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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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>> The mind, it's our link to
consciousness, our thoughts,

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and as a byproduct, the
expression of our soul--

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that free and unfettered aspect
of being human that no one else

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has jurisdiction over.

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But as easily as the mind
expresses the depths within,

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it remains easily lured into
a false reality where thoughts

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become the object of
attention, and the source

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becomes forgotten.

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It is here where some scientists
and philosophers believe

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we have lost the true
reality and, in turn,

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become products of our
environment and culture.

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And it wasn't until
scientific study partnered

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with ancient rituals
that they discovered

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that there might be a way to
reconnect the soul and the mind

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more quickly and intimately.

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But are these just
escapist tools?

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Or could they actually be a
cure for the common human issue

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on this planet--

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the sleeping mind?

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>> I don't know which half is
trying to get into the other

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half.

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But somehow or other, I
seem to be going like that.

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>> Certainly you notice that
there aren't these separations,

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that we are not on a separate
island shouting across

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to somebody else and trying
to hear what they're saying

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and misunderstanding them.

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Well, I mean that
there are the colors

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and the beauties-- the
designs, the beautiful way

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things appear.

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[STATIC]

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>> When it comes
to drugs, please--

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for yourselves,
for your families,

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for your future
and your country--

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just say no.

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[APPLAUSE]

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>> But what are these substances
that have such a negative

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social view, and how did
they come into the limelight?

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One specific drug that
captured the hearts and minds

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of scientists and
young adults started

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a particular investigation of
the inner workings of the mind.

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As World War II was ending,
Swiss chemist Albert Hoffman

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was investigating
a migraine medicine

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and pulled an old vial
off his shelf of LSD 25.

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His accidental dosage opened
his eyes to a new experience

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that he wanted to
share with the world,

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as he believed that
this substance elicited

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a form of psychic
loosening or opening.

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Czech psychiatrist
Stanislav Grof

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believed that the psychic
opening allowed experiences

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to resurface that go all
the way back to birth

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and even pre-birth trauma.

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So he was willingly among the
first to experiment with LSD

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to investigate what
it does to the mind.

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>> Then I met Robert
Hoffman quite a few times.

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He loved nature.

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He was taking small dosages
of LSD in his garden

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until his death.

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And he said, I see
the hand of God there.

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And if anybody thinks
that the atoms can do it

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all by themselves,
they just don't know

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what they are talking about.

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I was trained in Czechoslovakia
when we had a Marxist regime.

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So I got the purest mentalistic
doctrine you can imagine.

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And it was clear for me during
graduation that, you know,

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the consciousness is the product
of the neurophysiological

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processes in the brain.

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And when the body
goes, the brain goes,

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and there goes
the consciousness.

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And it was as simple as that.

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Now, I see it very differently.

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I realize we have absolutely
no proof that consciousness

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is generated in the brain.

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Very few people realize
this, including scientists.

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So those are tremendous
contributions

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that psychedelics can bring.

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>> But the psychedelic
experience wasn't something new

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when LSD hit the scene.

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Since the late
1800s, experiments

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were already being conducted
on the psychedelic plants

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containing mescaline
and psilocybin.

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Mescaline comes from the
peyote and Wachuma cactus

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and is used in many
Native American rituals.

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The Huichol mothers
of Jalisco, Mexico

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would introduce peyote
through breast milk

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and by chewing off bits and
feeding them to their children.

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Even the Spanish chronicler Fray
Bernardino de Sahagun reports

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that among the Chichimeca
and Toltec peyote

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was being used at
least 2,000 years

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before the European
explorers arrived.

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Archaeological
artifacts were found

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in a cave near the lower
Pecos River region in Texas

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dating back to 3700 BC.

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In South America, in
prehistory, the Chavin

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were using the Wachuma cactus in
their own religious ceremonies.

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Wachuma has many different
psychoactive compounds

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than peyote.

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So the experience is said
to be slightly different.

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But the sacramental use
of each were both used

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to connect with the Divine.

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These cacti species are
native to the Americas.

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Psilocybin is from
a class of mushrooms

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and used by indigenous from
nearly every continent.

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In Central and North America,
we see mushroom imagery

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in many indigenous artifacts,
such as the mushroom stones

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found in Highland
Guatemala, which

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were used to grind
mushrooms before their use.

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Some images refer to the
Amanita muscaria mushroom,

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which isn't a
classical psychedelic--

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as it works on different
neurotransmitter pathways--

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but still is a psychoactive.

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The Olmec, Toltec,
and Aztec imagery

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shows that the Americas once
had a rich history of mushroom

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appreciation before the European
settlers and missionaries

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resisted their use.

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Imagery in Siberia
among the Chukotka

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appears in rock carvings.

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In Hindu imagery-- such
as Lakshmi holding what

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appears to be mushrooms--
some have debated these images

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as misidentified
everyday objects.

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But believers of the deep
psychedelic and shamanic roots

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of almost every ancient
culture and religion

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say that you'll even find
references in the Bible.

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The King James Version
of Exodus 16:14

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gives a description
of manna that

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seems very similar to
mushrooms in shape and location

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and even the time of
day that they appear.

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Even a modern look
at the witch hunts

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and trials shows a
deep appreciation

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for psychedelic and
psychoactive plants

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that account for their tales
of flying on broomsticks

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and shapeshifting into animals.

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There are too many to deny that
psychedelic mushroom and cactus

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use were integral to
many cultures worldwide.

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Whatever the conquistadors of
the New World were so afraid of

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seems to still be present
as we fast forward

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to the end of the 1960s.

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The revival of psychedelic
appreciation among young adults

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began affecting the
national narrative,

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and anti-drug
propaganda was beginning

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to lose its effectiveness.

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How would the world deal
with this new problem--

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people attempting to
dissolve the reality

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constructs of culture?

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What would this mean
for the rest of society?

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>> Psychedelics are the antidote
to propaganda in some ways.

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They help you develop a mindset
that sees through all that.

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That's the real reason they're
considered dangerous, you know.

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As Terence said, psychedelics
make you have funny ideas.

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But funny ideas are
dangerous ideas, you know.

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So that's the
reason psychedelics

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are prohibited,
because they encourage

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you to think for yourself.

