mind states vi
presentations
MARKUS BERGER
Harm Reduction Panel
“Minimizing Risks of Visionary Plants”
What potential risks face those who consume visionary plants for recreational, spiritual, or medical purposes? Which plant combinations are the most dangerous? How can any risks be minimized or avoided altogether? From tryptamine-containing Acacias, to plant-based MAOI compounds, to the ubiquitous caffeine-laden botanicals, this talk will briefly present concepts to help the intelligent drug consumer remain healthy.
PIERS BIZONY
“Scientists are from Mars, Artists are from Venus; the Two Cultures Divide”
Forty years ago the writer C.P. Snow remarked that artists and scientists were all but incapable of talking to each other, and that a highly technological modern world was being haphazardly run by politicians with no interest in technology. Meanwhile, scientists rarely viewed the metaphors presented through art and literature as valuable ways of understanding the world. While that debate runs and runs, Piers Bizony’s presentation cuts a lively swathe through it, with entertaining discussions and visual examples. Snow may have been right in 1960; but today, aesthetic considerations are one of the primary definers of how a supposedly “coldly factual scientific image” is represented. And a great many contemporary artists are embracing scientific tools in their creative work.
SUSAN BLACKMORE
“Mindstates and Memes”
States of mind are not memes, but the means for inducing them may be. Memes are habits, skills, theories, stories, songs, or any other kind of information that is copied from person to person. Like genes, memes are replicators, evolving by variation and selection. We can look at the whole of human culture as a vast set of evolving memes, our bodies as meme machines that copy and store memes, and our selves as memeplexes. States of consciousness, such as trance, tripping, deep relaxation, or mystical transcendence, cannot be directly copied from person to person and for that reason are not memes—but the drugs, machines, and practices that induce them can and are. Whether for fun or for insight, we use these technologies to change our state of consciousness and so ensure the propagation of these technological memes. This is true, too, of the ultimate quest. Enlightenment is not a meme and cannot be directly copied—yet by passing on certain tricks or skills, such as meditation or mindfulness, one person may flip another into realization.
VIBRATA CHROMODORIS
Visionary Art Panel
“Psychedelic Psychosynthesis”
The style and formal properties of my work have undergone radical transformations since the early 1990s, when I first began experimenting with psychoactive substances. I’ll be presenting the progressive journey my muse has taken me on over the past 14 years, highlighting some pivotal images and the revelatory visions behind them.
LINDA ROSA CORAZON
Mushroom Panel
“Traditional Ethnographic and Contemporary Approaches to Psychedelic Psychotherapy”
Many ethnographic forms of healing with entheogens exist. This presentation will share first-person accounts of the use of sacred plants in various cultures--including the Mazatec mushroom ceremony--and explore the phenomenon of "shamanic tourism." Additionally, numerous contemporary techniques of psychedelic psychotherapy have also been attempted, utilizing a wide range of substances--sometimes with a nod toward traditional concepts, sometimes with entirely novel approaches. Methods of working with these tools, including the processes developed by Salvador Roquet, Stanislav Grof, and "underground" practitioners, will be described.
MIKE CROWLEY
Mushroom Panel
“Secret Drugs of Buddhism”
Clark Heinrich has pointed out many apparent references to Amanita muscaria in the myths and legends of Hinduism. In my research I have not only found independent confirmation of Clark’s hypotheses but I have also uncovered evidence of the sacramental use of A. muscaria and several other drugs in Vajrayana Buddhism, including Psilocybe cubensis, Argyreia nervosa, Cannabis indica, Datura stramonium, and an ayahuasca-like concoction based on Acacia catechu, a rich source of DMT. It is my contention that many tantric deities themselves represent various drug plants.
CRYSTAL AND SPORE
DELVIN • SIJAY • NAASKO • NOAH • ISIS • LYNZEE
“Ecstatic Evolution; Dance Music Culture and Transcendent Technology”
Creating an interactive visionary environment utilizing video, dance, music, text, images, prayerformance, and spoken word, the Crystal and Spore will present a discussion of trance and transcendence. This ineffable sonic foray will be contextualized within an investigation of the past, present, and future of ecstatic trance dance as a psychological state, spiritual experience, and cultural phenomenon. All aspects of the presentation will be integrated into an intentional flow in which the audience is encouraged to identify with the practice and recognize its transformational potential.
