DMT-Nexus member
Posts: 245 Joined: 15-Oct-2009 Last visit: 29-Jul-2011 Location: Milwaukee
|
Ethnobotanical Advocacy Groups: Who are they? What are they doing? And How can we help? This nonsense with BBB is ridiculous. Our community is only as "at risk" as our disorganization allows it to be. We have legal precedents in our favor. For lack of a better word, a "Neo-Shaminsim" variance is what many of us believe and it's safe, divine, and needs defending. let's figure something out. a ?
|
|
|
|
|
DMT-Nexus member
Posts: 4733 Joined: 30-May-2008 Last visit: 13-Jan-2019 Location: inside moon caverns
|
I'd join and donate. Where do I signup?
|
|
|
DMT-Nexus member
Posts: 12340 Joined: 12-Nov-2008 Last visit: 02-Apr-2023 Location: pacific
|
Well see...alot of us arent religous..and shamanism is an individual thing for the most part..not a religion..and then alot of people dont identify with shamanism either.. Im not into cults like the diame or uno de vegetal etc..too rigid and dogmatic..and really thats not supporting freedom for all people.. So some sort of entheogen freedom act or something needs to be put into place..there needs to be something trying to protect the use of these things thats doesnt involve structured religions..organizations and groups are cool though. I dunno what to do..but I think about it alot..if I had the money id start an organization preserving these things like mckenna did and advocate the freedom for their use..but im poor..so until then all i can do is keep growing them..which i do and so my garden grows..at least theres people growing these things so they will always be there..the FDA will never ever win. Long live the unwoke.
|
|
|
DMT-Nexus member
Posts: 4733 Joined: 30-May-2008 Last visit: 13-Jan-2019 Location: inside moon caverns
|
It would have to be an organisation like the Electronic Frontier Foundation ....The Psychedelic Frontier Foundation 
|
|
|
DMT-Nexus member
Posts: 2291 Joined: 26-Mar-2008 Last visit: 12-Jan-2020 Location: The Thunderbolt Pagoda
|
Off the top of my head: http://www.leap.cc/cms/index.php (not sure how aware of our plight they are, but perhaps they'd find it interesting) http://www.maps.org/http://www.cottonwoodresearch.org/I'm looking into getting involved, myself. This must be the next evolution of the community. We're very familiar with the power and benefit of entheogenics, but unfortunately, most are too implicated to go public about it and get active. We need more than just outside advocates, we need community members to put aside clandestine activities for a time and organize publicly. The members of the community are among the few possible advocates actually infused with in depth personal experience in the matter and must speak up.
|
|
|
Human
Posts: 811 Joined: 28-Nov-2009 Last visit: 28-Jun-2023
|
Fractal Enchament is right.
Maybe we shouldn't focus on start DMT religions or acting like we are neo-shamans or something like that.
Like Terence McKenna said:
"I view the psychedelic issue as part of the long march toward human freedom that has such sign posts along the way, as the abolition of slavery, the giving of women of the vote, the inclusion of black people into the processes of democratic society and the establishment of the universal human right of people to take substances to alter their consciousness. It's all about the triumphal march toward a society where the dignity of the individual is always the first value to be honored. We do not want to be ruled by the fears of Christian fundamentalism, or the shallowness of scientism or the dreary spiritual emptiness of materialism. We want to connect first to our bodies, and through our bodies to the planet."
I think we are human being with the right to experience nature, and that reason should be enough.
If people want to organize religions, sects, communities or clubs, that IS alright.
If people want to be recognized as shamans, alchemists, scientists, healers, therapists or neuronats, that IS alright.
But first of all, we are humans. And it is our birthright to alter our consciousness if we choose to. Whatever the reason may be.
|
|
|
DMT-Nexus member
Posts: 2291 Joined: 26-Mar-2008 Last visit: 12-Jan-2020 Location: The Thunderbolt Pagoda
|
obliguhl wrote:It would have to be an organisation like the Electronic Frontier Foundation ....The Psychedelic Frontier Foundation I like that idea...a lot.
|
|
|
Human
Posts: 811 Joined: 28-Nov-2009 Last visit: 28-Jun-2023
|
amor_fati, maybe this organization should be added to the links: http://www.heffter.org/ 
|
|
|
DMT-Nexus member
Posts: 1303 Joined: 12-Nov-2008 Last visit: 04-Aug-2023 Location: ...
|
Cognitive Liberty http://www.cognitiveliberty.org/Quote:The Center for Cognitive Liberty & Ethics (CCLE) is a network of scholars elaborating the law, policy and ethics of freedom of thought. Our mission is to develop social policies that will preserve and enhance freedom of thought into the 21st century.
