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Becoming ConsciousEthan Nelson Author: Ethan Nelson
Becoming Conscious is a podcast about understanding our inner nature and challenging the status quo. On this podcast we discuss nonduality, enlightenment, and self-inquiry as well as freedom, travel and living a fulfilling life. You can check out comprehensive show notes at www.becomeconscious.org becomeconscious.substack.com Language: en Genres: Religion & Spirituality, Spirituality Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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Jhana and 5-MeO Aren't So Different w/ Andrés Gómez-Emilsson
Sunday, 30 August, 2026
Andrés is the President of the Qualia Research Institute (QRI), a consciousness research nonprofit studying valence, psychedelic phenomenology, and the computational structure of experience. Find his work:* Website: qri.org* Blog: qualiacomputing.com* Substack: Andrés Gómez-Emilsson * X: @algekalipsoI sat down with Andrés Gómez Emilsson, President of the Qualia Research Institute, to dig into jhana and 5-MeO — how they compare as altered states, what QRI’s research has actually found running retreats and EEG studies on both, and what it means for a state to be “high valence.” We get into the three fires framing consciousness research takes on psychedelic and meditative states, why isolating a canonical “dark night of the soul” pattern is harder than it sounds, and how repeated deep states can shift someone’s baseline over years — equanimity that shows up not just introspectively but in how a person talks and moves through the world.Timestamps:0:00 — Catching up, framing jhana and 5-MeO as the topics for today5:34 — QRI’s Jhana retreat and the 5-MeO retreat that followed it15:35 — Why 5-MeO and jhana are obvious research targets for consciousness science20:12 — EEG research on jhana and 5-MeO states23:37 — Comparing which jhana levels map onto which 5-MeO doses43:20 — Is there a canonical “dark night of the soul” pattern?53:29 — How meditation and 5-MeO can both leave you in a “critical range”1:02:51 — Andrés’s first 5-MeO experience at QRI’s 2023 Canada retreat1:05:58 — What repeated use over dozens/hundreds of sessions looks like1:08:49 — The long-term shift: increased equanimity, visible even in how he speaks1:09:32 — Where to find Andrés’s work Get full access to Becoming Conscious at becomeconscious.substack.com/subscribe
