In this episode we discuss an interview with one of Alejandro’s heroes and most significant influences, Robert Anton Wilson. We give a brief introduction to Wilson’s life and briefly touch on a few important concepts: reality tunnels, the Copenhagen interpretation of Quantum Mechanics, and attachment theory, before we unpack Leary and Wilson’s 8 Circuit Model of Human Consciousness.
In 2001, Wilson recorded a long-form, 6 hour interview, with Michael Taft, which gave him the opportunity to dive into his various areas of interest, including language & reality, conscious change, and politics & conspiracy theory. The recording is called “Robert Anton Wilson Explains Everything (Or Old Bob Exposes His Ignorance)”, and it provides an excellent introduction to Wilson's life and ideas. In today’s episode, we discuss Session Three from this recording, titled “Consciousness Change, And The Eight-Circuit Model Of Human Consciousness.”
References
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Altered Mates Substack
Altered Mates Patreon
Music for the show by Si Mulumby
A Glimpse of Eternity by Alejandro Tuama
In this episode we go on a journey into the two hemispheres of the brain. Using a recent Substack post—an interview Ana Lund conducted with Dr. Pascal Vrticka—as a framing device we explore the ongoing debate concerning hemispheric lateralisation, or in other language: the left brain and the right brain.
Wanting to dispel a few myths about the left brain / right brain divide, we each expected, when we began our research, to maintain our existing position that hemispheric lateralisation is largely oversimplified. And to a certain extent we do maintain this position. But we both ended up curiously compelled by the complexities we found.
Alejandro brings in research from Ian McGilchrist and speculation from Philip K. Dick after following a curious synchronicity that emerged via his studies. And Tobias brings in research from a psychotherapeutic context from Allan Schore. The result is a fascinating discussion that ends up in territory neither of us predicted.
References
Links
Altered Mates Substack
Altered Mates Patreon
Music for the show by Si Mulumby
A Glimpse of Eternity by Alejandro Tuama
The Craft (1996) directed by Andrew Fleming and written by Peter Filardi, was pivotal in the representation and perhaps the construction of a new kind of witch; of a young, teenage girl with dark makeup, dark clothes and black nail polish, surrounded by red candles, pentagrams and tarot decks. It really was the season of the witch in the late 90s, with Sabrina the Teenage Witch hitting global television screens later in 1996, followed by Buffy the Vampire Slayer in 1997 and Charmed in 1998.
Fleming hired Wicca consultant Pat Devin, high priestess of Covenant of the Goddess in developing the film, and the attention to detail in the rituals and ceremonies are a feature of the film.
In this episode we do our best to cover the plot and themes of the film but as usual, we go on a few tangents; considering, for example, feminism, Satan & Christianity, power, community, and the relationship between witchcraft and psychedelics.
References
Links
Music for the show by Si Mulumby
Altered Mates Substack
Altered Mates Patreon
A Glimpse of Eternity by Alejandro Tuama
In this episode we examine the phenomena of synchronicity, a term coined by Carl Jung to designate the meaningful coincidence of a psychic and a physical state or event, which have no causal relationship to one another. According to Jung, such synchronistic phenomena occur, for instance, when an inwardly perceived event (dream, vision, premonition, etc.) is seen to have a correspondence in external reality: the inner image of premonition has "come true." Neither the one nor the other coincidence can be explained by causality, but seem to be connected primarily with activated archetypal processes in the unconscious.
Jung: "I chose this term because the simultaneous occurrence of two meaningful but not causally connected events seemed to me an essential criterion. I am therefore using the general concept of synchronicity in the special sense of a coincidence in time of two or more causally unrelated events which have the same or a similar meaning, in contrast to 'synchronism', which simply means the simultaneous occurrence of two events."
We base our discussion around Jung’s lecture On Synchronicity, which can be found as an appendix in a larger work: Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle.
Throughout the discussion we scatter in a few of our own personal experiences of bizarre synchronicities. Alejandro refers Tobias to a number of photographs as evidence of synchronicity—a collection of which will be made available next week, in Alejandro’s upcoming written post.
