The Inward Arc: Consciousness, Metaphysics, and the Psychedelic Journey

Six-Part Online Course Taught by Scott Shannon, MD and Peter Sjostedt-Hughes, PhD

This course explores the resurgence of interest in human consciousness and spiritual experience, driven by the current psychedelic renaissance. It examines the intersection of metaphysics, quantum mechanics, psychedelic medicine, and the science of consciousness to create a comprehensive understanding of the inner self and support sustainable mental health.


Course Schedule:

  1. October 8th, 6:30 PM MT: The Inward Arc: Overview and Introduction | Teacher: Scott
  2. October 15th, 11 AM MT: What is Consciousness and the Hard Problem | Teacher: Peter
  3. October 22nd, 6:30 PM MT: Theories of Consciousness and Modern Physics | Teacher: Scott
  4. October 29th, 11 AM MT: Metaphysics of Mind | Teacher: Peter
  5. November 5th, 6:30 PM MT: Mystical Experiences, Awe and Durable Change | Teacher: Scott
  6. November 12th, 11 AM MT: The Psychedelic Matrix and Clinical Work with Metaphysics | Teacher: Peter and Scott

Tuition: $695.00

Class is capped at 25 students for better engagement and processing.

We will alternate between a late slot (6:30 pm MT) and an early slot (11:00 AM MT) of 90 minutes. The classes will be recorded and available for later viewing as needed. Each class will have 45 minutes of lecture and 45 minutes of live discussion.

The Inward Arc: Consciousness, Metaphysics, and the Psychedelic Journey

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Description

Course Description

Since the time of Plato, humanity has been obsessed with understanding human consciousness and the nature of our reality. However, for the last four hundred years Western culture has rocketed on an outward arc of materialistic science that has effectively delivered technological wizardry but left us with a culture devoid of meaning and deeper understanding. This process has also devalued the subjective experience of the psyche. As a result, we have been left with a psychiatry without mind and a psychology without psyche. The current psychedelic renaissance has been driven, in part, by a societal urge to recapture meaningful existence through exploration of our inner realms to combat widespread despair and hopelessness.

Philosophies of mind and metaphysics have begun to recapture the prominence they held for millennia as disciplines that can guide and add value to inner exploration. Accumulating research evidence now documents that psychedelic experiences create a shift away from materialism towards other metaphysical perspectives such as idealism and panpsychism. The majority of psychedelic studies that evaluated mystical experiences find they drive the benefit and durable change we witness in mental health disorders. We have no current language to explore the before and after of these journeys within.

Over the last 100 years, the discoveries in quantum mechanics such as quantum entanglement and indeterminacy indicate that our simple mechanistic model of reality is limited and inaccurate. So, we find ourselves at a moment in time when the physicist, the philosopher, the psychonaut, the mystic, and the mental health professional all find potent alignment. This course will explore the inward arc that has revalued human consciousness and spiritual experience. As we more deeply value the subjective qualities involved in transcendence and transformation, the knowledge held in the realms of metaphysics, quantum mechanics, psychedelic medicine, and the science of consciousness becomes profoundly valuable. These topics will be considered in depth to create a cartography of the inner self. This will support our search for sustainable mental health and the establishment of an aligned spiritual perspective.