Where Do Magic Mushrooms Grow?
Eager to learn more about the origin of psilocybin species? Read this article to find out where magic mushrooms grow and more!

How to Make Shroom Tea: Best Recipe and Dosage
A step by step guide on how to brew shroom tea, and why entheogenic psilocybin tea is a preferred method for psychedelic connoisseurs.

R. Gordon Wasson: Author and Mushroom Expert
Learn about R. Gordon Wasson, the “legendary mushroom expert” and popular figure within the psychonaut community.

Shrooms vs Acid: Differences and Similarities Explained
Ever wondered what the differences are between shrooms vs acid, or if you can take both together? This guide explains what you need to know.

Quantum Mechanics, Reality, and Magic Mushrooms
Scientist and author Dr. Chris Becker takes an in-depth approach in understanding how we perceive reality through magic mushrooms and quantum mechanics.

Psilocybin Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
Our ultimate guide to Psilocybin has everything you want to know about this psychedelic fungi from its uses to its legal status.

The Psilocybin Experience: What’s the Deal With Magic Mushrooms?
From microdoses to macrodoses, the psilocybin experience has been sought after both medicinally and recreationally for millennia.

Psilocybin and Magic Mushroom Resources
Curious to learn more about psilocybin? This guide is a comprehensive psilocybin resource containing books, therapeutic studies, and more.

Paul Stamets Profile: Mushroom Guru, Filmmaker, Nutritionist, Scientist
Learn about Paul Stamets, read his thoughts on psilocybin mircodosing, the future of psilocybin, and his recent film “Fantastic Fungi”.

Microdosing Psilocybin & Common Dosage Explained
Microdosing, though imperceivably, is showing to have many health benefits–here is everything you want to know about microdosing psilocybin.

Psilocybin Nasal Spray: Relief for Anxiety, PTSD, and Depression
Microdosing nasal spray with psilocybin, is that possible?! Oregan a start-up Silo Wellness believes so and has created this new option for PTSD treatment.

Mazatec Mushroom Usage: Notes on Approach, Setting and Species for Curious Psilonauts
A look at traditional Mazatec psilocybin mushroom usage, and a comparison to the cliniical therapeutic approach, with an examination of the Mazatec setting and species used in veladas.

María Sabina: The Mazatec Magic Mushroom Woman
Magic mushrooms are incredibly popular today. How they became introduced to into American culture isn’t usually a topic discussed while tripping on psilocybin fungi. We all may have María Sabina to thank for exposing the Western world to the healing properties of the psilocybin mushroom.

Guide to Magic Mushroom Strains
Are there different types of psilocybin? Read our guide to learn about the different magic mushroom strains and their individual effects.

Kilindi Iyi: Mycologist, Traveler, Teacher
Learn about traveler and mycologist Kilindi Iyi known in the psychedelic community for his research and exploration of psilocybin.

How to Store Shrooms: Best Practices
How do you store shrooms for optimal shelf life? Learn how and why the proper storage method is so important.

Shroom Chocolate Recipes: How to Make Magic Mushroom Chocolates
This recipe provides step by step directions on how you can make mushroom chocolates with the necessary ingredients. Read to learn more!

Why Do People Use Psilocybin? New Johns Hopkins Study
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicines has just published a new study on psychoactive effects of psilocybin. Read here to learn more.

How-To Lemon Tek: Ultimate Guide and Recipe
This master guide will teach you how to lemon tek, preventing the onset of negative effects after consuming psilocybin. Read to learn more!

How to Intensify a Mushroom Trip
Learn about techniques like Lemon tekking, or discover the right time to consume cannabis if you are looking to intensify a mushroom trip.

How to Grow Magic Mushrooms: Step-by-Step
This step-by-step guide will show you how to grow magic mushrooms at home. Read this guide before trying it on your own.

How to Dry Magic Mushrooms: Best Practices
Read to learn more about specifics for the best practices on how to dry magic mushrooms after harvesting season.

How to Buy Psilocybin Spores
Interested in psilocybin mushrooms? We’ll walk you through all you need to know to obtain mushroom spores. Nosh on this delish How To guide.

