"I Don't Have to Seek Anymore"
A conversation with Martijn Schirp on poker, bankruptcy, intergenerational trauma, and the path between Buddhism and psychedelics
Martijn Schirp is the person who changed my life with a Reddit message nearly a decade ago. That message led to us co-founding HighExistence together, running transformational retreats in Costa Rica, and years of friendship.
Since then, he’s lived several lifetimes:
Professional poker player (102nd at the World Series of Poker Main Event)
A crisis of meaning in Vegas that led him to a Buddhist monastery in Nepal
Co-founder of Synthesis—one of the first legal psilocybin retreat centers in the world
Watched it collapse in 2023, leaving hundreds of students in limbo
Years of recovery, working with soil and animals on a farm in Portugal
Now he’s back with something new.
We hadn’t spoken in depth in years. When we finally sat down for this conversation, I was struck by how different he seemed. At one point he told me:
“I feel like I don’t have to seek anymore. I think I’ve found it. Now it’s more a question of deepening.”
Coming from someone I’ve known as a perpetual seeker, that stopped me.
In this conversation, we discuss:
The intergenerational trauma he discovered through ayahuasca (tracing back to his grandfather in a German orphanage during WWII)
What actually went wrong at Synthesis—and what he learned
Why he believes “the container is the medicine”
The Buddhist answer to whether psychedelics violate the Fifth Precept
Why peak experiences aren’t enough
His new 12-month program merging Buddhist training with psychedelic practice
I’m joining this program myself—not as promotion, but because I’ve seen how thoroughly Martijn creates things, and I want to deepen my own practice.
🎧 Listen to the episode here:
Psychedelics and Buddhism: Why Peak Experiences Aren’t Enough (with Martijn Schirp)
If you’ve had meaningful psychedelic experiences but feel stuck, or you’re a meditator curious about how these paths converge, I think you’ll find this one valuable.
Jon