Page Content (OCR)
of what they know. This often relates to the pressing environmental degradation overtak- ing our planet. Here, too, there are similarities with a few of our volunteers' tales. Several of our research subjects also refer to the nonmaterial nature of the beings, particularly their lack of emotions of love and relatedness, as crucial to their interest in us. Somehow, by interacting and learning from us, they are able to relearn things forgotten or lost by them long ago. Such descriptions border on "spirit possession" and take on disturbing overtones. On a less sober note, recall the playfulness of some of the figures our volunteers described, bringing to mind fairies, pixies, and elves from our own folk- loric past. 8. Karl L. R. Jansen, "The Ketamine Model of the Near-Death Experience: A Central Role for the N-Methyl-D-Aspartate Receptor," Journal of Near-Death Studies 16 (1997): 5-26. (I have searched for and been unable to find any data regarding whether DMT is neuroprotective.) Chapter 22 1. There are examples of religious and scientific models seeming to exist on better terms, such as research occurring within some of the contemporary psychedelic churches, in- cluding the Native American peyote- and South American ayahuasca-using organiza- tions. However, these are relationships of convenience and not true hybrids of science and religion. Scientific results will not modify the practices and teachings of the churches, nor will the insights and experiences of the religious encounter change the methods of scientific research. 2. Terence McKenna introduced hundreds of people to DMT, and during a visit on his bo- tanical preserve in Hawaii several years ago, we talked about this. He estimated that perhaps 5 percent of people to whom he had given DMT showed nearly no effect. Terence's 5 percent estimate is exactly what we saw in our research: three out of sixty volunteers. 3. F. X. Vollenweider, personal communication, June 1993; and L. Hermle, personal com- munication, June 1993. 5. Bernard J. Albaugh and Philip 0. Anderson, "Peyote in the Treatment of Alcoholism Among American Indians," American Journal of Psychiatry 131 (1974): 1247-51; and Charles S. Grob, Dennis J. McKenna, James C. Callaway, Glacus S. Brito, Edison S. Neves, Guilherme Oberlaender, Oswaldo L. Saide, Elizeu Labigalini, Christiane Tacla, Claudio T. Miranda, Rick J. Strassman, and Kyle B. Boone, "Human Psychopharmacol- ogy of Hoasca, a Plant Hallucinogen Used in Ritual Context in Brazil," Journal ofNer- vous and Mental Disease 184 (1996): 86-94. As an example of conflicting models of efficacy, many proponents of ibogaine treat- ment for addictions suggest a primarily pharmacological basis to its benefits. In fact, members of a National Institute on Drug Abuse ibogaine research panel in which I par- ticipated wondered if there were some way to block its psychedelic "side effects" and still maintain its therapeutic ones. 358 + NOTES 4. Ka-Tzetnik 135633, Shivitti: A Vision (Nevada City, CA: Gateways, 1998).