I Was a Mormon. Then I Found Psychedelics.

Mormons have these things called “firesides.” Essentially, it’s a once-a-month spiritually-themed TED Talk given by a local church leader to teenagers in the congregation. When I was about 16, I attended a fireside during which the speaker pulled out a laminated spiral nailed through the centre to a block of wood. He then held it up to a Sunday school room full of teenagers seated on metal folding chairs.

“The topic I’m going to be discussing tonight is deception,” he said as he started to spin the spiral. “Satan has an incredible ability to make things appear one way until we chase after them only to find out we’ve been deceived. Now, to demonstrate the power of deception, I want all of you to gaze into the centre as I…