When you sit down with Rak Razam and Jack Rowland, it's not just an interview; it's a journey. Jack, the thoughtful host of the podcast, brings curiosity and genuine reverence to the conversation. One moment you're talking about tripping at an Aussie bush doof, and the next you're knee-deep in quantum physics and the fall of civilization. That's Rak: author, experiential journalist, and one of the leading voices in the modern psychedelic movement. Together, they weave a yarn through the sacred, the scientific, and the downright trippy.
Their exchange feels like a meeting of minds across generations and dimensions; Jack grounding things with honest questioning, Rak lifting the veil with poetic insight. It's a perfect combo of sceptical inquiry and cosmic affirmation, an invitation to anyone wondering what role psychedelics might play in shaping our collective future.
From the Dust to the Divine
Rak got his start in the early 2000s as an "experiential journalist," diving headfirst into the underground psychedelic scene.
I concretely can remember this feeling that everything society had taught me, good and bad, was a construct, and that I could step over and explore for myself these horizons...
Back then, it wasn't fashionable to talk about altered states. Psychedelics were still deep underground, but Rak saw them as tools of liberation, healing, and most importantly, connection.
He draws a line from the counterculture pranksters like Ken Kesey, to indigenous traditions, to the booming festival culture of Australia. The common thread? Community, celebration, and breaking free of the egoic constraints that modern society forces on us. These weren't just substances; they were sacraments of awakening.
Rak's passion for these themes echoes through decades of work, from writing and documentary filmmaking to coaching and facilitating sacred medicine journeys.
Jack's Journey into the Psychedelic Unknown
Jack Rowland first came across Rak over a decade ago at Entheogenesis Australis, one of Australia's premier psychedelic and consciousness gatherings. For Jack, those early talks were deeply formative:
I was early psychedelic exploring and trying to really just make sense of what the hell was going on. Somehow I got an invite to this festival... and Rak was one of the speakers."
This introduction set Jack on his own path of exploration. What started as curiosity soon became a personal quest to understand altered states, spiritual awakening, and the boundaries of the human psyche.
Jack brings a grounded and relatable voice to the conversation, reflecting on his own internal tug-of-war between the rational mind and the intuitive, psychedelic experience. His vulnerability opens a door for listeners to feel into the mystery themselves.
His willingness to sit with these questions without needing immediate answers adds authenticity to the dialogue. It's an honest grappling that mirrors many people's journeys with plant medicine.
Psychedelics as Ego Dissolvers
Modern science is finally catching up to what shamans have known for millennia. Substances like LSD, psilocybin, and 5-MeO-DMT don't just alter your perception; they loosen the grip of the ego and allow a reconnection to the sacred.
The ego is a wonderful tool, but an evil master. Psychedelics mediate that openness of the ego... They bring it into a state of equilibrium from disequilibrium.
The ego, Rak suggests, is a trauma response inherited from a civilizational collapse thousands of years ago. Psychedelics, then, offer a way to reset at both a personal and species-wide level.
In traditional settings, these ego-dissolving experiences were communal and ritualistic. They helped realign the individual with the tribe and the Earth. In modern times, Rak argues, we need to reclaim this wisdom if we want to heal.
The Sacred and the System
The rise of psychedelics in the mainstream has been a mixed bag. On one hand, veterans are healing from PTSD, and microdosing has become the new meditation. On the other hand, Big Pharma is swooping in to patent molecules and jack up the price.
Rak raises real concerns about the commodification of sacred medicines. When ketamine clinics operate like fast food joints, and 5-MeO-DMT is being repackaged as a trauma treatment without a spiritual context, something vital gets lost.
Jack echoes these concerns, pondering how the systems we live in might actually block our evolution:
"I do think part of our spiritual stagnation is the systems that we're beholden to... it would take a massive revolution to restructure everything." - Jack Rowland.
The conversation touches on the paradox of needing tools for transformation within a culture that often exploits those same tools. Can we keep the soul of psychedelics intact in a world driven by profit?
Reclaiming the Ceremony
What's the antidote? Going back to the roots. Indigenous practices remind us that these substances are not just drugs; they're sacraments. They're tools for initiation, for community bonding, and for healing the Earth-human relationship.
The Earth secretes psychoactive substances. Nature makes no mistakes.
This isn't about escapism. It's about re-entering a relationship with nature and spirit. Rak talks about how plant medicines like ayahuasca and toad medicine (5-MeO-DMT) are powerful technologies of the sacred that, if used wisely, can bring profound transformation.
Ceremony creates a container for safety, for depth, and for integration. It's not just what you take, but how and why you take it. Rak advocates for a return to sacred, ethical use; anchored in respect for the plants, the land, and each other.
The Future is Shamanic
Rak doesn't believe the answer lies in purely medical models. While research and therapy have their place, they don't speak to the spiritual hunger many feel.
We can't evolve beyond the consciousness we've got without help
He advocates for a decentralized, community-based approach; growing your own medicine, holding your own ceremonies, reclaiming the sacred from the grasp of profit-driven institutions.
Jack sees this too. The shift won't come just from therapy rooms or boardrooms, but from collective remembrance.
The return to shamanic models isn't about nostalgia; it's about reintroducing balance, reverence, and holistic healing into a culture that's become spiritually malnourished.
Where to from Here?
We're at a crossroads. The psychedelic genie is out of the bottle, but what we do with it matters. Will we let it become another tool of the machine? Or will we remember what our ancestors knew: that these medicines are bridges back to ourselves, each other, and the living Earth?
These things aren't about the mind. It's about your whole being, feeling connected to the entirety of existence. And if that sounds like an outlandish claim, you need to do psychedelics.
Whether it's through healing trauma, expanding consciousness, or reconnecting with the Earth, psychedelics offer not just hope, but a path. But that path, as both Jack and Rak stress, must be walked with care, with wisdom, and with love.