RICK DOBLIN
“Psychedelic Psychotherapy Research and Psychedelic Culture”
Why are each of the 60 copies of the “LSD 60” blotter art, designed by Stevee Postman for the 60th anniversary of the discovery of LSD as a MAPS/Erowid fundraiser, signed by Albert Hofmann, and released at the 2003 Mind States conference, now worth $3000 or more? Rick Doblin will review the current status of psychedelic psychotherapy research and culture around the world.
FRANK ECHENHOFER
“Implications of EEG Research for Future Exploration of Visionary Mystical Experiences”
Since the discovery of the human Electroencephalogram (EEG) in 1928, research has shown clear relationships among patterns of cortical electrical activity, states of consciousness, and behavior, and since 1950 EEG patterns have been reported for exceptional states of consciousness. This presentation will briefly review the EEG and experiential findings occurring during different kinds of meditation practices and during the ingestion of hallucinogenic substances. Comparisons will be made of analysis from Buddhist practitioners (starting in the late 1960s) and hallucinogen users (since the late 1940s). Both lines of research involve mystical experiences that are often visionary in nature. Included in this discussion will be the findings of EEG research with advanced Tibetan Buddhist practitioners conducted by the author (1991) in the foothills of the Himalayan Mountains at the Namgyal Monastery in Dharamsala, India under the guidance of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Video will be shown of the author and the Dalai Lama discussing the relationship between clear light experiences and EEG activity. Video will also be shown from the author’s research trips to the Brazilian Amazon examining the EEG and phenomenology of the ayahuasca experience. These studies were designed using a hybrid research method that attempted to retain the essential features of systematic scientific methodology and practices as well as devoting significant resources to create settings and procedures congruent with the perennial philosophy and induction of authentic mystical experiences.
ROBERT FORMAN
Visionary Art Panel
“Yarn Crosses Cultures”
A retrospect of Robert Forman’s art, describing his beginnings in yarn art and the coincidentally similar psychedelic-inspired art of the Huichol Indians, which he only learned about 20 years after he started. Could yarn be the perfect medium for representing such artistic visions? Declining resources and the lure of our consumer society exert great pressure on Huichol communities. As cultural barriers break down it is important to establish mutually-accepted modes of communication. The relationship that has grown between Forman and Huichol yarn painters is an example of how art can create dialogue between disparate cultures.
CHARLES S. GROB
Mushroom Panel
“The Use of Psilocybin in Psychiatry; An Experimental Model in Advanced-Stage Cancer Patients with Anxiety”
This talk will discuss the rationale, protocol development and preliminary findings of an approved research study investigating the safety and efficacy of the psilocybin treatment model in advanced cancer patients with severe existential anxiety.
What is memory? How are memories constructed and retrieved? Can discrete memories be isolated and either played back like DVD tracks for entertainment or permanently erased to either smooth out mood or salvage mental health? Are your memories private or should they be subject to surveillance by law enforcement for signs of criminal culpability? Can you have déjà vu for the future? Why do the musical soundtracks to our memories pack such emotion? What's a flashback and how do psychedelic experiences and PTSD relate to this phenomenon? What's really lost and what's retained in cases of amnesia? How does collective memory, or the selective erosion of it, shape our culture and personal lives? Taking the intuitive approach he used in his Tripping compilation, Charles Hayes offers his own unique spin on these intriguing scientific and ethical issues.
JULIE HOLLAND
Harm Reduction Panel
“Medical Ecstasy; A Harm Reduction Model for MDMA Use”
Basic information for reducing harm with ecstasy use will be discussed by contrasting recreational ecstasy use with MDMA-assisted psychotherapy protocols.
CLARK HEINRICH
Mushroom Panel
“How to Find a Lost Mushroom”
Beginning where R. Gordon Wasson’s revelatory work on Amanita muscaria left off, author Clark Heinrich follows Wasson’s lead from ancient India through the Garden of Eden and beyond, all the way to Europe and the secret Elixir of the alchemists, in this fast-paced and colorful presentation.
SANDRA KARPETAS
Harm Reduction Panel
“The CosmiKiva Project: Providing Safe Spaces”
The CosmiKiva Project is a harm reduction initiative that offers services at festivals and events. The project acts as a venue for sharing information about mind-altering substances. As well, a team of knowledgeable staff assist those undergoing difficulties while under the influence of these substances. The model of action embraced is based on psychedelic psychotherapy and health promotion. Karpetas will discuss her work with the CosmiKiva project and similar endeavors with groups such as MindBodyLove, the Higher Knowledge Network, and the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies.
