The Question Of Consciousness And What We Want From It

The Sulawesi discovery is, at the most fundamental level, a discovery about a specific human desire: the desire to alter consciousness.

The desire to alter consciousness — to experience something different from baseline experience through external means — is one of the most broadly documented features of human psychology.

It appears in virtually every culture and every historical period for which we have evidence.

It takes forms ranging from alcohol and drugs to meditation, to sensory deprivation, to intense physical exercise, to rhythmic dancing and music, to spiritual practices.