Presentations & Workshops
| Presentation:
Gratuitous Grace |
| Ram
Dass |
| Aldous Huxley called the psychedelics a “gratuitous
grace” – a undeserved gift of Spirit. My own experiences
with mushrooms and with LSD have corroborated Huxley’s
assessment – but I have also found the same unearned grace
in my relationship with my guru, Neem Karoli Baba. And through
my experiences with the stroke I have been given, I have discovered
a new aspect of that grace – what I choose to call “fierce
grace.” The unfolding of all these various forms of grace
will be the heart of our conversation together. |
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| Presentation:
The Posthuman Condition |
| Erik
Davis |
| Today we find ourselves on the lip of the posthuman
condition. Global, technological and pharmacological changes
are throwing into question many of the fundamental “givens”
that structure the modern sense of self. Unfolding a brief history
of the “human” through the eras of myth, religion,
and science, Erik Davis will describe how our sense of self
arose historically, and how this condition is being challenged
today. Finally, we will look at how spiritual teachings about
the transformation of consciousness might prepare us (or not)
for the turbulence at hand. |
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Presentation: Crystal
and Spore : The Implications and Applications of Visionary
Experience in the Post-Civilization |
Delvin,
Naasko, and Sijay |
| Crystal and Spore addresses key concepts relating
to human consciousness, language, planet based systems for intergalactik
travel and sustainable earth / space cultures. We facilitate
exploratory dialogue about mobile paradigms like permaculture
and terra forming as tool sets for creating an evolved post-civilization.
Understanding ourselves through bio-technological interfaces
allows us the ability to exteriorize our imagination, creating
externalized representations of internal processes. In our presentation.
we explore the implications of this dynamic on a personal and
cultural level. This is an interactive foray into linguistics,
transformational communication and the implications of visionary
experience We create an altered state. |
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| Presentation:
Turning the Wheel |
| Leslie
Gray, Ph.D. |
| A didactic and experiential introduction to the
"medicine wheel", an ancient visionary tool that can
be powerfully applied to contemporary problem-solving. |
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| Presentation:
Beyond the Psychedelic |
| Shabda
Kahn |
| What we learn from chemically induced psychedelic
experiences is only the beginning. This presentation looks at
how we can experiences psychedelic spirituality in our everyday
natural states. Shabda Kahn, along with his musical assistants
will lead the group in these teachings, Sufi Zikr circle, and
the Dance for Universal Peace. |
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| Presentation:
Awake in Your Dream: The Promise and Paradox or Lucid Dreaming
|
| Stephen
Laberge |
| Every night we witness the creation of the world,
not once, but every time we dream. Unfortunately, we sleep through
most of these nightly epiphanies, just as we tend to sleep through
our lives with little thought of who we truly are or what we
came to do. Yet, as Tibetan Buddhists have known for more than
1000 years and Western science has only recently discovered,
it is possible to awaken in our dreams to our true condition.
This lecture will introduce this remarkable state of consciousness,
"lucid" dreaming, as a scientific tool for studying
consciousness, and as a pathway to inner growth and transcendent
experience. And besides, some people say lucid dreams are better
than drugs! |
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| Presentation:
Neuroscience and Spirituality |
| Dennis
McKenna, Ph.D. |
| Recent scientific advances and new techniques
in neuroscience have enabled scientists to study the relationships
between brain function and spiritual experiences. This presentation
will provide an overview of current research. |
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Presentation: PSI &
Psychedelics: Stories from the Underground |
| Jean
Milay, Ph.D |
Millay plans to tell stories about how she and
others have used psychedelics to enhance the accuracy of telepathy,
clairvoyance and channeling over the last 40 years. In some
situations, there was no telephone or other means of communication,
so there was no other way to access the information. Since decisions
had to be made based on the accuracy of the information, the
psychic used psychedelics to establish the essential clarity
of mind.
This presentation is intended to be interactive. The need for
gathering such stories from any participants who would like
to share them is important at this time. |
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Presentation:
The Human Aura in Altered States |
| Beverly
Rubik |
| The human aura or pattern of subtle energy around
the body is scientifically measurable and can be visualized
using a new type of digital electrophotography from Russia.
This new technology will be discussed briefly. How the human
aura changes with altered states of consciousness, entity possession,
healer interventions, and even after death, will be shown from
case studies. The results of a pilot study on qigong show that
the aura is greatly expanded in the heart and head regions;
similar results were obtained in a study on yoga, although qigong
produced a greater change in the aura than yoga. |
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Presentation: Entheogenic
Explorations: Getting the Most from Psychedelics. (Q&A
session) |
| Ann
Shulgin, Sasha Shulgin,
Myron Staroff |
| These experts will briefly discuss their interest
in entheogen studies and take questions from the audience. |
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| Presentation:
Beyond Silent Meditation: Infinite Vibrating Consciousness |
| Stuart
Sovatsky, Ph.D. |
| Drawing from Tantric, Bhakti and Dvaita-Advaita
(non-dual) doctrines of consciousness, we explore mantric vibrational
mediation “beyond” silence, via lecture, discussion
and group chanting jam session. |
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| Panel:
The Politics of Revelation |
John
Perry Barlow (moderator), Stanislav
Grof, Valerie Mojeiko,
Erik Davis, Shams,
and Myron Stolaroff
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| A healthy human society is one in which the experience
of altered states of consciousness are integrated and respected,
instead of marginalized and demonized. Our society currently
harbors a strong skepticism regarding the value of these experiences.
