Culture - Magic Mushrooms in Relation to Human Evolution

[Zanthius]

I have written this article about magic mushrooms in relation to human evolution.


Most paleoanthropologists agree that the first modern humans should be defined according to when our ancestors developed a "symbolic language", and gained the ability of "collective learning" - which made our pool of collective knowledge increase from one generation to the next. The Cro-Magnons living in Europe around thirty thousand years ago, were among the first people to create cave paintings. Many archaeologists believe that shamans were responsible for creating these cave paintings, and that these shamans were in some kind of hallucinogenic trance while they painted. This trance could very well have been induced by magic mushrooms, as many of the shamans of the indigenous peoples today use magic mushrooms in their rituals. One of the things I loved to do when I used to eat magic mushrooms, was to go out and look at the stars and the aurora borealis, so I wouldn't find it strange if magic mushrooms stimulated an interest for astronomy in the ancient world.

The evolution of the ability to think abstractly must have been one of the prime causes which made our ancestors evolve into modern human beings. The invention of numbers, the formation of religious doctrines and the formation of complex social structures - all such things require the ability to think abstractly. There seems to be a need for some kind of a shock which pushed our species out of the typical animalistic behavioral patterns. Why would a species choose to break out of its typical animalistic behavioral pattern, unless some kind of shock was applied to the species? I wouldn't spontaneously invent numbers, form religious doctrines, and complex social structures, if I was a chimpanzee. However, if some kind of shock pushed my mind out of my typical animalistic behavioral pattern, I might start to do such things.

From my vast experience with magic mushrooms some years ago, I think it is safe to say that it provides some kind of a shock which stimulates your mind to think more abstractly. Many people claim to see visions of highly abstract patterns while under the influence of magic mushrooms, and these individuals often get an increased interest for abstract art following their psychedelic experiences. Isn't this a clear indication that magic mushrooms lead to a fascination of the abstract? Yes, if I was a chimpanzee, I would probably also start to think more abstractly if I started to eat magic mushrooms. I would love to see some scientific experiments where they feed chimpanzees with psilocybin mushrooms in order to see how it affects their intellectual development.

As nutritionists and biochemists increasingly are saying - everything we eat, even the air we inhale, is affecting our health, and possibly also the long term evolution of our species. The Japanese people are said to have above average intelligence due to the high concentration of omega 3 fatty acids in their raw fish diets, while humans in the western civilization are said the have evolved a gene for digesting the lactose in cow-milk, after the western civilization started drinking cow-milk during the Neolithic period. The evolutionary advantage from psilocybin could have been during a difficult time, when only the people consuming magic mushrooms were able to survive, due to what might have been their superior ability to find abstract solutions.

More than 96% of human DNA is identical to chimpanzee DNA, so of course we are related to them in some ways, but I prefer to think that the good qualities in men, like the ability to think abstractly and the ability to have spiritual values derives from the usage of magic mushrooms in ancient times. I feel a much greater kinship to the deep spiritual experience of magic mushrooms, than to those savage chimpanzees. I really hope that I originate just as much from divine mushrooms, as from those brutal chimpanzees! At least that would give me *some* divine origin.

Most people don't get a bad trip when they eat magic mushrooms, they get enlightening spiritual experiences. However, you are well advised to use magic mushrooms in surroundings you feel comfortable in, as people tend to connect to their surroundings on a deeper level while under the influence of psilocybin. In the Marsh Chapel Experiment at Harvard University, almost all of the graduate degree student volunteers who received psilocybin reported profound religious experiences.