MAPS: entheogenic education

[Ken Tupper <ktupper@xxxxxxxxx>]

I am coming to the end of my Master's degree (Education) and have
decided to take at least a year off before deciding whether to continue
on to a Ph.D.  I think I probably will, but don't really know where yet
(I'm open to suggestions) .

For those students looking to pursued graduate work, the advice I offer
is: go for it. And don't be afraid to approach a conservative mainstream
institution and present your ideas to them. That's basically what I did
two years ago. I didn't really think I'd get in, but I proposed a thesis
to Simon Fraser Univerity on looking at the educational value of
entheogens and exploring the notion of plant teachers. I was fortunate
to find a few of professors who took me seriously and agreed to be on my
thesis committee.

One of the most enjoyable aspects of grad school for me was doing
coursework with mostly professional teachers and being able to challenge
them a different way of thinking about drugs in general and psychedelics
in particular. I know that a few wrote me off, but most of them were
open-minded enough to listen and, eventually, be persuaded that perhaps
the official line on psychedelics that they'd been fed might not be the
whole story.

Another big positive aspect for me personally was that my parents
suddenly began to take my ideas about drugs seriously when they saw that
I was doing this in grad school. They're pretty old-fashioned and didn't
think to highly of my interests when I was merely an amateur (actually,
we simply never talked about it). But since I started my Masters, they
suddenly started to listen to what I had to say and they too have
changed their opinions on the topic. My mother actually expressed some
interest in trying ayahuasca!

Don't hesitate to do as I did and take the advice of Joseph Campbell:
"Follow your bliss"

Ken Tupper




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