Thanks Erik...another trip through the weird and wonderful. I grew up mesmerized by my dads LP of The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein, listening with giant 70s headphones and staring at the otherworldly figures on the cover. It transported me out of my mostly white working class existence and gave me the courage to be as weird and eccentric as I dared to be.
I still yearn to be as free to be myself as George and Bootsy are themselves, and your post reminds me of the value of the freaks for our whitebread culture. As Kilindi said, we do need more Dr. Stranges!
Maybe I need 30 dried grams to help me break outta the box I keep myself in. It’s scary to fully be oneself, especially in these days of hyper political correctness...so I’m grateful for those who can keep the freak flag flyin’ high.
Unfortunately we don’t often hear about them because they work so outside the mainstream, their presentation isn’t polished and not so concerned with conventional scholarship and credentials so they don’t get the platforms that the mostly white academics get.
That’s a shame, because if there’s anything we need right now it’s big vision, wild creativity and boundless imagination. How else are we gonna find our way through the mess we’re in? Something tells me it’s gonna take a lot more than meditation and microdosing.
PS you should watch the whole Season 2 of Mike Judges series on funk...it’s full of wild, wooly and outrageous stories!
Our moment does have a particular sense of claustrophobia, of being hemmed in a box, which maybe is partly reflected in the fact that for me it is usually easier to see that wild freedom as traces in the past. Part of the freedom there is just the comparative absence of surveillance capitalism, hyper-awareness of public presentation, all the critiques/demands for correctness that face us and game us and hem us in before we even speak.
Of course folks can still get wild and outlandish, and some I meet have that sense of uncorked "themselvesness," but today those kind of behaviors often have very different meanings or contexts. Snce everyone is mediating themselves (except for maybe the truly wild ones), and therefore relying on the technical apparatus, even the wild acts of today -- like Blaine jumping from a balloon at 20k feet -- just seem like publicity moves.
I hear you on microdosing and meditation, though this morning I was incredibly happy that a bit of sitting could partly pull me out of the funk I woke up in -- the bad kind of funk, sleeplessness and worry, not the fun Mike Judge kind (I only see know that the Bootsy clip is from that series). On the other hand it is important to remember, as we celebrate the funk, that the crummy funk, the blues, is right there too.
Yes, it's good to be able to bring ourselves out of the gunky funk...my point is that we need more than mere maintenance these days. I think we desperately need a re-enchantment of the world...what I've been thinking of as "The Wonder Cure"...re-awakening our sense of awe and wonder. Which I think is what Blaine was trying to do. He didn't "jump from a balloon", just the opposite. He floated from the ground to the sky holding balloons. His stunt was a deeply inspired piece of art that imparted a sense of lightness, freedom and courage...dare I say *hope*? More of this please :-)
Well maybe that's my funk talking, but there is still something about the calculation and showiness of so much self-presentation today, even the amazing things, that seem to occlude those deeper sources of wonder, which require, perhaps, a more self-effacing or even deconstructing kind of abandonment.
I hear you. Blaine is, I feel, a true seeker and very sincere in wanting to inspire wonder. I’ve been a fan of his since the beginning and if you listen to why he does this stuff it’s very genuine. I’m curious is you watched the spectacle, because he was totally in awe, even amidst all media and hype. He uses mainstream media to realize his dreams so I see him as a real 21st century magician.
Thanks for this, Erik. I recall being struck by Allyne Andrade's presentation at the Chacruna conference Queering Psychedelics – Are Black People and Queer People Allowed to Trip? I remember her framing the question with a big no: no safe spaces for Black and Queer people to allow the medicine to work, and primarily, the dangerous stigmatization of "drugs" and drug use among minoritized groups that has of course fueled mass incarcerations. Exactly: whether you can turn on and drop out--and survive--is a matter of social position. My work not to romanticize the brave souls who manage to storm heaven anyhow. https://youtu.be/_htuqmuQWFw
Yeah one other factor alongside stigmatization and threats of incarceration might involve "madness" or even eccentricity. Whites, maybe especially white males, were/are able to go nuts, get crazy, freak out, have their thing, and then return with a tale to tell. But the social/political costs of appearing "crazy", even temporarily and happily, are and certainly were much much higher in communities of color. I think that in part explains Kilindi's charismatic self-presentation, which was very sober, grounded, and methodical, even as it was as wild as any psychonaut out there. That was his way through the conundrum that Allyne pointed towards.
