Podcast #34 - Antipodes of the Mind, An interview with Professor Benny Shanon.
www.gnosticmedia.podomatic.com
www.gnosticmedia.com

Ayahuasca is a psychedelic brew that is traditionally used by indigenous cultures in the Amazon basin. The brew is made with the Banisteriopsis caapi vine and Psychotria veridis - and other ingredients may or may not be added - including the very dangerous and deadly Datura. The brew also contains MAOIs (Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors) and DMT - the most powerful psychedelic drug on earth - which is also a natural neurotransmitter in all mammalian brains.

If the Ayahuasca experience were charted by a leading psychologist, what would the scientific research on its effects show? How do psychological studies on Ayahuasca differ from anthropological studies? What happens when the full-blown psychedelic experience with Ayahuasca is brought toe to toe with science? Can it be proved that the Ayahuasca experience real? Or is it only a culturally induced hallucination? Does Ayahuasca merely provide a single type "experience," or do the experiences progress through multiple uses? What if the experience of this mystical substance could be described in great literary detail that exceeds that of Aldous Huxley's Doors of Perception?

Today I interview Professor Benny Shanon, professor of Psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Israel. Benny Shanon holds the Mandel Chair in Cognitive Psychology and Education.

Born in Tel Aviv, Shanon studied philosophy and linguistics at Tel Aviv University and received his doctorate in experimental psychology from Stanford University. He is author of the 2002 book Antipodes of the Mind: Charting the Phenomenology of the Ayahuasca Experience published by Oxford University Press.

Benny Shanon is known for his controversial theory that the patriarch Moses was under the influence of hallucinogens when he received the law. Specifically, he believes that a psychedelic cocktail similar to ayahuasca may explain Moses's vision of the burning bush: "In advanced forms of ayahuasca inebriation, the seeing of light is accompanied by profound religious and spiritual feelings".

Order Antipodes of the Mind: astore.amazon.com/gnosmedi-...0199252939

Download:
gnosticmedia.podomatic.com/encl...0.mp3