Sam Woolfe

Psychedelics and Mark Fisher's Theory of the Weird Psychedelic experiences can be weird – sometimes extremely weird. Yet, the notion of weirdness is often not the primary focus in the psychedelic renaissance or psychedelic culture. Instead, the focus ...

I wrote about how we can apply Mark Fisher's theory of 'the weird' to the many weird experiences that people have on psychedelics.

Deathcore and 'Torture Porn' Horror Films: Parallel Expressions of the 2000s Zeitgeist From around 2006 to 2008, in my ‘scene kid’ phase, I was listening to a lot of deathcore – a genre combining death metal with metalcore – as a lot of scene kids were. We wanted to hear breakdowns, gut...

An essay on why 'torture porn' horror films and deathcore bands became so popular in the 2000s.

Dealing With Apeirophobia Philosophically Apeirophobia – the fear of eternal life – is not a common phobia (it is considered extremely rare, although it’s true prevalence is unknown, as there is very little research on it), nor is it a common...

An essay on apeirophobia (the fear of an eternal afterlife) and how certain philosophical views may help address it.

Schopenhauer on the Danger of Excessive Solitude The German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer is well known for his defence of solitude; as he said, “A man can be himself only so long as he is alone; and if he does not love solitude, he will not love ...

New blog post.

I recently finished a new biography of #Schopenhauer from @davidbatherwoods.bsky.social (highly recommend). One part that stood out was Schopenhauer's warning about how excessive solitude can feed social anxiety.

#philosophy #mentalhealth

The Company of Strangers (1990, Cynthia Scott)

Images (1972, Robert Altman)

Blind Chance (1987, Krzysztof Kieślowski)

Once Were Warriors (1995, Lee Tamahori)

Aniara (2018, Pella Kågerman, Hugo Lilja)

Audition (1999, Takashi Miike)

Lilya 4-Ever (2002, Lukas Moodyson)

Cure (1997, Kiyoshi Kurosawa)

Stop Making Sense (1984, Jonathan Demme)

I watched 329 films in 2025. Here are my top 10 watches:

The Devils (1971, Ken Russell)

Master of Disgust: Inside the Body Horror Films of Brian Yuzna If Alfred Hitchcock is the ‘master of suspense’, then I think we can call filmmaker Brian Yuzna the ‘master of disgust’ (or at least, one of the masters in this subtype of horror). Born in 1949, the A...

An article I wrote on Brian Yuzna's amazing body horror films, including From Beyond (1986), Society (1989), and Silent Night, Deadly Night 4: Initiation (1990).

I also explore the question of why people enjoy films that trigger a negative emotion like disgust.

A brilliant new biography of #Schopenhauer from @davidbatherwoods.bsky.social

Altered Perspectives from Iff Books This collection of essays delves into some of the strangest and most profound aspects of the psychedelic experience, such as seeing the self as ...

More info about my book here:

Animism, the Supernatural, and Occam's Razor Parallels are often made between animism (the belief that spirits are everywhere) and panpsychism (the belief that consciousness/mind is everywhere). Indeed, under an animistic belief system, it is po...

A slightly modified excerpt from my book Altered Perspectives. It's taken from Chapter 7, 'On Plant Spirits and Psychedelic Teleology, Part I'.

I discuss whether animism violates Occam's razor, as well as the criticisms of Occam's razor and why animism isn't committed to the supernatural.

From the ChatGPT community on Reddit Explore this post and more from the ChatGPT community

The (current) tell-tale signs of AI-generated content.

Recently, I’ve been getting AI-generated emails about how someone’s read my book (they haven’t) and wants to help promote it. They’re full of these annoying turns of phrases and writing patterns.

Altered Perspectives - Sam Woolfe My first book, Altered Perspectives: Critical Essays on Psychedelic Consciousness, is available from major retailers worldwide. You can order it here. Summary This book consists of essays that are pri...

It's been one year since my book came out. Time flies.

Thanks to everyone who got a copy. If anyone would like a copy to review, feel free to send me a message.

The Potential Future of Designer Psychedelics One of the main motivations for creating designer psychedelics – or analogues of existing compounds – is to evade bans. LSD is illegal, so an analogue can be created (typically a purported prodrug of ...

I wrote about how psychedelic compounds in the future could be tweaked to offer people shorter or longer experiences, fewer side effects, and different subjective effects.

The Refuge of Dreams In an earlier post on remembering dreams, I described recalling some adventurous and awe-inspiring dreams I had in the past, which got me thinking about how I often feel that these sorts of dreams are...

My latest blog post is on the idea of dreams as refuge, as well as the different relationships between dreams and waking life.

The Jewish Contribution to Western Buddhism I’ve found it curious that many of the pioneers of Western Buddhism – those who brought Buddhism to the West and helped popularise it – are Jewish. Frank Descher details this phenomenon in his 2017 es...

"A third of all Western Buddhist leaders come from Jewish roots.” - Rodger Kamenetz, The Jew in the Lotus

In this blog post, I look at some possible reasons why so many of the key figures of Western #Buddhism come from a Jewish background.

The Portrayal of Depression in The Fire Within (Louis Malle, 1963) The Fire Within (1963) is a drama film written and directed by Louis Malle, which goes by the title Le Feu follet in French, meaning “The Manic Fire” or “Will-o’-the-Wisp”. It’s based on the 1931 nove...

You can read the essay on my blog.

I recently received the Blu-ray Collector's Edition of Louis Malle's 'The Fire Within' (1963), released by @umbrellaent.bsky.social. The booklet inside includes an essay I wrote on the film's portrayal of depression.

Really enjoyed the latest book by philosopher David Benatar, which is on 'quotidian #ethics', or the ethical issues we face in our everyday lives. The chapters I found the most interesting were the ones on sexual ethics, individual carbon footprints, bullshit, and forgiveness.

#philosophy #books

Elastic Minutes and Eternal Moments: How Psychedelics Alter the Perception of Time Time distortion is one of the classic effects of psychedelics (although I rarely see this mentioned as an expected effect of psychedelics on educational, retreat, and therapy sites). I think that time...

My latest blog post is on the heavenly and hellish sides of time distortion and timelessness that people experience on psychedelics.

The Potential Benefits of Psychedelics for Gay People Just as psychedelics can help straight people address issues of shame and depression, for reasons unrelated to sexuality, they can also be helpful for gay people in processing similar issues, but spec...

In my latest article for Numinous Ways, I look at how psychedelics can help enhance affirmation of sexual identity in the gay population, leading to improvements in mental health.

Tuesday Brunch: Four beliefs that cause bad trips and post-psychedelic difficulties (and just...suffering in general)

Definitely good mental health advice in general.

Sex, Masculinity, And Men’s Silent Struggle • States Of Mind Many men quietly carry anxiety and shame around sex and ideas of masculinity. It's time to update the conversation.

For #MensMentalHealthMonth, I wrote this article on men's relationship to sex and sexual dysfunction, and how it is often tied to unhealthy expectations around masculinity.