Well, it's a pleasure to be back with all of you.
I feel like this is the home parish, so to speak.
This seems to be the place where I see the most number of faces that I recognize.
So it's sort of like a family meeting.
The formal title of the lecture is Nature is the Center of the Mandala.
And this is really basically simply a structure to work off of,
to anticipate and discuss where nature lies in the future,
the cultural future that is unfolding in front of all of us.
And to background my thoughts on this matter a little bit,
I have always had a relationship to nature, which I pretty much took for granted.
But perhaps it was more intense and somewhat unique than most people's.
I grew up in a small town in Colorado.
I was very early into being a rock hound and then a butterfly collector.
I had no interest in stamps or baseball cards or anything like that.
It was always natural objects.
And the attraction of tropical butterflies was the exuberant expanse of color,
the affirmation of the patterned richness of the universe that seemed to be thrown out like a spark by these things.
And eventually I pursued it quite far and was for some time a professional butterfly collector
in tropical Indonesia, in a pre-Buddhist incarnation.
And this search for iridescence thrown off by nature,
seen first in the glint of metallic ore crystals,
and then in the colorful expanse of butterflies and then in tropical fish
reached a kind of apotheosis with the discovery of the psychedelic plant hallucinogens
where suddenly the color, the flash, the iridescence was not two- or three-dimensional,
but it was multidimensional.
It was inside one, outside one.
It was like the ultimate tropical aquarium,
the ultimate butterfly cabinet,
the ultimate mineral show.
And it led me to travel then
and to place the particular experience of nature in the wider context of place.
And I traveled in Indonesia, as I mentioned,
where because of glaciation
and the shallowness of the oceans,
evolution has been proceeding at different rates
on different islands relative to the depths of the separating channels.
So as you go from island to island in Indonesia,
it's like stepping into ten different bedrooms,
all by the same interior decorated,
but all slightly different,
different because of the context in which the evolution took place.
And these times spent,
and then, of course, there were the times in the Amazon,
which most of you have heard me lecture on,
where the pursuit of psychedelic plants was really in the forefront.
But I came to see nature as experienced,
meaning as it hits you when you walk around in it
and pick at it and carry it with you,
that this kind of nature had been read out
of the repertoire of images
that most people bring to bear on their reality.
And consequently, the reality is de-spirited.
The spirit resident in nature is not visible
when these mechanistic grids are laid over it,
sort of by a kind of anticipatory osmosis.
We called our company,
which has existed now ten years or more,
lux natura.
Lux natura means the light in nature.
The lux natura is the salvational radiance
that can be found in the organic kingdom.
It's a term of paracelsus.
And it has slipped from the grip of modern human beings,
except in special cases,
where it is cultivated as in a sensitivity
or where it is pursued
in the guise of an aspect of the psychedelic experience.
So what is nature?
And what's so great about it
that it should be the center of the mandala?
Well, it seems to me
that it is a psyche
in a way that has become occluded
by the perverse development of language
so that what we take
to be exterior to ourselves
and sustained by the laws of physics
which do not arise out of the human mind
is in fact not that at all,
but a kind of stratum of expectation
that has been laid down
by the human journey through time.
Now, granted, there are aspects of nature
which are not part of the human journey through time,
but they are occult
from our point of view.
They are not expressed
except perhaps through the demonic artifice
of an instrumentality.
And this has been the course
or the strategy of science
is to use an instrumentality
to reveal the mechanics
of the occult side of nature.
The problem is
that this occult side of nature
once explicated
does not yield
a satisfying reflection
of ourselves.
It yields instead
a very unflattering reflection of ourselves
if any at all.
So, you know,
in Hawaii,
sitting on the mountainside,
you think that you are like
Lenin in Germany
or something
and you have to politically
think it all through
so that
to whatever degree
one's voice is heard,
mistakes are not made
because it seems to me clear
that
a small miracle
is taking place.
it is that
and I was saying this
to Roy today,
it is that
our point of view
is actually
gaining ground.
The thing
which we least
expected to happen,
I think,
that
all this
New Age
hustle and bustle
though granted
that 95% of it
is just
intellectual noise
and efforts
that fail,
efforts to coin
the perfect analogy
that fail,
nevertheless,
there is a residual 5%
that appears
to have become
the cutting edge
of the guiding image
of this
megaculture.
So it becomes
important then
for people
who identify themselves
with
the human potential
movement,
spiritual development,
the
rebirth of intuition,
all of these things
to make a place
in the plan
for
the role
of nature
and
different
responses
have gone
on to that.
The Gaia
response
which claims
nature
as a stabilizing
feminine force
which I'm
all for that.
I think
that's definitely
the image
that has to
emerge
that
the
recognition
of the
presence
of
control
mechanisms
which are
not
coercive
but which
are
Taoistic
is a way
of coming
to terms
with nature
that we
have resisted.