Many of the members of communities represented here make use
of ASC as tools for spiritual exploration. How should we, as
communities and individuals, present our experiences to best
make them approachable and understandable to mainstream society? |
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| Breakout
Session |
| Today's presentations have brought us many ideas
about the exploration of human spirituality through altered
states of consciousness. Insight can be gained by examining
our spirituality through Vedic, neurological and chemical analyses.
With today's material as a starting point, imagine where the
spiritual quest of our communities will be 20 years into the
future. From the ideas that you generate, create a group mandala
that symbolizes your group's imagined future. The mandala can
be either abstract or literal in its depiction of the future
your group sees. Half the group should work on the creation
of the mandala, while the other half works on a short written
piece explaining the mandala you have made. |
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Workshop: The Spirit of
Chaos |
| Erik
Davis |
| All of us confront chaos on a regular basis,
especially during a transition period like the one taoday. Faced
with the loss of familiar guideposts and the likelihood of major
derangement on the horizon, many of us meet up as well confusion,
doubt, and anxiety even as we recognize the need to nurture
positive actions and transformative possibilities. What does
it mean to practice with these states, to open to the chaos?
How do we draw wisdom from uncertainty and disorder? We will
look at how some spiritual and mythological traditions approach
the question of chaos, and will explore some simple practical
methods of engaging the chaos within and without. |
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Workshop:
Conscious Evolution and healing through the life affirming
practice of sacred ecstatic trance dance journeying with the
entheogenic mushroom. |
| Gaia |
So often our direct experiences with the
sacred are lost, hidden away, or kept in silence due to suppression
on a number of levels. To assist in revitalizing the authenticity,
profundity, and any necessary further healing of our direct
experiences with the sacred we are going to explore and look
at the living archetypes, metaphors, sign post, benefits and
connection with Spirit within the eternally expansive vista
of sacred trance dance journeying with the entheogenic mushroom.
In our exploration together participants will be encouraged
to explore their own journeys. The first backdrop of this exploration
will be a 240+ visionary art Power point installation that incorporates
story telling primarily through pictures, prose, and music.
The second backdrop of our exploration together will consist
of opening the space where we are each invited to share our
own journeys in their uniqueness and in relation with any correlations
and triggers encountered during the viewing of the gathering’s
presentation.
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Workshop:
Sonic Driving and Visionary Experience |
| Leslie
Gray, Ph.D. |
An experiential introduction to the shamanic
use of percussive sound to alter one's consciousness in order
to experience an ordinarily hidden reality.
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Workshop: Crystal and
Spore : Applied Visionary Culture Design Lab |
Delvin,
Naasko, and Sijay |
| This is the space where multimedia meets metamedia.
A sentient teaching strategy for promoting awareness. A core
focus of the workshop dynamic is the interplay between permaculture
and digital technology. Permaculture is an experiential toolset
of whole system strategies for approaching the intentional development
and sustainable growth of any system of organization. Its integration
represents a movement towards healing our relationship to self
and nature. Digital consciousness utilizes technology and interfaces
to create expansive and effective communication networks. Digital
emergence represents initiatory advancements into quantum archivism
and telepathy. Crystal and Spore introduces an interactive structure.
Card crafting and communication design exercises are used to
model the content. |
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Workshop: Overview of
the Botany, Chemistry and Pharmacology of Shamanic Plant Medicines
(Hallucinogens) |
| Dennis
McKenna, Ph.D. |
| This workshop will survey the chemical, botanical
and pharmacological and ethnopharmacological information of
the major plant hallucinogens and a few obscure ones. |
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Workshop: Practical Uses
of Psychedelics |
| Jean
Milay, Ph.D. |
| We know that psychedelics can scatter mental
processes for the unprepared. However, Spiritual teachers, after
40 years of modern exploration, have established fundamental
techniques to use psychedelics as excellent therapeutic agents.
Experienced psychedelics travelers with proper spiritual preparation,
can use psychedelics to increase the accuracy of telepathy,
remote viewing, channeling for spiritual healing, and for answers
to major questions that require a spiritual resolution. These
lessons we have learned about brain processes through the use
of psychedelics can be applied to altering consciousness without
them. Millay plans to guide participants into an altered state
using words and special brainwave-entrainment music. (Tim Leary’s
introduction to the video “The Psychedelic Experience”
will be shown as an introduction to the guided experience. This
part is only about five minutes long. Please wear comfortable
clothes and some may want to bring a pillow.) |
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Workshop: A Culture
of Enlightenment in “Real” Life |
| Stuart
Sovatsky, Ph.D. |
| A "land of the enlightened" could prove
to surpass a "land of the free" as a cultural motto
for those who are fundamentally dedicated to consciousness and
spiritual awakening. We discuss how the 9000 year old Yogic
Dharma (particularly its Tantric elements) can inform a Culture
of Enlightenment for our times, with the aim of living it wholeheartedly
for one week post conference----where intensive meditative and
other ecstatic & devotional practices become a matter-of-fact
part our everyday lives. We consider possible ramifications
of a sustained culture of enlightenment, economically, politically,
ecologically, and socially. |
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Workshop:
Getting the Most from Psychedelics |
Myron Stolaroff |
| This workshop will look into the potential use
of good psychedelics, the requirements for optimum results and
the obstacles to ultimate realization. |
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