Hippie Flipping: When Shrooms and Molly Meet
What is it, what does it feel like, and how long does it last? Explore the mechanics of hippie flipping and how to safely experiment.

Having Sex on Shrooms: Good or Bad Idea?
Is having sex on shrooms a good idea or an accident waiting to happen? Find out in our guide to sex on magic mushrooms.

Gold Cap Shrooms Guide: Spores, Effects, Identification
Read this guide to learn more about the different characteristics of gold cap mushrooms, and how they differ from other psilocybin species.

Guide to Cooking with Magic Mushrooms
From cookies to smoothies and sandwiches, we cover various methods of cooking with magic mushrooms for the ultimate snack.

2020 Election: The Decriminalize Psilocybin Movement
Are you curious if mushrooms will follow in marijuana’s footsteps? Read to learn about how the U.S. is moving to decriminalize psilocybin.

Oregon’s Initiative to Legalize Mushrooms | Initiative Petition 34
Oregon continues to push ahead with their initiative to legalize Psilocybin in 2020. The measure received its official title and now needs signatures.

Canada Approves Psilocybin Treatment for Terminally-Ill Cancer Patients
Canada’s Minister of Health, Patty Hajdu approved the use of psilocybin to help ease anxiety and depression of four terminal cancer patients.

Mapping the DMT Experience
With only firsthand experiences to share, how can we fully map the DMT experience? Let’s explore what we know about this powerful psychedelic.

Guide to Machine Elves and Other DMT Entities
This guide discusses machine elves, clockwork elves, and other common DMT entities that people experience during a DMT trip.

Is the DMT Experience a Hallucination? 
What if the DMT realm was the real world, and our everyday lives were merely a game we had chosen to play?

How to Store DMT
Not sure how to store DMT? Read this piece to learn the best practices and elements of advice to keep your stuff fresh.

What Does 5-MeO-DMT Show Us About Consciousness?
How does our brain differentiate between what’s real and what’s not? Read to learn what can 5-MeO-DMT show us about consciousness.

How to Smoke DMT: Processes Explained
There are many ways to smoke DMT and we’ve outlined some of the best processes to consider before embarking on your journey.

How to Ground After DMT
Knowing what to expect from a DMT comedown can help you integrate the experience to gain as much value as possible from your journey.

How To Get DMT
What kind of plants contain DMT? Are there other ways to access this psychedelic? Read on to learn more about how to get DMT.

How DMT is Made: Everything You Need to Know
Ever wonder how to make DMT? Read our guide to learn everything you need to know about the procedures of how DMT is made.

Having Sex on DMT: What You Need to Know
Have you ever wondered about sex on DMT? Learn how the God Molecule can influence your intimate experiences.

Does the Human Brain Make DMT? 
With scientific evidence showing us DMT in the brain, what can we conclude it is there for? Read on to learn more.

How to Use DMT Vape Pens
Read to learn all about DMT vape pens including: what to know when vaping, what to expect when purchasing a DMT cartridge, and vaping safely.

DMT Resources
This article is a comprehensive DMT resource providing extensive information from studies, books, documentaries, and more. Check it out!

Differentiating DMT and Near-Death Experiences
Some say there are similarities between a DMT trip and death. Read our guide on differentiating DMT and near-death experiences to find out.

DMT Research from 1956 to the Edge of Time
From a representative sample of a suitably psychedelic crowd, you’d be hard pressed to find someone who couldn’t tell you all about Albert Hofmann’s enchanted bicycle ride after swallowing what turned out to be a massive dose of LSD. Far fewer, however, could tell you much about the world’s first DMT trip.

The Ultimate Guide to DMT Pricing
Check out our ultimate guide on DMT pricing to learn what to expect when purchasing DMT for your first time.

DMT Milking | Reality Sandwich
Indigenous cultures have used 5-MeO-DMT for centuries. With the surge in demand for psychedelic toad milk, is DMT Milking harming the frogs?

Why Does DMT Pervade Nature?
With the presence of DMT in nature everywhere – including human brains – why does it continue to baffle science?

DMT Substance Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
Our ultimate guide to DMT has everything you want to know about this powerful psychedelic referred to as “the spirit molecule”.

