All language subtitles for Psychedelica.Series.1.04of14.DMT.Revolution.of.Consciousness.1080p.HDTV.x264.AAC.MVGroup.org

[MUSIC PLAYING]

>> Those who have navigated
the rabbit hole of strange

experiences that psychedelic
plants illicit have probably

asked themselves at one
point, what is reality?

How do we know
this world is real

and the strange
world of psychedelics

is just a distortion?

And there is no better candidate
to evoke this kind of response

than dimethyltryptamine, or
more commonly known as DMT.

N, N-dimethyltryptamine
was first

synthesized in 1931
by chemist Richard

Manske in Berlin, Germany.

The psychedelic effects
and its connection

with Amazonian snuffs
like yopo and beverages

like yage and ayahuasca
were unknown at this time.

It would be another 25 years
until Hungarian chemist

and psychiatrist Stephen
Szara synthesized DMT in 1956,

because he couldn't
get his hands

on psilocybin or mescaline.

He read a paper
about South American

hallucinogens
containing this compound

and wanted to see if
this was, in fact,

the compound responsible
for these strange visions.

Oral doses were
administered to no avail.

But he intuited that
another method might

provide different results.

So he injected himself
N, N-dimethyltryptamine

and was the first to publicize
this new psychedelic substance.

But was this the
first time humanity

had discovered the visionary
properties of this compound?

A quick look back into
ancient Egyptian history

and their sacred tree of life
might tell a different story.

>> You'll always find these
acacias along the edge

of the stream beds that
flood occasionally.

You won't see them
halfway up the cliff.

Sometimes, they'll
be a few feet above.

They've got to get those
roots out into that stream bed

or they don't survive.

When it doesn't flood, sometimes
as much as 10 years or more

I'm told, the tree
will go dormant,

and it'll stand here
as if it's dead.

Then suddenly years
later, you get a flood,

and it'll come back to life.

>> Osiris was known to the
ancient Egyptians as the god

of transition, rebirth,
and regeneration.

The myth Osiris is that
he was locked in a chest

and thrown into the Nile River
by his jealous brother, Set.

The chest washed ashore
in the city of Byblos,

where some say an acacia
tree grew around it, housing

the spirit of Osiris, which his
wife Isis eventually recovers.

If it is possible that
the Egyptians discovered

the properties of
the acacia tree,

then a psychedelic
death-rebirth connection

might have come from
the experience elicited

by one of its compounds.

>> If you look at families
that are known to contain DMT

or tryptamines like
acacias, for example,

some of the most potent sources
of DMT known are acacias.

Well, there's about
1,200 species of acacias.

Probably 75% of
those contain DMT.

So it's very common in nature.

It's not an exaggeration to say
that nature is drenched in DMT.

>> Acacia trees were well
known in ancient Egypt,

as well as in the Middle East.

If these civilizations
were experimenters

with local botanicals, as the
tribes of the Amazon were,

it is possible that one of the
local MAOI-containing plants,

such as Syrian rue, which was
common in the Middle East,

could have made it into an
admixture with the acacia tree.

Even yohimbe bark
known to contain MAOI,

originated from
South and West Africa

and was probably imported
to ancient Egypt.

There is no
archaeological evidence

to support this specific
ayahuasca-like concoction.

But it is long known that the
ancient Egyptians experimented

with the psychoactive
blue lilies for ceremony.

The acacia was supposedly used
for the Ark of the Covenant,

insinuating that the wood
embodies an arcane secret.

The Freemasons use the
acacia in their symbolism

for the immortality of the soul.

As the master architect
of King Solomon's temple,

Hiram Abiff was buried
with a sprig of acacia

to mark the grave.

It is also said that the
Hebrews planted acacia

at the head of a grave of a
deceased partner or friend.

Across the ocean
in South America,

the ayahuasca brew is also known
as the vine of the dead or vine

of the soul, which the syncretic
ayahuasca UDV Church claims

that King Solomon paid a little
known visit to the Amazon

in antiquity and imparted
the knowledge of ayahuasca

to the indigenous.

Though these myths
remain circumstantial;

the veneration of these plants
in ancient civilizations

tend to spring from
their usefulness.

Any plant given
spiritual attributes

is likely to have
properties that

cause for higher
visions of reality that

transcend the limits
of birth, death,

and three-dimensional reality.

Today, DMT far
exceeds this criteria.

So, what exactly are
dimethyltryptamine's effects

on consciousness?

>> It begins very quickly.

