Food Of The Gods

I want to welcome you to the Phoenix Bookstore.

I am Jeannie Brittingham Ersted.

I go by the name of She Who Remembers.

I do audio tapes for KPFK.

And I was thinking how I wanted to introduce Terrence.

I took my name, She Who Remembers, because of my love of history and the ancient.

And there was a wonderful book about the ancient Anasazi Indians called She Who Remembers.

Well, in Terrence's tribe, he's got to be He Who Remembers.

And I told my kids I was going to see a wonderful storyteller tonight.

So I'd like you to all help me in welcoming Terrence McKenna.

There are copies of Archaic Revivals here also.

Okay.

We'll wake up the world.

Well, it's a pleasure to be here.

If this is Friday, this must be Santa Monica.

It's sort of been that kind of a week.

I'm humbled and amazed to see so many people turned out for this.

And basically, I'm here to promote a new book of mine called Food of the Gods from Bantam.

And I understand that there are also here tonight copies of the Archaic Revival, which is technically not released yet.

So you can be well ahead of the curve if you get a copy of that.

Because I don't think it will be generally released for about three weeks.

So let me just say a little bit about this book that I've been working on for a couple of years.

And then we can talk about it for a half hour or so.

And then I'll sign copies for the hard core, so to speak.

What I wanted to do with this book, The Food of the Gods, was I wanted to set down in as careful and as well documented a fashion as possible

The argument for looking again at the impact of psychedelic plants on human evolution, on the emergence of all of the higher qualities that we associate with our own unique species out of simple animal organization.

And I wanted to do this not because I wanted to carry out some kind of academic criticism of the orthodox theory of evolution, although that was part of my intent.

But really because I felt that if we could change the way we think about how psychedelics were used in the past, it would change the way we think about these things in our present situation.

Many of you probably lived through a portion of the 1960s psychedelic revolution.

And their psychedelic plants and experiences and drugs were presented sort of as instantaneous psychotherapy.

There was not in the 1960s the awareness that these were not something new, these experiences and compounds.

But really what was being discovered was the world's oldest religion.

Religion as it was practiced during the first million years, before it was taken over by beady-eyed little priests with their shopping lists of moral commandments and prescriptions.

Basically, you see, there is a great mystery about human emergence out of animal organization.

The orthodox theory of evolution works very well for explaining how higher plants emerged out of simpler plant forms, how higher animals emerged from lower forms.

But the great unsolved mystery of evolution generally is located in our own peculiar story.

Because in less than a couple of million years, the human brain size doubled during the last three million years.

This has been called the most explosive development of the organ of a higher animal in the entire evolutionary record.

And so then the question becomes, you know, what was the cause?

What was the detonator?

What was the catalyst which literally revealed the presence of the human soul floating on a platform of primate organization?

And the case that I have made is, I think, very simple, very easy to understand and has deep implications for how we live our own lives today

and how we organize our societies today.

It's a very simple three-step process.

As the climaxed tropical rainforests of the cradle of humanity began to recede a million or so years ago in Africa,

which is the cradle of the human race,

our remote fruit-eating ancestors who were perfectly happy having achieved a kind of evolutionary equilibrium in the canopies of these tropical rainforests,

were forced down onto the grasslands in a situation of great evolutionary pressure.

They were having to learn new forms of locomotion, bipedalism,

a new way of coordinating the visual system, binocular vision,

and most importantly, they were coming under dietary pressure.

And one of the points that I make in my book very strongly is that orthodox thinking about evolution

has never admitted the importance of diet into thinking about evolution.

We all know that evolution proceeds through random mutation,

which then meets a force called natural selection.

But usually, random mutation is presented as something which is to be traced back to cosmic rays

and radiation present in the environment.

Certainly, this is one of the inputs into the process of mutation.

But you see, when an animal or a human being suddenly expands their diet,

suddenly begins to eat foods and experiment with foods that they have never experimented with before,

these foods, these plants, contain all kinds of exotic chemicals.

Natural insecticides, agents that cause these plants to taste very bitter so that animals will reject them as food.

And these chemicals are mutagenic agents.

