The Friday afternoon Panorama at the World Psychedelic Forum included Amanda Feilding, Peter Gasser, Dennis McKenna, Mattias Brockers, Cynthia Palmer and Michael Horowitz.

Over the years, Amanda Feailding has been called--among other things--an aristocratic eccentric. Yet in the company of many of the others at the Forum, her eccentricity is only a bit disconcerting. In all honestly, I have to admit that I didn't get to hear her talk. I only know of her by reputation.

She gained notoriety in the early 1970s when she performed trepanation, i.e., she drilled a hole in her own skull, while her partner filmed her doing it. The result was a short cult art film entitled 'Heartbeat in the Brain', which was shown only to invited audiences. The reason for doing so, she believed, was that this allows more oxygen to get to the brain tissues and was a "safe" way of experiencing expanded consciousness.

She founded and directs a charitable trust, The Beckley Foundation, which does fundamental academic research in the field of human consciousness, and which was one of the sponsors of the World Psychedelic Forum. So while Ms Feilding might indeed be an eccentric, there's no doubt in my mind that her organization is performing valuable work. And while trepanation might seem bizarre at first, I suspect that there are some valid things to be said about it. Certainly it makes a more definitive--and lasting--statement in the search for expanded consciousness than swallowing 100 mics of acid does.

Matthias Bröckers is a journalist and according to his Wikipedia page, a conspiracy theorist who questions the findings about 9/11. He is also an advocate of legalizing marijuana and has written about Albert Hofmann.

Peter Gasser is one of the few researchers in the world allowed to use LSD in psychotherapy. This important reprise of a once burgeoning and promising practice is being done in Switzerland.

Cynthia Palmer calls herself a SheShaman and unfortunately, I don't know much about her and therefore didn't go to her talk.

Her husband, Michael Horowitz, however, is better known to me because of his longtime association with Timothy Leary. He and his wife are the founders of the world's largest library of drug literature, the Fitz Hugh Ludlow Memorial Library. He is also the father of actress Winona Ryder.

The one person in this group that I really wanted to see was Dennis McKenna, the brother of Terence McKenna, who experienced perhaps the most famous "bad trip" in literature.

In his book "True Hallucinations", about the brothers' journey to Peru in the 60's to find psychedelic mushrooms, Terence describes how Dennis took a dose of these "magic mushrooms", after which he spent nearly a week in a truly weird reality as he went through intense periods of godlike wisdom, establishing new and incredible theories based on mathematical and scientific concepts that only he could understand at that point.

I've followed his curriculum vitae since then and besides getting his Ph.D. in Botanical Science, he has authored numerous scientific and academic papers, as well as books about natural products and indigenous medicines. According to his Wikipedia page, "his research has included the pharmacology, botany and chemistry of ayahuasca and oo-koo-hé, the subjects of his master's thesis. He has also conducted extensive fieldwork in the Peruvian, Columbian and Brazilian Amazon."

His primary work now is in association with the Hefter Research Institute, which states as its mission:

"The Heffter Research Institute promotes research of the highest scientific quality with psychedelic substances in order to contribute to a greater understanding of the mind, leading to the improvement of the human condition, and the alleviation of suffering. This mission has already begun to attract scientists and researchers of the highest caliber. The information and new knowledge gained will be disseminated to the medical and scientific communities."

I'd heard Dennis a few times previously and was amazed at how much he sounds like Terence. His knowledge of Ethnopharmacology is voluminous and I was sure his talk would be interesting and informative.

Our first meeting of the afternoon, however, was with the co-editors of the 2-volume $200 book, Psychedelic Medicine: New Evidence for Hallucinogenic Substances as Treatments.

From a review found on the Amazon page about this book:

"These books are a comprehensive and scholarly review of the current status of the therapeutic potential of hallucinogens. The contributors represent an outstanding group of scientists, scholars and clinicians, most of whom have had direct experience using and administering these drugs in either therapeutic or religious contexts. The result is an impressive collection. The authors provide scholarly historical reviews of the use of these drugs, as well as detailed instructions and advice for the clinician on how to administer these drugs safely and effectively in a therapeutic context. The authors provide a balanced view and acknowledge the many risks and pitfalls of improper use of these drugs. Likely to be of interest to scientists, clergy, mental health professionals, and anyone interested in the mind. It provides an up to date review of the status of hallucinogens in modern medicine, as well as a historical review of their status in the past. It is highly recommended. - Harriet de Wit, PhD Professor, Department of Psychiatry The University of Chicago"

The first part of the talk was given by Tom Roberts who was pitching a well-documented business plan that would create a psychedelic services corporation; presumably employing the kind of research found in the book. After presenting an outline to this business, we were allowed to ask questions.

