All language subtitles for S02E01 - Planet of the Plants.en

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In the spring of 2018, the
National Academy of Sciences

released a report that
used biomass as the metric,

pulling data from hundreds
of different studies.

The researchers determined
which kingdoms and species

account for the largest
collective mass.

Land-based plants
make up a stunning 80%

of Earth's total biomass.

If this is true,
why does it seem

that humans seem to view
them as an afterthought?

Surely, such a thriving
kingdom has some intelligence.

Is it possible that
plants have something

we can absorb besides oxygen?

And could that
something be knowledge?

Knowledge that can help us
understand our own humanity

on the planet.

Plant intelligence
is very sophisticated,

and we're still
trying to understand.

And it's very, very different
from human intelligence.

And it's very important
not to anthropomorphize

this intelligence, that is, to
ascribe human quality onto them

and to believe that they
manifest this intelligence

in the same way we do.

Plants through photosynthesis,
which is basically

absorbing sunlight,
carbon dioxide, and water,

they create all the
chemicals, all the

sugars that they need
to live but to also

trade with other animals,
birds, insects, other plants.

And this is a very
advanced intelligence.

There's a high level of
efficiency and conservation

of energy.

But the intelligence of
these plants goes even further.

Not only are they equipped with
short and long-term memory,

but they can engineer
their local environment.

Trees are the best example.

As they grow larger,
they can have

a profound effect on the soil
and organisms around them.

When a forest grows to
create its own canopy,

other plants and trees can begin
growing on the existing trees'

branches.

Plants can even communicate with
other plants and even animals.

Often, this is
through the release

of pheromones or scents.

The plant kingdom and
queendom is amazingly

intelligent, and we certainly
know that plants have

the ability to communicate
with each other,

that they can be
protective of one another,

that they abound in all kinds
of phytochemicals that help

to protect their immunity,
such as their essential oils.

So we're still learning
about all the wisdom

that lives in the plant realm.

Plants exist in a state
of consciousness that humans

don't always seem
to understand fully,

and we see them as somewhat
less evolved than us.

But plants are the
heroes of this planet.

They have provided oxygen, food,
clothing, shelter, medicine,

and we know that with
sacred plant medicines,

they have been used since
the beginning of time

to uplift and expand
human consciousness.

As we gain a deeper
understanding of plant

intelligence and their
interconnectedness with all

other life on this planet,
many believe it is time

to re-examine some of the most
misunderstood types of plants,

psychedelics.

Is it possible some
plants are trying

to interconnect us with
the intelligence of nature?

The word psychedelic
means to reveal the soul.

And it seems that when these
psychedelic plants are ingested

or imbibed in some
way, they help

to offer a glimpse of
something more infinite, more

extraordinary than we see
with our regular eyes.

It's not a state that everyone
needs to be in all the time.

Sometimes, one experience
is enough to totally change

the way you want to live.

Psychedelic experiences are
very important for the health

of every aspect of the human
being, the energetic aspect,

the mental, emotional, and
spiritual because they allow us

to rehabilitate, to heal,
to understand who we are.

And that's what the
word psychedelic

means in ancient Greek,
revealing the mind,

manifesting the soul.

They're not something new.

I think a lot of people
think that psychedelics

were invented in the '60s.

But we need to remember
that almost every culture

on the face of the Earth has had
some historical use of altering

consciousness.

Many scholars and respected
psychedelic researchers posit

that the idea of the Garden
of Eden is not describing

a literal physical place but
an allegory meant to illustrate

the harmonious relationship
human beings can have with

Mother Earth, one that we
enjoyed in the past but have

lost sight of in modern times.

"The Urantia Book" talks
about a Garden of Eden,

which was the home of
two celestial visitors,

Adam and Eve, and that the
tree of life was planted

in the Garden of Eden for Adam
and Eve to use because this

tree of life was going to
help them to be immortal.

It is a plant that has
super chemical powers.

[SPEAKING FRENCH]

The story of the tree of life
can be found in many cultures.

We can see it in representations
and through the very specific

use shamans make of plants.