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>> You know, so the nation
states act as though it's kind

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of normal to have wars.

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You know, go drop bombs on
people, send in the troops--

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it's kind of a
normal thing to do.

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It's not a normal
thing to do at all.

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It's a completely abnormal,
aberrant, psychopathic thing

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to do.

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We shouldn't be going out
there and killing other people

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for some sort of
weird national goal.

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It's a terrible, terrible
mistake that we're making.

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And now, the toys of war have
become so big and so huge

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that they actually pose a
threat to the whole future of--

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to the whole future of humanity.

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>> The power of psychedelic
plants for perceiving higher

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patterns and seeing through
rhetoric led to a desperate

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reaction by superpowers,
shutting down the collective

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memory of traditional indigenous
practices and cutting off

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the public from legal use.

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Quickly, independent
chemists were

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making slightly
altered compounds which

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were technically not illegal.

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To combat this
backdoor approach,

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the Analogue Act was
passed, and the DEA

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was granted emergency
scheduling power in which they

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could declare any
substance illegal

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and may take up to
a year to decide

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what schedule to class it as.

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Psychedelic plants and
synthesized versions

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were put into Schedule I.
This category proclaims

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the substance is
highly addictive

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and has no medicinal value.

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Was there any evidence for this
claim, or was it a fear move?

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>> The classic psychedelics have
been used for millennia really,

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if you think of
mushrooms and peyote--

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no evidence of toxicity.

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If you took heroic
doses, I suppose you'd

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see increased blood pressure.

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But in the normal
doses in the studies,

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you really don't
see that happening.

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>> There is no
craving to take them.

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As a matter of fact,
they're anti-addictive,

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you know, in the
sense that you often

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have to kind of screw your
courage up to take them.

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>> The addictive qualities of
psychedelics are non-existent.

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In fact, many of the
psychedelic plants

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are used to quit highly
addictive drugs like opiates.

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Alcoholics Anonymous co-founder
Bill Wilson reportedly

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used LSD to quit
drinking in the 1950s

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at the Veterans Administration
Hospital in Los Angeles.

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>> Classic psychedelics-- like
psilocybin, LSD, mescaline--

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they're not addictive.

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Because they don't
activate-- actually,

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the reward pathways in the
brain involve dopamine.

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>> Psychedelic plants mimic
the neurotransmitter serotonin,

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and tolerance builds quickly
at these receptor sites.

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Even those plants that
don't build tolerance still

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eliminate themselves
quickly and leave

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behind virtually no toxicity.

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They're also being shown to
treat addiction rather than add

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to them.

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There are so many
benefits coming

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to light from these
substances that groups

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such as MAPS, Heffter,
Beckley, and many others

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are organizing a science-based
campaign to reverse

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the prohibition.

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Because the evidence is clear--

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they are not addictive, and
they have remarkable medicinal

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and therapeutic value.

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So the question remains--

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why are highly addictive and
toxic substances in Schedule II

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with widespread medicinal use,
while these age-old plants--

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with a safe and
ceremonial history

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going back many thousands
of years and no evidence

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to prove physiological harm--

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are in Schedule I lockdown?

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Is it a war on drugs
or a war on the mind?

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Why haven't the
institutions that

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make these suggestions
turned back

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to the original use of
psychedelics, a return

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to Mother Earth for answers?

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>> The position that
modern societies have taken

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on psychedelics-- we've
demonized these substances.

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We've made them illegal.

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We've subjected
people to harsh prison

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sentences if they are found and
in possession of psychedelics.

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This is a terrible
error that is being

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made in modern Western society.

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We are losing contact
with our fundamental roots

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by doing that.

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>> Indigenous people
have been their stewards.

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They've preserved the plants.

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They've preserved the
practices in a certain way.

252
00:11:44,850 --> 00:11:47,830
But now all of a sudden
psychedelics are going global,

253
00:11:47,830 --> 00:11:48,630
you know.

254
00:11:48,630 --> 00:11:52,910
And you get a phenomenon
where ayahuasca is like taking

255
00:11:52,910 --> 00:11:54,640
over the world, you know.

256
00:11:54,640 --> 00:12:01,160
And a few years ago, mushrooms
did something very similar.

257
00:12:01,160 --> 00:12:04,610
>> With all psychedelic plants,
the traditional shamanic use

258
00:12:04,610 --> 00:12:08,461
of them nearly always includes
a community and ritual setting.

259
00:12:08,461 --> 00:12:10,620
[SINGING]

260
00:12:10,620 --> 00:12:17,430
>> Shamanism is essentially
a living tradition of alchemy

261
00:12:17,430 --> 00:12:24,760
that is not seeking the stone
but has found the stone.

262
00:12:24,760 --> 00:12:28,977
>> A ritual simply means an
arrangement of the certain

263
00:12:28,977 --> 00:12:31,740
setting for certain intentions.

264
00:12:31,740 --> 00:12:33,390
This would also be
true, for example,

265
00:12:33,390 --> 00:12:37,590
of a Native American
church peyote ceremony.

266
00:12:37,590 --> 00:12:39,512
They have the same
kind of thing.

267
00:12:39,512 --> 00:12:40,470
It's a group of people.

268
00:12:40,470 --> 00:12:41,250
They know each other.

269
00:12:41,250 --> 00:12:41,870
Some of them are friends.

270
00:12:41,870 --> 00:12:42,800
Some of them are neighbors.

271
00:12:42,800 --> 00:12:44,130
Some of them may be invited.

272
00:12:44,130 --> 00:12:45,720
And they share the intentions.

273
00:12:45,720 --> 00:12:48,780
And then they have
the traditional songs

274
00:12:48,780 --> 00:12:49,740
and invocations.

275
00:12:49,740 --> 00:12:52,470
They invoke the spirits.

276
00:12:52,470 --> 00:12:56,270
And that's completely different
than the scientific study.

277
00:12:56,270 --> 00:12:58,676
There's no psychological
discussion.

278
00:12:58,676 --> 00:13:00,050
It's not a modern
Western system.

279
00:13:00,050 --> 00:13:03,840


280
00:13:03,840 --> 00:13:06,360
>> The shamanic cultures
were very clear about this.