It's a simple
idea,
it's just
the idea
that
before
technology
people
had to
store firewood
in the
autumn
for the
winter
and
in the
spring
they had
to
sharpen
tools
for
the
late
spring
planting
and
this
sort
of
thing
that
there
was
an
implicit
rhythm
laid down
by nature
that entered
the human
cosmos
at every
level
and then
was
reflected
in the
poetry
the
culture
building
the
language
evolution
etc
and
between
urbanization
other
factors
removed
the
influence
of
these
rhythms
ending
in the
final
culmination
of
the
modern
city
where
life
under
electric
light
goes on
24 hours
a day
there's
then
a
flattening
of
the
human
dimension
there
is
no
more
a
sense
of
being
embedded
in
flux
there
is
instead
the
myth
of
the
eternal
culture
it's
like
Woody Allen
you know
his comment
that he
didn't
like
to
go
to
the
country
because
you
see
all
these
screen
doors
with
cobwebs
in
the
corner
well
you've
got to
come to
terms
with
this
kind
of
thing
because
there is
no
question
that
there
is
a
deepening
ambiguity
in
the
present
moment
there
is
a
something
stealing
over
global
civilization
I
was at
a
conference
recently
where
someone
proposed
the
notion
that
our
time
is
special
that
there
is
nothing
unique
about
this
moment
other
than
that
it
is
presently
occurring
I
think
nothing
could
be
further
from
the
truth
that
actually
the
deepening
ambiguity
of the
historical
experience
which
registers
in all
of us
as a
sense
of
how
weird
it
is
how
compressed
time
is
how
complicated
the
interconnections
are
is
a
real
phenomenon
which
eventually
will be
elucidated
in other
words
it will
be
recognized
as a
phenomenon
eventually
there is
going to be
a break
with the
prevailing
paradigm
of historical
process
in case
you're not
aware of it
the prevailing
paradigm
of historical
process
is the
one which
calls itself
the
trendlessly
fluctuating
theory
and it
says
we
trendlessly
fluctuate
and to
search
for a
trend
is to
just be
drawn
into a
kind
of
cultural
hysteria
the fact
of the
matter
is
that
standing
outside
the
cultural
hysteria
the
trend
is
fairly
clear
it
ambiguity
how
is it
possible
you know
you look at
something like
common ground
or even the
shared visions
newsletter
and you say
you know
apparently
the major
commodity
moving on
world market
is
ambiguity
the voices
which whisper
to us
from crystals
herbs
and housewives
the
the invisible
fields
from all
dimensions
which impinge
upon us
the imagined
histories
and futures
which intersect
the present
moment
I mean
if all
of these
models
or even
a small
portion
of them
are given
credence
then
the density
of the
human
experience
is
considerably
deep
I mean
how many
past lives
can you
keep track
of
how many
extraterrestrial
channels
can you
have
open
before you
begin to
realize
that
you know
you're not
living in
the kind
we're used
to
back to
the theme
of nature
nature
anticipates
all of this
and anchors
this
nature
is
actually
the goal
at the end
of history
we're getting
closer and
closer to
the end
of history
and we will
not go
past it
with a
moment of
blindness
it is
there will
be
vouchsafe
intuitions
about the
emerging
structure
of the
other
into which
culture
is being
subsumed
you're all
familiar with
the image
of the
Ouroboros
the snake
which takes
its tail
in its mouth
well
the end
of history
which
you've
heard me
talk about
as
an
archaic
revival
is
that's
true
an
archaic
revival
but
the
ground
of being
in which
the
original
archaic
renaissance
occurred
was
nature
so
in terms
of
expression
of
design
elements
in terms
of
the
expression
of
human
relationships
political
agendas
all of
these
things
the
economies
of
nature
are
going
to
set
the
guiding
images
it's
very
interesting
I
read
Stephen
Jay
Gould's
book
Biophilia
in which
he
describes
his
work
with
ants
in
Suriname
and
how
there
are
ants
which
grow
fungi
in
their
nests
they
chew
up
they
cut
leaves
off
trees
and
chew
them
up
into
this
mash
which
they
then
store
in
rooms
underground
and
they
bring
the
right
spores
to
it
and
grow
it
there
and
it
produces
a
sugar
which
the
ants
then
eat
and
they
tend
the
fungal
garden
they
actually
remove
foreign
spores
and
this
sort
of
thing
and
the
whole
symbiosis
goes
on
well
it
is
symbiosis
between
a
social
organism
the
ant
and
a
fungal
organism
which
is
able
to
provide
an
enzyme
sugar
which
drives
the
ant
society
to
a
greater
state
of
activity
being
the
bottom
line
in
an
insect
economy
where
how much
you can
get
done
determines
your
triodes
of
getting
done
are
well
established
well
this
provides
a
curious
analogy
to
the
situation
that
exists
in
human
societies
vis-a-vis
hallucinogenic
plants
hallucinogenic
plants
act
as
enzymes
which
stimulate
imagination
and
imagination
having a
practical
side
to
itself
is
usually
reconnected
to
this
process
in
a
feedback
loop
that
asks
the
question
how
can
we
make
more
of
the
hallucinogenic
plant
which
is
giving
us
all
these
great
ideas
so
then
you
get
initially
the
invention
of
agriculture
and
but
one
can't
grow
all
plants
in
one
place
as
we
learned
even
about
Hawaii
so
then
the
imagination
the
feedback loop
in the
imagination
driven
by the
presence
of the
hallucinogen
in the
diet
asks
the
question
how
can
we
lies
the
need
for
language
similar
sorts
of
things
these
kinds
of
symbiotic
processes
are
implicit
in the
human
experience
some
of
you
have
heard
another
lecture
I
give
which
goes
into
this
in
great
detail
where
I
actually
try
to
drove
a
set
of
processes
which
resulted
in
self
reflecting
human
beings
I
won't
recapitulate
that
now
except
to
say
that
process
didn't
end
with
invention
of
language
or
the
domestication
of
cattle
it
continues
right
up
until
the
enzyme
system
called
the
human
species
was
deputized
into
an
information
gathering
mode
sent
out
as a
kind
of
prodigal
subsystem
a
kind
of
episode
of
the
social
environment
to
cognize
the
organization
of the
natural
world
through
sense
of
understanding
toward
sufficiently
complete
modeling
of the
ground
that
closure
could
occur
and
that
is
now
I
think
what
is
happening
that
the
human
species
which
was
deputized
for
Gaia
into
the
fall
the
creation
in
the
immediacy
of
the
Tao
through
a
series
of
successive
linguistic
declensions
that's
what it
was
I mean
this
begins
to
sound
almost
biblical
because
what
we're
saying
is
there's
a
fall
and
then
and
the
fall
is
somehow
related
to
a
confusion
of
languages
not
the
world
of
the
species
using
this
language
became
less
and
less
natural
because
the
evolution
of
symbols
became
toward
the
abstract
became
the
realization
of
ideals
notice
that
as
early
as
platonic
philosophy
and I'm
not
sure
well
no
even
in
pre-Socratic
philosophy
you get
the
over
weaning
concepts
which
subsume
large
sets
of
particulars
underneath
them
and
this
ability
to
subsume
the
particulars
under
a name
which
is
a
class
name
is
the
beginning
of
this
process
of
replacing
the
natural
language
with
the
symbolic
structures
that
then
interfere
