It is difficult not to be under the impression that we, as a society, need an influx of psychedelia. We live in the digital age and everything around is very mechanical, robotic, automated, and fabricated. Music, movies, art, furniture, architecture, gadgets, clothes -- everything looks and feels artificial. A healthy dose of organic psychedelia would do us good.
What is psychedelia?
The term psychedelic is derived from Greek. Writer and philosopher Aldous Huxley celebrated William Blake's words, defining the 1960s psychedelia: “If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite." One of the best known psychedelic rock bands of all-time, The Doors, was named after Huxley's philosophical essay "The Doors of Perception," but psychedelia used to be a part of our society's very Collective Consciousness, not just a passing fad in popular music.
Why have we renounced it since? Because we are drugged by banalities, bombarded by information, and obsessed with sensation. Is there any room left for organic emotion? Music, movies, art, the entire digital culture that we are slowly becoming slaves of is in desperate need of psychedelia.
An organic revolution
Even though things are, statistically, better than ever, our collective being is going through a rough time spiritually. It is up to us to use this to our advantage. Will the current events and the state of our collective consciousness lead to catharsis and cleansing or to further degeneration?
That remains to be seen, but one can only hope that things turn out for the better. It is incredibly difficult to escape social conditioning, to purposely refuse to conform and to experience a personal revolution of sorts.
It may take some time for things to fall into place, but since everyone is a creator of their own reality, there are things each and every one of us can do to make the time that we have left on this Earth happier and productive.
Meditation, yoga and Eastern philosophies are penetrating our society for a reason -- we are in desperate need of spiritual guidance that organized religion cannot offer.
We have, thankfully, outgrown religious dogma, but we still need spiritual guidance. Reintroducing psychedelia might be a step in the right direction, if we learn how to channel it appropriately though art, music, design, fashion, and other elements within our culture.