281
00:13:06,360 --> 00:13:09,090
They viewed the
psychedelics as instruments

282
00:13:09,090 --> 00:13:11,230
that opened up the brain--

283
00:13:11,230 --> 00:13:15,780
the mind-- to telepathy, to
clairvoyance, to precognition,

284
00:13:15,780 --> 00:13:17,070
pre-sentience.

285
00:13:17,070 --> 00:13:20,060
And that ultimately it
may be necessary to view

286
00:13:20,060 --> 00:13:23,370
the perceptions that occur
under psychedelics as our brain

287
00:13:23,370 --> 00:13:25,685
basically tuning into
a different channel

288
00:13:25,685 --> 00:13:27,810
and receiving information
that we really don't know

289
00:13:27,810 --> 00:13:29,670
how to define at this point.

290
00:13:29,670 --> 00:13:32,540


291
00:13:32,540 --> 00:13:35,920
>> For roughly 20 years, across
the world the prohibition held

292
00:13:35,920 --> 00:13:37,960
firm--

293
00:13:37,960 --> 00:13:42,790
no public use, no
medicinal use, not even

294
00:13:42,790 --> 00:13:45,550
research to back up the claims
that placed these plants

295
00:13:45,550 --> 00:13:48,860
in the strictest category.

296
00:13:48,860 --> 00:13:51,890
The sleeping mind of the
people seemingly fell deeper

297
00:13:51,890 --> 00:13:53,770
into consensus trance.

298
00:13:53,770 --> 00:13:56,300
It was as if the innate
pattern recognition

299
00:13:56,300 --> 00:13:59,360
and problem-solving faculties
of human consciousness

300
00:13:59,360 --> 00:14:01,670
were missing a
critical ally, one

301
00:14:01,670 --> 00:14:04,910
that had been with us since the
dawn of modern intelligence.

302
00:14:04,910 --> 00:14:08,600
It seemed that the propaganda
campaign had worked.

303
00:14:08,600 --> 00:14:13,580
Then in 1990, Rick Strassmann a
medical researcher specialized

304
00:14:13,580 --> 00:14:16,640
in psychiatry, applied
for a federal grant

305
00:14:16,640 --> 00:14:20,060
to give dimethyltryptamine
to volunteers to simply see

306
00:14:20,060 --> 00:14:21,920
what the effects might be.

307
00:14:21,920 --> 00:14:24,650
>> Well, so there was
a group in Germany--

308
00:14:24,650 --> 00:14:27,230
which got started
around the same time

309
00:14:27,230 --> 00:14:29,100
or sooner than I did--

310
00:14:29,100 --> 00:14:30,960
studying mescaline.

311
00:14:30,960 --> 00:14:34,490
But my DMT study was
the first in the US

312
00:14:34,490 --> 00:14:40,400
and the first that used, you
know, DMT in quite a while.

313
00:14:40,400 --> 00:14:42,200
It was pretty frustrating.

314
00:14:42,200 --> 00:14:44,630
I never really
expected to succeed.

315
00:14:44,630 --> 00:14:48,650
And you know, I don't
think many people did.

316
00:14:48,650 --> 00:14:51,800
>> Public opinion of any
mind-altering substance tends

317
00:14:51,800 --> 00:14:54,350
to evoke the belief that the
experience is simply what

318
00:14:54,350 --> 00:14:57,920
happens when the brain
fails to function properly,

319
00:14:57,920 --> 00:15:01,340
as if the default state most of
us spend time in is the proper

320
00:15:01,340 --> 00:15:03,950
state to operate from.

321
00:15:03,950 --> 00:15:07,880
However, even if this were true,
when someone's brain becomes

322
00:15:07,880 --> 00:15:11,550
dysfunctional and then hours
later returns to normal,

323
00:15:11,550 --> 00:15:14,420
how would that individual
explain the experience?

324
00:15:14,420 --> 00:15:18,790
>> Well, I think the most
striking part of the research--

325
00:15:18,790 --> 00:15:22,070
and what I really
wasn't expecting--

326
00:15:22,070 --> 00:15:26,780
was the sense of reality
that people returned with.

327
00:15:26,780 --> 00:15:29,900
They felt the experiences
were more real than real.

328
00:15:29,900 --> 00:15:32,330
The importance of the
feeling of more real

329
00:15:32,330 --> 00:15:34,790
than real is we make
our decisions based

330
00:15:34,790 --> 00:15:37,400
on what we believe is real.

331
00:15:37,400 --> 00:15:39,740
You know, the outside world
we're assuming is real.

332
00:15:39,740 --> 00:15:41,660
Our inner world is real.

333
00:15:41,660 --> 00:15:45,710
And we make decisions
based on reality--

334
00:15:45,710 --> 00:15:46,970
inner and outer.

335
00:15:46,970 --> 00:15:50,420
So if there's a state that
feels more real than real,

336
00:15:50,420 --> 00:15:58,220
then do we make decisions
based on the information there?

337
00:15:58,220 --> 00:16:01,250
>> What really is the
bedrock of reality?

338
00:16:01,250 --> 00:16:03,110
Is the consensus
world we typically

339
00:16:03,110 --> 00:16:06,830
operate from the more real one?

340
00:16:06,830 --> 00:16:09,230
Is this where we'll find
the universal truths

341
00:16:09,230 --> 00:16:12,660
we seek to make
life decisions from?

342
00:16:12,660 --> 00:16:14,540
Is it the psychedelic
realm that some

343
00:16:14,540 --> 00:16:18,500
believe is more real than real?

344
00:16:18,500 --> 00:16:21,350
Perhaps it's neither, and
they're both merely reference

345
00:16:21,350 --> 00:16:24,450
points, implying and pointing
to the underlying universal

346
00:16:24,450 --> 00:16:28,760
truths, encouraging us to engage
with our own truth-seeking

347
00:16:28,760 --> 00:16:32,990
impulse, our innate
memory, and inner sense

348
00:16:32,990 --> 00:16:35,870
of our integral place within
the fabric of reality,

349
00:16:35,870 --> 00:16:38,990
that we are all aspects of a
singular phenomenon appearing

350
00:16:38,990 --> 00:16:40,760
as independent things.

