This is robust insight, this field vs movement thinking. And it’s applicable everywhere. Having begun my grad education invigorated by a movement and giving all it required of myself, after a year into my studies I finally broke on through my own movement mindset and walked into the field, a field that barely exists in academia and that is so distasteful by the movement’s proponents that historically the critics have had to resort to fiction to get their criticisms out into the world. I can see a lot of your insight into the psychedelic movement as applicable to other movements. You’re really on to something and I love that you call for intellectual rigor *and* spiritual integrity as antidotes to the movement mindset.
Thank you so much Salina. I love that you're hearing it work for you in another field/movement paradigm. Love to hear you're walking in the field in your own way.
Temple tarps - I know that one! Great thoughts, insights and perspective Brother Joe. Integrity is so important when it comes to any field of practice. There are many movements that could use the same practice of awareness. As a Veteran, I can say whole heartedly psychedelics changed the trajectory of my life. However, with that shift in trajectory, it also came a lot of lifestyle changes…additionally each and every movement forward is a deepening in that conscious field of awareness. Being a Bio guy, I am at awe with nature and what god has put here on this earth to explore. Thank you for sharing your thoughts dear brother. All love - AHO!
Loving your writing on this… one question for my own enquiry: did the field/movement distinction come from another thinker/book? Or is it something that you’ve come to? I love it so much and want to use it in another context but want to point to where it’s from.
So timely for me to stumble upon the movement vs field insight you’ve discovered Joe. I’ve been researching my entry into the psychedelic industry after a recent two week Ayahuasca retreat. Understanding the traps of a movement is critical for me to find truly meaningful work somewhere on the field.
Curious if you have any thoughts or know of anyone that speaks to the Western development of a culture/tradition for safely, and respectfully taking psychedelics?
I'd look into the Native American Church. Seriously. They have to have undergone a lot more stress in recent years as the steadily degenerating culture of illicit street drugs- particularly hard drugs like opioids and meth- has grown stronger in America and on the rez, but the original church kept a stable, productive framework for their congregations for many, many years, since the turn of the century. A church officially founded by Christianized, educated grads of missionary schools (Carlisle Indian School), some with college degrees, who had returned to their tribes and sought to reconcile their educations with their alienation from their indigenous roots- and sometimes to heal from addiction to alcohol- by adopting the Christian syncretic rites of Quanah Parker and Jack Wilson, eventually winning the right to use peyote as a sacrament with the aid of anthropologist James Mooney and officially chartering the Native American Church as an institution.
There are more recent sects who have sought to emulate that model, but I can't speak to their particular religious orientation, or the character of their leadership and congregations. But the Native American Church began as an institution of integrity, around 1910. Movement Hubris has not been a particular problem for them, at least the last time I turned my attention to their institutional status, back around the early 1990s. I'd approach local NAC congregations very humbly and respectfully- they must have been hit on a thousand times by psychedelic wannabe gabachos by now, and who knows what the elders have seen happen with their kids. And I would not bring a beer, a joint, or a pill within twenty miles of them.
Wow Joe, so delighted to read these articles, which just came to my attention this morning. I've been watching this scene unfold for (holy shit) four decades. We'll have a lot more to share. I'm in New England now. Hope we get an opportunity to connect. I've just begun to speak and write about this. Exciting for me to see how many are coming to the same realizations about this psychedelic renaissance, that I was a significant instigator of. My nutshell: modern psychedelic history is a microcosm of the history of religion. Some of it contains the very best of humanity, but perhaps even more, the nadir: mind control, manipulation, confusion. Keep writing. God Bless!
This is robust insight, this field vs movement thinking. And it’s applicable everywhere. Having begun my grad education invigorated by a movement and giving all it required of myself, after a year into my studies I finally broke on through my own movement mindset and walked into the field, a field that barely exists in academia and that is so distasteful by the movement’s proponents that historically the critics have had to resort to fiction to get their criticisms out into the world. I can see a lot of your insight into the psychedelic movement as applicable to other movements. You’re really on to something and I love that you call for intellectual rigor *and* spiritual integrity as antidotes to the movement mindset.
Thank you so much Salina. I love that you're hearing it work for you in another field/movement paradigm. Love to hear you're walking in the field in your own way.
Temple tarps - I know that one! Great thoughts, insights and perspective Brother Joe. Integrity is so important when it comes to any field of practice. There are many movements that could use the same practice of awareness. As a Veteran, I can say whole heartedly psychedelics changed the trajectory of my life. However, with that shift in trajectory, it also came a lot of lifestyle changes…additionally each and every movement forward is a deepening in that conscious field of awareness. Being a Bio guy, I am at awe with nature and what god has put here on this earth to explore. Thank you for sharing your thoughts dear brother. All love - AHO!
Well said brother. So glad that our paths crossed and they keep digitally crossing. Thank you for sharing your experience and perspective as always.
Loving your writing on this… one question for my own enquiry: did the field/movement distinction come from another thinker/book? Or is it something that you’ve come to? I love it so much and want to use it in another context but want to point to where it’s from.
Thanks Rich, that thought came to me in the shower.
So timely for me to stumble upon the movement vs field insight you’ve discovered Joe. I’ve been researching my entry into the psychedelic industry after a recent two week Ayahuasca retreat. Understanding the traps of a movement is critical for me to find truly meaningful work somewhere on the field.
Curious if you have any thoughts or know of anyone that speaks to the Western development of a culture/tradition for safely, and respectfully taking psychedelics?
I'd look into the Native American Church. Seriously. They have to have undergone a lot more stress in recent years as the steadily degenerating culture of illicit street drugs- particularly hard drugs like opioids and meth- has grown stronger in America and on the rez, but the original church kept a stable, productive framework for their congregations for many, many years, since the turn of the century. A church officially founded by Christianized, educated grads of missionary schools (Carlisle Indian School), some with college degrees, who had returned to their tribes and sought to reconcile their educations with their alienation from their indigenous roots- and sometimes to heal from addiction to alcohol- by adopting the Christian syncretic rites of Quanah Parker and Jack Wilson, eventually winning the right to use peyote as a sacrament with the aid of anthropologist James Mooney and officially chartering the Native American Church as an institution.
There are more recent sects who have sought to emulate that model, but I can't speak to their particular religious orientation, or the character of their leadership and congregations. But the Native American Church began as an institution of integrity, around 1910. Movement Hubris has not been a particular problem for them, at least the last time I turned my attention to their institutional status, back around the early 1990s. I'd approach local NAC congregations very humbly and respectfully- they must have been hit on a thousand times by psychedelic wannabe gabachos by now, and who knows what the elders have seen happen with their kids. And I would not bring a beer, a joint, or a pill within twenty miles of them.
Wow Joe, so delighted to read these articles, which just came to my attention this morning. I've been watching this scene unfold for (holy shit) four decades. We'll have a lot more to share. I'm in New England now. Hope we get an opportunity to connect. I've just begun to speak and write about this. Exciting for me to see how many are coming to the same realizations about this psychedelic renaissance, that I was a significant instigator of. My nutshell: modern psychedelic history is a microcosm of the history of religion. Some of it contains the very best of humanity, but perhaps even more, the nadir: mind control, manipulation, confusion. Keep writing. God Bless!
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I’ll credit you rather than the shower - although sounds like both contributed 😇
there's something about Gray Noise and Divine Inspiration