between
soul
and
nature
the
reason
for
this
process
we
can
really
only
guess
at
it
seems
as
though
nature
requires
this
reflection
upon
itself
that
the
completion
of
nature
is
somehow
in the
hands
of
a
single
target
species
which
acts
as
an
enzyme
within
the
global
organism
of
Gaia
from
the
point
of
view
of
an
extraterrestrial
looking
down
on
the
surface
of
the
planet
there
are
not
discrete
organisms
there
is
simply
a
gene
swarm
and
through
transmission
of
viruses
and
numerous
non-genetic
ways
in which
genes
are
transformed
the
previously
imagined
sharp
declensions
between
species
are
actually
somewhat
illusory
so
that
really
within
the
confines
of
my
body
the
unfolding
of
gene
expression
and
the
molecular
assembly
of
enzymes
systems
and
proteins
and that
sort
of
thing
is
simply
under
a
tighter
regimen
of
control
than
are
the
same
kind
of
processes
which
are
going
on
between
people
we
are
really
a
loosely
regulated
organism
that
has
a
tendency
to
ever
tighten
the
control
between
its
subunits
so
that
you
can
see
the
evolution
of
language
the
evolution
of
technology
and
it's
being
at
cities
oral
poetry
all
of
these
things
we
seem
to
strive
for
greater
and
greater
cohesion
greater
and
greater
free
flow
of
thought
among
ourselves
and
what
we're
looking
toward
is
a
moment
when
the
artificial
language
structures
which
bind
us
within
the
notion
of
ourselves
are
dissolved
in
are
a
part
of
nature
and
when
that
happens
the
childhood
of
our
species
will
pass
away
and
we
will
stand
tremulously
on
the
brink
of
really
the
first
moments
of
coherent
human
civilization
and
when
that
happens
the
noise
which
haunts
our
social
systems
our
inability
to
couple
things
together
so
that
they
work
will
begin
to
evaporate
this
I
think
is
already
beginning
to
happen
it's
a
slow
process
but
it's
a
kind
of
cascading
phenomenon
such
that
once
it
begins
to
happen
it
happens
faster
and
faster
and
the
mirroring
of
psyche
that
was
always
the
glamour
if
you
mind
nature
is
correctly
perceived
with
greater
and
greater
clarity
as
this
process
perceives
and
this
correct
perceiving
of
nature's
relationship
to
self
and
language
is
the
essence
of
all
of
these
cultural
vectors
that
are
converging
feminism
the
exploration
of
space
the
perfection
of the
thinking
machine
or
of
the
human
machine
interface
the
mysterium
tremendum
at the
core
of the
psychedelic
experience
all
of
these
things
are
I
think
going
to
be
seen
as
anticipations
of
this
post-historical
state
which lies
beyond
the
working out
of the
themes
that have
been set
in motion
by
materialistic
science
in other
words
the forces
that are
being set
in motion
and
sustained
by
so-called
new
thought
new
age
thinking
this is
why
because
this seems
to be
happening
because
it seems
that we
and by
we
I mean
all of
us
did
in fact
identify
early
on
a trend
in society
which is
now going
to have
enormous
repercussions
that
there is
a
responsibility
to
clear
thinking
about
what this
thing is
and how
it works
there seems
to be
a kind
of a
rush
to
get in
line
with
the
sloppiest
metaphor
as quickly
as possible
so that
you know
there have
been a
number of
let's say
syncretic
faiths
or new
myths
that have
arisen
and competed
with each
other
with greater
and lesser
degrees of
success
I suppose
this is a
healthy thing
except that
it gives
such comfort
to the people
who think
we're all
airheads
you know
I mean
they observe
all this
and it
confirms
for them
that
it's a
hopeless
lot
nevertheless
so I guess
what I want
to say
about that
is that
everybody
has their
own version
of what
is the
mistake
which is
being made
right
so here's
my version
of what
is the
mistake
that's
being made
it's that
there is
a confusion
between
scientific
materialism
and
reason
science
has set
itself up
as a
kind
of
new
pontificate
and
Brooks
no
challenge
it
expects
to
make
judgment
on
any
idea
emerging
from
any
realm
of
human
endeavor
it
has
set
itself
up
as
judge
and
jury
the
fact
of
the
matter
is
that
this
is
only
by
virtue
of
its
spectacular
acts
of
technological
prestidigitation
that
it's
able
to
presume
to
do
this
because
really
what
science
is
most
successful
about
in
telling
us
about
are
realms
which
none
of
us
have
ever
penetrated
nor
are
ever
likely
to
I
mean
how
much
do
you
wish
to
know
about
the
rings
of
Neptune
or
the
quark
we
are
continuously
sold
the
line
that
somehow
when
the
metaphors
of
consciousness
are
fully
mapped
onto
quantum
physics
and
biology
that
a
great
step
forward
will
have
been
taken
it
seems
to
me
that
since
the
information
coming
out
of
quantum
physics
and
molecular
biology
is
so
removed
from
the
realm
of
common
experience
that
if
we
succeed
in
mapping
mental
phenomena
onto
those
realms
we
will
have
succeeded
in
the
final
act
of
alienation
because
we
will
have
so
I
think
that
instead
of
the
idea
that
there
needs
to
be
a
kind
of
direction
of
an
overarching
metaphor
from the physical sciences into the social and psychiatric sciences.
Instead, there should be the recognition and celebration of mystery.
That, in fact, we are an intelligent species caught in a historical process.
No generation which preceded us knew what was going on.
And there is no reason to assume that we know what's going on
or that the generation which follows us will know what's going on.
And what kind of trip is it, anyway, to insist on knowing what's going on?
It's a highly unlikely enterprise.
I mean, look at the data sample.
The data sample is your lifetime on one planet in one tiny corner of the universe.
And from this, via the fallacy of induction,
certain principles of uniformity are extended to the far-flung corners of the cosmos in space and time.
Then a bunch of fancy metaphors are built up that nobody can check on anyway.
And then this is called understanding.
You see, it isn't understanding.
Understanding issues into appropriate activity.
And, you know, a model of the universe which doesn't issue into appropriate activity in the here and now
is a curious model indeed.
After all, appropriate activity in the here and now, I would think, would be the sine qua non.
Everything else is an unconfirmed rumor.
So, nature is the visible manifestation of this mystery.
It entirely surrounds and completes us.
It is there to be beheld and imbibed in.
It is simply that one must either replace the sterile language of scientific materialism
or one must bring no language whatsoever to it so that it speaks for itself.
I've noticed with ayahuasca, this South American visionary vine that's a halicinogen,
unlike the mushroom, it does not speak.
It shows, its language is visible, a fractal hieroglyphic surface of intermediate dimensions
that contains an endless unfolding of phenomena at level after level,
apparently, you know, who knows, down into the microphysical realm.
This is a correct seeing of what is.
The mystery is co-present with its denial.
It is a matter of changing points of view.
