Julian Palmer : Tryptamines and Totality

A talk given at The Australian Ethnobotanica conference, Febuary 15th 2002

This talk will primarily consist of an understanding of plant based tryptamines, their meaning and function within plants, and corresponding the meaning and function of tryptamines within the human organism. I will also talk about the many different ways we can utilise plant based tryptamines to capacitate the meanings and functions of the human organism itself.

For the past two years, I have been working with the states of consciousness the tryptamines catalyse, and I have come to many understandings, many of which I can share with you all today.

It is not my intention to present arguments, hypothesis's or any kind of rational didactic basis for my understanding, but rather thread and weave together various specified perceptions and views into a basis of what may be loosely termed intuitive knowledge.

It is then hoped, a listening within can occur which will bring an allowance of broader perceptions, which may usually be closed off in the usual ways that such topics are approached and apprehended. Then, a greater inclusive working knowledge can be inspired, in what I believe to a very vital component of ethnobotany, our relationship with the tryptamine containing plants, and the various ways we can effectively work with plants containing tryptamines.

And so, this talk will firstly present an understanding of the nature of the tryptamines, within plants and also in humans, and the ramifications of these understandings, to our own biology and ingestions of tryptamines.

And I will then talk about, the many ways we can use tryptamines to "metaprogram" and generate a more coherent, intelligent, creative, enjoyable and loving existence via a conscious utilisation of the tryptamines.

As a western person, discovering the Acacia and mushroom tryptamines, I did not take up any shamanic context, or any particular ritualised focused way of working with the states engendered. Rather I have developed and come into a learning of how human beings can work with these states of consciousness, to bring about many benefits, including what we may term healing, transformation and yet perhaps, I would prefer to use John Lily's word - metapromming. This term recognises the primary digital intelligence of many different states of consciousness and the indicates a direct application of intelligence into communion with what is realised as totality - life itself.

For many, in this day and age, the coherency and connectedness of biological life does not indicate a haphazard or chance occurrence. Nature is then perceived as an intelligent system, subejct and object to itself, yet being either inherently subjective or objective, it is rather, living artwork, the fruits and vegetables of which, feed our very being.

Arising from the DNA, are the basic codings and combinations of the basis of life. And these codings then sequence to generate fractal waves of many possibilities of life awareness and experience. And that life, does create itself, in the perspective of the sum of all the parts, in ways that does bring it the most experiential satisfaction and extension of primary intelligence - that which may termed the process of essential evolution itself.

When we look at the plants that contain the tryptamines, such as many of the Australian Acacia species, a good question to ask is, what is the function of those chemicals within these species?

Tryptamines are an essential part of all organic life - 5-hydroxy-tryptamine or seratonin is present in the nervous systems of most all animal life.

The Acacia trees, posses a clearly defined nervous system, and in this leaf, we can see the nerves, the pathways in this appendage, the veins, the routes, the channels via which this plant communicates with itself. And we can begin to see from the exterior of this leaf, how this tree mediates an experience with its outer world.

I perceive leaves as transpoders and transducers of information, induced by a communion with the elements of earth, water, fire and air. And it is that the information of the plant coursing and moving through it in whole holographic resonance, that allows in some very simple sense, love itself - the resonance of being with itself.

That the tryptamines are present within certain plant species, and clearly, the greater majority of plants have not even been tested, particularly for methylated tryptamines, would indicate a meaning and function to their presence within the biological framework of the plant. I believe this area clearly requires cutting edge scientific research which would be necessary to truly grasp in some measurable terms, the extent and breadth of the actual mechanism in which trees utilise tryptamines. Human beings are only at the beginning in our understanding of how life transmits its living messages to itself in a total relationship within particular spheres, such as the living system of the earth.

Tryptamines, are known within human beings as neurotransmitters, literally the transmitters of primary information within a nervous system to its present environment. Thus, it can be perceived that the trees are transmitting and receiveing primary forms of elecro-chemical information relevant to the earth and the environment in which the tree or plant is rooted in. This form of intelligence does not THINK - it occurs, creatively, generatively, in a relationship of parts to a whole - one to a totality.

In my communions with many plants of flowers, over many years, I have directly perceived that these forms of organic life are primarily, in our terms, transmitters and receivers of particularised forms of living information that is manifested initially, by what we would term the biological matrix or foundation of a particular plant or tree.

That matrix is a foundation for an individuated intelligence, just as our body is the foundation for our intelligence. The term for particular intelligences within the vegetable kingdom, is called a Deva, or overall spirit of a particular plant. It is very possible to communicate with this being. Terrence McKenna as an example, has from the beginning, shared his communications with the mushroom being. And this communication is an often evident aspect of the mushroom experience itself.

