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40 % THE BUILDING BLOCKS Sounds are softer or louder, harsher or gentler. We hear new rhythms in the wind. Singing or mechanical sounds appear in a previously silent environment. The skin is more or less sensitive to touch. Our ability to taste and smell becomes more or less acute. Our emotions overflow or dry up. Anxiety or fear, pleasure or relax- ation, all feelings wax and wane, overpoweringly intense or frustratingly absent. At the extremes lie terror or ecstasy. Two opposite feelings may exist together at the same time. Emotional conflicts become more painful, or a new emotional acceptance takes place. We have a new appreciation of how others feel, or no longer care about them at all. Our thinking processes speed up or slow down. Thoughts themselves become confused or clearer. We notice the absence of thoughts, or it is impossible to contain the flood of new ideas. Fresh insights about prob- lems come, or we become hopelessly stuck in a mental rut. The significance of things takes on more importance than the things themselves. Time col- lapses: in the blink of an eye, two hours pass. Or time expands: a minute contains a never-ending march of sensations and ideas. Our bodies are hot or cold, heavy or light; our limbs grow or shrink; we move upward or downward through space. We feel the body no longer exists, or that the mind and body have separated. We feel more or less in control of our "selves." We experience others influencing our minds or bodies—in ways that are beneficial or frighten- ing. The future is ours for the taking, or fate has determined everything and there is no point in trying. Psychedelics affect every aspect of our consciousness. It is this unique consciousness that separates our species from all others below, and that gives us access to what we consider the divine above. Maybe that's an- other reason why the psychedelics are so frightening and so inspiring: They bend and stretch the basic pillars, the structure and defining char- acteristics, of our human identity. These are the psychedelic drugs. There exists a complex and rich context for viewing them, a perspective that few appreciate. They are not new