The main problem many of us could see was that while the profit potential of his idea was impressive if you only look at the numbers, the political and public relations obstacles to creating this kind of service corporation looked insurmountable. Dr. Roberts acknowledged this, but felt that as soon as people and governments understand the kind of benefits psychedelics could provide (based on the work being done), many of these obstacles would be overcome.

This excursion into capitalism was a rather strange tangent from the overall focus of the Forum, and seemed quite premature at this stage. But Michael Winkelman brought us back to today's reality with an overview of some of the research being done in the area of psychedelics. His medical and scientific background gave Scott something to sink his scientist's teeth into and spent a bit of time with Dr. Winkelman later on.

After our afternoon break, it was time to listen to Dennis McKenna's 2-part talk. The first was called "Psychedelics in Basic Neuroscience and Clinical Practice", and the second was called "Bitter Brews and Other Abominations: The Uses and Abuses of Some Little Known Psychoactive Agents.

First, I have to say in all honestly that Dennis McKenna has the look and demeanor of your classic "nerd". And when he talks, his knowledge of the subject can sometimes overwhelm, but these were the topics that made me sit up and take notice because of my interest in understanding the scientific basis for how psychedelics function. For an hour and a half he spoke about how psychedelics act on the brain: how they specifically work on the Seratonin 1a and 2a receptors and how virtually all true psychedelics work on the same receptors. He said that while there are many psychoactive molecules that work on other receptors including the dopamine, opioid, nicotinic and cannabinoid receptors, apparently only the the ones that work on Seranonin 1a and 2a can produce the numinous effects sought after by the knowledgeable user.

For Scott, I believe that the information presented by McKenna was much more important than many of the other ideas from the Forum.

As a working scientist, much of the more esoteric and metaphysical ideas being presented clashed with his belief in the absolute necessity of the Scientific Method in regard to any area of study. Therefore if a theory or concept wasn't provable and reproducible, then it couldn't be accepted as fact.

Yet, so much of what surrounds psychedelics, or meditation or shamanism or mystical states extends beyond the provable, that it is difficult for someone like me--and impossible for Scott--to bridge the gap between scientific rationalism and the ethereal concepts that are behind these methods and their expanded states of consciousness.

Therefore, my goal for the past few years has been to slowly pry open my mind to these concepts using science itself as a wedge. To this end, I've done most of my research and learning from those who use science to explain the ideas that seem at first to conflict with reason.

That's why I've interspersed my studies with the ideas of Erwin Schrödinger, David Peat, David Bohm, Frijtof Capra, Fred Alan Wolf, and other quantum physicists because they came to realize that much of the new reality they were beginning to understand had an uncanny resemblance to the ideas of many ancient wisdom religions such as Buddhism, Qabalah, Sufism, indigenous shamanism and Christian mysticism.

Even Robert Oppenheimer, nuclear physicist and "Father of the Atomic Bomb", who had an education that had included the study of the classic Hindu Upanishads said this:

"The general notions about human understanding… which are illustrated by discoveries in atomic physics are not in the nature of things wholly unfamiliar, wholly unheard of or new. Even in our own culture they have a history, and in Buddhist and Hindu thought a more considerable and central place. What we shall find [in modern physics] is an exemplification, an encouragement, and a refinement of old wisdom."

Beyond quantum physicists, there is an entire spectrum of scientists and non-scientists alike who nonetheless are attempting to bridge the two diverse areas of knowledge. And while there is a great deal of pseudo-scientific speculation and outright charlatanism in any effort to increase man's understanding of the unknowable, I've made it my goal to get beyond the hucksterism and get to the heart of the matter so to speak. So far, most of the books and lectures I've listened to fall into this category.

What impressed me most about the speakers and researchers presenting at World Psychedelic Forum was that very few were merely colorful or interesting "Acid Heads". In fact, the only person I'd put in this category was Carolyn Garcia. Her presence was mostly as a bookend to the popular history of psychedelics in the United States. The vast majority of speakers were anthropologists, biologists, ethnobotanists, psychiatrists, psychotherapists and psychologists, physicians, authors, journalists, ethnopharmacologists and numerous researchers working with psychedelics in different disciplines around the world.

In addition, the World Psychedelic Forum presented visionary artists, musicians, poets, indigenous shamans, yogis, Zen priests, literary scholars and film directors.

It truly was an eclectic group that met in Basel that week.

(Go to Part 3)