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Graham Hancock on Ayahuasca and Consciousness

By Gregon

Another interview with Graham Hancock, this time a 30 minute chat with Sonia Doubell on ayahuasca and the mysteries of consciousness:

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Greg
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Greg is the owner-editor of The Daily Grail, as well as the author of a number of books including Stop Worrying, There Probably is an Afterlife.
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14 Comments

  1. Watching this reminds me of
    Watching this reminds me of how difficult it is for some of us to disconnect feminine beauty from our minds when trying to connect with someone who happens to be one of those lovely people. It is particularly galling to me when the subjects being discussed interest me deeply, yet I am constantly fantasizing about the beautiful woman. It sets up a dissonance in me that is a bit alarming. I then spend enough of the encounter self analyzing my response to such a degree that it diminishes the intellectual content, and the interview becomes a sort of internal interview with myself mulling over how easily I am derailed by feminine beauty. It is like a wall between me and the human. I know that feminists have spent many decades trying to deprogram the male from these biases, but they are so persistent and rooted that I despair of ever freeing myself of them.
    I was watching an interview a few months ago with an Arab man being asked why his culture was so insistent about engarbing women to hide their anatomy, and he said it was because feminine beauty was “like an arrow through the heart.” At the time I chuckled derisively at the poor anachronistic Arab fundamentalist, but I am not really much better off than he despite having been raised in a bikini culture. We are just better at hiding our biases. The biases are still there.

    1. Emlong, I agree beautiful
      Emlong, I agree beautiful women DO make it hard to concentrate. I wouldn’t really call it a bias the way feminists portray it, because they have their bias and agenda they filter info through to arrive at their conclusions. Rather it is part of natural evolutionary adaptation.

      Whenever I experience my brain short circuiting over a women’s beauty I think of a study from a few years back where two groups of men were alternately shown pictures of beautiful women and then very average women. Following the picture they were asked a financial question that dealt with spending now for immediate gratification with future loss, or the more responsible delaying gratification for future gain. The men consistently chose the self-defeating immediate gratification after viewing the pictures of beautiful women, while the men chose the delayed gratification after viewing photos of the average women. The conclusion of the study was that men’s brains are hard-wired for reckless behavior in the proximity of the attractive opposite sex, for the purpose of promoting reproduction and propagation of the species. As the study concluded – if you were an early human, hunter and gatherer, and see an attractive female bent over at the watering hole naked no doubt (like in the movie “Quest for Fire”, and there are several rival males around, it will not promote the dissemination of your “seed” to hesitate and delay gratification in lieu of potential danger to you. Rather rushing forward recklessly to engage and inseminate the woman despite the danger from rival males nearby best promotes the propagation of the species. Evolution is not based on the strongest – rather it is the consequence of individuals most successful at spreading their seed.

      Of course in today’s society with a surplus of people and our ethics, morals and laws – this sort of behavior and wiring in the brain is counterproductive, boorish and often illegal. However for the majority of our species’ time on earth – say 250,000 years – it would have benefitted our species greatly and helped its survival to the present day.

      1. After “Elevator Gate” I think
        After “Elevator Gate” I think I’ll leave this one alone! If Graham is distracted he certainly doesn’t show it. Perhaps meditation is helpful that way.

        When my son got to be of college age he started to have “deep philosophical discussions” with certain friends, but I told him to stop wasting his time (and my money) and develop some tangible skills! Philosophy is a pasttime for old men (and/or women) after a lifetime of service and achievement. In that sense, Graham has earned the right. The rest of you, get back to work!

        That said, I do believe it takes all kinds to have a healthy society. The over-achievers shouldn’t persecute the creative types, and the creative types shouldn’t malign engineers and accountants. What does any of this have to do with “spirit plants”. Not sure exactly. But, rose bushes still have thorns. Good fences still make for good neighbors. Elevating one’s “consciousness” does not change reality. It will still be waiting for you when you come down from the mountain (or get back from the Amazon). I know these are difficult words for a web site dedicated to awareness and sensitivity. But we learn more by doing and by building than from merely “questioning”. Questioning is easy. Accomplishing something difficult is, well, difficult, not to mention frequently painful, sacrificial, and frustrating … until it is finished, and then it is wonderful! In your pursuit of happiness don’t miss out on the masochistic happiness of pursuit!!