DMT for Depression: Paving the Way for New Medicine
We’ve been waiting for an effective depression treatment. Studies show DMT for depression works even for treatment resistant patients.

Beating Addiction with DMT
Psychedelics have been studied for their help overcoming addiction. Read how DMT is helping addicts beat their substance abuse issues.

DMT Extraction: Behind the Scientific Process
Take a look at DMT extraction and the scientific process involved. Learn all you need to know including procedures and safety.

Microdosing DMT & Common Dosages Explained
Microdosing, though imperceivable, is showing to have many health benefits–here is everything you want to know about microdosing DMT.

DMT Art: A Look Behind Visionary Creations
An entire genre of artwork is inspired by psychedelic trips with DMT. Read to learn about the entities and visions behind DMT art.

Changa vs. DMT: What You Need to Know
While similar (changa contains DMT), each drug has its own unique effect and feeling. Let’s compare and contrast changa vs DMT.

5-MeO-DMT Guide: Effects, Benefits, Safety, and Legality
5-Meo-DMT comes from the Sonora Desert toad. Here is everything you want to know about 5-Meo-DMT and how it compares to 4-AcO-DMT.

4-AcO-DMT Guide: Benefits, Effects, Safety, and Legality
This guide tells you everything about 4 AcO DMT & 5 MeO DMT, that belong to the tryptamine class, and are similar but slightly different to DMT.

How Much Does LSD Cost? When shopping around for that magical psychedelic substance, there can be many uncertainties when new to buying LSD. You may be wondering how much does LSD cost? In this article, we will discuss what to expect when purchasing LSD on the black market, what forms LSD is sold in, and the standard breakdown of buying LSD in quantity.   Navy Use of LSD on the Dark Web The dark web is increasingly popular for purchasing illegal substances. The US Navy has now noticed this trend with their staff. Read to learn more.   Having Sex on LSD: What You Need to Know Can you have sex on LSD? Read our guide to learn everything about sex on acid, from lowered inhibitions to LSD users quotes on sex while tripping.   A Drug That Switches off an LSD Trip A pharmaceutical company is developing an “off-switch” drug for an LSD trip, in the case that a bad trip can happen. Some would say there is no such thing.   Queen of Hearts: An Interview with Liz Elliot on Tim Leary and LSD The history of psychedelia, particularly the British experience, has been almost totally written by men. Of the women involved, especially those who were in the thick of it, little has been written either by or about them. A notable exception is Liz Elliot.   LSD Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety LSD, Lysergic acid diethylamide, or just acid is one of the most important psychedelics ever discovered. What did history teach us?   Microdosing LSD & Common Dosage Explained Microdosing, though imperceivable, is showing to have many health benefits–here is everything you want to know about microdosing LSD.   LSD Resources Curious to learn more about LSD? This guide includes comprehensive LSD resources containing books, studies and more.   LSD as a Spiritual Aid There is common consent that the evolution of mankind is paralleled by the increase and expansion of consciousness. From the described process of how consciousness originates and develops, it becomes evident that its growth depends on its faculty of perception. Therefore every means of improving this faculty should be used.   Legendary LSD Blotter Art: A Hidden Craftsmanship Have you ever heard of LSD blotter art? Explore the trippy world of LSD art and some of the top artists of LSD blotter art.   LSD and Exercise: Does it Work? LSD and exercise? Learn why high-performing athletes are taking hits of LSD to improve their overall potential.   Jan Bastiaans Treated Holocaust Survivors with LSD Dutch psychiatrist, Jan Bastiaans administered LSD-assisted therapy to survivors of the Holocaust. A true war hero and pioneer of psychedelic-therapy.   LSD and Spiritual Awakening I give thanks for LSD, which provided the opening that led me to India in 1971 and brought me to Neem Karoli Baba, known as Maharajji. Maharajji is described by the Indians as a “knower of hearts.”   How LSD is Made: Everything You Need to Know Ever wonder how to make LSD? Read our guide to learn everything you need to know about the procedures of how LSD is made.   How to Store LSD: Best Practices Learn the best way to store LSD, including the proper temperature and conditions to maximize how long LSD lasts when stored.   Bicycle Day: The Discovery of LSD Every year on April 19th, psychonauts join forces to celebrate Bicycle Day. Learn about the famous day when Albert Hoffman first discovered the effects of LSD.   Cary Grant: A Hollywood Legend On LSD Cary Grant was a famous actor during the 1930’s-60’s But did you know Grant experimented with LSD? Read our guide to learn more.   Albert Hofmann: LSD — My Problem Child Learn about Albert Hofmann and his discovery of LSD, along with the story of Bicycle Day and why it marks a historic milestone.   Babies are High: What Does LSD Do To Your Brain What do LSD and babies have in common? Researchers at the Imperial College in London discover that an adult’s brain on LSD looks like a baby’s brain.   1P LSD: Effects, Benefits, Safety Explained 1P LSD is an analogue of LSD and homologue of ALD-25. Here is everything you want to know about 1P LSD and how it compares to LSD.   Francis Crick, DNA & LSD Type ‘Francis Crick LSD’ into Google, and the result will be 30,000 links. Many sites claim that Crick (one of the two men responsible for discovering the structure of DNA), was either under the influence of LSD at the time of his revelation or used the drug to help with his thought processes during his research. Is this true?   What Happens If You Overdose on LSD? A recent article presented three individuals who overdosed on LSD. Though the experience was unpleasant, the outcomes were remarkably positive.

