The Unfulfilled Drive to Explore, "Treasure Hunting," and Psychedelics

There is a local legend in the particular corner of the American Southwest, where I live, that always excited me. They say that when the conquistadors passed through this region, they were too weighed down with the gold that they had looted from the native peoples in Mexico and were unable traverse the harsh desert environment. According to the story, it was hidden in a mountain peak that resembled "the nose of an Indian" so that they could continue on their way unencumbered and there it remains, still waiting to be found. It is, most likely, just a tale but it touched something that lies inside of me and, I believe, in many other people as well. It was appealing to think that there was some treasure hiding in the wild and seldom traveled parts of this land. That hunger to see what waits for us beyond our familiar surroundings and the hope of finding something of value at the end of our journey can be satiated by more than literal gold, however. Our desire to find "wealth" in the "wilderness," I believe, is what makes the psychedelic experience attractive to those of us who possess the drive to "explore" and, given the nature of the modern world, our minds may be the last true "frontier," in which we may find our "fortunes."

No matter where we go, it seems like someone has already been there and striped it of everything worth taking. Most of the world's wilderness has been tamed or destroyed by the relentless progression of civilization. We, likely, live more comfortably because of that fact but we have also lost something in the process. There are no new lands to see. The treasures have been plundered and carried back to the seats of empires. The wonders of the world have lost their luster in our modern familiarity with them. However, the drive to explore still exists within us, despite our lack of a real world outlet.

If we are to fulfill our desire to find new "lands," we must search the "wilderness" of our minds and psychedelics can serve as our gateway to those strange places. In our daily lives, we usually only scratch the surface of what our creative abilities are capable of and we rarely tap into the extreme level of emotional complexity that, often, subconsciously guides our behavior. Those things remain abstract and ethereal, under normal circumstances. They are, in a sense, "unexplored" places. Because we cannot, typically, access these deeper parts of our minds, they, as a result, are not under our conscious control (much like unpleasant dreams, and irrational fears) and that gives them an "untamed" quality that our normal modes of cognition lack. When we consume psychedelics, the door begins to open and that hidden inner world becomes accessible. The loose concepts and and vague ideas, which it is composed of, are given a sort of substance. The "land" becomes real and we can venture into it, in a manner of speaking. Thoughts are, sometimes, given images that express something valuable about them. Emotions are intensified and, like some monstrous beast that prowls the dark places within the mind, they must be confronted by the psychonaut during his or her exploration of the inner ocean that is the self.

Like the (probably) fictional, nose shaped mountain peak, there is "treasure" to be found in the unknown parts of a psychonaut's mind. Facing the powerful and, sometimes, beast-like emotions that stalk our inner "wilderness" brings greater awareness of the self and what drives its interaction with and reactions to the real world that it inhabits. Giving solid substance to thoughts and conceptualizations increases our creative and interpretive potential. Coming to terms with the intensity of inward exploration gives us a better frame of reference through which we can view similarly intense events in our lives and that makes us more stable individuals than we would have been without having consumed psychedelic substances.

Perhaps I am carrying this metaphor too far but I can't help to see some connection between our unfulfilled desire to explore and the appeal of using psychedelics and it is an important one. There are, of course, significant differences between the two acts. Literal exploration involves going somewhere but taking a psychedelic trip only requires that one consume a drug. The "treasures" that a user brings home cannot be sold or spent either. However, the spirit that motivates the two different sorts of exploration is the same and there are some very real parallels between them. Both allow us to see something that was previously unseen. Both introduce novelty into our lives. Both come with the potential to find something that is important or valuable to us. A lot of people like to view drug use in negative terms or, at least, as a frivolous or pointless pursuit but there can be much more to it than that. Psychedelics provide something that is lacking in the modern world and that renewed ability to fulfill our desire to explore is not negative and is far from frivolous, in my opinion.

Peace.

All the images in this post are sourced from the free image website, unsplash.com.