Sam Woolfe
@samwoolfe.bsky.social
Freelance writer & author of Altered Perspectives: Critical Essays on Psychedelic Consciousness (2024). Interested in non-ordinary states, mental health, psychology, ethics, and film. Editor for https://psychedelics.community/ https://www.samwoolfe.com
Really interesting read. Philosopher Justin Garson looks at the tension between two perspectives on madness throughout history: the view that all madness is a dysfunction and the view that it involves a kind of strategy – a function, purpose, or goal. #philosophy #books #mentalhealth
An article I wrote on the link between hot weather and challenging psychedelic experiences.
Psychedelics and Hot Weather: Risks and Harm Reduction
The UK experienced an unprecedented heatwave last month, along with the rest of Europe. In the UK, where I am, the heatwave broke June temperature records (peaking at 37.7C), while Germany hit an all-...
samwoolfe.com
New essay exploring a concept I call 'psychedelic apophenia', where connections are made between unrelated things so that we see psychedelics' influence everywhere. I look at Terence McKenna's Stoned Ape Theory, psychedelic theories of Christianity, and DMT-pineal gland theories.
Psychedelic Apophenia: Seeing the Influence of Psychedelics Where None Exists
Being passionate and enthusiastic about psychedelics – or even evangelical about them – can sometimes lead to seeing their influence everywhere. When you spend a lot of time thinking about these subst...
samwoolfe.com
I'm pleased to announce that I've signed a contract to publish my next book, Secular Ecstasy: Making Sense of Mystical Experiences Without the Supernatural. More details on publication timing to come.
An article by writer and journalist Ed Prideaux that critically examines the claims made in Brian Muraresku's highly popular book, The Immortality Key. #psychedelics #history #religion
Psychedelic Bullshit? An Evaluation of The Immortality Key | Psychedelics-Community
The Immortality Key builds a sweeping psychedelic-religion narrative on evidence that its own primary scientific authority later rejected as methodologically flawed, undermining the book's credibility...
psychedelics.community
My book in the wild. Seen at Word on the Water, a bookshop on a barge (definitely recommend checking it out if you're in London). #philosophy #essays #books
I wrote about Mike Leigh's 'Home Sweet Home', his first collaboration with actor Timothy Spall and the last film he contributed to the BBC's Play for Today series. I discuss how it compares to the other bleak films he's more well-known for.
Home Sweet Home (1982): Mike Leigh's Bleakest Film?
Home Sweet Home (1982), a television film directed by Mike Leigh, part of the BBC’s Play for Today series, might be Leigh’s bleakest film. In it, the last of his contributions to this series, Leigh po...
samwoolfe.com
Sort of spurred by this: I still think that part of the whole Post Pandemic Social Settlement should have been a huge (inter)national effort to properly ventilate our spaces and that should have included ACs and heat pumps for places in Europe, and it's just a shame we generally didn't do this.
Channel 4 News@channel4news.bsky.social · last mo.UK cannot ‘air con its way’ out of this heatwave says Professor www.channel4.com/news/uk-cann...
I wrote about psychedelic #horror, looking at films such as Midsommar, Mandy, Climax, and Altered States, how they depict bad trips and psychedelic cults, and what other aspects of the psychedelic experience could be portrayed through the lens of horror.
What is the Future of Psychedelic Horror?
I’m a big fan of horror, as well as the subgenre of ‘psychedelic horror’, in which the psychedelic experience or ‘psychedelic’ aesthetic’ is used to unsettle and terrify viewers. I’m also interested i...
samwoolfe.com
An article I wrote about high ventilation breathwork, describing some experiences I had, as well as new research on the use of this technique to induce spiritual and therapeutic experiences.
Breathing Your Way to Altered States
In a blog post from a couple of years ago, I described my first experience with high ventilation breathwork – a form known as Psychedelic Breath, based on the principles of Holotropic Breathwork, deve...
samwoolfe.com
Excited to share that Psychedelics Community is live – the new home for the Chemical Collective blog, which I've been managing for the past year.