The Ayahuasca Experience
Ayahuasca is both a medicine and a visionary aid. You can employ ayahuasca for physical, mental, emotional and spiritual repair, and you can engage with the power of ayahuasca for deeper insight and realization. If you consider attainment of knowledge in the broadest perspective, you can say that at all times, ayahuasca heals.

 

Trippy Talk: Meet Ayahuasca with Sitaramaya Sita and PlantTeachers
Sitaramaya Sita is a spiritual herbalist, pusangera, and plant wisdom practitioner formally trained in the Shipibo ayahuasca tradition.

 

The Therapeutic Value of Ayahuasca
My best description of the impact of ayahuasca is that it’s a rocket boost to psychospiritual growth and unfolding, my professional specialty during my thirty-five years of private practice.

 

Microdosing Ayahuasca: Common Dosage Explained
What is ayahuasca made of and what is considered a microdose? Explore insights with an experienced Peruvian brewmaster and learn more about this practice.

 

Ayahuasca Makes Neuron Babies in Your Brain
Researchers from Beckley/Sant Pau Research Program have shared the latest findings in their study on the effects of ayahuasca on neurogenesis.

 

The Fatimiya Sufi Order and Ayahuasca
In this interview, the founder of the Fatimiya Sufi Order,  N. Wahid Azal, discusses the history and uses of plant medicines in Islamic and pre-Islamic mystery schools.

 

Consideration Ayahuasca for Treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Research indicates that ayahuasca mimics mechanisms of currently accepted treatments for PTSD. In order to understand the implications of ayahuasca treatment, we need to understand how PTSD develops.

 

Brainwaves on Ayahuasca: A Waking Dream State
In a study researchers shared discoveries showing ingredients found in Ayahuasca impact the brainwaves causing a “waking dream” state.

 

Cannabis and Ayahuasca: Mixing Entheogenic Plants
Cannabis and Ayahuasca: most people believe they shouldn’t be mixed. Read this personal experience peppered with thoughts from a pro cannabis Peruvian Shaman.

 

Ayahuasca Retreat 101: Everything You Need to Know to Brave the Brew
Ayahuasca has been known to be a powerful medicinal substance for millennia. However, until recently, it was only found in the jungle. Word of its deeply healing and cleansing properties has begun to spread across the world as many modern, Western individuals are seeking spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical well-being. More ayahuasca retreat centers are emerging in the Amazon and worldwide to meet the demand.

 

Ayahuasca Helps with Grief
A new study published in psychopharmacology found that ayahuasca helped those suffering from the loss of a loved one up to a year after treatment.

 

Ayahuasca Benefits: Clinical Improvements for Six Months
Ayahuasca benefits can last six months according to studies. Read here to learn about the clinical improvements from drinking the brew.

 

Ayahuasca Culture: Indigenous, Western, And The Future
Ayahuasca has been use for generations in the Amazon. With the rise of retreats and the brew leaving the rainforest how is ayahuasca culture changing?

