This paper applies the Free Energy Principle (FEP) to propose that the lack of action in response to climate change should be considered a maladaptive symptom of human activity that we refer to as biophilia deficiency syndrome. The paper is organised into four parts: the characterisation of the natural world under the Gaia Hypothesis, the employment of the FEP as a description of the behaviour of self-organising systems, the application of the FEP to Gaia to understand coupling dynamics between living systems and purportedly non-living planetary processes, and the offering of positive interventions for addressing the current state of ecological crisis under this framework. For the latter, we emphasise the importance of perturbing stuck states for healthy development, and the necessary appreciation of life existing as nested systems at multiple levels in a hierarchy. We propose the development of human biophilia virtue in accordance with the FEP as a practical intervention for treating biophilia deficiency syndrome and helping to safeguard the balance of planetary processes and the integrity of living systems that depend on them, offering some examples of what this might look like in practice. Overall, this paper provides novel insights into how to catalyse meaningful ecological change, proposing a deliberate and disruptive approach to addressing the dysfunctional relationship between humans and the rest of the natural world.

Recent research on serotonergic psychedelics has reported enhancement of emotional responses to music, an effect that might prove relevant in the development of psychedelic-assisted therapy. Currently, little is known about the underlying mechanisms of this effect, especially how specific it is to psychedelics. Here, we use flicker light stimulation (FLS) as an alternative, non-pharmacological method to induce altered states of consciousness, and test to what degree this might also enhance the emotional response to music. Our study protocol was designed to resemble a previous study on the effects of LSD as closely as possible, to allow direct comparison of effect sizes. Twenty participants listened to emotionally evocative music in two sessions – with and without FLS – and reported on their emotional response to the music. Our sample reported similar baseline responses to participants in the original study. FLS showed a significant enhancing effect on reported music-evoked emotion of approximately half the effect-size of LSD. Additionally, we found that the experienced intensity of FLS and the prevalence of complex imagery correlated with reports of higher levels of emotional arousal. These findings suggest that visual effects are involved in the enhancement of music-evoked emotion, and motivate further exploration of non-pharmacological methods such as FLS, in line with the diverse use of altered states of consciousness to support therapeutic approaches.

Recent research on serotonergic psychedelics has reported enhancement of emotional responses to music, an effect that might prove relevant in the development of psychedelic-assisted therapy. Currently, little is known about the underlying mechanisms of this effect, especially how specific it is to psychedelics. Here, we use flicker light stimulation (FLS) as an alternative, non-pharmacological method to induce altered states of consciousness, and test to what degree this might also enhance the emotional response to music. Our study protocol was designed to resemble a previous study on the effects of LSD as closely as possible, to allow direct comparison of effect sizes. Twenty participants listened to emotionally evocative music in two sessions – with and without FLS – and reported on their emotional response to the music. Our sample reported similar baseline responses to participants in the original study. FLS showed a significant enhancing effect on reported music-evoked emotion of approximately half the effect-size of LSD. Additionally, we found that the experienced intensity of FLS and the prevalence of complex imagery correlated with reports of higher levels of emotional arousal. These findings suggest that visual effects are involved in the enhancement of music-evoked emotion, and motivate further exploration of non-pharmacological methods such as FLS, in line with the diverse use of altered states of consciousness to support therapeutic approaches.

This paper applies the Free Energy Principle (FEP) to propose that the lack of action in response to the global ecological crisis should be considered a maladaptive symptom of human activity that we refer to as biophilia deficiency syndrome. The paper is organised into four parts: the characterisation of the natural world under the Gaia Hypothesis, the employment of the FEP as a description of the behavior of self-organising systems, the application of the FEP to Gaia to understand coupling dynamics between living systems and purportedly non-living planetary processes, and the offering of positive interventions for addressing the current state of ecological crisis under this framework. For the latter, we emphasize the importance of perturbing stuck states for healthy development, and the necessary appreciation of life existing as nested systems at multiple levels in a hierarchy. We propose the development of human biophilia virtue in accordance with the FEP as a practical intervention for treating biophilia deficiency syndrome and helping to safeguard the balance of planetary processes and the integrity of living systems that depend on them, offering some examples of what this might look like in practice. Overall, this paper provides novel insights into how to catalyse meaningful ecological change, proposing a deliberate and disruptive approach to addressing the dysfunctional relationship between humans and the rest of the natural world.