People’s beliefs about the metaphysical nature of reality are the ground they stand on when making impactful moral decisions. And without transcendent experiences to inform belief structures, truly heart-rending forms of suffering may result.

René Descartes, for example, famously held a dualist belief that mind and body are separate and that, unlike humans, animals are merely complex machines devoid of consciousness. To demonstrate this belief to a crowd, he forcibly restrained a dog and dissected it while it was still conscious. Should Descartes have held an equally powerful conviction of Interbeing, that consciousness pervades and unifies all living beings — as stated by the Lakota leader Black Elk, "All things are our relatives; what we do to everything, we do to ourselves” — it is nearly impossible to imagine he would have chosen to inflict such torture (ultimately on himself).

In today’s world, dualist beliefs predominate in popular culture. And many of the unconscionable ways humans have treated those we deem “inferior” beings have persisted. At the same time, our power and impact have drastically expanded. As forces like AI and nuclear power continue to develop, the boundless degree of impact we could have on our planet, and each other, continues to skyrocket. A future that may involve living heavens or hells will depend on the wisdom we cultivate, using the spiritual tools we have available.

Seen from an ultimate frame in which what happens to everything happens to ourselves, we have caused ourselves to experience an immensity of heartrending moments through complexes like factory farming, war, and unchecked consumerism. If we were to individually feel each one of these experiences, and integrate that awareness into our personal ego, it would become an absolute priority to shift our global belief structures toward a more self-transcendent paradigm. That is our priority at As We Wake.

Psychedelics are the most powerful tools known to reliably induce self-transcendent experiences. By occasioning a reassociation of our fundamental personal identity with the totality of consciousness, they compel us to take seriously the proposition that all experiences are our own. Integrating this notion of oneness can challenging, ecstatic and transcendent, and is ultimately crucial for humanity for the betterment of our global condition. The suffering emanating from our current dualistic paradigms of “self and other” is immediate. We must take action to creatively and collaboratively implement the best possible means of supporting the personal, cultural, and species-level integration of transcendent psychedelic experiences. This is the focus of our work at As We Wake.

We approach our values of self-transcendence and radical non-ignorance with a counterbalanced lightness of heart and spirit that ultimately supports our mission. Through community, nature, celebration, adventure, levity, and an ethic of embodying positive holistic change we aim to bring our mission forward.