DMT Dialogues: Encounters with the Spirit Molecule

Overall, I was mildly disappointed by this transcript of the 2015 meeting of top minds discussing DMT-related phenomenon. I love Graham Hancock, Dennis McKenna, Andrew Gallimore, Jeremy Narby, and others, and it’s nice to read their very compressed theories presented and debated. Nearly the entire conversation is speculative, since at this time we know so little about DMT. If you have personal experience with the substance, there may be a few ideas you’ll enjoy, but if you have read all of the available literature on the topic, there’s not much new here. The most informative book on DMT remains “DMT: The Spirit Molecule” and “340 Trip Reports”.Ultimately, little is said about DMT entities (which is specifically why I bought this book). Not exactly a must-have in helping one to understand the phenomenon, but if you are as obsessed as some of us, it’s worth a read.

Very interesting compilation of talks on the subject of DMT. I was especially intrigued by a discussion around the thought that our brains are just as capable of creating a DMT consensus reality as the one we currently experience as "real. While I personally have not encountered other beings after taking mushrooms or LSD, I have always felt that the reality I experienced especially while on LSD was something more and different than my normal state. Not just a hallucination, but more of an altered perception or a look into another world. I recommend reading the dialogues as they are so thought-provoking giving philosophical, theological and scientific rationale for the validity of the psychedelic experience.

I had read this amazing book before but lent it to someone who suddenly picked up and moved without telling no one taking my book with her... DMT is an extremely powerful natural hallucinogen that is not for the faint of heart... The main question... Why do people who find themselves in the presence of beings while under the influence of DMT meet the same beings... Simple enough question...

Man, I wish I had been able to attend in person the gathering that gave rise to this book. Instead I was visiting and participating in San Pedro ceremonies at Chavin in central Peru which inspired me to write my book 'Long Road to Chavin' (Amazon 2018). Short of actually attending the gathering it is gratifying to be able to read this account of talks and dialogues between some of the world's leading researchers in the field of plant spirit medicine. I enjoyed every chapter and recommend this work to all interested in questions of ultimate reality, disincarnate spiritual beings, shamanism and natural healing.Really fascinating reading!Martin StevensTarapoto, Peru

if you are a druggie then stop reading. I bought this book to see what all the fuss is about. It pretty much confirms my suspicions that this is chemical divination, and what waits for you at the other side are demons and the powers of hell. the book is written ok overall. this drug is very scary and I bought the book to bring myself up to speed about it being a medical doctor. this book satisfied my curiosity.

The subject matter is presented so well. The concept of this strange brain chemical is explained clearly and in a wonderful manner.

full of novel information

DMT is that magical hallucinogen that takes one off to another world inhabited by unusual entities. Some of these entities look like insects, some look like animals, some look like weird humans and some look like strange cross-breads between humans and animals. Still other DMT entities seem like something else entirely: beings more like machines or machine intelligences and beings that appear as almost ethereal higher dimensional geometries. Some entities may just be felt as a mere presence, perhaps a presence of good, perhaps a presence of evil, yet a strange presence and nothing tangibly more. But just what is the ontological nature of these DMT entities? Are they mere hallucinations created by the rush of DMT into the neural circuits of the brain? Are they a reflection of our Freudian or Jungian unconscious manifest as visions? Or perhaps they are real beings in their own right? Perhaps they are our future selves coming to speak with us or extraterrestrial aliens from another planet or dimension. Maybe they are spiritual beings: angels or even Gods, perhaps some are demons or even Satan himself? All these weird and wonderful questions are asked at this conference meeting of brilliant enquiring minds eager to know what DMT tells us about reality. The book is a recording of a series of lecture presentations followed by general groups discussion on DMT and its philosophical, biological and cultural implications. Anyone with an interest in psychedelics and other esoteric thought will recognise some of the conference presenters: Dennis McKenna (ethnobiologist and brother of famous psychonaut Terrance McKenna), Graham Hancock (Fingerprints of the Gods' author), Rupert Sheldrake (biologist renowned for his theory of Morphic Resonance) and Rick Strassman (psychopharmocologst and 'DMT: The Spirit Molecule' author). Hancock's presentation is basically a summary of his book "The Supernatural," while Sheldrake rehashes his Morphic Resonance theory and critiques materialistic paradigms of science. The most interesting presentations to me were from psychiatrist Ede Frecska who suggests that DMT activates quantum processes in the brain that allow the mind/brain to access actual other worlds, and neurobiologist/pharmacologist, Andrew Gallimore, who speculates that DMT entities may be higher dimensional entities that have created our world as a kind of virtual reality simulation. Gallimore speculates that DMT acts as our 'red pill' out of the "The Matrix" reality we live in and that perhaps it enables us to lift the veil of our own perceptions and see the world of our true creators. Of course, none of this is provable and those who were gathered for this conference speculate on whether we can scientifically establish the ontological nature of the DMT world and its entities. One of the speakers suggested seeing if they could possibly put willing experimental participants under a DMT "trip" for extended periods of hours or even days, to see what they can discover and learn from being in the DMT world for such a prolonged time. Interesting idea if it were possible, but good luck getting it past a university ethics committee! Other speakers speculate if it is possible to ask DMT entities specific questions that only these other dimensional beings can answer for us. This sounds exciting, but sadly none of those gathered at the conference mentioned the well known fact that what is profound knowledge in psychedelic worlds often translates rather poorly when shared in our everyday consensus reality. Under psychedelics, the profound words of Angels and Gods often translate into general silliness or sometimes plain non-sense when one records them and reads them with a more sober 'non-tripped-out' mind. Maybe one day the journal of Nature will present an article that winds up in Newsweek magazine with the sensational heading "Psychonaut experimenters prove they can communicate with alien entities for the first time via DMT!" Until then, perhaps the only way one can decide on the ontological nature of DMT entities is to try some experimenting on one's own self and then decide. This book is a pretty fun read.