351
00:16:40,760 --> 00:16:42,770
Even Taoists and
Buddhists believe

352
00:16:42,770 --> 00:16:45,500
that the outer visible
manifestations of life

353
00:16:45,500 --> 00:16:48,200
are the illusion of
temporary garments cloaking

354
00:16:48,200 --> 00:16:51,800
universal and unchanging
principles that inform,

355
00:16:51,800 --> 00:16:54,920
instruct, guide, and
breathe life into all

356
00:16:54,920 --> 00:16:56,840
that we experience around us.

357
00:16:56,840 --> 00:16:59,480
So why do we experience
the illusion at all?

358
00:16:59,480 --> 00:17:02,120
What mechanisms cause
us to collectively share

359
00:17:02,120 --> 00:17:05,089
such a misleading perception
of life and living?

360
00:17:05,089 --> 00:17:06,710
Perhaps we should
take a deeper look

361
00:17:06,710 --> 00:17:09,589
at the physiological effects
of the chemical compounds

362
00:17:09,589 --> 00:17:12,770
in these plants that the
government feared so much.

363
00:17:12,770 --> 00:17:15,380
>> Classical psychedelics
activate a type of brain

364
00:17:15,380 --> 00:17:19,194
serotonin receptor called
the 5-HT2A receptor.

365
00:17:19,194 --> 00:17:20,569
And what that
means in real terms

366
00:17:20,569 --> 00:17:22,352
is the cells become
more sensitive.

367
00:17:22,352 --> 00:17:23,810
So what you're
doing is really sort

368
00:17:23,810 --> 00:17:26,569
of ramping up the ability
of these cortical cells

369
00:17:26,569 --> 00:17:30,170
to process information
quickly and more effectively.

370
00:17:30,170 --> 00:17:32,670
There is an area in the
brain stem called the locus

371
00:17:32,670 --> 00:17:34,800
coeruleus, the LC.

372
00:17:34,800 --> 00:17:37,100
It sends projections
up to the cortex

373
00:17:37,100 --> 00:17:39,410
that release norepinephrine.

374
00:17:39,410 --> 00:17:41,600
And the locus coeruleus
has been referred to

375
00:17:41,600 --> 00:17:43,770
as a novelty detector.

376
00:17:43,770 --> 00:17:47,090
So normally if you look at
firing in the locus coeruleus,

377
00:17:47,090 --> 00:17:48,100
it fires in bursts.

378
00:17:48,100 --> 00:17:51,080
So it won't do anything, and
then you'll see-- dzzz, dzzz--

379
00:17:51,080 --> 00:17:52,620
bursts of firing.

380
00:17:52,620 --> 00:17:56,910
So what happens is psychedelics
increase those bursts.

381
00:17:56,910 --> 00:17:59,000
So we can imagine if
those bursts correspond

382
00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:01,770
to the locus coeruleus
detecting some novelty,

383
00:18:01,770 --> 00:18:03,290
then maybe it
looks more novelty.

384
00:18:03,290 --> 00:18:05,623
And I've used the analogy
when people take a psychedelic

385
00:18:05,623 --> 00:18:07,599
and they look at,
say, a flower it's

386
00:18:07,599 --> 00:18:09,390
as if they're seeing
it for the first time.

387
00:18:09,390 --> 00:18:11,690
So it increases the
sense of novelty.

388
00:18:11,690 --> 00:18:15,140
>> What would be the biological
purpose of these plants causing

389
00:18:15,140 --> 00:18:18,530
humans to see the world
as if it's new again?

390
00:18:18,530 --> 00:18:21,290
It is a well-known phenomena
to be looking for something

391
00:18:21,290 --> 00:18:24,080
like your keys while they're
in your hand or right

392
00:18:24,080 --> 00:18:26,900
in front of you, but
you don't see them.

393
00:18:26,900 --> 00:18:28,400
Your eyes have
even spotted them,

394
00:18:28,400 --> 00:18:31,070
but you don't acknowledge
that you've seen them yet.

395
00:18:31,070 --> 00:18:33,710
Our perception works
in pattern recognition,

396
00:18:33,710 --> 00:18:36,080
and this allows the world
to become predictable

397
00:18:36,080 --> 00:18:38,660
so we can find a rhythm
to operate within.

398
00:18:38,660 --> 00:18:40,910
These plants and their
effect on the detection

399
00:18:40,910 --> 00:18:43,310
of new information
from old patterns

400
00:18:43,310 --> 00:18:45,650
may be the direct
cause of neurogenesis

401
00:18:45,650 --> 00:18:48,620
and neuroplasticity.

402
00:18:48,620 --> 00:18:51,740
It has been shown that these
serotonergic plants initiate

403
00:18:51,740 --> 00:18:53,960
the growth of new
brain cells, as well

404
00:18:53,960 --> 00:18:57,230
as new neural connections
and patterns to emerge.

405
00:18:57,230 --> 00:18:59,690
Let's think of this less
as a causation and more

406
00:18:59,690 --> 00:19:01,550
of a correlation.

407
00:19:01,550 --> 00:19:04,070
Neurogenesis and
neuroplasticity could

408
00:19:04,070 --> 00:19:06,080
be occurring when
authentic childlike

409
00:19:06,080 --> 00:19:07,760
learning is happening.

410
00:19:07,760 --> 00:19:09,740
The neural growth
seems to happen

411
00:19:09,740 --> 00:19:13,010
most in the hippocampus, which
regulates emotions and is

412
00:19:13,010 --> 00:19:15,670
involved in memory.

413
00:19:15,670 --> 00:19:18,340
A Psymposia.com article
says new studies

414
00:19:18,340 --> 00:19:22,090
are showing that neurogenesis
and the hippocampus activated

415
00:19:22,090 --> 00:19:25,270
by psychedelics might be
a part of the acquisition

416
00:19:25,270 --> 00:19:28,091
of new behaviors and
new pattern recognition.

417
00:19:28,091 --> 00:19:30,800


418
00:19:30,800 --> 00:19:33,410
With proper set,
setting, and skill

419
00:19:33,410 --> 00:19:35,270
these changes in
the brain may likely

420
00:19:35,270 --> 00:19:38,240
be why psychedelics have
been so effective in treating

421
00:19:38,240 --> 00:19:42,230
post-traumatic stress disorder,
anxiety, and depression

422
00:19:42,230 --> 00:19:46,010
where other treatments
have failed.

