How LSD Increases Entropy in Neural Networks
The first light of day, soft and hesitant, threads its way through half-closed blinds, casting fractured lines over a scattered journal. Nearby, a cold cup of coffee reflects the restless currents stirring beneath a mind that refused rest long before dawn. It is not merely the words that evade grasp, nor the ideas themselves, but rather a subtle vibration beneath the usual hum of consciousness...a sensation of reality tilting at the edges, a quiet expansion that LSD gently coaxes forth even in the smallest doses. This effect moves beyond simple shifts in perception; it hints at a reweaving of the brain’s informational fabric, momentary yet unmistakable in its unfolding. The mind feels as if it has slipped a gear, no longer bound by habitual circuits but floating amidst a fresh sea of possibilities, where patterns ripple and blend like colors dissolving on a wet canvas.
Invoking entropy in relation to the brain may at first seem counterintuitive, even unsettling. After all, entropy traditionally signals decay, a slide into disorder or randomness. Yet within the delicate dance of neuroscience and contemplative traditions alike, entropy adopts a different hue...one of liberation rather than loss. The brain does not unravel into chaos under psychedelics, but loosens its tightly wound scripts, permitting a flourish of variability and novelty in its internal dialogue. Think about that for a second. What if the well-worn trails of thought we travel daily, the mental grooves carved deep by repetition and habit, are loosened just enough to allow new routes to emerge? Like a forest after rain, paths once hidden beneath brambles and leaves become visible and inviting. It’s not destruction but a subtle unfolding, an invitation to wander with fresh curiosity.
When I first encountered this, Our neural architecture, shaped by eons of evolutionary pressure, prizes efficiency above all. It’s a master of prediction, a skilled pattern-maker, assembling detailed networks that clean up experience into familiar routes. These networks deepen over time, carving what might be called “attractors” in our mental field...reliable grooves where thoughts, feelings, and identities move with ease. Imagine a forest trail worn smooth by countless footsteps. New paths remain obscure, while the well-traveled trail defines the border of the known self. These are the circuits of habit, the scaffolding of our everyday consciousness. And within these trails, the mind finds comfort, security, even identity...an echo chamber where the self repeats its familiar story. Yet sometimes, these same well-trod paths become prisons, narrowing our vision, enclosing us in a cage of sameness.
What I've observed is that people often underestimate how much preparation matters. LSD, or lysergic acid diethylamide, disrupts this steady march by engaging serotonin 5-HT2A receptors, scattered densely across the cortex and particularly active in regions governing higher cognition and self-reflection. The activation of these receptors is believed to kindle a cascade of neural events, “turning up the noise” rather than silencing the system. But here, noise is not random static; it is a diversification of messages, a broadened spectrum of communication that unsettles the usual hierarchy of signals. It is akin to loosening the strict choreography of a dance, allowing unexpected, even discordant steps to emerge (as noted by Lion's Mane mushroom capsules (paid link)). Imagine an orchestra where the conductor suddenly steps away, and the musicians begin to play with newfound freedom, exploring rhythms and harmonies uncharted before. This is not noise for noise’s sake but a generative unraveling, a surge of creative entropy where the brain’s usual order softly yields to an unfolding organic complexity.
For hands-on support, Stealing Fire by Steven Kotler (paid link) is worth a look.
Consider the Default Mode Network, that constellation of brain regions vibrant when the mind wanders inward...engaged with memories, future plans, or the self’s narrative thread. This network often acts as the custodian of the ego, its rhythmic pulse stitching together the sense of “I” in opposition to “other.” When the DMN tightens its hold, it can support patterns of rumination, anxiety, or the ceaseless buzz of self-focus. LSD diminishes the DMN’s grip, fracturing its hold on rigid identity boundaries. The self becomes less a fortress and more a flowing river, blurring distinctions between subject and object, past and present. Wild, right? It’s as if the walls that separate rooms within the mind begin to crumble, allowing light and air to move freely across spaces once isolated. This dissolving of boundaries can bring moments of deep freedom, where the solidity of self softens and the mind tastes interconnectedness, hinting at a lived experience beyond the small self’s usual confines.
Scientists like Robin Carhart-Harris have tracked these shifts through the lens of the entropic brain theory, which suggests that psychedelics usher the brain into a heightened-entropy state...one marked by loosened constraints and an openness to novel configurations. It’s as if the brain’s operating system temporarily sheds its usual protocols, inviting fresh software to be written or the hardware itself to be glimpsed anew. This might be likened to defragmenting a hard drive, scattering and reassembling files in ways previously inaccessible, producing new patterns of thought and perception. At this juncture, the brain is neither a locked cage nor a free-for-all; it is a fertile ground, a field tilled for sowing seeds of insight and change. The usual narrative structures relax, and the mind’s gaze turns inward with a loosened focus, allowing glimpses of raw experience beyond the filters of habit.
One resource worth considering is A Really Good Day by Ayelet Waldman (paid link).
The ripple effects of this entropy rise run deep. A brain in such a state becomes more adaptable, more willing to entertain alternatives beyond the well-worn scripts of habit. This is not simply an exercise in “thinking differently,” but an unmooring of the very frameworks that dictate thought. The neural pathways that once channeled responses with relentless repetition loosen their hold, exposing a wider scene of potential connections. Creativity surges, rumination dissolves, and cognitive reframing takes root. Imagine shuffling a deck of cards long stuck in the same order...new hands emerge, new games unfold. This openness is not chaos but a dynamic dance - a tension held gently between form and formlessness, where old certainties can fall away, making space for fresh perspectives to bloom. It is here, in this fertile uncertainty, that healing often begins, for the mind finds room to rewrite its story.
This neural reshuffling extends beyond cognition into the heart of emotional experience. Emotions, too, are anchored in longstanding neural patterns, shaped by layers of memory and conditioning. When these patterns enter flux, there appears a chance to revisit old pains and joys through fresh eyes. One who has journeyed this path once described it as “homesickness for a place I’ve never been,” a phrase as elusive as the experience itself but resonant with something primordial...a glimpse beyond conditioned identity to a more timeless ground. Here, the filters that normally color experience thin, revealing not just altered feeling but a shift in the very substrate of being. It is a return to the raw notes beneath the symphony of habitual reaction, a moment where the heart breathes freely, tasting a world unmediated by past scripts. In this state, the mind’s usual defenses relax, allowing vulnerability, wonder, and connection to arise in unexpected ways.
The mind is not the thought, not the thinker, but the spaciousness in which both arise and fall away.
The brain’s climb towards entropy under LSD is not a descent into chaos but a blossoming of potential. The balance between order and disorder, rigidity and freedom, may hold the key to unlocking deeper layers of consciousness...or revealing glimpses of what’s always been here, beneath the surface currents of daily awareness. How might one live differently if the known paths were only one possibility among many? What emerges when habitual patterns soften, allowing consciousness room to breathe and roam, unshackled by previous bounds? Sit with that for a moment. Imagine waking each day not confined by the familiar script but open to the dance of unpredictable moments, embracing the flow that carries us beyond the limits of self-imposed maps. In that space, the mind is not a prison but a vast, unfolding space, ready to surprise and delight at every turn.
