I am enjoying Pollan's book currently.

I just read this article again as saw it late last night and it was too much to absorb. Much of it resonated with me. The reticular activating system in our brain is useful in screening/filtering the overwhelming quantity of sensory stimulus that is bombarding us constantly so we don't drive off the road, for example. Unfortunately, it also serves to keep us stuck in a belief or being wrong about something.
What is however cool about it, is that if we are having a conversation and you bring up a concept new to me(and I am open or curious to it), the Reticular activating system will not filter this and this word/concept I never heard will keep showing up.
I can see how a psychedelic drug could open a portal to things outside of our current world view of reality. I ate psilocybin mushrooms when I was 16. I was with a friend and 2 guys she knew. She asked if I was cool with it and I said yes. I had no idea it was a hallucinogen, I figured it was like having a beer. I also was not a drinker so had never been drunk or stoned. It didnt go well, but in retrospect I thought of the experience often. So this article is one that would be cool to hear others give their experience or thought on this.
Also I have a friepnd in Californipa who is bipolar, had many hospitalizations and a year or so ago stopped taking all his medication and does mushrooms. The positive effect of stable mood and feeling joyful lasts ...I don't recall how long, but think he said 2 or 3 months. That seems better than a bunch of pretty strong psychtropic drugs, which dull the senses and reduce feelins of joy or sorrow ...so interested in other thoughts on this too.