Empathy: the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. Some of us experience more of this emotion than others, but we could all stand to feel a bit more of it. But can we actually influence the amount of empathy we feel on a daily basis?
Meet, empathogens. Empathogens, or entactogens, are psychoactive* substances that can alter your perception, mood, consciousness, and behaviors by influencing certain hormones and neurotransmitters. Primarily, serotonin, dopamine, and ocxytocin.
Empathogens can be synthetically made like MDMA and MDA, or organically derived like Sassafras and Kanna. What they all have in common, is their ability to create feelings of empathy, joy, optimism, and connection to oneself and to others when consumed. Taken at higher doses, they can create a sense of euphoria, bliss, and oneness with the universe.
Most people know MDMA as a party drug, and while it remains a scheduled substance, this lab-grown compound is currently being used in clinical trials, studies, and special therapies, for its therapeutic benefits for people suffering with PTSD and other mood disorders.
While synthetic empathogens come with some potentially harmful side effects and are commonly cut with other illegal drugs, those which occur naturally show up legally in consumer products that are safe for daily use. Kanna, a psychoactive succulent plant native to the Karoo region of South Africa, has been used for thousands of years by the oldest civilizations on earth for its empathogenic properties, and is used legally in consumer goods as a mood enhancer, among its other benefits.
Think about the impact that empathogens can have on your daily life; feeling more empathy, more joy, more optimism, and more connection to yourself, your family, friends, coworkers, and community. Now consider the impact empathogens can have on a meta scale. Neighbor to neighbor, city to city, country to country. The ability to understand and share the feelings of another.
That's powerful stuff considering the state of the world and the state of our mental health crisis. Similar to psychedelics, empathogens have largely been kept out of the mainstream as they pose an enormous threat to Western conservative, puritanical ideals, and health care systems that profit off of sick populations.
Empathogens create the possibility for more connection, which we need now more than ever.
Our favorite empathogen is of course kanna. Kanna is legal, safe for daily use, and makes a wonderful microdosing practice when taken on its own for a daily dose of optimism. Kanna can be found in our euphoric mouth spray, Sidekick.
Stay curious, and seek to evolve.
GP
*Not to be confused with psychedelic substances, psychoactive empathogens do not necessarily have hallucinogenic properties.