So diet, a sudden shift in diet, exposes a population to many more mutagenic influences than it was facing previously.

This happened to our proto-ancestors.

And as they began testing new foods in the grassland environment of the African veldt,

they came upon psilocybin-containing mushrooms,

which were growing in the dung of wild forms of cattle,

which were also evolving in this new grassland environment.

Well, now, the key or one of the pivotal concepts in my notion is related to the fact

that psilocybin actually, in very low doses, increases visual acuity.

Edge detection and a kind of visual clarity

is an affect of very low doses of psilocybin.

The equivalent, in fact, of having a plant in the environment

which confers chemical binoculars on its user.

Well, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to see

that if there's a plant which gives better vision

and there's a hunting and gathering animal

in the proximity of that plant

that the animals that admit that plant into their diet

will be more successful hunters,

more successful gatherers.

They will obtain an expanded food supply for their offspring

and they will tend to outbreed

the non-psilocybin-using members of the population.

Now, at slightly higher doses,

psilocybin, like all CMS stimulants,

causes what pharmacologists and medical people call arousal.

This simply means a kind of undirected restlessness,

a state of high alertness, restlessness, pacing,

and in a highly sexed species like ourselves,

it means erection in the male

and subsequent sexual activity.

This is a second factor, then,

which would promote the outbreeding

of the non-psilocybin-using members

of the population, you see,

because the psilocybin-using members of the population

have an expanded food supply,

more sex, more offspring.

Naturally, they will tend to push out

other members of the group.

Well, then, finally,

at the psychedelic dose level

of these mushrooms,

you get a very important quality.

In fact, the centrally important quality

for my argument,

which any of you who have ever taken these things

have experienced yourselves,

and that's what I call boundary dissolution.

And here's the notion in a nutshell.

When you look back through the primate phylogeny,

clear back to the primitive primates,

the squirrel monkeys and those sorts of animals,

there are always what are called

male dominance hierarchies.

There's an alpha male animal

who, through brute force, usually,

takes the most desirable females under his command

and sets his male lieutenants

over the rest of the females.

And this is how these monkey societies

order themselves.

Well, because psilocybin is a boundary-dissolving

halucinogen,

and because the essence of ego consciousness,

which is necessary for these boundary hierarchies,

for these dominance hierarchies,

the essence of ego is boundary definition.

So, what I'm actually suggesting in this book

is that we self-medicated ourselves

into a state of gender equality

and partnership,

consciously or unconsciously,

by allowing this item in our diet

which suppressed ego

and hence suppressed male dominance hierarchies.

And so, the ordinary momentum

of primate evolution

was interrupted.

And for a period of about,

who knows, pick a number,

somewhere between 15,000 and 50,000 years,

ending about 10,000 years ago,

we actually lived in a kind of paradise

where human beings were at equilibrium

and in balance with the earth,

where men and women

were in balance with each other.

And I should have mentioned

this sexual arousal

which went along with the mushroom taking

promoted a style of orgy.

Probably at festivals

which were lunar,

at the new and full moon,

everybody basically just

jumped each other's bones

in a big heap.

And the social consequence

of orgy

as a social style

is that it makes it impossible

for men

to trace lines of male paternity.

This is very important.

There is, in a society

which practices orgy,

no concept for men

of my children.

There is only the concept

of our children,

meaning the tribe,

the group.

So, male loyalty

goes toward the group.

And this is very important

because once men

discovered male paternity,

they discovered

ownership of

hunting grounds,

food supplies,

women,

you name it.

And it tended to feed back

into the formation

of the ego structure.

Well,

and so I believe that really

that was the golden age

of humanity

that we all

long for

and have a great

poignancy for

that has even been called

the nostalgia

for paradise.

I believe we have

this nostalgia

for paradise

because we are the victims

of a fall.

You see,

what happened

was this

African grassland

environment

which was necessary

for the

ecology of the

mushrooms

and therefore

necessary

to maintain

this partnership

paradise,

eventually it all

dried up.

The Sahara

turned to desert.

These people

were forced

out of Africa

into the ancient

Middle East

and we fell

into history

and this is the moment

at which agriculture

was invented.

