Overview

⏱️ Schedule:  Doors 18:30 → Talk 19:00→ Q&A → Mingle
🗣️ Language: English

The conversation around psychedelics usually stops at the individual: healing trauma, treating depression, expanding consciousness. And yes—that's real. But what if the most revolutionary potential of these compounds isn't about fixing individuals at all? What if it's about rewiring how we connect to each other?

We're living through a loneliness epidemic. Communities are fragmenting. Trust is eroding. And our brains—shaped by evolution for deep social connection—are increasingly isolated behind screens. Psychedelics, it turns out, don't just dissolve the boundaries of the self. They activate something ancient: our hardwired circuitry for belonging.

This talk explores what happens when we zoom out from individual healing and ask a bigger question: can psychedelics help us rebuild the social fabric?

Together, we'll explore:

• The neural basis of connection: How psychedelics temporarily dissolve rigid brain pathways and create new neural connections—providing the biological foundation for both personal transformation and openness to new social bonds.
• Beyond individual healing: Why the true revolutionary potential of psychedelics lies not just in treating disorders, but in fundamentally restructuring how we relate to each other and form communities.
• From ego-dissolution to eco-integration: How the personal experience of boundaries dissolving during psychedelic experiences naturally extends to environmental consciousness and sustainable living practices.
• Psychedelics and the science of belonging: How these compounds specifically activate our evolutionarily ancient social circuitry—and what this means for rebuilding community in an increasingly isolated world.
• The four levels of transformation: Mapping how changes in neural connectivity cascade through psychological, social, and spiritual dimensions—an integrated framework for understanding psychedelic transformation.

Speaker

Eric Lonergan

Neuroscientist

Eric Lonergan is a neuroscience researcher at the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin (Humboldt University). His work explores the issue of consciousness and social connection.