Physical Health

VR is as Good as Psychedelics at Helping People Reach Transcendence

The Metaverse by Julien Tromeur

The Metaverse by Julien Tromeur

There is no disputing there are differences between psychedelic and virtual reality experiences. But the researchers in this MIT Technology Review article make a compelling argument for a different way to get to a self-transcendent experience -- virtual reality. It makes you stop and think about what transcendence really means and how we might develop a range of approaches to achieve it.

"Fifteen years ago, David Glowacki was walking in the mountains when he took a sharp fall. When he hit the ground, blood began leaking into his lungs. As he lay there suffocating, Glowacki’s field of perception swelled. He peered down at his own body—and, instead of his typical form, saw that he was made up of balled-up light.

“I knew that the intensity of the light was related to the extent to which I inhabited my body,” he recalls. Yet watching it dim didn’t frighten him. From his new vantage point, Glowacki could see that the light wasn’t disappearing. It was transforming—leaking out of his body into the environment around him.

This realization—which he took to signify that his awareness could outlast and transcend his physical form—brought Glowacki a sublime sense of peace. So he approached what he thought was death with curiosity: What might come next?" Read More at Technology Review