Throughout history, rationalist western culture has had an ambivalent relationship with ecstatic experience and the transcendent. Philosopher Jules Evans has always been fascinated by ecstatic states and our response to them – from the ancient Greeks to the modern day.

We’ve never had more techniques for ecstasy, as technologies like psychedelics and meditation become ever more mainstream. But, Jules explains, they can be dangerous as well as liberating.

This is part of Rebel Wisdom’s ‘psychedelia’ series – more to come.

Check out Jules’s blog and sign up for his excellent newsletter here: http://www.philosophyforlife.org/

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