The Heretic – Article on Psychedelic Research

Here’s a very interesting article from a couple of years ago that I want to pass along. “The Heretic” is from Tim Doody, originally published in The Morning News. He presents the life journey and describes a speech by noted psychedelic researcher, Dr. James Fadiman. He was part of the International Foundation for Advanced Study (IFAS), which was doing important research in the summer of 1966 when the Feds slammed the door on all psychedelics, including LSD.

This is a fine survey of that interesting story and its aftermath, plus an analysis of how these substances are slowly returning to the public surface once again, expressing how they should be reassessed for their immense value for healing and for inspirational creativity.

He relates Dr. Fadiman’s list of six requirements for a quality session with the these substances, which include well-known and established concepts of set and setting and an experienced and supportive Guide.

He also talks about the long tribal history we humans have had with the sacred plants, including this about Ayahuasca:

“It’s a fairly open secret that not only does the Amazon contain the necessary ingredients for ayahuasca, one of the strongest and oldest psychedelic brews, but that the forest itself isn’t so much a wilderness as a 10,000-year-old garden under indigenous management.”

He also talks about ontology, or the assessment of reality in the visions (one of my own deep interests):

“If reality isn’t shaped with the psychically aware, self-organizing units that Giordano Bruno called monads in the sixteenth century, then perhaps it’s woven with Indra’s net, the jeweled nodes of which stretch into infinity, each one a reflection of all others. To entertain such ontologies is to re-contextualize one’s self as a marvelous conduit in a timeless whole, through which molecules and meaning flow, from nebulae to neurons and back again. If certain of these molecules connect with our serotonin receptors like a key in a pin tumbler, and open a door to extraordinary vistas, why shouldn’t we peek?”

Thanks to Mitch Schultz at DMT: The Spirit Molecule for the link.

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April 3, 2014 | Categories: Ayahuasca & Entheogens, Shamanism, Animism, Musings: Life, Death, Past, &Future, Photos and Artwork, Uncategorized | Tags: amazon, art, artwork, ayahuasca, Bruno, consciousness, dmt, Dr. James Fadiman, entheogen, IFAS, Indra's net, LSD, Mitch Shultz, psychedelic, psychedelics, psychoactive, Ram Dass, research, Spirit Molecule, The Heretic, The Morning News, Tim Doody | 2 Comments