Breaking Convention: Notes from a psychedelic conference

The sprawling campus of the University of Kent, in Canterbury, became host to the UK’s first psychedelic consciousness conference on the second and third of April, 2011. The campus’ Wolfe building was a thronging hive, as all the psychedelic bees gathered to share their research, their experiences and their ideas in a sweet-honey-melting-pot. At the heart of this vibrant buzzing lay one of the more uniquely endearing qualities of Breaking Convention; it was a rich tapestry of different disciplines and backgrounds, brought together by common purpose. Here’s some notes from the thread of my journey through the event:

It began on Friday night, Ram Dass appeared over three large screens in the main lecture hall, beamed in from Hawaii. One of the legends of 1960s psychedelic research, Ram Dass worked his webcam like a master -- as early, forlorn and wandering eyes, suddenly flicked straight through the cornea of the lens at the words "unconditional love," and continued to grow and glow as he told of his psychedelic and mystical unravelling in India. The audience were rapturous and it was the ideal seed for the conference...