Also: I thought about the romanticization. Interesting the tension between romanticizing and honoring, recognizing, remembering. When you hear Bootsy's story, you are like, these guys are tripping without a net -- not swirling lights, no collective narrative frame, just the band's own engagement in altered states while making music. I would like to think I can deeply admire that, even draw a sip of wisdom from it, without just romanticizing it...I dunno, its an interesting problem...
Enjoyed both very much, will be looking for Brown Buffaloes book and the pbs documentary. Was surprised to learn Castaneda wasn’t at least a cannabis smoker. Now on to Doc Ellis video 😎Thanks Erik!
Thanks for commenting Juan, glad you enjoyed. I suspect you will REALLY dig Acosta's work, I actually saved up a full read of Revolt of the Cockroach People so I could savor the experience. Who knows what Carlos did later or behind closed doors? With him it was more important that he appear straight and in control in the UCLA scene. Who knows what happened later? Perhaps some followers have stories but I have never heard any.
Perhaps he didn’t need drugs...maybe Don Juan did teach him a few tricks? If you look at his later work with Tensegrity it sure seems like he was channeling something from beyond. Those instructional videos are some of the weirdest things I’ve ever seen. They’re amazing if you haven’t seen them yet. https://youtu.be/eiC3JKFYm4A
I'm sure he learned his tricks! I knew some people on the periphery of the Tensegrity scene in the 90s, it had a very "weird" aura, you are right -- not just the moves, but the sense of a heavy secret, some proximate warp in things. It felt a little wee bit creepy too, at least at the time.
Another odd twist, There creators of the very psychedelic cartoon Rugrats, were also members of Tensegrity. Keep that in mind when watching the birth sequence from the beginning of the Rugrats movie
Totally creepy...especially if you know the backstory that all those women were "his witches" and two of them "disappeared" in the desert. I first read about it in this Salon article (which is remarkably still around, praise be the Internet) https://www.salon.com/2007/04/12/castaneda
There is also the new podcast Trickster, the first part is out and it is very worthwhile. They will get to the "true crime" stuff more in the second half, but there is some of it here. According to this, 5 women disappeared, and only one corpse was ever found.
The rabbit holes go deep on this one. Here's a letter to the NYT editor from Art Kleps in response to Joyce Carol Oates' letter questioning Castaneda's integrity... (Art Kleps, founder of the Neo-American Psychedelic Church http://okneoac.org). Great stuff!
To the Editor:
May I offer a belated answer to Joyce Carol Oates's provocative letter, subtitled “Anthropology—or Fiction?” ... in which she expressed her bewilderment after reading Carlos Castaneda's books, “The Teaching of Don Juan,” “A Separate Reality” and his current best seller, “Journey to Ixtian”?
Miss Oates may be interested to learn that an infamous psychedelic drug degenerate (myself) not only feels the same way ... but dislikes Don Juan's “message” as well —whether it be genuine or fictional.
Castaneda's first book wasn't bad: I wouldn't be surprised if most of it was true. The second struck me as labored. I found the third an unmitigated disaster. ... This, interestingly enough, is just about the way the quality of psychedelic experience deteriorates when occultist “power,” rather than enlightenment, is the objective.
A bad trip. From Leary to Castaneda is a precipitous descent, but so it has always been. The simple truth (that there is no ontological difference between waking life and dreaming) has always been too much for most people. Nabokov will never be a hit in the communes. And, if my past experience is any guide, neither will I.
Sure, there “are” other worlds.... The trouble with exploring (or exploiting) this mysterium tremendum is that there is no end to it—because you make it up as you go along. Wisdom, realization, enlightenment, whatever you want to call it, is not the product of such an additive process ... though there's no reason why one shouldn't go on such a trip just for the fun of it.
I have—and I can assure Miss Oates that the strangeness of Castaneda's experiences is no reason to doubt them.
The psychedelic experience is not just a series of visions, as most non‐users assume. The cause‐and‐effect logic we impose on “this” world collapses .... and a system of a‐casual synchronicity takes over. All kinds of “magical” events occur.... A spirit of “you name it, we've got it,” animates the “casting director.”
These thing Castaneda writes about could have happened. I just don't think they did.... Experience has taught me to be extremely cynical about the claims of any occultist. Particularly one who keeps going over the same ground and changing his story. ART KLEPS San Cristobal, N.M.
Thanks Erik...another trip through the weird and wonderful. I grew up mesmerized by my dads LP of The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein, listening with giant 70s headphones and staring at the otherworldly figures on the cover. It transported me out of my mostly white working class existence and gave me the courage to be as weird and eccentric as I dared to be.
