What is always left out of descriptions of the psychedelic state, the deep psychedelic state, is how weird it is.

Ego is a structure that is erected by a neurotic individual who is a member of a neurotic culture against the facts of the matter. And culture, which we put on like an overcoat, is the collectivized consensus about what sort of neurotic behaviors are acceptable.

This is what I believe: That we are not pushed from behind by the casual unfolding of historical necessity, but that we are in the grip of an attractor of some sort, which lies ahead of us in time.

Ayahuasca, unlike mushrooms and all these other things is only as good as the person who made it. . . . The ayahuasca is a combinatory drug, and so it brings the human interaction and the lore of it into a much more central position.

Only psychos and shamans create their own reality

Our theories are the weakest part of what we say. What we're working from is the fact of an experience which we need to make sense of.

Notice that the whole story of Eden is the story of the struggle over a woman's relationship to a psychoactive plant.