Psychedelics shift the balance between assembly and dissolution of the transmitters in the direction of assembly: instead of passing, say, seven signals, then blocking three during the refractory period, then re-assembling and passing seven more, the 'doped' synapse will, say, pass nine and block one, then pass another nine and block one etc.

The result is that signals which would normally pass from input to output via automatic, subconscious channels, now penetrate deeper, increasing lateral association and engaging the 'conscious' mechanism of the imagination.

Therefore the running record of change-of-input, that is to say the existential universe, the conscious picture of the world, is enriched: awareness grows of associations, relations and patterns which were previously hidden: 'the big picture' becomes visible.

Sensitivity is defined by how readily the synapses transmit signals and by how deeply an inward flow penetrates: an insensitive bully may be said to think with his fists -- such a person is a shallow creature of habit, not of profundity and imagination: ingrained, entrenched habit makes people callous and insensitive.

Psychedelic drugs sensitise by inhibiting conditioned reflex, that is to say, they break habits. Habit is the gate which shuts out routine input from the higher imaginative function of the cortex, and when habit is broken, the imagination is flooded with input.

Since we are the sum of our habits, psychedelics, which break habits, tend to dissolve the sense of self, and to break down the barrier and the distinction between ourselves and our environment. This state of unification with the universe is called enlightenment, and subjectively, the experience is of the synaesthetic disintegration of form, of space, of time, into flickering, swirling rainbow fragments which dissolve into a pearly sea of luminous, profound ecstasy. This is the 'Illumination of the Clear Light' and occurs when the entire nervous system is open and 'lit up' and empty of attachment, fear, doubt or any clouding emotion.

This state of mind is also known as 'ego-death', 'nirvana', 'paradise' etc. it is a notoriously difficult state to achieve -- virtually impossible without powerful psychedelics -- and next to impossible to maintain, especially in a confusing, demanding, distracting environment, even with psychedelics! But as long as the state of mind (characterised by high input to the cortex from an open and conductive nervous system, with low output of muscular and form-imposing activity) lasts, it is eternal!

Because psychedelics break habits, including habits of perception, thought and feeling, and habits of response and behaviour, routing input through the higher imaginative faculties, psychedelics are associated with peaceful, loving, creative behaviour (as at the Woodstock festival which marked the apogee of the '60s 'summer of love') in contrast to the violent, destructive and stuporous behaviour particularly associated with the legal narcotics alcohol, nicotine, caffeine and valium (or updated equivalent -- prozac or w.h.y.)

Unfortunately, ego (the sense of self) struggles to maintain itself. Therefore the uninstructed tend to balance a rise in input by turning up the background noise -- stereo, TV, pub, disco; by consuming endless mugs of tea (caffeine) then complaining of speed in the trip! Thus the ignorant and uninstructed counteract and vitiate the sensitivity induced by psychedelics: a rise in background noise evokes a commensurate fall in consciousness as sensory thresholds are raised to block out the noise. This is why raucous and vexatious cities are unsuitable for psychedelic experience.

Because they interrupt the habit-forming process, psychedelics are not addictive, nor are they poisonous even in heroic doses, although they can be frighteningly unpleasant if confusion (conflicting input-streams) establishes a vicious circle (positive feedback loop), and panic supervenes. Accidents are very rare, but not unknown.

Western culture -- the planet-wide expression of modern technology -- systematically promotes narcotic behaviour at the expense of creativity, unbalancing our senses to make repetitious, habitual, stereotyped, destructive behaviour the norm.

Psychedelics tend to re-equilibrate the nervous system, countering the profoundly destabilising effects on the psyche of the west's key technologies and matching drugs: the brick, the three-pin plug, the internal combustion engine, the firearm, and brain-rape TV in an ambience of caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, aspirin, and valium.

In the long term, the brain, which literally grows with use like a muscle, responds to the extra flow of signals catalysed by chronic use of psychedelics by enriching its lateral connectivity (making new connections): psychedelics are the true 'smartness drugs' -- thus is revealed their secret and their true essence.