WEBVTT

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And I want to thank all the women who support me.

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I have wonderful support systems from women of all types

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who seem dedicated to the notion that Terrence McKenna can always be improved.

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And I'm extremely grateful for that.

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The frontiers are enormous in that dimension.

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Okay, what I want to talk about tonight is the notion or the idea of psychedelic society.

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When I spoke at Santa Barbara at the psychedelics conference,

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whenever it was, last May, a year ago,

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my contact lenses failed me at a critical point in my lecture.

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And I said,

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I simply had to wing it.

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And later, when I played this tape back,

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I heard this phrase, psychedelic society.

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And I had never used it consciously in a lecture.

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But because I had said it,

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and because there had been a ripple of resonance to it

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from the crowd of people there,

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I began to think about it.

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And this evening, I will just generally assess

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what it might mean for us.

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I'm definitely a pioneer in this field.

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I'm sure you're all familiar with the book Megatrends,

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which is making quite an impression at the moment.

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Well, Megatrends nowhere mentions the eminent transformation of human society

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through the application of psychedelic drugs.

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I don't know what they were thinking.

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What I think a psychedelic society,

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what that notion means or implies to me,

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in terms of ideology,

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is the idea of creating a society

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which always lives in the light of the mystery of being.

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In other words, that solutions should be displaced

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from the central role that they have had in social organization.

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And mysteries, irreducible mysteries,

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should be put in their place.

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The British enzymologist J.D.S. Haldane, in the 1920s,

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in an essay, said,

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the universe may not only be stranger than we suppose,

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it may be stranger than we can suppose.

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And I suggest to you that as we look back over human history,

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every pinnacle of civilization,

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whether it be Mayan or Greco-Roman or Sung dynasty,

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has believed that it was in possession

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of an accurate description of the cosmos

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and of man's relationship to it.

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This seems to go along with the full flowering of a civilization.

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But from the point of view of our present civilization,

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we regard all those conceptions as at worst quaint,

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at best half-right,

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and congratulate ourselves that our civilization

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at last has its finger on the real description

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of what is going on,

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and that actually what blinds us

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or what makes historical progress very difficult

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is our lack of awareness of our ignorance

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and that beliefs,

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should be put aside,

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and that a psychedelic society

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would abandon belief systems

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for direct experience.

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And this is, I think,

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much of the problem of the modern dilemma,

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is that direct experience has been discounted

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and in its place all kinds of belief systems have been erected.

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I would prefer a kind of intellectual anarchy

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where whatever was pragmatically applicable

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was brought to bear on any situation,

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but where belief was understood as a self-limiting function.

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Because you see, if you believe something,

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you're automatically precluded from believing its opposite,

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which means that a degree of your human freedom

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has been forfeited in the act of committing yourself

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to this belief.

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And I maintain that it's pointless to have beliefs,

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in a sense,

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because the universe really is stranger than we suppose.

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And what we need is a return to what in the 16th century

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was called the Baconian method,

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which means not the elaboration of fantastic thought constructs

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which explain,

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but merely a phenomenological cataloguing of what we experience.

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Computer networks and psychedelic drugs

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and the increased availability of information in the world

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have actually made possible the evolution

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of new alien information states,

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which never existed before.

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And we are processing these things,

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but at a very slow rate,

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because we are hindered by ideology.

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Now, I mentioned in an earlier workshop this afternoon

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that Freudian models, Jungian models of the psychedelic experience,

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which saw it as somehow a stripping away of resistance

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and a revealing of complex and hidden emotions and motives

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and belief systems,

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has been replaced in the last five to ten years

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with the shamanic model of hallucinogenic and shamanic experience.

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This model holds that archaic peoples

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have deputized special people

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to probe hidden information fields using psychedelic drugs,

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and that the information extracted from these information fields

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is then used to guide and direct the society.

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Now, I'm interested in this second model

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and spent time in the Amazon

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and am familiar with the operational mechanics of shamanism

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and shamanic personalities and that sort of thing,

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but I believe, actually,

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that the psychedelic experience looms larger

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than the institution of shamanism

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and that we hold a unique opportunity

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which is sort of the flip side of the culture crisis.

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Our ability to destroy ourselves

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is the mirror image of our ability to save ourselves,

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and what is lacking is a clear vision of what should be done.

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What should be done is certainly not the accumulation

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of ever larger nuclear arsenals

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and the promotion of all kinds of primate game playing

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of the sort that Tim Leary is well versed in denouncing.

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What needs to be done

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is that fundamental ontological conceptions about reality

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have to be remade.

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We need a new language,

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and in order to have a new language,

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we must have a new reality.

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It's almost a kind of Ouroboric equation

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or a bootstrap situation.

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A new reality will generate a new language.

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A new language will fix a new reality

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and make it part of this reality.

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These psychedelic drugs are...

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can be conceived of as points on an informational grid.

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They provide new perspectives on reality,

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and it is when you connect all points of perspective

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that you have on reality

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that a reasonably applicable model of it begins to appear.

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And I think this reasonably applicable model,

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what Wittgenstein called something which is true enough,

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is what we're looking for.

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The true enough mapping of experience onto theory

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is what we're looking for.

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But experience must be made primary.

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The language of the self must be made primary.

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And anarchy carries this responsibility

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even when it's only political anarchy.

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What I'm advocating is that we each take responsibility

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for the cultural transformation

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by realizing that it is not something

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which will be disseminated from the top down.

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It is something which each of us can contribute to

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by attempting to live as far into the future as possible.

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You know, we must get rid of the conceptions

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of the 40s, the 50s, the 60s, the 70s,

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the 80s, the 90s.

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We must smear the historical past

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into the historical moment

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and become exemplars of the humanity of the end time.

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And those of you who attended my lecture this afternoon

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about time know that I believe that liberation

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or let's even say decency as a human quality

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is an actual resonance and anticipation

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of this future perfected state of humanity

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and we can will the perfect future into being

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by becoming microcosms of the perfect future

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and no longer casting blame outward on institutions

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or hierarchies of responsibility and control

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but by realizing that the opportunity is here,

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the responsibility is here

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and the two may never be congruent again

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and the salvation of your immortal soul

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may depend on what you do with the opportunity.

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So what do you do with the opportunity?

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What does it mean to say in operational terms

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live as far into the future as you can live?

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It means taking a position

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vis-a-vis this emergent hyperdimensional reality.

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It does not necessarily mean

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becoming a psychedelic drug user yourself

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but it means admitting to yourself the possibility

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and if you feel the heroic potential within yourself

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to be one of the experiencers

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one of the pioneers

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then you know what to do.

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If on the other hand

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you fear to be lost

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in the abyss

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you fear what William Blake called

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falling into eternal death

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fallen from the spiral of being

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which connects one reincarnation to another

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and falling into the realm of eternal death

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then you orient yourself towards the psychedelic experience

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towards the psychedelic phenomenon

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as a source of information

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a mirror image of the psychedelic experience

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and the other is the psychedelic experience

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that you experience in hardware

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or computer networks.

