High Weirdness by text
June 26, 2019 10:46 PM Subscribe
Writer Erik Davis has a new book out. High Weirdness: Drugs, Esoterica, and Visionary Experiences in the Seventies. It is a slightly watered-down version of his 2015 PhD thesis for Department Religious Studies, Rice University, which is now available online. The main topics are the altered consciousness experiences and related documents of Terence McKenna, Robert Anton Wilson, and Philip K. Dick.
A thoughtful review is available by Riley Fitzgerald at the happymag website. Davis has a brief section on High Weirdness by Mail, which is not nearly as comprehensive as JHarris 2012 epic metafilter post.
A thoughtful review is available by Riley Fitzgerald at the happymag website. Davis has a brief section on High Weirdness by Mail, which is not nearly as comprehensive as JHarris 2012 epic metafilter post.
It's worth mentioning that Erik has a podcast on these topics that is pretty good
posted by demonic winged headgear at 1:04 AM on June 27, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by demonic winged headgear at 1:04 AM on June 27, 2019 [3 favorites]
On my recent visit to London, I found a copy at the Institute of Contemporary Arts. I opened it and noticed an insightful statement about Discordianism, which was a promising sign. I look forward to reading it.
posted by acb at 1:04 AM on June 27, 2019
posted by acb at 1:04 AM on June 27, 2019
It's worth mentioning that Erik has a podcast on these topics that is pretty good
previously
posted by methinks at 5:38 AM on June 27, 2019 [1 favorite]
previously
posted by methinks at 5:38 AM on June 27, 2019 [1 favorite]
Remember when conspiracy theories were harmless and kinda funny?
posted by panama joe at 8:33 AM on June 27, 2019 [9 favorites]
posted by panama joe at 8:33 AM on June 27, 2019 [9 favorites]
You know, the Jumping for Jesus, " Double Dutch Dogma," comment from the previous Mefi thread, is enough to get me digging in to this piece. This after going up north last week, to have the holy redwoods comb out my aura, in an area with zero RF. But there were dogs so plenty of ARF, ARF, ARF! I tell you the mud shadow that runs my everyday for the pure emptiness of it, is a lousy speller, I have to keep waking out of it to correct and send. What it sees in me I will never understand. "Double Dutch Dogma," is not that far off from yer regular dogma, but the clergy can't exactly pin you down behind the altar if you are jumping rope in public with accomplices, so it might even be better.
posted by Oyéah at 8:55 AM on June 27, 2019 [6 favorites]
posted by Oyéah at 8:55 AM on June 27, 2019 [6 favorites]
They're the influence to my own psychedelic neo-taoist approach/belief system. I've put them as my "saints" such as it is. And Bob Dobbs. And FSM. And the Tao.
posted by symbioid at 11:37 AM on June 27, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by symbioid at 11:37 AM on June 27, 2019 [1 favorite]
i was trying to do high weirdness but taoists got in the way.
posted by 20 year lurk at 12:01 PM on June 27, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by 20 year lurk at 12:01 PM on June 27, 2019 [1 favorite]
I've been a big fan of Erik Davis since he wrote Techgnosis, so I've been looking forward to this. I pre-ordered it, then found out there was a deluxe version straight from Strange Attractor that comes with an extra booklet and a patch and was available sooner, so I ordered that and gave my pre-order to a friend when it arrived.
Thus far I'm through the intro and most of the McKenna chapters, and I have not been disappointed. Reading High Weirdness is a heavy, heady experience. I don't have a formal background in any of the philosophical frameworks Davis talks about, just your average book-devouring quasi-doper weirdo's passing familiarity, but it's still pretty accessible, much in part due to his leisurely (but not lazy) way of discussing things. Having listened to a lot of Expanding Mind over the last couple years, I tend to hear his voice while reading, which gives the experience an extra nudge in the direction of enjoyment.
I read a lot of RAW in the past and still dig on PKD, but the last time I thought about Terence McKenna much was shortly before he died. I've never read his books or listened to him, but after reading about all the wild-ass shit that went down with him and his brother in Colombia*, that'll probably change soon.
Anyway, if you're interested in the '70s, drugs, writing, and/or looking at existence from various and sometimes simultaneous perspectives, this tome is where it's at.
*Davis consistently misspells Colombia as Columbia. How this kind of error got past the editors at MIT Press and Strange Attractor is a mystery.
posted by heteronym at 1:05 PM on June 27, 2019 [3 favorites]
Thus far I'm through the intro and most of the McKenna chapters, and I have not been disappointed. Reading High Weirdness is a heavy, heady experience. I don't have a formal background in any of the philosophical frameworks Davis talks about, just your average book-devouring quasi-doper weirdo's passing familiarity, but it's still pretty accessible, much in part due to his leisurely (but not lazy) way of discussing things. Having listened to a lot of Expanding Mind over the last couple years, I tend to hear his voice while reading, which gives the experience an extra nudge in the direction of enjoyment.