Agriculture,

because you have to

stay in one place

and tend the crops

and defend the surplus

of these successful

agricultural efforts,

means the end

to nomadism.

It means

the birth of cities.

It means

the creation

through surpluses

of classes

of those who have

and those who have not.

It promotes kingship.

It creates the need

for standing armies.

You can tell

the drift here.

All the institutions

that we associate

with male oppression,

with hierarchy,

with dominance

come into play

at that point.

So,

I don't want to

spend too much

time on this,

but just in a nutshell,

that situation

is the situation

in which we were

born

and came to

consciousness.

The paradisical

situation

of gender

partnership

that then

dissolved,

it was really

a return back

to the earlier

primate style

of male dominance

and hierarchy

when the mushroom

was no longer

available.

We returned

to our old

monkey ways

and we have been

practicing

those monkey ways

ever since,

even as we reach

toward the sequencing

of the human genome,

the exploration

of the solar system,

the exploration

of the heart

of matter.

Nevertheless,

we do it

from a psychologically

damaged

perspective.

Now,

the question

of drugs.

Why,

as a species,

are we so

obsessed

and so

addictable

to so many

things?

There are a few

animals who will

break into a

compound for

fermented fruit

or something

like that,

but we addict

to dozens

of substances

and behaviors.

Well,

I believe

that you can

make an analogy

to a person

who was

abused

or traumatized

as a child.

The entirety

of human

history

has been

acted out

in the light

of the

traumatic

severing

of our

connection

into the

Gaian

mother goddess

planetary

matrix

of organic

wholeness

that was

the centerpiece

of the

psychedelic

experience

back

in the

high

paleolithic.

In other

words,

the world

of hallucination

and vision

that

psilocybin

carries you

into

is not

your private

unconscious

or the

architecture

of your

neural

programming,

but it

is in

fact

a kind

of

intellect

a kind

of being

a kind

of

Gaian

mind

for

paleolithic

human beings

it was

the great

goddess.

