what marvels are to be observed there.”
– Loren Eiseley, The Incredible Journey, p.9
April...what a crazy month! I hope you gave permission to the permanently permutating purring purpose at the transcendental core of Spring and trusted it, and it transported us across the boundary from Known to Unknown/Better...if, like me, you're still a Jacob wrestling angels as they make long-overdue improvements, here's to exercising your strategic patience, feminine compassion, sacred space, and curious delight in letting all this novelty adapt you to a better world and life.
I just got back from the MAPS Psychedelic Science Conference in Oakland, California – hanging a gallery of my art, playing music on their donors' cruise, and recording interviews for Future Fossils Podcast. It was clear to everyone how much the counterculture has grown up...much more to say about that soon.
But for now, here's all the good new stuff I'm honored I can share with you:
Spotify Playlist: Music For MDMA Therapy
Here's a Spotify playlist of the songs I've confirmed they used in the clinical trials. I'll continue to add songs as I learn more...and if you know anyone doing work like this, feel free to pass it on. It is one of the greatest honors of my life to know my music's helping people heal. Enjoy!:
If you like what you hear, you can subscribe to my new music at Patreon or Bandcamp, where I have my entire catalog available as pay-what-you-can downloads. Thanks for listening!
"How to Live in the Future"
(Professional Boom Festival Staff Shoot!)
Last year I gave my most well-received talk yet to the Liminal Village at Boom Festival – a small contribution to what is easily the most literate, cosmopolitan, visionary, impressive lineup of presenters I have ever seen at what is essentially a "dance party." (In fact I'm pretty sure that some people go to Boom JUST for the talks.)
It's about psychedelics as training wheels for transhuman existence, and how we can adapt to the dizzying changes we will live through in our lifetimes. It's a mashup of the scientific, philosophical, contemplative, poetic, and playful, and I hope it helps you feel like all this transformation's going somewhere good.
I recorded my own take in 360ยบ video (part 1, part 2) but their edited multiple camera recording is WAY better. If you can't sit still for an hour to watch this video, here is a link to the audio only.
This talk became the seed of a book by the same name, which I'm writing in public. You can read all of the chapters I have finished so far on my page at Medium.
Cameo in Water Is Life by Uplift Connect
A film about one of the most important issues of our time – water access, scarcity, and health.
I give a short riff in this video (at 14:00) about embracing change, honoring our evolutionary origins as fish and moving with courage and curiosity into the flow of our transformational age (instead of clinging to the familiar like clams, and losing our wits in the process).
It's a potent 20 minutes that also features clips from some of the brightest luminaries that I know of – people like Vandana Shiva, Jamaica Stevens, Charles Eisenstein, Dan Schreiber, and Stephan Harding. Watch the full thing here on Uplift Connect and improve your day.
New Future Fossils Episodes!
We’re switching it up this week to present my recent talk on psychedelic futurism at the first weekly meeting of the Australian Psychedelic Society (Fitzroy Beer Garden, Melbourne, Victoria).
The Chinese have a curse: “May you live in interesting times.” The Irish have a toast: “May you be alive at the end of the world” I’m more Irish than Chinese, and I know this because even though we’re living through total chaos these days, that means unprecedented opportunity for wonder, creativity, discovery, and growth. (Episode art by Adam Scott Miller.)
Listen to it here.
This week we chat with Daniel Zen, former Google engineer, technology instructor at zen.digital, NYC Regional Coordinator for Burning Man, coordinator for the Angular NYC (spelling?) Meetup, and general high-tech wizard. We discuss the intersections of surveillance technology, festival culture, virtual reality, class conflict, dreams of the Technological Singularity, and more...
Listen to it here.