When considering ‘mystical’ experiences, in Varieties of Religious Experience, William James wrote that ‘no account of the universe in its totality can be final which leaves these other forms of consciousness quite disregarded.’ In this episode we reach a shared thesis, wonderfully articulated by Tobias: that synchronicity seems to be a roadmap towards these ‘other forms of consciousness’, and an expression of them at the same time. We could very well echo James and argue that any account of the universe that fails to account for or at least consider the ‘meaningful coincidences’ of a synchronicity, is incomplete.
References
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Music for the show by Si Mulumby
A Glimpse of Eternity by Alejandro Tuama
This episode is a continuation of our discussion on Borderline Personality Disorder, which is a pervasive pattern of instability of interpersonal relationships, self-image and affects, and marked impulsivity beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts. Whereas in Episode 26 — On the Borderline, we concern ourselves with the defining BPD, and getting our heads around the diagnostic criteria in the DSM V, in this episode we discuss treatment and causes of the disorder, as well as considerations around its social construction. It should be remembered that a diagnosis of a personality disorder like “borderline” says a lot about the society in which the diagnosis was developed. Keep in mind, these disorders are “decided upon” rather than “discovered”. And though they are certainly pointing towards something, they must be understood as constructions, born of particular social, historical, economic, and political factors.
References
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Music for the show by Si Mulumby
A Glimpse of Eternity by Alejandro Tuama
In this episode we discuss Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), also referred to as Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder (EUPD). Somewhat unintentionally Alejandro gives an overview of the TV show Bojack Horseman but this leads to a discussion of the characteristics of BPD using the character of Bojack as an example. We also bring in Anakin Skywalker as another example of a fictional character who may potentially fit the characteristics of someone diagnosed with BPD.
We centre our discussion around a 2006 paper written by Pamela Bjorklund titled, “No man's land: Gender bias and social constructivism in the diagnosis of borderline personality disorder”.
In the process, we break down the diagnostic criteria used in the DSM V for BPD but if you’re interested, see below:
Borderline Personality Disorder:
A pervasive pattern of instability of interpersonal relationships, self-image and affects, and marked impulsivity beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) or the following:
References
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Music for the show by Si Mulumby
A Glimpse of Eternity by Alejandro Tuama
In this episode we go on a savage journey to the heart of the American Dream through an immersion into Hunter S. Thompson and Terry Gilliam’s nightmarish Las Vegas. We discuss Hunter S. Thompson’s 1971 masterwork of “Gonzo” journalism, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and along side it, Terry Gilliam’s wonderful 1998 film adaptation. In our usual way we get fully derailed for a while and just as we seem to be driving our huge Chevy convertible away from Las Vegas, we finally answer that call from our attorney to head straight back in to the belly of the beast to consider the demise of the American Counterculture of the 1960s and finish off this savage, sweat inducing, blood and rum soaked trip of an episode.
References
Hunter S. Thompson (1971) Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Terry Gilliam (1998) Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Jack Kerouac (1957) On the Road
James Truslow Adams (1931) The Epic of America
Black Sabbath — Master of Reality (1971) — Sweet Leaf
Rage Against the Machine (1992) Know Your Enemy. (recent live version here).
BBC — Planet Earth II — Iguana vs Snakes
Altered Mates — Episode 6 — F-ing the ineffable: William James, Mysticism, and the Psychedelic Experience
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Music for the show by Si Mulumby
A Glimpse of Eternity by Alejandro Tuama
In this episode of the podcast we continue our discussion of the first thirty pages of Ramsey Dukes’ essay on magical thinking; “Sex Secrets of the Black Magicians Exposed”, commonly abbreviated to S.S.O.T.B.M.E.
Dukes’ model of compass directions differentiates between Art, Magic, Religion and Science, and the modes of thinking associated with each direction. In Dukes’ model of the four compass directions Dukes suggests that, “Magic, Art, Religion and Science represent movement towards Wholeness, Beauty, Goodness and Truth respectively.” These compass points, according to Dukes, don't have to conflict with each other; they can exist alongside each other. One doesn’t have to be correct and the rest wrong. An intelligent person can allow them to co-exist and use or adopt one or more as each situation calls for them.
