In this continuation of In a Perfect World 33, experiential journalist Rak Razam interviews author and academic Robert Forte about the origins of the Psychedelic Movement and its manipulation by the power elites as a social engineering tool for control of the dominant paradigm. This far-ranging discussion covers Huxley, Wasson, Hofmann, Leary et al. and the social milieu and the role of the CIA and elite steering of the dissemination of psychedelics in the West and the vested interests behind them that have culminated in the global police state that confronts us today.
The movement's medical, spiritual and religious arms are dissected in light of the political agendas that control civilization, as Forte and Razam examine the revolution of the 60s and the revolutionary times we live through. They ask the critical question: is the commodification of the modern psychedelic movement a prelude to global Soma, and can individuals awaken to their own cosmic sovereignty before it's too late?
ROBERT FORTE, AMRS, began his work with psychedelics as a student of Stanislav Grof and Frank Barron, co-founder of the Harvard Psilocybin Project. He obtained his master's degree under Mircea Eliade and has collaborated with many leaders in the field of psychedelics, including R. Gordon Wasson, Timothy Leary, and Huston Smith. A former director of the Albert Hofmann Foundation, he teaches at the California Institute of Integral Studies.
Forte's seminal book, Entheogens and the Future of Religion, with contributions by Albert Hofmann, R. Gordon Wasson, Jack Kornfield, Terence McKenna, the Shulgins, Rick Strassman, and others, is now back in print, with all proceeds going to support the Council on Spiritual Practices work with psilocybin research.
Originally aired on: Apr 20, 2012