You begin to feel different
within a heartbeat or two

after the completion
of the injection.

There's a feeling
of acceleration

and inner-psychic tension
that begins and builds quite

rapidly, almost overwhelmingly.

The visual image of the room,
if you had your eyes open,

would start to break out in
a pixelation kind of pattern.

If your eyes are
closed at that stage,

it's a display of
kaleidoscopic images.

Also during that time is a
high pitch kind of sound.

Usually high pitch-- it could
be oscillating "wa, wa, wa"

kind of sound.

Might be some crinkling
kinds of sounds.

But it's increasing
in intensity.

So it's crescendoing,
which kind of

parallels the anxiety or
the feeling of stimulation.

And then you just
break out of your body.

It's as if the internal pressure
just can't be held in the body

anymore, and your
consciousness breaks loose.

And you know, that's kind of
the plateau between two minutes

and seven minutes or so.

And then you start coming down.

And things slowly recongeal.

>> The rapidity, intensity,
and conventional insanity

of the experience has caused
word to reach the public

through the internet, as well as
authors and researchers writing

and speaking on the matter.

Another hot topic is that DMT
is an endogenous compound,

meaning it's produced
naturally in the human body.

And yet no definitive
explanation for this

has been discovered.

>> There is a huge amount
of it in the lungs.

That's where most of is.

But it's throughout all
the tissues in the body.

No one knows what it's
doing in the lungs.

>> Interesting work is
being done right now

on the endogenous functions.

There's a very interesting
book just published

called, "Questions
for the Lion Tamer."

It's about endogenous DMT.

And it's relating
that to all these

other rather
interesting what you

might call physiological
states, which

have to do with gamma-wave
activation in the brain,

and which DMT can
reliably do this.

>> The gamma-brain-wave state
is associated with high-level

cognitive function and
peak concentration,

as seen in studies with
meditating monks and nuns.

Gamma waves originate
in the thalamus

and move back and forth through
the three lobes of the brain

about 40 times per second.

Therefore, it is credited
with integrative processing,

the flow state that athletes
and musicians experience,

and improves memory,
mood, and seems

to optimize many natural
functions of the brain.

>> And what I see is happening
is that as a consequence

of the destabilization of
this central control center

that's linked to the prefrontal
cortex and our egoic thinking

in the top down
management of the brain.

And so what's happening is
that the kind of material

that is normally left in the
unconscious or the subconscious

is now being forced up into
the front of the brain.

So, it's as if these
deep parts of the brain,

these ancient aspects
and are called

the reptilian brain and
the paleomammalian brain

are being liberated
and integrated

into our conscious awareness.

>> This high-level integrative
processing of ancient neural

functions might account for
the deeply profound visions

and feelings of experiencing
and conquering death.

But this still
doesn't answer what

DMT's function is in the body.

Many believe it's an ancestral
neurotransmitter that

used to be more
prominent in our lineage

before modern diets and
lifestyles diminished

its effectiveness.

Others have suggested
that DMT might

be a prenatal
neurotransmitter that

builds the perception
of the pre-birth world,

then gets replaced by
serotonin shortly after birth

to create the consensus
world that we all perceive.

Both compounds cause the
brain to generate distinctly

different models of reality.

But what is a model of reality?

Isn't there only one?

The neurobiologist and chemical
pharmacologist Andrew Gallimore

has been studying
this exact theory.

>> Seeing a world is
not a passive process.

It's always an active process.

The brain is a world-builder.

You can separate the
information, if you like,

into two parts--

the information generated by a
brain and all the information

being generated by whatever's
outside your brain.

You can call it the
external world, if you like.

Your brain is an
information-generator.

And your world is built from
the information generated

by your brain.

And this applies under
all circumstances.

So whether you are in
normal waking life,

when you descend into REM
sleep at night when you dream,

but also if you're on the peak
of a high-power DMT experience.

The world is always
built from information.

So, the idea that one world
is real and another world

is unreal--

the idea that this
waking world is real

and yet the DMT state is not
real is not really supported.

Most people, when they hear
about these strange worlds,

will say this is a
distortion of reality.

This is, perhaps, a breakdown
of the brain's ability

to construct the correct
model of reality.

But there is no true
model of reality.

People always have this
assumption, perhaps,

that the world they
inhabit is the real one.

And that's really
important to them.

What psychedelics do
is they break down

the kind of the boundary
between the real and the unreal.

And they show you actually that
the world is much more fluid.

