Psychedelic Salon

Guest speaker: Terence McKenna PROGRAM NOTES: [NOTE: All quotations are by Terence McKenna.] “The moment is where we spend most of our time.” “Reality is a term that if it's used at all it's used in philosophy, in ontology, in epistemology. It is not a concept that you hear very often on the lips of scientists.” “The 'fallacy of misplaced concreteness' is the belief that there is something, somewhere which is real, which can be depended upon, which everything else can be referenced back to. And as long as you are victim of this fallacy you are philosophically naive and probably not at ease psychologically.” “The ego is this strange transference of loyalty from the group to the self, the individual body.” Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option

Guest speaker: Terence McKenna PROGRAM NOTES: [NOTE: All quotations are by Terence McKenna.] “Occam's Razor is fine in the formation of physical theory, but it doesn't take us far in understanding human motivation.” “What the psychedelics seem to me to argue for is that reality is not reality. There may be no reality, but certainly this is not it. This is some kind of highly provisional, culturally sanctioned, hallucination that we are all participating in.” “Reality, whatever it is, is temporary and yields to non-existence.” “Thought can't go where the roads of language have not been built.” “Culture is a kind of environment that we have learned how to interpose between ourselves and whatever is really out there.” “I just don't think that a monkey species had the wherewithal to evade the mechanisms of control and constraint that guide and direct everything on the planet. There is a purpose to history.” “What is to be done? You can't begin to answer that question until you have some notion of what r

Guest speakers: Joh Isaac Mitchell & Michael Goldstein PROGRAM NOTES: Today we feature two interesting talks: Art as Technology and Crypto-anarchy. The first talk is from the 2013 Palenque Norte Lectures that were held at the Burning Man Festival. And that story is followed by a concise explanation of how bitcoin technology evolved and that cryptocurrency is only the tip of its iceberg. And should you harbor fears that bitcoin is a government operation, there is this quote by Michael Goldsetin: “Satoshi could have been an NSA backed totalitarian, but his protocol is strictly anarchist. He could have easily been paid by the government to create it, but he created something that the government itself cannot shut down. And the protocol itself is strictly anti-government in the sense that it does not allow for government.” Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option Follow Michael Goldstein on Twitter Satoshi Nakamoto Institute Cypherpunk in Wikipedia A Cypherpunk's Manif

Guest speaker: Terence McKenna PROGRAM NOTES: [NOTE: All quotations are by Terence McKenna.] “It is not that culture is evolving. The evolution of culture is an epiphenomena attendant upon the evolution of language. Language is the part of man that is evolving. Culture carries along.” "I think people have a greater sensitivity to the mysteries of human interaction simply because so much LSD was taken in the Sixties." “The world is not nearly as chaotic and random as we suppose. We are actually trapped inside a giant organism. And it is not Gaia. That's a much larger organism. We are trapped inside a large organism which is the human collectivity, and that's why we are such different monkeys.” “But really the psychedelic experience is like an intimation of immortality. And at varying distances in time from the point you occupy it shows you ever more vague intimations of the future, but they are there nevertheless.” “What the psychedelics really do, I think, is release us from cultural machinery.” “The

Guest speakers: Various PROGRAM NOTES: The Worldwide #WaveOfAction begins April 4, 2014 and runs through July 4, 2014. During this three-month cycle, people throughout the world will be protesting corruption, rallying around solutions and taking part in alternative systems. The new paradigm will be on full display. As our part in this WAVE, the salon will feature periodic reports from this global ripple in our species-consciousness. This is the first of those podcasts. Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option Actify ~ Wave of Action ~ 4.4.14 Video sources of audio segments Dwayne Hoover's Podcast Song Download "Mushroom Man" (download)

Guest speaker: Paul Daley PROGRAM NOTES: Today's podcast features the 2013 Palenque Norte Lecture by Dr. Paul Daley in which he talks about Sasha Shulgin, his life and his work. Paul is one of the key people who has stepped in to consolidate and continue the experimental research begun by Dr. Shulgin. In addition to telling about Sasha's chemical research, Dr. Daley also talks about some of the reasons Sasha has given for why he does what he does. And we also hear about some of the ongoing research taking place in Sasha's laboratory, including research into a possible remedy for cluster headaches. Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option

Guest speaker: Daniel Pinchbeck PROGRAM NOTES: “If you step back from it and really think about what the mass media does on a global scale, the most significant thing it does is coordinate behaviour.” -Daniel Pinchbeck Today we feature Daniel Pinchbeck's 2013 Palenque Norte Lecture. This talk/conversation took place late one night during the Burning Man Festival in the big tent at Camp Soft Landing, which hosted the annual lecture series. Prompted by questions from the audience, Daniel touches on a wide range of topics that included Rudolph Stiener, reincarnation, ecology, shamanism, mysticism, planetary crisis, morphagenic fields, and he even touches on Bitcoin. Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option