And changing points of view is a matter of retooling language.
If nature is psyche, then is the auto-poetic, self-reflecting cloud of cognition
that manifests as language.
It is partly based in the structure of matter.
It is partly based in the implicit syntax of the perceiver.
However, it is partly an interference pattern between the two.
But it is as close to the ground that one can approach without theory.
Which brings me, then, to the last point that I want to make about this,
which is the key to the forward-looking expression of the archaic revival,
the key to making the New Age fulfill its best hope
and not fall into a kind of crypto-fascism of paradigmatic warfare,
is to enunciate two principles,
which are really two ways of saying the same thing.
They are the primacy of experience and the toxic nature of ideology.
This, to me, is the core.
And if the New Age, the archaic revival, whatever,
if it can exemplify these two principles,
we will navigate past the dangerous shoals
that inevitably rip any social point of view
that grows, that attempts to leave its cult status
and enter the mainstream.
The primacy of experience means...
I connect it to Heidegger's notion of what he called
care for the project of being.
The primacy of felt experience,
it begins with a notion as simple as,
be here now.
But it takes that further and says,
you know, we must take ourselves more seriously,
more lightly and more seriously at the same time.
We are not at the bottom of a pyramid
of goods and information production
where we pay the sucker's price for everything
as it's handed down through a series of intractable pieces
of cultural machinery that we have no effect on.
That is the myth that is being promulgated
by those very institutions.
The myth of the hapless consumer,
the myth of the meaning of fadism.
That there is, in fact, a meaning
to switching from one ideology to another ideology
the way hemlines and perfumes
and decorator colors come and go.
This kind of allowing ourselves to be self-victimized.
You know, I mean, God forbid,
I'm now at an age where three times in my life
I've seen good ideas emerging on the fringes
of American culture end up as slogans for Madison Avenue.
You know, first with the beats,
then with the hippies.
I'll never forget the day I first confronted a billboard
which talked about the Dodge Rebellion.
I mean, rebellion was our word, not their word.
And here they were, you know,
our word selling this piece of tin junk.
So, you know, the co-option that comes
from disempowering yourself
with regard to what you view as important.
Which is more important to you,
your opinion or Ted Koppel's opinion?
It's got to be your opinion, you know,
because these other things are just chimeras.
They're myths in the electronic night.
The other side of that is the toxicity of ideology.
But ideology itself is poisonous.
That, you know, in the 15th and 16th century,
it was like 120 years of intermittent religious war
because people were so uptight
about whether or not you were a Catholic
or a Huguenot or a Walloon or, you know,
all this stuff which were,
these were life and death issues.
And finally people just became sick of it.
And I hope, I choose to believe
that we may be approaching such a watershed
with the social ideologies
that have just been dinging themselves
into the global population
for the past hundred years.
They are extremely bankrupt.
The notion of any kind of serious competition
between Marxist-Leninism
and capitalist democratic techno-fascism
or whatever it is,
is ludicrous.
Neither system works
in the presence of the need
to wage ideological warfare
against the other.
And yet it's fairly clear
that each society could function quite well
if it didn't have that burden.
And similarly,
in many microcosms of that situation
around the world,
it's clear that ideology
has become some kind of anachronism.
It's a kind of lack of good taste.
It's like being a nut, you know,
so that you come on with some ideology
and people just look at their plate.
They're embarrassed for you.
And well, they should be
because that butters no bread.
That's just a big pain in the neck.
The ideology which naturally
claims our attention
is pretty well understood.
You know, it's like
it's like it says
in the Old Testament.
You can know the truth.
The truth is the still,
small voice in your heart.
We don't have to take courses
in theology and ethics
to get all this down.
The political agenda
is fairly clear.
You know,
you feed people,
you cure disease,
you anticipate and solve
social problems
having to do with
sewage disposal,
distribution of land and wealth,
so forth and so on.
I mean, who's kidding who?
None of this stuff
is controversial
unless you're living
inside a locked ward,
which we seem to be doing.
So, more and more,
this anti-ideological position
has to be articulated.
It's no big deal
about how you cause
language to evolve.
You cause language to evolve
by saying new
and intelligent things
to each other.
And then other people say,
oh, so this thing
that I've always thought
that never felt like saying
is actually legitimate
and okay
and I can say it
and I will say it.
And then it begins to move
like a wave
through society.
You will be told
that for me
to advocate
the poisonous nature
of ideology
without calling it anarchy
is to peddle
my own private ideology.
But this is absurd.
It's like saying
if someone tells you
not to drive
that they're advocating
a certain style of driving.
That isn't it at all,
you know.
It's a translation of level.
It's something entirely different.
Both of these things,
the toxic nature
of ideology
and the importance
of the felt presence
of the immediate experience
can be brought together
under the notion
that we cannot afford
the continued existence
of what has been called
throughout most of the 20th century
the unconscious
that the unconscious
is actually a kind of
neurotic excuse
for not getting our act together
as a species.
It is a kind of infantileism,
a giving of permission
by each of us
to all of us
to not get our act together.
And the way in which
the unconscious
is eliminated
is by
the
by turning
the language
machinery
back upon itself
and reflecting
on the process
of attention.
This is what Buddhism
is all about.
Attention to attention.
Awareness of the modality
of the cognitive process.
Don't be fooled
by yourself.
Don't be
made a sucker
of
by yourself.
Just
rise above
that possibility
by paying attention.
Attention to attention
causes
the light
of language
to fall
into
these dark
and unilluminated
corners
where infantileism
is tolerated
tolerated
in the individual
personality.
Doing that
to oneself
has a
kind of
a morphogenic
field
effect,
a kind of
chain reaction
which sweeps
through society.
