Sam Woolfe

Freelance writer and author of Altered Perspectives: Critical Essays on Psychedelic Consciousness (2024).

Editor for

[Sam Woolfe @samwoolfe]

My book in the wild. @HousmansBooks

#philosophy #books

[Sam Woolfe @samwoolfe]

Excited to share that Psychedelics Community is live – the new home for the Chemical Collective blog, which I've been managing for the past year.
https://t.co/qbFLOttWTp

[Sam Woolfe @samwoolfe]

My latest blog post is about how yoga nidra (or non-sleep deep rest) can induce hypnagogia: the trippy, transitional state between waking and sleeping. https://t.co/rXDf9lnN8c

[Sam Woolfe @samwoolfe]

I recently rewatched Arrival. Here, I explore the film's connection to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis in linguistics, the ontological turn in anthropology, Terence McKenna's DMT-inspired view of reality, and the tension between premonition and free will. https://t.co/tse8onVYJk

[Sam Woolfe @samwoolfe]

My latest blog post is on how cultural factors and cognitive biases may cause people to embellish memories of their psychedelic experiences.

I also explore the difficulty in knowing whether memory distortion has occurred. https://t.co/MgkmYPQxKa

[Sam Woolfe @samwoolfe]

In this blog post, I look at what anemoia (nostalgia for an era one didn't live through) can reveal about identity and culture – how it influences trends like the Y2K aesthetic, the resurgence of 90s and 2000s-style music, the manosphere, and tradwives. https://t.co/tJmWHuDhes

[Sam Woolfe @samwoolfe]

An article I wrote about the recurrence of car crash imagery in emo music – in track titles, lyrics, and music videos. I look at how this trend harks back to the 'teen tragedy songs' of the 50s and 60s. I also include a list of tracks featuring this theme. https://t.co/5HQ2mqyD3e

[Sam Woolfe @samwoolfe]

An article on my relationship to writing, and why thinking of writing in an atelic (non-goal-oriented) way can make it a more fulfilling practice. https://t.co/MOr9c4gOGW

[Sam Woolfe @samwoolfe]

Philosopher Timothy J. Pawl on why we need to rediscover the older meaning (and virtue) of meekness. https://t.co/WUPBFJAQAe

[Sam Woolfe @samwoolfe]

An article on the connections between Jung's ideas and New Age culture. https://t.co/dS1Yn9h0ZT

[Sam Woolfe @samwoolfe]

Em dashes and semicolons (more so em dashes) have become associated with AI content nowadays, to the extent that writers avoid them or worry about using them. In this article, I argue why this is a loss to human writing and should be resisted. https://t.co/3dbfFtzklV

[Sam Woolfe @samwoolfe]

Some research has found that, for many people, psychedelics increase rather than decrease death anxiety.

In my latest blog post, I look at whether a triggering of apeirophobia (a fear of eternity or eternal life) may be one reason for this. https://t.co/IkDpHguUiG

[Sam Woolfe @samwoolfe]

An essay on the films of Mike Leigh, one of my favourite directors.

I look at how Leigh portrays anxiety in Britain through his eccentric characters, in films such as Bleak Moments, Life is Sweet, Naked, and Career Girls. https://t.co/gzLJd1G4Iv

[Sam Woolfe @samwoolfe]

An excerpt from my book, published by @IAI_TV. It's taken from Chapter 9, where I apply Henri Bergson's theory of dèja vu to the intense feeling of familiarity that many people experience on DMT.

#philosophy #books #memory

[Ricky Williamson @RickyWilliamso]

Deja vu is weird. Excellent article by @samwoolfe on Bergson, time, and why we sometimes remember the present https://t.co/mRXheHqXy1

[Ricky Williamson @RickyWilliamso]

Deja vu is weird. Excellent article by @samwoolfe on Bergson, time, and why we sometimes remember the present https://t.co/mRXheHqXy1

[Sam Woolfe @samwoolfe]

I wrote about how we can apply Mark Fisher's theory of 'the weird' to the many weird experiences that people have on psychedelics. https://t.co/i9QXo7oY0Y

[Institute of Art and Ideas @IAI_TV]

Déjà vu is one of the most peculiar human experiences there is. | https://t.co/KDjblhVAC2

In this article, philosopher @samwoolfe draws on Henri Bergson’s work to argue déjà vu is the merging of the virtual and actual worlds.

[Sam Woolfe @samwoolfe]

An essay on why 'torture porn' horror films and deathcore bands became so popular in the 2000s. https://t.co/6csS9XWoS3

[Sam Woolfe @samwoolfe]

An essay on apeirophobia (the fear of an eternal afterlife) and how certain philosophical views may help address it. https://t.co/HBeKSmgbIq

[Sam Woolfe @samwoolfe]

New blog post.

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

#philosophy #mentalhealth https://t.co/nLns4jqzOk

[Sam Woolfe @samwoolfe]

The Company of Strangers (1990, Cynthia Scott)

[Sam Woolfe @samwoolfe]

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

The Devils (1971, Ken Russell)

[Sam Woolfe @samwoolfe]

Images (1972, Robert Altman)