TrueLife - Rev. Dr. Jessica Rochester - Ayahuasca Awakenings, Equality

Episode Date: June 11, 2025

One on One Video Call W/George https://tidycal.com/georgepmonty/60-minute-meetingSupport the show:https://www.paypal.me/Truelifepodcast?locale.x=en_US🚨🚨Curious about the future of psych...edelics? Imagine if Alan Watts started a secret society with Ram Dass and Hunter S. Thompson… now open the door. Use Promocode TRUELIFE for Get 25% off monthly or 30% off the annual plan For the first yearhttps://www.district216.com/Rev. Dr. Jessica Rochester: In an age where plant medicines are paraded like commoditiesand sacred sacraments are filtered through the sterile lens of profit and protocol,there stands a bridge—woven not from theory,but from decades of devotion,grit, and grace.Rev. Dr. Jessica Rochester is that bridge.Madrinha. President. Torchbearer.Founder of Céu do Montréal, the Santo Daime Church she brought into being in 1997—not as a rebellion,but as a restoration of sacred memoryto the North.A transpersonal counselor forged in the crucibles of Assagioli and Grof,she speaks the languages of the soul and the somatic,guiding seekers not around, but through the sacred fire of self-confrontation.She walked the bureaucratic labyrinth from 2000 to 2017,securing a Section 56 Exemption—not for fame,but to protect the sacrament of Santo Daime from the cold fists of the state.She is an ordained Interfaith Minister,a Doctor of Divinity,and an author whose two-volume opus—Ayahuasca Awakening—is less a book and more a mapfor those ready to take off their masksand meet the jaguar within.For over four decades she has led workshops,held private practice,stood at the crossroads of consciousness and culture,teaching not how to escape,but how to embodythe radical act of spiritual adulthood.And today,while the psychedelic renaissance sells peak experiences,Rev. Dr. Jessica Rochester whispers of something older,quieter,stronger—The long walk home.The humble medicine of self-care,self-mastery,and sacred discipline.So if you came for a keynote speaker,step aside.If you came for a true guidebetween the seen and unseen,prepare your heart.Because the Madrinha is not here to entertain you.She is here to remind you who you werebefore the world told you who to be.https://www.revdrjessicarochester.com/ One on One Video call W/George https://tidycal.com/georgepmonty/60-minute-meetingSupport the show:https://www.paypal.me/Truelifepodcast?locale.x=en_USCheck out our YouTube:https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPzfOaFtA1hF8UhnuvOQnTgKcIYPI9Ni9&si=Jgg9ATGwzhzdmjkg

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Starting point is 00:00:01 Darkness struck, a gut-punched theft, Sun ripped away, her health bereft. I roar at the void. This ain't just fate, a cosmic scam I spit my hate. The games rigged tight, shadows deal, blood on their hands, I'll never kneel. Yet in the rage, a crack ignites, occulted sparks cut through the nights. The scars my key, hermetic and stark. To see, to rise, I hunt in the dark, fumbling, fear. Fearers through ruins maze, lights my war cry, born from the blaze.
Starting point is 00:00:40 The poem is Angels with Rifles. The track, I Am Sorrow, I Am Lust by Codex Serafini. Check out the entire song at the end of the cast. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the True Life podcast. I hope everybody is having a beautiful day. I hope the sun is shining, the birds are singing, the wind is at your back. I have with me today, Reverend Dr. Jessica Rochester. She's the Mahajuna and president of the Sioux de Montreal, the Santo Dime Church.
Starting point is 00:01:23 She founded in 1997 in Montreal, Canada. She's a trans-personal counselor. She trained in the work of Dr. Robert Osagioly and trained with Dr. Stanislav Graf. She worked with Health Canada from 2000 until 2017 to achieve a Section 56 exemption to import and serve the Santo Dimey Sacrament. She is also the author of two incredible books, a series called Iawasca Awakening's, their guidebooks. They're incredibly fantastic.
Starting point is 00:01:55 And I'm so thankful to have you here today, Reverend Dr. Jessica, how are you? Well, thank you for asking. I am very well on many, many levels. I do my best to live in the reality of focusing on that, which is good and positive and having gratitude for it, and then managing the rest. as best as possible. It's so easy to, you know, fall down that whirlpool
Starting point is 00:02:20 and the tunnel of the sad story and difficulties and complaining, then that can become a habit, right? Yeah, without a doubt. It's interesting because we were just speaking about the difference between being ready and being aware. Maybe you can help flesh that out a little bit. I thought that was really intriguing, and I'd like to have the audience listen to that a little bit.
