Great article! I found the AI video amusing and even reflective of the archetypal ayahuasca drinker or healing narrative you hear and see time and again. Kind of cringey to hear myself in my early part of ayahuasca journey in parts of that video when I felt that ayahuasca or DMT were inherently benevolent and beneficial. I used to be a talking parrot of the healing narrative for a time.
I don’t know if AI generated the spoken script for it, or whether a human wrote the narrative, but it seemed to me to also be a solid if subtle example of spiritual narcissism—I say “subtle,” because many people watching that video and listening to the story arc would not see anything wrong with who the AI Trump character evolved into by the end. By the end, he speaks in the same tropes and spiritual word salad as many shamans and ceremony-goers.
A lot of people in the spiritual and psychedelic space can’t see past superficial appearances—if the person looks like a guru, acts like a guru, and talks like a guru then it follows they must BE a real guru, right? Superficial appearances count for a lot in the ayahuasca/spiritual community, and are the reason so many predators operate in the space cosplaying as healers.
In the video, the AI Trump character was only superficially changed; his words were still tainted with spiritual narcissism instead of the overt malignant grandiose narcissism. The video felt like a trope or parody of many of the shamans and “light workers” actively operating the healing space.
I’m almost embarrassed to admit I sat 25 ceremonies on 3 continents with about 7 shamans over 6 years, and my take after all that “work” (looking in the magic mirror), is exactly what you and Grof stated: psychedelics are merely amplifiers. They don’t make people into better versions of themselves, they only dial up the volume on who they were all along. This is the reason there is so much drama, egotism, sexual and financial abuse, broken friendships and other dramas (including murder) in the ayahuasca space, because psychedelics don’t make those qualities go away in people who already possess them; the “medicines” often turn-up the volume on whatever was there all along.
Some of the least-healed, least reflective (or most vulnerable) people I’ve ever met talk a good game after a few ceremonies, and then rush into pouring medicine or life-coaching others. It’s almost like a mind-virus how often people sit a few ayahuasca ceremonies and then fall into the path (trap?) of trying to serve to others it in some fashion before they’re out of the woods themselves. The video hit that trope hard.
There’s a weird photo of the neo fascist group the Base where they pose with a sheep’s head. They all took LSD on a retreat, stormed around the countryside being idiots, and slaughtered this poor sheep. Julius Evola took psychedelics. I think you could make the argument that taking psychedelics doesn’t necessarily turn you into a fascist shitheel any more than it doesn’t necessarily turn you into a shaman saint guru. My few experiences with psychedelics have been very difficult but meaningful and useful, and they’ve had a lasting effect. But they didn’t turn me into anything I’m not already. I don’t think good people get good trips and bad people get bad trips. That’s a kind of simple religious fantasy. But subjects can be manipulated eg: a study induced a feeling of gratitude in subjects on LSD and those who felt gratitude were more likely to agree to doing something they would otherwise consider slightly unethical, in this case grinding worms in a blender.
When I saw the vid it made sense that someone would create/share it. Two powerful things combining - Trump, he is powerful in his own, cultish way. More 'power over people' than powerful. And plant medicines, very powerful myth making experiences for many people, often seen as saviour experiences. Surely combining them would create a Jesus-like all powerful savoir guru?!?! I think many want to believe in the 'all powerful' nature of Ayahuasca and similar experiences. The idea that even the worse of us can heal. We so badly want an ex machina to our story. Especially the story of someone who has taken up so much of our time/feed/headspace these last many years, a deranging narcissist who badly needs help.
God, there was even a time when I, still processing my life altering experiences, would have sworn that strong men wannabes like Trump and Putin et al would be similarly transformed as I was. There is a type of niave hope in this idea, a need to know that we can transform the most broken amongst us, that the ones that have too much power, and hurt people the most, can be saved/altered/cured
If I remember from grad school, a psychologist named Ornstein did trials where he gave hallucinogens to people who'd been scored on a test based on their "ethical maturity". He found that people who scored high in terms of being deeply ethical people tended to have good experiences---people who scored poorly had 'bad trips'. I suspect that if Trump took hallucinogens, he would suffer the 'mother of all bad trips'.
