Sacrilegious

Rick Strassman is the author of DMT: The Spirit Molecule and the recently published, The Psychedelic Handbook: A Practical Guide to Psilocybin, LSD, Ketamine, MDMA, and DMT/Ayahuasca, among other books. A critical, pioneering figure in the recent, so-called “Psychedelic Renaissance,” Strassman is known around the world for his studies and writing, and is an inspiration to many. He spoke with Gary about his journey researching DMT, an early psychedelic experience, his time in a Zen monastery, medicalizing the psychedelic experience, and a whole lot of stimulating related topics.

In this Sacrilegious podcast, Gary‘s guest is Dr. Sunil Aggarwal, a physician and medical geographer who is among other things at the forefront of the legal fight to allow terminally ill patients Right to Try access to psychedelics. The discussion also covers integrative medicine, death anxiety, Darwin’s Pharmacy, the value of a Religion minor, the entheogenic reformation, and other scintillating topics.

In this episode of Sacrilegious, Gary hears from John Schewel, someone brought into the orbit of Timothy Leary as a young man in the 1960s and who became an integral part of the early psychedelic scene, including as one of the founding members of the League of Spiritual Discovery. The two discuss psycho-accelerators and life at Milbrook; The Tibetan Book of the Dead and “muddy waters”; and a range of other psychedelic related topics.

In this episode of Sacrilegious, Gary flies solo and discusses his growing interest in religion and drugs, and how the two fit together, fall apart, and often overlap, in his mind. He touches on the nuances, and messiness, of religion and its relation to American life, and how drugs may be primed to play an increasingly obvious role in the spiritual lives of Americans in the future.

In this episode of Sacrilegious, Gary has a whale of a good time with his friend, colleague, and boss, Charles Howard Candler Professor of English, and Dean of Emory College of Arts and Sciences, Michael Elliott, talking about Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. The entire episode. While we focus on the religious currents in this epic, seafaring story, we also celebrate its sacrilegious qualities and sacred standing in American culture. Some of the topics they touch on include death, drugs, friendship, men without women, meaning, meaninglessness, the white whale, and even a mention of God.