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Computer networks paradoxically enough

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are a deeply feminizing influence on society

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where in hardware

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the unconscious is actually being created.

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It's as though we took the platonic bon mot

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about how if God did not exist

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man would invent him

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if the unconscious does not exist humanity will invent it in the form of

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these vast networks able to transfer and transform information this is in fact

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what we are caught up in is a transforming of information we have not

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physically changed in the last 40,000 years the human type was established the

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at the end of the last glaciation but change which was previously operable in

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the biological realm is now operable in the realm of culture and we are shedding

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cultural adumbrations of our vision of the Unitarian mystery at a faster and

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faster rate as we try to accommodate ourselves and mirror ourselves to the

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mystery which lies ahead of us in time

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and which is throwing this vast shadow fatedness back over the entire

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experience of human history for everyone who has lived in it and previous to our

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own era the only control language which could be applied to this thing which was

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bringing people together and causing birth and death and tearing down and

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erecting civilizations was God and it was an

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immaculate

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imagined as a self-conscious force that was leaning into the world like a cat into a

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fishbowl and making things happen now we have a different notion a notion of a

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vector system where forces over a large area are oriented toward a very small

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space and this is what history is

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it's an inrush

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towards what the Buddha is called the realm of the densely packed a transformational realm where the

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opposites are unified and the way I characterize this union of opposites is to say it is that realm

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where the body is finally interiorized the mind is finally exteriorized the way I think of the mind is

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the fourth dimensional a fourth dimensional organ of your body you can't see it because it's in the

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fourth dimension but you experience a sectioning of it in the phenomenon of consciousness but that

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is only a partial sectioning of it the way a plane is a partial picture of a cone when it truncates

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it the growth of information systems is only a mirroring in masculine hardware of what already

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exists in nature as a fact and it is up to us to hone our intuitions and to become aware of this

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pre-existent system of communication and wiring so that we can step away from the dualism of

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which separate us from each other and from the world.

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We need to realize that there is a gene swarm,

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not a set of species on the earth,

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that half the time when you think you're thinking,

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you're actually listening,

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and that ideas are remarkably slippery things

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and they're very difficult to trace to their origins,

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and that we really are one-on-one and all together

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in a dimension that is not as accessible

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as you might wish to be congealed,

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as Finnegan's writing says.

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The psychedelics are a red-hot social issue,

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social issue, ethical issue,

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whatever the term for it is,

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and it is precisely because they are deconditioning agents.

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They will cast doubt in you.

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If you're a Hasidic rabbi,

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a Marxist anthropologist,

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or an altar boy,

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because their business is to dissolve belief systems,

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and they do this very well,

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and then they leave you with the raw datum of experience,

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what William James called, in talking of infants,

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a blooming, buzzing confusion,

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is what they leave you with,

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the raw datum of experience,

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and out of that,

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you reconstruct a world,

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and you need to understand

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that it is a dialogue where your decisions,

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the projection of your grammar

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onto the intellectual space in front of you

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is going to gel into a mode of being.

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We actually all create our own universe

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because we are all operating with our own private languages,

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which are only very crudely,

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translatable into any other person's language.

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There's even a physical analog to this,

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which will further reinforce this notion of alienation.

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It is that your picture of the world impinging on your eyes

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is made of photons.

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Photons are tiny wave packets so closely circumscribed energetically

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that they can be thought of particles,

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thought of as particles.

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That means that

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every single photon which falls on the back of my eye

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is different from every single photon

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which falls on the back of any one of your eyes.

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This means that I am using 100%

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a different section of the world than any one of you is

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to get a picture of the world.

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And yet we are sitting here with the naive assumption

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that our pictures of the world differ only by our perspective

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within the space of the room.

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And we have numerous extremely naive assumptions like this

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built into our thinking.

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And our most venerable explanatory engines such as science

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happen also to be our oldest explanatory engines

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and therefore they have built into them

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the most naive and unexamined assumptions.

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For instance, science.

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We can demolish it in 30 seconds.

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Science tells you that a set of conditions will create a given effect

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and that every time that set of conditions is in place

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that effect will be found to obtain.

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Well the only place this happens is in laboratories.

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In our experience it isn't like that.

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A contact with a person is always different.

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The experience of making love,

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having a meal,

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riding the bus,

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these things are always different.

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It is their uniqueness in fact

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and the uniqueness that pervades all being

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that makes it bearable at all.

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Yet science is willing to tell you that the only things worth describing

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are those phenomena that can be repeatedly triggered.

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This is because these are the only phenomena science can describe

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and that's the name of the game as far as they are concerned.

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But we, to claim our freedom,

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to take advantage of the tiny moment

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between immense abysses of unknowability,

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perhaps death, perhaps other reincarnations,

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perhaps transitions into other life forms,

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these things we don't know.

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But in the moment of being human

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we have a unique opportunity

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to figure things out.

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And I have the faith

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that it is possible sometime, somewhere

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to have a conversation

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perhaps no progress would be made until the ninth hour

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but to have a conversation

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in which reality could be literally pulled to pieces

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beyond the point of reconstructing.

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I had a friend, I'm not sure if this is germane,

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but I had a friend back in the sixties

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who one day on LSD took a toothpick

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and he sat for fourteen solid hours

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with the toothpick and a large red brick

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and he demolished it.

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He reduced it to nothing

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with this toothpick and his fingernail

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long after the toothpick was gone.

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And this is what we have to do

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to the ideological concrete in which we are set.

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We have to claim anarchy

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and realize that systems

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have a life of their own

23:05.540 --> 23:07.540
that is anti-humanist.

23:07.540 --> 23:11.540
There is definitely an anti-humanist tendency

23:11.540 --> 23:13.540
in all systems.

23:13.540 --> 23:15.540
Ludwig von Bertalanffy

23:15.540 --> 23:18.540
who was the inventor of general systems theory

23:18.540 --> 23:22.540
said, you know, people are not machines

23:22.540 --> 23:24.540
but in every situation

23:24.540 --> 23:27.540
where they are given the choice

23:27.540 --> 23:30.540
they will behave like machines.

23:30.540 --> 23:32.540
We all fall into patterns.

23:32.540 --> 23:34.540
We all then hold those patterns

23:34.540 --> 23:36.540
ever more tightly.

23:36.540 --> 23:38.540
They cannot be violated

23:38.540 --> 23:41.540
and this happens on the thought level.

23:41.540 --> 23:43.540
And we are at the cresting wave

23:43.540 --> 23:45.540
of the historical wave

23:45.540 --> 23:47.540
of this kind of uptightness

23:47.540 --> 23:49.540
that stretches back millennia.

23:49.540 --> 23:52.540
And I think that we have now come

23:52.540 --> 23:55.540
to the end of this phase.

23:55.540 --> 23:57.540
Whether you buy into my own

23:57.540 --> 23:59.540
peculiar apocalyptic

23:59.540 --> 24:01.540
and transformative vision

24:01.540 --> 24:03.540
involving 2012

24:03.540 --> 24:05.540
or whether you just can tell

24:05.540 --> 24:06.540
by looking around you

24:06.540 --> 24:09.540
that the shit may soon hit the fan,

24:09.540 --> 24:11.540
I think we can agree that we have come

24:11.540 --> 24:14.540
to some kind of a pass.