Once you

sever

from this

matrix

of meaning

what James

Joyce

called

the

mama

matrix

most

mysterious

once you

sever yourself

from that

then you have

nothing but

rationalism

ego

and male

dominance

to guide

you

and that's

what has

led us

into the

nightmarish

labyrinth

of technical

civilization

overpopulation

classism

racism

sexism

propaganda

so forth

and so on

all the ills

of modernity

so I wrote

this book

making this

argument

because I

believe

that if we

could

import

into

straight society

almost

as a

Trojan

horse

the idea

that these

psychedelic

compounds

and plants

are not

aberrational

they are not

pathological

they are not

some minor

subset

of the human

possibility

that only

freaks and

weirdos

become involved

with

but rather

they are

in fact

the catalyst

that called

forth

humanness

out of

animal

nature

if we

could

entertain

this

as a

possibility

it would

change

the way

we think

about

so called

primitive

societies

shamanism

the

psychedelic

experience

society's

efforts

to control

and eradicate

these

substances

and I

believe

that we

are really

in a race

on this

planet

now

between

education

and disaster

and it

is the

momentum

of the

ego

that

threatens

to shove

us over

the cliff

into

Armageddon

famine

over

population

you can

kiss

goodbye

to

democratic

values

we are

all going

to live

in an

Orwellian

anthill

if we

don't

what

change

our

minds

we have

to change

our minds

on a

dime

I'm not

talking about

a 500

year

program

to

slowly

straighten

things

out

we have

I believe

less than

30 years

to come

to terms

with

the

dissolving

ozone

hole

the

toxification

of the

oceans

the

greenhouse

effect

the

spread

of

epidemic

disease

the

rise

of

fascism

the

relentless

efforts

of the

free

marketeers

to deal

product

in every

corner

of the

planet

we

must

change

our

minds

and

what

we

have

to

do

is

have

recourse

to

these

same

shamanic

plants

and

shamanic

practices

that

allowed

our

remote

ancestors

to

come

to

terms

with

the

mystery

of

being

and

their

situation

on

this

planet

vis-a-vis

the rest

of

nature

so

I

think

it's

very

important

at

this

time

to

make

this

argument

as

clearly

as

possible

to

launch

the

idea

into

society

and

let

argument

and

debate

rage

now

you

may

think

that

I'm

proposing

blowing

up

some

already

existing

edifice

of

theory

about

how

human

beings

came

this

is

not

the

case

as

a

matter

of

fact

orthodox

anthropology

hasn't

a

clue

we

are

the

fly

in

the

soup

of

natural

sciences

explanation

of the

evolution

of

species

it's

easy

to

understand

how

one

kind

of

hummingbird

emerges

from

another

it's

not

can

emerge

out

of

creatures

who

hunt

ants

by

sticking

grass

stems

down

their

holes

you

know

we

represent

some

kind

of

primary

break

with

nature

at

the

animal

level

and

I

believe

it's

because

we

have

a

symbiotic

relationship

with

all

of

nature

we

have

been

carried

along

for

a

thousand

generations

without

really

being

called

into

use

but

now

is

the

time

if

we

really

believe

that

these

things

expand

consciousness

then

we

terminal

crisis

not only

for us

as a

species

but

for

every

living

thing

on

this

planet

and

I

think

the

psychedelic

experience

is

as

much

a

part

of

being

alive

as

sexuality

language

the

things

which

fulfill

us

and

give

meaning

to

the

and

impossible

to

assimilate

if we

don't

place

the

capstone

on

the

edifice

of

our

being

in

the

world

and

the

capstone

on

that

edifice

is

our

right

our

obligation

and

the

privilege

of

dissolving

our

ordinary

ego

boundaries

and

merging

with

the

mind

and

purpose

of

the

planet

and

this

is

what

I

trying

to

say

in

the

book

and

this

is

what

I

hope

I'm

able

to

communicate

to

you

this

evening

thank

you

very

much

okay

the

first

one

if

you

were

in

jail

years

ago

and

you

had

to

choose

between

Finnegan's

Wake

and

McLuhan

books

or

any

drug

which

would

you

choose

how

about

today

has

something

happened

in 20

years

that

should

make

these

different

choices

well

I

think

I

would

choose

I

think

I

would

probably

choose

I'm

in prison

right

yeah

you can

either

read or

get high

well in spite of

the flash of

something like

psilocybin in all

honesty if that

were the choice

I think I'd

choose

cannabis

after all

cannabis is

sort of the

staff of

life

the way

I do

psychedelics

is

rarely

and at

high

doses

because

I really

think you

shouldn't

fiddle with

these things

or grow

too

blasé

in their

presence

but

cannabis

is

sort of

the

bridge

between

ordinary

reality

and the

extremely

intense

psychedelics

well that

leads right

into this

question

what do

you know

about the

ancient

history

of

hemp

well probably

a lot less

than a number

of people

in this

room

hemp

is probably

one of the

world's

oldest

cultivated

plants

possibly

the world's

oldest

cultivated

plant

and one

of the

interesting

things about

hemp

which I

discuss

in the

food of

the

gods

is

the way

in which

words

you know

hemp was

always a

source of

fiber

as well

as

drugs

and

it's very

interesting

to me

the way

the words

for

narrative

are also

words

associated

with

weaving

so that

we

spin a

yarn

lies

are made

of whole

cloth

we

untangle

a

story

we

follow

the

thread

of

narrative

you

see

I

think

I

call

the

chapter

on

cannabis

in

my

book

the

ballad

of

the

dreaming

weavers

I

think

the

wonderful

thing

about

these

psychoactive

substances

is that

they inspire

us to

communicate

with each

other

you know

there are

couples

who

very little

passes

between

them

verbally

and if

you

were to

hear

probably

a

recording

of

your

own

daily

exchanges

with

the

people

around

you

it

tends

to

get

down

to

the

very

mundane

and

minimal

you

have

to

sort

of

stimulate

yourself

for

to

For there to be a flood of intentionalized verbal communication.

And this is what melts barriers between people.

I mean, communication is real.

It allows one mind to flow into another.

It allows viewpoints to leap from one soul to another.

I didn't talk about it in my little remarks at the beginning.

But I really believe that psilocybin and its cousins were probably responsible for the emergence of language.