>> The notion that what we
perceive is merely the way we

and our neurochemistry
causes the information around

and within us to build our
world is mirrored by stand-up

comedian and psychedelic
researcher Shane Mauss.

>> A lot of what we consciously
see we take as fact.

This is a metaphor for
our perception in general.

I don't think we should
trust any of our perception.

I think all of our perceptions
are fickle and subjective.

And I think we should be
really questioning all of them.

This life is a trip.

This life is just as trippy
as any psychedelic experience

you could ever have.

It's just we spend so
much time in this world

that we are bored by
this trip that we're on.

And a psychedelic journey is
such a short amount of time.

And it's so intense,
so novel, so salient.

The brain loves latching
onto stuff like that.

That's why it seems so true.

>> If it is true that
perceptions are merely the way

we decode information around
us, and those perceptions are

subject to personal
and cultural biases,

the question still remains--

why would psychedelics have
the seemingly primary function

of altering our perception?

And do all
psychedelic substances

alter us in the same way?

>> The LSD,
psilocybin, mescaline--

they change the world
to be novel, more fluid,

more unpredictable.

But they seem to
change this world.

It seems to be an alternate
version of the consensus world.

Whereas DMT is different.

DMT changes the
information generated

by the brain in
such a profound way

that it is essentially
what Terence McKenna used

to call a 100% reality switch.

It switches the brain
very, very rapidly

within 30 seconds from
constructing the consensus

world to constructing this
bizarre, highly-complex alien

reality.

And it does it with
great efficiency.

>> Psychiatrist Rick Strassman,
who did the first DMT studies

in the early 1990s
after the prohibition,

published the reports in
his book titled, "DMT:

The Spirit Molecule."

This was the point where
many case reports started

showing very similar
phenomena happening

under the influence of DMT.

>> Well, one of the things
that's unique about DMT is that

it seems to get one into a state
where there is an intelligence.

And so there's been
a lot of speculation

as to what that might be.

Might it be
extra-dimensional beings?

Or might just be
activation of certain areas

of the brain or
something in between,

like psychological processes?

So that's a unique
property of DMT.

And we ought to not
necessarily limit

our scope of it investigating
what it might be.

>> DMT is in a class of its own.

It takes us into a
reality that both feels

more real than this
one and is inhabited

by entities that feel more
real than this world as well.

So, coming out of an
experience like that where

whether or not it's
true, it feels true.

And it creates an opportunity to
reassess your entire worldview,

your spiritual, religious,
and materialistic worldview.

It brings everything
into question.

>> The hot topic that has
emerged from DMT studies is

the recurring theme of
the well-ordered structure

of the place it seems to
send people and the feelings

of entities
inhabiting this space.

There are accounts
of this happening

through the DMT-containing
brew ayahuasca, as well.

There are sparse accounts
of other psychedelic plants

transporting people's
minds to other places

to visit other-worldly beings.

Even psychological
illness has been

known to show similar traits.

However, it is the sheer amount
of reports from DMT alone

and the peculiar realness
of this space and the beings

that cause for a deeper interest
in this compound's effects

on consciousness.

Author and psychedelic
researcher Graham Hancock

has pored over the
DMT trip reports

and found correlations
with shamanic reports

of altered or expanded states.

>> They experience encounters
with supernatural beings,

as they construe them.

Those supernatural beings
may communicate with them

telepathically.

This is very common in
the shamanistic trance.

They may give them teachings.

And very often, they'll have
a therianthropic appearance.

They'd be part animal
and part human.

>> Sometimes they were
malevolent and frightening,

scary, threatening.

They hurt people.

Yeah.

Other times, the
beings, or those things

they encountered that they
called beings, were beneficent.

They did healing.

They gave advice.

Some predicted or showed
volunteers the future.

Some were examining
the volunteers.

Some were putting
things in their bodies.

But one of the hallmarks
of the interaction

was the strength
of those beings.

>> The experiences seemed
to be so life changing that

maintaining the memory and
yet returning to the consensus

world amongst people who can't
conceive of what just happened

to you is a quality that
calls for community counseling

and bonding among others
who've shared the experience.

Over 50% of
Strassman's volunteers

reported beings
that felt distinctly

individual from the volunteer
and indescribably real.

Out of 300 of Phillip Meyer's
trip reports, roughly 66%

of them claimed encountering
intelligent creatures.

Report number 213
said, "I did see

intelligent insect-alien
god beings who

explained that they had created
us and were us in the future.

