A psychonaut is a person who experiences intentionally induced altered states of consciousness and claims to use the experience to investigate his or her mind, and possibly address spiritual questions, through direct experience.
To understand the meaning of the term psychonaut, we need to examine its etymology. The word is made up of ‘psycho’ which comes from the Greek “psykho”. It means ‘mind’ or ‘mental’. The other half, ‘naut’, originates from the Greek ‘nautikos’, meaning ‘sailor’.
Translated literally, psychonaut means ‘mind sailor’. It is someone who sails the mind, like a sailor who traverses the seas or an astronaut who goes into space. A psychonaut, in contrast to sailors and astronauts, explores his or her inner world, rather than the outer world.
Types of Psychonaut
The experience seeker.
The novice or recent user, fascinated by psychedelics and determined to find access or try and live in that state as much as possible.
The recent user may be searching for a specific type of experience, often trying to out-do the experiences others have had, taking heroic doses in an effort to find the peak experience that others are talking about. The “heroic dose” is a concept coined by Terence McKenna, referring to taking a very large dose that catapults you into another reality; a dose that some feel will be a guaranteed peak mystical experience. Often, this subgroup is doing psychedelics so often (at least once per week) that they may start to lose touch with consensus reality.
The patient.
People suffering from some ailment, having exhausted many other conventional options for therapy, now feel that the exciting new psychedelic-assisted therapy they’ve been hearing about in the press is their only hope for finding a cure. Some from this group have tried psychedelics in their past, while some may be approaching them for the first time.
The psychedelic messiah.
Having experienced and witnessed the transformational power of psychedelics, and feeling like they’ve achieved enlightenment or tapped into the Godhead or Christ consciousness, the psychedelic messiah feels it is their calling to “save the world” through psychedelics, either by starting a new community where they are the sole leader, setting up a retreat center to facilitate psychedelic experiences, or becoming some other kind of figurehead attempting to create a following focused on them as a healer, rather than relying on the psychedelics or the inner healer of their followers.
The Philosophical Type
These types of psychonauts will go on psychedelic journeys with the intention of focusing on philosophical topics, or they will interpret aspects of their experiences from the perspective of a philosophical belief, theory, or worldview. This might involve the examination of topics such as the nature of consciousness, the self, and reality.
The veteran psychonaut.
With years of experience, the veteran psychonaut has developed a humility and respect for the profound potential of the psychedelic experience. These people may not be doing psychedelics frequently anymore, but they have found a way to tap into those states using other methods that they’ve spent years cultivating for their own wellness and spirituality. They want to spread the word about the responsible use of psychedelics in their communities to promote harm reduction and help the others pass through the phases of their own psychedelic initiation safely.
It should be emphasized that you can, undoubtedly, be more than one type of psychonaut at any particular time. You could also be all of these types at once or change your intentions with psychedelics over time. Indeed, sometimes psychological healing is called for, whereas other times you might be healthy but still interested in the spiritual dimension of human experience.
In general, however, what ties different psychonauts together is the theme of being curious about the mind and a willingness to go into unknown territory, with the aim of gaining some valuable insights.
