But I think in the future we should explore more of these altered states, because I think it's going to be a great source of creativity since it's so underexplored.
The "western world" may paint a certain picture in its most formal self-depictions, but it doesn't take much looking to find the folk depictions of both drugs and extreme physical practices in the productive lives and the "best and brightest". And if you know enough people in those circles yourself, you knkw what's going on.
The dam broke open on those stories in the 1960's but you can find more or less them coded in the cinema, radio, and literary tales from long before that.