Psychedelic Consciousness with Daniel Grauer, Author of Psychedelic Consciousness: Plant Intelligence for Healing Ourselves and Our Fragmented World
The Most Important Thing
Check out Daniel’s awesome new book, Psychedelic Consciousness
About Daniel Grauer
Daniel Grauer is a writer, teacher, and speaker who explores individual and collective transformation through the lens of philosophy, psychology, spirituality, and ecology. He teaches workshops on the transformative potential of psychedelics and is the cofounder of Marble Blue, a community-based think tank striving to harmonize human systems with ecosystems. He lives in a homesteading community in the foothills of the Catskill Mountains.
About Psychedelic Consciousness
An examination of the use of psychedelics for understanding ourselves, connecting with the world around us, and enacting outer change through inner transformation. Grauer explores sacred tools and technologies to help us reestablish a lost ideology of unity, with a specific focus on natural plant/fungi psychedelics. He then looks at the history of psychedelics and their role in facilitating natural intelligence’s ability to increase itself through ongoing analysis of its own experience. Finally, Daniel provides guidelines for safely using natural plant/fungi psychedelics and integrating them into society to access unified consciousness and restore balance to our world
Episode Overview:
Daniel and I discuss his personal journey with psychedelics, the physiological impact that psychedelics have on our brain and bodies, and why that may be less important than the Imaginal Realm. Daniel explains the evolution of philosophy from unity towards self-centerdness and the history of psychedelics. Finally, he explains Gaia Theory and the potential that psychedelics are a systemic balance to the human-driven destruction of the planet.
My Favorite Quotes:
“As a child, I always thought there was a magical quality to life. That there was something bigger going on… in that moment, I felt that that great suspicion that I’d always had had finally been confirmed.”
“There’s no research that says consciousness originates in the brain.”
“When we’re measuring everything around us, our world becomes a biological machine.”
“This is what needs to be healed: our deep disconnection to one another and the natural world.”
“That’s not to say that there will be no destruction or competition because these are inherent parts of the system. But they are part of a greater whole.”
“This is a great example of complexity in unity – it’s highlighting diversity – the more wild it gets, the more diverse it gets, and the stronger the system becomes so long as it maintains this cohesiveness.”
“This is not a polarity of ‘bad’ or ‘good’ – it kind of just is and it’s the direction that [the world] has taken.”
“The mantra to use for psychedelics is ‘set & setting.’”
“All the sudden, now, we see this psychedelic re-emergence and renaissance. I don’t think this is a coincidence at all. I think that it is an autoimmune response from the Earth itself.”
Episode Breakdown:
00:00 – 3 experiences from Daniel’s psychedelic journey
10:00 – Physiological impact of psychedelic compounds
16:00 – Serotonin receptors and the Imaginal Realm
22:00 – The evolution of self-centeredness
31:00 – Backlash against “woo woo” thinking
40:00 – The history of psychedelics
52:00 – Psychedlics as an autoimmune response
Episode Links:
Daniel’s Info
Other Resources & References
Plant Intelligence and the Imaginal Realm by Stephen Buhner
The Body Electric by Robert O Becker
The Elusinian Mysteries and Psychedelics
Marc’s Info:
Marc Weinstein, host of the Look Up! Podcast is a public speaker for corporations, universities, and conferences. Click here to view past talks and to book Marc