Ethnobotanist Richard Evans Schultes, one of the most important plant explorers of the 20th century, served as a key inspiration in a recent film called “Embrace of the Serpent.” In December 1941, Schultes entered the Amazon to study how indigenous peoples used plants for medicinal, ritual, and practical purposes. After nearly a decade of fieldwork, he made significant discoveries about the sacred hallucinogen ayahuasca. In total, Schultes would collect more than 24,000 species of plants including some 300 species new to Western science.
Tag: Aldous Huxley
Renaissance of Psychedelics in Psychiatry
Psychedelic use has played a role since ancient times in healing the psyche and connecting with the mind of the universe. Research into psychedelics to treat psychological maladies, pain and disease, prohibited since the 1970s, is now showing promise, writes Michael Pollan.
Federico Fellini: Intuitive Visual Art
Fellini in the 1969 experimental documentary on US television opines on his Felliniesque creative process: “I think almost exclusively in images, which explains why an actor’s face and body are more important to me than plot structure . . . . The key word to understanding my kind of cinema is vitality. What I seek is to live the expression itself.”
Space Exploration: Ray Bradbury and the Mission to the Red Planet
“The Martians were there—in the canal—reflected in the water…. The Martians stared back up at them for a long, long silent time from the rippling water….” –Ray Bradbury, “The Martian Chronicles”