This is,
I believe,
what all these
gurus
are always trying
to say
in a somewhat
I don't know
more
concrete
and therefore
somewhat less
convincing fashion
but
it's simply
that
the act
of conscious
self-inspection
creates more
conscious people
which create
a more conscious
society
which erodes
the possibility
of the poisonous
and toxic
effect
psychedelics
are illegal
not because
a loving
government
is concerned
that you
may jump
out of a
third story
window
psychedelics
are illegal
because they
dissolve
opinion
structures
and culturally
laid down
models
of behavior
and information
processing
they open
you up
to the
possibility
that everything
you know
is wrong
and you
know
government
and society
spend a lot
of money
educating you
into being
a loyal
worker
consumer
debt
payer
and
citizen
so
if
anarchy
is to have
a meaning
and I think
it is
the great
future
for human
society
because what
it means
is
only
responsible
human
beings
can exist
in an
anarchistic
society
to the
degree
that people
are
responsible
we will
have
anarchy
and
the reason
America
I believe
historically
has been
so successful
is because
it is really
a place
where you
can almost
get away
with anything
and if
that is
lost
if
monolithic
ideologies
throw a
damper
on that
then cultural
momentum
will pass
to other
cultures
and in fact
to some
degree
I see
this
coming
we had
a conversation
with a
prominent
politician
recently
and he
pointed out
that
Japan
is now
the leading
western
country
this
indicates
a
cultural
crisis
of some
depth
for
the
ideals
of
the
American
constitution
my
brother
is a
brain
scientist
at the
National
Institute
of
Mental
Health
in
Bethesda
Maryland
the
crown
jewel
of
American
brain
science
everybody
there
is a
Japanese
graduate
student
doing
work
on a
two
year
or
three
but I
don't
see
or hear
a
new
age
voice
coming
out
of
the
Japanese
I
think
this
is
the
cultural
model
that
the
West
is
uniquely
able
to
promulgate
and perfect
because
it comes
out of
a
rejection
of the
tradition
of
scientific
materialism
that we
are
responsible
for
and
that
we
are
most
sophisticated
about
where
for instance
Japan
has
come
fairly
recently
to
high
tech
and
mass
industrialization
so
I
just
basically
want to
leave you
with that
the
notion
is
that
nature
which
is
the
topological
the
linguistically
expressed
topological
manifold
of
the
psyche
is
the
historical
object
that
is
pulling
us
forward
and
that
when
we
actually
cross
into
the
eschatology
that
appears
fairly
eminent
we
will
find
it
to
have
been
anticipated
by
the
human
relationship
to
nature
the
embedding
of
psyche
in
nature
through
the
to
unfolding
a
same
society
in
my
single
humble
opinion
is
an
obligation
to
reason
but
clearly
distinguishes
between
reason
and
science
an
obligation
to
self
involvement
in
immediate
experience
and
that
means
psychedelics
sexuality
and what
I call
time
but what
I really
mean is
a kind
of
deep
literary
involvement
with the
felt
presence
psychedelics
sexuality
and
time
to
empower
the
individual
to make
the
individual
naturally
responsible
to
create
then
the
basis
for
a
caring
global
society
that will
transcend
the
historical
cultures
as though
we were
just moving
very naturally
out of
winter
and into
spring
no
apocalypse
no
millennium
no
rescue
by
flying
saucers
no
Mayan
return
simply
the
unfolding
of
understanding
in a
program
of
mutual
caring
and
responsibility
this
is
the
highest
aspiration
of the
new
age
and I
feel
that
it
is
attainable
so
let's
break
and then
we'll
have
questions
thank
you
very
much
okay
is
there
any
kind
of
response
to
maintain
a
certain
amount
of
purity
of
perspective
through
diet
and
through
meditation
things like
that
and if
I take
a
psychedelic
drug
it
makes
it
very
difficult
to
function
in
the
world
because
almost
too much
information
is coming
in
in order
to do
day to
day
things
easily
integrated
I
mean
I'm
not
sure
whether
you
mean
you
can't
function
while
it's
happening
or
you
can't
function
three
weeks
afterwards
the
with
the
psychedelics
it's
not
a matter
of
high
frequency
I
think
the
good
trips
are
usually
good
for
plenty
of
rumination
for
a long
time
the
harder
the
hit
the
ponder
it
before
you
go
that
route
again
it
isn't
like
a
practice
it
isn't
like
something
you
do
daily
it's
more
like
a
unique
act
of
courage
that
arises
out
of
the
substratum
of
ordinary
daily
existence
whether
it
be
profane
or
sacral
there
really
isn't
an answer
to your
question
as long
as
we're
part
of
the
worker
anthill
or
living
in
a
society
which
makes
tremendous
demands
on
us
it's
going
to
be
a
problem
the
way
to
take
psychedelics
is
you
must
have
seen
these
t-shirts
which
say
I
take
drugs
seriously
well
that's
the
way
and
in
an
atmosphere
where
there
are
no
distractions
and
by
that
I
mean
other
people
will
say
something
different
but
I
mean
no
light
and
no
sound
including
music
unless
you're
a
musician
or
you
have
some
special
relationship
to
music
phase
and
to
the
degree
that
you
can
create
a
situation
of
sensory
deprivation
you
will
have
a
greater
expectation
of
succeeding
some
people
wouldn't
dream
of
tripping
without
music
but
I
find
that
it
becomes
the
trip
the
whole
thing
then
becomes
about
that
piece
of
music
where
in
silence
it
would
have
been
equally
audially
interesting
so
it
isn't
the
early
model
of
the
psychedelic
experience
was
sort
of
that
you
eat
an
orange
and
look
at
art
books
and
listen
to
Bach's
choral
preludes
but
that
art
historical
approach
to
it
doesn't
give
enough
credit
to the
power
of
the
substance
I
tapestries
of
organic
beauty
and
there
need
be
no
sensory
input
in
fact
shouldn't
be
for
this
to
happen
you
had a
question
I was
wondering
about
practical
sort
of
tips
how do
you take
something
back
it's
sort
of
going to
a
magic
kingdom
and
wanting to
take back
a golden piece
with you
or a key
or something
because I lose it
well I
think
I sort
of
touched
on this
obliquely
tonight
that
attention
to
attention
or
paying
attention
to
the
nuances
of
cognition
is
a
psychedelic
way
of
being
go
and
things
like
that
so
he
was
drug
free
and
he
managed
to
refine
you know
this
art
of
just
the
awareness
of
the
tensions
and
nuances
in
the
moment
for
really
what I
have
come
to
believe
about
the
psychedelic
experience
is
that
it
is
simply
a
compressed
instance
of
what
understanding
so
that
living
psychedelically
is
trying to
live
in an
atmosphere
of
continuous
unfolding
of
understanding
so
that
every
day
you
know
more
and
see
into
things
with
greater
depth
than
you
did
before
and
this
is
it's
the
process
of
education
so
compressed
that
it
has
become
a
cascade
of
actual
visual
images
which
rather
than
a
kind
of
slow
unfoldment
of
linked
perceptions
but
really
attention
to
attention
and
appreciation
of the
immediate
I always
think