Salvia Divinorum, as a psychoactive agent, can be perceived to often be primarily catalysed by interactions with a very definite feminine being, of which the plant is its overall vehicle. And yet, the framework for such an intelligence extends far beyond what we can measure at this time. In ingesting Salvia, one's biological framework is brought to resonance with that of the overall deva of Divinorum. The interaction is often a mutually beneficent one, merging occurs, the human becomes a plant, the plant becomes human, an exchange and relationship occurs.

The Findhorn community in Scotland, was originally based upon such communications with plant devas. What could be perceived as tangible evidence of an interaction, was the harvesting of giant fruit and vegetables, grown in a sandy soil in inclimate weather.

That human beings, learn what it is that the plants and trees are communicating and being, I believe is vital to our balance and continuance as a species. And I believe the tryptamines, contain the prime key to awakening the human form, in a natural and safe way, to spaces not ordinarily accessed, which catalyse a prime understanding of our role and function and meaning!

The ingestion of a typtamine into our biological framework, brings us to understand our own, even more advanced role as transmitters, receivers - generative beings of creative capacity for union and love. We are self aware and possess a direct creative capacity that transcends and includes, how plants transmit information.

When we understand the basis of our being, via such an ingestion, a recognition of the potentials of deeper forms of relationship, with all of life, can enter into our awareness. We can then begin to learn in that capacitated state, what the mechanism of thought, was originally designed to think, and be, and create.

In the human form, that manifested overall totality of being, has been known as Christ Consciousness, that of a unified understanding of one human being, cogniscent of their interconnected holographic manifestation of one being. A state of what can be termed Christ consciousness, is often brought about with the usage of large amounts of tryptamines, where the realisation of human unity and interconnectedness is tacitly realised to the case. The initial stages of this realisation are representive of an understanding of the being THE ONE, the alpha and the omega, and represent a kind of messianic, delusionary narcissism, an often necessary state of emergence into balanced conscresence. Once this state has been reconciled within an individuation human framework, it is then possible for one to learn how to BE ONE (and all). And how to activate oneself in relationship to oneself, in the many different possible aspects. The subtleties and nuances of this learning could be perceived like that of advanced mathematics, whereby those who have not studied the basis of math, do not have any real comprehension of the sums of the parts, and their overall meanings.

When human beings ingest dimethytrptamine, either orally with an MAO inhibitor or via an injected, snorted or smoked route, the experience engendered is clearly, demonstrated by case studies to one of greater connectedness, expansion into realities not usually accessible to the living consciousness of most people.

These experiences are generally stated to be undeniably REAL, and those, including myself, who have extensively explored these states, can unequivocably state the complete and totally visceral nature of these spectrums of experience, beyond our usual mechanical veils and routine ways.

To reductionistically reduce the common experience of meeting "other" beings, of a far greater scope and expanse than anything one has experienced on earth, to phenomena of the brain or to any other mere explanation, is to prematurely objectify a mystery which is our inheritance and birthright as beings living within an infinite creationary capacity.

To release the narcissism and arrogance of reductionistic, monocled skepticism as a tool of doubt rather than open minded inquiry, is vital if we are to expand and evolve beyond what is understood to be primitive technology, in the face of the technology and intelligence often experienced with a strong ingestion of tryptamines.

To realise the continuum of creation in its infinite humour and paradox, is the first step in realising totality, and the essential whole functionality of the biological human system. This functionality is prior to our collective contexts, which attempt a unification at the level of thought and shared belief, however, we are multidimensional on many levels, and our union is already. We do not know how to relate in a free way, or how to truly make contact with the elements that will grow us, and allow US to flower. The often quoted understanding that we are operating from a basis of 1% to a third of our brains capacity tends to support the view we are a species that is simply not operational, not living in sin, but continually missing the mark of life, and hitting each other.

Our learning is not proposed, but required, and we are bombarded continually, with frequencies and "energies" we are not at present able to hold within our own circuit, from each other and from many different sources on and off planet. We are imprisoned and conditioned by forces of our own devisation, electromagnetic prisons of controlled actions and ways of being, our own thought control, our own deeper conspiracy.

When we cease to "trip" over ourselves, outside of these, boundaries and barriers, to somehow escape "the matrix" or find a way to solve it somehow, then we can begin to enter into the state of metaprogramming, where translinguistic humour and poetry are two of many of the ways we can creatively recognise ourselves realising that learning is freedom.

So that's THAT!

[the rest of this talk is just me talking directly to the audience without any notes]

(applause)

I'd like to talk about Shamanism, because Christian (Ratsch) was saying a few days ago that we usually know how to understand a plant on the basis of its shamanic context, and with Acacia tryptamines for example, we don't know of any shamanic contexts.

