In 2014,
I was sitting at the University bar with some friends.
A strange man in his 50s, dressed like a hippie, approached us.
Within the first couple of seconds of talking to him, he mentioned his love of weed.
One of my friends, who at the time was fond of experimentation, asked him about magic mushrooms.
“yeah, they are great. I love them!”
Said the odd man.
My friend asked,
“How about LSD?”
The man’s tone changed completely.
He went from light-hearted to instant PTSD fuelled dread.
“LSD ruined my life, don’t do LSD”
He stated, panicking,
He looked around frantically and then grabbed each one of us by the shoulders and violently shook us.
“DON’T TRY LSD”
I looked in his eyes and could see tears forming.
He then grabbed his bag and ran off away from us.
Well, he didn’t just run.
He sprinted off into the horizon.
I never saw that man again.
Sometimes I wonder if he was even real.
As you can imagine, the memory never left me.
And the man’s warning didn’t go in vain; I never did LSD or any psychedelic for that matter.
I was much too afraid after what I saw in his eyes.
The Tragedy of Conor Murphy
Recently, the beloved fitness influencer Conor Murphy died under tragic circumstances.
Apparently, whilst in some psychosis, he attempted to swim away from police in Thailand and drowned in a river.
About a decade ago Conor Murphy was the biggest fitness influencer on YouTube.
He had worldly success: an incredible body, was tall, rich and beloved by men and women.
However, something in his soul was discontent.
Looking for relief, he decided to experiment with Ayahuasca in 2020.
Ayahuasca is the name given to a plant brew used in the Amazon containing the potent psychedelic DMT.
When one takes Ayahuasca, they go on a mind-altering journey into unknown realms which often lasts for hours.
These Ayahuasca ceremonies can be beneficial to some, but for Conor they began a series of unfortunate events.
Conor displayed a series of erratic behaviours which were well documented on the internet.
These ranged from: Stripping naked in public, drinking bodily fluids, 40-day fasts, getting stabbed and plenty more.
I remember watching some of his videos after 2020 and sadly realising that he was doomed.
Doomed because he had gained too much, too soon.
Recall the quote from Uncle Ben in Spider-Man:
“With great power comes great responsibility“
As I will show you soon, most people are not meant to grasp such power.
Unfortunately, Conor Murphy is not the only person who has had a huge personality shift after psychedelics.
He is just one of the more public ones because of his social profile.
For every person who has had a successful experience with psychedelics, there is someone who has fried their brain beyond repair.
The fried ones are not vocal on the internet; they are running around at university campuses.
We can thank survivorship bias for the misdirection.
Ayahuasca Is a Portal to Other Worlds
There are many worlds in which consciousness can travel.
Most people only believe in the realness of our physical world.
But, to those open, there are dimensions outside consensus reality.
You visit your own subjective mental world through dreams every night.
There is also the world between life and death experienced by people during Near-death experiences.
The various Bardo realms of Tibetan yoga.
The Upper, Middle and Lower worlds experienced by Shamans during Shamanic Journeys.
And many more.
The lines between these different worlds are often blurred.
The distinction between the objective and subjective worlds is also mysterious.
The reality of these dimensions is the reason for recurring archetypical and mythological figures.
Across different countries, time periods and esoteric traditions, people have witnessed similar things via out-of-body journeys.
These realms cannot be explained by science because they are immaterial.
They can only be explored by consciousness.
The Sacred and The Profane
In the past, Ayahuasca and other potent psychedelics were the tools used primarily by elders, wise men, and village shamans.
The people who were privy to many psychedelics were those initiated into secret orders.
Often these people had some calling or a spiritual gift within their lineage.
Others had to withstand difficult trials to obtain knowledge.
I read a rare and obscure book by the anthropologist Laurent Fontaine called The Diet And Path Of An Amazonian Shaman.
In the book, Laurent interviews one of the last remaining authentic Shaman from the Amazon and learns about what’s involved in the process.
According to this Yucuna-speaking shaman, the Ayahuasca brew is used to help the Shaman communicate with their ancestral spirits.
It’s used within the confines of a specific strict diet and protocol.
To become a Shaman and yield this power, an apprentice must remain celibate for years.
He must eat an incredibly restrictive diet of certain fish and live in the forest.
He then uses the brew under these special conditions to become receptive to further instructions.
The brew is sacred, and each shaman prepares it in their own unique way, passed down by their teacher.
It is also cultural, as the plants needed to create it are only found in certain locations.
It was never meant to be a mainstream solution.
It was for the sacred and not the profane.
The Ayahuasca Business
Like everything sacred, the mainstream machine has a way of bastardising the sacred.
Ayahuasca ceremonies have now become a money play for many people in South America who need the finances.
Remember, just because someone knows how to make the brew doesn’t make them a shaman.
But many Westerners who are oblivious to the original use-case now see these retreats as a panacea to their problems.
As of 2026, many authentic shamans are gone.
They have been replaced with Instagram influencers selling retreat packages.
Ayahuasca has become sloppy, and many people are opening themselves up to dark energies.
It’s slowly becoming a McDonald’s-like psychedelic.
Be Careful with Psychedelics
“You shouldn’t reach the land of the gods through drugs because they will take you and throw you into a false land instead of the true one.”
– Credo Mutwa (Sangoma Trance States)
Psychedelics are a double-edged sword.
They can be powerful tools for Inner work, but only when used in an integrated fashion.
A knife can cut out a cancerous tumour or end a life.
The more powerful the tool, the more guardrails need to be implemented.
Along your spiritual journey, do not be fooled by anyone selling you an easy, quick fix.
Lasting change is difficult.
It’s not easy, and the path isn’t always clear.
You will need to work for whatever gifts you get.
Nothing is free.
And when it comes to spiritual influencers trying to get you to take some magic pill, remember the quote,
“You will know them by their fruit”
Look at all the fruits, not just the good ones that are easy to see.
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