This would seem to be intuitively true to anyone who has taken plant medicine more than a few times and had to grapple deeply with their own flaws during that process. You could imagine the immense dissonance inside Trumps head (or anyone who is so abusive and power hungry) becoming incredibly confronting/painful during a 'trip' where the egoic/self authoring parts of the mind are affected/reduced
I agree that he would have a terrible trip. I've done aya 3x, and each time someone had a bad one. But the last one ended up with someone in the ER. He wasn't properly prepared and vetted, and had a complete meltdown. I would suspect, in Trump's case, this is what would happen. In terms of the framework of this article, I don't think that would lead to anything revelatory, however. It would most likely result in a demonization of the substance. All speculation, of course, but with precedent.
First it intellectually implies some insight about Psychedelics whilst the author tries to elevate himself even beyond Stanislav Grof while reducing und misunderstanding his work, to then follow up with a rant about Donald Trump hypothetically judging him and denying him any chance to evolve spiritually whatsoever!?
I mean, it's an AI Video.
It's just the visual communication of an Idea, that could or could not happen in this world or rather any other parallel universe.
If an idea or piece of AI-art is mighty enough for you to bring out all your hate and judgement (justified or not) towards everything an AI-Donald Trump stands for, then it is very doubtful that you should make assumptions about psychedelics, or have made your inner journey in any way better then the people you are judging herewith.
I am not a Trump fan - I'm from Europe actually - but if this is the reaction of someone who is the obviously part of the american left, then I understand why this country is unable to find peace.
Or asked differently: How are we in any way better then our enemies? What is our contribution towards a truly aperspectivistic world that suits the needs of everyone and contains everyone (and all opinions)?
How can we find peace and reconciliation with what we hate about ourselves (our shadows) instead of projecting it towards perceived enemies?
"As long as the meditating mind is unlike the natural state, talk of true knowledge is arrogant, deceitful chatter,” warns the Hatha Pradipika.
Oops, I'm European too. Did you really read the article or just impose a lot of precinceived notions and judgments on it and it's writer without really getting what it was about?
Great article! I found the AI video amusing and even reflective of the archetypal ayahuasca drinker or healing narrative you hear and see time and again. Kind of cringey to hear myself in my early part of ayahuasca journey in parts of that video when I felt that ayahuasca or DMT were inherently benevolent and beneficial. I used to be a talking parrot of the healing narrative for a time.
I don’t know if AI generated the spoken script for it, or whether a human wrote the narrative, but it seemed to me to also be a solid if subtle example of spiritual narcissism—I say “subtle,” because many people watching that video and listening to the story arc would not see anything wrong with who the AI Trump character evolved into by the end. By the end, he speaks in the same tropes and spiritual word salad as many shamans and ceremony-goers.
A lot of people in the spiritual and psychedelic space can’t see past superficial appearances—if the person looks like a guru, acts like a guru, and talks like a guru then it follows they must BE a real guru, right? Superficial appearances count for a lot in the ayahuasca/spiritual community, and are the reason so many predators operate in the space cosplaying as healers.
In the video, the AI Trump character was only superficially changed; his words were still tainted with spiritual narcissism instead of the overt malignant grandiose narcissism. The video felt like a trope or parody of many of the shamans and “light workers” actively operating the healing space.
I’m almost embarrassed to admit I sat 25 ceremonies on 3 continents with about 7 shamans over 6 years, and my take after all that “work” (looking in the magic mirror), is exactly what you and Grof stated: psychedelics are merely amplifiers. They don’t make people into better versions of themselves, they only dial up the volume on who they were all along. This is the reason there is so much drama, egotism, sexual and financial abuse, broken friendships and other dramas (including murder) in the ayahuasca space, because psychedelics don’t make those qualities go away in people who already possess them; the “medicines” often turn-up the volume on whatever was there all along.
Some of the least-healed, least reflective (or most vulnerable) people I’ve ever met talk a good game after a few ceremonies, and then rush into pouring medicine or life-coaching others. It’s almost like a mind-virus how often people sit a few ayahuasca ceremonies and then fall into the path (trap?) of trying to serve to others it in some fashion before they’re out of the woods themselves. The video hit that trope hard.