24:14.540 --> 24:17.540
And what is going to come out of it

24:17.540 --> 24:19.540
is either going to be

24:19.540 --> 24:21.540
a great deal of dislocation

24:21.540 --> 24:23.540
in the biosphere,

24:23.540 --> 24:25.540
the invalidation of intelligence

24:25.540 --> 24:28.540
as an adaptation of biology

24:28.540 --> 24:30.540
and our extinction

24:30.540 --> 24:33.540
or we are going to become

24:33.540 --> 24:35.540
as James Joyce dreamed we could

24:35.540 --> 24:38.540
man-made dirigible

24:38.540 --> 24:40.540
is how he put it.

24:40.540 --> 24:41.540
In other words,

24:41.540 --> 24:44.540
the exteriorization of the soul,

24:44.540 --> 24:47.540
the interiorization of the body.

24:47.540 --> 24:49.540
And in this process

24:49.540 --> 24:51.540
everything is going to be

24:51.540 --> 24:53.540
challenged.

24:53.540 --> 24:55.540
The very notion of humanness

24:55.540 --> 24:57.540
is going to be challenged

24:57.540 --> 24:59.540
because we are on the brink

24:59.540 --> 25:03.540
through genetic manipulation of DNA

25:03.540 --> 25:05.540
of actually taking control

25:05.540 --> 25:07.540
of the human form,

25:07.540 --> 25:09.540
of being able to extend

25:09.540 --> 25:11.540
the notion of art

25:11.540 --> 25:15.540
inward into the human body and form.

25:15.540 --> 25:17.540
Are we classicists?

25:17.540 --> 25:19.540
Shall we each be an Adonis

25:19.540 --> 25:21.540
and a Persephone?

25:21.540 --> 25:22.540
Are we...

25:22.540 --> 25:23.540
What are we?

25:23.540 --> 25:24.540
Are we surrealists?

25:24.540 --> 25:25.540
Shall I be a potato

25:25.540 --> 25:28.540
and you a burning leopard?

25:28.540 --> 25:30.540
These are decisions

25:30.540 --> 25:33.540
which will have to be faced.

25:33.540 --> 25:38.540
These are the important questions.

25:38.540 --> 25:40.540
And this vertical game

25:40.540 --> 25:43.540
which we see in the metaphors

25:43.540 --> 25:45.540
that are applied to psychedelic drugs,

25:45.540 --> 25:47.540
consciousness expansion,

25:47.540 --> 25:48.540
getting high,

25:48.540 --> 25:50.540
psychedelic tripping,

25:50.540 --> 25:51.540
demonic flight,

25:51.540 --> 25:53.540
all of these things

25:53.540 --> 25:54.540
are being paralleled.

25:54.540 --> 25:56.540
It's like the drugs

25:56.540 --> 26:00.540
are the feminine software

26:00.540 --> 26:03.540
formative leading edge

26:03.540 --> 26:05.540
of what is happening.

26:05.540 --> 26:07.540
Coming along behind that

26:07.540 --> 26:10.540
is the hardware engineering

26:10.540 --> 26:12.540
masculine mentality

26:12.540 --> 26:15.540
that is processing all this stuff

26:15.540 --> 26:17.540
into hardware.

26:17.540 --> 26:19.540
And this will continue

26:19.540 --> 26:22.540
until the leading edge

26:22.540 --> 26:24.540
out distances

26:24.540 --> 26:26.540
the engineering mentality

26:26.540 --> 26:28.540
through breakthrough.

26:28.540 --> 26:30.540
And this is what I think

26:30.540 --> 26:33.540
the shamanic hope is.

26:33.540 --> 26:35.540
That we can find a way

26:35.540 --> 26:37.540
to use chemicals

26:37.540 --> 26:38.540
in our bodies

26:38.540 --> 26:40.540
and our voices

26:40.540 --> 26:42.540
and our thoughts

26:42.540 --> 26:44.540
and our hands upon ourselves

26:44.540 --> 26:45.540
and each other

26:45.540 --> 26:48.540
to transform ourselves

26:48.540 --> 26:50.540
without technology

26:50.540 --> 26:51.540
to move into the realm

26:51.540 --> 26:53.540
of the imagination

26:53.540 --> 26:55.540
on the natch as it were

26:55.540 --> 26:57.540
with an interiorized

26:57.540 --> 27:00.540
psychopharmacologically applied technology

27:00.540 --> 27:03.540
that frees us in the imagination.

27:03.540 --> 27:04.540
At the same time

27:04.540 --> 27:06.540
that this is going on

27:06.540 --> 27:07.540
the engineering mentality

27:07.540 --> 27:09.540
is going to set human societies

27:09.540 --> 27:11.540
in orbit around the earth

27:11.540 --> 27:12.540
and the moon

27:12.540 --> 27:14.540
and the near planets.

27:14.540 --> 27:17.070
But there's a catch here

27:17.070 --> 27:19.070
for the engineering mentality.

27:20.070 --> 27:23.070
Which is that the very void

27:23.070 --> 27:25.070
which surrounds the planet

27:25.070 --> 27:28.070
exemplifies this enfolding

27:28.070 --> 27:32.070
abyssal feminine element.

27:32.070 --> 27:36.070
It is the mysterious mama matrix

27:36.070 --> 27:38.070
of Finnegan's Wake.

27:38.070 --> 27:40.070
The mysterious mama matrix

27:40.070 --> 27:42.070
is the universe

27:42.070 --> 27:45.070
and there is no escaping that fact.

27:45.070 --> 27:47.070
So that I think

27:47.070 --> 27:49.070
the engineering mentality

27:49.070 --> 27:51.070
which will seek to change man

27:51.070 --> 27:53.070
into his machines

27:53.070 --> 27:55.070
will have to be counterpoised

27:55.070 --> 27:57.070
by the psychedelic

27:57.070 --> 27:59.070
earth-oriented

27:59.070 --> 28:02.070
imagination-oriented

28:02.070 --> 28:03.070
side of things

28:03.070 --> 28:05.070
which will create then

28:05.070 --> 28:06.070
the potential

28:06.070 --> 28:08.070
for the spiritual marriage

28:08.070 --> 28:10.070
that will be

28:10.070 --> 28:13.070
the alchemical perfection

28:13.070 --> 28:15.070
of a new form of humanity.

28:15.070 --> 28:18.070
And this is not far away.

28:18.070 --> 28:20.070
It can't be far away.

28:20.070 --> 28:23.070
It must be now and soon.

28:23.070 --> 28:25.070
And it is as I said

28:25.070 --> 28:37.260
it is a personal responsibility

28:37.260 --> 28:40.260
incumbent upon all of us

28:40.260 --> 28:41.260
to act.

