Digital Enlightenment: The Rise of On-Demand Spiritual Experiences

In this episode we dive into the controversial world of "spirit tech" as we explore the cutting-edge intersection of technology and spirituality. From psychedelic research to brain-stimulating headbands, discover how science is pushing the boundaries of consciousness and spiritual experiences. But at what cost?

Key Topics Explored

• The rise of "spirit tech" and its potential to democratize spiritual experiences
• Parallels between psychedelic substances and new technological devices
• Ethical concerns and potential risks of on-demand spiritual experiences
• The impact on personal growth and authentic spiritual journeys
• Balancing technological advancement with mindful implementation

Whether you're a tech enthusiast, spiritual seeker, or simply curious about the future of human consciousness, this episode offers a fascinating glimpse into a world where technology meets spirit. Join us as we unpack the promises and perils of this emerging frontier.

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Intro and Outro music: Inspiring Morning by Playsound

Disclaimer: This podcast is intended for educational purposes only. It is not intended to be treated as psychological treatment or to replace the need for psychological treatment.

Transcript

Tatiana: 0:00

Welcome to the Integrated Wisdom Podcast. I am your host, Tatyana Da Silva. Join me as we discuss what it means to live an integrated life and explore ways for you to create a life filled with greater meaning, peace, and connection by integrating the wisdom of spirituality, psychology, Neuroscience, Epigenetics and Energy Psychology are hoped to empower you to create deeper and more loving connections with yourself and others, whilst also paving the way for humanity at large to be reimagined and inspired to become the very best version of itself. Hello, and welcome to the integrated wisdom podcast. Thank you so much for joining me for yet another week. I want to start this week by apologizing profusely. For not publishing an episode last week, which would have been my knowmal schedule. Unfortunately, I was actually quite unwell. And voiceless. And because I don't always Record episodes in advance, it meant that I wasn't able to record an episode because I couldn't have couldn't speak at all. For the first few days of the week. So I appreciate your patience with me. So this week I want to talk a little bit about. Some of the ways in which we can induce spiritual experiences through external means. It is already. Widely understood. That there are certain substances that can facilitate a person's ability to connect with a spiritual experience or mystical experience. Mainly psychedelic substances. So we know that for example, DMT, which is a naturally occurring chemical, both in the brain. But can be found. In, in some types of plants. Can elicit experiences of connection with feelings of oneness and feelings of transcendence and other types of spiritual experiences. As well as other types of psychedelic substances, like psilocybin or mushrooms. There's A few different types of psychedelic substances that can be enhancers and gateways for experiencing a spiritual connection or mystical experience. Like a dissolution of the self That feeling of interconnectedness that sometimes we can experience. When we're having spiritual experiences. Or even just these really deep knowing or insights that there is something else going on. Behind the scenes of what we're seeing every day. Right. Like the life is actually happening in a bigger context that we don't see. So there's, there's a lot of research that has been done on psychedelic substances. That demonstrate the ability for them to elicit these sorts of experiences for people. And therefore there's a lot of appeal there for some people to be able to utilize those. Those substances in order to access. These experiences, particularly those that can have a healing effect. You know, it's not unheard of for people to engage in Ayahuasca rituals, for example. which is essentially to DMT. Which can be used to facilitate a connection with spirit, what they perceive to be spirit. Or a spiritual connection, but also you can have I guess. an impact on helping a person transcend some of their suffering. It's not uncommon for people to have had Ayahuasca experiences and have felt healed from trauma or being able to, you know, break free from long patterns of depression or anxiety. Sometimes even addiction. And so it's one of the reasons why. Oh, a lot of research has been done to demonstrate some of the benefits that could be achieved through these substances. So much so that now there are clinical protocols to be able to assist people with these processes or healing processes. In a controlled and safe environment. It's been documented to be very effective for PTSD in some cases. Chronic depression or intractable depression that doesn't respond to two other types of treatment or some types of addiction. And so I think in those contexts, it can be really, really helpful. You can certainly enhance the work that we do clinically. Though it's still very much early days. It, even though it's showing a lot of promise, the protocol around this is still very, very strict. And it's not something that's widely available. And still very much in, in, uh, our research kind of phase. Though that is fast, fast evolving. But what I wanted to talk about today. Is that on the back of some of this knowledge that's been accumulated over decades about the benefits of. Psychedelic substances on enhancing people's experience with their spirituality and connecting to that. That source of wisdom and comfort and deep compassion. There has been this wave of technological advances that have been looking at how to integrate technology or devices. To assist individuals to have these experiences. Without the use of substances. So one of the things that, uh, psychedelic research has done is it has started to help people PA. Understand. Certain elements of the brain that are involved in these experiences. Now it's still too early. To be able to say. That these parts of the brain elicit these experiences, but they're certainly implicated in some way. So we know that to be the case. Based on an abundance of research that's been shown done to map different types, different your processes in the brain when people are under the influence of these substances. And so what some of these technological companies have been doing. And they combine scientists and engineers and software engineers. They've been creating different types of tools. that can, I guess, in interact with the brain in the known areas of the brain that are. Implicated in the experience of spiritual or mystical encounters. So it's, it's been actually dubbed spirit tech. And it's an emerging