We take our time to discuss functional specialisation in the brain, and in particular, hemispheric specialisation. Research into the human brain has consistently found areas of functional specialisation. For example, verbal cognition is processed largely in the left hemisphere of the brain of most people, and imagery or spatial cognition is largely processed in the right hemisphere of most brains, and the frontal lobes in each hemisphere are responsible for executive functioning, or higher cognitive functions like organisation, planning and decision making. Prominent researchers Miller and Cummings used PET (Positron Emission Tomography) and fMRI (functional magnetic imaging) scans to support functional specialization of the frontal cortex—finding the left frontal cortex active in verbal working memory processes and and visuospatial working memory in the right frontal cortex.
In our discussion we agree that there seems to be some more occluded areas of the brain or nervous system responsible for some of the functions Ramsey Dukes is evoking when he writes about the kind of processing going on in magical thinking. Dukes writes, “I want to suggest that our brains have evolved a non-logical data processing facility which is, in its own way, every bit as useful and sophisticated as reason but which we tend to play down or analyse away because its causal connections seem so tenuous. This facility which I call ‘feeling’ acts much faster than reason and seems to process vast amounts of data in parallel rather than sequentially like logical thought. As such it is hard to put into words, the words chosen tend to be feeling words, and the process is more akin to Art than Science.”
As an exercise in understanding we attempt to take Tarot Divination and map it against Dukes’ model of the four compass directions of Magic, Art, Religion and Science.
It’s also worth mentioning, especially now that we have reached the second of our two-part series on this text, that Dukes never actually reveals the sex secrets of the black magicians, and neither do we…
References
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Music for the show by Si Mulumby
A Glimpse of Eternity by Alejandro Tuama
According to Ramsey Dukes, “Magic is a technique by which the human mind attempts to operate upon its world. As such it is similar to Art, Religion and Science, but note that the term ‘its world’ is meant to embrace not only the physical universe but also all phenomena, objective and subjective, which do not respond to direct control.”
In this episode we consider Ramsey Dukes’ essay on magical thinking; “Sex Secrets of the Black Magicians Exposed”, commonly abbreviated to S.S.O.T.B.M.E. Well, that was our intention anyway… it takes us a while to meander around the concept of magic, our exposure to the concept of magic and even early aversions to it. Eventually, we discuss Dukes’ model of compass directions differentiating between Art, Magic, Religion and Science, and the modes of thinking associated with each ‘direction’. In this essay, Dukes comes to a similar conclusion to Carl Jung: human thought is comprised of four distinct elements: intuition, observation, logic and feeling. Dukes argues that, “any practical method of thinking demands at least two of these four elements, one to serve as an input of impressions and the other to process them.”
Our primary concern in tackling this obscure text is to determine what magic or magical thinking actually is, and whether or not this a relevant term for us to use.
References
Links
Music for the show by Si Mulumby
A Glimpse of Eternity by Alejandro Tuama
In the second episode of season 2 the altered mates continue our discussion of our personal experiences with ayahuasca.
In this episode, Alejandro relates his rather disturbing experience in one particular ceremony from his ayahuasca retreat in Iquitos, Peru in August 2024. Alejandro recounts his evening of existential dread—which he describes at one point as, "the worst feeling I’ve ever felt,” and Tobias offers insight and interpretation in response.
In the later stages of the episode, Tobias considers his intentions going into an upcoming ayahuasca ceremony.
Links
Music for the show by Si Mulumby
A Glimpse of Eternity by Alejandro Tuama
In the first episode of season 2 we begin a discussion of some of our most profound and significant personal experiences with ayahuasca over the past ten years. We consider the prospect that ayahuasca might be a “highly evolved conscious entity”, or at the very least, an entity possessing an intelligence and possibly having a message to communicate with humanity.
References
Altered Mates
Links
Music for the show by Si Mulumby
A Glimpse of Eternity by Alejandro Tuama
In this, the final episode of Season 1 of the Altered Mates Podcast, we (Alejandro Tuama and Tobias Penno) discuss what is on the immediate horizon for us both. Tobias gives us a little taste of his PhD—in terms of both the subject matter of his research and the origin story as well—which is in the final stages of submission and approval! And Alejandro talks about his upcoming trip to South America.