Starting point is 00:02:41 Okay, I think it was being ready and being prepared. Yes, thank you. So you were asking me because a few people who know me know that I'm slated up for full hip replacement surgeries. And so people who hear about it or know about it, just an ass how you doing, how do you feel? I'm now 75 years old facing a big surgery. You know, I'm certainly not alone. There's lots of people who are facing that and even more difficult challenges, you know. And so what I've said is, is talking about the difference between being ready and being prepared.
Starting point is 00:03:20 You know, we often don't feel ready for what life brings us. Ready kind of indicates kind of one, two, three, jump. Okay. So, right? Yes, we let it out. It's like one, two, three, and jump, okay? You're ready to do this. And so many things in life, we don't really feel ready.
Starting point is 00:03:42 to do. There's something inside of us that says, I don't want that or that's scary or that's difficult or whatever. And what we do then is we prepare. And the more prepared we are, then the more ready we become when it's approaching when it's happening. So we can go into any situation, feeling prepared. In other words, we have done everything that we can that's within our sphere of possibility to prepare ourselves. So if it's if we're in high school and we're writing exams, it's exam time. I have teenage granddaughter. I've got lovely young man teenager next door who comes and helps me do things when I need. I need a strong bear of arms, right? You're all in exams right now. You prepare. You want to learn how
Starting point is 00:04:40 I was going to dive. You have to do, you get ready to dive by being prepared. And this is the same in life. Do we get up each morning? Are we, do we prepare for our day? Do we have some kind of getting up routine? For most people, it's not very conscious. It's just sort of doing the same thing. Somebody's not ready to be an adult. There you go. Perfect example. Thank you. And, and, at, At the same time, how do we balance that? We prepare. We do what we know is appropriate and what is meaningful and what is healthy. And if we're not sure, we get professional advice or we, well, we used to go to the library,
Starting point is 00:05:32 now we consult with Google Google, right? And we do what we can so we are prepared. the same way we would prepare for an exam at school, we study, we read the books, we write the papers, we ask the questions. Yeah. And so, but ready? Yeah, sometimes we don't feel ready for something. And then how do we manage in that moment? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:05:59 Did I answer your question? Without a doubt. Yeah. And for that, dear lady who asked the question, I think it's changing our perspective. on our life that is helpful. Yeah. You know, I mean, if we look at the, you know, obviously we've wandered way off topic today. Is that okay?
Starting point is 00:06:27 We're supposed to be talking about this. We'll get to it. Those of you who are interested in the non-ardinary states of consciousness, because, you know, that's the field that I work in. And specifically, you know, in the Santa Dainabwe, the ayahuasca, that have been working in non-ordinary states of consciousness for coming up to 15 years now. Now, the one thing that I find particularly fascinating
Starting point is 00:06:53 is the research and the work is done on life between lives. And there's only a few people who've been doing research in that area. And again, it's really subjective research. You know, all you can do is gather stories and put people through aggressions and make notes on it. So there's been American psychologists, there's Dr. Joel Whitten. the Toronto's Chiatrist who's worked in this field and written about it.
Starting point is 00:07:18 And are we ready to return to planet Earth? And here in the research, this is what I found particularly interested. A lot of souls were saying, no, no, no, no, not ready, you know. And whatever, their higher self, her guiding spirit says, too bad, and you go back into the cosmic cooker, you know. And so can we prepare, you know. So some of us may have entered into this lifetime healing. Am I ready to do this again?
Starting point is 00:07:55 Am I ready to go through this whole experience of being human and living? And then we're born and we're born into a family or into a situation or into a geographical location. And then things just clip along from then. But what we notice, if we are, mindful and if we have even just a little bit of help teaching us some good things, giving us some good teachings that we can put in our kind of knapsack that we carry through life, you know, about being aware, about being wise, about being careful, about learning about things about caring for ourselves and treating ourselves with respect, about taking responsibility for. ourselves. If we have something, a teacher, a guidance counselor, a coach of our soccer team, or our chest team, or whatever it is, if we have somebody in the family, an uncle and aunt or grandparent who's quietly offering us these teachings, then they go in. And we become more and
Starting point is 00:09:03 more prepared to go through life because I love what John Lennon said. I think it was John Lennon, but he said life comes out of us point in. It's like that. But if we're in our routine of self-care and self-respect and self-responsibility and self-love and self-awareness, if that's the routine that we're in on a daily basis, then whatever comes, we're the most prepared that we can be. You know, did you ever meet anybody who didn't have challenges? Never. I've never.