28:41.260 --> 28:43.260
There is definitely

28:43.260 --> 28:45.260
an obligation to examine

28:45.260 --> 28:47.260
the possibility of action

28:47.260 --> 28:49.260
and to think clearly

28:49.260 --> 28:52.260
about self and other

28:52.260 --> 28:55.260
language and world

28:55.260 --> 28:57.260
past and future

28:57.260 --> 28:58.260
because too much

28:58.260 --> 29:00.260
we have lived

29:00.260 --> 29:02.260
in the light of the idea

29:02.260 --> 29:03.260
that your ideology

29:03.260 --> 29:05.260
will be dictated to you

29:05.260 --> 29:07.260
essentially by geography.

29:07.260 --> 29:09.260
And if you are born in India

29:09.260 --> 29:10.260
you will find out

29:10.260 --> 29:12.260
that the cosmos is one way.

29:12.260 --> 29:13.260
If you are born in Brooklyn

29:13.260 --> 29:14.260
you find out

29:14.260 --> 29:16.260
it is another way.

29:16.260 --> 29:17.260
What we need to do

29:17.260 --> 29:19.260
is transcend

29:19.260 --> 29:22.260
these localized grids of fate

29:22.260 --> 29:24.260
which make us

29:24.260 --> 29:25.260
what we are

29:25.260 --> 29:27.260
but don't want to be

29:27.260 --> 29:29.260
because you claim

29:29.260 --> 29:32.260
this higher level of freedom

29:32.260 --> 29:33.260
by the simple act

29:33.260 --> 29:35.260
of applying attention

29:35.260 --> 29:39.410
the experience of being

29:39.410 --> 29:42.410
the primacy of experience.

29:42.410 --> 29:43.410
This is why I can get along

29:43.410 --> 29:45.410
with these people in the Amazon

29:45.410 --> 29:46.410
who do these drugs

29:46.410 --> 29:48.410
because though my Spanish

29:48.410 --> 29:49.410
is terrible

29:49.410 --> 29:51.410
and often theirs is worse

29:51.410 --> 29:53.410
because they are Indians.

29:53.410 --> 29:55.410
La experiencia, Señor.

29:56.410 --> 29:58.410
And yes, we understand.

29:58.410 --> 29:59.410
We know.

29:59.410 --> 30:00.410
And he says, you know,

30:00.410 --> 30:01.410
because we are posing

30:01.410 --> 30:03.410
usually as scientists

30:03.410 --> 30:04.410
of some sort.

30:04.410 --> 30:07.410
You are from this or that university.

30:07.410 --> 30:09.410
You will return to this laboratory.

30:09.410 --> 30:10.410
You show me this paper

30:10.410 --> 30:11.410
which has the name

30:11.410 --> 30:12.410
of my friend in it

30:12.410 --> 30:14.410
because he helped you last year.

30:14.410 --> 30:15.410
But I say to you,

30:15.410 --> 30:18.410
experience is the thing.

30:18.410 --> 30:19.410
And the only thing

30:19.410 --> 30:20.410
you can say to that is

30:20.410 --> 30:21.410
we know.

30:21.410 --> 30:22.410
It is.

30:22.410 --> 30:25.410
We must begin to send out

30:25.410 --> 30:26.410
ideological

30:26.410 --> 30:27.410
visions

30:27.410 --> 30:28.410
rather than be

30:28.410 --> 30:30.410
the consumers of them.

30:30.410 --> 30:32.410
We need to turn off

30:32.410 --> 30:34.410
the metaphorical televisions

30:34.410 --> 30:36.410
which are hooking us in

30:36.410 --> 30:37.410
to the network

30:37.410 --> 30:38.410
of cultural assumptions

30:38.410 --> 30:40.410
dictated from the Pentagon,

30:40.410 --> 30:41.410
Madison Avenue,

30:41.410 --> 30:43.410
and what have you.

30:43.410 --> 30:45.410
We need instead

30:45.410 --> 30:47.410
to turn on our terminals

30:47.410 --> 30:49.410
and to begin to interact

30:49.410 --> 30:51.410
with like-minded people

30:51.410 --> 30:52.410
throughout the world

30:52.410 --> 30:54.410
and establish

30:54.410 --> 30:55.410
this new

30:55.410 --> 30:57.410
intellectual order

30:57.410 --> 30:59.410
which will be then

30:59.410 --> 31:01.410
the salvation of mankind,

31:01.410 --> 31:03.410
I firmly believe,

31:03.410 --> 31:05.410
because it is a collectivity

31:05.410 --> 31:07.410
and people will then feel

31:07.410 --> 31:08.410
the interrelatedness

31:08.410 --> 31:10.410
of their fates,

31:10.410 --> 31:12.410
feel that interrelatedness

31:12.410 --> 31:14.410
as a thing which transcends

31:14.410 --> 31:16.410
national divisions,

31:16.410 --> 31:18.410
ideological divisions,

31:18.410 --> 31:20.410
feel the primacy

31:20.410 --> 31:21.410
of being part

31:21.410 --> 31:23.410
of the human family.

31:23.410 --> 31:24.410
And I think that it

31:24.410 --> 31:26.410
will not be done

31:26.410 --> 31:27.410
without psychedelics

31:27.410 --> 31:29.410
because we have drifted

31:29.410 --> 31:31.410
so long without them.

31:31.410 --> 31:33.410
Surely we are the culture

31:33.410 --> 31:34.410
that has gone longest

31:34.410 --> 31:37.410
without psychedelics

31:37.410 --> 31:39.410
in any cultural situation

31:39.410 --> 31:40.410
throughout the world.

31:40.410 --> 31:42.410
It's been 2,000 years

31:42.410 --> 31:44.410
since the mystery

31:44.410 --> 31:46.410
was real at Eleusis

31:46.410 --> 31:48.410
and in that 2,000 years

31:48.410 --> 31:50.410
we have wandered

31:50.410 --> 31:53.410
far, far into confusion.

31:53.410 --> 31:56.410
But we are the prodigal sons.

31:56.410 --> 31:57.410
We can redeem

31:57.410 --> 31:59.410
the ideal of shamanism

31:59.410 --> 32:01.410
from pre-technological

32:01.410 --> 32:03.410
social stasis

32:03.410 --> 32:05.410
and actually project it,

32:05.410 --> 32:07.410
perfect it,

32:07.410 --> 32:08.410
and send it out

32:08.410 --> 32:10.410
to the stars.

32:10.410 --> 32:11.410
And if we don't do this,

32:11.410 --> 32:13.410
everything is lost.

32:13.410 --> 32:15.410
There is no standing still.

32:15.410 --> 32:16.410
There is only risk

32:16.410 --> 32:17.410
and commitment

32:17.410 --> 32:20.410
to these millennia-long

32:20.410 --> 32:22.410
cultural goals

32:22.410 --> 32:24.410
that will restore meaning

32:24.410 --> 32:25.410
and direction

32:25.410 --> 32:26.410
to our civilization

32:26.410 --> 32:28.410
or we will fritter it away

32:28.410 --> 32:31.410
into chaos and destruction

32:31.410 --> 32:33.410
and the horrors

32:33.410 --> 32:36.410
of the typical future scenario.