Psychonaut News and Guides | Consciousness Exploration Hub
Explore psychedelic culture, consciousness, and community. Science-backed articles, personal experiences, and guides for safe exploration.
psychedelics.community
My latest blog post explores how yoga nidra (or non-sleep deep rest) can induce hypnagogia: the trippy, transitional state between waking and sleeping.
Entering the Hypnagogic State Through Yoga Nidra
Yoga nidra (or yogic sleep) is a technique for inducing a state of consciousness between waking and sleeping. I often use it when I’m sleep-deprived, either as a way to (hopefully) have a nap, or at l...
samwoolfe.com
I recently rewatched Arrival. Here are some thoughts I had. I explore the film's connection to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis in linguistics, the ontological turn in anthropology, Terence McKenna's DMT-inspired view of reality, and the tension between premonition and free will.
Language and the Perception of Time: Revisiting 'Arrival' (2016)
I recently rewatched Arrival (2016, Denis Villeneuve), adapted from Ted Chiang’s novella Story of Your Life, having first watched it five years ago. My experience, based on what I can remember, was di...
samwoolfe.com
My latest blog post is on how cultural factors and cognitive biases may cause people to embellish their psychedelic experiences. I explore the difficulty in knowing whether memory distortion has occurred, as well as what it means to say that a psychedelic experience has been 'embellished'.
How Much Do We Embellish Our Memories of Psychedelic Trips?
The embellishment of memories is a widespread phenomenon. Sometimes, the distortion of memory goes beyond embellishment and becomes fabrication: false memories are common, and they can be easily induc...
samwoolfe.com
In my latest blog post, I look at what anemoia (nostalgia for an era one didn't live through) can reveal about identity and culture – how it influences trends like the Y2K aesthetic, the resurgence of 90s and 2000s-style music, the manosphere, and tradwives.
Nostalgia for a Past Unlived: What Anemoia Tells Us About Human Psychology and Culture
Anemoia, a coinage from the writer John Koenig – author of The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows – refers to a feeling of nostalgia for a time one didn’t live through. I previously wrote about why this fe...
samwoolfe.com
"Writing that matters will be writing that can still function as evidence of human deliberation."
psyche.co
An article I wrote about the recurrence of car crash imagery in emo music – in track titles, lyrics, and music videos. I look at how this trend harks back to the 'teen tragedy songs' of the 50s and 60s. I also include a list of tracks featuring this theme.
Emo's Obsession With Car Crashes
Emo music is full of references to car crashes. When you’ve listened to enough of this type of music or watched enough music videos for emo songs, it can become apparent how recurrent this theme is in...
samwoolfe.com
An article on my relationship to writing, and why thinking of writing in an atelic (non-goal-oriented) way can make it a more fulfilling practice.
The Writing Itch
Writing is sometimes described as both a blessing and a curse: a blessing because of the enjoyment and all the benefits that come with a writing practice, and a curse because, as many writers know, it...
samwoolfe.com
Philosopher Timothy J. Pawl on why we need to rediscover the older meaning (and virtue) of meekness.
Meekness isn’t weakness – once considered positive, it’s one of the ‘undersung virtues’ that deserve defense today
The word ‘meekness’ might seem old-fashioned – and not a positive trait. But understanding its original meaning can identify an important virtue.
theconversation.com
An article on the connections between Jung's ideas and New Age culture.
The New Age Movement's Embrace of Jungian Psychology
Jungian psychology is highly popular in the New Age movement, and this is for several reasons, some perhaps quite obvious, and others less so. I would like to detail these connections between New Age ...
samwoolfe.com
Em dashes and semicolons (more so em dashes) have become associated with AI content nowadays, to the extent that writers avoid them, or are being told to avoid using them (or at least to cut down on their use). In this article, I argue why this is a loss to human writing and should be resisted.
