Daniel Pinchbeck - How Soon is Now?
Daniel Pinchbeck, author of the new book,\xa0How Soon is Now?\xa0joins us this week to talk about the global ecological crisis, climate change, and how psychedelics may play a role in transforming human culture. If you do believe that we are in a time of great ecological crisis, what are you doing about it? Taking action is the most important step to creating change, but are we willing to take the sacrifices and action to create change? Daniel shares his insights about how to take action to implement change. While some of these changes may be challenging, i.e., stop traveling as much, it may be necessary to help cut carbon emissions and to slow down the global warming cycle. Or is it too late to even take action? A recent journal article,\xa0"Lifetime experience with (classic) psychedelics predicts pro-environmental behavior through an increase in nature relatedness" states:
Our model controlled for experiences with other classes of psychoactive substances (cannabis, dissociatives, empathogens, popular legal drugs) as well as common personality traits that usually predict drug consumption and/or nature relatedness (openness to experience, conscientiousness, conservatism). Although correlational in nature, results suggest that lifetime experience with psychedelics in particular may indeed contribute to people\u2019s pro-environmental behavior by changing their self-construal in terms of an incorporation of the natural world, regardless of core personality traits or general propensity to consume mind-altering substances. Thereby, the present research adds to the contemporary literature on the beneficial effects of psychedelic substance use on mental wellbeing, hinting at a novel area for future research investigating their potentially positive effects on a societal level.
About\xa0How Soon is Now?\xa0 Description of his book from Amazon.com
We are on the brink of an ecological mega-crisis, threatening the future of life on earth, and our actions over the next few years may well determine the destiny of our descendants. Between a manifesto and a tactical plan of action,\xa0How Soon is Now?\xa0by radical futurist and philosopher Daniel Pinchbeck, outlines a vision for a mass social movement that will address this crisis. Drawing on extensive research, Daniel Pinchbeck presents a compelling argument for the need for change on a global basis. The central thesis is that humanity has unconsciously self-willed ecological catastrophe to bring about a transcendence of our current condition. We are facing an initiatory ordeal on a planetary scale. We can understand that this initiation is necessary for us to evolve from one state of being \u2013 our current level of consciousness \u2013 to the next. Overcoming outmoded ideologies, we will realize ourselves as one unified being, a planetary super-organism in a symbiotic relationship with the Earth's ecology and the entire web of life. Covering everything from energy and agriculture, to culture, politics, media and ideology,\xa0How Soon Is Now?\xa0is ultimately about the nature of the human soul and the future of our current world. Pinchbeck calls for an intentional redesign of our current systems, transforming unjust and elitist structures into participatory, democratic, and inclusive ones. His viewpoint integrates indigenous design principles and Eastern metaphysics with social ecology and radical political thought in a new synthesis.
Show Notes/Links
- Daniel's Website
- Daniel's Writing & Projects
- Evolver
- Reality Sandwich
- Age of Aquarius
- Burning Man
- Bobby Klein - Breathwork in Tulum, MX
About Daniel Pinchbeck \xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0
From Daniel Pinchbeck's\xa0Website I am the author of\xa0Breaking Open the Head\xa0(Broadway Books, 2002),\xa02012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl\xa0(Tarcher/Penguin, 2006),\xa0Notes from the Edge\xa0Times(Tarcher/Penguin, 2010), and\xa0How Soon Is Now\xa0(Watkins, 2017).\xa0I co-founded the web magazine,\xa0Reality Sandwich, and\xa0Evolver.net, and edited the publishing imprint,\xa0Evolver Editions, with North Atlantic Books. I was featured in the 2010 documentary,\xa02012: Time for Change, directed by Joao Amorim and produced by Mangusta Films. I founded the think tank,\xa0Center for Planetary Culture, which produced the\xa0Regenerative Society Wiki. I hosted the talk show Mindshift on GaiamTV.\xa0My essays and articles have been featured in\xa0The New York Times Magazine, Esquire, Rolling Stone, ArtForum, The New York Times Book Review, The Village Voice,\xa0Dazed & Confused, and many other publications.
Check out our upcoming course,\xa0Navigating Psychedelics
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