I read a lot of RAW in the past and still dig on PKD, but the last time I thought about Terence McKenna much was shortly before he died. I've never read his books or listened to him, but after reading about all the wild-ass shit that went down with him and his brother in Colombia*, that'll probably change soon.
Anyway, if you're interested in the '70s, drugs, writing, and/or looking at existence from various and sometimes simultaneous perspectives, this tome is where it's at.
*Davis consistently misspells Colombia as Columbia. How this kind of error got past the editors at MIT Press and Strange Attractor is a mystery.
posted by heteronym at 1:05 PM on June 27, 2019 [3 favorites]
heteronym I did a text search on the thesis and there are 22 instances of "Columbia" in the document with all of the thesis committee's signatures on it. D'oh!
posted by bukvich at 1:16 PM on June 27, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by bukvich at 1:16 PM on June 27, 2019 [1 favorite]
Remember when conspiracy theories were harmless and kinda funny?
I got into the whole thing via Illuminatus and Robert Anton Wilson, who was very good at both diving deep into the high weirdness in question ... and laughing at it. It was always important to him to convey the ridiculousness* of it all, which rubbed off on me for sure.
Paraphrasing him now:
Yes, of course, there are conspiracies afoot, there have always been conspiracies afoot, it's what humans do. It's in our nature to separate into small groups and make plans that we keep secret from everybody else. But if you find yourself believing that IT'S ALL CONNECTED AND YOU CAN CONNECT ALL THE DOTS AND IT STRETCHES ALL THE WAY TO NASA -- well, it's time to start laughing. At yourself.
* I remember a Q+A after a talk Mr. Wilson gave in Vancouver. Somebody asked him what he thought of the X-Files which was then a big deal. He sort of shrugged and said he preferred Repo Man because it was way funnier.
posted by philip-random at 3:21 PM on June 27, 2019 [2 favorites]
I got into the whole thing via Illuminatus and Robert Anton Wilson, who was very good at both diving deep into the high weirdness in question ... and laughing at it. It was always important to him to convey the ridiculousness* of it all, which rubbed off on me for sure.
Paraphrasing him now:
Yes, of course, there are conspiracies afoot, there have always been conspiracies afoot, it's what humans do. It's in our nature to separate into small groups and make plans that we keep secret from everybody else. But if you find yourself believing that IT'S ALL CONNECTED AND YOU CAN CONNECT ALL THE DOTS AND IT STRETCHES ALL THE WAY TO NASA -- well, it's time to start laughing. At yourself.
* I remember a Q+A after a talk Mr. Wilson gave in Vancouver. Somebody asked him what he thought of the X-Files which was then a big deal. He sort of shrugged and said he preferred Repo Man because it was way funnier.
posted by philip-random at 3:21 PM on June 27, 2019 [2 favorites]
I read The Cosmic Trigger when I was in college, and it really blew my mind, man. No, really. I was primed for some kind of break with the world I had known up to that point, and it certainly was a trigger for me, personally. So I ate up a lot more RAW, but nothing was ever as astounding as The Cosmic Trigger, vol. 1 (the sequels were highly disappointing; a lot of obscure and rather boring conspiracy theories about the Vatican).
I moved on to Terence McKenna and Carlos Castaneda's Don Juan books, the latter of which turns out was total fiction. I should take a weekend and retry all of these things and see if they'll tickle my middle-aged brain or not.
posted by zardoz at 9:59 PM on June 27, 2019
I moved on to Terence McKenna and Carlos Castaneda's Don Juan books, the latter of which turns out was total fiction. I should take a weekend and retry all of these things and see if they'll tickle my middle-aged brain or not.
posted by zardoz at 9:59 PM on June 27, 2019
I enjoyed watching old videotapes of Terence McKenna casually chatting on YT. I wouldn't take every comment he makes at face value, but he is interesting to listen to. I liked Castenada as fantastic literature, but not like seriously.
posted by ovvl at 4:52 PM on June 28, 2019
posted by ovvl at 4:52 PM on June 28, 2019
I discovered McKenna via Robert Anton Wilson (RAW), but toward the end of my initial enthusiasm, so I guess I didn't really go after him that hard. I wonder if he's best thought of as a Balboa type: the first to see the Pacific ocean (the first European anyway) and it happened to be a nice day, so he completely blew the naming. But he saw it, he reported it, he got a proverbial ball rolling. Who knows what will come of it?
