FAQ

Q: Why are you making this movie?

A: Because it must be done, and I’m the one to do it. At the risk of repeating what many others have written (and to mix some metaphors), our civilization is at the brink of a precipice, and we need to think far outside the box if we are to find a way to survive the present concrescence of challenges such as peak oil, climate change, wars and fascism, overpopulation, and so much more. Ayahuasca is one very promising means to think outside that box and heal the dysfunctional thinking and behavior on a personal, psychological level that is both caused by, and reciprocally causes the dysfunctionality of our culture.

Terrence McKenna said it best: “Re-establishing direct channels of communication with the planetary other, the mind behind Nature, through the use of hallucinogenic plants is the last, best hope for dissolving the steep walls of cultural inflexibility that appear to be channeling us toward true ruin.”

The Pachamama Alliance has this to say: “A consistent message that has been delivered by the leaders of indigenous groups is that one of the most powerful actions that can be taken in support of the rainforest is to ‘change the dream of the North.’” Ayahuasca has the power to transform our individual and collective dreams in the direction of greater harmony with the flow of life.

The goals of this movie are to make it easier for newcomers to engage with the medicine, to go as deep into the topic as can be fit into the time-span of a movie, and to pass on some of the best wisdom gained as a result of the process.

Q: Are you experienced?

A: I took a course on video production, and I was in the cast and crew of a live, weekly, one-hour public access television show. I also shot 20 hours of interview footage for a documentary on intentional communities that was directed by someone else.

I have participated in 30 ayahuasca ceremonies led by Peruvian shamans during the 3 months I have spent so far in the Amazon.

Q: So you’re totally into drugs?

A: Not at all. I don’t drink alcohol and I abstain from everything except a little caffeine. I’m not approaching ayahuasca as a substance containing DMT to use to get high, but rather this movie is about shamanism as a form of therapy to heal problems with the mind and body, and the psychedelic beverage of ayahuasca is the centerpiece in that therapy, but not the whole thing. The ceremony where ayahuasca is drank is certainly the main event, but the time before and after is very important as well. My aim with this film is to show how to use ayahuasca administered by a shaman in a traditional manner in order to experience the psychological breakthroughs necessary to enjoy greater health and happiness while sober in everyday life.

Q: Since when do you believe in a spirit world? I thought you were an atheist.

A: I try not to believe things I don’t have evidence for. I’ve experienced the spirit world in ayahuasca ceremonies, but I’m not going to argue for the truth of its existence, because it has no physical existence to prove. I call the beings I meet there spirits because that’s what the shamans call them, and I don’t have a more accurate term to use.  I liken the spirit world to the dream world. In dreams you meet characters and interact with them and have experiences. But no one is going to say that they believe the dream world is real. What would be the point? Right now I think it’s safe to say that the spirit world is experienced in the mind as a place of archetypes and symbolic metaphors. Is it more than just that? I’ll ask the shamans.

Q: Are you going to be the star of your own documentary, like Michael Moore?

A: No. You might see me a little in the beginning of the film, plus a little narration to set the scene, but the stars of the show will be the shamans, their apprentices, and of course, the spirits.

Q: How dare you, as an educated, white, heterosexual male, shamelessly flaunt your first-world privilege and presumption of entitlement by flying to an oppressed, impoverished region to ruthlessly appropriate the sacred culture of indigenous people, for the purpose of turning it into a commodified spectacle to sell to the alienated masses back in the oppressor nation?

A: Are you actually asking a question, or just standing on your soapbox?

As far as I’ve been able to tell, shamans in the Amazon are not trying to keep ayahuasca a secret, only to be used with their own people.  They’re willing to share it with others who approach it with the right respect and who are willing to compensate them for their work. Of course, money from foreign travelers is changing the role of the shaman in that region, and not every aspect of that change is positive, but I think it’s more positive than negative overall, and cannot be compared to how the region has been exploited for rubber, wood, and oil.

The spectacle I’m creating will actually be made available to the world for free on YouTube (see the Distribution page for more info.) While the medium of video can be alienating and lead to more separation between people, the opposite can happen as well. I have met some of the people I saw in an ayahuasca documentary, and seeing that documentary played a big role in my decision to go to Peru and have some unmediated experiences of my own.

