Join Us for Stephen Reid's talk "A Pinch of Salt, An Excess of Awe?"
Psychedelics represent what Jamie Wheal might call the missing electrolyte of Awe—the mystical salt our spiritually depleted culture craves. Yet this pharmakon reveals an uncomfortable paradox: the same medicine meant to restore cosmic awareness can, when overused, inflate egos and breed magical thinking, transforming genuine seekers into Instagram shamans. As Wheal observes, "There's a good reason why most never peer over the Edge. Sometimes More isn't always Better. It's just More." This sobering insight cuts through the irrational exuberance of our current moment, where DMT vape pens circulate at festivals and venture capitalists queue for toad ceremonies, mistaking the keys for the kingdom itself. The challenge isn't whether these sacred technologies work (they demonstrably can), but whether we can resist repeatedly returning to the cosmic salt lick when a single taste might suffice. Join this talk to explore how we can transform our passing illuminations into abiding light, without losing ourselves in the process.
Stephen Reid is a technologist, facilitator and coach who has trained in the fields of AI/ML, complexity science, physics, transformative coaching and insight meditation. Previously, he founded The Psychedelic Society, which established the first legal psilocybin retreat programme in Europe, and served as the youngest ever board member of Greenpeace UK.