[SPEAKING FRENCH]

This means using trees that
we don't know very well today

but which can be found in
some parts of the rainforest

in order to disconnect the human
spirit and reach the divine.

I think that you can find this
story or possibility mixed up

in many cultures,
the idea that you

can enter in direct
communication with the divine

through plants.

[SPEAKING FRENCH]

It's notable that in the
story of the Garden of Eden,

the forbidden fruit is a
fruit that came from a vine.

And this vine could remove
veils and make humans like gods.

Like the forbidden
fruit, ayahuasca

comes from a vine, referred
to in scientific communities

as Banisteriopsis caapi.

This vine is found
mostly in the Amazon.

Could this ancient
story actually

be referencing the magical
plant found in the Amazon?

There are lots of
origin myths in the Amazon.

It's usually about how the plant
was the origin of the people,

and it doesn't have the
moralistic framework

that Christianity has.

But the myths around
ayahuasca are creation myths,

essentially.

Anton Parks notes that the
etymology of the word Samael,

the snake in the Garden of Eden,
can be traced to the Sumerian

language.

And one meaning of
his name is the bearer

of the plant of understanding.

Could this lend more
credence to the fact

that the ayahuasca plant
could be the proverbial tree

of good and evil?

[SPEAKING FRENCH]

In Sumerian Eden texts
just like in the Bible,

we find two trees, the tree
of life and the tree of good

and evil.

The tree of life
refers to eternal life.

We understand that the
tree of good and evil

would be the so-called
civilizing tool that Enki

is going to bring to humanity.

In fact, in Sumerian, "ngish"
means both tree and tool.

If ayahuasca was
known to the Sumerians,

it might help explain the more
recent yet still ancient origin

story.

The UDV church based in Brazil
has tales of a different origin

altogether.

They teach that
ayahuasca was not

native to the
rainforest of the Amazon

but brought there by
King Solomon when,

according to some
biblical scholars,

he visited the New World.

Anthropological
evidence suggests

that our ancestors possessed
a much deeper knowledge

of these plants
and integrated them

into their spiritual lives.

From what we know, starting
with all the way back with cave

paintings, psychedelics
have been used really since

the beginning of humanity all
over the world by indigenous

peoples everywhere.

To better understand the
effects of these plants,

these cultures relied on a
teacher to guide them through

these healing
experiences, a shaman.

In the Western world,
the word conjures

images of wizards
or witch doctors

casting magic spells
in a Hollywood movie.

But the very real
practice of shamanism

exists in different cultures
and belief systems dating back

thousands of years.

Though some say that
shamanism goes back as far

as the Stone Age and that
Siberia was the origin

of the practice,
but throughout time,

they have served the role of
connecting humans to the spirit

world and for
healing individuals

and the communities.

Often, the shaman will
use plant medicine

to facilitate their
opening of consciousness,

to be the intermediary of
this energy and information.

But I believe at
the end, it's an art,

a philosophy that works with
the two most powerful tools that

impact human consciousness.

And these two tools are
chemicals in plants, compounds,

and music or sound
in general to reveal

the nature of our consciousness,
to create therapy, healing,

inner education,
rehabilitation, empowerment,

and being part of the
collective harmony

that is on Earth and part
of the intelligence that

is part of Earth.

The role of the shaman is
actually something unique.

It's different than, let's
say, just a medicine person.

The role of the
shaman is to have

one foot in each world,
the visible world

and the invisible world.

And in doing that,
there is journeying.

There is negotiating
with spirits

and there is healing, bringing
people's soul fragments back.

There's retrieving
information that the community

needs for hunts
or for preparation

or for healing the community.

Is it possible that ancient
people knew the intelligence

of these plants?

Plants predate humans by
hundreds of millions of years.

And to many ancient
people, they are

considered the very
foundation of our survival

as a human race.

Simply put, the
ancients understood

that humans need them
more than they need us.

And this understanding
drove many ancient cultures

to make medicines
from certain plants.

Lists of herbs have been
found on Sumerian clay tablets

dating back to 1550 BCE.

Opium is among
the plants listed,

confirming that early
civilizations already

had a deep
understanding of plants'

various medicinal capabilities.