When a gringo drinks ayahuasca, is the gringo appropriating something from the rainforest, or is the rainforest appropriating the gringo? Someone who has never drank the brew might dismiss this as a rationalization, but I seriously think that the medicine is doing a lot to transform, undermine, and erase the foundational assumptions of Western Civilization in the hearts and minds of the foreigners who drink it. Rather that being one more example of colonialism, I think it may indirectly help to bring about the end of colonialism. Or maybe that’s just my privilege talking. Maybe the dramatic healing and positive life changes experienced when people of privilege drink ayahuasca only serves to make them more effective oppressors. If that’s what you want to think, I’m not going to try to stop you. Enjoy your guilt sandwich with a side order of blame.

Q: Why must you go all the way to the Amazon Jungle to film it? Isn’t there some cheaper alternative closer to home?

A: The Amazon is where Ayahuasca originated. I feel that to respect the medicine and the peoples who managed to preserve their tradition of using it despite centuries of abuse from missionaries, conquerors, and corporations, I need to go to the source. There may be other respectful and beneficial ways to use ayahuasca outside those traditions and outside of the Amazon; I’m not judging that. I just think that to get the best advice on how to work with the medicine, it might be best to interview the people who have worked with it the longest in something closer to its original context.

Q: Will you be romanticizing or othering the people who live in the rainforest?

A: No. It’s far from paradise in the rainforest, the cultures there have problems of their own, and shamans aren’t saints. I’m not going to exaggerate the differences either. My take is that yeah, compared to the United States, the place is somewhat different, and the people are somewhat different, but still, the place is simply a place and the people are simply people.

The medicine is very powerful and deserves to be looked into (which is why I’m making this movie), but I will remind the viewer that it is not an instant cure for everything. Ayahuasca is a tool that can be used either wisely or poorly.

I will encourage any would-be travelers to remember that they are in another person’s home (country) and to exercise good manners and to be a good guest. Just in case it isn’t obvious, I’ll make sure that my interviewees underscore the need for humility and respect on the part of foreign visitors.

Q: Are you going to present this film as all you need to know to brew your own medicine and become a shaman yourself?

A: Absolutely not. The emphasis will be purely on how to travel to the Amazon to work with the medicine under the guidance of shamans who already have a lot of experience. I’ll make sure that viewers know that according to shamanic traditions, it typically takes 7-10 years of difficult training to become a shaman capable of leading a ceremony.

Q: Will this be another one of those documentaries that only show a bunch of old men talking like they know everything?

A: No. I intend to show knowledgeable women talking on the screen for around 60% of the duration of the film. Since shamanism in the Amazon tends to be such a male-dominated field, one of my goals for the movie is to reverse that trend by interviewing several female shamans. I am a man, but I understand that females make up a slight majority of the human population, and I want this movie to reflect that. Though experienced shamans tend to be old, we’ll see a wide variety of ages and backgrounds among their apprentices, and this will convey that ayahuasca can be right for people from all walks of life

Q: Shouldn’t you be doing something more useful with your time and energy like stopping war, preventing global climate change, cleaning up the oil spill, or fighting the New World Order?

A: In one of my ceremonies, the medicine told me to “light things up” by putting out good vibes and doing things to make the world a more wonderful place, instead of fighting problems in society. I’m not judging anyone who is fighting problems. I’m just saying that my instructions are clear, and I’m doing my best to put them into practice by making this movie.

Q: What genre of film is it?

A: Part travel guide, part instructional, part performative documentary.

Q: Why is your target audience just people who are seriously considering traveling to the Amazon to drink ayahuasca? Won’t that severely curtail the movie’s popularity?

A: There is great power in assumptions. Every television commercial assumes that you want their product and the lifestyle they’re promoting along with it. If I were to start with the assumptions of the mainstream culture of the USA, that would immediately legitimize and empower those assumptions, and I don’t want to do that. Instead, this movie assumes that of course you’re going to work with the medicine in a serious way. Rather than spoon-feeding the viewer the basic facts and wasting time pleading a case in favor of ayahuasca, it’s just assumed that the viewer has heard of it (hasn’t everyone?) and that the viewer knows that it’s profoundly transformative in a healthy way. I’ll make sure that my interviewees make brief mention of the basic facts so that any reasonably intelligent viewer who has never heard of ayahuasca should be able to figure out from context what’s going on. The attitude and body language of the speakers will convey far better than a narrator could that ayahuasca is no party drug and that ceremonies are a time for serious self-reflection.

This movie will also be enjoyed by others who are not likely future ayahuasca drinkers. Anyone who dares to watch it will have an unforgettable experience. They will be entranced by the dazzling and intriguing animated visions, and they won’t be able to stop watching because no one will be able to predict what will happen next.