11 October 2024
Psychedelics Teach Simplicity
By Mary Cosimano, LMSW
MAPS Bulletin: Volume XXXIV Number 1 • 2024
Psychedelics teach simplicity. I love that. Simplicity has been a theme in my life for a long time, but it wasn’t until I began teaching at California Institute of Integral Studies in their Center for Psychedelic Therapies and Research certificate program in 2016 that I began talking about it openly. Since then, I have become more aware of the importance of bringing it forward, the importance of understanding the simplicity of life, and my deepened interest and respect for working with psychedelics when I realized it was one of their teachings.
Although I didn’t know it at the time, my childhood was where my need for simplicity began. I was a good student in school but had to spend extra time studying to keep up because my attention was compromised. I could keep up with all subjects except reading. I couldn’t stay connected to even the simplest readings. Growing up in the 1960s there was no understanding of learning disabilities (ADD, ADHD, dyslexia, etc.) so I was put into a speed-reading class with four other students who had similar issues. We were separated from the rest of the class, which in itself was embarrassing, but what made it humiliating was that speed reading made it even harder for me to read. It was the exact opposite of what I needed to deal with my learning disabilities. This led to low self-esteem, which continued into early adulthood because I couldn’t keep up with not only readings but also with conversations. Big words, concepts, current events, I knew very little about because I didn’t read or couldn’t remember what I read. I went through high school without hardly ever reading a book—only Cliffs Notes—the infamous summaries that saved so many like me. Feelings of unworthiness grew deep within me. I began to fear being “found out” how “stupid” I was. Much of my life was led by that fear.
If I had found the following quote at that time, it would have been my motto, and even though I have worked through much of this, the quote still speaks to where I’d rather be with others today.
“It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn’t use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words like “What about lunch?” from Pooh’s Little Instruction Book, by Joan Powers, inspired by A. A. Milne1
I was in my early 20s when I realized I needed to find a way to get over my fear. What could I possibly have to offer with my disability? I began to search for answers to the questions, Who am I? Why am I here? and What’s the meaning of life? Nothing was more important to me. My search led me to a few events that had a profound impact on me, leading to a conscious realization of my life purpose. One of those events was when I read (yes, I did learn to read but that’s another story) Dr. Gerald Jampolsky’s book, Love is Letting Go of Fear. It is a short book based on A Course in Miracles. There are several powerful lessons that were compelling to me when I first read it that remain important to me today:
- There are only two emotions: Love and Fear
- Peace of mind is our only goal.
- Forgiveness is our only function.
- The present moment is all there is.
- Love is the answer to all questions.
I remember so clearly when I read this that I knew deep inside those statements were true, that my search for life’s meaning was over. But I also knew I couldn’t embrace their simplicity, that I had more work to do. I felt anxious by this fact but also felt a sense of peace knowing that my search for those questions could be boiled down to such simple, easy-to-understand principles. To embody those teachings became my life purpose and remains so to this day.
What I came to believe and still do is this: At its core, what humans want is to give and receive love, and that the nature of our true, authentic self is love. By love I mean connection—to ourselves, to others, and to everything.
Over the years this belief just deepened in me. Most exciting was decades later when I started to write about my work with psychedelics that I began in 2000 at the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research. I found that after guiding hundreds of study participants’ psychedelic sessions, their common experiences revealed some of those same teachings from Love is Letting Go of Fear. Participants told us over and over that some of the most important messages from their experiences were often these same simple truths: We are all one. We are all connected. We are all love.
One of our study participants said of her experience, “I just found it funny, that life really is that simple, and it’s all about love.”
The simplicity of these lessons became one of the foundations of my life and relates to my belief in love as our true nature. I began speaking of this openly when teaching because I felt it was important to reveal my beliefs to the students. One year a student in the program expressed anger at my making it sound so simple. I understood this and knew it was necessary to address her feelings. I was grateful for the opportunity as it made me clarify for others who may have felt the same as her.
Yes, it is simple, but don’t let this simplicity fool you. Just because it is simple doesn’t mean it is easy. Simplicity is usually hidden. All the unnecessary things must be peeled away before the essence of anything–the simplicity–can be revealed. It’s finding the essence.
The ability to embrace, to be, this simple truth—that we are all one, all connected, all love—is to me, the most difficult and the most important achievement of our human existence. I believe that everything anyone does is an attempt to achieve this state, and yet we fall short over and over again. There are many reasons for this, but I believe one reason is that we make our lives so busy and complicated. As Confucius said, “Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.”