There are two main classes of psychoactive substances: tryptamines (structurally similar to serotonin, eg. DMT, psilocybin and LSD; and phenethylamines (structurally similar to dopamine) which includes mescaline and MDMA. According to Dr David Luke DMT is a “simple organic molecule naturally occurring in humans, a wide range of animals and probably all plants.. which no doubt is part of why it is so often experientially considered to be the strongest and strangest of all psychedelics, delivering half of all high dose users to new, yet curiously familiar alien worlds, where sentient non-human beings await to greet them.”Dr Luke is a foremost researcher into mind-bending experiences based at The University of Greenwich. Incidentally, he is also responsible for putting on the biennial Breaking Convention on psychedelic consciousness (next one is in August this year). I would highly recommend checking out his introductory lectures online which are confected in an easy informative style that nicely sets the scene for this book if you are a newbie. He wryly jokes at the start of his presentations how he went into psychology because he was a messed up young man - now he understands why he is still messed up...DMT Dialogues contains the transcripts of the first private Tyringham Hall initiative (2015), a symposium on the subject of Entheogenic Plant Sentience hosted by Anton J G Bilton and moderated by David Luke. Attending were a stellar cast of writers and researchers in the subject area, amongst them Dr Dennis McKenna, Dr Jeremy Narby, Dr Rupert Sheldrake and Dr Rick Strassman. There is a distinct air of humility running throughout the discussions which I found engaging (and refreshing) as many of the speakers position themselves as agnostic. Therefore, the conclusions raised are highly speculative since the anomalous exceptional experiences which have contributed to them do "not fit in to the kind of gaining knowledge process accepted in western thinking."Dr Ede Frecska, a psychiatrist who presents a paper about The Second Foundation of Knowledge explores this dichotomy in an up-down as opposed to left-right brain fashion. He compares the reasoning of induction derived from local senses of space time constraints as ordinary states of consciousness which through the neuro-axonal networks of the body filter the outside world (culture). Whereas, the intake of information by deduction is at the sub cellular level and consists of the micro-tubular cytoskeleton network including the rather academic sounding ‘quantum array antennae network’. This array receives nonlocal holographic representations of the environment, i.e. it touches with the inside world of the universal akashic field.It is into this nonlocal realm of the senses (if the word ‘senses’ can be applied) that endogenous DMT - often referred to as the messenger or spirit molecule - plunges the experient and is the source of contemplative and shamanic traditions as well as the prophetic state. The evidence is rich enough to suggest that for 25 percent of those taking psychoactive plant substances the effect is to induce a mystical experience aimed at psychological growth rather than or intended as solely recreational. As such DMT fits into the category of an entheogen and the information reported back can often seem “nebulous and unreplicable...ineffable, non-transferrable” not having being learnt by outside observation (objective) using perceptual-cognitive (reductionist) processes.As one might expect from a heavily charged body of intellectuals who have taken psychoactive compounds, such as the ayahuasca vine (Banisteriopsis caapi) a lot of fumbling about for technical terms, some invented, some borrowed from related disciplines like theology and anthropology are bandied about in a brow-furrowed attempt at creating new cartographies derived from inside observation (subjective). However, even accounting for using direct-intuitive (visionary) ways of knowing the book could lend itself to having a glossary In My Honest Opinion.If you are at all disenchanted with literal materialism and would like a broad and eclectic introduction into the further outer most reaches of consciousness courtesy of some esoteric counter narratives then this is an excellent place to start regardless of whether psychedelics is your thing or like me you find your lungs are the preferred source of flooding the brain with DMT. To immerse oneself in a ‘Mystery School for the New Renaissance’ and learn from the findings of a number of distinguished psychonauts who have managed to fuse academic research together with direct personal experience of the ‘weird world of appearances’ is not for appearances sake. What an utterly fantastic read.

Some great talks, seem to me that experiences differ from group to group, I have my own thoughts to add to some of this but obviously Im not that academic so you wont here much from me, interesting book back up with some science, some was a bit repetitive and I found myself skipping alot, mybe they could also read robert monroe books and maybe the eight tower by Jonh keel to see there are more connections to all these mysteries,mankind has amnesia so trying to make sense of the infinite consciousness is no small feat.

This book gives a great insight of theories and experiences of number of knowledgeable and respected individuals in the psychedelic community. A very interesting read that will open your mind to how DMT could be a way in which we can change our consciousness and perception. I found the in depth discussions at the end of each chapter brought many new perspectives and insights that have not been previously detailed in similar books. Highly recommend.

Fascinating book. Very informative. Quite remarkable how such brilliant explorers can sit down with each other and have a serious discussion about close encounters with the little people. Begorra! Life is full of surprises. Thanks for getting this marvelous book out.

Too academic, what could have been an exciting and magical read was made somewhat dull by a totally over complicated academic approach to the subject.