technology that is already available out there. So there are these headbands, for example, that are available. that is a brain sensing headband called muse. That is essentially providing an EEG type neurofeedback experience to guide the brain into meditative states. That will be very, very difficult to, to get into without lots and lots of practice meditating. So this headband already exists. Right. And there's also other types of headsets. That are also designed to guide people through meditative practices, through electrical brain stimulation. That again are designed to stimulate, interact with parts of the brain that are known to be involved in. These transcendent experiences people can achieve through meditation or psychedelic substances. And what was when I was reading about this research, it, I found it both. I guess curious and exciting, but at the same time, A little bit scary. Because you know what we know from psychedelic research, for example, Is that psychedelic substances are extremely suggestible. And so the mindset of the person when they're taking the substance, as well as the environment that they're in. Has a direct impact on the type of experience that the person has. So if the person's already feeling a little bit anxious, they're in an environment that's a little bit chaotic. The likelihood that they're going to have a terrible or negative or scary experience with the psychedelic drug. Is is much higher. Then, if they were in a Really calm, relaxing, nurturing environment. Where they're more likely to have a positive experience. So we know that from psychedelic substances, right. And that's why the protocols that have been developed around using these there. Therapeutic context are all about really preparing people's mindset for the experience. Creating a really safe nurturing kind of. cocooning kind of environment for people to be able to enter that experience feeling really nurtured, but feeling very safe and contained. As well as a process afterwards of integrating what comes up for them in that experience. So that they can get the most benefits from it. And there's no risk of them being left, fragmented, or, or potentially having other types of psychological harm. Arise as a result of doing those substances. So we know that the research that's available is looking at that or like has already identified that as a, as an issue. Not to mention that we know as well from research that individuals who have a vulnerability. To, to schizophrenia or the types of psychotic illnesses. Need to be a bit careful with how they engage with these types of substances, because in, you know, sometimes in, in the wrong context or. If it's not really carefully monitored for in-screen for it's, it's been known for individuals who have this vulnerability to experience their first psychotic break as a result of taking the psychedelic substance. Right. And so when I think about the fact that yes, we're taking away the substance component, which as far as research has shown us, he's actually, there's no real harm. To the physiological interaction of these drugs and our system. Unlike what some, some of the things that we've been taught along the way to kind of scare us away from using them. The research is actually being shown, showing that they are very safe to use in fact, with these caveats that I've just mentioned. And so I guess that's one of the arguments for why a technological device would be a better option than a substance, because it's even safer. There's no chemical. Interaction in our bodies whatsoever. But at the same time, We don't, it's still very premature to know what happens when the brain is interacted with was stimulated directly in this way. You know, Is it, is it possible that these, these devices could have the same adverse impacts as the substances themselves? We don't know. Right. So I guess that's, that's a little bit scary for me. I think too. Do you have the concept of people just being able to go off and buy a device, buy a headset. You know, buy something that they can just use in the privacy of their own home. Without any guidance. Without any, any real oversight that has the potential to cause them. Uh, A harmful or scary experience. I think that's, that's a concern. What are the ethics around making tools like this available to people? But I think even more than that and this isn't that I've been discussing with some colleagues of mine in, in my membership, just last week, we're talking about this. What. are the, I guess, the implications for how people can engage with their spirituality and spiritual practices. If we're starting to relegate it to, uh, kind of like on demand. Externalized device that's triggering these experiences for us. You know, It raises a lot of questions, not just from the ethical perspective, but even from. I guess an existential. And, uh, Uh, psycho psychological perspective. Right. So, is it possible that in this culture that we currently live in, where everybody just wants the quick fix, right? We just want to get. The results that we want without the hard work, without the effort. Can that have a negative impact on the way that we interact with our spirituality? Can it lead to us, taking it for granted. You know right now when we encounter these spiritual experiences. It has this capacity to be transformative, right. And humbling. And. And exhilarating in some ways, largely because it's so sporadic, right. Even when we're. Where we mastered the ability to connect with spirit. Through meditation or through other types of practices. It's still a wondrous experience. Every time it happens. Because. We can't always predict what it's going to be like. And you know, sometimes there's no more deeply spiritual experience than encountering a beautiful sunset or in, you know, in the last week all the Auroras have been largely active, and so encountering a natural phenomenon like that. Right. It has the capacity to immediately elicit this deep sense of spirituality and connection to everything, to all and. If I have a device that can, can generate those feelings for me on demand. Every day. Do we ever get, do we get to a point where we become saturated and we get over it? I don't, I don't know. These are just questions I've been having in my mind. Right. It's very possible that it doesn't then if anything, it might lead us To access the benefits of spirituality and sustain them. Right. To be able to transcend some of the other things that get in the way And so to be constantly embodying compassion, because they're so aware of this interconnectedness all the time. Or we're able to transcend our ego or so much more easily. As a result of having these, these experiences regularly, these are all the questions that I've been having racing through my head. You know, And so I would love to hear what you think. So there's nothing