Along the way we discuss the concept of “character loops” which Alejandro brings in from the HBO TV Series “Westworld”.
We reflect on how we can “de-armour” the ego and what it truly means to “surrender” to the medicine.
We find time to reflect on a recent mushroom ceremony, and in particular, the implications of this recent ceremony for Alejandro and his upcoming meeting with “the medicine” in the Peruvian Amazon.
And we toss around the concept of the “Daimon”, which Alejandro brings in from James Hillman’s book “The Soul’s Code”, and in particular consider the implications of what we call “daimonic derailment.”
As we mention in the episode, this will be the final episode for Season 1 of the Altered Mates Podcast. We are both keen as mustard to get cracking on Season 2, which will happen just as soon as I (Alejandro) return from South America.
Adios Amigos!
References
Links
Music for the show by Si Mulumby
A Glimpse of Eternity by Alejandro Tuama
This episode of the podcast features Alejandro reading two chapters from his debut novel, A Glimpse of Eternity—published in 2022, and based on his own transformational journey to South America in 2016.
At this stage in the narrative, Alejandro’s alias, “Nick”, has made his way to Iquitos in the Peruvian Amazon. He is joined by his two mates, Stan & Billy, and they have just arrived at an Ayahuasca Healing Centre, named “Way of the Spirit”. Earlier in the novel, Nick undertook two very disappointing ayahuasca ceremonies in The Sacred Valley. He also fell into a downward spiral of anxiety, depression and self-loathing. Chapters 9 & 10 of A Glimpse of Eternity recount Nick’s first two ayahuasca ceremonies at Way of the Spirit and his first Tobacco Dieta.
From the blurb:
A Glimpse of Eternity is edgy, jungle-dank backpacker fiction infused with philosophy, ecstasy, and a dark sense of humour.
Nick is a twenty-seven-year-old high school teacher who has lost his way. Anxious, depressed, and frustrated, he travels to South America in search of his life’s purpose and hopefully, through the use of powerful psychedelic plants, a mystical experience.
At an ayahuasca centre deep in the Peruvian Amazon, confronted with the raw, overwhelming power of “the medicine”, Nick must learn to traverse the dangerous path on which he finds himself, or risk toppling over into insanity and despair.
This is a raw and unflinching novel about a young man’s search for a meaningful existence – a joyful, ecstatic journey of transcendence, tempered by the darkness and gut-wrenching horror of the path he must walk to get there.
The timing of this episode couldn't be better because the audiobook for A Glimpse of Eternity is now available for purchase, so if you enjoy listening to Alejandro reading the novel, then search for it wherever you get your audiobooks or check out the links below. (There's also a free version still available on the Altered Mates Patreon).
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Music for the show by Si Mulumby
A Glimpse of Eternity by Alejandro Tuama
It’s not always easy talking to friends and family about psychedelics. But it’s another step from discussing these powerful, life changing, spiritual experiences within the confines of our homes, with those we trust most, to making that announcement in public, to the wider population, who may not be so charitable or understanding.
Hopefully, if enough of us find a way to share our stories, and if we can listen with open hearts and open minds, then maybe we can shift the mindset of the culture at large.
In this episode of the podcast, the Altered Mates each take a turn in reading a personal essay. Both essays amount to a “coming out” of the psychedelic closet, not just to our friends and families, but to the wider community. Tobias’ piece was written in 2020 for the Thank You Plant Medicine movement. Alejandro’s piece was published in 2021, in one of the last editions of the Psychedelic Press print journal.
Thank you for listening and we hope you enjoy this rather personal edition of the Altered Mates podcast.
References
Links
Music for the show by Si Mulumby
A Glimpse of Eternity by Alejandro Tuama
The Big Lez Show is an animated TV series, that premiered on YouTube in 2012. The show was created by Jarrad Wright, Tom Hollis, and Izak Whear; with Jarrad being the driving creative force of the show.
