Graham Hancock: Western culture has criminalized and demonized all experiences involving altered states of consciousness and any substances that put us into an altered state of consciousness. And this is clearly a war over consciousness that’s going on.
It’s clear that our societies have an investment in preventing us from exploring where altered states of consciousness will lead us. Perhaps there is a deep fear that if we do explore those altered state of consciousness, we will not accept the power structures and the fairytale illusion of material wealth that we’re all brought up to pursue as though that’s the only thing to existence.
If I, as an individual, am not sovereign over my consciousness, if I cannot decide what to do with my consciousness, which is the heart of my being, then I am not free, and I need not talk about freedom or living in a free society, or such issues as democracy, if my society will not allow me to explore my consciousness. If, in an altered state of consciousness, my behavior is disruptive in the public arena, then that behavior should rightly be controlled by society. But the personal and private exploration of our own consciousness is our own business, in my view, and is not the business of the State.
