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Staring out to sea, Matthew “Murph” Murphy seemed to see himself for the first time. He’d found himself down on the beach after “a fucking terrible morning” on holiday with his family earlier this summer, truly taking in the enormity of his surroundings: nature’s unceasing ebb and flow, its timelessness and tranquility.
He had, right there, what he now calls a “mushroom-esque spiritual experience”. “It was a moment of complete awe, but also a shock,” he recalls. “There was this revelation that I had been living a life caught up in my own head, or in some kind of racing helmet or with blinkers on. It was really a potent experience. I felt like I saw everything new for the first time, and was aware that I had been so selfish to not take in how crazy the world and life is. I’d been caught up in my own BS for way too long.”
He found himself asking difficult questions. “Why are my head and body disconnected all the time? Why am I incapable at times of seeing any form of beauty in the world or in others? Why do I expect the world to conform to my will? Why do I never stop and smell the flowers?”