“[Dr. Strassman’s] hypothesis proposes that the pineal gland, at times when it’s under a specific stress or stimulation, it releases a significant amount of this hormone DMT and it’s that hormone that facilitates the entering and exiting of the soul in the human body. This is what the Jewish sage mystics have been describing, in a coded language, for literally thousands of years.” –Rabbi Joel Bakst
From 1990 to 1995, psychiatrist Dr. Rick Strassman conducted one of the very few government-approved clinical studies on psychedelics, specifically N,N-dimethyltryptamine, or DMT. After injecting sixty volunteers with multiple rounds of the drug and recording their experiences, Dr. Strassman published his findings in the book DMT: The Spirit Molecule: A Doctor’s Revolutionary Research Into the Biology of Near-Death and Mystical Experiences, on which this movie is based.
As explained by narrator Joe Rogen, this film’s purpose is to make the case for reintroducing psychedelics into the cultural mainstream. The first half of the film is spent reviewing details about DMT and Dr. Strassman’s clinical trials and in the second half, we hear trip details from several of the study’s volunteers. For those enticed by ideas of exploring the inner psych, these stories are incredible and inspiring; it occurred to me their descriptions might sound terrifying to anyone wanting to keep the veil of illusion firmly in place. Though each story is unique, it isn’t hard to see the similarities between these and other accounts of awakening: a veil being lifted; a sense of connection to all life; a sense of the eternal. Between the volunteers’ accounts and testimonies from several noted scientists and spiritual teachers, I think the film makes a good case for the medicinal and spiritual applications of DMT. My favorite insight from the film: psychedelics both inspire and produce transformation.
“Ayahuasca makes you learn. Ayahuasca is a means for a man to get to know the different realms of existence. The source of all creation makes us see where man comes from, that he comes from space where energy comes from in the form of light. We are all formed through a relationship of nature, energy and light.” Amazonian curandero Guillermo Arevalo
In this film, two psychonauts share their ayahuasca encounters, one a naturopathic physician and the other an accountant. In between commentary from various science and spiritual teachers (and a couple of the other psychonauts in the group), the two travelers share details about their backgrounds and the situations that brought them to spend a week in the Peruvian jungle. I found the film effective for both the candid interviews and insightful teachings and I’d recommend this film as a good introduction to both ayahuasca and general concepts about the nature of expanded consciousness.
“The mushrooms are used for healing people, for helping [people] with finding themselves. For help with seeing with clarity what they have. For help with the understanding of something uncertain among other things.” –Mazatec shaman Natalie Martinez
Six brave psychonauts let us share their encounter with a shamanic healing ceremony that takes place in Oaxaca, Mexico. What I appreciated about this film were the glimpses into the quiet, simple life of a shaman living in a remote setting; there was something zen about watching her go about her preparations. And because we sit in on the pre-ceremony interviews, we also get a glimpse into her thinking and plans for each person’s healing – it’s interesting stuff. The ceremony itself reveals many of the same emotional experiences for the participants as depicted in the other films, though we get more glimpses of the shamanic guidance in this film. As the ceremony unfolds over the course of the evening, we’re reminded of why it’s called ‘a journey’ as you can hear each person start to unravel the clues in their experience to take the next step on their path. The film closes by revisiting the six participates one year later, revealing the transformational power psychotropics can bring to our lives.
“These ceremonies can be a tremendous gift. What you give to yourself in that moment the ayahuasca matches, the spirits match, the medicine matches. They show you and they teach you and they train you how to love yourself, how to love others, how to be nice, how to be compassion, how to share, how to be generous. It’s a tremendous gift.” –ayahuasquero Hamilton Souther
I have saved the best for last. And by ‘best’, I mean the most brutally honest – about the ayahuasca experience specifically but also about awakening with psychotropics in general (in my humble opinion). This 90-minute documentary explores the journey of several westerners as they encounter ‘the vine of the soul’ on five successive nights. The film is upfront about its frank nature, opening with scenes (shot with night vision) that recall descriptions of demonic possession. Don’t let that distract you; the stories that follow are searingly honest and full of wisdom. This film also includes interviews with ayahuasquero apprentice Hamilton Souther, who shares numerous explanations about the ayahuasca ceremony that I haven’t seen elsewhere, such as the reason the ceremony is held at night and the purpose of the blown smoke used throughout.
But it’s the experiences of the trippers that is the gem of this film. The psychotropic awakening is not the ‘little glimpses many times’ approach of meditation or yoga. It’s sudden, even wrenching, and often full of lessons that need processing over weeks and months. It’s disruptive and emotional and, until one experiences egoic death, full of terror and fear about that very same death. Many films about psychotropics don’t share much about this aspect of a sudden awakening and I appreciated this film for this additional level of candidness. Yet such encounters also bring feelings of freedom and surrender, feelings you can see growing in the faces of each speaker they progress through their sessions. It’s hard to express in words how profound the peace of transformation can be but it’s telling to see its power demonstrated as each of these people come back night after night to face more of their unresolved energies. I may have looked like I was laying quietly for most of my awakening experience but when watching this film, I recognized so many of the emotional pleas and prayers uttered during these encounters – which is why I highly recommend this film to anyone considering a psychotropic awakening as it provides another level of truth about the experience. But even as the film challenges us with this honest portrayal, it also reveals how ayahuasca can bring that most precious of things for which we all seek – peace.
(Note: Hamilton Souther is the owner/founder of the Blue Morpho tour company involved with this film, which he calls out in the film a few times.)
top image: agsandrew @ shutterstock.com
