WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.740 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:00:03.740 --> 00:00:05.930 align:middle line:90% "'Sacred Datura.' 00:00:05.930 --> 00:00:10.160 align:middle line:84% When I read that sacred datura, datura wrightii kótop thorn 00:00:10.160 --> 00:00:14.060 align:middle line:84% apple nightshade moon lily was/is believed to be a magical 00:00:14.060 --> 00:00:18.230 align:middle line:84% plant by Aztecs Chumash Zuni Jivaros Yaqui Tohono 00:00:18.230 --> 00:00:21.920 align:middle line:84% O'odham and more taken/given as a sacrament by religious 00:00:21.920 --> 00:00:26.840 align:middle line:84% authorities exumas shamans sadhus yogis thuggees etc. 00:00:26.840 --> 00:00:31.130 align:middle line:84% to induce visions for aid in shape-shifting or as a doorway 00:00:31.130 --> 00:00:34.280 align:middle line:84% to the flaming world of the dead a place you need to go 00:00:34.280 --> 00:00:36.140 align:middle line:90% to sometimes-- 00:00:36.140 --> 00:00:39.000 align:middle line:84% when I read all that I want to eat some right away of course 00:00:39.000 --> 00:00:39.500 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:00:39.500 --> 00:00:43.010 align:middle line:84% because I wish to be wise for me wisdom is more than a 00:00:43.010 --> 00:00:44.910 align:middle line:84% wish-- it's becoming an urgent need, 00:00:44.910 --> 00:00:46.535 align:middle line:84% but that's a story for another time 00:00:46.535 --> 00:00:47.780 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:00:47.780 --> 00:00:51.620 align:middle line:84% My friends and family knowing I lack wisdom grow concerned. 00:00:51.620 --> 00:00:53.220 align:middle line:84% "You're not going to eat it, are you?" 00:00:53.220 --> 00:00:54.035 align:middle line:90% Wendy asks. 00:00:54.035 --> 00:00:54.950 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:00:54.950 --> 00:00:58.670 align:middle line:84% "There's a reason they call it loco weed," Eric warns. 00:00:58.670 --> 00:01:01.160 align:middle line:84% "Scopolamine, atropine, hyoscyamine," 00:01:01.160 --> 00:01:05.600 align:middle line:84% Dad chants, like a witch doctor naming the toxins of datura Dad 00:01:05.600 --> 00:01:08.690 align:middle line:84% is not a witch doctor but a biochemist with an interest in 00:01:08.690 --> 00:01:10.910 align:middle line:84% and broad knowledge of plant alkaloids 00:01:10.910 --> 00:01:12.530 align:middle line:90% so basically a witch doctor. 00:01:12.530 --> 00:01:14.330 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:01:14.330 --> 00:01:17.330 align:middle line:84% Sacred datura developed poison as a defense against those 00:01:17.330 --> 00:01:20.270 align:middle line:84% who might otherwise eat it such as me this is 00:01:20.270 --> 00:01:22.400 align:middle line:90% a pretty good system it works-- 00:01:22.400 --> 00:01:24.890 align:middle line:84% I decide not to eat datura and go back 00:01:24.890 --> 00:01:27.620 align:middle line:84% to looking for wisdom in the usual places-- 00:01:27.620 --> 00:01:32.510 align:middle line:84% texts articles on popular science and self-help books 00:01:32.510 --> 00:01:36.110 align:middle line:84% and Rumi who has lots of suggestions although he can be 00:01:36.110 --> 00:01:37.670 align:middle line:90% annoying-- 00:01:37.670 --> 00:01:41.400 align:middle line:84% feel the shoulder of the lion, he says that's crazy! 00:01:41.400 --> 00:01:43.400 align:middle line:84% no better than eating datura which 00:01:43.400 --> 00:01:48.500 align:middle line:84% can kill you unless you happen to be one particular insect-- 00:01:48.500 --> 00:01:49.700 align:middle line:90% hawkmoth 00:01:49.700 --> 00:01:53.420 align:middle line:84% co-evolved with sacred datura, its nocturnal pollinator 00:01:53.420 --> 00:01:57.410 align:middle line:84% drinking its nectar transporting its pollen unhurt by datura's 00:01:57.410 --> 00:02:01.010 align:middle line:84% poisons but made drunk by them after datura, 00:02:01.010 --> 00:02:04.940 align:middle line:84% hawkmoths stagger flying in large draggy loops. 00:02:04.940 --> 00:02:07.070 align:middle line:84% Perhaps then they are in the Flower World 00:02:07.070 --> 00:02:10.280 align:middle line:84% the dimension that shamans go to on the wings of datura 00:02:10.280 --> 00:02:12.710 align:middle line:90% or so I read I'm always reading 00:02:12.710 --> 00:02:14.630 align:middle line:84% that's how I learned about the hawkmoths who 00:02:14.630 --> 00:02:17.450 align:middle line:84% I'm jealous of now because they have datura all to themselves. 00:02:17.450 --> 00:02:18.500 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:02:18.500 --> 00:02:21.740 align:middle line:84% where is my mystery-containing moonglow flower? 00:02:21.740 --> 00:02:27.050 align:middle line:84% where are the pedals and leaves that sustain me and only me? 00:02:27.050 --> 00:02:29.660 align:middle line:84% I find sacred datura flowering in my neighborhood 00:02:29.660 --> 00:02:33.070 align:middle line:84% near my apartment between the sidewalk and the street-- 00:02:33.070 --> 00:02:35.630 align:middle line:84% street, sidewalk, apartment, and neighborhood 00:02:35.630 --> 00:02:38.660 align:middle line:84% all laid down on top of the desert datura's native 00:02:38.660 --> 00:02:42.050 align:middle line:84% land I cut a long white bud and put it in a glass 00:02:42.050 --> 00:02:44.240 align:middle line:84% and in the evening when I'm reading 00:02:44.240 --> 00:02:50.660 align:middle line:84% the bud unfurls fused-5-petalled releasing the scent of lemons 00:02:50.660 --> 00:02:53.630 align:middle line:84% months later I'm thinking about something I read and I 00:02:53.630 --> 00:02:58.430 align:middle line:84% remember-- of course I'm not alone if I am hawkmoth then 00:02:58.430 --> 00:03:03.860 align:middle line:84% my sacred datura is language pages are my pedals words are 00:03:03.860 --> 00:03:07.220 align:middle line:84% leaves meaning is nectar we co-evolved-- 00:03:07.220 --> 00:03:13.070 align:middle line:84% I/us in our continual beneficent intoxicating language" 00:03:13.070 --> 00:03:16.420 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:03:16.420 --> 00:03:20.000 align:middle line:90%