when this
comes up
of
William
Blake's
advice
Blake was
as you
know
a great
mystical
visionary
English
poet
who spoke
with angels
and had
these wonderful
visions
of
the
angelic
world
and he
was asked
what was
the secret
of his
angelic
poetry
and he
said
attend
the
minute
particulars
that's
all
just
attend
the
minute
particulars
that
the
and what
he meant
was to
focus
attention
in the
moment
not to
betray
attention
into
expectation
born of
abstraction
or regret
born of
misplaced
assumption
or of
remembrance
born of
boredom
and
alienation
in the
moment
but just
to
attend
the
minute
particulars
it's a
way of
training
it's
like
yoga
people
think
that
psychedelic
psychedelics
are somehow
the easy
way out
this is
what people
think
who
wouldn't
dare
dream
of
taking
one
and
it's
not
because
it's
the
easy
way
out
it's
because
they
sense
the
reality
of it
the
reality
of
the
i mean
it's
very
real
it's
not
a
metaphor
it's
not
an
analogy
it's
not
a
dramatic
reconstruction
it is
not
a
simulacrum
it is
not
a
model
it
is
the
pith
essence
of
the
thing
itself
it's
real
and
i don't
know
how many
things
can
my
own
experiences
have
of
the
other
of
the
transcendent
naked
beauty
of
truth
have
almost
all
entirely
come
out
of
the
psychedelic
realm
or
out
of
involvement
with
the
viscerality
of
my
emotions
you know
the death
of my
mother
the birth
of
my
children
the
act
of
marrying
someone
not
else
but
those
so
i
think
it's
about
attending
the
minute
particulars
as a
kind
of
practice
it
may
not
get
you
anywhere
for
several
years
but
if
you
attend
the
minute
particulars
cultivate
an
ongoing
stream
of
self
description
telling
yourself
what
is
happening
get
used
to
the
idea
that
mind
can
penetrate
the
immediate
surface
of
being
and
reveal
the
tactile
density
of
it
as
a
manifold
whose
measure
cannot
be
immediately
taken
by
the
eyes
that
it's
deep
it's
connected
it's
complex
everything
holds
within
itself
the
entity
dissipation and the memory of everything else. Yes.
Are you trying to feel so optimistic?
Well, it's hard to feel optimistic sometimes.
But it's almost like an obligation.
And I think there's enough evidence around to support it.
If Ronald Reagan is going to begin the process of the dismantling
of strategic nuclear stockpiles,
then what would a civilized and humane political leader
be doing in this context?
So on one level, I'm fairly cynical.
I see people whose major life's work
has been banditry and bloody rampage
getting into the history books as great peacemakers.
Nevertheless, I love the fact
that the constraints of the situation
have forced these clowns
into this position.
That's what I mean when I say
that no political group,
no faction,
has its hands on the tiller of history.
There is an invisible hand
which seems to be channeling the life
of these institutions
toward what we deem progressive ends.
And not because these people
have converted to altruism and reason
and sweetness and light,
but because it's a way for them
to save their political ass.
So it has become expedient.
Peace has become politically expedient.
Consequently, we shall have it, I think,
in a big hurry.
Now, granted, it doesn't address starvation,
sexism,
abuses of propaganda,
propaganda, torture,
all of these things.
But I feel like
that there is a kind of a logjam
in human affairs
that formed in the late 60s
where we all looked over
into the future
and saw what it was
and the governing agencies
froze with terror
and attempted to halt
the onrushing momentum
of the 20th century
to not only make
psychedelic drugs illegal
for the public,
but to actually end
scientific research into them.
This is phenomenal.
Scientific research is supposed
to be freely pursued
in any field.
That's the banner
under which science
rides its horse.
But apparently
this doesn't apply
to hallucinogens.
Freezing all dialogue
on disarmament.
Freezing all dialogue
on the retraction
of the projection globally
of imperial power
and strategic stockpiles.
All this was frozen in place
in the late 60s
and it's only now
beginning to give way.
The future has a momentum
that no institution can deny
and the 25 years
of constipated dithering
that we have just come through
has only meant
that now the transition
into the new order
will be that much more sudden
and that much more complete.
So I guess I am optimistic.
I see many causes
for pessimism,
but generally I think
things globally
are working out fine.
Now it may be,
and I addressed this tonight
in the talk a little bit,
it may be that a sane,
humane,
and well-fed world
is coming into being,
but it may not be led
by the United States of America.
We, muscle-bound
with strategic arsenals,
unable to produce things
which the rest of the world
wants to buy,
entertaining a massive trade deficit,
tolerant of reactionary,
pseudo-religious forms
of political crypto-fascism.
We are,
I hope no one's offended by that,
we are not exactly
in the best position
to lead the charge
into this great
and glorious future.
A society with a tradition
of resource management
like Japan
is perhaps
in a much better position,
although then
there are other problems.
Japan speaks a language
no one understands.
It's going to be
quite a world
if the power
of the projection
of the Japanese
cultural self-image
is to become
so overwhelming
that Japanese
is to become
the dominant language
of the West,
although this is
a possibility.
Certainly,
if any of you
are familiar
with the fiction
of William Gibson,
and if you're not,
I urge it upon you,
this is some
of the most exciting
science fiction
being written.
He pictures a world
where Japanese
cultural dominance,
I would say,
is a primary factor.
So yes,
I'm optimistic.
We have to be.
It's the only game
in town.
And look at
the opportunities.
It's simply a matter
of insisting
on human values
garnered from
the felt experience
of the moment
and holding back
the toxic effects
of ideology.
In other words,
this anarchic
prescription
that I sort of
put forth
this evening,
mainly holding back
the toxic effects
of ideology,
because then
we can create
a sane world
if we just
recognize
that
pragmatism,
love for each other,
and a
reasonable amount
of goodwill
will do
quite nicely,
I think,
if the
shriller voices,
the ideologically
driven voices,
can be
made
déclasse,
not repressed,
just simply
recognized
as tasteless.
Anything else?
Yes?
Could you
reflect on
what it's like?
Well,
certainly I've
reflected on
what it's like.
It's sort of
a blank screen
on which to
project your mind.
What will it be like
once we pass
the omega point?
I'm not really sure.
I mean,
you can take
two approaches
to it.
You can take
the sort of
the deus ex machina
approach,
which means
we can't know
what it is
because it's going
to be so wonderful.
