Jeremy Narby - Plant Teachers, Ayahuasca and Tobacco (#180)

Explicit content warning

10/12/21 • 65 min

Anthropologist Jeremy Narby first learned of the shamanic uses of ayahuasca and tobacco while conducting fieldwork in the Amazon region decades ago. After witnessing the transformative power of these mind-altering plants, Narby embarked on a quest to understand their effects on human consciousness. His search led him to contact Rafael Chanchari Pizuri, a traditional healer from the Peruvian Amazon.

“The dose makes the poison,” says an old adage, reminding us that all substances have the potential to heal or to harm, depending on their use. This is especially true of tobacco. Although Western medicine treats it as a harmful addictive drug, tobacco is considered medicinal by indigenous people of the Amazon rainforest. In its unadulterated form, it holds a central place in their repertoire of traditional medicines. Along with the hallucinogen ayahuasca, tobacco forms a part of treatments designed to heal the body, stimulate the mind, and inspire the soul with visions.

In Plant Teachers, Narby and Pizuri hold a cross-cultural dialogue that explores the similarities between ayahuasca and tobacco, the role of these plants in indigenous cultures, and the hidden truths they reveal about nature. Juxtaposing two distinct worldviews, Plant Teachers invites readers on a wide-ranging journey through anthropology, botany, and biochemistry, while raising tantalizing questions about the relationship between science and other ways of knowing.

Plant Teachers on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1608687732

Plant Teachers on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1608687732

Previous Episode

Justin Wren - Overcoming (#179)

Justin Wren knows what it's like to feel like the world is against you. Like many kids, Justin was bullied as a teenager, but he had a dream that kept him going. Fueled by the anger he felt toward his tormentors, Justin pursued wrestling in high school where he became 10 time State Champion, 5 time All American, and 2 time National Champion. Justin trained hard and this propelled his dream of becoming a UFC fighter into reality. But the pain from his childhood didn't dissipate, and Justin fell into a spiral of depression and addiction that led him on a path toward destruction. After he was kicked out of his training community, his career was in shambles and he had nowhere else to go so Justin attended a men's retreat. It was there he found his faith and purpose for living.
As Justin began piecing his life back together, he took several international trips. This led him to the Ituri rain forest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo where he came across the Mbuti Pygmies, a group of people persecuted by neighboring tribes and forced into slavery. On one of his trips he stayed for a year living among them and sharing the culture of what he calls "the most bullied people on earth." They gave him two names Efeosa which means "the man who loves us" and Mbuti MangBO "The Big Pygmy." His encounter with the pygmies left him wondering who was there to help them, and in that moment Justin stepped out of the cage and into a Fight For The Forgotten.
In 2015, after a five year hiatus from professional sports, Justin returned to his winning ways in MMA fighting, but now he is fighting for someone besides himself. Since returning to fighting, Justin is undefeated in three fights. His current record is 15-2.
Justin is not only giving a voice to the pygmies through land, food and water initiatives but, state-side, he is addressing the escalating problem of bulling through an anti-bullying character development curriculum titled "Heroes in Waiting." He says, "Everyone can be a hero. To be a hero all that's required is to see a need and do what's right." The program aims to inspire students to take action at a moment of choice through empathy, kindness, compassion, courage and integrity.

https://fightfortheforgotten.org/

Next Episode

Lorna Dune - Pushing Music Boundaries (#181)

Lorna arranged the strings on several of the tracks on the Possible album including "Undying" which is currently submitted for a Grammy for Best Contemporary Classical Composition. Please let your Grammy voting friends know!

Lorna is the founding keyboardist/synthesist of the “all-star, all-female quintet” (Time Out NY) Victoire with indie-classical darling and longtime collaborator composer Missy Mazzoli. Recent seasons included the Carnegie Hall commission and premiere of Mazzoli’s Vespers for a New Dark Age, performed by the ensemble Victoire, percussionist Glenn Kotche (of Wilco) and members of vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth. Lorna Dune arranged and co-produced the Vespers album, which was released in March 2015 on New Amsterdam Records. The New York Times called it “ravishing and unsettling”, and the album was praised on NPR’s First Listen, All Things Considered and Pitchfork. Victoire returned to Carnegie Hall in March of 2015 as part of the “Meredith Monk and Friends” concert. Their past debut album Cathedral City, released on New Amsterdam Records, was named one of 2010ʹs best classical albums by the New York Times, Time Out New York, the New Yorker and NPR.

A well-seasoned pianist and synthesist, she has joined the Philip Glass Ensemble for a production of his new work for Shakespeare in the Park, has worked with composer Steve Reich, composer and visual artist Tristan Perich, Meredith Monk, Lukas Ligeti and other talented artists. Her recent keyboard performances include a premiere of a synthesizer concerto by composer William Brittelle and the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. Other highlights from this and past seasons include a premieres with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra & Alabama Symphony Orchestra, a Carnegie Hall premiere with Victoire, BAM Next Wave Festival, C3 Festival in Germany, MADE Festival in Umeå, Sweden, Crossing Brooklyn Ferry, Ecstatic Music Festival, X-Avant Festival in Toronto, Shakespeare in the Park with the Philip Glass Ensemble, live film score performance at the Whitney Museum and the French Alliance Institute, Chicago’s Millenium Park “Dusk Variation” Chamber Series, Imagine Science Festival at Bell House, NY Eye and Ear Festival, and live performances on WNYC’s New Sounds and Soundcheck. Lorna Krier has appeared in features in the New York Times, Washington Post, Time Out New York, NPR, Village Voice, Pitchfork, The Fader, Brooklyn Vegan, Chicago Reader, Baltimore Sun, eMusic, Arthur Magazine, Impose Magazine, Tiny Mix Tapes, Matrixsynth, The Daily Contributor, Paste Magazine, and more.

https://www.lornadune.com/

Lorna Dune - Bandcamp

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