Video Project: Aya - Awakenings

If you look at the context of the comment, what was being spoken about was skillful political action in the human cultural sphere, so it was an appropriate observation. Really, sustainable living -- while important -- wasn't what was being discussed, so I'm not sure why you used that comment as a launching point for a riff on sustainable living. As an analogy, would you think that a plant would know more about choosing an appropriate F-Stop than a human filmmaker? Now, you may come up with a great idea about composing a shot based upon some entheogenic experience you've had that you attribute to plant communion, but that's really not quite the same thing. There absolutely is value in the entheogenic experience here, but it's not so simple as "the plants will tell us what to do."

When you're trying to understand the human cultural implications of releasing a film into a charged, political environment, by all means inform your thinking with the sum total of your experience, including deep communion with the entheogens. But assuming that the plants are wise in that domain in and of themselves, well, that just seems a little silly to me. Yes, perhaps "Madre Ayahuasca" can take care of herself -- keep in mind that using ayahuasca could be made a capital offense and she would get by just fine. But that doesn't do us much good in the end.

"I feel the automatic assumption that we're above nature doesn't serve the good of all that lives and it's an aspect of myself i'm working to let go of."

Yes, the thought that we're somehow apart from nature is an error of thought that has been pretty persistent in the human journey. Looking at all the (admittedly well-meaning) discussion and rhetoric that surrounds climate change, for example, I don't see us really getting away from it. And that makes me sad, because we're running out of time to get our shit together.

"A human being is part of a whole,…He experiences himself…as something separated from the rest--a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison…Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.“ -Albert Einstein

I think a more appropriate suggestion might be that the plants might have a better idea about how to live sustainably on the planet without causing their own extinction. I'm not sure it's relevant whether they know about human affairs. I'm interested in learning how to live in harmony with nature and i think i can be excused for not rushing to humanity for lessons.

I find it interesting that the idea that plants couldn't possibly have more wisdom than humans a perfect example of one of the core human flaws. I see it in myself on a daily basis. The most recent example is today I was looking out over the city from a lookout and started getting that feeling of human pride that goes with looking at all the awesome shit we've built. It's this inherent feeling that we're above nature, however to me any kind of ranking creates separation and even science is starting to realise that nature and the universe aren't as much about separation as we thought. To me it's just as much about unity and equality, even though they seem to contradict. That's the paradox I'm hoping we'll all slowly be able to carry in every moment.

I feel the automatic assumption that we're above nature doesn't serve the good of all that lives and it's an aspect of myself i'm working to let go of.

Have you read Peter Gorman's book yet? It's the best popular book on ayahuasca I've read, bar none. What it lacks in metaphysical speculation it more than makes up for in humanity.

You should check it out.

"It seems to me the cultural "shift" we're talking about is the ongoing transition to a post-industrial society. In this context, psychedelic drugs like ayahuasca become more useful as the purpose of life shifts towards creating meaning and away from simple wealth creation."

Very articulately stated, and I agree with you here. On the other hand, I can't see this happening culture-wide. Individuals have been making that transition, here and there, since the beginning of the industrial age (and before). But is there any reason to believe that this shift can take place en masse?

If you look at the direction that society has been heading over the past, say, 50 years, we are -- as a whole -- moving towards the ever-increasing creation of wealth, not awayfrom it. To give an obvious example, look what's happening in the domain of "intellectual property" as we move towards a post-industrial economy. Every attempt is being made to make meaning a form of property (i.e. "wealth"), to the point where IP law is becoming downright Kafkaesque. The cultural commons is being gutted. The "ownership of ideas" is being granted, for all intents and purposes, in perpetuity. Fair use is becoming a quaint anachronism. From Christ's sake, People's lives are being destroyed by simple acts like trying to put "unauthorized" software on game consoles!

"The political repression of this use is a huge problem because it blocks the pursuit of meaning and happiness that should be every man's right within a democratic society... but does the fact of this repression mean that people should refrain from creating documentaries that might be seized on by the repressors to support their rhetoric?"

I agree that political repression attempts to deprive us of our birthright. And no, it doesn't mean people shouldn't create documentaries. But it does mean that people should be very conscious of the implications of their actions.

I have been alternately dismayed and disheartened by the outright naivety displayed by some in the ayahuasca community when it comes to skilled action in a political environment. I have heard it opined -- often! -- that "you don't need to worry about ayahuasca. The Madre can take care of herself, and this is all part of her plan." I'm sorry, but this is absolute bullocks! I'm all for diversity of opinion, but it is absurd to think that a "plant spirit" can display a cultural acumen that its imbibers don't even exhibit. Even if ayahuasca does embody some kind of wise, knowing spirit, why would one expect it to be wiser in the ways of humans than many humans are?

[Please note that I'm not accusing this project of such naivety -- I don't know enough about them to have an opinion on that score.]

'The historical analogy to the 60s is interesting, but my guess is that LSD and the other drugs would have been made illegal even if Leary and the others had never evangelized."

I happen to agree 100% here -- as I've said before, if Leary hadn't existed, we would have created him.

The forces that drive cultural shift are much larger than any individual, and from the point of view of the individual things can therefore seem infused with inevitability. But this inevitability -- even though true -- doesn't absolve one of the need to behave responsibly. I mean, everyone is going to die one day, but that doesn't mean that I should feel free to kill those with whom I disagree (yea, I know it's a bad analogy, but I think you get my point). Sometimes it seems that the real test of one's character and awareness is the ability to act well in the face of failure. Anyone can hop on the bandwagon of a good and just cause if it's clear that it will be victorious; it's much harder to stick to one's principles when it's pretty clear that it will end in failure anyway.