In today’s world, we are busier than ever with so much information at our fingertips–and many are addicted to these technologies. I recently heard that ‘information consumes attention, and therefore a wealth of information equals a poverty of attention.” We get so caught up in our lives that we forget this or don’t make it a priority. Our attention is everywhere except on ourselves, others, and the world around us. We spend less and less time in quiet, in stillness. We become disconnected from ourselves and others.
That’s what we humans do—we make our lives complicated. Then we develop fears, and because of our fears we put up walls and barriers that disconnect us, and thus we lose our sense of who we are: our true authentic self.
Disconnection is the source of our unhappiness (dysfunction) because as I said I believe that our true self, who we are, is love, and love is connection. Johann Hari talks about disconnection in his book, Lost Connections:
“. . . Every one of the social and psychological causes of depression and anxiety they have discovered has something in common. They are all forms of disconnection. They are all ways in which we have been cut off from something we innately need but seem to have lost along the way.”2
How do we get that connection back? I believe one way is with psychedelic-assisted therapy.
The Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy Model
Many are familiar with the model used by most, if not all, in the clinical trials with psychedelic-assisted therapy. There are three simple phases: the preparation, the psychedelic session, and the integration.
Although they may not seem simple to all, the longer I have been guiding psychedelic sessions and embodying the principles I came to believe in, the more I realize their simplicity. This does not take away from the depth of the content of each of these phases. It just makes it easier for me to be present in each one. Being present is key to being a more effective guide.
Phase I—Preparation
Preparation for psychedelic-assisted therapy sessions is actually very simple. These are basically twofold: (1) preparing the participant for a high-dose psychedelic session and (2) developing trust and rapport between the participant and their guides. The model we use to develop trust and rapport is simply having the participant tell their life story. Lives can be and usually are complicated, but the method for telling the life story is the same for all. We ask: Who are you? Answering this question is a powerful process in itself, and many participants have said at the end of the preparation meetings that if they didn’t have a psychedelic session, answering that question would be enough to help them understand themselves. (But no one has stopped there).
Phase II—The Psychedelic Session
Next is the psychedelic session. My understanding of how to approach a session has shifted after years of guiding. I now see the psychedelic session as simple once you have taken the substance there is nothing to do but for the participant and guide(s) to spend the rest of the day together without expectations, judgment, or agenda. Sessions can and often do have many ups and downs and can be quite difficult, but after guiding hundreds of sessions, I’ve come to believe that once the psychedelic has been ingested, the role of the guide is simply to keep the participant safe and be present with whatever comes up. Everything is welcome and whatever happens is supposed to happen.
Phase III—Integration
Integration is simple in that there is only one question: What are you going to do? That is, what changes are you going to make to your daily life? It is best to start with small steps and simple practices such as going for a walk in nature, starting a meditation or mindfulness practice, calling an estranged family member or going to lunch with a friend. One of our study volunteers discovered one of his ways.
“I feel I am moving, thinking, and acting in a thoughtfulness mode,” he said. “I feel more aware of the energy of Love. I am choosing more eye contact with people I meet, I listen more intently, speak more clearly, and generally am more aware of Life as Love. I have learned since my session that when people make a lot of money it comes with a responsibility of sharing, letting go of the money in a responsible, loving way.”
Again, simple, but putting it into a committed, lifelong practice is the complex part. It takes intention, awareness, and action. It is important to have a plan and goals, and then to let them go and allow the present moment to lead the way. The guidelines for the psychedelic sessions apply to the integration as well– no expectations, no judgment, no agenda.
One participant told me his meditation practice had become more regular, more focused, and “taken to a whole new level” by incorporating his daily exercise workout into a powerful meditative practice. He used to have two televisions on simultaneously watching the news and/or reading newspapers. At his 6-month follow up he said, “My cardiovascular workouts have been transformed into what I like to call cardio ‘heart yoga’. I dim the lights in my cellar, put on appropriate music, and then do a very conscious meditation using my breath and mantra while pumping on my stationary bike.” He also expressed the desire to deepen his relationship with his wife, and now every weekend he makes a “date” with her.
Other participants’ simple integration practices included meditating, reaching out to old friends and making new friends, eating a healthier diet, journaling, taking up guitar lessons, starting an exercise program, reading again, practicing yoga, getting more rest, and making time for stillness.
