NOTE: Spoiler alert for Brave New World and Island by Aldous Huxley.
Decades of propaganda paint psychedelics as dangerous, anti-social drugs that are inherently harmful, yet scientific studies show they often induce deep emotional experiences coloured by feelings of love, unity, and connection. Research also suggests that psychedelics are capable of breaking down ingrained opinion structures, social conditioning, and shifting epistemic or metaphysical beliefs.
It is these qualities that led prominent intellectuals – such as Terence McKenna, Aldous Huxley, and Timothy Leary – to suggest that psychedelics could be tools that act as a catalyst for powerful social change, evolving human consciousness, and rescuing modern society from its perceived ills.
Other proponents of the compounds, such as Alan Watts, warned that the repeated use of psychedelics could amount to nothing more than mere escapism if insights from these experiences are not integrated, warning: “If you get the message, hang up the phone.”
While psychedelics may help ignite social change through the insights or changes they induce in individuals, drugs may also easily slip into an escape that saps our will to take direct action in the world and push for social change: they’re a double-edged sword.
Drugs for Enlightenment or Escape?: Beats v Situationists
Emerging out of the USA, the 1950s to 1960s Beat movement was a collective of poets, novelists, and activists who championed the use of psychoactive drugs for personal enlightenment in a society driven by materialism and consumerism. They believed that experimenting with consciousness through psychoactive substances could bring about mental and political liberation.
Running parallel to the Beat movement was the rise of Europe’s Situationist International – a radical, avant-garde Marxist movement of artists, writers, and intellectuals, inspired by the likes of cultural theorist, philosopher, and film-maker Guy Debord (who wrote Society of the Spectacle).
The Situationists called for a revolution of capitalist society and used art as a way to subvert norms, deconstruct the status quo, and question mass media, and – as the Beats were a catalyst for the US anti-war movement – Situationist International was pivotal in shaping the 1968 French uprising.
The movement’s manifesto championed the abolition of the spectacle, liberation of human creativity from work and consumerism, and play as freedom.
Their subversive messaging (détournement) could be found in the form of comic strips and artworks largely inspired by the 1920s Dada movement and its decoupe (cut-up) technique, often appearing in underground, counterculture zines of the 60s such as Oz. The influence of their art style and messaging can be seen in the work of artists today such as Banksy and Foka Wolf.
There are many overlaps with the Beat movement and the Situationists, including antimaterialism and anticonsumerism. But while the Beats were interested in seeking enlightenment to escape the brutality of reality, the Situationists sought liberation from oppression through direct action.
Rather than seeing drugs as a route to enlightenment as the Beats did, the Situationists saw drugs as a form of escapism from – and an extension of – oppression and capitalism.
Beat writer William S. Burroughs straddled both of these movements' views on drugs in his book Naked Lunch.
Describing destructive dope addiction as the ‘Algebra of Need’, in his 80s edition of the novel, Burroughs writes in his foreword that “junk” is the real “evil virus”, but hallucinogens, specifically, are sacred.
Burroughs clearly understood the nuances of drug use, the double-edged sword that could bring death or Nirvana – and saw general junk as a sure-fire path to obliteration.
While not a Beat writer or a Situationist, Aldous Huxley demonstrates the two edges of the sword in his novels Brave New World and Island.
Huxley’s Dystopian and Utopian Societies
Author Aldous Huxley experimented with psychedelics and wrote hallmark books on the topic. He was a leading mind in exploring how psychedelics might reshape society into a more co-operative, utilitarian way of being.
Huxley explored the theme of psychedelics as enlightenment or escape in two novels published exactly thirty years apart.
His dystopian novel Brave New World features a One World State led by a technocratic dictatorship, and his later utopian novel Island features Pala, an island away from modern society that is run through decentralised co-operation.
In Brave New World, Huxley introduces ‘soma’ – a psychedelic drug that subjugated citizens
take to “holiday” from reality. With this vision-inducing substance, the oppressed escape from their conditioned servitude, which has been forced upon them through biological engineering, chemical placation, hypnosis, and electric shocks. In this book, technology is used to enslave humans rather than help them.
