Came across a really cool theory proposing that many disorders of the mind, like depression and anxiety, can be thought of as a kind of mental rigidity. A metaphor for this: “Think of the brain as a hill covered in snow, & thoughts as sleds gliding down that hill.”

“As one sled after another goes down the hill, a small number of main trails will appear in the snow. And every time a new sled goes down, it will be drawn into preexisting trails, almost like a magnet.”

Our patterns of thought become rigid, almost inescapable. But only almost.

Here’s where the emerging science of psychedelic therapy comes in - “Think of psychedelics as temporarily flattening the snow. The deeply worn trails disappear, and suddenly the sled can go in other directions, exploring new landscapes and, literally, creating new pathways.”

This is all from Michael Pollan’s book — How To Change Your Mind: The New Science of Psychedelics. It’s fascinating how many cerebral disorders spring from the same root. One of the researchers suggested that a happy brain “is a supple and flexible brain.”

It is suggested that depression, anxiety, obsession, and addiction are present in brains with “more order than is good” for anybody. We sink back into our default patterns, not out of weakness, but because of neurological design.

Psychedelics can temporarily destroy the design. You begin anew. Like a little baby. How marvelous. This could honestly change the world — probably already has. I’m totally here for the psychedelic revolution, this time backed by the scientific establishment!!

Oh, also, Pollan points out that we have narratives about ourselves. “This is who I am” “I don’t have willpower” “I don’t deserve love”

We get attached and take these narratives as “fixed truths about ourselves rather than stories subject to revision” — which is what they are.

this ties in neatly with my own narrative of being tragic enough of a person to be a good writer. the feeling that my outlook will suffer if i work towards happiness. that i will lose something central to myself. it’s simply not true. if anything, you become more layered.