Simon Powell - The Psilocybin Solution

Our aim now is to discover more about the nature and intent of the intelligence that would appear to underlie the reality process. This intelligence, whatever it is exactly, seems to be causally manifest through the specific law, order, and self-organizing properties of Nature. Hence we witness the inevitable progressive emergence of phenomena like stars, molecular compounds, organisms, and even consciousness. In other words, because the laws of Nature force the reality process to give rise to stars, molecular compounds, organisms, and consciousness (the means by which Nature can know itself), then this is strongly suggestive that there is some sort of purposeful intelligence connected with those laws. In any case, the patterns of information forced into existence by Nature appear to behave according to various systems of logic that we can loosely refer to as physics, chemistry, genetics, biology, psychology, and so on.

The forms of logic cited above are language-like, computation-like, and enfolded within one another in a kind of nested hierarchy. The language-like logic of physics acts as a substrate from which the language-like logic of chemistry emerges. In turn, the language-like logic of chemistry gives rise to the language-like logic of molecular biology. And so on. Eventually, highly advanced bio-logic leads to brains that embody patterns of information we call minds. Conscious minds are subsequently able to contemplate the intelligence that likely governs this astonishingly creative set of processes. All creativity, all order, and all life must derive from a fundamental creative property of Nature, a property that is best explained by invoking a willful, ubiquitous intelligence, the very same intelligence that entheogens like the psilocybin mushroom can bring into sharp focus.

We can boldly refer to this quixotic reasoning as being but one corollary of the fantastic hypothesis . The fantastic hypothesis views reality, or Nature, as a deliberate and intelligently behaving system. According to the fantastic hypothesis, we are woven into a tide of self-organizing information, interconnected throughout, whose spectacular final purpose awaits us. For if the natural tendency of the Universe is to foster the integration and cohesion of more and more information; then, as with gravity in the “physical” realm drawing together atoms and elements, the result of this integrative tendency in the realm of human consciousness might be to draw some kind of “truthful solution” into being, like an ultimate pattern falling into place.

Such a fantastic hypothesis is waged against the prevailing null hypothesis. The null hypothesis decrees a morose state of affairs in which our Universe is accidental, but one of an infinite number, devoid of reason and purpose, and in which the earthly psilocybin experience is no more than a trap, an aberration distracting us from more pressing concerns.

However, it really does seem evident (sometimes obviously so) that some mysteriously intelligent presence pervades Nature. We have seen that life and consciousness were poised to emerge out of the Universe right from the start, maybe in many locations throughout the cosmos. Now that we are here and now that we have realized the breathtaking situation in which we are so intimately involved, we can rightly demand that the mystery of the Other reveal itself to us in more detail. The momentum gathered by our inquiries is thus set to lead us into yet more rarefied territory. There is no point in backing down now. If I were to stop before making a last leap into idea-space, I would be no more than a psychedelic homme fatale, withdrawing supposition before a climax worthy of our subject matter had been attained.

That we have already posited an intelligent Other made of information that can manifest within an individual psyche through the medium of sacred plants and fungi is perhaps not so controversial at this point. Such an “intelligence of sorts” has been a kind of soft, conceptual pillow upon which to rest our stretched minds once the visionary effects of entheogenic compounds and the implications thereof have been acknowledged. But whereas the religiously minded might well be firmly acquainted with the notion of a creative intelligence at work in the Universe, those of us who eschew traditional religion might be willing to entertain the idea of some kind of intelligence over and above that of Homo sapiens only if the idea can be properly fleshed out. This is especially true if one has not personally experienced the tremendous spiritual power of psilocybin.

Anyone can suggest, or imagine, that some sort of distributed intelligence infuses reality. Many might intuit so. But to develop a coherent conceptual framework with which to understand the inferred intelligence and grasp its agenda is another matter entirely. Indeed, the risk of heresy and banishment from the scientific community can only escalate if one prosecutes such speculation to its furthest limits. However, since I have no scientific tenure to defend, no academic office to be summarily kicked out of, I am at liberty to set forth more radical ideas. These ideas will hopefully bind all that has gone before into an aesthetically pleasing whole, which is, after all, the way reality looks to be—an integrated whole. So, keeping our minds open, let us ponder the idea that Nature is blessed with a sophisticated intelligence above and beyond that of our species.

If we accept, even just for the duration of this chapter, that consciousness is the preordained output of an immense computational system, then the future surprises in store for us might be great indeed. Since we are presumably the first species of earthly life to be able to fully confront the mystery of being (at least through science and art—although who knows what dolphins think about), then it seems likely that our conscious role within Nature’s informational hierarchy must be of functional import. If some of the ideas that I will shortly be introducing have any bearing on this issue, then our collective future will be awesome, to say the least. If we consider for a moment the dramatic leap in complexity and information integration that separates the primeval emergence of a single-celled bacterium (in itself highly complex) three and a half billion years ago from, say, the emergence of Tokyo, with its inconceivably vast concatenation of informational activity, then what would a comparable leap in evolution produce? If reality is being driven by intelligence, then what surprises still lie in store?

Before we can assess these questions, it makes sense to step back a little and look in more general terms at the idea of a “higher intelligence” (let me add that from here on, when I discuss such an intelligence, I mean it to be synonymous with the Other, or at least that the Other is an expression of it). As far as I can see, if we invoke some kind of higher intelligence in operation within the reality process, then there are three basic options concerning its nature: the intelligence exists outside the dimensions of normal reality, just as a programmer lies outside a computer system; the intelligence is representative of an extremely advanced form of life existing elsewhere in the Universe; or the Universe is like an organism and the intelligence exists throughout Nature.

Already we appear to have gate-crashed the pulp storylines so beloved by sci-fi writers. In defense of this move, we should bear in mind that, whatever the case, reality is already like fiction . Why things should be the way they are in this neck of the cosmos is decidedly strange, with or without psilocybinetic speculation. To suggest that reality is anything but remarkable and mysterious is to be a victim of either tiredness or depression. In fact I am prepared to go so far as to say that there is nothing quite as strange as human history and human consciousness within the ongoing reality process. You don’t need crop circles or ghosts or faces on Mars or convoluted notions of semi-reptilian illuminati controlling the world to be stimulated and awestruck. The Universe as it is, with conscious human observers, is more impressive and far more worthy of our awe and attention. Indeed, it is only because we are so used to being self-aware components of Nature that we do not continually marvel at the fact. Upon careful reflection, however, the ability of Nature to evoke the tree of life and nourish its evolution to the point of conscious brains is truly extraordinary and indicative that some sort of cosmic imperative is being fulfilled. Curiously, we seem willing to accept plenty of other far more radical notions about Nature without as much as a murmur of disbelief. Not surprisingly, Terence McKenna repeatedly made the point that a belief in the big bang, in which the entire space-time continuum is considered to have sprung out of a minuscule dimensionless point, requires an inordinate stretching of credulity. Indeed, if you can believe this, then you can surely believe anything.