Classic psychedelic compounds — a group that includes psilocybin, LSD, DMT and mescaline — induce profound alterations in perception, cognition and emotion. These substances have captured scientific and clinical attention, partly because guided treatment with psychedelics can provide rapid and long-lasting relief for people with certain psychiatric conditions, such as major depressive disorder¹. However, despite the promise that psychedelics show in the clinic, the neural mechanisms that link their acute effects to lasting therapeutic benefits are poorly understood. Human neuroimaging studies have consistently shown that psychedelics disrupt the brain’s intrinsic functional organization, producing a ‘desynchronized’ state². Writing in Nature, Stoliker et al.³ provide a compelling new perspective: rather than simply making brain activity noisier, psilocybin reorganizes neural dynamics in relation to a person’s surrounding world.