As for Castenada, I tried to read one of his books way back when in my teen years, and just didn't get it. So I stopped. If I wanted bafflement, I could listen to Yes. At least they had great solos. And then not much later, I came across a takedown of the entire Don Juan oeuvre c/o Timothy Leary (nobody knows a conman like another conman, I guess, but that's a whole other dimension).
posted by philip-random at 11:01 PM on June 28, 2019
As for Castenada, I tried to read one of his books way back when in my teen years, and just didn't get it. So I stopped. If I wanted bafflement, I could listen to Yes. At least they had great solos. And then not much later, I came across a takedown of the entire Don Juan oeuvre c/o Timothy Leary (nobody knows a conman like another conman, I guess, but that's a whole other dimension).
posted by philip-random at 11:01 PM on June 28, 2019
Thanks for posting. No doubt I'll tumble gently down this rabbit hole later, but for connoisseurs of high quality woo who have not yet discovered this other treasure trove of speculative weirdness, let me introduce the Trialogues: McKenna in conversation with biologist Rupert Sheldrake and mathematician Ralph Abraham.
posted by Elizabeth the Thirteenth at 10:14 AM on June 29, 2019 [1 favorite]
These three-way conversations began in private after their first meeting in 1982. Encouraged by their similar fascinations and complimentary views, and inspired by the synergy of their ideas and styles and the input of differing areas of expertise, the three friends continued to meet and explore new areas of thought. Throughout their public trialogues, which began in 1989, they maintained the spontaneous, playful and intrepid spirit of their private talks, and were thrilled that these explorations inspired further discussions amongst their audiences. Their trialogues and friendship have been a source of great inspiration and stimulation for their own lives and work.Not for everyone, but the three of them are good foils for each other, and when they get around the table it all begins to make a certain kind of sense. In other words, if you like this sort of thing, you'll probably find this is the sort of thing you like.
posted by Elizabeth the Thirteenth at 10:14 AM on June 29, 2019 [1 favorite]
OK I finished the book and all of the PhD thesis I was interested in reading.
1. Here is the TLDR which is in the book and not in the thesis:
I bring up these nodes of the lattice not to convince any readers about what particular force or agency links the incidents of high weirdness we have explored. I simply want to suggest . . . p. 389
In other words, he isn't making any claims whatsoever.
2. In the PhD thesis he does make some claims. They may make sense to his thesis committee, but they were definitely over my head.
3. Without linkage what I see is three books rolled together. One McKenna, one Wilson, one Dick. I loved the Wilson book. The Dick book had its moments. The McKenna book maybe can be skipped. The Timewave Zero and 2012 nonsense definitely can be skipped.
4. The best part of the thesis was not recognizably contained in the book. Pages 135-197, Magic Molecules: the Birth of Psychedelic Occulture, is the single best treatment about LSD, DMT, mescaline, and psylocibin and how these drugs affect the spirit in some people that I have ever read. The pages are short and 62 pages can be read very fast if you have time to spare. If you only have time to spend an hour on this, read these pages.
_____________
tangentially related topic: he devotes some space to the case of Carlos Castaneda. He thinks far more highly of Castaneda than a lot of people who dismiss the man as complete fraud. In particular he references a book I have not read: California Indian Shamanism edited by Lowell Bean. This book is scholarly rigorous and Bean was a classmate of Castaneda's at UCLA and Davis writes that, in the first couple books at least, Castaneda had more right than wrong in his embellished presentation of the Indian shaman Don Juan.
posted by bukvich at 7:26 PM on July 1, 2019 [1 favorite]
1. Here is the TLDR which is in the book and not in the thesis:
I bring up these nodes of the lattice not to convince any readers about what particular force or agency links the incidents of high weirdness we have explored. I simply want to suggest . . . p. 389
In other words, he isn't making any claims whatsoever.
2. In the PhD thesis he does make some claims. They may make sense to his thesis committee, but they were definitely over my head.
3. Without linkage what I see is three books rolled together. One McKenna, one Wilson, one Dick. I loved the Wilson book. The Dick book had its moments. The McKenna book maybe can be skipped. The Timewave Zero and 2012 nonsense definitely can be skipped.
4. The best part of the thesis was not recognizably contained in the book. Pages 135-197, Magic Molecules: the Birth of Psychedelic Occulture, is the single best treatment about LSD, DMT, mescaline, and psylocibin and how these drugs affect the spirit in some people that I have ever read. The pages are short and 62 pages can be read very fast if you have time to spare. If you only have time to spend an hour on this, read these pages.
_____________
tangentially related topic: he devotes some space to the case of Carlos Castaneda. He thinks far more highly of Castaneda than a lot of people who dismiss the man as complete fraud. In particular he references a book I have not read: California Indian Shamanism edited by Lowell Bean. This book is scholarly rigorous and Bean was a classmate of Castaneda's at UCLA and Davis writes that, in the first couple books at least, Castaneda had more right than wrong in his embellished presentation of the Indian shaman Don Juan.
posted by bukvich at 7:26 PM on July 1, 2019 [1 favorite]
Walking the Tightrope with Erik Davis; Episode 48 · June 5th, 2019 · 1 hr 24 mins; wierdstudies.com
posted by bukvich at 9:50 AM on July 12, 2019
posted by bukvich at 9:50 AM on July 12, 2019
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Terence McKenna had a big influence on the comedian Bill Hicks and Robert Anton Wilson is always good for a laugh.
posted by Narrative_Historian at 12:27 AM on June 27, 2019