Growing knowledge in the neurosciences, enhanced by exponential advances in pharmacology and other neurotechnologies (technologies that make it possible to monitor and manipulate the brain’s electrochemistry) are rapidly moving brain research and clinical applications beyond the scope of purely medical use. The definitions of "medicine" and "mental health" are expanding from treatment and prevention, to improvement and enhancement.
The CCLE is dedicated to protecting and advancing freedom of thought in the modern world of accelerating neurotechnologies. Our paramount concern is to foster the unlimited potential of the human mind and to protect freedom of thought.
The CCLE supports technological advances, and believes that the application and regulation of new drugs and neurotechnologies are best channeled by a renewed allegiance to the fundamental right to freedom of thought. Our guiding principles are privacy, autonomy and choice:
Privacy: What and how you think should be private unless you choose to share it. The use of technologies such as brain imaging and scanning must remain consensual and any information so revealed should remain confidential. The right to privacy must be found to encompass the inner domain of thought.
Autonomy: Self-determination over one’s own cognition is central to free will. Decisions concerning whether or how to change a person’s thought processes must remain the province of the individual as opposed to government or industry.
Choice: The capabilities of the human mind should not be limited. So long as people do not directly harm others, governments should not criminally prohibit cognitive enhancement or the experience of any mental state.
No Simple Solutions
The CCLE recognizes that these are extremely complex issues with no simple solutions. We see our contribution as helping to negotiate the intersection of law and science so that new neurotechnologies expand rather than reduce freedom of thought.
What We Do
Advocacy The CCLE supports social impact litigation that has the potential to broadly advance cognitive liberty. We have filed legal briefs on the topic of cognitive liberty in federal courts, including the United States Supreme Court.
Analysis The CCLE monitors developments in neurotechnology, cognitive sciences and the law, to identify and offer guidance concerning those developments with a potential to significantly impact freedom of thought. We produce reports and professional testimony on complex freedom of thought issues currently facing policy makers, industry, and the general public.
Education By raising awareness of emerging cognitive liberty issues, our outreach and education campaigns empower people to meaningfully participate in public discourse and the democratic process. We provide course content to universities and professional schools in order to accelerate scholarly discussion of cognitive liberty across a wide range of disciplines.
|
|
|
DMT-Nexus member
Posts: 2291 Joined: 26-Mar-2008 Last visit: 12-Jan-2020 Location: The Thunderbolt Pagoda
|
Absolutely, scientific research will likely prove our best ally.
|
|
|
DMT-Nexus member
Posts: 245 Joined: 15-Oct-2009 Last visit: 29-Jul-2011 Location: Milwaukee
|
fractal enchantment wrote:Well see...alot of us arent religous..and shamanism is an individual thing for the most part..not a religion..and then alot of people dont identify with shamanism either..
Im not into cults like the diame or uno de vegetal etc..too rigid and dogmatic..and really thats not supporting freedom for all people.. NEO-shamanism.  You're thinking i mean the old shamanic ways. We are truly walking into new territory and perhaps into a post-monotheism era... All the old definitions are changing, the only thing that is certain is those old words WON'T mean the same thing! We don't even have a clear vocabulary for what we're talking about. Hence the stab in the dark: Neo-Shamnism, a tremendously varied use of botanicals to expand the mind and seek access to greater worlds and understandings A "DMT religion" would be a whole new thing... with whole new structures. I'm talking about advocacy groups: a organization that publicly supports AND EXPLAINS a set of actives.Here we are fearful of vague, unrealized internal controls of "a spice religion" when the very action of exploring our various metaphysical beliefs are ILLEGAL and TERRIBLY misunderstood. @ amor_fati Agreed 100% @ "The Psychedelic Frontier Foundation" AWESOME. i'll look into these links! THANKS a ?
|
|
|
DMT-Nexus member
Posts: 12340 Joined: 12-Nov-2008 Last visit: 02-Apr-2023 Location: pacific
|
See im all into shamanism and the new techno culture..just dont like to mix that up with religion.. This is in part why i went to school in the first place to study anthroplogy and shamanism..becasue i wanted to do something that could bring to light the reality of these things and the historical implications of their use.. I just want freedom to explore in the way i see fit and practive my style of spirituality how i choose to.. I dont see how using the term "neo shaman" changes anything..its still not a religion..and here where i am in canada at least if its not a religion they dont care and wont recognise it...if shamanism became a regognised religion here in I would find that extremely odd as well..like those people that go to michael harner workshops and after call themselves certified shamans..doesnt work that way..it has nothing to do with fear of a spice religion...its just that what i do is not religious and i would never want to identify it with religion..especially not to satisfy some government agency..thats not real freedom. Anyone should be able to do this stuff religion or not. Its just a human rights issue. Long live the unwoke.
