A combat veteran chased extreme sports like race-car driving and cliff-jumping, thinking he was pursuing flow. Therapy and psychedelic work revealed he was self-medicating PTSD, not seeking transcendence.
When we look at what happens to the brain in combat situations, I think that most people don't ever get to experience that in their life. And in many ways, I feel that that's actually a sacred state that we get to experience. I spent many years trying to kind of get back to that place by driving race cars and jumping off cliffs on snowboards, you know, pushing myself to the extreme, racing bikes, trying to recreate that flow state or sense of super consciousness. And it wasn't until I started doing work in therapy and with psychedelics around PTSD to understand that I was actually pushing my body in ways that I shouldn't, trying to get back to that state.