There is even a
special class of plants

that produce psychedelic
compounds, which

reliably provide visionary
moments of awakening.

Today, one particular
region has become ubiquitous

with ceremonial use, the Amazon.

Winding through nine
South American countries,

this mighty river
is the heart of one

of the most diverse and complex
ecosystems on the planet.

It is here that indigenous
people harvest chacruna leaf,

chagropanga vine, and ayahuasca
vine to make a ceremonial

psychedelic brew called
yagé, better known today

as ayahuasca.

The effects of
ayahuasca are often

described as visual and auditory
hallucinations and periods

of deep psychological
introspection.

And they are often left
with a sense of illumination

that they experienced something
revelatory about the world

and about themselves.

The primary active ingredient in
ayahuasca is a compound called

N,N-dimethyltryptamine, more
commonly referred to as DMT.

Although DMT is the
primary psychoactive

compound in the
brew, the ayahuasca

vine itself does
not contain any.

Rather, it contains
enzymes that act

as MAO inhibitors,
which make the DMT found

in chacruna orally active.

The ayahuasca vine is
mixed with the leaves

of the other psychoactive plants
that prolong the DMT's effects,

stretching the associated
hallucinations from a mere 20

minutes to several hours.

According to the
shamans and adepts,

this beverage allows
someone without the training

of a shaman to journey
into spirit realms

to communicate with ancients
or to heal personal trauma.

Although a lot of people have
tried a psychedelic journey,

there are only a few
that are able to connect

to their ancient past.

Located along the
Ucayali River in Peru,

an indigenous Amazonian group
still engages in this practice.

They are called
the Shipibo-Conibo.

They have maintained
deep connections

to their traditional
past despite

the ongoing encroachment
of modern society.

It is this group
that feels they were

told by the gods in their
dreams to find these plants

and share them in the community.

There are many different
legends and versions of how

ayahuasca was discovered.

And the Shipibo culture,
through the people

that I've interacted
with, they talk

about that they received
instructions in dreams

about how to go and seek
these particular plants out,

how to hook them together,
and how to utilize them so

that the ideas that through
their direct connection

living in nature, that they
received information, possibly

through dreams.

And that's what
guided the process.

When they ingested them and
teaching them many survival

skills, not only to
improve their health

or their connection with
nature but also rituals to bond

the community together and to
facilitate their communion with

expanded states of awareness.

Although the ayahuasca
plant might be connected with

an ancient practice and
possibly to the gods,

modern-day doctors are taking
up studies and practices

of their own, on not only
ayahuasca but other forms

of these plant medicines.

Could it be possible
that science can open up

what is really happening to us
while ingesting these plants?

Doctor Rick Strassman
of the University

of New Mexico School
of Medicine speculated

that DMT is created
endogenously by the pineal gland

and reliably destabilizes the
patterning in the brain, thus

opening the mind to deeper
realities and possibilities.

One of the things that's
unique about DMT is that it

seems to get one into a state
where there's an intelligence.

And so there's been a lot of
speculation as to what that

might be, might it
be extradimensional

beings or might it
just be the activation

of certain areas of the brain.

It's a mystery why
most plants, human beings,

animals have endogenous
DMT and MAOI,

monoamine oxidase inhibitors.

These are chemicals that would
inhibit these enzymes that

break down DMT.

I think that's possibly to
inform us of what reality is,

and maybe they're
involved in our dreams

in the mystical state
but also healing

different aspects of
the self and keeping

us tied to the spiritual
aspect of being.

Research conducted
by Jimo Borjigin,

a pineal gland researcher at
the University of Michigan

discovered the presence of DMT
in the pineal gland as well

as in the hippocampus
and neocortex,

involved in higher
order brain function,

like learning and memory.

But DMT levels
were believed to be

too low to have a
discernible effect.

Why is that?

Those that have
studied DMT speculate

that our ancestors may
have naturally produced

higher levels of
DMT, which could

have helped them maintain a
deeper connection with nature.

Today, we may be unintentionally
inhibiting our body's ability

to produce DMT.

Unlike our ancestors,
we subject ourselves

to a slew of unnatural
processes and substances.