That this, if you wanted to look for the thumbprint of the goddess on being,

the phenomenon to look at is human language.

Notice that it's a behavior.

If someone is keeping their mouth shut, you can't tell whether they're a verbal person or not.

But once someone starts to talk, it's the most extraordinary kind of human behavior.

It's that thoughts are downloaded into a symbolic notation composed of little mouth noises,

which then fail across acoustical space and are reconstructed in the brain of the listener

so that these thoughts are magically reconstructed in the brain of the listener.

We take this for granted, but when you analyze it, it's an extraordinarily mysterious,

almost, you could say, supernatural power, which we all exercise all the time.

And I believe that this is something which these psychedelics kick-started

in the neural architecture of our remote ancestors.

And what I would urge you to do is, if you think you're a sophisticate,

buy a scale and weigh the dose that you've been calling good enough.

It may stand your hair on end, because there are a lot of people running around

who think they know what the psychedelic experience is about,

who have only scuffed their feet on the doorstop, you know,

haven't even entered into the atrium, let alone explored the cellar, the attic,

and the basement of these places.

Are there any legal plants that you are aware of that contain DMT?

Oh, yeah.

There are a number of plants that contain DMT.

The problem is to find one that contains enough that it's worth your while

to try and do something with it.

Currently, the hot one on that grocery list is a plant called Desmanthus

Illinoisensis, the Illinois bundleweed.

It's interesting that it's called bundleweed,

because there's no history of human usage.

But as many of you probably know,

a bundle is what a Plains Indian shaman calls his mojo bag.

So the fact that it's called bundleweed is fairly suggestive.

The outer bark of the roots of that plant contain a very hefty hit of DMT,

and you can order it from various exotic plant companies and can experiment with it.

DMT has to be smoked.

If you take it orally, it will be destroyed by an enzyme in your intestines.

So it has to be smoked in most situations.

At the end of your book, Psilocybin Magic Mushroom Grower's Guide,

there is an ad for ordering Cubensis spores.

It says,

Voidware prohibited, California.

How can we order them in California?

Well, I guess you have to have a friend with a post office box out of California.

If you're wondering why California is the only state in the Union

that has made psilocybin spores illegal,

because you see the spores contain no psilocybin.

It isn't illegal because it contains psilocybin.

It's illegal because you can grow mushrooms from it.

It's because there was a clown a few years ago.

Maybe he's still around.

This guy, Ken Matty.

And he was defeated in the Republican primary for governor a few years ago.

He was defeated because he admitted that he, years ago, had had a puff of marijuana.

And so after his defeat in the Republican primary,

he went to his staff and said,

I've got to get some anti-drug legislation associated with my name.

See what you can come up with.

And the best they could come up with was a pissant bill

to make mushroom spores illegal.

So we all have the privilege of living in the only state in the Union

that has seen fit to guard you from this hideous menace.

If hallucinogenics cause mutations in the consciousness in the past,

do you think they are doing so in the present?

And if so, or if not, what do you see as the future of consciousness?

Well, you know, the human physical form

seems to have stabilized about 50,000 years ago,

right around the time that language began to emerge

and culture began to take hold.

And it's thought that once you possess language and culture,

then change, mutation, is transferred into the cultural domain.

That's why we haven't changed physically very much in the last 50,000 years,

but our cultural changes have just been lightning fast.

I mean, we have fashions which don't even last six months

before we move on to the next one.

I think that the way I think about these psychedelics

is that they are like catalysts for the imagination.

And what that means specifically is they are catalysts for language.

Language is somehow the new body of mankind.

And so what we have to do is change our language.

And those some of you who lived through the 1960s

probably know that the major legacy of the LSD era

still with us

is that it empowered certain shifts in language,

certain concepts

that previously couldn't even be articulated.

I mean, these things come in for a lot of

being sneered at by straight people.

But nevertheless, notions such as

the vibe of a situation

or ego tripping

or laying a guilt trip

on somebody.

I can remember, in most cases,

the very first time I ever heard each of these phrases

and how it was like something clicks in your mind.

You say, I don't understand what this person means.

And they say, oh, they mean something

that I never before knew how to indicate.

And then you try it out

and use it yourself.