|
|
|
DMT-Nexus member
Posts: 2291 Joined: 26-Mar-2008 Last visit: 12-Jan-2020 Location: The Thunderbolt Pagoda
|
It is a human rights issue, but the advantage of having groups like the UDV and NAC is that if the government is willing to make it legal for some, then it has a much weaker case in making or keeping it illegal for everyone else. It should be made clear that spiritual (not religious) and personal freedom is at stake here, however, and that race or faith-based discrimination in the matter is intolerable in a "free country" with "free citizens."
|
|
|
DMT-Nexus member
Posts: 12340 Joined: 12-Nov-2008 Last visit: 02-Apr-2023 Location: pacific
|
Yes I have a ton of respect for the UDV and NAC etc and what they are doing...I wouldnt mind drinking with them and just having that experience...and i would go out and support them in their efforts if I had the chance..but i would NEVER want to give up my own individual use of these things.. There are obvious advantages here at least in canada due to some of these groups..like the fact that peyote is legal for anyone to buy and grow, protected under religous freedom acts.. Long live the unwoke.
|
|
|
DMT-Nexus member
Posts: 5826 Joined: 09-Jun-2008 Last visit: 08-Sep-2010 Location: USA
|
The issue with an entheogen religion is that many US government officials are Christian extremists and frown on other religions flourishing even though they are not supposed to. But in all honesty, I still think you’re more likely to gain approval for use by this route because of the current protection of religion in the US. There are cases that were already won by this route, but also some cases that were not. By believably claiming religious use, at worst you’ll lower your prison term, and at best, you’ll get the charges dropped and be allowed use. People are far less likely to be hard on you if you claim religious use unless the judge is a serious Christian extremist, in which case you’ll get the maximum sentence allowable which you’d probably get anyway if you didn’t claim religious use and had a Christian extremist judge. You may remember me as 69Ron. I was suspended years ago for selling bunk products under false pretenses. I try to sneak back from time to time under different names, but unfortunately, the moderators of the DMT-Nexus are infinitely smarter than I am.
If you see me at the waterpark, please say hello. I'll be the delusional 50 something in the American flag Speedo, oiling up his monster guns while responding to imaginary requests for selfies from invisible teenage girls.
|
|
|
DMT-Nexus member
Posts: 2015 Joined: 07-Oct-2008 Last visit: 05-Apr-2012
|
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entheogen wrote:An entheogen ("creates god within," en εν- "in, within," theo θεος- "god, divine," -gen γενος "creates, generates"  ,[1] in the strict sense, is a psychoactive substance used in a religious, shamanic or spiritual context. So, if you don't want it to be about faith, then you are actually talking about psychedelics, not entheogens, to use the correct terminology. And if you want a faith, why not just join The Jurema Way? I tried to make that as open and unhierarchical as possible, and it took ages to make those certificates and membership cards! I'm not going to try and control you or anything (way too paranoid to even show my face! ), there isn't meant to be any leadership to it, that was half the point. http://www.dmt-nexus.me/...g=posts&m=25167&Where's Antrocles? He knows people personally from this site and I think he once said he wants to move into something like this, why not start it off in the US? (And The Entheogen Way as the unbrella, and The Cactus Way, etc.) fractal enchantment wrote:Yes I have a ton of respect for the UDV and NAC etc and what they are doing...I wouldnt mind drinking with them and just having that experience... Man I would not enjoy drinking with people dancing around a cross and talking about Jesus. In Holland they started something called I think "Friends of the Rainforest" for people allergic to Christianity, that sounds more like it. And I thought you can't join the NAC unless you qualify as racially Native American? Hence why The Peyote Way Church of God was started (the psychedelic Mormons), because they or their childen wouldn't have qualified. Everything I write is fictional roleplay. Obviously! End tribal genocide: www.survival-international.org Quick petitions for meaningful change: www.avaaz.org/en/
End prohibition: www.leap.cc www.tdpf.org.uk And "Feeling Good" by David D.Burns MD is a very useful book.
|
|
|
Human
Posts: 811 Joined: 28-Nov-2009 Last visit: 28-Jun-2023
|
An interesting talk Rick Doblin gave at the Google Tech Talks Forum. I think it's worth watching. Title: Mainstreaming Psychedelics: From FDA to Harvard to Burning Man Speaker: Rick Doblin Ph.D Uploader: Google ™ Upload Date: November 18, 2009 Duration: 1:01:40 (1 hour, 1 minute, 40 seconds) Specific Duration: 5 minutes of Introduction, 40 minutes of Rick Doblin presentation and 15 minutes of Q & A's. URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwAGkGpv6Ss"Google" wrote:We're now in the midst of a worldwide renaissance in psychedelic research, after decades of political suppression. Scientists from around the world will present their new findings at the largest psychedelic conference to take place in the US in 17 years, on April 15-18, 2010, in San Jose, CA (http://www.maps.org/conference/ ). "Google" wrote:Rick studied with Stan Grof, M.D., and was in the first group to become certified as holotropic breathwork practitioners. His professional goal is to help develop legal contexts for the beneficial uses of psychedelics and marijuana, primarily as prescription medicines but also for personal growth for otherwise "healthy" people, and to also become a legally licensed psychedelic therapist. He resides in Boston with his wife and three children.