When I discovered these tryptamines I had to discover for myself, how to utilise these states, there was nobody there to teach me, it was a discovery and understanding and so I generally understand there is nobody who is going to be able to help you when you are in tryptamine state, there is very little anyone else can do for you to guide you.

You are your own intelligence. And in being present to other people who are ingesting tryptamines, I generally let them do what they do. It becomes a mutual production and a form of sacred theatre where collective consciousness is realised, the subconscious is realised; most people fear that expansion beyond their usual boundaries and then, the usual impulse is to 'trip', to go (makes sound), "thrwooooiiiiip", to get out of it, but to actually come into it, and through it, and actually maintain the spectrum of relationship that is then founded: found! And this relationship implies telepathy, and teleapathy is inherent within our form, we are already telepathic, we are already communicating on that level.

When we ingest a tryptamine we become aware of that communication, because our interconnectedness is so profound, that telepathy becomes a complete, total, visceral experience, whereby we can work with deeper issues that may not forthcoming within our daily lives. And I find this very valuable.

The aboriginals were very aware of telepathy, and I have experienced this many times... that I was in some ways, taught by someone who was taught by aboriginal people.

This point here is the connection to everything [I'm massaging my thymus center in a circular motion right throughout this] and it's the thymus center and its kind of going haywire! It's like, how am I connecting to all these people?

So I'll just sort of bang it about...it's a disease, a disease of immunity! I'm being a bit too immune!

So the way I work with that state is generally to bring prior intelligence to the structured miasmas of our thoughts and structures of thought.

So here is a structure of thought, and any structure of thought is basically useless, it doesn't work, it's an application of something in which you have a separation occurring. You have the thought that is thought, the space in which it occurs and you have the application of that thought too. You have a sort of circuit, that is a sort of bad figure of eight! It doesn't work as a relationship capacity!

What we understand, is that to actually, like, tune, if you've seen "Dark City", you'll learn to like go (makes sound and gestures, mimicking electromagneticism coming out of third eye!)

Terrence McKenna talked about this, you'll learn to actually, think in a real way, you learn what it is to think and the actual framework of thinking that is prior, within the brain. At the moment, we can't think, we think that we can think, but we are actually...programmed. We are actually thinking on the basis of what has been taught to us, what has been programmed into us.

When we talk about metapromming, we are programming the meta levels, into this level, to actually bring in prior intelligence, which is holographic, free, multidimensional, it is total, it is a total thing. I cannot stress that enough...totality, god, everything, life itself!

So I want to talk about how an experience often works for me. A common theme, and it is a shamanic theme as well, is that one is operated on, is that beings come and take you apart and put you back together again - that doesn't necessarily happen to me, but they tend to have really advanced technology, and they tend to operate on you and do things you generally don't tend to understand. And I don't necessarily understand what most of that is.

This happens to me and then afterwards, there is this enactment of this new understanding, this new intelligence, and they bring it through, through the veils, they come to me [makes sound], they generate forms of information, coding, light and non-separation - they state their non-separation, they always come "we are you" - always.

Question : You mentioned metaprogramming a couple of times...and I'm wondering if you've read any of the books by John Lily, with that title and that basic theme of becoming aware of the habitat of the ways that we think and thinking about the ways in which we think...have you read any John Lily books about programming the bio computer?

Yeah, I didn't find them that valuable actually! It's sort of like, you know, Oscar Ichazo...I didn't like that type of stuff, it's all really sort of Gurdjieffian, sort of structured, you'd be man number 4, then man number 5 and a half and all that kind of stuff!

I just like to, just, forget all that...that's a bit of a basic understanding, which one can transcend and include into a vaster scope of beingness which becomes possible...if you're referencing John Lily when you're tripping you're in trouble! (laughter)

So that's how I work, you know, just go straight into the pure intelligence of it! It's fucking profound, anyone who has smoked DMT knows, who has really gone there, knows, it's fucking...precise!

Person from the audience: You can't swear!

I can too! (laughter)

Question : Are you going in with aims for your metaprogramming or does it just happen in the state? Are you setting up some ideas of what you are trying to achieve or does it all just happen in...

I generally know. Often people come to me, and I, ah, experience their energy, and they show me something, often very condensified forms of denial especially and then I work it out telepathically with them what is going on with them. And often, many people think I'm stalking them (laughs jokingly maniacally!) Yeah, I'm a stalker. A psychic stalker! Nobody can get away! So, yeah, there's a few people in here who need to watchout!

You know who you are! (laughter)