This paper examines what happens to consciousness under psilocybin (magic mushrooms) by applying Foucauldian discourse analysis to competing explanations. Dominant societal discourses—pathological, psychological, and prohibition—impose external scientific classifications based on observing others' reactions. In opposition, resistive discourses (recreational, psychedelic, entheogenic, animistic) arise from subjective experience. Critiquing these, only the animistic discourse—the belief that mushrooms enable encounters with discarnate spirit entities, or animaphany—transgresses a fundamental Western boundary: believing in spirits risks being labeled mad. This phenomenon remains largely ignored yet warrants further scholarly research.
The brain under psychedelics operates in a state where prior beliefs are relaxed, allowing sensory input to more strongly influence perception. This theory, called REBUS (RElaxed Beliefs Under psychedelics), integrates principles from neurobiology and free-energy minimization. The authors argue that psychedelics reduce the weight of high-level priors, enabling a more flexible and exploratory mode of cognition. This framework helps explain the profound shifts in consciousness, ego dissolution, and therapeutic potential observed with these substances.