The keynote address for the "Religion and Psychedelics" conference will feature Luis Eduardo Luna, anthropologist and ayahuasca researcher at the Wasiwaska Rsearch Center. He will present “Indigenous Spirituality in a Time of a Much-Needed Paradigm Shift."'
Although Amerindian cosmologies vary from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, they are fundamentally animistic, viewing all beings as conscious and requiring ethical, reciprocal relationships. Rather than separating nature from culture, they view the world as an interconnected network of diverse persons. This relational perspective includes humans as part of a broader community alongside non-human persons, fostering deep kinship with animals, plants, rivers, and mountains.
This talk will focus on Amazonian societies that use “plant-teachers” or “plants of knowledge” to facilitate these bonds. Luna will propose how animism and certain evolutionary biologists’ views on agency in the natural world are converging. Additionally, some philosophers and even physicists advocate for panpsychism—the view that consciousness is fundamental, rather than an emergent phenomenon. This suggests that embracing a worldview centered on both biological and non-biological forms of mind and agency -perhaps even the base of a new kind of religiosity- is not only plausible but may also be essential given the planetary challenges we face.
Luis Eduardo Luna is a Guggenheim Fellow and Fellow of the Linnaean Society of London. He is the author of Vegetalismo: Shamanism Among the Mestizo Population of the Peruvian Amazon (1986), and with Pablo Amaringo of Ayahuasca Visions: The Religious Iconography of a Peruvian Shaman (1991). He is co-editor with Steven F. White of Ayahuasca Reader: Encounters with the Amazon’s Sacred Vine (2000, with a revised new edition in 2016), and co-author with Rick Strassman, Slawek Wojtowicz and Ede Frecska of Inner Paths to Outer Space: Journeys Through Psychedelics and Other Spiritual Technologies.
Transportation and Parking
Sullivant Hall
1813 N High St.
Columbus, OH 43210
The nearest parking is in the Ohio Union North Garage and the Ohio Union South Garage. The #2 COTA bus passes directly in front of Sullivant Hall: check the COTA Trip Planner to plan your route. Some metered spots are available on High Street and cross streets nearby.
Funds for this project come from a Global Arts and Humanities Discovery Theme collaborative grant. This is a joint project between the Center for the Study of Religion and the Center for Psychedelic Drug Research and Education. Co-hosted by the Humanities Institute.