We cannot evolve

any faster than we evolve our language

because you cannot go to places

that you cannot describe.

So somehow,

the description comes first.

The compass needle must be set

on a linguistic goal.

And then the culture can be steered

in that direction.

And I think that part of the way I see my book

is I'm introducing new linguistic models

for reality and human evolution.

And if they are good models,

I believe ideas are just like animals.

They compete in an environment

of natural selection.

The good ideas,

the swift and strong and clean ideas

will triumph over the slow,

the muddled and the incomplete.

And so if we can articulate

our devotion to the psychedelic experience,

if we can articulate its importance

and its transformative power,

then we will eventually be able

to place it on the social agenda

and then we will be heard.

But not if we don't articulate our intent.

What role does ayahuasca play

in our planetary and human evolution?

How does ayahuasca compare

with other hallucinogens

such as mushrooms and peyote?

Well, for those of you

who aren't familiar with ayahuasca,

this is a combinatory hallucinogenic beverage

that is in use in a wide area

over in the upper Amazon basin

and now it's spread down into Brazil.

There are a number of interesting things

about ayahuasca.

On one level,

what's interesting about it

is that there is nothing in it

that is not in the brain

of each one of you

as you sit here.

It is, in a sense,

not a drug at all,

but a neurotransmitter cocktail.

And this is very suggestive, you see,

because it means that

natural brain chemistry

is very close to being

some kind of hallucinogenic trip.

The other thing that's interesting

about ayahuasca

is that in the Amazon basin

where it's been used

for thousands of years,

the people get together

in small groups at night

in dark places

and they sing.

They get loaded and they sing.

And then when you sit with these people

and listen to them

discuss their experiences,

they talk about these songs

not as though they were

musical performances,

but as though they were

pictorial creations of some sort.

In other words,

someone will say

of a song,

I like the part

with the silky gray stripes

and the yellow dots,

but when you got off

into that thing

that was like camouflage

only in pink and violet,

I didn't like that.

I think,

you know,

my God,

what's going on here?

Well,

what's going on is

that this slight shift

in ratios of neurotransmitters

allows sound,

sound to be beheld.

This is the nature

of this experience.

So these people

sing these songs,

but the recipient

of this theatrical performance

sees a kind of sculptural modality

come into being.

Well,

if you can see

what someone else is seeing,

if you can have

someone else's point of view,

in a very real sense,

you are that person.

You know,

we say

to stand in somebody else's shoes

means to be them.

So a naive person,

or at least I thought,

in thinking about telepathy

before I went to the Amazon,

that telepathy would be

hearing somebody else think.

That's not what telepathy is.

Telepathy is seeing

what somebody else means.

And this is very,

very close to the surface in us.

It's no strain for me

to imagine

knowing what's in ayahuasca

and what's in the human brain

to see human brain chemistry

as essentially poised

just a one or two gene mutation away

from a shift in brain chemistry

that would cause language

to become visible.

You know,

there's this tradition

of a magical lost language

of perfect poetry.

It's said that

the ancient Irish

and other aboriginal peoples

possessed a poetic language

so powerful

that to hear these poets perform

was to literally be swept

into the worlds

of their recitation.

I think what that is

is that we hover very close

to being able to cross

the transition

from audially processing

incoming linguistic signals

to being able

to visually process them.

And when you can visually process

someone's linguistic intent,

you are much more

in tune with them,

much more intimately involved

in their meaning

than if you simply hear

what they say.

And that really,

for me,

is what I think

these psychedelics are doing.

They are clarifying,

catalyzing,

densifying language

and therefore the connections

that hold us together

and therefore the connections

that hold our world together

and make reality

make whatever sense

it does make.

What is the state

of the legality

of importing,

possessing,

and taking ayahuasca?

It's in a limbo.

