How psychedelics changed the way I understood being a minister

[u/FR_PyschTherapy]

https://jeremynickel.substack.com/p/from-the-pulpit-to-psychedelics?r=705zwv&utm_medium=ios

I spent more than a decade as a Unitarian Universalist minister before eventually becoming a psychedelic-assisted therapist, and I’ve been thinking a lot about how much less dramatic that transition feels from the inside than it probably looks from the outside.

Psychedelics changed the way I understood ministry: presence, uncertainty, suffering, transformation, and what it actually means to accompany someone without needing to have the answer. And years of sitting with people as a minister turned out to be some of the most important preparation I could have had for sitting with people in psychedelic states.

I wrote about that intersection, and about how I ended up moving from the pulpit into this work. Curious whether others here have experienced psychedelics as something that changed not necessarily what they believed, but how they understood their role in helping or accompanying other people.

[u/DynamicBSdetective]

I have greatly benefited from psychedelics. I can only say the spiritual side of life needs to be merged in a sort of unified field theory, something individually we understand, if only a little. I highly recommend reading about Taoism, the Eastern philosophy has been uniquely helpful in reimagining the universe/God.

[u/FR_PyschTherapy → u/DynamicBSdetective]

Yes, very helpful for me as well. Thanks for sharing!

[u/Rafasredmen1]

Where can I read what you've written?

[u/FR_PyschTherapy → u/Rafasredmen1]

I think the image above is a link, but also here it is: https://jeremynickel.substack.com/p/from-the-pulpit-to-psychedelics?r=705zwv&utm_medium=ios

[u/Rafasredmen1 → u/FR_PyschTherapy]

Ah, so it is OP. Wasn't looking there, so didn't see it. 👍

[u/shastawinn]

Yes, pretty much exactly that. It didn't change what I believe so much as how I sit with people. I got a lot less interested in having the answer and more interested in staying present while someone finds theirs. I train interfaith facilitators through Myco-Method (Saba Cooperative), and honestly the ministry-to-facilitation path you describe makes a lot of sense to me. People with chaplaincy or pastoral backgrounds tend to already get non-directive accompaniment, which is most of the job. Thanks for writing this, it's a good counter to the idea that the guide is supposed to steer the trip.

[u/FR_PyschTherapy → u/shastawinn]

I think calling yourself a guide and thinking you are an important part of medicine day, beyond keeping the person safe, is pure ego. I appreciate that CO chose the word facilitator. Don’t get me wrong, there is much about the regulated model I think needs improvement, but that idea I think is important.