James

Very interesting topic! I'd also be interested in knowing what is currently going on. Since Rick Strassman "opened the doors" for this kind of study in the US, approval for research seems to be easier now. This would also be a good topic to discuss at the EGA.

I'd love to go, but it's so far away from Sydney...

count me in to help out too

It was very nice meeting you guys. Thanks for the tour at the Gardens. I've got much to learn about plants and nature. At the end I found myself contemplating a giant Fig tree and missed the walk to the pub for a beer Hope to see you again soon.

Cool. Wish I could go too... For specific plants it would depend on what part of Brazil he is going to. I didn't find Guarana in the SAB list, I think it's name is Paullinia Cupana. So maybe some guarana seeds or extract would be something good to get? By the way, sometime in the future we should plan a trip to the Amazon. I can help with the portuguese language. Cheers

Yeah, it's very hard to become optimistic about the world when you switch on the TV. Media is just getting worse as time goes by. And the general population seems to be getting dumber too. The ironic point here is that in the old days there actually was some censorship, nowadays people are free to say whatever they want, but who is out there saying something different? Noam Chomsky has an interesting article called "What makes mainstream media mainstream", in which he states that nowadays the actual system has evolved in a sense as to "leave out" things that "do not fit" in the generally accepted ideas of society, in other words, there's no need for censorship anyone since the system has incorporated it into it's culture! Here's the link to the article: http://www.zmag.org/chomsky/articles/z9710...ream-media.html It really is a shame that the world in the 60s and 70s seemed to be evolving towards the right direction and then all of a sudden things started to go downhill again. Look at the arts for instance, music, cinema, the awesome creativity that came up in that era, and look at it all now. In those days real intelligence and creativity made it to the mainstream, i.e, 2001 a space odyssey, Kung fu (tv series), etc, are examples of this. Nowadays you really have to "dig in" to find things that have intelligence, 99% of what is out there is pure crap for the stupid and blind population to consume. Education is always mentioned by politicians as something very important in society, but then shouldn't people study general concepts of Economics and Law in school? Shouldn't people really undertand what are the building blocks of society? Why is there so much emphasis in the teaching of science and so little in the subjects that people actually need to understand how the system works? The relationship among citizen and government is something that is taken for granted, not something actually studied as a formal discipline. People are led to think of the government as a "paternalistic" entity that knows everything, loves them, and always wants the best for them. This is actually a psychoanalytical projection, people are seen as infants that are still unprepared to face the dangers of the world and need protection/punishment, as a child that tries to play with fire might burn himself, and would get punished if he insists. Despite this increasing trend among governments of the world, there seems to be an uprise of intelligence. And differently from what we would think of the the 60s, it's not coming the the once leader of liberal thought united states. It's coming from some of the western european countries, such as Germany, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, etc. The German autobahn is an example of this, the line of thought there is the following: "If the population demonstrates greater maturity, they will have greater liberty", so as the statistics of traffic accidents are becoming lower, people are driving more carefully, the speed limits on some highways are being removed, you can drive as fast as you want to. In this way, the government can mobilise people towards a cause, but without the same parent-child-punishment approach, instead it's a adult-adult-conscience approach. I believe all goverments should start changing to a more mature approach towards seeing the public. They should be pushing towards making people act as adults that are responsible and "know how to deal with" fire and other dangers out there. Government marketing should emphasize that greater responsibility will lead to greater liberty, not the opposite. The "we will punish you" and "behaviour is achieved through fear" should be seen as a medievel thing that needs to fade away. That "double demerit points", "how fast are you going", etc, will only achieve behaviour by making people scared. Why can't they change to a more adult way of seeing the public? Well, enough said for today, send your comments, Peace and Love, James

Don't have all the ones listed by inpsyght, but I do have most of them and also some others not listed. I'll bring the collection to the EGA so if anyone has a notebook with a burner they may copy as they wish. Maybe we should compile a full list in alphabetical order of all files we know of. Just need to "keep the volume down" about it since there might be copyright issues with some of the videos... Hope to see you all at the EGA. Cheers

Hi there, Cool... I just saw the meeting schedule. Looking forward to see you guys, spiritual brothers. Missed the last meeting minErval set up, but I'll make it this time. I don't have anything special to trade so I'll bring along some dvds/cds to give away. Thought of burning "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" (a movie from the 70s) and some other video docos on the cds like the Basel 2006 conference (but some in german..) and a very interesting video of Terence Mckenna in Prague talking to Richard Alpert, and a doco with lots of original 60s footage of Leary, Metzer, etc Looking forward to meeting you... Peace and Love, James

Interesting talk radio show from the UK. They have a web site with some shows in mp3 for download. "Best Of " (22nd December 2005) All the best bits from our 13 episodes, glued together and underlaid with a fine soundtrack: http://www.seethru.co.uk/tgdg/tgdg10.mp3 I especially enjoyed the information on how our modern psychiatry serotonin medications for depression are being "pushed" to the public. "Asking Dr Shulgin " (18th November 2005) Where do new mind-altering drugs come from? Who invents these things? And why? Well, most seem to have been invented by one man: Dr Alexander Shulgin. http://www.seethru.co.uk/tgdg/tdgd6.mp3 It's always nice to hear Sasha and Ann talking. Enjoy

The main URL: http://www.thegooddrugsguide.com/

Has anyone been to a "Council of All Beings" workshop? Originally started by Australian ecologist John Seed. There's gonna be one now on the 25th of March in Katoomba. http://www.rainforestinfo.org.au/deep-eco/katoomba.htm Any comments about them? Peace and Love

Thanks for the comments. I've never been to these workshops and "deep ecology" is a new term to me. So I greatly appreciate your remarks. Life has tought me to become skeptical of things. I just had a bad experience with an ashtanga yoga school, they were more or less just doing physical exercises using a "yoga" context, so everyone there could "feel" as if they were doing something different. But looking in deeply there was nothing different, nothing spiritual or philosophical there. Sometimes I question myself if maybe I'm expecting too much? But then I listen to one of the Terence Mckenna or Alan Watts audios, or just read some posts the senior members here write and then I realise there is real intelligence out there! There are people that are really seeking deep understanding of things, but it's so rare too find. Reminds me of that old Rush song: "So much style without substance So much stuff without style It's hard to recognize the real thing It comes along once in a while Like a rare and precious metal beneath a ton of rock It takes some time and trouble to separate from the stock You sometimes have to listen to a lot of useless talk Shapes and forms against the norm" But I believe Nature has much to teach us, but the language culture teaches us to use: rational thought, maniqueist paradigm, objectivism, capitalism, etc, isn't probably adaquate to establish contact to these forces. You guys know more than I do... hehehe Peace and Love

I was also shocked by Soissos attitude towards AndyAmine. And if you read his message you'll see that he is actually tyring to help! I'm also new to this forum but I've seen that AndyAmine is someone that deserves our most grateful respect and honor. We have much to learn from him. Soisso, Please apologize and mediate about your reaction. If you have cultivate a pure heart and a positive feeling you will achieve your goals. Peace and Love

I'm interested in going but I'm new here and don't know anyone yet so I'm not sure how to find and meet you guys there. Let me know? By the way, where is the Psychedelic Art Gallery in Newtown? I didn't find any references to it in the web... Hope to see you soon

I'm also interested in the file collection. And maybe I've got some files that can be added too. I'm new to the forum and must say that it's very cool. Everyone seem so nice here. Let me know how to proceed for the file collection?