32:36.410 --> 32:38.410
Thank you.

32:38.410 --> 32:59.770
You mentioned the expression

32:59.770 --> 33:00.770
gene swarm

33:00.770 --> 33:01.770
and I'm not familiar with it.

33:01.770 --> 33:02.770
Could you explain it?

33:02.770 --> 33:03.770
Yes.

33:03.770 --> 33:04.770
I talked about this

33:04.770 --> 33:06.770
in the workshop this afternoon

33:06.770 --> 33:07.770
pointing out

33:07.770 --> 33:10.770
that the notion of species

33:10.770 --> 33:11.770
is simply

33:11.770 --> 33:13.770
a 17th century convention

33:13.770 --> 33:15.770
of biological classification

33:15.770 --> 33:17.770
begun by Linnaeus

33:17.770 --> 33:18.770
because when you visually

33:18.770 --> 33:19.770
look around

33:19.770 --> 33:21.770
with no awareness

33:21.770 --> 33:23.770
of geological time,

33:23.770 --> 33:25.770
you do seem to see

33:25.770 --> 33:28.770
distinct plants and animals.

33:28.770 --> 33:32.770
But now that we are aware

33:32.770 --> 33:33.770
of such things

33:33.770 --> 33:35.770
as bacterial transfer

33:35.770 --> 33:37.770
of genes from one organism

33:37.770 --> 33:38.770
to another

33:38.770 --> 33:39.770
and this sort of thing,

33:39.770 --> 33:40.770
we realize

33:40.770 --> 33:42.770
that the apparent fixity

33:42.770 --> 33:43.770
of the species

33:43.770 --> 33:45.770
is an illusion

33:45.770 --> 33:46.770
and that actually

33:46.770 --> 33:49.770
there is only a gene swarm

33:49.770 --> 33:50.770
on the planet

33:50.770 --> 33:53.770
and it coagulates

33:53.770 --> 33:55.770
into centers,

33:55.770 --> 33:57.770
the densest kind of center

33:57.770 --> 33:59.770
it coagulates into

33:59.770 --> 34:01.770
we call an organism

34:01.770 --> 34:03.770
but it also coagulates

34:03.770 --> 34:06.770
into more loosely bound systems

34:06.770 --> 34:09.770
such as symbiotic relationships

34:09.770 --> 34:10.770
or even

34:10.770 --> 34:14.770
or yet more loosely bound relationships

34:14.770 --> 34:18.770
ecotomes and biospheres

34:18.770 --> 34:19.770
and that really

34:19.770 --> 34:20.770
there are just

34:20.770 --> 34:23.770
from any given biological center

34:23.770 --> 34:25.770
there is just a series

34:25.770 --> 34:27.770
of concentric shells

34:27.770 --> 34:28.770
of influence

34:28.770 --> 34:30.770
going both directions

34:30.770 --> 34:31.770
outward

34:31.770 --> 34:33.770
and that's a more true view

34:33.770 --> 34:35.770
of the situation on the planet

34:35.770 --> 34:36.770
than the notion

34:36.770 --> 34:38.770
that there are distinct species.

34:38.770 --> 34:41.300
So that you would see

34:41.300 --> 34:43.300
the actual organisms

34:43.300 --> 34:44.300
and all that

34:44.300 --> 34:45.300
as being maybe

34:45.300 --> 34:48.300
or the gene swarm

34:48.300 --> 34:49.300
expressing itself

34:49.300 --> 34:51.300
as an interaction

34:51.300 --> 34:52.300
with the environment

34:52.300 --> 34:53.300
at that particular moment

34:53.300 --> 34:55.300
Yes, they are temporary

34:55.300 --> 34:56.300
aggregates

34:56.300 --> 34:58.300
of genetic material.

34:58.300 --> 34:59.300
I've never heard that

34:59.300 --> 35:02.300
and I find it very interesting.