Guest speakers: Alicia Danforth & Charlie Grob PROGRAM NOTES: Today's podcast features a 2013 Palenque Norte lecture given by Alicia Danforth in which she tells about her work with the autistic community and their use of MDMA. Following that is a recording of a conversation with Alicia and Dr. Charlie Grob, who have just begun a new study to investigate the potential of using MDMA to help ease the social anxiety that is sometimes experienced by our friends and fellow saloners in the autistic community. Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option LINKS mentioned in this podcast: Study Information: MDMA-assisted Therapy for Social Anxiety in Autistic Adults “What Is Autism?” by Nick Walker Exploring therapeutic effects of MDMA on post-traumatic stress Podcast 380 – “Confessions of an Ecstasy Advocate” Podcast Archive for Gary Fisher MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy

Guest speaker: Terence McKenna PROGRAM NOTES: [NOTE: All quotations are by Terence McKenna.] “I have been underwhelmed by the accomplishments of Indian spirituality, personally; overwhelmed by the accomplishments of Amazonian spirituality.” “I'm also very suspicious of secrets. I mean, if you tell me one it's finished. I took a pledge long ago to tell all secrets as quickly as possible. . . . Secrets are a way of controlling other people.” “Post-historical existence would be non-linear. People would live in time the way now live in space.” “That's how I think of psychedelics. When I say boundary dissolution, the real boundaries I'm talking about are the boundaries of dimensionality. The way a shaman is able to do what shamans do is by transcending Newtonian space and time.” “Here's my model: The mind is like a crystal growing under pressure, and the pressure is the pressure of Newtonian space/time. And so the crystal grows and takes the shape of its confinement. But when you liquefy the crystal matrix

Guest speaker: Terence McKenna PROGRAM NOTES: [NOTE: All quotations are by Terence McKenna.] “This nuclear family thing is, I think, part of the root of our problem, that it is an engine for the production of neurotic, dysfunctional people.” “If guys really got as much sex as they think they want they would probably hand over the machinery of civilization without a fight.” “I'm interested in the moral consequences of taking psychedelics.” “Everything that is, is an anticipation of what will be.” Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option Podcast 380 – “Confessions of an Ecstasy Advocate”

Guest speaker: Terence McKenna PROGRAM NOTES: [NOTE: All quotations are by Terence McKenna.] “The 20th century is a great gathering for a leap, and the 19th century was the century of the gentleman.” “Whether we can actually make a new world is not clear because the momentum of the past is very great.” “The bigger you build the bonfire of understanding the more darkness you reveal.” “Belief is a curious reaction to the present at hand. It isn't to be believed. It's to be dealt with.” Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option

Guest speaker: Dr. George Greer PROGRAM NOTES: [NOTE: All quotations are by George Greer.] “Meaning: the final addiction!” “Meaning is suffering.” “How do you feel your experience would be different if you 'understood' the universe? How would your experience be different from right now?” “My thought about MDMA is that it blocks the fear response to a perceived emotional threat.” Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option GEORGE R. GREER, MD Co-Founder, Medical Director, Secretary of the Heffter Research Institute Spheres & Constellations by Farthest South

Guest speaker: Terence McKenna PROGRAM NOTES: [NOTE: All quotations are by Terence McKenna.] “Psychedelics, by metling assumptions, by destroying the expectations of rigid educations creates a fluidity of possibility that may allow answers to emerge. And it's the only thing that I've seen that operates on a time scale sufficiently short to have an impact.” “Language is a strategy for binding time.” “The other thing is that biology works. It's very successful. It's been around more than a billion years. Civilization doesn't work. It's been around 10,000 years, and it's on the brink of meltdown.” “We fabricate ideas out of matter. No other creature does that.” “One of the unique things that is happening on the planet is that the fate of all life is becoming hinged to the decisions made by a single species.” “If there's not free will, then thinking is meaningless.” “But all we have to do is hit one speed bump, and democratic values are down the drain.” Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs

Guest speaker: Terence McKenna PROGRAM NOTES: [NOTE: All quotations are by Terence McKenna.] “That's the key thing that the archaic world knew that we don't know: How do you live in equilibrium so that your children may live in equilibrium, because otherwise you get a cycle started that's going to shove somebody over the cliff. And that somebody in the present case is either ourselves, our children, or their children. It's no further away in time than that.” “We love to congratulate ourselves on the forward-leaning liberal society that we live in, and the truth is it's a bunch of rattle snake-handling fundamentalists that are much closer to Stalin than they are to FDR or anybody else like that.” “If you look at the fossil record, 95% of all the species that have ever lived on the Earth are extinct. From that point of view it looks as though biology is a process for producing extinction.” “You talk about a well-kept secret that's only two tokes away? How do they keep the lid on this? That's the miracle