I still yearn to be as free to be myself as George and Bootsy are themselves, and your post reminds me of the value of the freaks for our whitebread culture. As Kilindi said, we do need more Dr. Stranges!
Maybe I need 30 dried grams to help me break outta the box I keep myself in. It’s scary to fully be oneself, especially in these days of hyper political correctness...so I’m grateful for those who can keep the freak flag flyin’ high.
Unfortunately we don’t often hear about them because they work so outside the mainstream, their presentation isn’t polished and not so concerned with conventional scholarship and credentials so they don’t get the platforms that the mostly white academics get.
That’s a shame, because if there’s anything we need right now it’s big vision, wild creativity and boundless imagination. How else are we gonna find our way through the mess we’re in? Something tells me it’s gonna take a lot more than meditation and microdosing.
PS you should watch the whole Season 2 of Mike Judges series on funk...it’s full of wild, wooly and outrageous stories!
Our moment does have a particular sense of claustrophobia, of being hemmed in a box, which maybe is partly reflected in the fact that for me it is usually easier to see that wild freedom as traces in the past. Part of the freedom there is just the comparative absence of surveillance capitalism, hyper-awareness of public presentation, all the critiques/demands for correctness that face us and game us and hem us in before we even speak.
Of course folks can still get wild and outlandish, and some I meet have that sense of uncorked "themselvesness," but today those kind of behaviors often have very different meanings or contexts. Snce everyone is mediating themselves (except for maybe the truly wild ones), and therefore relying on the technical apparatus, even the wild acts of today -- like Blaine jumping from a balloon at 20k feet -- just seem like publicity moves.
I hear you on microdosing and meditation, though this morning I was incredibly happy that a bit of sitting could partly pull me out of the funk I woke up in -- the bad kind of funk, sleeplessness and worry, not the fun Mike Judge kind (I only see know that the Bootsy clip is from that series). On the other hand it is important to remember, as we celebrate the funk, that the crummy funk, the blues, is right there too.
Yes, it's good to be able to bring ourselves out of the gunky funk...my point is that we need more than mere maintenance these days. I think we desperately need a re-enchantment of the world...what I've been thinking of as "The Wonder Cure"...re-awakening our sense of awe and wonder. Which I think is what Blaine was trying to do. He didn't "jump from a balloon", just the opposite. He floated from the ground to the sky holding balloons. His stunt was a deeply inspired piece of art that imparted a sense of lightness, freedom and courage...dare I say *hope*? More of this please :-)
Well maybe that's my funk talking, but there is still something about the calculation and showiness of so much self-presentation today, even the amazing things, that seem to occlude those deeper sources of wonder, which require, perhaps, a more self-effacing or even deconstructing kind of abandonment.
I hear you. Blaine is, I feel, a true seeker and very sincere in wanting to inspire wonder. I’ve been a fan of his since the beginning and if you listen to why he does this stuff it’s very genuine. I’m curious is you watched the spectacle, because he was totally in awe, even amidst all media and hype. He uses mainstream media to realize his dreams so I see him as a real 21st century magician.
Thanks for this, Erik. I recall being struck by Allyne Andrade's presentation at the Chacruna conference Queering Psychedelics – Are Black People and Queer People Allowed to Trip? I remember her framing the question with a big no: no safe spaces for Black and Queer people to allow the medicine to work, and primarily, the dangerous stigmatization of "drugs" and drug use among minoritized groups that has of course fueled mass incarcerations. Exactly: whether you can turn on and drop out--and survive--is a matter of social position. My work not to romanticize the brave souls who manage to storm heaven anyhow. https://youtu.be/_htuqmuQWFw
Yeah one other factor alongside stigmatization and threats of incarceration might involve "madness" or even eccentricity. Whites, maybe especially white males, were/are able to go nuts, get crazy, freak out, have their thing, and then return with a tale to tell. But the social/political costs of appearing "crazy", even temporarily and happily, are and certainly were much much higher in communities of color. I think that in part explains Kilindi's charismatic self-presentation, which was very sober, grounded, and methodical, even as it was as wild as any psychonaut out there. That was his way through the conundrum that Allyne pointed towards.