The more I have embraced the belief in the simplicity of this model, the more I can relax, be present, and connect with the participant. Connection and simplicity are evident in this quote from one of our terminal cancer participants:
“I was at the center or at least aware of being emerged into a greater whole—it seemed oddly simple—no real struggle—it was so easy—and I questioned myself about the possibility that such an awareness was so easy to die into.”3
These feelings of simplicity and connectedness are true of non-cancer participants as well. One of the participants said:
“Once I was past the darkness, I began to experience an increasing feeling of peace and connectedness…an intense feeling of love and joy emanated from all over my body, and I can’t imagine feeling any happier. I knew that the worries of everyday life were meaningless and that all that mattered were my connections with the wonderful people who are my family and friends”.3
The Lasting Effects
How long do these effects last and what are they? That depends on the individual and the amount of integration work and most often, as you saw above, it is a result of simple, small steps towards their values and goals.
We have long-term follow-ups in most of our studies that range from 6 months to 2 and 1/2 years.
Some of the lasting effects are shown in the following comments following the six-month follow-up from cancer/end-of-life participants:
One participant told us, “I am able to sleep better, have much less anxiety, no fear of death, much improved sense of self and confidence, more relaxed, improved relationships, more open, more empathetic.”3
Another stated that he continues to value his experience in the study and that his personal well-being and life satisfaction increased significantly. His fear and anxiety over his death had decreased, despite the recent report that his cancer had metastasized to his lungs. His mother said the study helped him immensely with his anxiety and without the study “he would be ten times worse.”3
In our dose-effect study at the one-year follow-up, a participant told us that she is more interested in connecting with others on a deeper level and values relationships more. “I am more open and less judgmental” she said. “I have a greater sense of love as being a unifying and primal force in the universe and as the appropriate response to my understanding of reality.”4
When through psychedelic-assisted therapy we become aware of the simple truth of our essential being, the happier we can be. The simpler we are, the more people we can connect to. My desire is to connect with as many people as possible and to not make anyone feel like I did all those years ago when I couldn’t learn to read: stupid. To me, that means being simple. The less barriers the more connections.
The world of psychedelics has grown immensely since I became involved with psychedelic research at Johns Hopkins 23 years ago. Many are calling it a psychedelic renaissance. With growth often comes growing pains, and one of those seems to be that what these substances can teach is getting lost or complicated. I believe that psychedelic-assisted therapy has the potential to bring the message of simplicity to more and more people, and I hope that this remains true despite the growth in the field of psychedelics.
Simplicity is important to me. When I finally began to own and embrace my need for simplicity and to bring that to my personal and professional life, my life has been more free and joyful. I believe this can be helpful for many others as well.
In Dharma Bums, Jack Kerouac said, “One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple.” Maybe I found the right words for me: “What about lunch?”5
References
- Powers, J. (1995). Pooh’s little instruction book. Dutton Children’s Books. (Inspired by A. A. Milne).
- Hari, J. (2018). Lost connections: Uncovering the real causes of depression—and the unexpected solutions. Bloomsbury Publishing.
- Griffiths, R. R., Johnson, M. W., Carducci, M. A., Umbricht, A., Richards, W. A., Richards, B. D., Cosimano, M. P., & Klinedinst, M. A. (2016). Psilocybin produces substantial and sustained decreases in depression and anxiety in patients with life-threatening cancer: A randomized double-blind trial. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 30(12), 1181-1197.
- Griffiths, R. R., Johnson, M. W., Richards, W. A., Richards, B. D., McCann, U., & Jesse, R. (2011). Psilocybin occasioned mystical-type experiences: Immediate and persisting dose-related effects. Psychopharmacology, 218(4), 649-665.
- Kerouac, J. (1958). The Dharma Bums. Viking Press.
Mary Cosimano, LMSW
Mary Cosimano, LMSW, Psychedelic Support and Integration LLC. Services include Psychedelic Integration Coaching; teaching; training and mentoring for Psychedelic- Assisted Therapy; Death Awareness/Death with Psychedelics Workshop. Mary was employed at Johns Hopkins University in the Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research from 2000-2024. She served as Director of Clinical Services, Psychedelic Session Facilitator and as a Research Program Coordinator. She was involved with multiple psilocybin clinical trials and conducted over 500 study sessions including Club Drug studies with Salvia Divinorum and Dextromethorphan. Mary has trained postdoctoral fellows, faculty, clinicians, and research assistants as guides and taught individual and group meditation to breast cancer patients in a Johns Hopkins research study. She completed the MAPS MDMA/PTSD therapy training program and PRATI’s KAP foundational training and joined the PRATI team. She is a teacher and mentor at California Institute to Integral Studies for their Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies and Research (CPTR) certificate program and conducts training for therapists in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. She presents a Death Awareness/Death and Psychedelics workshop. She initiated and facilitated a meditation group for Johns Hopkins employees from 2003-2020. She also has 15 years of experience with direct patient care as a hospice volunteer.