Starting point is 00:09:42 I'm somebody right now. I've never met one person even young who hasn't had challenges. At school at home, on the street, in society, with religion, what have you. It's just the challenge of being human, of figuring out who I am I this time around. Yeah, I think that that brings us to equality. Maybe that's the one thing that makes us equal on some level is the ability to have these tragedies and these challenges. Like, that's equality. Darling, George.
Starting point is 00:10:20 Idealistic and hopeful, George. I know, I know. There is no equality. But aren't we, what about challenges, though? Aren't we all equal in that we all have life challenges that weighed on us, like the weight of the world on our something else? That's karma. Okay, that has something to do with equality.
Starting point is 00:10:41 Okay. So we're going to talk about equality today. And what it is and what it isn't, and how we come to terms with the lack of it in our lives, how we come to terms with it in the lack in our culture or society. What do we do about that? Because for us to sit here and think that we have some nice little formula for equality is like such a cosmic joke that, you know, no one would take anything seriously that we say from here forward.
Starting point is 00:11:11 So we just have to acknowledge that equality, is an extremely complex, complex. If we look at the world, this idea of equality is such a deep and complex experience, situation, possibility. How could it possibly be achieved? You know, could it be a goal?
Starting point is 00:11:38 Well, sure, but what is possible? okay because why isn't equality possible because of opportunities differences and circumstances it what might be equal and fair in the Sudan it may not be equal and fair in Texas okay I mean everything is just so different as you go around the world the situation and the geography and the culture and the languages and the social stradas and the beliefs and the systems and how do we put that in there. So let's look at what is possible. Okay, what is possible? What's possible is fairness and equal opportunity. Fairness. Fairness and equal opportunity. So no matter what country you're in,
Starting point is 00:12:41 it may look a little bit different from country to country to country, depending on all of those things I've just mentioned that fairness is possible let's use Gandhi okay this name walked in the years village to village and at every village he sat down and he asked the wealthy who owned lots of land please could you give a small quarter of your land to the local farmers so that they could grow their own group this was a movement towards fairness. Certainly wasn't equality. There's the rich, there's the poor.
Starting point is 00:13:25 Then there's what we call the middle class, which seems to be holding everything up all the time, right? Yeah. So it was equality. It wasn't the rich people giving half of what they've got. No, that's not going to be happening. But what it was was the movement towards fairness. You have a lot, can you share?
Starting point is 00:13:50 Can you share with other humans? Can you share with nature? I personally think that all of these huge conglomerate farms that are owned by, I don't know, Monsanto or whoever they're owned by, okay, that they should be obliged to every acre or every five acres. There should be a space that is dedicated to the local wildlife, a space that allows the birds in their migration to get some berries or food or grains, a space where the butterflies can rest and do what they need to do.
Starting point is 00:14:25 This should be corridors through all of these huge massive grief. And we're throwing corn to put in our cars. Okay, come on. When we talk about equality and fairness, we cannot just be talking about humans all the time. Yes? No. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:14:46 Yeah, without a doubt. I think that that is sort of a we've somehow for probably lots of reasons found ourselves with a very narrow and short-sighted view that we just means humans. But we should be broadening that vision to us as part of the planet. So when we say we, we should be talking about all of us. Like we don't come into it. We're talking about. I love it. Okay.
Starting point is 00:15:14 And so equality is not going to happen. We put that on the shelf as a maybe something to work towards if we can. Okay, do what we can in our individual lives to work towards it. But in the meantime, we can support fairness and equal opportunity. We can do that in our educational system, in our health care system. We can do that by who we vote for. We can do that by what we speak up for and what we support. All of those things we can do.
Starting point is 00:15:45 We can join the parent-teacher committee at our local school to ensure that things that will provide fairness and opportunity to everybody and not just humans. We are very species-centric, and yet we can't exist without nature. You know, we cannot exist. It is not possible. Eliminate enough species, and we're done. Eliminate the bees? Well, there you go. the birds, the bats, the fish, everything.