There was a Brazilian cult

called Santo Daime

that was holding

ayahuasca sessions

in the Boston area

and they had

a load

of ayahuasca

come through customs

that was stopped

and the guy

who went

to pick it up

spent a night

in jail

but when it was

all sorted out

a judge

took a look at it

and basically

since nobody knew

what it even was

they were given

a slap on the wrist

and told

not to do it anymore

so it is in a

it is in a kind

of legal limbo

DMT

which is what

makes ayahuasca go

is a schedule one drug

it's in that hardest

of hard drug categories

where they put

all the psychedelics

heroin

and very little else

not even cocaine

the definition

of schedule one

is no medical

application

under any circumstances

and cocaine

is used

in certain kinds

of eye

and throat

operations

so it has

a medical

application

drugs like

psilocybin

and DMT

were made

illegal

in 1966

and 67

without

any scientific

evidence

being offered

that there was

anything wrong

with these things

without any

record of

emergency room

admissions

or any medical

problem whatsoever

it's possible

if someone had

sufficient energy

and money

that

these cases

these matters

could be raised

again

with the law

and they would

have to show

why these things

should be illegal

it was basically

a moment

of general

social panic

brought on

by LSD

hysteria

you know

it's Tim Leary

I give him

credit for this

although he always

tells me

he can't remember

saying it

but I believe

that Tim Leary

once said

LSD

is a drug

capable

of causing

psychotic

behavior

in people

who have not

taken it

this is what

happened

in the 1960s

a whole bunch

of people

were driven

psychotic

by not

taking LSD

and they

made it

illegal

how do we

translate

these ideas

politically

I'm active

with the

Green Party

how do we

change people's

minds

how do we

translate

these things

politically

well

one way

is by

coming out

of the

closet

I mean

if you

look around

you

we look

pretty much

like

everybody else

walking around

on the

street

we've

self-selected

to be here

tonight

because of

our interest

in this

subject

but in

the same

way

that

black people

had to get

their act

together

gay people

had to get

you get

no respect

in this

society

unless you

stand up

for what

you believe

in

and too

many of

us have

been

hounded

into silence

and paranoia

on this

psychedelic

issue

I mean

the just

say no

mentality

and the

oh how

could you

approach

to

people

who take

psychedelics

I think

we have

to

be a

little

more

strident

a little

more

visible

and then

paradoxically

we have

to deepen

our own

commitment

to these

things

by striving

for

ever more

heroic

doses

ever deeper

penetration

into the

mystery

so that

will both

strengthen

our social

core

and then

our

willingness

to be

forthright

about what

we stand

for and

believe in

will bring

other people

into this

one of the

most satisfying

experiences

that I

have as

a public

person

is when

after giving

some kind

of a talk

somebody will

come up to

me afterwards

and say

I thought

I was

crazy

until I

heard you

talk

and now

I realize

there are

at least

two of

us

things that

we are

talking

about

are

real

it ain't

pathology

it ain't

hallucination

or delusion

or social

irresponsibility

or all this

other malarkey

it's the

lost

continent

the lost

other half

of the

human mind

and as

long as

we ignore

it

pretend

it doesn't

exist

or are

somehow

cowed

into keeping

shut up

about it

then we

are

infantile

we accept

the kind

of big

brother

umbrella

over our

reality

we should

be as

free to

discuss

this

talk about

it and

work it

out among

our

friends and

significant

other as

we do

our sexuality

or our

investment

portfolios

or our

vacation

plans

it's just

part of

being a

human

being

many of

you I'm

sure

have heard

me say

to go

from birth

to the

grave

without

having a

psychedelic

experience

is to

me as

creepy a

notion

as to

go from

birth to

the grave

without

ever having

a sexual

experience

it means

you led

a life

of self

chosen

infantilism

and ignorance

and that's

not what

life is

for

life is

some

kind

of

moment

suspended

between

eternities

in which

you may

have a

real

opportunity

to get

your shit

together

and figure

out what's

going on

but if

you run

around

saying

not that

experience

and god

forbid

that

experience

and I

don't want

to go

there

well then

they'll just

plant you

and lower

your box

and you'll

be another

person who

never quite

got their

act together

this is

not what

we're

striving

for

we want

life to

be as

rich

deep

complete