Choomah Island 2 (2015) — written and animated by Jarrad Wright — is the finale of Season 3 of The Big Lez Show. In this feature length episode of The Big Lez Show, Leslie and his mates fly to Choomah Island to blow up the Choomah’s hive and get rid of their species for good. They also find time to eat some psychedelic mushrooms they find growing in a field, and Big Lez smokes a joint of some mysterious psychedelic, given to him Sassy the Sasquatch.
In this episode we cover the basic plot of Choomah Island 2, but narrow down especially on those two psychedelic trips, expertly depicted in the film. In response to the experience of the characters during a magic mushroom trip, we take an extended sojourn into a discussion of trees… treating trees as individuals capable of communicating with us, and we discuss the power of considering a tree (and by extension the rest of the natural world) as “thou” rather than “it”, and even find a way to bring in James Cameron’s first Avatar film.
Finally a warning: if you’re at all squeamish about swearing then this probably isn't the episode for you…
We hope you enjoy our discussion of Jarred Wright’s The Big Lez Show — Choomah Island 2.
References
Links
Music for the show by Si Mulumby
A Glimpse of Eternity by Alejandro Tuama
In this episode we use James Davies’ book “Cracked: Why Psychiatry is Doing More Harm Than Good” as a launch pad to discuss some of the glaring issues with psychiatry and its sugar-daddy; the pharmaceutical industry.
The writer, James Davies is psychotherapist with a PhD in Medical and Social Anthropology from the University of Oxford. He is a Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology and Psychology at the University of Roehampton, London.
Davies acknowledges that as a psychotherapist he could be seen as being biased in favour of the psychotherapeutic approach which can be considered to be in opposition to the ‘pharmaceutical’ approach of psychiatry. He makes no attempt to present a balanced account in this book—it unashamedly presents a series of arguments against psychiatry and its sugar-daddy (Alejandro’s words…) the pharmaceutical industry.
Overall, thestrongest arguments presented concern depression and the inefficacy of anti-depressant drugs, and perhaps he should have narrowed his argument to focus just on depression rather than extrapolate to the whole field. Regardless, he makes a number of compelling points that portray psychiatry and the pharmaceutical industry as nothing short of despicable.
The main points of this book can be summarised as follows:
We also consider in this episode one of the most important chapters in the history of psychedelic culture, being the adventures of the brothers McKenna to La Chorera in the Colombian Amazon, and their encounter there with The Mushroom…
References
Links
Music for the show by Si Mulumby
A Glimpse of Eternity by Alejandro Tuama
In this episode, we use the film adaptation of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest as a launching point to discuss ideas around psychiatry, psychiatric wards, and the conflict between the individual and the establishment.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest was originally a novel, written by Ken Kesey and published in 1962. (Ken Kesey, worked the graveyard shift as an orderly at a mental health facility in Menlo Park, California. He spoke to the patients and witnessed the workings of the institution. He also voluntarily took psychoactive drugs, including mescaline and LSD, as part of Project MK Ultra. In addition to his work with MK Ultra, Kesey took LSD recreationally.)
The novel was adapted into film in 1975, directed by Miloš Forman, and went on to win five Academy Awards.
The narrative focusses on the antics of the rebellious Randle Patrick McMurphy (played by Jack Nicholson in the film), who fakes insanity to serve his sentence for battery and gambling in a psychiatric hospital rather than at a prison work farm. The head administrative nurse, Nurse Ratched, rules the ward with absolute authority, assisted by her three day-shift orderlies and her assistant doctors and nurses.
In this episode we discuss the character of McMurphy, as an example of an “individual” who stands out from the crowd like Tyler Durden in Fight Club (who we discussed in Episode 8 — Monsters & Masculinity). McMurphy cannot be allowed to run loose in society, and so he is trapped and forced into the punishment system. One Flew Over the Cuckoos nest is about “the combine”, the machine, that forces us to fall into line. With the arbitrary rules, the opiate drugs to dull our senses, with the shame that turns us into our own police.
Towards the end of the book, one of the patients comments how they forced McMurphy to stand up for them, as they are too cowardly to stand up for themselves. McMurphy pushes the boundaries of the system in their behalf, smashing up against a machine that he cannot defeat, a machine that wants to grind everyone down into the dirt.