Starting point is 00:16:21 Everything is needed. Everything was in balance. You could remove all the humans and guess what? Nature would flourish. Nature would be ecstatic, you know? All the coyotes and the pumas and the wolves would come back into town and say, hey, all those mean people that used to kill us and shoot us are gone, right? So we can't live without nature, but nature could just live fine and handy and be without humans.
Starting point is 00:16:48 So we have to ask ourselves, where's our humility? So I think that one of the first qualities that we need to develop, if we're going to talk about equality, is humbleness. In our arrogance, we won't even think about equity, equality, fairness, equal opportunity, because we're too tight up in our arrogance. But humbleness, there's a quality that we can all consider. Let's be like Gandhi. Humble? Yes?
Starting point is 00:17:28 Yeah. I think that if I can share a quick story, I know I used to surf a lot when I was in Hawaii, and nothing has ever humbled me like the ocean has. I remember being out in the water sometimes, paddling out on a day that was probably too big for me. And it just kept getting bigger and bigger until I'm sitting out pretty far offshore on a board that's too small. And like these giant waves are rolling in like 12 feet.
Starting point is 00:17:55 And I remember just my heart racing and like trying to scrape, scratch over one. And then I get over the top of this one. And then there's a bigger one behind it. And then I don't make it. And it just boom right in the impact zone. And you're held underwater until you can't breathe and you're grasping for air. You catch one breath and then you're right back down. But nature is the ultimate teacher.
Starting point is 00:18:15 of humility and I think that being alone in nature just being out there it will really show you yes yes and nature's doing her best yeah to humble us you know and I mean if we can't get the message then there's something really wrong with us you know yes and in the end it comes down to personal responsibility what can we do so let's bring it around back to equality you may talk about what's possible. Fairness and equal opportunity. What does fairness look like?
Starting point is 00:18:57 I think fairness looks a lot like equal opportunity. Yes. Yes. In the story of Gandhi, what he was trying to do was be fair. You have so much. Could you share just a little bit? Just a little bit. We're not asking me to give 50 or even 20 or even 10.
Starting point is 00:19:21 just a little bit so that the people in the village could have a place to garden and grow their vegetables. And this level of fairness and equal opportunity is dependent on individuals, but it's also dependent on the government that we vote into power. And if the majority of people are interested in fairness, and fairness and equal opportunity looks like education, an equal opportunity for good education. Right? Healthcare, equal opportunity.
Starting point is 00:20:04 I live in Quebec. Here in Canada, we have Medicare. In Quebec, we have Medicare. Yes, there's something as you can pay privately. for if you choose, if you don't want to be waiting a year for something, so you can do that. But basically, there's health care provided for everyone. So education, health care, equal rights. It's rights to do things like vote and drive a car as long as you pass the exam, of course.
Starting point is 00:20:42 So these opportunities And are they equal and fair Or are there still social and cultural barriers? Yeah I think they're on some level I don't think we'll ever get past the cultural Or those societal barriers Yes thank you
Starting point is 00:21:07 I agree with you I just agree with you Because we can look at thousands of years of the history of the human race, and we can say, okay, let's peel about 6,000 years. There were people then who were rich, and there was people who were poor and begging, by sitting by the temple or the, you know, what have you,
Starting point is 00:21:28 with their bold begging, okay? And there was people wealthy with tons of gold and goats and sheep and cattle and wives and everything else, okay? Then we keep going forward to today, and we can look at there's billionaires, okay? I can't even get my mind around. a billionaire and a multi-multi-billionaire. I can't even get, how is it possible there's billionaires
Starting point is 00:21:51 and then there's so many people don't have food or don't have health care? Okay, so we can agree. There's nothing about equality here and there's actually not too much about fairness. I'm sorry, but it doesn't look like here. And will that continue? Yes, probably.
Starting point is 00:22:08 One of the great teachers, you know, all the great teachers said some things in common. It's called the perennial philosophy. And one of the things that Jesus said, said very clearly was the poor will always be amongst us. He had a good take on human nature. So where do we go with this? We're acknowledging that equality doesn't exist.
Starting point is 00:22:34 We won't ever. We're saying we can support fairness. We can support equal opportunity. How do we do that as individuals? And then let's in a moment bring it into entheogenes and psychedelics. Okay. How do we support this?
Starting point is 00:22:54 We've said on an individual basis. Do what your heart feels, you know, practice a little humbleness every day. Say, okay, for the next five minutes, I'm going to see what can I do that feels like I'm being humble here? What would come from that? I know? Would I share something that I have? Would I donate something, my time, my energy, my something that I can offer to share? What would that look like?