Also: I thought about the romanticization. Interesting the tension between romanticizing and honoring, recognizing, remembering. When you hear Bootsy's story, you are like, these guys are tripping without a net -- not swirling lights, no collective narrative frame, just the band's own engagement in altered states while making music. I would like to think I can deeply admire that, even draw a sip of wisdom from it, without just romanticizing it...I dunno, its an interesting problem...
Enjoyed both very much, will be looking for Brown Buffaloes book and the pbs documentary. Was surprised to learn Castaneda wasn’t at least a cannabis smoker. Now on to Doc Ellis video 😎Thanks Erik!
Thanks for commenting Juan, glad you enjoyed. I suspect you will REALLY dig Acosta's work, I actually saved up a full read of Revolt of the Cockroach People so I could savor the experience. Who knows what Carlos did later or behind closed doors? With him it was more important that he appear straight and in control in the UCLA scene. Who knows what happened later? Perhaps some followers have stories but I have never heard any.
Perhaps he didn’t need drugs...maybe Don Juan did teach him a few tricks? If you look at his later work with Tensegrity it sure seems like he was channeling something from beyond. Those instructional videos are some of the weirdest things I’ve ever seen. They’re amazing if you haven’t seen them yet. https://youtu.be/eiC3JKFYm4A
I'm sure he learned his tricks! I knew some people on the periphery of the Tensegrity scene in the 90s, it had a very "weird" aura, you are right -- not just the moves, but the sense of a heavy secret, some proximate warp in things. It felt a little wee bit creepy too, at least at the time.
Another odd twist, There creators of the very psychedelic cartoon Rugrats, were also members of Tensegrity. Keep that in mind when watching the birth sequence from the beginning of the Rugrats movie
Bruce Wagner was the bigee I knew about, it's all over Wild Palms (which really holds up BTW).
Birth scene https://youtu.be/MOKKPloglVE
Totally creepy...especially if you know the backstory that all those women were "his witches" and two of them "disappeared" in the desert. I first read about it in this Salon article (which is remarkably still around, praise be the Internet) https://www.salon.com/2007/04/12/castaneda
There is also the new podcast Trickster, the first part is out and it is very worthwhile. They will get to the "true crime" stuff more in the second half, but there is some of it here. According to this, 5 women disappeared, and only one corpse was ever found.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/trickster-the-many-lives-of-carlos-castaneda/id1543278419
The rabbit holes go deep on this one. Here's a letter to the NYT editor from Art Kleps in response to Joyce Carol Oates' letter questioning Castaneda's integrity... (Art Kleps, founder of the Neo-American Psychedelic Church http://okneoac.org). Great stuff!
To the Editor:
May I offer a belated answer to Joyce Carol Oates's provocative letter, subtitled “Anthropology—or Fiction?” ... in which she expressed her bewilderment after reading Carlos Castaneda's books, “The Teaching of Don Juan,” “A Separate Reality” and his current best seller, “Journey to Ixtian”?
Miss Oates may be interested to learn that an infamous psychedelic drug degenerate (myself) not only feels the same way ... but dislikes Don Juan's “message” as well —whether it be genuine or fictional.
Castaneda's first book wasn't bad: I wouldn't be surprised if most of it was true. The second struck me as labored. I found the third an unmitigated disaster. ... This, interestingly enough, is just about the way the quality of psychedelic experience deteriorates when occultist “power,” rather than enlightenment, is the objective.
A bad trip. From Leary to Castaneda is a precipitous descent, but so it has always been. The simple truth (that there is no ontological difference between waking life and dreaming) has always been too much for most people. Nabokov will never be a hit in the communes. And, if my past experience is any guide, neither will I.
Sure, there “are” other worlds.... The trouble with exploring (or exploiting) this mysterium tremendum is that there is no end to it—because you make it up as you go along. Wisdom, realization, enlightenment, whatever you want to call it, is not the product of such an additive process ... though there's no reason why one shouldn't go on such a trip just for the fun of it.
I have—and I can assure Miss Oates that the strangeness of Castaneda's experiences is no reason to doubt them.
The psychedelic experience is not just a series of visions, as most non‐users assume. The cause‐and‐effect logic we impose on “this” world collapses .... and a system of a‐casual synchronicity takes over. All kinds of “magical” events occur.... A spirit of “you name it, we've got it,” animates the “casting director.”
These thing Castaneda writes about could have happened. I just don't think they did.... Experience has taught me to be extremely cynical about the claims of any occultist. Particularly one who keeps going over the same ground and changing his story. ART KLEPS San Cristobal, N.M.
Ooh, fun! I’ll check it out. Thanks Dr D!