35:02.300 --> 35:03.300
Well, it turns out

35:03.300 --> 35:04.300
when you start

35:04.300 --> 35:05.300
I don't want to get

35:05.300 --> 35:06.300
too deeply into it

35:06.300 --> 35:07.300
because it's a sideline

35:07.300 --> 35:09.300
but when you start looking

35:09.300 --> 35:10.300
at the ways

35:10.300 --> 35:11.300
that genetic material

35:11.300 --> 35:13.300
is transferred around

35:13.300 --> 35:16.300
there are all kinds of ways

35:16.300 --> 35:17.300
there's even been

35:17.300 --> 35:19.300
a kind of termite

35:19.300 --> 35:21.300
found in Africa

35:21.300 --> 35:27.300
where the mating activity

35:27.300 --> 35:29.300
is so furious

35:29.300 --> 35:30.300
that

35:30.300 --> 35:32.300
and the sexual organ

35:32.300 --> 35:33.300
of the male insects

35:33.300 --> 35:35.300
so sharp

35:35.300 --> 35:36.300
that they actually pierce

35:36.300 --> 35:38.300
the body cavity

35:38.300 --> 35:39.300
not only

35:39.300 --> 35:40.300
of

35:40.300 --> 35:41.300
females

35:41.300 --> 35:42.300
but also

35:42.300 --> 35:43.300
of other males

35:43.300 --> 35:44.300
and by marking

35:44.300 --> 35:47.300
the sperm

35:47.300 --> 35:48.300
of these insects

35:48.300 --> 35:49.300
and following it

35:49.300 --> 35:51.300
you can discover

35:51.300 --> 35:53.300
that some

35:53.300 --> 35:55.300
male individuals

35:55.300 --> 35:56.300
are transferring sperm

35:56.300 --> 35:57.300
to females

35:57.300 --> 35:58.300
that is not

35:58.300 --> 36:00.300
their sperm

36:00.300 --> 36:02.300
and that absolutely

36:02.300 --> 36:03.300
violates

36:03.300 --> 36:05.300
the central dogma

36:05.300 --> 36:07.300
of Darwinian evolution

36:07.300 --> 36:08.300
which is that

36:08.300 --> 36:09.300
the genetic material

36:09.300 --> 36:11.300
the transferability

36:11.300 --> 36:12.300
and adaptability

36:12.300 --> 36:13.300
of the genetic material

36:13.300 --> 36:15.300
is directly linked

36:15.300 --> 36:16.300
to the adaptability

36:16.300 --> 36:18.300
of its carrier

36:18.300 --> 36:19.300
but here you have

36:19.300 --> 36:20.300
a situation

36:20.300 --> 36:21.300
where the owner

36:21.300 --> 36:22.300
of the sperm

36:22.300 --> 36:23.300
may be dead

36:23.300 --> 36:24.300
because he was

36:24.300 --> 36:25.300
non-adaptive

36:25.300 --> 36:26.300
but the sperm

36:26.300 --> 36:27.300
because it's in the body

36:27.300 --> 36:29.300
of a more adaptive insect

36:29.300 --> 36:31.300
is actually

36:31.300 --> 36:32.300
having an impact

36:32.300 --> 36:33.300
on the expression

36:33.300 --> 36:35.300
of the phenotype

36:35.300 --> 36:37.300
so that's very technical

36:37.300 --> 36:38.300
but anyway

36:38.300 --> 36:39.300
genetic material

36:39.300 --> 36:40.300
moves around

36:40.300 --> 36:41.300
in all kinds

36:41.300 --> 36:42.300
of ways

36:42.300 --> 36:43.300
and I'm sure

36:43.300 --> 36:44.300
there are more ways

36:44.300 --> 36:45.300
soon to be discovered

37:03.940 --> 37:04.940
the responsibility

37:04.940 --> 37:05.940
always rests

37:05.940 --> 37:06.940
on us

37:06.940 --> 37:07.940
and you don't want

37:07.940 --> 37:08.940
to go out

37:08.940 --> 37:09.940
and immediately

37:09.940 --> 37:10.940
form a movement

37:10.940 --> 37:11.940
to change

37:11.940 --> 37:12.940
those guys

37:12.940 --> 37:13.940
or that bureau

37:13.940 --> 37:14.940
I think

37:14.940 --> 37:15.940
the thing

37:15.940 --> 37:16.940
that should be done

37:16.940 --> 37:17.940
is

37:17.940 --> 37:18.940
people who are

37:18.940 --> 37:19.940
involved

37:19.940 --> 37:21.940
in psychedelics

37:21.940 --> 37:22.940
should live lives

37:22.940 --> 37:23.940
of such

37:23.940 --> 37:25.940
exemplitude

37:25.940 --> 37:27.940
and impeccability

37:27.940 --> 37:28.940
that the notion

37:28.940 --> 37:30.940
that there was anything

37:30.940 --> 37:31.940
shady

37:31.940 --> 37:32.940
or wrong

37:32.940 --> 37:33.940
or curious

37:33.940 --> 37:35.940
about this phenomenon

37:35.940 --> 37:37.940
would be ludicrous

37:37.940 --> 37:43.830
I've thought about it

37:43.830 --> 37:44.830
see I didn't think

37:49.830 --> 37:51.830
any other questions

37:51.830 --> 37:52.830
then thank you

37:52.830 --> 37:53.830
and thank you

37:53.830 --> 37:54.830
very very

37:54.830 --> 37:55.830
yes

37:55.830 --> 37:57.830
I have a clearer vision

37:57.830 --> 37:58.830
of how you would see

37:58.830 --> 38:00.830
a psychedelic society

38:00.830 --> 38:01.830
in that

38:01.830 --> 38:02.830
if we were able

38:02.830 --> 38:03.830
to demolish

38:03.830 --> 38:04.830
a lot of the belief systems

38:04.830 --> 38:06.830
that we do operate under

38:06.830 --> 38:07.830
what would

38:07.830 --> 38:08.830
how would we relate

38:08.830 --> 38:09.830
to one another

38:09.830 --> 38:10.830
how would you see

38:10.830 --> 38:15.100
that vision unfolding

38:15.100 --> 38:16.100
there was a French

38:16.100 --> 38:17.100
sociologist

38:17.100 --> 38:18.100
about 15 years ago

38:18.100 --> 38:19.100
who had some

38:19.100 --> 38:20.100
vogue

38:20.100 --> 38:21.100
and then faded

38:21.100 --> 38:22.100
I don't know

38:22.100 --> 38:23.100
what his sin was

38:23.100 --> 38:24.100
but his name

38:24.100 --> 38:25.100
was Jacques Ellul

38:25.100 --> 38:26.100
and he wrote a book

38:26.100 --> 38:27.100
called

38:27.100 --> 38:29.100
The Technological Society

38:29.100 --> 38:30.100
and in there

38:30.100 --> 38:32.100
he had an axiom

38:32.100 --> 38:33.100
and the axiom was

38:33.100 --> 38:35.100
there are no

38:35.100 --> 38:37.100
political solutions

38:37.100 --> 38:40.100
only technological ones

38:40.100 --> 38:43.100
the rest is propaganda

38:43.100 --> 38:47.950
what a psychedelic society

38:47.950 --> 38:48.950
would do I think

38:48.950 --> 38:49.950
is it would rationally

38:49.950 --> 38:51.950
solve problems

38:51.950 --> 38:53.950
the first thing to notice

38:53.950 --> 38:54.950
is that

38:54.950 --> 38:55.950
we could pave

38:55.950 --> 38:56.950
the street

38:56.950 --> 38:57.950
with gold

38:57.950 --> 38:58.950
if we would just

38:58.950 --> 39:01.950
eliminate defense spending

39:01.950 --> 39:02.950
in other words

39:02.950 --> 39:04.950
our limited energy resources

39:04.950 --> 39:06.950
are not being allocated

39:06.950 --> 39:07.950
in such a way