But that this was all taking
place outside of linear time."

Report number 19 said, "A
gaggle of elf-like creatures

in standard-issue
Irish elf costumes

were doing strange things
with strange objects that

seemed to be a weird hybrid
between crystals and machines."

And well-known psychedelic
psychonaut Terence McKenna

was very vocal about the
possibilities of what

stories like this might mean.

As an avid psychedelic
psychonaut and philosopher,

Terence half-jokingly
mentions global population

and ecological
concerns that may call

for outside-the-box
solutions, such as shrinking

the size of humans to
the size of fruit flies

or even exploring societal
functions within realms

of the imagination to
perform future tasks

rather than depleting
terrestrial resources.

He also lucidly acknowledges
the incredible leap

that the modern mind must
make to accept solutions

that technology and
modern science today

is not capable of thinking.

Yet, balances this by
emphasizing that these problems

do need to be resolved.

And even Albert Einstein said,
problems cannot be solved

by the same level of
thinking that created them.

Can DMT be a physiological key
to unlock higher-level problem

solving?

>> I sincerely believe DMT
is pointing us into an area

of reality that has not
had enough attention.

And that is the
higher-dimensional nature

of reality.

We can try to
perceive or imagine

what more than four
dimensions is like.

But it's not possible in our
current and normal waking

state.

Whereas dimethyltryptamine
gives us an opportunity

to perceive higher
dimensionally,

to actually look at something
either internally or externally

and see it from a space
that contains more than four

dimensions.

>> For space, time, and
form-related problems N,

N-dimethyltryptamine might be
a revolutionary tool in future

generations.

when major problems
need to be resolved

in a short amount of time.

This specific compound
is commonly known

to generate unique geometric
visuals and interactions

with strange beings.

However, there is
another form of DMT

that has been used by the
indigenous of the Amazon

in ayahuasca-like
brews called yage.

5-methoxy, or 5-MeO-DMT, is
quite a bit more potent than

and N, N-DMT.

And mixing these common doses
could cause respiratory arrest,

among other issues on 5-MeO.

However, in the right amount
and under the proper supervision

with a well-trained
sitter, it is

said that the
experience of 5-MeO-DMT

brings the user to a place
beyond time, space, and form.

>> 5-MeO-DMT is 5-methoxy
dimethyltryptamine.

So it's slightly
different chemically.

But in terms of its effects,
5-MeO versus N, N-DMT

are often referred to as
the power and the glory.

5-MeO-DMT is the power.

Whereas N, N-DMT is the glory.

N, N-DMT is the
highly-visual experience.

Whereas 5-methoxy is often
completely non-visual.

But often-- a friend
once described to me--

said that, DMT is like
the fifth dimension,

and 5-methoxy DMT is
like the 12th dimension.

It almost takes you beyond
these worlds and into oneness

into the white light,
as it's often described.

Often much more terrifying
with complete destruction

of the ego, the complete
destruction of the self.

>> Australian researcher
and journalist Rak Razam has

studied Amazonian indigenous
uses and myths of DMT.

>> So, it seems to me that the
indigenous cultures say that

there's a way to navigate the
tryptamine dimensionality.

And the way to do
that is to become

empowered by
rejoining the light.

Now, the Sequoia
tribe in Ecuador--

they call their brew yage.

Right?

It's their word for ayahuasca.

They say that the secret
of yage was given to them

by the star people or
the heavenly beings which

live in the light.

Many cultures across
Peru say that they

were told to make ayahuasca by
the plants or different entity

beings, and how they connect.

The difference with
how they are is

it contains wambisa, which
has 5-MeO-DMT, not the N,

N-DMT in most other
brews in South America.

So, when you drink their
brew, they go to the light.

>> The beta-Carbolines
in the ayahuasca vine are

phytoreactive, meaning they
attack the bacterial, fungal,

parasitic, and viral infections
when exposed to light.

It has also been
suggested by Nick Sand

that he discovered DMT's
piezoluminescent qualities.

Alexander Shulgin confirmed
this by saying, "A totally

pure salt, when dry and
when shaken in the dark,

will emit small flashes
of white light."

Although it might seem likely
that all ceremonies containing

DMT would be done
during the day,

many Amazonian tribes will
only conduct the ayahuasca

ceremonies in total darkness.

Although accredited
scientific research is scarce,

authors Ross Heaven
and Simon Buxton

write in the book,
"Darkness Visible,"

that in total darkness,
melatonin is produced.

