The following are narrative representations of the phenomenal content of ayahuasca visions. These representations attempt to capture a depth and richness of cognitive activity that are admittedly "beyond representation". The context of these descriptions are as follows: Each of the three events were the first three events of my personal experience experimenting with the states-of-mind … Continue reading The Real of Ayahuasca Visions
Tag: culture
The Real Culture Wars
The Real Culture Wars When we think of culture, we tend to think about material products of human civilization and/or variation of traditions, rituals, and beliefs between different human populations. And of course, these are products of human culture. But does culture distinguish humans from all other animals? Are any other animals cultural? If so, … Continue reading The Real Culture Wars
Thinking About “The Long Now”
Thinking About "The Long Now" Does our society have a short attention span? The Long Now Foundation thinks so, but they are trying to change it. They have plans to construct The Clock of the Long Now, a clock designed to operate on a scale of 10,000 years. The Long Now Foundation hopes that this … Continue reading Thinking About “The Long Now”
What Is Happiness?
What Is Happiness? What is happiness? Academically, the concept of happiness has confused me for several years now. So over the past few months I have been familiarizing myself with the “happiness literature” to attempt to find out what scientists know about what makes us happy, and why. Full Article: What Is Happiness? on The … Continue reading What Is Happiness?
The Science of Genius
The Science of Genius Genius is a label that has been used to describe people of high achievement and people who have been thought to be far smarter than average. However, understanding exactly how and why people label others genius is more complicated. Cadell Last and Ryan Burke discuss. Podcast: The Science of Genius on … Continue reading The Science of Genius
Global Religiosity
Global Religiosity A recent global religiosity and atheism survey was conducted by the Pew Research Center. The results indicate that overall religious belief is declining and atheism is growing. However, most humans on the planet still adhere to a religion and that belief seems to be dependent on a number of predictable variables. Full Article: … Continue reading Global Religiosity
Welcome to the South
Welcome to the South During a research trip in the south I encountered a culture I had read and heard about, but had never directly experienced. As a result I did experience a degree of culture shock. Throughout the experience I spoke with a few different people about some sensitive issues and had to … Continue reading Welcome to the South
The “Othering” Process
The "Othering" Process It is a natural tendency for humans to 'other' i.e. to believe that the group (race, religion, ethnicity, culture, gender, country, sexual orientation, species etc.) that they are a part of is inherently the ‘right’ way to be human or to exist. For important evolutionary reasons this tendency is still ubiquitous today. However, … Continue reading The “Othering” Process
A Historically Contingent Discrimination
A Historically Contingent Discrimination Over the past few decades western society has made great strides to eradicate discriminatory practices and policies directed towards non-heterosexuals. However, we have to understand why this was even necessary in the first place. Why did people throughout the western world discriminate against non-heterosexuals? Is it inherently human to discriminate against … Continue reading A Historically Contingent Discrimination
Sharing A Divided World
Sharing A Divided World During my undergraduate career I was fully immersed in a four-field approach to anthropological learning. During this experience I found that there is severe division between the four fields that is detrimental to the subject as a whole. In the future anthropologists need to be open to greater collaboration and integration. … Continue reading Sharing A Divided World