423
00:19:46,010 --> 00:19:49,070
Imagine for a moment that
you were just born again

424
00:19:49,070 --> 00:19:51,500
or that all your memory
has been put on hold,

425
00:19:51,500 --> 00:19:53,450
and you're seeing the
world free and clear

426
00:19:53,450 --> 00:19:54,980
of cultural conditioning.

427
00:19:54,980 --> 00:19:58,100
Imagine all the explanations
for what this world is

428
00:19:58,100 --> 00:20:01,700
and why it is the way it
appears have been erased.

429
00:20:01,700 --> 00:20:04,580
Imagine you take a look at the
people in your neighborhood,

430
00:20:04,580 --> 00:20:07,070
the animals in
homes and in nature,

431
00:20:07,070 --> 00:20:10,190
the health of the oceans,
forests, and communities.

432
00:20:10,190 --> 00:20:12,610
What questions would
you begin formulating?

433
00:20:12,610 --> 00:20:15,260
And what role do you
play in all of this?

434
00:20:15,260 --> 00:20:16,880
These are the
questions one starts

435
00:20:16,880 --> 00:20:20,330
asking when introduced to
the world of psychedelica.

436
00:20:20,330 --> 00:20:23,780
The mind begins asking broader,
deeper, and more timeless

437
00:20:23,780 --> 00:20:25,010
questions.

438
00:20:25,010 --> 00:20:27,110
And perhaps this is what
makes them so difficult

439
00:20:27,110 --> 00:20:29,020
to properly name.

440
00:20:29,020 --> 00:20:32,330
They allow new patterns to be
recognized and new behaviors

441
00:20:32,330 --> 00:20:35,330
to be adopted, where most of
what the Western world calls

442
00:20:35,330 --> 00:20:39,080
medicine tends to disengage or
mask the symptoms while leaving

443
00:20:39,080 --> 00:20:41,100
the root cause untouched.

444
00:20:41,100 --> 00:20:44,810
>> And we even have another
term, which is entheogens,

445
00:20:44,810 --> 00:20:48,170
for usually for the weaker,
the amphetamine-related

446
00:20:48,170 --> 00:20:52,580
and so on, or something
that awakens the God within.

447
00:20:52,580 --> 00:20:56,850
I myself prefer to call them
like sacred psychedelics

448
00:20:56,850 --> 00:20:59,090
or sacred medicines.

449
00:20:59,090 --> 00:21:00,790
Because that's what they are.

450
00:21:00,790 --> 00:21:05,000
That's how the native
cultures saw them,

451
00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:08,380
and I think it's accurate.

452
00:21:08,380 --> 00:21:11,560
>> It seems that these ancestral
tribes understood the many

453
00:21:11,560 --> 00:21:13,570
healing qualities
of these plants.

454
00:21:13,570 --> 00:21:15,490
The most profound
effects seem to be

455
00:21:15,490 --> 00:21:19,150
the self-reflection people go
through under their influence,

456
00:21:19,150 --> 00:21:21,190
the ability for these
plants to confront you

457
00:21:21,190 --> 00:21:24,380
with your regrets and worries.

458
00:21:24,380 --> 00:21:28,070
Psychedelics help deconstruct
old behavior patterns

459
00:21:28,070 --> 00:21:29,960
and build newer
and healthier ones

460
00:21:29,960 --> 00:21:32,840
as seen from the creation
of new neural pathways

461
00:21:32,840 --> 00:21:35,380
and the birth of
new nerve cells,

462
00:21:35,380 --> 00:21:38,030
a quality long thought
to be impossible shortly

463
00:21:38,030 --> 00:21:39,500
after childbirth.

464
00:21:39,500 --> 00:21:42,290
>> Very, very often, what the
psychedelic experience will

465
00:21:42,290 --> 00:21:46,250
show you is the mistakes
and errors that you've made

466
00:21:46,250 --> 00:21:50,632
in your life, where you have
chosen the dark side rather

467
00:21:50,632 --> 00:21:51,590
than the side of light.

468
00:21:51,590 --> 00:21:53,570
Where you have chosen
evil-- it may be very small,

469
00:21:53,570 --> 00:21:54,986
may be very large--
where you have

470
00:21:54,986 --> 00:21:56,510
chosen evil rather than good.

471
00:21:56,510 --> 00:22:00,110
>> Psychedelics can give
you insights into how to be

472
00:22:00,110 --> 00:22:01,640
a better person.

473
00:22:01,640 --> 00:22:03,890
It won't make you
a better person.

474
00:22:03,890 --> 00:22:08,660
And if you're a bad person,
you may still be a bad person.

475
00:22:08,660 --> 00:22:11,000
>> Some of the most skeptical
and evidence-dependent

476
00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:15,080
researchers speak very lucidly
about a very tangible spectrum

477
00:22:15,080 --> 00:22:18,230
of benefits they have personally
experienced from using these

478
00:22:18,230 --> 00:22:21,380
substances responsibly.

479
00:22:21,380 --> 00:22:24,140
>> One of the fundamental
effects of psychedelics is

480
00:22:24,140 --> 00:22:27,770
to integrate material that
is normally not accessible

481
00:22:27,770 --> 00:22:29,030
to consciousness.

482
00:22:29,030 --> 00:22:31,670
And the fundamental way in
which psychedelics make this

483
00:22:31,670 --> 00:22:35,360
information available is by a
destabilizing of what's called

484
00:22:35,360 --> 00:22:37,400
the default-mode network--

485
00:22:37,400 --> 00:22:40,160
this part of the brain that
integrates our sense of self,

486
00:22:40,160 --> 00:22:43,340
our autobiographical
memories, and our reflection

487
00:22:43,340 --> 00:22:44,390
upon our lives.

488
00:22:44,390 --> 00:22:46,760
So basically, what's
happening under psychedelics

489
00:22:46,760 --> 00:22:48,890
is a liberation of the
parts of the brain--

490
00:22:48,890 --> 00:22:52,270
that 80% or 90% of the brain
that they say we don't use.

491
00:22:52,270 --> 00:22:55,100
I mean, we use it, but we're
just not able to access it.