To me, copyright is dead. No law is ever going to revive it. Crowd funding is the model that is replacing it. In a world where copyright is irrelevant, but everyone isn't so enlightened yet, as to be able to act with 100% integrity all the time, it's the only model that works. Money up front for the projects you want to see get made.

My understanding is that there's a global community emerging around these plants and I think a test of the network is a great idea.

Communities working globally for the good of all. Finances and decision making decentralised. Contributions made directly by the people for what they want, without middle men distorting what the people want. This all sounds awesome to me.

So who better to test this network than an author who has done something quite unlike anyone else in his community.

I'm currently reading 'singing to the plants' by steve beyer, one of a long line of books on related subject matter. While Beyer and many others articulate incredibly useful information, they do not come close to the level of elequence and sensitivity that Rak manages to pour into his descriptions of his experiences. Rak's gift is his ability to bring back a level of detail and insight from his journeys that I'm yet to see from anyone... without making his head grow too big... i rate his ability describe non-ordinary consciousness better than Huxley's doors of perception and in the same realm as Blake's Marriage of Heaven and hell, i.e. his work (including future work) will only become more appreciated over time.

He brings insight and present day relevance to his visionary descriptions and his ability to do so, in such perfect detail, is extremely rare.

His book 'Aya' stands on it's own as enough reason to support this project.

I conceed that his gift might not be for marketing and that his angle of approach may be a little off, but I can forgive this, because I've actually read the book.

I'm also not so sure that Rak's attitude towards trying to gain mainstream media attention around plant medicines without the consensus of the community he'd inadvertently be representing brining into potential scrutiny. However, he's not that hard to find and I've raised my concerns with him directly. As a result of that interaction, i'm now considering his perspective more deeply and I feel like he's considering mine.

Ultimately, I know where his heart is at and I trust that his integrity is unwavering. And I also have to trust that if he's being guided by his interaction with the plants then It's best for me to simply observe without judgment.

After all, in not now, when? It is half way through 2011 after all. If there was ever going to be a push for what you believe in, when else is it going to be? Even if 2012 is just a date that a bunch of people around the world have decided to push for something better together, and it's nothing more tangible that that... it's still that! For this reason, part of me want to just say, fuck it. Let him push if that's what he feels to do. Let him get the whole world's attention if he wants! I've voiced my concerns, but that doesn't necessarily mean that I'm right.

and besides, i do love this quote (often mistakenly thought to be voltaire)

I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it - Evelyn Beatrice Hall

And people who like Ayahuasca might of course want to support this sort of thing, but it's a little weird that it has to be pitched almost as a spiritual act (i.e. participation in some universal connectedness, a test of the network)--it's just a donation, I'd say.

The historical analogy to the 60s is interesting, but my guess is that LSD and the other drugs would have been made illegal even if Leary and the others had never evangelized. The youth were using it and questioning authority on a mass scale for the first time, and that probably was enough.

"I do, however feel that Ayahuasca has reconnected a lot of people to their own spirit, and is obviously apart of a much larger shift that is taking place in the world at this time Maybe this shift is always happening - and this medicine is merely apart of the whole."

This is a valid perspective. But I think only time will tell if it is accurate. I have seen ayahuasca as an agent that has helped people connect with what is termed spirit. But whether or not it is part of a large-scale cultural or societal shift can really only be evaluated after-the-fact. I personally have my doubts, but this is only an opinion (hopefully an informed one).

Differences of opinions can exist, but I think everyone (who had thought about it) is in agreement that caution is warranted, because the situation is very delicate. It is prudent and wise to ask "what harm could this do?" as well as "what good can this do?" -- and I hope you are asking that question. The situation in Australia seems particularly dicey to me, given the heavy-handed and reactionary disposition of the Australian government (look at the TGA!).

Personally I have misgivings about the spate of ayahuasca documentaries that have been coming out lately. Their only purpose seems to be to convince people that ayahuasca is great, that it will cure the ills of the world, and that it needs to spread far and wide. The outcome of this is for the consumption of ayahuasca to be increased greatly.

But follow the implications of this. On the one hand -- if this is a recapitulation or previous, naive attempts to spread spirit -- this could do great damage by provoking reaction from those who like to control people. On the other hand, if ayahuasca is part of some large-scale shift to spirit, does it really need such evangelism? Is spirit incapable of moving in more organic ways?

I have read Rak's book. It was a fun read in an "Iquitos gossipy" kind-of way (I know many of the folks he wrote about, in fact that copy I read was signed by him and lent to me by someone he gave the book to). I thought it raised some interesting questions about the collision of southern and northern culture. But I didn't find anything very compelling about his metaphysical theories -- frankly, I'm having a hard time recalling what he said in those regards, so it didn't seem to leave much of an impression on me.

I hope I'm not coming across as too negative. But I think it's important to grok the whole picture, so I think consideration should be given to these points.

Regardless, good luck with your project! I hope that it turns out well, both for you and for culture-at-large.

Be that as it may, I have to wonder just what the point/intent of this is. Is it just more ayahuasca evangelism? If it is... honestly, I see the 60's replaying itself again with the ayahuasca experience (albeit is a smaller form), with all sorts of outrageous claims and overblown expectations being foisted upon the public is a misguide effort to spread the word.

Don't get me wrong: I supposed you could call me a "fan" of ayahuasca, having participated in maybe 100 ceremonies over the past eight years. But the Ayahuasca PR Machine is ramping up so fast and so big that one can't help but have some misgivings. Ayahuasca is being promoted as a panacea for whatever ails the world, and frankly the myth very much overshadows reality.

I suppose the real worry (from my perspective) is that, come 2013, a whole bunch of people are going to be looking for a new messiah once they realize the 2012 thing fizzled. For once I'd like to see society develop a healthy relationship with a plant, but I don't see that happening. And those who are building up ayahuasca to fill the messiah shoes are doing everyone -- person and plant -- a disservice.