The Gaian Brain

The possible functions of endogenous DMT as a neurotransmitter or regulatory neurohormone in mammalian physiology are incompletely understood, and a matter of controversy. Its ubiquity in nature, however, suggests it may function at the biospheric level as a messenger molecule. The planetary ecosystem – sometimes romantically likened to Gaia, the feminine Mother of all life in Greek mythology – is a complex homeostatic system that is regulated and stabilized by complex feedback loops and symbiosis. These processes operate via signal transduction, the exchange of information mediated by molecular messengers. Neurotransmitters are one of many kinds of signal-transducing molecules in the body, but in ecosystems, photosynthetic plants produce a vast array of secondary products that mediate their interactions with virtually all organisms in the environment, including humans. In this talk Dennis McKenna will suggest that DMT and the ‘family’ of related tryptamines – may specifically target the big-brained primates to trigger cognitive evolution.

What do plant teachers teach us?

Symbiosis! They teach an appreciation of the interconnected and interdependent 
nature of all living things. And they teach us that we are part 
of this web of relationships, not separate from it.

Biophilia - love for life; 
Animism - everything is alive and intelligent; 
Pantheism - the universe itself is alive and intelligent.

Informed by the psychedelic experience, these are not 'suppositions' 
- they are direct perceptions of the nature of reality.

They are built into most indigenous world views.

They are surprisingly close a scientifically informed perception of reality.

We learn new ways of thinking, perceiving and being.

They stimulate wonder and awe.

They stimulate ideation and curiosity.

They are beautiful (usually); they stimulate esthetic sensibilities.

They open the door to the 'universe within'
- a seemingly vast 'dark continent' populated with strange entities.

They enable the experience of a transcendent aspect of reality;
apparently not part of this continuum and possibly beyond death.

Evolutionary Consequences?

Curious, imaginative, model-building primates are both the best 

and the worst thing that's ever happened to life on Earth.

The stately pace of biological evolution no longer applies.

The fate of life on Earth is in our hands.

We can (and do) build technologies that can wipe out life on Earth.

We can (and will) build technologies that will enable life to escape from Earth.

We can (and may) build technologies that will enable life on Earth 

to flourish for billions of years.

What we still lack - and what psychedelics are still teaching us -

is the wisdom to make those choices.

We Are Very Clever 

We Are Not Very Wise

What does our Mother want?

So what does Mother want? For all of life on Earth? 

We only have to look around us to find the answer. What does life do?

It grows; it proliferates.

It nourishes and nurtures.

It expands into every conceivable niche.

Even though life originated on Earth,

there is no reason for it to remain confined to Earth.

Given life's fundamental impulse to colonize new territories 

- given the opportunity to expand beyond Earth, 

there's every reason to think that it would. 

We curious, clever, imaginative and psychedelically informed primates,

as problematic as we are, are life's best chance to escape 

from this Earthly cradle and spread throughout the galaxy.

This is our destiny and it's life's destiny.

In fulfilling it we apply the lessons of 500,000 years of symbiosis with plant teachers;

teachers that have been moving us in this direction all along.

In fulfilling, it we will transform all of life on Earth, and ourselves, most of all.

We may be human now; but once we leave the nest we will be more than human.

We will discover that we have always been:

Infinite, unbounded and immortal!

Dennis McKenna’s research has focused on the interdisciplinary study of Amazonian ethnopharmacology and plant hallucinogens. His doctoral research (University of British Columbia,1984) focused on the ethnopharmacology of ayahuasca and oo-koo-he, two tryptamine-based hallucinogens used by indigenous peoples in the Northwest Amazon. Dr. McKenna completed post-doctoral research fellowships in neurosciences in the Laboratory of Clinical Pharmacology, National Institute of Mental Health (1986-88), and in the Department of Neurology, Stanford University School of Medicine (1988-90). He is a founding board member of the Heffter Research Institute, and was a senior investigator in the Hoasca Project, the first biomedical investigation of ayahuasca used by the UDV, a Brazilian religious group. He currently teaches in the Center for Spirituality and Healing at the University of Minnesota. He is the younger brother of Terence McKenna. Dr. McKenna is author or co-author of 4 books and over 50 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/Tq54Aw034-c