Starting point is 00:23:24 A very simple, practical way. Would I join a community garden and go every week and help garden so that it's sort of a community? Would I donate some of my time to help at a shelter, whether it's for people or animals or what have you? Would I join Clean Up the Mountain? We have something called Clean Up the Mountain every year because, yes, the dog walkers and the hikers all litter.
Starting point is 00:23:49 I mean, it's hard to imagine that in 2025 that people are still littering. Come on, George. How is that possible in 2025 that people are still littering? I think it's, I think it comes back to Maslow's hierarchy of needs. You know, I think that some people find themselves in situations in life where they can barely take care of themselves. So how can they take care of the planet when they don't see themselves as reverent or worthy? you know, what's the point of this,
Starting point is 00:24:20 let us throw something on the ground. Oh, that's so interesting. So you're seeing it on that end of the scale. Why bother? Because I have nothing and everything is hopeless. So you're seeing it on that end of the scale. That's so interesting because there's the polarity, right? On the other end of the scale is,
Starting point is 00:24:39 I'm so important to self-importance, right? I'm so important. I can do whatever I want. I can look out of my window and toss something out of the window. I still see people throwing lit cigarettes out of the window. Because there's a little forest fires, you know. I'm on the 10th floor and a very lovely condo building now, and since my husband's accident and then passing.
Starting point is 00:25:06 And a complaint went around that somebody on an upper floor is dropping lit cigarette butts off the balcony. Really? Get your little bucket full of sand and work them out of that. I mean, this is not hard. This is not hard. So at one end, there's self-importance. And at the other end, there's the flip side of that,
Starting point is 00:25:28 which is what self-unimportance? Yeah. What are we calling me of the side of that? Maybe self-deception or there's a better word for it. I can't think of it. Yeah, well, self-deception is at both ends. Yeah, you will say. Self-deception.
Starting point is 00:25:49 I'm more important than other people. That's self-deception too. True. Self-importance and low self-esteem. Yeah, I like that. So we'll leave it at that. So equality, what else is there that's in the way of equality? There are individual differences, you know, is the ability, you know, if we look at, say, careers,
Starting point is 00:26:11 we're going to see that some careers are highly exalted. Right. Okay, they are put on pillars and podiums of exaltation. Okay, if you're a this and have a thought, that means wow. So whether you're a famous actor or a rap artist or, you know, something, a gift of song or creativity or what have you that was given to you that you may have worked very hard with indeed. But somebody else doesn't have that. And instead of being humble because you've been given,
Starting point is 00:26:47 and this and using it for good. So there's differences, individual differences, amongst all of us, and some people have talents and strengths for certain things, and other people don't. But what's that? We each find our own strength. We each find our own gift, our own ability. And that our society and culture needs some no equality because this is so important.
Starting point is 00:27:14 what you look like, what you're saying, what you wear, what you drive, etc. is so important. And those other things are not so important. And so that's in the way of it forwarding. And then we have the differences that happen in our ability to contribute to society by our own individuality. You know, you may have somebody who is absolutely hands down the best kindergarten teacher on the planet.
Starting point is 00:27:49 That teacher will never be as well known as some Hollywood star or some pop artist. And yet that teacher may be educating generations, generations of young people into their school experience in a way that is giving them a wonderful gift in life. But unequal to so many other things that are blossoming and fancy. popular the billionaires club yeah and yet what's more important really i'd rather have the kindergarten teacher so you can have people who are devoting their life to things that are completely have noticed other than in some small area but it lacks the equality of popularity fancy dance.
Starting point is 00:28:51 Or stage or status maybe? Status, yeah. It just doesn't have the same status. Well, what does that say about us as a culture in a society? Now, so fairness, equal opportunity. And here comes, save the most important for the last. I don't know if it's the most important, but it needs to be perhaps equal rights. So fairness, equal opportunity, and equal rights.
Starting point is 00:29:19 And so, and here's where in today's age, I think that we're in the process of finding that little zone of what is a right and what's a privilege. What's a right and what's a want? A right to education, a right to, you know, the basic, Canada has a charter of rights and freedoms, which I believe most countries have, and I think they're different country by country. So a right to education, a freedom of speech, a freedom to practice the religion and of your choice, and again, within certain things, you know, you're not allowed to sacrifice things on an altar, for example, Canada. And there's certain other things that may, you know, you're not allowed to marry off your 13-year-old to an old rich guy.