But after three to
five days, it gets

converted to pinoline, which
is an endogenous MAOI secreted

by the pineal gland.

It is suggested that the
secretion of pinoline

triggers the production
of endogenous DMT, which

would match the critical
ingredients of ayahuasca.

Unfortunately,
scientific testing

has not been done to
confirm or deny this claim.

The modern confusion
revolving around DMT

and its peculiar
effects has to do

with the newness
of the substance

in the modern
materialist worldview,

as well as the subjectivity
of the experience that

springs forth after ingestion.

Does endogenous DMT play a
crucial yet forgotten role

in the human body?

Are the visionary effects
simply the mind malfunctioning?

Or are they glimpses
beyond the veil

of limited human perception?

Rick Strassman, in his new book
"DMT: The Soul of Prophecy",

takes a new look at the
common yet mysterious realm

of imagination.

>> You know, the importance of
the prophetic state to studying

psychedelics, to
learning about them,

to figuring out what they're
good for, how best to use them,

we need to have as full
an account as possible.

We can't limit ourselves.

That's why I think there's
been a lot more resulting

from the psychedelic
experience in our culture

through the arts as opposed
to through the sciences.

Because it's the imagination
which is being stimulated,

as opposed to the
intellect primarily.

You know, the intellect being
stimulated requires education.

Maybe the imagination
is the point

at which psychedelics act.

>> At present, the imagination
is so scarcely understood that

people are either left to the
conventional reductionist view

that it's generated by
the brain or to mystical

and philosophical explanations.

To know for certain whether
the DMT world actually

exists, perhaps in
another dimension

or in a future holding
space of potentiality

called the imagination,
is beyond all conception,

except to those who dare
to enter that space.

>> Whether DMT is a
different dimension,

or you're accessing this world
inside of your head that you

don't normally have access
to, or you're seeing God,

or whatever, the different
possibilities that there are

are all pretty incredible
and are all pretty important

and all worth looking into.

And definitely we do need to
get down to the bottom of it

and learn more.

>> In order to learn more,
there seems to be two distinct

methods.

Firstly is to dive headfirst
into the experience

by ingesting the
psychedelic substance.

Secondly is to study the
effects the substance has

upon the body and the brain,
whether the substance is

taken or produced endogenously.

The issue with the
second approach

is that even with the
amount of research that

has been conducted,
the data still

must be interpreted by
limited human minds.

Most humble
researchers will admit

that there is no solid
explanation as to what

the DMT world is and why
DMT is produced in the body.

>> The suggestion is in
rats in the last year

or so, there's been confirmation
that DMT is produced

in the pineal gland in rats.

But we do know in general
it's produced in the lungs,

in the spinal fluid, in
different parts of our body.

And then it accumulates
and comes up.

So the pineal gland is
this almost mythical organ

in the body.

They call it the third eye.

The third eye appears in
Egyptian culture, the Eye of Ra

in the mystical sort
of glyphs they have.

It's all through sort of--

well, all through different
historical cultures

the past that really revered
this idea of the third eye

as the gateway.

>> The romantic obsession with
the pineal gland among mystics

and psychedelic psychonauts
may have a neurophysiological

basis, but is currently
still subject to debate.

Therefore, the contention
that the Eye of Ra or Eye

of Horus in the Egyptian culture
represented the pineal gland

can only be seen with
a metaphorical leap.

Some suggest that
the connection lies

in the myth where Horus
gives his eye to Osiris

in the underworld.

Osiris ate the eye
and was resurrected,

which could fit with the
Eleusinian kykeon, Persian

haoma, Vedic soma,
Amazonian ayahuasca; even

the Mazatec mushroom rituals,
which regularly included

death and rebirth experiences.

But at present, only
speculations can be made.

Perhaps our ancestors
with cleaner diets

and more nature-based lifestyles
produced larger amounts.

Perhaps the answer
is lost to history.

Perhaps the DMT world
inhabited by beings

that appear to be
more real than real

can only be explored by
ingesting exogenous sources.

But one thing seems certain.

Romantics may preach
about the possibilities,

and the skeptics may
scoff at the gaps.

But the fact that a
psychedelic compound that

causes the most
mysterious of effects

is produced inside each
and every one of us

is worthy of serious
investigation.

Up next, join us as we dive
into the mysterious and ancient

origins of psilocybin mushrooms
and the scientific research

showing how they're
revolutionizing

psychotherapy and
psychoneurotic exploration.