Video Creator’s Channel Chris Williamson

I Call It The Best Kept Secret In

history are essentially two questions. Number one did the ancient Greeks use drugs to find God and number two. Do the earliest Christians inherit part of that tradition. If the answer to both of those questions is yes, then it means that Western civilization as we know it was somewhat founded on a visionary experience and Christianity. The world’s biggest religion today, with two and a half billion people might be tapping into those same psychedelic waters.

• barristering
• barrister
• psychedelics
• psychedelic
• lawyering

Youre A Qualified Lawyer.

Why are you talking about the psychedelic origins of Western civilization that’s a great question. I feel like I’m I’m still a barrister still bad do you is that what you call it barristering lawyering look being a being a barrister being a barristering yeah if anyone can tell us if the verb is too barrister UK so I still do. That believe it or not I’m I’m still in good standing in New York State in Washington, DC for the moment and I don’t know I don’t know I just I started reading about psychedelics and I couldn’t stop but weren’t tempted to try them. You actually sorry decided not to try them.

You Remained Psychedelically Uninitiated.

Throughout the writing of your book. My virginity was and remains intact is that going to change at any point soon soon in the coming years. I’m not sure exactly when but as it becomes legal and as the facilities come online where you can have an experience that is you know responsible and scientifically rigorous and also for me authentically sacred and historical. I think that’ll be my moment it’s going to be so fascinating to see what happens to you having spent over a decade thinking reflecting considering and then also.

Going Into Wondering What Other Peoples Experiences

are like the the meta experience, What did they think what did they feel man whatever it is that you end up going through Is you’re gonna be shot into another universe? I can’t wait. I’m always part of me is always thinking the great irony of all this would be if absolutely nothing happened all this time. All this time I was wrong bleep what a waste it was all a big troll is there a movie coming out Is there a movie coming out about the book um we we hope so um at least a documentary series so we’re busy pitching that to different networks and streamers here in the us but obviously it’ll have a global audience dude that’s so cool yeah man. We have that that’s that’s been a you know a big part of my my job. the past few weeks and months but negotiating what sort of a series it should be who should play you Can we get Tom Hanks all that sort of stuff? All of the above and where do you go? And how do you get there? And why are you doing it? And is this you know is This one episode Is this a thousand episodes and how do we pair the mystery and suspense with the rigorous academic scholarship and you know make it make it a feast for the eyes and for the ears.

Its Got To Be A Killer Soundtrack

right nice yeah, so it’s going to be barristering writing producing the triple threat that’s the that’s the big triple threat that’s my new business card. Chris I love it I love it if you need an agent speak to me so right later honestly what what’s the story arc of history that you’re following here right so it’s um you know I call it the best kept secret in history which which is not my words. These are the words of Houston Smith who if you’ve never heard of him. He’s one of the most influential scholars of. the 20th century and what he was referring to are essentially two questions? Number one did the ancient Greeks use drugs to find God and number two did The earliest Christians inherit part of that tradition.

If The Answer To Both Of Those Questions

is yes, then it means that you know like Western civilization as we know it was somewhat founded on a visionary experience and Christianity. The world’s biggest religion today, with two and a half billion people might be tapping into those same psychedelic waters. So these are big questions obviously very controversial and there’s lots of great literature out there and artifacts you can go hunt down. But what I tried to do over the past 12 years is sniff out the hard scientific data to really make you know heads or tails of this for the first time, why does it matter or why is. There a distinction between it happening just for the Greeks and it happening for also the foundation of Christianity.

So The First Chapter Of My Book Is

called identity Crisis and it talks a lot about this. I mean at some point or for a long time there was no separation between church and state and I feel like in the west. We’re still grappling at least in the United States. We’re still growing well in the Uk as well we’re still grappling with this sense of the sacred and the profane. I mean so the old narrative is that the ancient Greeks birthed political life as we know it and gave us the arts and sciences and the concept of a university and you know we took their theaters and made it into Hollywood and we took their Olympic games and we made it into the sports industry and.

All This Stuff That They Gave Us

You know they were able to do all this, but when it came to the meaning of life, you know they got it all wrong. It’s the prevailing narrative and here comes Jesus in Christianity and the Christianized Roman empire and they’re the ones who go off and Evangelize and they’re the ones who colonized the Americas. For example and Africa and Asia it was this um. It was this evangelization movement. You know and we live in 2021 on no domini the year of our lord I mean so there’s all these identity crises that I think we’re still grappling with like sometimes we’re Greek and rational and sometimes we’re very Christian and and irrational faith-based um and what which is it and how do we heal that divide so if you can answer both of those questions and weirdly if.