But despite this seemingly hopeless situation, this film (and novel) can still serve as a call to action. It can be a call to be an individual in the face of the oppressive machine. To be the one who stands, not the masses who push. Either way we are destined to be ground into dust by the machine, but to be an individual is surely a more glorious way to live and honourable way to die.
References
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Music for the show by Si Mulumby
A Glimpse of Eternity by Alejandro Tuama
This episode begins with a discussion of the role of dreams and quickly moves on to our issues with contemporary education in both university and high school contexts. Before long, we settle down into a discussion about Tobias’ intentions for an upcoming ayahuasca ceremony, and consider ideas of discipline and maintaining a clean and unpolluted body.
We venture into some controversial realms; for instance, thinking about whether we can legitimately call psychiatrists “glorified drug-dealers”, and whether prescribing anti-depressant medication might actually be taking autonomy away from people and preventing them from following through in a process that might lead to growth...
(As always, we remind listeners to take anything we say we a grain of salt— we are speculating here about the world around us, and we are open to be challenged and critiqued on anything we say).
Tobias reflects on the profound realisation that there might be something in the world smarter than him. And finally, after much probing and prodding, he elaborates upon what can be thought of as an “embodied” approach to plant medicines.
References
Links
Music for the show by Si Mulumby
A Glimpse of Eternity by Alejandro Tuama
In this episode, we conclude our two-part discussion on Scott Hill’s book, Confrontation with the Unconscious. Last episode we discussed Chapter 7 from Hill’s book, titled “Psychedelic Experience and Psychosis”. Chapter 8, the subject of this episode, concerns itself with an exploration of psychosis in Jungian Psychology.
We altered mates find ourselves now almost at the end of a deep dive into the intersession between psychedelics and psychosis, and at this point is seems to be that what is happening in both psychotic episodes and psychedelic trips are what Scott Hill refers to as a “confrontation with the unconscious”, or in other words — an overwhelming of the conscious ego by the archetypal forces of the unconscious.
According to Jung’s ideas, the archetypal forces of the unconscious, or just the archetypes, “live in a world quite different from the world outside— in a world where the pulse of time beats infinitely slowly, where the birth and death of individuals count for little. No wonder their nature is strange, so strange that their irruption into consciousness often amounts to a psychosis. They undoubtably belong to the material that comes to light in schizophrenia.”
Jung argues that our alienated condition is manifested in symbolic messages from the unconscious that express themselves in a strange and incomprehensible language, which cries out for interpretation. As Jung puts it, “in insanity we do not discover anything new and unknown; we are looking at the foundation of our own being, the matrix of those vital problems on which we are all engaged.” The terrors of the psychotic are merely extreme forms of our common human condition.
Perhaps we should consider our own sanity to be traversing a knife’s edge—for anyone who's engaged in high dose psychedelic experience, this may well be a regular thought…
As mentioned in the introduction: A Glimpse of Eternity by Alejandro Tuama
References:
Links:
Music for the show by Si Mulumby
In this episode we discuss a chapter from Scott Hill’s book, Confrontation with the Unconscious. It was our intention to cover two chapters, but in the end we managed to get through only Chapter 7: Psychedelic Experience and Psychosis.
We try to wrap our heads around useful, working models of psychosis and (attempt to) determine where this troubling and mysterious phenomenon overlaps with the psychedelic experience. In the process we toss around ideas like Washburn’s Ego and the Dynamic Ground; discuss how researchers accidentally induced “ecstatic mystical” experiences and cured a group of alcoholics of their addiction; speculate as to whether a psychotic episode has the potential to reveal insights for the experiencer; and we even come up with our own metaphor to illustrate how the ego can become overwhelmed by the unconscious.
Ultimately, we agree that psychotic experiences and psychedelic experiences appear to have a common underlying mechanism that enables unconscious material to penetrate the psychic membrane and potentially overwhelm the ego, albeit in a variety of different forms and across varying durations in time.
One question left unresolved in our discussion is this: if you have a personality disorder, are you more likely to have a psychotic experience? If you have any insight into this question, please get in touch with us…
References
Links:
Music for the show by Si Mulumby.