Dear friends,
This week, I spoke with journalist and author Joe Dolce, whose book Modern Psychedelics explores what’s missing in our culture — and how psychedelics, used wisely, might help us rediscover it.
Joe and I began by talking about community — how modern life has left us isolated, living in separate “pods,” with little ritual to mark life’s passages.
“We don’t just need to communicate,” Joe told me. “We need to commune.”
From there, our conversation moved into the importance of ritual — not just ancient ceremony, but small daily practices that anchor us to meaning. Joe believes we need rituals for every stage of life: childhood, adolescence, midlife, and elderhood. Without them, we drift.
He also shared insights from his research into psychedelics as tools for learning. Used with care, these substances open what neuroscientist Gül Dölen calls a “critical period of plasticity” — a window when the mind is more open to growth, healing, and new behavior. The key, Joe said, is how we prepare and integrate the experience.
“The trip isn’t the point. The question is — how do you come back better?”
We also discussed microdosing, creativity, and connection, and why Joe believes that the most transformative journeys happen not at festivals or in crowds, but in nature and quiet spaces, surrounded by trust and intention.
Our shared takeaway was simple but profound:
Ritual and community are not luxuries. They are the framework of a healthy society. And when we lose them, we lose ourselves.
Golden light,
Dr. Richard L. Miller
Links & Resources:
1-minute mind control (my new book)
Traditional mindfulness and meditation techniques often require a huge investment of your most precious resource (time) without guarantees of results.
My own version of mindfulness—what I sometimes refer to as “mind control”—can be mastered in much less time if you commit to regular 60-90 second practice throughout the day.
Breathing. Witnessing. Changing the channel on negative thoughts.
I’ve honed these techniques over a lifetime of personal and professional practice, and now I’m sharing them with the world.
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After six decades as a practicing psychotherapist, I'm offering limited opportunities to work directly with me. I bring extensive experience addressing anxiety, depression, trauma, relationship challenges, addiction, and psychedelic integration.
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My Other Books:
Psychedelic Medicine at the End of Life: Dying Without Fear (release date: November 5)
Freeing Sexuality: Psychologists, Consent Teachers, Polyamory Experts, and Sex Workers Speak Out
Psychedelic Wisdom: The Astonishing Rewards of Mind-Altering Substances
Psychedelic Medicine: The Healing Powers of LSD, MDMA, Psilocybin, and Ayahuasca
Integral Psychedelic Therapy (co-edited with Jason A. Butler & Genesee Herzberg)