One possible
culprit is fluoride,

which has been added to some
towns' and cities' drinking

water for decades.

Ostensibly used to
protect our teeth,

this fluoride may be
calcifying within our body.

Our modern diets definitely
have an effect on our health

and our state of mind.

And we have found that
fluoride has a calcifying

effect on the pineal gland.

Pineal gland is associated
with the production and release

of serotonin, which
helps us feel good;

melatonin, which helps us
sleep; and dimethyltryptamine,

which is associated with
mystical or expanded states

of awareness.

So the calcification of
this gland, that one factor

alone can inhibit our
experience of mystical states.

It doesn't end there.

Other obstacles stand in the
way of the pineal gland's

abilities.

Wi-Fi radiation is also on
the rise across the planet.

These frequencies can cause
inflammatory responses

and abnormal
development in the body.

We're surrounded with
wireless frequencies that have

been shown to affect negatively
many things in the body

including pineal function,
so we face many challenges.

But with the assistance
of plant medicines,

we can hopefully get all of
these endocrine glands flowing

again, so we can have naturally
occurring mystical experiences.

Despite all of the
advancements in technology

and modern science, do we
actually live in a world that

has become less optimal for
human health and connection?

We're getting too
immersed in our technology,

and what we sacrifice is the
closer connection with nature.

I think the shamans are
very attuned to the effects

that the people of
the merchandise,

they call us sometimes,
are having on the planet,

that we're decimating
the resources,

we're overharvesting
even ayahuasca.

So there are a lot of pressure.

So I think their
intuition is certainly

that there is a planetary
ecological crisis going on.

On one hand, we have
the technology that we live

in our Western society that
we use on a daily basis.

And that technology
separates us from connecting.

And in the natural world,
we have technology.

We have these powerful
morphogenic fields all

around us that we can tap into.

We can also use
ceremony, ritual,

invocation to access certain
levels of intelligence.

So it's through the
use of plant medicines

and through the study of
ancestral technologies

that we're able to get
all of those things

without actually having to use
these devices that cause us

to seek outside of ourselves.

Even though most are
derived from plants,

our medicines can also
contribute to our disconnection

from consciousness.

Most pharmaceuticals
are derived from plants.

And typically, what happens is
that the researchers will zero

in on the one most
potent compounds that

has the action that they
want physiologically.

But plants have
thousands and thousands

of compounds that are complex.

And what that complexity
means is that the side effects

are less, that our bodies
have evolved to have this very

profound kind of healing.

When we just try to focus
in on the one compound

and sort of sledgehammer
ourselves with that,

then we end up causing
a lot of side effects.

How did we wind up here?

How have we allowed
technology to intrude

so much on our spirituality?

Perhaps warnings
were there, waiting

to be discovered all along.

Nag Hammadi, Egypt,
1945, a collection

of ancient papyrus texts are
discovered in an earthen jar.

The writings were poetic
reflections and poems

covering philosophy, personal
spiritual knowledge, mysticism,

and the origins of the universe.

Treated as heresy by the
Orthodox Christian Church,

these texts came to be known
as the Gnostic Gospels.

The Gospels speak of archons,
malevolent and powerful

demonic beings that could
control the thoughts

and actions of humans.

The archons were deeply feared
by the ancients for the chaos

and suffering they could bring.

Could they represent some of
the oppressive systems that

influence modern-day society?

Perhaps the Gnostic
Gospels were actually

warning us of forces that
are now pushing us away

from spiritual consciousness.

If you go beyond
the realms of form,

you're dealing with different
states of consciousness.

One of the names
given to this force

is archons or archontic, which
comes from the Gnostic belief

system.

And this archontic awareness
is extremely psychopathic,

extremely distorting, and
it's distorting the reality

that we are living in.

And if you don't hold your
consciousness, awareness

in that balanced state and
therefore, not get pulled in,

it will pull you in.

That's what's happened
in this world.

We collectively have
accrued, amassed so much trauma.

And that trauma
has caused us to,

in general, be
very disassociated.

Because we are disconnected,
we give our power away

unknowingly.

And this power has been so
readily taken and received

by other forces that
are utilizing it.