        1. I wasn’t exactly departing
          I wasn’t exactly departing from the subject of the interview which was after all a lot about the ayahuasca “life review.” I was just having my own little life review here.

          1. The Science of Delusion
            Greg has posted some interesting videos that I plan on viewing. My general impression for now is that plants should of course be studied and “experienced”, however the ruling class has had access to these substances for countless generations and what did it do for them, other than perhaps help them perpetuate a better scam? It didn’t result in you and me being able to communicate over the Internet. It didn’t allow the royal family to live any longer than about 70 years. In fact, the lifespan of royals was probably limited more by their on-going competition to produce successors. Royal children were reproducing as soon as they reached puberty. Ayahuasca didn’t tell them to stop doing that. So, I can think of any number of things that should have higher priority for research than Ayahuasca.

          2. May I suggest to you this
            May I suggest to you this book:
            http://www.amazon.com/Wizard-Upper-Amazon-Bruce-Lamb/dp/0938190806/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1332626354&sr=1-1

            I should also point out that ayahuasca use in the Amazonian basin was not limited to “upper classes.” It was a healing event open to anyone who partook of the rigorous preparations and ceremonies. The real shamans of ayahuasca obtained powers that make the internet and long lived royals look mighty puny by comparison.

            Here is the follow up book.
            http://www.amazon.com/Rio-Tigre-Beyond-Medicine-Cordova-Rios/dp/0938190598/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1332626354&sr=1-6

            Manuel Cordoba-Rios who was abducted in his rubber cutter camp and who spent the next 6 years learning ayahuasca from the shaman eventually escaped back to civilization and went on to become an internationally sought after curandero. His uncanny ability to treat “incurable” diseases that western allopathic medicine had given up on was amazing. Just read this life, and you will amend your hasty and ill informed opinions and also rearrange your priorities.

          3. Ithyphallic Philotherianthropes
            If you google “Therianthropy ayahuasca Graham Hancock”, this is what comes up:

            http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHDydxj6kJE

            It’s a nice vignette by Graham about “altered states of consciousness” sans the lovely Sonia sitting Indian style. Graham has also made the link elsewhere (e.g., in the documentary “The Pyramid Code” where he was a talking head) between ayahuasca and the hybrid human-animal gods (therianthropes) of Egypt.

            Here is an hour-long lecture that Graham gave on the subject:

            http://theoccultnetwork.com/graham-hancock-elves-aliens-angels-and-ayahuasca/

            Of course the work that Graham has done on ancient (and modern) induction of altered states of consciousness is brilliant. It is fascinating, but also disturbing to me. I think it is just as likely that ancient drug use contributed to human “entaglement” in superstition as it did enlightenment. It is especially unsettling to me that the Biblical concept of Hell derives from a common occurrence in drug use/abuse, the “bad trip”. It all deserves far more study, but I would absolutely urge caution and not allow yourself to be seduced by this bizarre “world” until we know a whole lot more about it.

          4. Mr. Pope – You are expressing
            Mr. Pope – You are expressing an opinion based on ignorance. Once again, I direct you to the book on Manuel Cordoba-Rios, and may I also remind you that Amazonian amerindians must also be included in what you refer to as “civilization.” Their experience using ayahuasca as a civilization with its own amazing technic cannot be discounted.

          5. To Infinity and Back
            Far from it! You don’t know your history or realize that you are advocating repeating the mistakes of your forebears. Mankind has been down the drug path before. This is nothing new!! The royal family eventually realized the futility of “summoning” and venerating therianthropes from the so-called spirit world. They also eventually (and reluctantly) gave up screwing their own mothers and fathers. The Sphinx itself is a monument to mother-son reproduction!! The royal family was experimenting on themselves and took that path as far as it could take them. They obviously took it much too far, and to the point of debilitation. It its final generations, the royal family was a pathetic lot, mentally unstable and physically impaired, lacking any spiritual virtue and worshipping nothing other than their lecherous hold on power. The character of Gollum in the Lord of the Rings comes readily to mind!

