Psychedelic Salon

Guest speaker: Terence McKenna PROGRAM NOTES: (Minutes : Seconds into program) 1:50 "Whether meditation and psychedelics are the same thing I think depends on your meditation and your psychedelics. Different meditations strive for different things. Much meditation is about emptying the mind of phenomena. This would certainly not be a description of the psychedelic state." 4:14 "Ultimately, the meditation path and the psychedelic path must somehow lead to the same kinds of data if the claims of both are to be respected, which is that they give deeper knowledge about reality." 6:03 "The chemistry of DMT suggests that, in deep REM sleep, it’s possible every single night you have a DMT flash, but it does not transcript into short term memory." 6:20 "…or imagine a drug that allowed you to enhance long-term memory, so that you could slip into reveries of a summer day 30 years ago, and play it back, moment by moment by moment. Again, this is not shooting for the moon, pharmacologically…" 6:58 "It’s a false dichotomy, the idea that somehow you should be able to achieve these things ‘on the natch’, and they’re not authentic if you achieve them through psychedelics. This is just a con…" 7:55 Terrence tells the story of how his ‘gringa’ friend telepathically knocked a Peruvian shaman’s nephew off of his feet. 10:30 "Where the problem area lies–people think it lies in taking too much– [but] it lies in taking too little, because if you take too little, you can resist it, you can struggle with it…" 12:17 Terrence describes how he takes mushrooms. 14:00 "The most mind-boggling parts of it are just not possible to bring out of it, because language fails, because English–there are no words…" 14:30 Terrence talks about fear during a psychedelic experience, and how to deal with it. 15:39 "The thing to do is to sit up, and to sing." 18:53 "…the ego feels threatened by the boundary-dissolution… and it can actually say to you, ‘You are dying, and here’s the evidence.’ And you have to say: ‘No, it’s unlikely,’ and sing your way through it." 22:24 Terrence speculates that some psychedelic-seeming aspects of Tibetan/Mahayana Buddhism may have actually resulted from ancient experiences with psychedelics and/or cannabis. 26:39 "What always fascinated me was hallucination, because it was, to me, the proof that I was dealing with something outside myself. …a single image would have taken me hours to draw and figure out…" 28:49 "The impression you have when you smoke DMT is: This isn’t a drug… this is something else… this is a doorway into another modality that exists all the time, independent of my thoughts or feelings about it… It certainly doesn’t seem to be a place designed to fit human expectations." 32:18 Terrence speculates about the future of the ‘free individual’ in the electronic/information age: "…[whether] each of us will become a kind of god… [or will we become] …a socialist gas… a hive-mind…" 36:28 "Part of the thing I found with hanging with shamans… is that, once you get past the language barrier… shamans… are simply curious people–intellectuals of a certain type." 37:05 "…the shamans, who are the keepers of the cultural values, are also… keepers of the secrets of the theatrics of the cultural values, and so they live their lives in the light of the knowledge that it all rests on showbiz." 37:41 Refering to Shamanism: The Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy and History, The Eternal Return, two books by Mircea Eliade: "…the shaman is socially marginal… and is feared by the people… [but] then the shaman comes forward in this critical role as… mediator between the cultural mind and the real world." 40:17 "…the logos–the alien A.I., the higher and hidden god that is trying to reach down to you and deliver the message–is a collagist. It can’t really compose the message except out of bits and pieces of what you already posses." 44:20 Terrence tells his story about the "good shit"...