Contrastingly, in Island, Huxley introduces ‘moksha’ – a psychoactive drink that citizens of Pala use to reach the transcendent “Godhead”, gain wisdom and knowledge, and prepare for death. The Island is peaceful, intellectual, champions equality and mutual aid, and technology is used for the betterment of the greater good.
On Pala, rather than being used as an escape as soma is in Brave New World, moksha is integrated into society to improve well-being and way of life.
While both novels end in their own type of tragedy, the juxtaposition of the roles psychedelic substances play in the novels’ societies addresses this question of escape or enlightenment.
The conclusion of Brave New World sees the end of the protagonist's life after trying to end his suffering, but being unable to escape the oppressive society, whereas in Island, despite the tranquillity of Pala, it eventually succumbs to the greed of the outside world, which invades for its resources. Despite this, through the use of moksha, the protagonist is able to find enlightenment and inner peace despite the chaos and destruction in the world.
To me, this suggests that Huxley believed that when psychedelics are used like soma, the human spirit will inevitably remain oppressed, but when used like moksha, the human spirit may still find liberation in the face of oppression.
Changing the Individual or Changing Society?
Scientific research shows that psychedelics can indeed impact and shift people's beliefs, conditioning, or attitudes, as well as increase prosociality and openness.
For example, in a survey investigating the association between psychedelic use and personality, political perspectives and nature relatedness, researchers found that lifelong psychedelic use predicted liberal political views as well as openness and nature relatedness, while negatively predicting authoritarian political views.
However, further research highlights that psychedelics are often "non-specific" amplifiers, meaning that they will amplify whatever belief an individual already holds or is culturally exposed to. In this context, set and setting are hugely influential.
Researchers argue that:
psychedelic effects are best understood within cultural feedback loops linking cultural set and setting, individual expectations, experience, and its articulation back into culture. On this view, psychedelics operate primarily as non-specific amplifiers and catalysts that magnify pre-existing beliefs, rather than revealing unmediated insights.
A recent example of this is the Capitol Hill “QAnon Shaman”, who, in 2021, gained notoriety as a perceived anomaly among psychedelic users by identifying with far-right values and conspiracy theories.
Researchers highlight that the association of psychedelics with liberal politics is rooted in the 60s and 70s cultural and political movements of sexual liberation, anti-war protests, and the civil rights movement.
However, history is not devoid of people who identified with far-right values yet still experimented with psychedelics and mysticism. For example, fascist philosopher and author of books such as Eros and The Mysteries of Love, Ride the Tiger and Revolt Against the Modern World, Julius Evola, experimented with psychedelics and remains a huge influence on far-right politics today.
It would be amiss in the context of the Capitol Hill shaman and Evola not to touch on the horseshoe theory of politics and how this may come into play when we beg the question of whether or not psychedelics are catalysts for social change.
Amongst far-left and far-right voters are probably some of the more radical citizens of society who, even before experiencing any kind of altered state, may be more inclined to be active in pushing for social change. Their set is already one of action.
Adding to this, today, we live in an ever more polarised and divided society, where, through social and online channels, people can easily trap themselves in echo chambers that confirm already established beliefs. Therefore, the cultural setting today may be likely to be extreme on one end or the other.
Despite this, research shows that the brains of people with more radical political views have been associated with cognitive rigidity, and suggests that increased cognitive flexibility may help create more “tolerant” societies.
Psychedelics have been shown in scientific research to improve cognitive flexibility by inducing plasticity in the brain, which enables individuals to break out of rigid thought loops and habits and create new neural connections.
This demonstrates just how vital set and setting is for psychedelic use beyond the clinic or the church – but also the social, cultural, political and metaphysical frameworks that build our individual worlds.
Whether psychedelics act as a catalyst for social change therefore may be largely influenced by each individual’s personal tendency towards political activism and the environment within which they exist.
Whether or not they are an escape may depend largely on whether or not an individual integrates their psychedelic experiences into their everyday life. Do they continue to chase the dragon, or do they go into the world and try to implement the change they want to see, even if it is planting just one seed?