 

Ayahuasca Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
The Amazonian brew, Ayahuasca has a long history and wide use. Read our guide to learn all about the tea from its beginnings up to modern-day interest.

 

Ayahuasca and the Godhead: An Interview with Wahid Azal of the Fatimiya Sufi Order
Wahid Azal, a Sufi mystic of The Fatimiya Sufi Order and an Islamic scholar, talks about entheogens, Sufism, mythology, and metaphysics.

 

Ayahuasca and the Feminine: Women’s Roles, Healing, Retreats, and More
Ayahuasca is lovingly called “grandmother” or “mother” by many. Just how feminine is the brew? Read to learn all about women and ayahuasca.

What Is the Standard of Care for Ketamine Treatments?
Ketamine therapy is on the rise in light of its powerful results for treatment-resistant depression. But, what is the current standard of care for ketamine? Read to find out.

What Is Dissociation and How Does Ketamine Create It?
Dissociation can take on multiple forms. So, what is dissociation like and how does ketamine create it? Read to find out.

Having Sex on Ketamine: Getting Physical on a Dissociative
Curious about what it could feel like to have sex on a dissociate? Find out all the answers in our guide to sex on ketamine.

Special K: The Party Drug
Special K refers to Ketamine when used recreationally. Learn the trends as well as safety information around this substance.

Kitty Flipping: When Ketamine and Molly Meet
What is it, what does it feel like, and how long does it last? Read to explore the mechanics of kitty flipping.

Ketamine vs. Esketamine: 3 Important Differences Explained
Ketamine and esketamine are used to treat depression. But what’s the difference between them? Read to learn which one is right for you: ketamine vs. esketamine.

Guide to Ketamine Treatments: Understanding the New Approach
Ketamine is becoming more popular as more people are seeing its benefits. Is ketamine a fit? Read our guide for all you need to know about ketamine treatments.

Ketamine Treatment for Eating Disorders
Ketamine is becoming a promising treatment for various mental health conditions. Read to learn how individuals can use ketamine treatment for eating disorders.

Ketamine Resources, Studies, and Trusted Information
Curious to learn more about ketamine? This guide includes comprehensive ketamine resources containing books, studies and more.

Ketamine Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
Our ultimate guide to ketamine has everything you need to know about this “dissociative anesthetic” and how it is being studied for depression treatment.

Ketamine for Depression: A Mental Health Breakthrough
While antidepressants work for some, many others find no relief. Read to learn about the therapeutic uses of ketamine for depression.

Ketamine for Addiction: Treatments Offering Hope
New treatments are offering hope to individuals suffering from addiction diseases. Read to learn how ketamine for addiction is providing breakthrough results.

Microdosing Ketamine & Common Dosages Explained
Microdosing, though imperceivable, is showing to have many health benefits–here is everything you want to know about microdosing ketamine.

How to Ease a Ketamine Comedown
Knowing what to expect when you come down from ketamine can help integrate the experience to gain as much value as possible.

How to Store Ketamine: Best Practices
Learn the best ways how to store ketamine, including the proper temperature and conditions to maximize how long ketamine lasts when stored.

How To Buy Ketamine: Is There Legal Ketamine Online?
Learn exactly where it’s legal to buy ketamine, and if it’s possible to purchase legal ketamine on the internet.

How Long Does Ketamine Stay in Your System?
How long does ketamine stay in your system? Are there lasting effects on your body? Read to discover the answers!

How Ketamine is Made: Everything You Need to Know
Ever wonder how to make Ketamine? Read our guide to learn everything you need to know about the procedures of how Ketamine is made.

Colorado on Ketamine: First Responders Waiver Programs
Fallout continues after Elijah McClain. Despite opposing recommendations from some city council, Colorado State Health panel recommends the continued use of ketamine by medics for those demonstrating “excited delirium” or “extreme agitation”.

Types of Ketamine: Learn the Differences & Uses for Each
Learn about the different types of ketamine and what they are used for—and what type might be right for you. Read now to find out!

Kitty Flipping: When Ketamine and Molly Meet
What is it, what does it feel like, and how long does it last? Read to explore the mechanics of kitty flipping.

