Someone shared this with me, and while I'm sure a lot of you guys will have a lot of feelings about it, I'm also pretty sure we've all met this guy at least one, at a festival, or conference, or in someones basement.



Blessings
~ND

a fine candidate for president in Idiocracy

Was that video a joke?


That guy is the stereotype that the psychedelic community has been trying to avoid, and needs to avoid, we are not all inarticulate irresponsible long-hairs that drink ayahuasca because, in that guys words "it's really trendy in the underground" and "it gets you hiiiiigh"

Personally I got a laugh out of it, but it worries me that people who may have never heard about ayahuasca before might see that. What a terrible introduction that would make.

-EG

This is the funniest thing I've seen all week. Those who don't get this are no worry to me. If you think this is a serious video, then it is beyond hope for ya. Whether it not this guy really has any interest in DMT, I don't know, but he knew enough about it to make one of the funnier videos I've seen in some time.

I had only watched one minute of the video before I posted my first comment, even though it was hard to watch I decided that maybe I judged this guy too soon and decided to watch the whole video. I watched it to very close to the end this time, there's some really disturbing parts in it, that guy probably has some psychological issues and should not be allowed any where near ayahuasca, he is likely to end up hurting himself or worse yet he is going to tell someone he is a "shaman" give them ayahuasca that he may or may not have prepared correctly and that other person could end up getting hurt. It really bothered me to see this guy use ayahuasca in such an irresponsible manor and claim that spirituality was behind it, it looked more like drug abuse than spirituality. When he said "call a ceremony a party" it bothered me as well. During the first minute of the film you just think he is unintelligent and inarticulate,and you can laugh at him, by the end of the film you think that this guy has psychological issues and is abusing ayahuasca, and is going to hurt himself or someone else.

-EG

So it was a joke?

I've actually met people like that and I always think I hope to God they never get their hands on psychedelics which is why it was hard for me to tell if this was a joke or what, even if it's a joke there's still some messed up stuff in there that doesn't reflect well upon ayahuasca or ayahuasca users, I'm sure the DEA would want to make that dude the poster boy for an anti-ayahuasca campaign.

-EG

Of course this is a joke! This guy makes all kinds of videos poking fun at the "spiritual" crowd (he has videos like, "How to be Ultra Spiritual," etc). I'm honestly confused that you thought any part of this was real. It's pretty obvious he's not brewing ayahuasca in that kitchen.

I think this video is great, if a little long: we all need to laugh at ourselves once and awhile and not take ourselves so freakin' seriously.

If you read the comments you can see his real thoughts about aya it seems

And, of course, the video is definitely a joke...as if it needs to be said. This is in the humor section yanno

My fault, I've never heard of this guy at all, and did not go to YouTube to look it up, I'm glad it's a joke which was my first impression, but you do meet people just like that, which can be funny, but when you think of those people with powerful psychedelics in their hands and it becomes scary. I'll admit I should have gone with my first instinct and taken it as a joke, and I'm sure I look foolish for not doing so, but what can you do? We all have our brain-dead days, though even as a joke it still kind of offended me, but I suppose your right we do need to laugh at ourselves and not take things so serious, I guess it just hit a sensitive nerve with me because I honestly fear that people like that (or people like the guy is pretending to be) are going to hurt themselves or others with ayahuasca.

-EG

Agreed on the level that over-seriousness exist, exploit-ism too, and if humor shed a light on that, then it serves a purpose. But on the other hand thinking that aya cannot be in any way serious*** is like same error in the opposite way. Both are generalizations.

***: lot depend on how we fill in that word, but was thinking of people who do find betterment due aya, as for one, it can provide learn-some perception shifts, dislocating habitual patterns... That doesn't work for everyone of course.

If we define for a sec "serious" as "with genuine/healing value" then humor itself is serious too, if it wasn't it wouldn't be so powerful.

IMHO the better ceremonies are serious and hilarious at same time (while not over-serious and not over-hilarious) on a nice balance point where the two marry.

If one can't detect a single trace of seriousness on aya at all (not seriousness by human act, but seriousness provided by the brew), go deeper.

"He taught me how to call a party a ceremony"

I didn't know we were trendy. Finally, I'm in the avant garde.

While finding humor in one's self is extremely important, I don't think I've laughed at a parody since I was twelve. Not my type of comedy I suppose.


I understand its meant to bring laughter, but the message he is sending out is far from humorous. I don't think its necessary to brand and label spirituality, or healing experiences, or anything involved with ones personal ayahuasca experience for that matter. Someone who genuinely received something positive from aya may later feel ashamed or embarrassed to share their experience because of this fellow and his mocking nature. The fact that he believes he knows what makes an aya experience 'sacred' seems a bit off to me, I'm not sure what gives him that authority, but saying something about losing your self without knowing it, or implying that only a traditional shaman knows the frequency one should use also sounds silly and ignorant. Its as though he is one of those people who thinks only going to a shaman in the amazon will make an ayahuasca experience valid and legit, and 'sacred'.