39:07.950 --> 39:08.950
as to move us

39:08.950 --> 39:10.950
towards survival

39:10.950 --> 39:11.950
we have to begin

39:11.950 --> 39:13.950
to solve

39:13.950 --> 39:15.950
our problems

39:15.950 --> 39:16.950
using solutions

39:16.950 --> 39:18.950
that are present at hand

39:18.950 --> 39:19.950
no matter

39:19.950 --> 39:21.950
who they offend

39:21.950 --> 39:22.950
so there would be

39:22.950 --> 39:23.950
a value system

39:23.950 --> 39:25.950
in operation then

39:25.950 --> 39:26.950
a value system

39:26.950 --> 39:28.950
a humanist value system

39:28.950 --> 39:29.950
it's very interesting

39:29.950 --> 39:30.950
that to me

39:30.950 --> 39:32.950
that the

39:32.950 --> 39:33.950
what do they call it

39:33.950 --> 39:35.950
silent majority

39:35.950 --> 39:36.950
that the way

39:36.950 --> 39:38.950
in which they name

39:38.950 --> 39:39.950
their enemies

39:39.950 --> 39:41.950
is secular humanists

39:41.950 --> 39:42.950
this is the only

39:42.950 --> 39:43.950
intelligent thing

39:43.950 --> 39:44.950
they ever say

39:44.950 --> 39:45.950
it's the only

39:45.950 --> 39:46.950
intelligent phrase

39:46.950 --> 39:48.950
in their entire repertoire

39:48.950 --> 39:50.950
but it's fascinating

39:50.950 --> 39:53.950
we are secular humanists

39:53.950 --> 39:55.950
that's precisely

39:55.950 --> 39:56.950
what we are

39:56.950 --> 39:57.950
we believe

39:57.950 --> 40:00.950
that human beings

40:00.950 --> 40:02.950
are to be the measure

40:02.950 --> 40:03.950
of all things

40:03.950 --> 40:04.950
that there is

40:04.950 --> 40:05.950
no other standard

40:05.950 --> 40:08.950
not a classless society

40:08.950 --> 40:10.950
or god almighty

40:10.950 --> 40:12.950
there is no other standard

40:12.950 --> 40:13.950
but man

40:13.950 --> 40:14.950
humanity

40:14.950 --> 40:15.950
people

40:15.950 --> 40:16.950
and this is

40:16.950 --> 40:17.950
a renaissance idea

40:17.950 --> 40:19.950
that was first denunciated

40:19.950 --> 40:20.950
by Marcello Ficino

40:20.950 --> 40:23.950
in 1510

40:23.950 --> 40:25.950
but we have not acted

40:25.950 --> 40:26.950
upon it

40:26.950 --> 40:28.950
we have not up to this time

40:28.950 --> 40:31.950
had a secular humanist society

40:31.950 --> 40:34.950
we've had this curious mix

40:34.950 --> 40:37.950
of medieval remnants

40:37.950 --> 40:40.950
in the religious department

40:40.950 --> 40:42.950
gangster capitalism

40:42.950 --> 40:44.950
in the economic department

40:44.950 --> 40:48.950
stasis seeking Marxism

40:48.950 --> 40:50.950
as a counterpoise to that

40:50.950 --> 40:52.950
we have never rationally

40:52.950 --> 40:54.950
tried to solve our problems

40:54.950 --> 40:55.950
and we have never

40:55.950 --> 40:57.950
rationally tried to solve

40:57.950 --> 40:59.950
our problems

40:59.950 --> 41:01.950
on a personal level

41:01.950 --> 41:03.950
until the advent

41:03.950 --> 41:06.950
of

41:06.950 --> 41:07.950
well

41:07.950 --> 41:08.950
psychology

41:08.950 --> 41:10.950
in the modern sense

41:10.950 --> 41:11.950
people never examined

41:11.950 --> 41:12.950
the center

41:12.950 --> 41:14.950
they thought of the center

41:14.950 --> 41:17.950
as a mirrored bead

41:17.950 --> 41:18.950
and that this

41:18.950 --> 41:19.950
you didn't ask questions

41:19.950 --> 41:20.950
about the self

41:20.950 --> 41:22.950
or motive

41:22.950 --> 41:23.950
or the relationship

41:23.950 --> 41:24.950
of your worldview

41:24.950 --> 41:26.950
to trauma

41:26.950 --> 41:27.950
expectation

41:27.950 --> 41:28.950
class level

41:28.950 --> 41:29.950
the

41:29.950 --> 41:30.950
all of these things

41:30.950 --> 41:31.950
we have become aware of

41:31.950 --> 41:32.950
as we have steadily

41:32.950 --> 41:33.950
retreated

41:33.950 --> 41:34.950
from the illusion

41:34.950 --> 41:35.950
of a world

41:35.950 --> 41:36.950
deployed

41:36.950 --> 41:37.950
in three-dimensional space

41:37.950 --> 41:38.950
and we're only

41:38.950 --> 41:39.950
at the beginning

41:39.950 --> 41:40.950
of this process

41:40.950 --> 41:41.950
for instance

41:41.950 --> 41:42.950
I mean

41:42.950 --> 41:43.950
I don't say this

41:43.950 --> 41:44.950
to knock Esalen

41:44.950 --> 41:45.950
I say it

41:45.950 --> 41:46.950
as an example

41:46.950 --> 41:47.950
I think Esalen

41:47.950 --> 41:48.950
is definitely

41:48.950 --> 41:49.950
one of the most

41:49.950 --> 41:50.950
important

41:50.950 --> 41:51.950
and most important

41:51.950 --> 41:52.950
people

41:52.950 --> 41:53.950
in the world

41:53.950 --> 41:54.950
definitely

41:54.950 --> 41:55.950
the cutting edge

41:55.950 --> 41:56.950
of things

41:56.950 --> 41:57.950
and has been

41:57.950 --> 41:58.950
for some time

41:58.950 --> 41:59.950
but isn't it

41:59.950 --> 42:00.950
preposterous

42:00.950 --> 42:01.950
that Esalen

42:01.950 --> 42:02.950
operates

42:02.950 --> 42:03.950
under the laws

42:03.950 --> 42:04.950
of the United States

42:04.950 --> 42:05.950
which make taking

42:05.950 --> 42:06.950
these drugs

42:06.950 --> 42:07.950
illegal

42:07.950 --> 42:08.950
they must

42:08.950 --> 42:09.950
do that

42:09.950 --> 42:10.950
they must

42:10.950 --> 42:11.950
do that

42:11.950 --> 42:12.950
they have no choice

42:12.950 --> 42:13.950
whatever their

42:13.950 --> 42:14.950
private opinions

42:14.950 --> 42:15.950
may be

42:15.950 --> 42:16.950
and

42:16.950 --> 42:17.950
all institutions

42:17.950 --> 42:18.950
are in that

42:18.950 --> 42:19.950
bind

42:19.950 --> 42:20.950
there's no such

42:20.950 --> 42:21.950
thing

42:21.950 --> 42:22.950
as a revolutionary

42:22.950 --> 42:23.950
institution

42:23.950 --> 42:24.950
there are only

42:24.950 --> 42:25.950
revolutionary

42:25.950 --> 42:26.950
people

42:26.950 --> 42:27.950
and this is

42:27.950 --> 42:28.950
why

42:28.950 --> 42:29.950
this de-emphasis

42:29.950 --> 42:30.950
on belief

42:30.950 --> 42:31.950
systems

42:31.950 --> 42:32.950
and they

42:32.950 --> 42:33.950
their

42:33.950 --> 42:34.950
support

42:34.950 --> 42:35.950
systems

42:35.950 --> 42:36.950
which are

42:36.950 --> 42:37.950
institutions

42:37.950 --> 42:38.950
seems to

42:38.950 --> 42:39.950
me

42:39.950 --> 42:40.950
the essence

42:40.950 --> 42:41.950
of this

42:41.950 --> 42:42.950
psychedelic

