Profound writer Graham Hancock speaks in this independently organized TED talk about his experience with Ayahuasca, as well as humanity's history with psychedelic drugs in general. This is a very intriguing insight not just into entheogens but their relationship to man and their importance in society today.



I have, in my history on DV, related my experiences with DMT (the active ingredient of Ayahuasca) and other drugs openly, and have advocated their use extensively, relating how much they have taught me but also attempted to express openly their risks, hazards and potential downsides.

Hancock mentions his ayahuasca experience where he went to a place he could most aptly describe as Hell. I have had one challenging DMT trip, but smoking DMT does not provide the length of the journey that Ayahuasca does. It gives you a roller coaster ride compared to a magic carpet ride, sending you through an very intense ride rather than guiding you through a profound journey. I came back from my own challenging DMT trip trembling, shaken and alarmed for similar reasons that Hancock visited Hell on his ayahuasca trip. This was the only time I smoked DMT because I wanted to get high, had not pot and smoked it specifically because it was the only drug I had capable of altering my consciousness. In other words, I took the one drug I've discovered absolutely no recreational value in... recreationally. It did not treat me well. All my other experiences of DMT and likewise, Death have been very joyous, light and absolving though.