Isness: Using Multi-Person VR to Design Peak Mystical-Type Experiences Comparable to Psychedelics David R. Glowacki,1,2,3,4* Mark D. Wonnacott,1,3 Rachel Freire,1,4,5 Becca R. Glowacki,1,6 Ella M. Gale,1,3 James E. Pike,4 Tiu de Haan,4 Mike Chatziapostolou,4 Oussama Metatla1,2 1Intangible Realities Laboratory, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK; 2Dept. of Computer Science, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK; 3Centre for Computational Chemistry, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK; 4ArtSci Interna- tional Foundation, Bristol, UK; 5Rachel Freire Studio, London, UK; 6Department of Design, Goldsmiths College, University of London, London, UK ABSTRACT In what follows, we investigate the extent to which im- Studies combining psychotherapy with psychedelic drugs mersive technologies (specifically multi-person VR) enable (YDs) have demonstrated positive outcomes that are often purer forms of awareness which are undistracted by ego – associated with YDs’ ability to induce ‘mystical-type’ expe- enabling people to tune into the ‘is-ness’ to which Huxley riences (MTEs) – i.e., subjective experiences whose charac- alluded. Evaluating such experiences is fraught with difficul- teristics include a sense of connectedness, transcendence, ties, because they are notoriously difficult to capture in and ineffability. We suggest that both YDs and virtual reality words and metrics. To guide our efforts, we look to the re- can be situated on a broader spectrum of psychedelic tech- surgent field of psychedelic drug (YD) research, marked by nologies. To test this hypothesis, we used concepts, methods, Griffiths et al.’s influential 2006 article, “Psilocybin can and analysis strategies from YD research to design and eval- occasion mystical-type experiences having substantial and uate ‘Isness’, a multi-person VR journey where participants sustained personal meaning and spiritual significance”. [22] experience the collective emergence, fluctuation, and dissi- In the intervening years, Griffiths and co-workers have accu- pation of their bodies as energetic essences. A study (N=57) mulated evidence that YD efficacy in treating depression, analyzing participant responses to a commonly used YD ex- addiction, and end-of-life anxiety correlates with their ability perience questionnaire (MEQ30) indicates that Isness partic- to occasion ‘mystical-type experiences’ (MTEs) which par- ipants reported MTEs comparable to those reported in dou- ticipants recount as being profoundly meaningful. [40] ble-blind clinical studies after high doses of psilocybin & Our attempts to understand whether the perceptual af- LSD. Within a supportive setting and conceptual framework, fordances of multi-person VR enable phenomenological ex- VR phenomenology can create the conditions for MTEs from periences that create the conditions for MTEs which partici- which participants derive insight and meaning. pants perceive as insightful and meaningful follows recent calls within human-computer-interaction (HCI) to focus on 1. INTRODUCTION designing tools that enable experiences of meaning. For ex- In The Doors of Perception, Aldous Huxley recounted taking ample, Mekler and Hornbaek [56] defined a conceptual mescaline under the guidance of psychiatrist Humphrey Os- framework for what constitutes an experience of ‘meaning’ mond. In a vase of flowers, Huxley reported seeing “the mir- in HCI. Three of their concepts – connectedness, resonance, acle, moment by moment, of naked existence… flowers shin- and significance – have strong overlaps with concepts used ing with their own inner light and all but quivering under the to evaluate psychedelic drug experiences (YDEs) – namely, pressure of the significance with which they were charged.” He recalled how even “the folds of my grey flannel trousers connectedness, ineffability, and noetic quality. [1] Light et al were charged with is-ness.”[36] The word ‘psychedelic’ was [50, 51] outlined concepts for technology makers to adopt in coined by Osmond in correspondence with Huxley in 1956. order to stimulate alternative narratives and visions, urging [61] Derived from the combination of the Greek words psy- designers to focus on making moral progress at a time of emerging crisis and instability. They emphasize that ‘signif- che (yuch, translated ‘soul’ or ‘mind’) and delein (dhlein, icance’ and ‘meaning’ must acknowledge human mutability ‘to reveal’, ‘to make visible’, or ‘to manifest’), ‘psychedelic’ and mortality within interconnected ecological systems. is often translated as ‘mind-manifesting’ or ‘mind-revealed’. Kaptelinin [43, 44] has made calls for HCI to deal directly [12, 40] Crucially, we highlight that the word’s roots are ag- with the fundamental ‘givens’ of human existence (e.g., mor- nostic to the particular form of technology used in order to tality, identity, isolation, meaning, etc.), in order to make our achieve ‘mind-manifesting’. lives more ‘authentic’ and ‘meaningful’. *[email protected] © Authors, Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) The question of meaning is important right now. With because it suggests effects limited primarily to visual percep- worsening climate predictions and an unprecedented rate of tion. [40] Given that classical YDs do not typically produce extinction within the biosphere, [50, 51] there is a growing stark hallucinations and are instead associated with effects sense that our every action must be balanced with awareness, on human consciousness and sense of self, the term “psyche- including how we design and use technology. [43, 50, 51, 59] delic” has re-emerged within the scientific literature. [61] As the discourse of extinction enters into our collective psy- chological landscape, so does a sort of end-of-life anxiety as YDs and MTEs we struggle to shake our addiction to unsustainable growth Early researchers identified the ability of YDs to facilitate paradigms. The ACM ‘computing within limits’ community powerful MTEs for participants, [28, 47, 65, 66] highlighting has explicitly acknowledged this problem, pointing out that the correlation between subjective MTEs and the efficacy of most computing work depends on industrial civilization’s YDs in treating addiction and dealing with end-of-life anxi- default worldview that ongoing economic growth is achiev- ety. The 2006 Griffiths et al study showed that participants able and desirable, with a vision for the future ‘very much who had taken psilocybin reported greater psychological like the present, but even more so’ [59], which fails to recog- well-being compared to those who had ingested nize global material and ecological limits. methylphenidate placebo. 67% of the study participants iden- To date, calls for meaning-making within HCI lack em- tified their psilocybin experience amongst the most person- pirical demonstrations showing how the proposed concepts ally meaningful experiences of their lives, and analysis of and theoretical paradigms can be practically applied to ena- their subjective reports showed that many had MTEs. These ble experiences which participants find meaningful. In what studies utilized a ‘psychedelic psychotherapy’ approach [15, follows, we directly address this knowledge gap. We show 54], where the goal is to administer a high drug dose in order how immersive forms of computing can be used to cultivate to occasion a MTE (sometimes called ‘peak experience’ or awareness, ego-dissolution, and a sense of connectedness (to ‘ego dissolution’) and inspire subsequent behavior change oneself, to others, and to the world-out-there) – all concepts (this contrasts with ‘psycholytic’ approaches that use lower with the potential to foster awareness and help us imagine YD doses). The intervening years have seen a number of ad- our way out of the damaging and addictive paradigms in ditional studies, where psilocybin has been administered to which our culture is stuck. To inspire our approach, we have healthy volunteers; [24, 26] patients with life-threatening turned to the YD research literature, because it is concerned cancer diagnoses; [25, 67] people dealing with addiction; with how to practically enable meaningful participant expe- [18, 38, 39] and those afflicted with treatment-resistant de- riences that facilitate positive therapeutic outcomes. We out- pression [13]. Several of these studies reaffirm the fact that line how we have applied phenomenology from YD research participants’ subjective reports of MTEs following YD in- to design the Isness multi-person VR experience, and present gestion offers a good predictor of positive therapeutic out- quantitative and qualitative evidence that Isness leads to peak comes. experiences which occasion MTEs to which participants at- Characterizing MTEs tribute significant personal meaning and insight, comparable The most definitive review of features that can be used to to the MTEs that arise with moderate to strong YD doses. identify a subjective experience as mystical was compiled by 2. BACKGROUND Stace [71] who distilled phenomenological descriptions of MTEs from a variety of sources. Building on the work of YD Technologies William James, [37] he identified a sense of unity (becoming The ‘classical YDs’ include LSD, mescaline, psilocybin, and one with all that exists) as the defining feature of the MTE. DMT. Phenomenologically, they produce non-ordinary and Other dimensions of MTE which Stace identified include: (1) variable forms of consciousness which (compared to ordi- ineffability (i.e., it cannot be encapsulated in words ); (2) no-