|
|
|
DMT-Nexus member
Posts: 776 Joined: 27-Jan-2010 Last visit: 07-Aug-2019 Location: uk
|
I've been thinking about this an awful lot today; read an article in the paper about legal highs - methedrone - and how easy it is to get over the internet. It was all very doom and gloom (which I find slightly amusing because generally speaking, hacks hoover up miles of Charlie) and 'isn't it terrible' and 'the danger to youht' and all that shit. Because I work in the media (I make TV documentaries) I know how these things can take hold, and lead to legislation built on irrational fear. And that really pisses me off. Entheogens have been a part of human culture and evolution for at the very least 5,000 years, more likely, 100 times longer than that. Some posit that they have been crucial in the development of the very things that make us human - self-awareness; spirituality, and language. But if enough irrational public fear is whipped up, you could end up with draconian laws preventing people from exploring their own consciousness, and driving those who want to do so into a crminalised world. It's just plain wrong. I thought of a few options, which may be bullshit (and if they are I have no doubt that will be pointed out ) One: Lie low. Let it blow over, and perhaps the public's attention will be distracted by something else. In a few months time, it all blows over except for a few desperate page 192 articles in the odd local newspaper. And while there's a furore, we all figure out the teks for local plant extraction. Two: Start a church. This is spiritual exploration, and we could probably create a 'creed' along the lines of, 'we believe that we have the right to enjoin in symbiotic relationships with machine elves through the medium of plant based sacraments' etc. Its all kind of bullshit, but at the same time might be a legal loophole. But churches, lets face it, are generally fucked up. Trying to formalize the spiritual experience almost always ends in tears. Three: Make the argument. This is the most appealing, but the most risky. Anyone who thinks it would be a good idea to talk to Fox News or The Daily Mail (or as we call it in the UK, the Daily Hate) is likely to find themselves misquoted, shouted down and generally treated like a loon. If we want to go public and make the case, then we have to be clever about it, because you can be sure the Faith and Family brigade will have Mr Idiot In Nebraska all over the telly ... 'I thought I was dying, boo hoo...". We have the rational argument, but it's going up against irrational fear. I don't think this is breaking the surface as much as perhaps we think. Most people are still unaware of DMT, and so don't have an opinion. But if it gets focused on, or caught up in some wider 'killer drugs on the internet' story, we should have a plan of action. Thats my two cents. "at journey's end, we must begin again"
|
|
|
DMT-Nexus member
Posts: 12340 Joined: 12-Nov-2008 Last visit: 02-Apr-2023 Location: pacific
|
"Man I would not enjoy drinking with people dancing around a cross and talking about Jesus. In Holland they started something called I think "Friends of the Rainforest" for people allergic to Christianity, that sounds more like it. And I thought you can't join the NAC unless you qualify as racially Native American? Hence why The Peyote Way Church of God was started (the psychedelic Mormons), because they or their childen wouldn't have qualified." Comming from a background in religous anthropology..I would be interested in attending a diame ceremony as a guest just to see what its like..im not into christianity though.. You can participate in NAC ceremonies in canada if you are non-native..it's only in the US that they go after non-native participants and the shamans that run the ceremonies that give it to non-natives. Long live the unwoke.
|
|
|
DMT-Nexus member
Posts: 12340 Joined: 12-Nov-2008 Last visit: 02-Apr-2023 Location: pacific
|
"And if you want a faith, why not just join The Jurema Way? I tried to make that as open and unhierarchical as possible, and it took ages to make those certificates and membership cards! I'm not going to try and control you or anything (way too paranoid to even show my face! ), there isn't meant to be any leadership to it, that was half the point. http://www.dmt-nexus.me...=posts&m=25167& Where's Antrocles? He knows people personally from this site and I think he once said he wants to move into something like this, why not start it off in the US? (And The Entheogen Way as the unbrella, and The Cactus Way, etc.)" Yeah im into that..as long as there's no dogma and funny costumes ...spirituality..not religous dogma. As long as i dont have to fit my experience into some type of rigid frame work I'm all for it. Long live the unwoke.
|