Is The Thing That Unites The

ancient Greeks and the Christians when you know we’re hard of trying to figure out anything that unites them what a powerful story absolutely so where do we begin? What’s the what even suggests, why psychedelics? So I mean I I spent years after asking myself the same question it starts for me. It started in 1955. I wasn’t there but in the this guy Gordon Wassen, who like me was working on Wall street. He was working at J. p Morgan.

This Former Banker Turned Ethnomycologist.

He became obsessed with mushrooms and went all around the world hunting them. We think he’s the first to really document this ceremony in the mass texts of Mexico, Psilocybin containing mushrooms. Under the tutelage of Maria Sabina. He takes the mushrooms in a very ritual setting and he has a crazy you know visionary experience but what’s.

Weird About Gordon Is That Instead Of Saying

just oh wow was it wasn’t that some crazy geometry of crazy visuals or what the hell was that this guy because he’s well read and lettered you know, he says I think that I’ve tapped into the platonic archetypes. He says that these divine mushrooms must have been what was behind the ancient mysteries because what happened to me was so real so vivid and so clear that I think I’ve tapped into the realest version of reality, and if I just did that here in 1955 maybe our ancient ancestors 2500 years ago were doing the same thing because psychedelics are freaking. They’re a mind buster and so when someone like that is doing psychedelics and thinking about the classics and history um without doing them. I was relying on his testimony to kind of ferret out the same details. I was reading these studies coming out of hopkins very similar kind of testimony one and only dose of psilocybin, crazy visuals, crazy, mystical insights and the first thing I think of is Gordon Watson and his theory that maybe the Greeks were doing this and I slashed to this book from 1978 where they were spouting.

• talking psychedelic origins western civilization
• lawyer talking psychedelic
• nice yeah going barristering
• question feel like barrister bad
• barrister uk believe

This Controversial Theory That Psychedelics Are The Roots

of Western civilization and off. I go why like that that’s a a wonderful postulated theory from some guy that once did mushrooms, but that doesn’t necessarily justify doing 12 years of a book on it that’s a good that’s a good point My wife mentioned something similar at some point um so where’s the I mean that’s my point so where’s the data so in 1978 what they had was really interesting literary references around what was happening at Ellucis and so for those. Who don’t know Ellucis is like the spiritual capital of the ancient world. It survives for about two thousand years. That is to say as long as Christianity.

Over The Past Two Thousand.

It called to everybody from Plato in classical Athens to Marcus Aurelius and the Roman Empire centuries later, and they all talk about this vision. They all talk about this life transforming event like if you went to a lucius um you confronted death and became an immortal only people who’d gone there and had this experience walked away from it guaranteed of an afterlife that’s where you went to get your afterlife and so it’s this really central pivotal moment in Greek history in the history of Western civilization, and there’s some testimony from Plato and others that they saw this thing and there’s old poetry like the Hindu Demeter from a couple centuries before that. which talks about this magic potion and it lists out the ingredients of this potion called the cookie on um and what we’re told in the ancient literature and the ancient sources that survived and not much survived because this was all secret, but what we’re left with is the idea of this magical beer that propelled this vision and it was water mint and Barley, which again is not something to stake 12 years of your life on but according to Gordon Watson and Albert Hoffmann, who discovers LsD in 1938, they were kind of reading between the lines and they said it’s not water.

You Know Barley And Mint Its

water ergatized Barley and mint so Barley. They’ve been infected by Ergot. Ergot is where we get Lsd and it’s a really really elegant theory. Because ergot is totally natural.

It Pops Up On All The Cereal Crops.

And it’s interesting to think that that may have been there 2500 years ago or a lot longer by the way which I explore in the book, but again no hard scientific data to support that what would be the reason for someone an intellectual like Plato or an emperor like Marcus Aurelius, what would be the reason for them to go to this bizarre place and have some odd ritual and change their state. I thought that they would be much more down-to-earth grounded humans. I think that’s the thing that brought them down to earth.

So You Know.

Marcus Aurelius a classic textbook stoic um he didn’t just go to Ellucis and again. This place survives from the ancient Greek times to the ancient Roman.

Summary

I call it the best kept secret in history are essentially two questions: Did the ancient Greeks use drugs to find God and number two. Do the earliest Christians inherit part of that tradition? Western civilization as we know it was somewhat founded on a visionary experience and Christianity. The world’s biggest religion today, with two and a half billion people might be tapping into those same psychedelic waters. I can’t wait. I’m always part of me is always thinking the grea. I think that’ll be my moment it’s going to be so fascinating to see what happens to you having spent over a decade thinking reflecting considering and then also. What did they think what did they feel man whatever it is that you end up going through Is you’re gonna be shot into another universe? I can’t wait. It’s going to change at any point soon soon in the coming years. I’m not sure exactly when but as it becomes legal and as it comes online where you can…. Click here to read more and watch the full video