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Jedi
Both books mentioned in this thread are fundamental for understanding the deeper significance of induced psychedelic experiences, the role of such experiences the emergence of consciousness and in the development of religious experience and civilization.
Narby's book was published in the late '90s, when the Genome was just decoded and DNA was all the hype. He introduced the analogy between the snakes from ayahuasca ingestion ritual visions and DNA. Here we are today, 20 years later, and with the latest advance in solving the protein folding announced just last week by Deepmind he was proven right - I gather it was not exactly "DNA snakes" as he refers to in his book, but more likely "amino acid snakes". Close enough.
As an anthropologist, Narby's primary focus was on the Amazonian people, and he grew obsessed with the idea of "living" and "intelligent" nature and the the "interface" that must exist between this realm of existence and us, human beings. His later book, "Intelligence in Nature" was a sequel to The Cosmic Serpent, adding more depth and meditation to his experience from the Cosmic Serpent.
Brian's book, on the other hand, published just two months ago is already a best seller, and surely will become influential for many year to come. The book has everything from speculative and detective exploration to rigorous scientific, and scholarly references and not last, a fascinating style of writing, out of a Dan Brown's novel. It does help of course that he's a complete erudite at a young age, mastering Classical Greek and Latin, and was able to gain access to the Vatican Secret Archives during his 12-year quest.
The main takeaway from Immortality Key is that Christian mysteries were something different in the first two centuries AD, and the sacred rites later standardized by the church as "communion" was just a symbolic, diluted form of the actual real mystical experience that first Christians were able to experience, and on the basis of which Christianity was founded. Moreover, the first century mysteries were in fact a continuation of the Eleusian initiations that preceded Christ, and that have existed for millennia not only in the Mediteranean civilization, but elsewhere in the world too, the so-called "religion without name" enabled by sacred rituals and actual spiked potions. The idea may not seem that complex at first sight, but there are more riches that are being offered as food for thought in this book. The most important for me is that no religion can be founded based on a simple story, and there's got to be a strong mystic initiation core at its origins, when revelation is transmitted, at least until the religion becomes institution and establishment, devoid of any mystical experience. Visionaries like Giordano Bruno, are later treated as parias and executed, or those who really want to perform the true sacred rituals move into hiding.
I highly recommend this book, especially in audiobook format narrated by the author himself, with perfect tone and intonation of all Greek, Italian and Latin names
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Oh, and if there's any doubt that ignorance is still alive and well, Brian's episode on JRE has been taken down by Youtube enforcers, as you can see from above. I found a recent reupload, below, listen to it while it lasts.
There's an even more informed discussion with Muraresku on this Reddit AMA:
Narby's book was published in the late '90s, when the Genome was just decoded and DNA was all the hype. He introduced the analogy between the snakes from ayahuasca ingestion ritual visions and DNA. Here we are today, 20 years later, and with the latest advance in solving the protein folding announced just last week by Deepmind he was proven right - I gather it was not exactly "DNA snakes" as he refers to in his book, but more likely "amino acid snakes". Close enough.
As an anthropologist, Narby's primary focus was on the Amazonian people, and he grew obsessed with the idea of "living" and "intelligent" nature and the the "interface" that must exist between this realm of existence and us, human beings. His later book, "Intelligence in Nature" was a sequel to The Cosmic Serpent, adding more depth and meditation to his experience from the Cosmic Serpent.
Brian's book, on the other hand, published just two months ago is already a best seller, and surely will become influential for many year to come. The book has everything from speculative and detective exploration to rigorous scientific, and scholarly references and not last, a fascinating style of writing, out of a Dan Brown's novel. It does help of course that he's a complete erudite at a young age, mastering Classical Greek and Latin, and was able to gain access to the Vatican Secret Archives during his 12-year quest.
The main takeaway from Immortality Key is that Christian mysteries were something different in the first two centuries AD, and the sacred rites later standardized by the church as "communion" was just a symbolic, diluted form of the actual real mystical experience that first Christians were able to experience, and on the basis of which Christianity was founded. Moreover, the first century mysteries were in fact a continuation of the Eleusian initiations that preceded Christ, and that have existed for millennia not only in the Mediteranean civilization, but elsewhere in the world too, the so-called "religion without name" enabled by sacred rituals and actual spiked potions. The idea may not seem that complex at first sight, but there are more riches that are being offered as food for thought in this book. The most important for me is that no religion can be founded based on a simple story, and there's got to be a strong mystic initiation core at its origins, when revelation is transmitted, at least until the religion becomes institution and establishment, devoid of any mystical experience. Visionaries like Giordano Bruno, are later treated as parias and executed, or those who really want to perform the true sacred rituals move into hiding.
I highly recommend this book, especially in audiobook format narrated by the author himself, with perfect tone and intonation of all Greek, Italian and Latin names
.Oh, and if there's any doubt that ignorance is still alive and well, Brian's episode on JRE has been taken down by Youtube enforcers, as you can see from above. I found a recent reupload, below, listen to it while it lasts.
There's an even more informed discussion with Muraresku on this Reddit AMA:
