I watched this talk today about hacking your consciousness given by Raja Choudhury. I found it very interesting! I think this talk is worth mentioning here on the nexus. Please take some time and watch it. The content is highly applicable to psychedelic states of consciousness. Learning how and why the brain does what it does can provide some assistance in the weird psychedelic experiences we have.
"In the universe there is an immeasurable, indescribable force which shamans call intent, and absolutely everything that exists in the entire cosmos is attached to intent by a connecting link." ~Carlos Castaneda