492
00:22:55,100 --> 00:22:58,160
Psychedelics give us
access to that unconscious.

493
00:22:58,160 --> 00:23:02,150
>> The language facility in the
brain is destabilized as well.

494
00:23:02,150 --> 00:23:05,270
So the combination of our
self-identity and our language

495
00:23:05,270 --> 00:23:08,360
being put off-balance by
simply ingesting a plant

496
00:23:08,360 --> 00:23:12,090
gives rise to the ineffability
of the experience.

497
00:23:12,090 --> 00:23:16,100
Just as we see with any mystical
or spiritual experience,

498
00:23:16,100 --> 00:23:18,800
words are not enough to
communicate the magnitude

499
00:23:18,800 --> 00:23:20,590
of the experience.

500
00:23:20,590 --> 00:23:23,150
>> But the possibility has
to be considered that what

501
00:23:23,150 --> 00:23:25,940
the psychedelics are doing is
retuning the receiver wavelike

502
00:23:25,940 --> 00:23:29,000
of the brain and actually
allowing us to gain access

503
00:23:29,000 --> 00:23:32,540
to the radical
alternative realities--

504
00:23:32,540 --> 00:23:34,160
parallel dimensions.

505
00:23:34,160 --> 00:23:37,340
>> We have the same
situation in the television.

506
00:23:37,340 --> 00:23:40,290
We would laugh if somebody
would study that set

507
00:23:40,290 --> 00:23:45,590
and go down to molecular
level of the transistors

508
00:23:45,590 --> 00:23:48,930
and the wires and would
believe that this gives you

509
00:23:48,930 --> 00:23:53,510
an explanation why you get
a Mickey Mouse cartoon,

510
00:23:53,510 --> 00:23:56,630
you know, at 7 o'clock
in the evening.

511
00:23:56,630 --> 00:23:59,900
>> If Stan and many researchers
are correct in positing that

512
00:23:59,900 --> 00:24:03,530
consciousness is not generated
by the brain but tuned

513
00:24:03,530 --> 00:24:07,250
into, what then are these
psychedelic plants trying

514
00:24:07,250 --> 00:24:08,270
to show us?

515
00:24:08,270 --> 00:24:09,936
>> Across the range
of the psychedelics,

516
00:24:09,936 --> 00:24:12,590
you can definitely say
that there is a broad range

517
00:24:12,590 --> 00:24:14,210
of imagery that is common.

518
00:24:14,210 --> 00:24:17,720
Not everybody will have all
those images all the time.

519
00:24:17,720 --> 00:24:20,450
Not everybody will agree on
every single aspect of it.

520
00:24:20,450 --> 00:24:24,560
But it starts off with
what I refer to as entoptic

521
00:24:24,560 --> 00:24:27,260
phenomena-- because they're
considered as originating

522
00:24:27,260 --> 00:24:30,230
in the ocular system--

523
00:24:30,230 --> 00:24:34,190
where you start seeing
zigzag lines, and cross

524
00:24:34,190 --> 00:24:36,620
hatches, and
geometrical patterns.

525
00:24:36,620 --> 00:24:40,970
Sometimes fantastically
complex and elaborated mandalas

526
00:24:40,970 --> 00:24:43,790
appear in the geometry.

527
00:24:43,790 --> 00:24:47,000
Then there tends to be
the sense of passing

528
00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:51,200
through a vortex of some
kind into a seamlessly

529
00:24:51,200 --> 00:24:53,330
convincing parallel universe.

530
00:24:53,330 --> 00:24:55,490
>> Is this the same phenomena
that humans have been

531
00:24:55,490 --> 00:24:58,880
experiencing since the time
our ancestors were painting

532
00:24:58,880 --> 00:25:03,470
their visions in caves
some 40,000 years ago?

533
00:25:03,470 --> 00:25:07,100
Were those entoptic
images engrams and portals

534
00:25:07,100 --> 00:25:11,040
depicting a dimension that we
are still tapping into today?

535
00:25:11,040 --> 00:25:13,220
What is this
vision, and could it

536
00:25:13,220 --> 00:25:16,190
be some kind of collective
consciousness of the human soul

537
00:25:16,190 --> 00:25:17,162
experience?

538
00:25:17,162 --> 00:25:18,620
>> It's important
to keep in mind--

539
00:25:18,620 --> 00:25:22,020
I'm not saying that
this is the perception

540
00:25:22,020 --> 00:25:25,310
of alien transdimensional thing.

541
00:25:25,310 --> 00:25:28,280
It might just be a
psychological construct.

542
00:25:28,280 --> 00:25:33,590
It might be the result of
brain activity in certain areas

543
00:25:33,590 --> 00:25:35,760
in relationship to each other.

544
00:25:35,760 --> 00:25:38,690
In which case, they would
still be as interesting

545
00:25:38,690 --> 00:25:40,240
as if they were anything else.

546
00:25:40,240 --> 00:25:45,050
>> If five or six artists, you
know, were to walk around--

547
00:25:45,050 --> 00:25:49,340
I don't know, New York
or Boulder, Colorado--

548
00:25:49,340 --> 00:25:52,070
and make some paintings,
you could clearly

549
00:25:52,070 --> 00:25:53,257
see that the paintings--

550
00:25:53,257 --> 00:25:55,340
each of the paintings might
be slightly different.

551
00:25:55,340 --> 00:25:58,400
But you could see that they
were of the same place.

552
00:25:58,400 --> 00:26:01,970
>> The botanist, author, and
psychedelic psychonaut Terence

553
00:26:01,970 --> 00:26:04,950
McKenna relates the plant
intelligence to that of Mother

554
00:26:04,950 --> 00:26:06,260
Earth.

555
00:26:06,260 --> 00:26:08,780
The ancient Greeks
called it Gaia.

556
00:26:08,780 --> 00:26:11,720
>> The whole thing is an
enzyme-driven process.

557
00:26:11,720 --> 00:26:14,390
We are like an organ of Gaia.

558
00:26:14,390 --> 00:26:21,020
We are the organ which
binds and releases energy.

559
00:26:21,020 --> 00:26:22,470
I mean, a liver
cell doesn't need

560
00:26:22,470 --> 00:26:26,930
to understand why it binds and
releases enzymes of the liver.