MDMA & Ecstasy Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
Our ultimate guide to MDMA has everything you want to know about Ecstasy from how it was developed in 1912 to why it’s being studied today.

How To Get the Most out of Taking MDMA as a Couple
Taking MDMA as a couple can lead to exciting experiences. Read here to learn how to get the most of of this love drug in your relationship.

Common MDMA Dosage & Microdosing Explained
Microdosing, though imperceivable, is showing to have many health benefits–here is everything you want to know about microdosing MDMA.

Having Sex on MDMA: What You Need to Know
MDMA is known as the love drug… Read our guide to learn all about sex on MDMA and why it is beginning to makes its way into couple’s therapy.

How MDMA is Made: Common Procedures Explained
Ever wonder how to make MDMA? Read our guide to learn everything you need to know about the procedures of how MDMA is made.

Hippie Flipping: When Shrooms and Molly Meet
What is it, what does it feel like, and how long does it last? Explore the mechanics of hippie flipping and how to safely experiment.

How Cocaine is Made: Common Procedures Explained
Ever wonder how to make cocaine? Read our guide to learn everything you need to know about the procedures of how cocaine is made.

A Christmas Sweater with Santa and Cocaine
This week, Walmart came under fire for a “Let it Snow” Christmas sweater depicting Santa with lines of cocaine. Columbia is not merry about it.

Ultimate Cocaine Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
This guide covers what you need to know about Cocaine, including common effects and uses, legality, safety precautions and top trends today.

NEWS: An FDA-Approved Cocaine Nasal Spray
The FDA approved a cocaine nasal spray called Numbrino, which has raised suspicions that the pharmaceutical company, Lannett Company Inc., paid off the FDA..

The Ultimate Guide to Cannabis Bioavailability
What is bioavailability and how can it affect the overall efficacy of a psychedelic substance? Read to learn more.

Cannabis Research Explains Sociability Behaviors
New research by Dr. Giovanni Marsicano shows social behavioral changes occur as a result of less energy available to the neurons. Read here to learn more.

The Cannabis Shaman
If recreational and medical use of marijuana is becoming accepted, can the spiritual use as well? Experiential journalist Rak Razam interviews Hamilton Souther, founder of the 420 Cannabis Shamanism movement…

Cannabis Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
Our ultimate guide to Cannabis has everything you want to know about this popular substances that has psychedelic properties.

Cannabis and Ayahuasca: Mixing Entheogenic Plants
Cannabis and Ayahuasca: most people believe they shouldn’t be mixed. Read this personal experience peppered with thoughts from a procannabis Peruvian Shaman.

CBD-Rich Cannabis Versus Single-Molecule CBD
A ground-breaking study has documented the superior therapeutic properties of whole plant Cannabis extract as compared to synthetic cannabidiol (CBD), challenging the medical-industrial complex’s notion that “crude” botanical preparations are less effective than single-molecule compounds.

Cannabis Has Always Been a Medicine
Modern science has already confirmed the efficacy of cannabis for most uses described in the ancient medical texts, but prohibitionists still claim that medical cannabis is “just a ruse.”

Related Posts

Ready to explore the frontiers of consciousness?

Sign up for the Reality Bites newsletter and embark on a journey into the world of psychedelics, mindfulness, and transformation. It’s where the curious minds gather.

Become a conscious agent with us.

Featured Partner

Cosmic Melts

Cosmic Melts are the latest mushroom gummies we’ve been munching on. Choose from five fruity flavors, each gummy containing 350mg of Amanita muscaria.
 
Amanita muscaria offers a unique (and totally legal!) mushroom experience, and Cosmic Melts is an ideal entry point for the curious consumer.
Featured Partner

Lab Link Supply

Our go-to source for spores so you can grow your own shrooms right at home. Carrying several of our favorite species including B+, Golden Teacher, Jedi Mind F*ck, Blue Meanie and more. Browse their selection of spores and get started with your home grow.

Our Partners

Welcome to Reality Sandwich. Please verify that you are over 18 years of age below.

Reality Sandwich uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. By entering Reality Sandwich, you are agreeing to the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.