high

as

possible

do it

maybe you

just answered

this one

what are

the things

that give

meaning

to the

human

experience

sex

drugs

and rock

and roll

and higher

mathematics

do you

think

hallucinogenics

should be

used for

initiating

young people

into adulthood

well

you mean

like some

kind of

initiation

into puberty

as in

aboriginal

societies

I think

one of the

things that

we can do

is get

straight with

our children

about this

and one of

the most

to me

disappointing

I don't know

if disappointing

is the word

but anyway

it's very

bad to

encounter

hip people

who say

you know

gee we'd

like to

twist up

a bomber

and get

you loaded

can you

wait till

the kids

are in

bed

in other

words

these people

are living

some kind

of

schizophrenic

existence

they can't

get straight

with their

own children

about

their

relationship

to

consciousness

alteration

and

I think

that what

we need

to do

is be

able to

be proud

enough

and forthright

enough

about what

we're doing

to hand

this stuff

on to our

children

in a

responsible

manner

it's far

better

to get

your kids

familiar

and able

to navigate

with something

like cannabis

than to

turn them

loose

in the

world

of high

density

media

images

alcoholism

speed

tobacco

so forth

and so

on

if we

can bring

our

children

up

in

an

acceptance

and a

sense of

being

comfortable

with these

dimensions

then we

really have

performed

a great

service

I dare

say

there are

probably

only a

handful

of us

in this

room

who learned

about

psychedelics

from an

exemplary

set of

parents

I certainly

didn't

and imagine

what a

difference

it would

have made

so this is

something we

can do

for our

children

as to

what age

under what

conditions

this has

to do

with your

style

your kids

style

so forth

and so

on

but as

long as

we're so

guilt riddled

and off

balance on

this issue

that we

can't even

admit to

our kids

what we're

doing

I think

the

establishment

is going

to have

us right

where it

wants us

one more

I have a

trellis of

heavenly blue

morning glories

after harvesting

the seeds

what is the

recommended

dosage

and what

are the

expected

effects

of a

therapeutic

dose

thank you

the first

psychedelic

that I ever

took was

heavenly blue

morning glories

I have a

soft spot

in the

bottom of

my stomach

for it

well what

what you do

is you

grow the

morning glories

and then

they will

form these

seed capsules

these little

tear-shaped

seed capsules

in the late

fall

cut down

the whole

morning glory

after these

seed capsules

have gotten

quite large

and then put

it in a

big brown

paper bag

and set it

somewhere where

the sun

can bake out

this bag

and usually

the little

seed capsules

will spring

open and

shed the

seeds

and you can

just pour

the seeds

out at the

bottom of the

bag

or if a few

don't get

loose

then you can

beat on the

sides of the

bag

and these

seed capsules

will break

open

you can

just pour

the seeds

out

now morning

glory seeds

do contain

a nematic

a sickening

agent called

estercumarone

and that's

going to cause

you some

nausea in

the first

hour

and what

you do is

you take

and now this

is a

committed dose

we're not

talking

you know

we're talking

this will

definitely

rivet your

full attention

take about

225 seeds

grind them

up

in a

coffee grinder

or something

like that

and I always

used to put

them into

a milkshake

or applesauce

because what

you end up

with is a

fairly daunting

a dauntingly

large pile

of kind of

crumbly

dry

bitter

evil

smelling

stuff

which you've

got to get

down

so put it

into some

some applesauce

or something

like that

and then

on an empty

stomach

in silent

darkness

or out

in nature

and this

is not

to be

underestimated

this is not

some kind

of gee

if only we

had the real

thing

kind of

strategy

this is

the real

thing

and

wonderful

hallucinations

of

in my

case

the

motifs

of the

Toltec

and Aztec

civilization

that actually

utilized

these things

which

raises

other

questions

we could

discuss

another

time

but

that's

a word

of caution

don't

go out

now

and buy

a bunch

of packages

of these

morning glory

seeds

and grind

them up

and take

them

because

these

weasels

who sell

these seeds

have

soaked

them all

in a

poison

they've

soaked

them in

a poison

a fungicide

it says

right on

them

not

for human

consumption

they're not

just

whistling

dixie

that's why

you have

to grow

your own

crop

to get

a clean

crop

of these

things

and then

you have

a ticket

to ride

thank you

very much

thank you

Sharon

I want to

thank the

Phoenix

bookstores