            Why would we want to go back to the ways of our ancestors, and ways that have already proven to be detrimental in the long run. At the end of Graham’s lecture (linked above) he throws up a slide showing icons from the modern technological age. He follows it with a slide of an ayahuasca inspired painting of the “enchanted jungle”. He then concludes the lecture by saying we have to choose between the two. What an unbelievably simplistic and utterly ridiculous statement!

            Let’s embrace our material, technological culture. Let’s follow that path as far as it can take us. Let’s take it too far. Our planet is now drifting away from the galactic plane. It will be a relatively smooth ride for millions of years. Of course there will be setbacks, but we have at least a fighting chance to “make it”. Let’s choose to boldy go where mediums are too lazy to tread.

            The Daily Grail highlights all the best news from science, technology, medicine, and the modern age. You guys and gals know you love it. Who are we kidding here? Let’s get on with the space race.

            If the author of the book on Manuel Cordoba-Rios wants to post it to the web I’ll check out. I’m not going to order it. I have worked hard in my life and post my own research free of charge to anyone who is interested. For that, I am disrespected by academics and the alternative crowd alike. The masses far prefer for researchers to rush some half-cooked theory into print and attract a cult following. I’m not about that. If someone isn’t smart enough to recognize a breakthrough when they see it, then I happily nominate them for this year’s Darwin Award.

          6. Pardon me for saying this,
            Pardon me for saying this, but I can think of no other way to say it – you are a confused man.

          7. Pick Your Poison
            You’re pardoned. Go and spin no more. (See, it doesn’t take ayahuasca to be creative!)

          8. Turn On, Tune In, but Don’t Drop Out
            Seriously, the above post (“To Infinity and Back”) wasn’t the most coherent thing I’ve ever written (haha). It did however irk me that Graham would credit LSD use by the Apple Computer founders (Jobs and Wozniak) for their creative and technical success, but then declare at the end of his talk that we need to junk our advancements in lieu of gettting back in touch with the spirit world. Pardon mi tanbien Senior, but I have to object to that kind of logic!

            It is also interesting that Timothy Leary at the end of his life began exploring the use of Virtual Reality as an alternative to LSD use. What does that tell you?

          9. Crick In the Crack
            http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?t=22271
            Quote:
            Crick, who died ten days ago, aged 88, later told a fellow scientist that he often used small doses of LSD then an experimental drug used in psychotherapy to boost his powers of thought. He said it was LSD, not the Eagle’s warm beer, that helped him to unravel the structure of DNA, the discovery that won him the Nobel Prize.
            The same article says that Crick himself did not admit to it, though.
            Quote:
            Shortly afterwards I visited Crick at his home, Golden Helix, in Cambridge.

            He listened with rapt, amused attention to what I told him about the role of LSD in his Nobel Prize-winning discovery. He gave no intimation of surprise. When I had finished, he said: ‘Print a word of it and I’ll sue.

          10. Plants and Plantagenets
            I do esoteric historical research, not plant and drug research. And I didn’t say that the royals were long-lived. They were not particularly long-lived, although Sumerian and Biblical accounts indicate a belief in long-lived ancestors. According to the Epic of Gilgamesh, a plant giving longevity was found in the sea. Royals had access to many surprising things. If the pharoahs were ingesting coca (from across the sea), then they likely would have also been taking other products of South American and other places with perceived benefits. Did it lead to a more enlightened world? Hardly. Knowledge has certainly increased far more since the loosening of the royal stranglehold.

            I realize that this site is open to exploring the use of ayahuasca and other “mind-altering” substances. That’s fine. Someone other than Timothy Leary should be looking in to it. I’m just saying I don’t see that Amazonian shamans have done much for human progress, unless you call subsistence living in the jungle a form of “high” civilization. Why would someone need to “escape” from that culture if it is so wonderful? Would you give up the Internet for ayahuasca? (That’s a rhetorical question, stop trippin’.) Again, I’m not discounting the value of plant research, but let’s keep it in perspective. A plant may have medicinal value and even offer some intuition into nature itself, but there are many more things it can’t do.

            If you would like to experiment with another, perhaps even more painful (haha) means for your eyes to be opened, eat some of the “forbidden fruit” over at my website!! Bon appetit. No Amazon.com purchase required.

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