Has AI Spoiled the Use of the Em Dash and Semicolon?
A client recently gave me some feedback on an article I wrote, and they picked up on my use of en dashes (in this piece, mostly to offset parenthetical information) and thought it best to avoid them, ...
samwoolfe.com
Some research has found that, for many people, psychedelics increase rather than decrease death anxiety. In my latest blog post, I look at whether a triggering of apeirophobia (a fear of eternity or eternal life) may be one reason for this.
Psychedelics and Apeirophobia: Can Altered States Evoke a Fear of Eternity?
While one of the main recognised benefits of psychedelics is a lessening or elimination of the fear of death (particularly in those with a terminal illness), this effect is not universal. Indeed, a 20...
samwoolfe.com
An essay on the films of Mike Leigh, one of my favourite directors. I look at how Leigh portrays anxiety in Britain through his eccentric characters, in films such as Bleak Moments, Life is Sweet, Naked, and Career Girls. #film #cinema #mikeleigh #britishcinema
A Slice of British Anxiety: Mike Leigh and His Eccentric Characters
I recently watched Mike Leigh’s 1971 film Bleak Moments – his directorial debut. And while watching it, I again felt something about Leigh’s characters (or at least some of them), which I’ve felt watc...
samwoolfe.com
An excerpt from my book, published by @iai.tv. It's taken from Chapter 9, where I apply Henri Bergson's theory of dèja vu to the intense feeling of familiarity that many people experience on DMT. #philosophy #books #memory
Déjà vu reveals the peculiar hidden workings of time and memory
<p><em>Déjà vu, the perceived memory of an event happening in the present moment, is one of the most peculiar human experiences there is. It can make us feel as if we have lived our lives before, exac...
iai.tv
I wrote about how we can apply Mark Fisher's theory of 'the weird' to the many weird experiences that people have on psychedelics.
Psychedelics and Mark Fisher's Theory of the Weird
Psychedelic experiences can be weird – sometimes extremely weird. Yet, the notion of weirdness is often not the primary focus in the psychedelic renaissance or psychedelic culture. Instead, the focus ...
samwoolfe.com
An essay on why 'torture porn' horror films and deathcore bands became so popular in the 2000s.
Deathcore and 'Torture Porn' Horror Films: Parallel Expressions of the 2000s Zeitgeist
From around 2006 to 2008, in my ‘scene kid’ phase, I was listening to a lot of deathcore – a genre combining death metal with metalcore – as a lot of scene kids were. We wanted to hear breakdowns, gut...
samwoolfe.com
An essay on apeirophobia (the fear of an eternal afterlife) and how certain philosophical views may help address it.
Dealing With Apeirophobia Philosophically
Apeirophobia – the fear of eternal life – is not a common phobia (it is considered extremely rare, although it’s true prevalence is unknown, as there is very little research on it), nor is it a common...
samwoolfe.com
New blog post. I recently finished a new biography of #Schopenhauer from @davidbatherwoods.bsky.social (highly recommend). One part that stood out was Schopenhauer's warning about how excessive solitude can feed social anxiety. #philosophy #mentalhealth
Schopenhauer on the Danger of Excessive Solitude
The German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer is well known for his defence of solitude; as he said, “A man can be himself only so long as he is alone; and if he does not love solitude, he will not love ...
samwoolfe.com
I watched 329 films in 2025. Here are my top 10 watches: The Devils (1971, Ken Russell)
An article I wrote on Brian Yuzna's amazing body horror films, including From Beyond (1986), Society (1989), and Silent Night, Deadly Night 4: Initiation (1990). I also explore the question of why people enjoy films that trigger a negative emotion like disgust.
Master of Disgust: Inside the Body Horror Films of Brian Yuzna
If Alfred Hitchcock is the ‘master of suspense’, then I think we can call filmmaker Brian Yuzna the ‘master of disgust’ (or at least, one of the masters in this subtype of horror). Born in 1949, the A...
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