It's going to be
like the descent
of the flying saucers
and we will all
march into
the four-gated
city
and that will
be it.
Or you can
take a
more conservative
approach and say,
well,
maybe there's
something going on
in the trends
around us
that we can
extrapolate
to try and
understand the
world beyond
the end of time.
Taking that
approach,
what I think
is happening
and it's been
happening for a
long time
and it's very
interesting
is that culture,
culture is
another dimension
that,
and perhaps
properly so.
In the early
part of my talk,
I talked about
how culture
had subsumed
the position
of nature
so that we
had lost sight
of nature
by erecting
culture through
erecting these
linguistic structures.
But I noticed
that,
and not only
linguistic structures
but architectural
structures,
the infrastructure
of our society,
that is what
culture is.
the way we
differ from the
we-toto is
all the stuff
that we have
bound into
ideas and
excreted through
our engineering
processes to
surround ourselves
with.
this dimension
which is
culture
is becoming
ever more
all-inclusive
at the same
time that it's
also becoming,
strangely enough,
ever more
ethereal,
ever less
material.
A perfect
example of this,
I don't know
how many of
you are
familiar with
it,
but if you
deal with
the Macintosh
computer,
the operating
system of
the Mac
is the
genius of
it,
and what
makes it
the best
in the biz
is that
it attempts
to trick you
into believing
that you're
dealing with
ordinary
three-dimensional
space.
You know,
you don't
type in
commands,
you don't
choose printed
options,
you move
in a
symbolic
representation
of three-dimensional
space.
Well,
again,
to mention
William Gibson
and his
novels,
what he
imagines is
simply a
larger version
of this
conventionalized
symbolic
representation
of three-dimensional
space,
so that you
enter in his
novels,
his characters,
enter into a
world where
the Bank of
America database
is perceived
as a huge
red rectangle,
hundreds of
feet and
height,
in a certain
spot in
the memory
of this
global
computer,
and,
yes,
it's
cyberspace,
and near it
is the
memory bank
of Wells Fargo
or something
else,
so that when
you enter
into cyberspace,
ordinary
reality is
replaced by
a symbolic
representation
of the
informational
content of
ordinary
reality.
Well,
this is
in fact
happening.
It's
happening at
a very
rapid rate,
so the
dimension which
we call
culture,
which we
have
previously
erected in
the three-dimensional
world around
us through
the intercession
of what we
call manufacturing
and architecture,
is very
rapidly being
internalized
and erected
as cyberspace,
this alternative
dimension to
ordinary
three-dimensional
space in
which our
minds are
able to
move like
fish in
water.
What I
think lies
beyond the
end of
time is
a very
concrete
realization of
this other
dimension.
That's why
things like
the time
wave that
I've developed
and some
of these
other
projections
run off
the scale.
the world
beyond the
end of
history is
literally not
mappable in
the lower
order set of
mapping that
are applicable
to history.
So it is
like being
downloaded into
circuitry.
It's possible
to conceive of
the entire
human species
fitting into
the area of
a large
refrigerator
in cyberspace
so that
the goal of
history is
the creation
of a
mirror image
of culture
in the
cyberspacial
dimension so
that culture
in the
dimension of
nature can
be slowly
retracted,
slowly
retracted
into the
compressed
quintessence.
You can
almost think
of this as
an alchemical
process.
We're talking
about forging
a philosopher's
stone out
of a
hyperdimensional
medium which
is composed
of energy
and language
and into
which we
can all
cast ourselves
at will.
It is,
you know,
Plato said,
if God
didn't exist,
man would
invent him
or it.
Well,
it may well
be that
the pilot's
seat,
the pilot's
chair of
the flying
saucer is
empty.
It awaits
mankind.
It is
the condensed
expectation of
complete inner
penetration of
all of us
through each
other and
our cultural
artifact in
a mode
that we
cannot even
imagine.
At an
earlier talk
at Will's
here a couple
of years ago,
I did a
talk called
Shedding the
Monkey,
in which I
talked about
dropping the
primate image
that is
projected on
to the
human soul
through the
accidents of
biological
evolution,
that as
we take
control of
our genetic
heritage,
as we take
control of
the process
of manufacturing
culture,
we are going
to become
what we
dream we
are.
And we
have never
really explored
consciously
what it
is we
dream we
are.
But very
shortly,
this will
become a
major part
of the
cultural
agenda,
because we
are going
to be able
to do
anything.
And with
that kind
of power,
again recurring
to the theme
of the evening,
I think we
have to
anchor
ourselves in
nature.
So sort
of my
apotheosis
or my
vision of
how this
should come
to be,
is that
everyone
is given
their own
500 acres
of paradise
in the
chip.
And that
is your
heritage,
your space,
your right
place to
be.
And out
of the
mellowness,
which accrues
only to the
very wealthy,
which we
will then,
each and
every one
of us,
fall into
that category,
we will be
able to
return to
the dimension
of the
limited pie
and very
decorously
and
thoughtfully
apportion
it out
in a
sane and
rational
manner.
And it's
very,
very tricky,
see,
this rush
toward the
ability to
completely
realize the
self-image
in hyperspace.
My mother
used to say
to me when
I was a
small child,
if wishes
were horses,
beggars would
ride.
And I think
that's the
dream,
to turn
wishes into
horses that
beggars may
ride.
And it's
that world
where we
each get
our own
horse,
or when
our ship
comes in,
that lies
beyond the
historical
dimension,
because it's
where we,
in effect,
each becomes
all,
and then
is freed
into the
imagination
of the
oversoul to
create whatever
castles in
the imagination
seem most
pleasing.
It's the
triumph of
art,
art in
the imagination,
and reverence
for nature
in the
placental
dimension,
which is
the life
support system
for this
fantastic
indulgence
in the
expression
of the
imagination.
Yeah.
A question
about the
toxicity
of ideology.
I'm an
educator.
I educate
young children.
And I'd
just like you
to address
what we
can do,
or what
your ideas
about what
society can
do,
so that we
don't have to
undo it
at some
point.
I mean,
most of us
here have to
kind of undo
what we
went through
as children
in public
education
anyway,
so that
we can
at least
come to
some level
of awareness
or peacefulness
within ourselves
on the
positive side
of it.
What is
your
job?
