Realities (Altered & Virtual) | Discourse! November 2022

The Religious Studies Project

Sidney Castillo is your host for the bumper final Discourse! episode of 2022! Join Sidney, Sharday Mosurinjohn, and Jordan Loewen-Colón to discuss some recent stories about religion and different altered realities. Sidney describes the use of ayahuasca among Peruvian indigenous peoples, and how this relates to animism–and COP27. Sharday Mosurinjohn talks about the founding of a new entheogenic church, and the prominence of religious language within the broader “psychedelic renaissance”. And finally, Jordan Loewen-Colón tells us about the use of VR to induce altered states of consciousness, which has earned the name “technodelics”.

Articles Referenced

• “Los guardianes de la Amazonia buscan recursos: indígenas lanzan una propuesta financiera en la COP27“
• “COP27 must create a climate agreement that protects 80% of the Amazon by 2025, Indigenous leaders, researchers and environmental organizations urge“
• “The Rebirth: A Veterans Day Celebration Exploring Psychedelic Medicine“
• “Psychedelic Conversations | Greg Lake – World’s First Psilomethoxin Church #59” (YouTube)
• Benjamin Moore’s LinkedIn Post
• “Forget LSD, virtual reality is just as trippy“
• “Facebook’s Next Target: The Religious Experience“
• “Group VR experiences can produce ego attenuation and connectedness comparable to psychedelics“