There’s a weird photo of the neo fascist group the Base where they pose with a sheep’s head. They all took LSD on a retreat, stormed around the countryside being idiots, and slaughtered this poor sheep. Julius Evola took psychedelics. I think you could make the argument that taking psychedelics doesn’t necessarily turn you into a fascist shitheel any more than it doesn’t necessarily turn you into a shaman saint guru. My few experiences with psychedelics have been very difficult but meaningful and useful, and they’ve had a lasting effect. But they didn’t turn me into anything I’m not already. I don’t think good people get good trips and bad people get bad trips. That’s a kind of simple religious fantasy. But subjects can be manipulated eg: a study induced a feeling of gratitude in subjects on LSD and those who felt gratitude were more likely to agree to doing something they would otherwise consider slightly unethical, in this case grinding worms in a blender.
Good call on Evola, totally true.
And yes, many reports of women being abused while on psychedelics, sometimes with the facilitator on them as well. Terrible abuse of power.
When I saw the vid it made sense that someone would create/share it. Two powerful things combining - Trump, he is powerful in his own, cultish way. More 'power over people' than powerful. And plant medicines, very powerful myth making experiences for many people, often seen as saviour experiences. Surely combining them would create a Jesus-like all powerful savoir guru?!?! I think many want to believe in the 'all powerful' nature of Ayahuasca and similar experiences. The idea that even the worse of us can heal. We so badly want an ex machina to our story. Especially the story of someone who has taken up so much of our time/feed/headspace these last many years, a deranging narcissist who badly needs help.
God, there was even a time when I, still processing my life altering experiences, would have sworn that strong men wannabes like Trump and Putin et al would be similarly transformed as I was. There is a type of niave hope in this idea, a need to know that we can transform the most broken amongst us, that the ones that have too much power, and hurt people the most, can be saved/altered/cured
Alas, it just doesn't work that way
If I remember from grad school, a psychologist named Ornstein did trials where he gave hallucinogens to people who'd been scored on a test based on their "ethical maturity". He found that people who scored high in terms of being deeply ethical people tended to have good experiences---people who scored poorly had 'bad trips'. I suspect that if Trump took hallucinogens, he would suffer the 'mother of all bad trips'.
This would seem to be intuitively true to anyone who has taken plant medicine more than a few times and had to grapple deeply with their own flaws during that process. You could imagine the immense dissonance inside Trumps head (or anyone who is so abusive and power hungry) becoming incredibly confronting/painful during a 'trip' where the egoic/self authoring parts of the mind are affected/reduced
I agree that he would have a terrible trip. I've done aya 3x, and each time someone had a bad one. But the last one ended up with someone in the ER. He wasn't properly prepared and vetted, and had a complete meltdown. I would suspect, in Trump's case, this is what would happen. In terms of the framework of this article, I don't think that would lead to anything revelatory, however. It would most likely result in a demonization of the substance. All speculation, of course, but with precedent.
Holy moly is this Article for real?
First it intellectually implies some insight about Psychedelics whilst the author tries to elevate himself even beyond Stanislav Grof while reducing und misunderstanding his work, to then follow up with a rant about Donald Trump hypothetically judging him and denying him any chance to evolve spiritually whatsoever!?
I mean, it's an AI Video.
It's just the visual communication of an Idea, that could or could not happen in this world or rather any other parallel universe.
If an idea or piece of AI-art is mighty enough for you to bring out all your hate and judgement (justified or not) towards everything an AI-Donald Trump stands for, then it is very doubtful that you should make assumptions about psychedelics, or have made your inner journey in any way better then the people you are judging herewith.
I am not a Trump fan - I'm from Europe actually - but if this is the reaction of someone who is the obviously part of the american left, then I understand why this country is unable to find peace.
Or asked differently: How are we in any way better then our enemies? What is our contribution towards a truly aperspectivistic world that suits the needs of everyone and contains everyone (and all opinions)?
How can we find peace and reconciliation with what we hate about ourselves (our shadows) instead of projecting it towards perceived enemies?
"As long as the meditating mind is unlike the natural state, talk of true knowledge is arrogant, deceitful chatter,” warns the Hatha Pradipika.
Oops, I'm European too. Did you really read the article or just impose a lot of precinceived notions and judgments on it and it's writer without really getting what it was about?