561
00:26:26,930 --> 00:26:31,190
We bind and release energy
for reasons perhaps never

562
00:26:31,190 --> 00:26:35,030
to be clear to us,
but which place us

563
00:26:35,030 --> 00:26:39,530
firmly within the context
of the Gaian mind.

564
00:26:39,530 --> 00:26:45,020
Suddenly, we come with
an epigenetic capability.

565
00:26:45,020 --> 00:26:51,330
We write books, tell stories,
dance, sing, carve, paint.

566
00:26:51,330 --> 00:26:53,420
These are not genetic processes.

567
00:26:53,420 --> 00:26:55,520
These are epigenetic processes.

568
00:26:55,520 --> 00:27:00,710
And they bind information
and express the Gaian mind.

569
00:27:00,710 --> 00:27:02,630
>> The Gaian mind--

570
00:27:02,630 --> 00:27:06,020
to many this idea doesn't
fit within the context

571
00:27:06,020 --> 00:27:08,670
we've been given
by Western culture.

572
00:27:08,670 --> 00:27:11,660
How could the rocks
be considered alive?

573
00:27:11,660 --> 00:27:16,010
How could the bones in our
body be considered the same?

574
00:27:16,010 --> 00:27:17,980
What does alive really mean?

575
00:27:17,980 --> 00:27:20,870
>> The Gaian mind
is a real mind.

576
00:27:20,870 --> 00:27:23,520
Its messages are real messages.

577
00:27:23,520 --> 00:27:27,360
And our task-- through
discipline, psychedelics,

578
00:27:27,360 --> 00:27:31,240
attention to detail,
whatever we have going--

579
00:27:31,240 --> 00:27:34,440
is to try and
extract this message

580
00:27:34,440 --> 00:27:37,440
and eliminate ourselves
from the message

581
00:27:37,440 --> 00:27:42,729
so that we then can see
the face of the other.

582
00:27:42,729 --> 00:27:45,270
>> The other in this case would
be the identity of that which

583
00:27:45,270 --> 00:27:47,400
is sending the message.

584
00:27:47,400 --> 00:27:49,770
Because we scarcely
understand who and what

585
00:27:49,770 --> 00:27:53,100
we are, why we're even
alive, and what we're

586
00:27:53,100 --> 00:27:56,820
meant to do with our time here,
asking what the Gaian mind

587
00:27:56,820 --> 00:27:59,670
truly is might be premature.

588
00:27:59,670 --> 00:28:00,960
Could it be possible--

589
00:28:00,960 --> 00:28:03,000
just like a human organism--

590
00:28:03,000 --> 00:28:06,810
that plants communicate not only
among themselves and to humans,

591
00:28:06,810 --> 00:28:08,940
but among all other species?

592
00:28:08,940 --> 00:28:11,730
Is this the collective
consciousness of the planet?

593
00:28:11,730 --> 00:28:14,310
And is it possible the
war on the mind is not

594
00:28:14,310 --> 00:28:18,430
limited to human minds but to
the mind of the entire planet--

595
00:28:18,430 --> 00:28:21,510
the plants, animals,
humans, and more?

596
00:28:21,510 --> 00:28:25,350
>> Their message, or
their interaction with us,

597
00:28:25,350 --> 00:28:28,630
might be very different than
their interaction with a fungus

598
00:28:28,630 --> 00:28:29,490
or a bacterium.

599
00:28:29,490 --> 00:28:33,060
But they are in conversations
with those things as well,

600
00:28:33,060 --> 00:28:33,860
you know.

601
00:28:33,860 --> 00:28:35,980
So the message varies.

602
00:28:35,980 --> 00:28:38,730
In other words,
these are multi--

603
00:28:38,730 --> 00:28:40,575
sort of multi-purpose molecules.

604
00:28:40,575 --> 00:28:44,340
>> Terence and Dennis McKenna
are possibly the most notable

605
00:28:44,340 --> 00:28:48,540
pair of scientists and theorists
on why these plants are here

606
00:28:48,540 --> 00:28:50,610
and what their greater
purpose might be.

607
00:28:50,610 --> 00:28:54,600
Both have firm beliefs backed
by a lifetime of investigation

608
00:28:54,600 --> 00:28:56,190
that these plants
are here to serve

609
00:28:56,190 --> 00:28:59,820
the planet by those willing to
listen to their place in it.

610
00:28:59,820 --> 00:29:03,210
>> I like to call them
ambassadors from Gaia.

611
00:29:03,210 --> 00:29:08,430
You know, they happen to make
these messenger molecules that

612
00:29:08,430 --> 00:29:14,100
are useful for communicating
with the complex brains

613
00:29:14,100 --> 00:29:21,540
of these problematic apes
that evolution has spawned.

614
00:29:21,540 --> 00:29:23,790
That would be us, you know?

615
00:29:23,790 --> 00:29:29,602
And we're the most dangerous
thing to show up on the planet

616
00:29:29,602 --> 00:29:30,930
in--

617
00:29:30,930 --> 00:29:32,580
who knows, depends
on when you want

618
00:29:32,580 --> 00:29:36,360
to start counting-- but at least
the last 100 million years.

619
00:29:36,360 --> 00:29:38,640
You know, because we
have the potential

620
00:29:38,640 --> 00:29:43,960
to completely upset the apple
cart by the technologies

621
00:29:43,960 --> 00:29:45,780
that we can manipulate.

622
00:29:45,780 --> 00:29:49,530
>> I mean, when you look what we
have done to the Pacific Ocean,

623
00:29:49,530 --> 00:29:52,500
you know, what we are
doing to the atmosphere,

624
00:29:52,500 --> 00:29:55,260
what we have done to water--

625
00:29:55,260 --> 00:30:01,500
you know, things like the
Mexican Gulf or the reactor,

626
00:30:01,500 --> 00:30:05,730
you know, from Chernobyl
to the Japanese one--

627
00:30:05,730 --> 00:30:07,420
we cannot do this
for a very long time.

628
00:30:07,420 --> 00:30:09,270
We might not make
it as a species.