Genetically engineered smart mice. Monkeys with brain implants that can control robot arms across the internet. Gene therapy to permanently alter mood, personality, even sexuality. Blind men who can see through cameras wired to their brains. The technology of repairing and augmenting the mind sounds more like science fiction every day. Through a combination of drugs, genetic techniques, and computer implants, researchers are giving us the power to rewire our minds, to control the ways we learn, think, feel, and communicate. Ramez Naam walks us through this landscape, with one eye on the science and another on what it means for our selves and our society.
DURK PEARSON & SANDY SHAW
“Feed Your Head to Enhance Your Mind; Life Extension and Functional Optimization for Your Brain”
and also
Harm Reduction Panel
“Dodging the Bullets with Protective Nutrients; How to Not Drop Dead or Burn Out”
What happens after we’re all connected? Will we simply become zombie consumers, snowed under by spam, programmed by advertising, our souls drowning in noise? Are we ever-more-clever humans developing techniques to make us ever-more-effective inhabitants of the digital noosphere? The answer—fortunately—is yes. The evolutionary pressure of the information explosion is forcing us to evolve into hyperpeople.
TOM RIEDLINGER
Mushroom Panel
“La Noche Asombrado; Gordon Wasson's Night of Awe”
A spirited review, with original slides, of the pivotal night fifty years ago when J.P. Morgan vice president R. Gordon Wasson and New York society photographer Allen Richardson became the first “white outsiders” invited by Mazatec Indians in Mexico to eat sacred mushrooms that opened their minds to astonishing visions. Tom will then moderate a panel of contemporary psychoactive mushroom experts who share their own perspectives on how Wasson’s widely-publicized accounts of this signal event changed both Western and Indian culture for better or worse.
KATIE SALEN
“Tripping the Game Fantastic”
Video games engage our bodies, imaginations, and minds through deeply engaging play in simulated worlds. From text-based adventures to vector-based trance games to immersive 3-D shooters, video games model a range of mental landscapes. How might we best understand the kinds of sensory, psychological, social, and fantasy experiences that games create? What role do emergent technologies play in making such experiences possible, and how much of it comes down to the design of the game itself?
MICHAEL SHERMER
“Science Friction; Where the Known Meets the Unknown”
An exploration of the borderlands regions between science and pseudoscience, junk science, voodoo science, pathological science, bad science, pre-science, proto-science, non-science, and plain old nonsense. Dr. Shermer exposes the myriad ways that we deceive ourselves through numerous cognitive biases, as well as how we are deceived by others and by nature.
ALLAN SNYDER
“Turning on Savant-like Skills by Turning off Part of the Brain with Magnetic Pulses”
The astonishing skills of autistic savants like those depicted by Dustin Hoffman in his character from the film Rainman, have been suggested to be latent in everyone. Synder will discuss how magnetic stimulation of the frontal lobes in healthy, normal individuals leads to significant stylistic changes in drawing.
SYLVIA THYSSEN
Harm Reduction Panel
“Rumor and Ethic; Verbal Hygiene as a Harm Reduction Measure”
Language is a powerful tool for harm reduction. Subcultures and peer groups often develop specialized lingo and stylized ways of speaking that communicate their values and lore. Internet-era communication about drug use fosters shared language between more and more people, but also increases the level of 'noise' users must sift through to learn useful information. Harm reduction workers and other educators can deeply influence attitudes and potential outcomes by paying attention to how we describe, explain, and ask questions. With safety issues hanging in the balance, we look at how communication styles affect decision-making, ethics, rumor-busting and the way people think about psychoactive drugs.
DONNA TORRES
Visionary Art Panel
“A Garden of Visions”
This talk will explore shamanic plants as tools of inquiry in artistic practice. Drawings, paintings, and small sculptures will reveal a search for a contemporary art practice linked to old and new traditions. Using art as a way of knowing, in addition to the usual role of the artist expressing her or himself, will be addressed.
DONNA TRACY
Visionary Art Panel
“Digitritus; Virtual Species and the Dream State”
Digitritus is a word Tracy coined from the conflation of “digital” and “detritus” to describe her most recent art, which evolved out of her career in the film industry. By using early, unfinished, “discarded” texture maps from “3-D” CG animation, altering these, and creating two-dimensional art for wall hanging, Tracy explores how meaning can be transformed while contemplating the anatomy of the technobody.
JIM WOODRING
Visionary Art Panel
“Lazy Robinson”
Woodring showcases a segment of his Mysterio Simpatico, a series of 30 cross-dissolving images that constitute a progression of forms taken by a cognizant object during the course of a specific and identifiable stream of thought.