Guest speaker: Roland Griffiths PROGRAM NOTES: Today's podcast features a talk given by Roland Griffiths, who is a professor in the departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, and Neuroscience at Johns Hopkins Medicine. In addition to describing the current psychedelic studies being undertaken there, he also goes into detail about exactly what characteristics researchers consider when evaluating whether a person has actually had a spiritual experience. Among the research participant's comments that he read, one of the most common themes was the interconnectedness of all things and beings. Also, he spoke about their research into the character of one's personality in regards to how a psychedelic experience affected their openness to the experiences of life. Another interesting thing that his research group is investigating is the intersection of psilocybin and meditation, a discussion of which takes up a significant part of this talk. “Psilocybin is a pharmacological tool that helps people recognize

Guest speaker: Annie Oak PROGRAM NOTES: Today we feature a Palenque Norte Lecture given by Annie Oak at the 2013 Burning Man Festival. This ground breaking founder of the Woman's Visionary Congress continues to push the envelope of psychedelic discussion into two of the most important issues of all to humans, sexuality and aging. Additionally, Annie issues several challenges to us all as we continue to expand our own consciousnesses. Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option Woman's Visionary Congress Consciousness, Healing, and Social Justice The Psychological Dark Side of Gmail Google is using its popular Gmail service to build profiles on the hundreds of millions of people who use it. Occupy Madison builds first house in planned eco-village for the homeless Daily Psychedelic Video

Guest speakers: Terence McKenna & Edward Snowden PROGRAM NOTES: [NOTE: All quotations are by Terence McKenna.] “Everything flows. Nothing lasts.” “Language is like an informational creature of some sort.” “This problem of language is central, I think, to understanding the psychedelic experience.” “Language is something unfinished in us. It is something that was catalyzed out of animal organization by hallucinogenic activation of brain states, and it is something that is in the act of perfecting itself.” “When you go into a culture, you're going to make a choice. And all cultures represent narrowing of choices.” “We're about to have a chance to create a global culture, to essentially clean our basement and decide what we're going to save and what we're going to keep.” “It's the monotheistic religions that have to take a real knock for the present situation.” “Monotheism, as a philosophical reflex, is understandable but simple minded. It's what an eight year old would get to.” “Taking a psychedelic

Guest speaker: Terence McKenna PROGRAM NOTES: [NOTE: All quotations are by Terence McKenna.] “And now the task changes. It's a completely different kind of spiritual universe that you live in after you found the answer, because the task becomes facing the answer. Facing it!” “What we call history is the fall out of a dynamic hear-and-now, feeling-toned relationship with our environment.” “Gradual change was a luxury of the past.” “The politically most potent thing you can do for somebody is to educate them. To give them the facts.” “The spiritual realm in practical terms means the imagination.” “The frontier of our species is the imagination.” “The spiritual realm, in practical terms, means the imagination. The frontier of our species is the imagination.” “And, in fact, the evidence is building that our style of society is the historical equivalent of a temper tantrum.” “A shaman is someone who has seen the end. A shaman is somebody who has seen it all.” Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select opt

Guest speaker: Terence McKenna PROGRAM NOTES: [NOTE: All quotations are by Terence McKenna.] “[It is] a race between education and disaster. "We're going to either burst out into a millennium of freedom and caring and decency, or we're going to toxify the whole thing and turn it into an ash heap. And the responsibility falls largely on us.” “Outlandish things are going on inside the psychedelic experience. It seems to imply the thing we had hardly dared hope, which is that the world is whatever you say it is if you know how to say it right.” “Until I went into therapy I thought I had the most ordinary family in the world, and then once you're in therapy you discover that it was the most insane scene you'd ever heard of, and you just didn't notice.” “Science fiction I really consider a proto-psychedelic drug, because what science fiction does is it gives permission to imagine.” “We can't preach to the have-nots the virtue of voluntary simplicity when we're riding around in BMWs and collecting Monets.

Guest speaker: Lorenzo Hagerty PROGRAM NOTES: This relatively short podcast features the audio portion of a film by Tom Huckabee and George Wada in conjunction with “The Starck Project”, a documentary soon to be released. The short film consists primarily of an interview with Lorenzo Hagerty dealing with the introduction of MDMA (Ecstasy) to the street scene in Dallas, Texas during the 1980s. Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option The Starck Project The Starck Project's Facebook Page VIDEO FEATURES /* Confessions of an Ecstasy Advocate (video) Confessions of an Ecstasy Advocate from George Wada on Vimeo. The Cosmic Dance Scene If you aren't already familiar with the world-wide dance scene, this trailer will give you a feeling of where it was in 2011. /*