Albert Hofmann

In addition to the unpredictability of a substance’s effects on a biological subject based on its chemical structure, there is the unpredictability of its effects on humans based on its activity in animal research.

As a result, only a very small percentage of experimental preparations that end up in clinical tests prove to have a therapeutic value for humans.

To quote Louis Pasteur, “In the realm of scientific observation, luck is granted only to those who are prepared.”

The structure of the mushroom’s active ingredient is noteworthy among other things, because it is closely related to serotonin as well as because, like lysergic acid and LSD, it incorporates an indole derivative that is substituted at position 4. In my opinion psilocybin and psilocin deserve further attention in experimental psychiatry and as prototypes for chemical modification. But psilocybin research has already produced useful information and led indirectly, as LSD did, to important new medicines.

The significance of the natural sciences lies in their ability to open people’s eyes to the wonder of Creation and to the unity of all life on this Earth, humanity included

What is it that we reflect upon, contemplate, and observe? What is it that we wish to understand in the most profound way? It is the content of our own consciousness. This content was brought in by means of sensory perception. Sensory perception precedes meditation.