Well,
in Hawaii
this past
year,
we
homeschooled
our children,
and we
also
coincidentally
rented office
space from
a major
company which
creates
homeschooling
curriculums,
and on
their
letterhead,
they had
the motto,
you are
your child's
best teacher,
and we
found out
how hard
it is
to live
up to
that
ideal,
and yet
in a way
we also
found out
how rewarding
it was
to attempt
it.
When we
return to
Northern
California,
our children
will go to
public
school.
I think
basically
you have
to just,
you have
to not
leave it
up to
the school.
You have
to check
in on
what's
going on
and to
input
into the
process.
I don't
feel that I
can give a
very deep
answer to
this.
I think
it's one
of the
most
perplexing
problems.
One thing
I think
that's terribly
wrong with
education
is that
there is
no sense
of history
instilled
in people,
and history
has almost
as bad
a wrath
on it
as
mathematics.
And yet
these are
the two
modes of
thought
which I
think
would do
the most
to anchor
us because
they both
are about
different
forms of
grounding.
One
grounds in
eternal
demonstrable
principles,
mathematics,
and the
other
dissipates
amnesia.
It's a
very weird
thing that
somebody
can't tell
you isn't
quite clear
on whether
event X
happened in
the 13th
or the
16th
century.
I mean,
after all,
13th,
16th,
19th,
how would
you like
to be
so imprecisely
perceived in
somebody's mind
that they
couldn't get
within 300
years of
where you
lived and
died?
so the
lack of a
sense of
history
makes us
really
prey to
manipulation.
That's why
I am
cynical enough
to believe
that the
de-emphasizing
of history
that's gone
on in
American
education
over the
past 30
years is
almost the
equivalent
of a
plot.
the notion
even as
recently as
when I
graduated
from the
university
and it
took me
12 years
so I
didn't
graduate
until 75
but the
idea was
that if
you went
to a
university
you
emerged
a liberal
gentle
person
well
informed on
the
accomplishments
of your
culture
its
history
its
aspirations
its ways
of governing
itself
its ways
of resolving
conflict
and so on
now I
think
people
emerge
these
things
have
become
gigantic
trade
schools
and you
are not
you are
expected
to learn
to do
a job
and when
not doing
your job
malls
have been
provided
for you
to shop
in
and
channels
of garbage
have been
priced into
your home
for you to
keep up
on what
it is
that is
au courant
to go out
and buy
and this
creation
of this
historyless
mindless
consumerist
person
at the
expense
of the
democratic
of the
ideal
of the
democratically
informed
citizen
is going
to wreck
great havoc
in our
society
people
often
compliment
me on
you know
my enchanting
command
of these
various
subjects
and so
forth
and so
on
and I'm
amazed
because
what's
being
sold
to you
here tonight
ladies and
gentlemen
is nothing
more than
the fruits
of a
liberal
college
education
you know
you go to
college
you learn
about
Gnosticism
Platonic
philosophy
or you
once
did
but no
more
apparently
so it
can be
sold
as the
most
far
out
fringy
thing
in the
new
age
this
is
amnesia
on
quite a
scale
so
and the
other
thing
I would
say
in answer
to your
question
about
education
is
separating
physical
culture
from
competition
that
the
notion
of
physical
culture
and
by
that
I
mean
gym
class
and
competition
is
one of
the
I mean
now I
feel
the bile
rising
we're
talking
serious
here
now
saving
people
from
the
grief
of
PE
is
I
think
a
major
way
to
heal
the
culture
when
we were
living
Kath
asked
our
son
how
did
he
think
of
himself
and
he
said
he
thought
of
himself
as
an
artist
and
an
athlete
and
I
thought
that
this
was
just
an
amazing
breakthrough
because
I
at
his
age
and
yet
conceive
of
himself
as
an
athlete
and
have
this
balanced
view
of
art
athlete
junior
scientist
and
so
forth
meant
we
must
be
doing
something
right
and
what
it
is
stressing
physical
culture
being
in the
ocean
hiking
running
skateboarding
biking
all
these
things
without
the
notion
of
males
crashing
against
each
other
for
the
purposes
of
racking
up
points
with
females
and
elders
to
lay
the
groundwork
for
the
whole
imposition
of the
alpha
male
primate
hierarchy
that
makes
society
such
a mess
so
that's
that
for
education
maybe
one more
question
if there
is one
yes
you
mentioned
a question
from the
anatomical
I have
the power
to reveal
a lot
of different
layers
I think
I must
have
mentioned
ayahuasca
well I'll
briefly
mention it
again
if any
of you
are
interested
in
ayahuasca
the
standard
reference
work
that's
in print
is called
hallucinogens
and
shamanism
edited
by
Michael
Harner
there are
I think
about
three
articles
in there
on
ayahuasca
is a
combinatory
preparation
a beverage
made by
boiling down
the bark
of a
jungle
liana
which
contains
harmine
and other
monoamine
oxidase
inhibiting
compounds
and
adding
DMT
which
occurs
in
Cicotria
viridis
a
plant
related
to
coffee
and
it's
generally
by the
people
there
viewed
as
a tonic
purgative
something
which
keeps
the
society
in
equilibrium
also
been
written
about
by
Marlene
job
from
de
rios
and
others
and
I
understand
there
are
there
are
therapists
in the
bay
area
working
very
quietly
to
create
an
awareness
of its
potential
impact
on
psychotherapy
which
we
can
personally
attest
that it
has a
great
potential
we
saw
physical
symptoms
relieved
in the
Amazon
we
saw
neurotic
behavior
patterns
dissolve
and
it's
just
one
of
many
shamanic
devices
plant
hallucinogens
that
have not
been
studied
by
medical
science
and
as long
as the
current
hysteria
about
psychedelic
drug
research
represses
the
scientific
community
from having
anything
to do
with
these
things
nevertheless
you know
it's
history
as a
curing
agent
among
these
tribes
goes
back
to
at least
pre-conquest
times
and it
has a
reputation
for
inducing
states
of group
mindedness
which
approach
the
level
of
being
almost
telepathic
so it's
being used
in the
Amazon
to regulate
social
processes
as well
as the
health of
individuals
so it's
very
interesting
in the
way
that it
seems
to be
a kind
of
pristine
model
of the
many
ways
that a
psychedelic
compound
can have
a
healing
effect
in a
society
well
I think
that's
about it
for this
evening
it's
I want
to thank
you all
very much
it's good
to be back
I want
to thank you