Comments on: A Banker Who Spent Wisely

By: Polymathism: it never (and always) goes out of style « Ahlan wa Cheerio

Polymathism: it never (and always) goes out of style « Ahlan wa Cheerio — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 16:06:29 +0000

[...] the past 36 hours, posts have ranged from an Indiana Jones-type banker, the end of Polish conscription and the economic ramifications of such, and fighting fire ants with [...]

By: Gramsci

Gramsci — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 02:14:29 +0000

I don’t buy religion GUT’s, but there’s interesting stuff to consider about psychedelics and religious reflection. Twentieth century American religion was profoundly affected by this connection, even going back to William James and his experiments with nitrous oxide (yes, the father of American psychology just said N2O).

By: Brendan I. Koerner

Brendan I. Koerner — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 16:07:50 +0000

@Jordan: Yeah, Wasson sort of lost me when he started talking about the Vikings and amanita muscaria. He was obviously profoundly changed by his experiences in Mexico, which were likely the closest he’d ever come to genuine religiosity. And that colored all of his subsequent research.

That said, I do sort of buy his theory re: soma. When I took a class on the Hindu literature in college, the professor made a convincing case for the validity of Wasson’s claims. And truth be told, I can see the influence in visual depictions of some Hindu deities.

By: Jordan

Jordan — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 14:46:00 +0000

Wasson was an interesting guy. Unfortunately a bit too enamored of his idea that all the world’s religions stemmed from mushroom trips. In any research there’s a point where you have to step back and ask yourself “Am I just seeing what I want to see in the data?”

The book “Shrooms” by Andy Letcher has a rather good section about him. Generally an interesting read that debunks a lot of the myths around psychoactive mushrooms.