Not to mention the chip he seems to have on his shoulder with regards to common spiritual terminology. Why place so much importance on speech? Humans number in the billions, have been evolving on this planet for millions of years and have developed countless dialects, to say there is a correct or incorrect way or expressing the ineffable awe of a spiritual experience seems like a serious problem of reality tunnel attachment and ego inflation.



Maybe I just don't understand, not until I make a YouTube video titled 'the meaning of life' with a preview thumb featuring me and two other douchey looking guys flexing without a shirt. High enlightenment bros! /fist bump

It's comedy. The point of comedy is it will always appeal to the middle of the bell curve, regardless of content. If something that is different or trendy or well known is poked at, people will laugh whether they know what it is or not. There will be also those who are on the outer ends of that curve.

With that said, he has a youtube channel, he's not trying to offend anyone. He's trying to get views, likes and subscribers. He likely doesnt wake up and say "what group can I offend today by calling their beliefs and practices out?" Literally, nothing, about this video was serious, he doesnt have a chip on his shoulder. He doesnt know what makes an ayahuasca cermeony sacred, he doesnt place importance on speech of spiritual terminology, etc etc etc. Some of you seem to have read WAY WAY too much into this.

He might be a user on here with 3000 posts and believe deeply in what it is we all do and it changed his life for the better as it has for most of us, except he has a youtube channel that makes fun of stuff that people may have the potential to take way too seriously.

Theres really no reason to take anything so seriously. Laugh a little. Not every bit of that was worthy of a giant chuckle, but the content was funny because of his delivery and straight facedness.

I wish he had pronounced it "ayerwasker" at least twice.

I'm not reading too much into it, im reading his comments which are there for anyone to read, and watched a few more of his videos, which are pretty straightforward. I wouldnt just assume these things from thin air.


Just because it's comedy doesn't mean there's not an agenda.

If you want to know about his real opinions on Ayahuasca, he made this statement in the comments.
I think he makes some very good points (the emphasis was added by me).



Blessings
~ND

I subscribe to his youtube channel, I watch all the videos he posts. He likes to poke fun, but there's always a serious message behind the laughter. He's basically a therapist, he's trying to open people psychologically to help them heal.

http://www.innerawakeningsonline.com/about-jp-sears/

He explains his motivations for making this video, and that's exactly what I got from it when I watched it. Some people in a community like this one might cringe a bit at the way he's portraying the misuse of something so sacred, but only because we're so protective of it and want people to understand the healing nature of Ayahuasca. He digs deep into our psyches and (purposefully) triggers an emotional response, as a way of helping us learn something about ourselves

Its easy to understand what he is trying to say, its obvious that he's not just poking fun to poke fun, I suppose I'm just at odds with the message behind the humor, which by the way didn't really trigger an emotional response at all, be it humorous or otherwise (we all have a different sense of humor, and i don't carry myself anything at all as he portrayed in the video so it didn't offend me).


What didn't sit well with me was when he brings up things like the assumptions that one might say "I'm using something sacred, therefore how I'm using it is sacred" and "Some use Ayahuasca at frequencies and times of the day that traditional Shaman wouldn't even consider," it seems as though he is attempting to be some authority on the sacredness of ayahuasca, and implying that one needs to go to a traditional shaman to have a sacred experience. The last time I had a ceremony it was around three p.m, I was wearing nothing except my adidas soccer shorts, sitting in my side yard near the garbage and recycle cans while a stupid pomeranian was barking at me incessantly through the fence next door. I experienced tremendous healing that day. Perhaps I should seek out a traditional shaman in peru and ask if that is sacred enough, or if it was the appropriate time of day, lest i fear I'm abusing the sacredness of mother aya.




That's fine that he is attempting to share his wisdom, but he should also offer a disclaimer that one not need spend their hard earned money going to a traditional shaman to experience healing. Sacredness can come in many ways, including someone home brewing in their kitchen as shown mockingly in his video.


lastly, when he says "I believe that until we can see the possibility that how a path we're taking to find ourselves can also become a path we lose ourselves on" just really reminded me of being in high school and hearing teachers preach how marijuana will make you lose who you are or that acid will fry your brain and you'll never be the same. Sure, there's some people here that have trouble with integration, but a pre-disposed fear of 'losing ourselves' isn't something those new to ayahuasca should have to fear, its just too reminiscent of anti drug propaganda we've been fed our entire lives. Be open to the experience, know that it may or may not be difficult, but fear that you will exhibit negative change and start abusing a substance isn't okay with me, though i realise we all have different opinions on that matter and that's okay too.

This was hilarious. I thought his intentions were obvious.