629
00:30:09,270 --> 00:30:11,910
>> One of the other things we
know about the world today is

630
00:30:11,910 --> 00:30:15,540
that we are living in the midst
of a major ecological crisis.

631
00:30:15,540 --> 00:30:18,060
Some people talk about
the fifth major extinction

632
00:30:18,060 --> 00:30:21,120
here on the planet being
promoted by human activity.

633
00:30:21,120 --> 00:30:23,460
We don't have a
compassionate relationship

634
00:30:23,460 --> 00:30:26,600
with our environment
as a global society.

635
00:30:26,600 --> 00:30:30,480
>> If the ecological threat
that we face is truly upon us,

636
00:30:30,480 --> 00:30:34,800
could the psychedelic plants be
intervening on behalf of Gaia?

637
00:30:34,800 --> 00:30:39,420
>> So the Earth, I think, senses
that we're-- it's in danger

638
00:30:39,420 --> 00:30:45,450
and is trying to get a message
to us that we have to wake up.

639
00:30:45,450 --> 00:30:49,210
>> Are psychedelic plants here
to introduce us to ourselves,

640
00:30:49,210 --> 00:30:52,080
to the shadow of our psyche
and the ills that come from

641
00:30:52,080 --> 00:30:53,700
the sleeping mind?

642
00:30:53,700 --> 00:30:55,320
What if the greatest
threat we face

643
00:30:55,320 --> 00:31:00,120
is not out there in the world
of symptoms, but in here--

644
00:31:00,120 --> 00:31:03,030
in the dark corners of
individual psychology

645
00:31:03,030 --> 00:31:05,880
and its rippling
effect into the masses?

646
00:31:05,880 --> 00:31:08,370
Since the dawn of time,
psychedelic plants

647
00:31:08,370 --> 00:31:09,390
have been there.

648
00:31:09,390 --> 00:31:12,560
They've seen the horrors of the
past and have always produced

649
00:31:12,560 --> 00:31:15,990
the medicine most needed
by these dangerous minds,

650
00:31:15,990 --> 00:31:18,930
a class of compounds that--
when all is said and done--

651
00:31:18,930 --> 00:31:22,200
offer us an honest
look at ourselves.

652
00:31:22,200 --> 00:31:26,040
And from this new perspective,
humility, compassion,

653
00:31:26,040 --> 00:31:28,980
and community bonding
naturally emerge.

654
00:31:28,980 --> 00:31:31,050
Perhaps they confront
us and give us

655
00:31:31,050 --> 00:31:34,660
the only medicine that may help
us out of these dark times--

656
00:31:34,660 --> 00:31:35,460
love.

657
00:31:35,460 --> 00:31:38,170


658
00:31:38,170 --> 00:31:41,100
And how far back can we
trace the human psychedelic

659
00:31:41,100 --> 00:31:44,190
relationship?

660
00:31:44,190 --> 00:31:52,200
>> There is really an enormous
wealth of evidence to suggest--

661
00:31:52,200 --> 00:31:53,970
I would go beyond
saying to suggest--

662
00:31:53,970 --> 00:32:00,240
to prove that our ancestors,
deep into prehistory,

663
00:32:00,240 --> 00:32:03,120
were using the
kind of substances

664
00:32:03,120 --> 00:32:05,340
that we call psychedelics today.

665
00:32:05,340 --> 00:32:08,970
And these would be the
natural psychedelics

666
00:32:08,970 --> 00:32:11,650
that are available from plants.

667
00:32:11,650 --> 00:32:15,790
These plants have played
a fundamental role

668
00:32:15,790 --> 00:32:18,810
in the human story.

669
00:32:18,810 --> 00:32:22,350
>> But how have these plants
shaped our human story?

670
00:32:22,350 --> 00:32:25,590
What evidence can be found
that suggests at one time

671
00:32:25,590 --> 00:32:29,190
psychedelics were an accepted
practice on the understanding

672
00:32:29,190 --> 00:32:30,600
of the universe?

673
00:32:30,600 --> 00:32:35,670
Mysteriously, in 1976, a
Soviet archaeologist uncovered

674
00:32:35,670 --> 00:32:40,440
a 4,000-year-old temple complex
in present day Turkmenistan.

675
00:32:40,440 --> 00:32:44,820
This complex has many rooms with
stone vats coated with residue

676
00:32:44,820 --> 00:32:48,450
of cannabis, as well as
poppy used to make opium,

677
00:32:48,450 --> 00:32:51,330
and ephedra used to
make amphetamines.

678
00:32:51,330 --> 00:32:54,270
This must mean it was a
facility to mass produce

679
00:32:54,270 --> 00:32:56,670
a hallucinogenic cocktail.

680
00:32:56,670 --> 00:32:59,670
Historians have suggested
that this region was home

681
00:32:59,670 --> 00:33:04,140
to goat farmers that comingled
with a nomadic horseback tribe

682
00:33:04,140 --> 00:33:07,470
and for the most part
stayed quiet of conflict.

683
00:33:07,470 --> 00:33:09,150
Could this discovery
hold the key

684
00:33:09,150 --> 00:33:12,960
to the ancient mystery of the
fabled beverage of the gods?

685
00:33:12,960 --> 00:33:15,330
Has the evidence and
long-lost ingredients

686
00:33:15,330 --> 00:33:19,500
of what the oldest Indian
text, the Rigveda, called soma

687
00:33:19,500 --> 00:33:23,340
and the Persians called
haoma finally come to light?

688
00:33:23,340 --> 00:33:26,770
Is this evidence of an
ancient psychedelic society?

689
00:33:26,770 --> 00:33:30,030
And if so, where did
they disappear to?

690
00:33:30,030 --> 00:33:33,120
Why has memory of this
culture been erased?

691
00:33:33,120 --> 00:33:35,670
And could this be an
ancient representation

692
00:33:35,670 --> 00:33:38,130
of humans going
beyond the veil to see

693
00:33:38,130 --> 00:33:40,410
the collective consciousness?

694
00:33:40,410 --> 00:33:43,050
Up next, we will explore
the shamanic route

695
00:33:43,050 --> 00:33:46,530
of humankind's relationship with
psychedelic plants and altered

696
00:33:46,530 --> 00:33:49,280
states of consciousness.

697
00:33:49,280 --> 00:33:58,443