Guest speaker: Terence McKenna PROGRAM NOTES: (Minutes : Seconds into program)

Guest speakers: Earth and Fire Erowid PROGRAM NOTES: Fire & Earth, founders of Erowid.org (Photo by Bill Radacinski, taken at the 100th birthday celebration for Dr. Albert Hofmann) In this highly original talk, Earth andFire, the founders of Erowid.org, provide a clear and convincing argument for the positive role "Drug Geeks" can play in civilized society. They also provide some interesting ways in which to think of this newly-evolving human culture. Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option

Guest speaker: Sasha Shulgin PROGRAM NOTES: Shulgin Sasha Shulgin (photo by Bill Radacinski) This podcast of the Psychedelic Salon Sasha Shulgin’s in-depth talk about cacti, which was given at the 2002 Mind States Conference held in Jamaica. After podcast #022 of another talk Sasha gave in Jamaica, we received a lot of eMail saying, "More Dr. Shulgin!!!!" . . . And so, here he is once again. Although Sasha has given a lot of presentations at conferences all over the world, it isn’t often that he has devoted a single talk exclusively to a discussion of his extensive research into these intriguing plants. In addition to PIKAL and TIKAL, Transform Press has also published Sasha’s new book about cacti, all of which are listed in the BOOKS section on the Shulgin’s page at Palenque Norte. Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option

Guest speaker: Alex Grey PROGRAM NOTES: Alex &Allyson Grey (photo by Bill Radacinski) This is a talk Alex Grey gave at the 2002 Mind States conference in Jamaica. In it, he describes his journey as an artist as he takes us on a tour of some of his work. Pictures of the art Alex describes in this talk may be found on his personal Web site www.alexgrey.com. Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option

Guest speakers: Susan Blackmore, V.S. Ramachandran, Richard Glen Boire, John Gilmore, Ralph Metzner, and Jaron Lanier PROGRAM NOTES: Here are a few samples from the 2003 Mind States conference that was held in Berkeley, California in May of that year. Sound bites from the following talks are included here: Susan Blackmore:"The Grand Illusion of Consciousness" V.S. Ramachandran: "What Neurology Can Tell Us About Human Nature" Richard Glen Boire: "Neurocops: Welcome to the REAL Drug War" John Gilmore: "Our Constitutional Rights of Anonymous Travel" Ralph Metzner: "Seven Phases of Social-Cultural Transformation Catalyzed by LSD" Jaron Lanier: "Post-Symbolic Communication" Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option LINKS: Mind States Conference Central

Guest speaker: Sasha Shulgin PROGRAM NOTES: This is Sasha Shulgin at his best . . . talking about some of the most beautiful molecules on Earth. Recorded at the Mind States conference in Jamaica in 2002, this is classic Sasha. "The revolution is in the ditch until you get your chemistry together."   ---Terence McKenna Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option

Guest speaker: Ann Shulgin PROGRAM NOTES: This is a talk given byAnn Shulgin at the Mind States Conference in 2002. It provides a rare look into the world of psychedelic therapy during the years immediately preceding the scheduling of MDMA as a Category I substance. This schedule level means that the U.S. Government considers MDMA to have no medical value. After you listen to what Ann Shulgin has to report, you will see how wrong the government is about the medical value of MDMA. SOUND BITES: A newborn baby has no shadow. . . . The shadow represents the parts of us that, for whatever reason, we have come to think of as parts of ourselves that are not acceptable, not lovable, and not OK. . . . Whenever you find yourself reacting negatively to a person or group of people, consider the possibility that you may be reacting to your own shadow." –Ann Shulgin Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option

Guest speaker: Terence McKenna & Ralph Abraham PROGRAM NOTES: This is part two of the conversation between Terence McKenna and Ralph Abraham, which is featured in program #019 of the Psychedelic Salon. Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option

Guest speakers: Terence McKenna & Ralph Abraham PROGRAM NOTES: This podcast is part of a dialogue between Terence McKenna and Ralph Abraham that took place at the Omega Institute on August 1, 1998. It isn’t often that we have the opportunity to see how accurate predictions about the future are, but this fascinating conversation between two of the great thinkers of our times has already proven to be right on target. The reason this may be of interest to you is that if they correctly predicted some things that have now happened, then we are really in for some big time excitement if some of their more far-out predictions come true. Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option