conclusive at the moment. I just think it's interesting that people are starting to go down this way. Right. But there's, there's always the potential with commercializing anything for it to be abused. Right?The, the leading Team that's been developing this technology. They report to becoming from an altruistic place, from a place of service. You know, they're very driven by the fact that they know connecting individuals to the spiritual essence. All these spiritual experiences. Has the potential to te. Elevate our consciousness to elevate our connection with each other. And the way we interact in the world with others. Right?. So it has potential to really transform life, as we know it. But we also live in a capitalist society. Right. Where if people can turn that profit from anything. They will. And when there's potential for endless profit, there's potential for endless abuse. So there's a lot of questions that come up with something like this. Right. But I guess I just wanted to share with you guys that, you know, That's where things are going. Like there's clearly a. A wave of awareness. Taking over at the moment that starting to understand. Not only the potential for healing and. societal improvement of in enhancing people's abilities to connect with their spiritual essence. But also. There's this focus on trying to really. Guide people towards harnessing that. In, in the easiest, most accessible way possible. Right so that it doesn't just become the realm of expert meditators or yogis or. Or. People who live spirituality in you now it starts to become available for everybody. So it's, so it's an exciting time. It's an exciting time to see what these developments And that these developments are happening. And what potential learnings can come from our understanding of human consciousness. You know, the, the way that spirituality. Interacts With how we are in the world, how we show up. In our role. In our various roles in our lives. But there are definitely, I think some risk factors here too. Right. There's there's a question of whether these, these experiences are authentic at all. Or whether they could lead to complacency around. The work that needs to come. Whilst we're here. Those of you that have been following this podcast for awhile will know that I talk about. The spiritual purpose for us being on earth or for us incarnating in this planet is for us to learn lessons, right? We have to go through some experiences. Which often are very uncomfortable challenging. We have to interact with other people and learn how to transcend some of the more negative. Emotional and energetic states as we work towards embodying or achieving a state of embodying unconditional love. Pure unconditional love. I think that's, that's the spiritual journey that we are all on and yes, we're all on different parts of the path. Of that process. But then with something like this, do we want to just be having spiritual experiences for. For their own sake. Right. Is it just, is it just about feeling bliss, feeling peace? Does that rob us up from the opportunities that we have to actually work through some of our personal development stuff that we're here to work on. And is that a good thing? I don't know. I don't know. Personally, I can see the therapeutic benefits of something like this. Again, in terms of helping people work through trauma through other intractable mental health conditions. I think therapeutically in that context, it has a benefit. Absolutely. It could be a really useful tool, much like, you know, augmented reality has become a really useful tool. In exposure therapy, work with clients in a clinical way. But there's the potential for it to be abused. And there's a potential for it to work against us in some ways like social media has been shown now to be doing for us right when it first became when it was first developed. There was this real belief that it was going to really connect the world that we would be able to be so much more connected and feel so much more part of a community. Right. That was the initial, I think, envisioning of the role of social media and the internet would play in our lives. But now we've had it around long enough to see the adverse impacts that have happened. As a result of these technology and could they have foreseen some of these impacts? I don't know. I I'm sure some people could have seen it coming or certainly had enough warning that. It was heading in that direction to be able to redirect it. And didn't profit. As we know. But we now know it's causing irreparable damage to. Our ability to focus, to sustain attention. It's causing a lot of emotional, psychological harm to our young people. Uh, even though there's a lot of benefits that have come from. From social media from the internet. I mean, I'm able to communicate with you guys all over the world. From Australia. Because of these advances, right. But it's come at a really high cost. And so it begs the question. Are the benefits that a technology like this. Proposed to, to offer worth the potential risks. I'm not sure. I think we're at a really interesting. Juncture. Where there's a call for. Pull these sorts of advances to really have some ethical accountability for the people developing these technologies to have an ethical accountability. For the impact. And the risks that these technologies pose. So, so yeah, I just wanted to share that with you. If anyone out there has any questions or comments or thoughts about this, I'd love to hear about it. You know, you're welcome to reach out to me. On Instagram, you can DM me there at integrated underscore wisdom. Or you're welcome to email me as well at hello@integratedwisdom.com.au. So you can find me on either of those places. And I would love to hear a your thoughts on this. Maybe I'm too conservative. Maybe I'm too old school. I'd love to hear. What you all think about this? But that is all I have for you this? week. I am very grateful to have you here again. Thank you for joining me. I hope you all have a lovely week. And I look forward to speaking to you again. So. Thanks. Bye. Thank you for tuning in to this episode of Integrated Wisdom. It is my sincere wish that today's episode may have intrigued and inspired you to reclaim your power and step into becoming more fully integrated spiritual beings. New episodes are published every second Wednesday and I hope you'll continue to join us as we dive deeper into what it means to live an integrated life. So if it feels aligned to you, I invite you to hit subscribe and share it with others who you feel may benefit too. You may also find me on Instagram at integrated underscore wisdom. Remember each moment is an opportunity to embrace your divine potential and create a world that is more frequently inspired. So for now, stay connected, stay inspired and keep shining your light into the world.