42:42.950 --> 42:43.950
message

42:43.950 --> 42:44.950
it's

42:44.950 --> 42:45.950
it says

42:45.950 --> 42:46.950
be against

42:46.950 --> 42:47.950
method

42:47.950 --> 42:48.950
don't

42:48.950 --> 42:49.950
be enslaved

42:49.950 --> 42:50.950
to method

42:50.950 --> 42:51.950
embrace

42:51.950 --> 42:52.950
anarchy

42:52.950 --> 42:53.950
anarchy

42:53.950 --> 42:54.950
and that's

42:54.950 --> 42:55.950
a bad name

42:55.950 --> 42:56.950
because in the

42:56.950 --> 42:57.950
political arena

42:57.950 --> 42:58.950
it's a weird

42:58.950 --> 42:59.950
number

42:59.950 --> 43:00.950
but in

43:00.950 --> 43:01.950
philosophy

43:01.950 --> 43:02.950
in science

43:02.950 --> 43:03.950
in love

43:03.950 --> 43:04.950
and in human

43:04.950 --> 43:05.950
relations

43:05.950 --> 43:06.950
generally

43:06.950 --> 43:07.950
it seems to

43:07.950 --> 43:08.950
me it is

43:08.950 --> 43:09.950
the most

43:09.950 --> 43:10.950
respectable

43:10.950 --> 43:11.950
system

43:11.950 --> 43:12.950
based on

43:12.950 --> 43:13.950
its track

43:13.950 --> 43:14.950
record

43:14.950 --> 43:15.950
any

43:15.950 --> 43:16.950
any others

43:16.950 --> 43:17.950
yes

43:17.950 --> 43:18.950
is there

43:18.950 --> 43:19.950
any

43:19.950 --> 43:30.970
kind of

43:30.970 --> 43:31.970
a way

43:31.970 --> 43:36.330
it is

43:36.330 --> 43:38.330
to

43:38.330 --> 43:39.330
like

43:39.330 --> 43:40.330
this

43:40.330 --> 43:43.410
well

43:43.410 --> 43:46.620
this is

43:46.620 --> 43:47.620
a game

43:47.620 --> 43:48.620
you can

43:48.620 --> 43:49.620
play

43:49.620 --> 43:50.620
yes

43:50.620 --> 43:51.620
I mean

43:51.620 --> 43:52.620
his view

43:52.620 --> 43:53.620
of it

43:53.620 --> 43:54.620
was very

43:54.620 --> 43:55.620
correct

43:55.620 --> 43:56.620
there are

43:56.620 --> 43:57.620
these lines

43:57.620 --> 43:58.620
that can

43:58.620 --> 43:59.620
be traced

43:59.620 --> 44:00.620
back

44:00.620 --> 44:01.620
gnosis

44:01.620 --> 44:02.620
I didn't

44:02.620 --> 44:03.620
use this

44:03.620 --> 44:04.620
word

44:04.620 --> 44:05.620
tonight

44:05.620 --> 44:06.620
gnosis

44:06.620 --> 44:07.620
nor did

44:07.620 --> 44:08.620
I use

44:08.620 --> 44:09.620
the word

44:09.620 --> 44:10.620
logos

44:10.620 --> 44:11.620
it's very

44:11.620 --> 44:12.620
close to

44:12.620 --> 44:13.620
the notion

44:13.620 --> 44:14.620
of the

44:14.620 --> 44:15.620
collectivity

44:15.620 --> 44:16.620
of the

44:16.620 --> 44:17.620
psychedelic

44:17.620 --> 44:18.620
society

44:18.620 --> 44:19.620
my idea

44:19.620 --> 44:20.620
is that

44:20.620 --> 44:21.620
we could

44:21.620 --> 44:22.620
change

44:22.620 --> 44:23.620
the logos

44:23.620 --> 44:24.620
of the

44:24.620 --> 44:25.620
mystery

44:25.620 --> 44:26.620
religions

44:26.620 --> 44:27.620
from a

44:27.620 --> 44:28.620
religious

44:28.620 --> 44:29.620
mystery

44:29.620 --> 44:30.620
into a

44:30.620 --> 44:31.620
social

44:31.620 --> 44:32.620
reality

44:32.620 --> 44:33.620
and that

44:33.620 --> 44:34.620
would be

44:34.620 --> 44:35.620
a social

44:35.620 --> 44:36.620
transformation

44:36.620 --> 44:37.620
because

44:37.620 --> 44:38.620
it would

44:38.620 --> 44:39.620
essentially

44:39.620 --> 44:40.620
sacralize

44:40.620 --> 44:41.620
the

44:41.620 --> 44:42.620
of

44:42.620 --> 44:43.620
we gotta

44:43.620 --> 44:44.620
do it

44:44.620 --> 44:45.620
and do

44:45.620 --> 44:46.620
it

44:46.620 --> 44:47.620
now

44:47.620 --> 44:48.620
type of

44:48.620 --> 44:49.620
thing

44:49.620 --> 44:50.620
as far

44:50.620 --> 44:51.620
as shamanism

44:51.620 --> 44:52.620
is concerned

44:52.620 --> 44:53.620
I couldn't

44:53.620 --> 44:54.620
quite understand

44:54.620 --> 44:55.620
why

44:55.620 --> 44:56.620
I can't

44:56.620 --> 44:57.620
sit back

44:57.620 --> 44:58.620
in my

44:58.620 --> 44:59.620
stupidity

44:59.620 --> 45:00.620
and continue

45:00.620 --> 45:01.620
this

45:01.620 --> 45:02.620
you know

45:02.620 --> 45:03.620
practice

45:03.620 --> 45:05.990
is it

45:05.990 --> 45:06.990
because

45:06.990 --> 45:07.990
we're

45:07.990 --> 45:08.990
coming to

45:08.990 --> 45:09.990
man

45:09.990 --> 45:10.990
can

45:10.990 --> 45:11.990
destroy

45:11.990 --> 45:12.990
and destroy

45:12.990 --> 45:13.990
human

45:13.990 --> 45:14.990
beings

45:14.990 --> 45:15.990
that's

45:15.990 --> 45:16.990
so

45:16.990 --> 45:17.990
true

45:17.990 --> 45:18.990
the

45:18.990 --> 45:19.990
the

45:19.990 --> 45:20.990
the

45:20.990 --> 45:21.990
is

45:21.990 --> 45:22.990
the

45:22.990 --> 45:23.990
a

45:23.990 --> 45:24.990
the

45:24.990 --> 45:25.990
the

45:25.990 --> 45:26.990
the

45:26.990 --> 45:27.990
the

45:27.990 --> 45:28.990
the

45:28.990 --> 45:31.240
the

45:31.240 --> 45:32.240
the

45:32.240 --> 45:33.240
the

45:33.240 --> 45:34.240
the

45:34.240 --> 45:35.240
the

45:35.240 --> 45:36.240
the

45:36.240 --> 45:37.240
the

45:37.240 --> 45:38.240
the

45:38.240 --> 45:39.240
the

45:39.240 --> 45:40.240
the

45:40.240 --> 45:41.240
the

45:41.240 --> 45:42.240
the

45:42.240 --> 45:48.640
but there's only one game in town and if you want to be part of the adventure of being

45:48.640 --> 45:54.560
you have to get your feet wet and that means you have to get committed in some way so it's not

45:54.560 --> 46:00.480
done now it will be done in 100 years from now this is coming i mean this wave has been rolling

46:00.480 --> 46:08.400
toward completion since before the breakup of pangea this is the big picture yes it's coming

46:08.400 --> 46:16.160
the monkeys are going to the stars whether smoothly or not so smoothly is not clear but the

46:16.160 --> 46:21.360
monkeys are going to the stars and they're going to take everyone with them and it can be a

46:21.360 --> 46:28.400
relatively smooth birth with no tearing and no bleeding and everything just moving right along

46:28.400 --> 46:36.240
or it can be holy hell and leave the earth the smoking cinder before it's over with but the monkey

46:36.240 --> 46:38.240
thing the information creation

46:39.200 --> 46:43.360
is definitely on its way to the stars i don't think anything can stop that

46:44.880 --> 46:48.960
if you wanted to stop that you had to get back there before the pyramids

46:51.840 --> 46:56.240
well thank you very much

