Ezra Klein

That was very helpful.

She contrasts this with children's consciousness, which she calls lantern consciousness.

Instead of having that one degree of attention focused on some object, they're taking in information from all 360 degrees.

It seems very undisciplined, very unfocused.

You find it when kids get to school, some kids can sit there and do it and a lot of kids can't because they're still taking in information from all these sides.

It's interesting, it allows them to solve problems that adults can't solve.

They think outside the box, they have more divergent thinking.

And then as time goes on, we narrow our focus.

It allows us to get a lot done.

To put on our shoes in a semi-efficient manner.

But it involves putting these blinders on.

So there's a trade-off.

And one of the things psychedelics do, and Allison made this point to me also, is return us to lantern consciousness.

And, you know, she said in an interview with me and to other people, you know, when she first tried LSD, which wasn't until I think her 60s, she realized, oh, this is how the kids are thinking.

They're tripping all the time.

And she said, just have tea with a four-year-old and you'll see.

And there's a lot of truth to that, I think.

So the phrase comes from a scientist named Mark Soames, who is a neuroscientist and a psychoanalyst in South Africa.

And he's written a really interesting book called The Hidden Spring.

And his theory is that consciousness arises when...