It is a collective
consciousness that

has been empowered
through our own choices

and our own ignorance.

Is this an external
battle between good and evil,

or rather, an internal
war between our thoughts

and our perceptions
of separation?

Do origin stories such
as the expulsion of Eden

suggest the loss of oneness at
the expense of higher cognitive

function?

Ethnobotanist Terence
McKenna posited

that our departure
from primate to human

began with the
consumption of fungi.

Terence McKenna in his
book "Food of the Gods"

talks about the descent
of humans from the trees

into foraging on the ground
below and discovering

psilocybin mushrooms growing
out of bovine patties.

These mushrooms sharpen
eyesight and hearing,

and they also facilitate
expanded awareness

that he believes were
instrumental in the development

of language.

The mushrooms grow in
the manure of the cattle.

When the hunting packs of
early primates followed along

behind the cattle,
they inevitably

encountered the
mushroom, ate it,

had their visual skills
thereby increased.

There are many other cultures
that refer to plant medicine,

such as ayahuasca or psilocybin,
as communicating with them when

they ingested them and teaching
them many survival skills,

not only to improve their health
or their connection with nature

but also rituals to bond
the community together

and to facilitate their
communion with expanded states

of awareness.

These alternative theories
of human evolution additionally

call into question the theory
of natural selection and how we

see ourselves in the
evolutionary story.

Symbiosis, this relationship
between species for mutual

benefit, this is what
drives evolution.

It's what drives life on
the planet, a cooperation

rather than competition
and survival of the fittest

of that whole Darwinian model.

That's an older way
of looking at things.

Competition happens for sure,
but it's much less important

in the grand scheme of things.

We've got to wake up to the
fact that we are out of harmony

with nature.

And then we have to
wise up in the sense

that, what do we do now?

How do we change our behavior
to bring ourselves back

into harmony?

If psychedelic plants like
ayahuasca can reconnect people

to the Earth, could
plants be orchestrating

humanity's continued
evolution of consciousness?

Is it possible this
ancient knowledge accepted

by so many of our ancestors
is slowly becoming mainstream

again?

Ayahuasca has potentially
many physiological benefits,

and DMT is only a
part of the picture.

I mean, the ayahuasca
vine itself contains

the beta-Carbolines, which
recent research shows

that these beta-Carbolines, they
seem to stimulate neurogenesis.

They actually stimulate
production of new neurons

and formation of new
connections in the brain,

particularly with the
hippocampus, which of course,

is where memory is and trained.

Some military veterans
struggling with PTSD have

turned to ayahuasca therapy.

Many report positive
life-improving results.

While the effects
can be intense,

the healing that so
many experience suggests

ayahuasca's potential is worth
exploring, especially for cases

where traditional treatments
have been ineffective.

With legal roadblocks
slowing progress,

only a few clinical
studies have taken place.

One completed study found that
for participants suffering

from reoccurring depression,
a single dose of ayahuasca

provided long-lasting
antidepressant effects.

Another study tracked the
effect ayahuasca had on patients

during a six-month period.

According to the
study, they displayed

improved mental health
and an acceptance

of emotional independence.

Psychedelics, I feel, could
be an emergency dispensation

to get us to wake up and take
better care of this Earth

and learn to find
ways to harmonize.

Psychedelics can
enhance this awakening,

but we need to learn to use
them as a tool without expecting

them to heal us because
it's about a rehabilitation.

It's about an alchemical
transformation.

When we start to
connect to the medicines,

we start to merge with nature.

And I think that
over time, we start

to dissolve that
separation between us

and our natural surroundings.

The truth is we
are part of nature.

We are nature.

By reconnecting with nature
through psychedelic plant

medicines, we might be able to
heal ourselves and reopen new

levels of consciousness that
are already inside of us.

And if we are willing to
follow through and use

the lessons learned after an
experience, perhaps the world

itself can begin to
heal, to rebuild itself

as the Garden of Eden
mankind once enjoyed.

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Up next, join us as we explore
the unrivaled yet misunderstood

healing ability of
psychedelic plants

and how experiencing ego death
can allow us to fully live.

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