Starting point is 00:30:27 You know, that may work somewhere else and not going to work in Canada, even if your religion says you can. It's not going to work. Okay. So there's a place where individual rights meets collective, healthy collective rights. and do you find that these days those things are being navigated, negotiated, questioned as to what is it right? I do.
Starting point is 00:30:55 I think the transformation that we're seeing, maybe it's, I'm not sure if it's a remembering or a forgetting. Maybe we're remembering that we all have a voice and that we can redefine what's culturally, acceptable or maybe we're forgetting why some of these things were put in place. You mean like rights and charters? Well, just navigating, navigating the, like, yeah, like some rights and some charters.
Starting point is 00:31:28 Like I, if you, if you broaden it out to maybe like a world status, I think some people in the U.S. may not thoroughly understand why we have a treaty with a country in, say, Africa about the land rights there. You know, like, how many people here are affected by that? Like, while we want all the, we want nature and we want the rights of other countries to be in the best interest of all of us, maybe we don't thoroughly understand why we have those rights or what are we doing trying to enforce our rights on other people? Does that kind of make sense? Well, I'll tell you what I think I'm hearing. Okay.
Starting point is 00:32:11 What I think I'm hearing is a question that you're asking or you're hearing people ask is the rights that are enshrined in one nations. Right. Okay. Society. I'll use Canada because that's my country. So I probably know more about it than I might some country in Africa. Yeah. But the rights that are enshrined.
Starting point is 00:32:37 within the Canadian's charter of rights and freedoms. And you're asking the question, why is that being taken and being trying to support what's happening in other countries? Should we allow other countries to just do their own thing and be autonomous? What's that story about? What's that story about?
Starting point is 00:33:04 Well, I think what I can tell you historically has been that it's usually the people in those countries that are asking for help to obtain what they believe are the rights that all humans should have. And my understanding of, let's say, the United Nations and other kind of large country-to-country, the G7s, and, you know, I'll use the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth countries, there's what, I don't know, 30, 40 countries in the Commonwealth, which is a loose collection of countries. some who have asked to join that only have the briefest, if smallest of connections with, you know, United Kingdom or England in the past, but who really believe in those principles. And so other countries that are not, that do not have the same level of rights or freedoms, may ask those countries, please help us.
Starting point is 00:34:02 So whether it's a small government that's asking for help, whether it is non-profit organizations within the country that are asking for help, because that's really common, is it is often the nonprofit organizations, the churches, the religious groups who are saying, please help us, we need more training so that we can manage the help of our people. We need more education. Can you send people to help us? Canadians are by practice known as peacekeepers.
Starting point is 00:34:34 Okay, so we do not have a huge standing army. You know, if a country decided to come over the Arctic and invade us, we'd be hard-pressed. We'd be calling on our allies and friends to come and help, you know, bring your war toys. We're going to need them. Because basically, we're a huge country geographically, but a smaller population. We're one-tenth, less than one-tenth, the population of the United States with almost the same. square foot if not, you know, more. And so, you know, and the focus in our country has been on peacekeeping and diplomacy. That's how Canadians are wired. And so when we're asked by other countries,
Starting point is 00:35:22 please help, we're sending trained personnel to help train the local people. We're not just doing goods on the ground with our guns and we're going to take over your war and et cetera and et cetera. We're saying you've asked us for help. We're going to help and here's how we can help. We can send medical personnel. We can send medical supplies. We can help with food. We can help train people to manage the situation, to do search and rescue, to do preventative work.
Starting point is 00:35:52 And so it's often because you're asking the question, why are we interfering in other countries? I think what's got mixed up is the times in the past where some countries, and this is certainly not, the United States, is not alone in this category. Many countries. Currently, there are countries, okay, which is to go off into another country and decide I want what they have. Okay? And that other country might turn and appeal to other countries for help. Okay? That's very different when a country asks for help versus when a country just decides to go in and take what it wants.
Starting point is 00:36:37 And so what do we do when people, non-profits, organizations, legitimate governments, ask for help? We say, carry on, do your thing. Meanwhile, I'm going to go out by my new car. You know, book my reservation at a fancy restaurant. Saw a cute little diamond ring. I think I'm going to pick up. You know, carry on. Where is the balance?
Starting point is 00:37:05 You know, what would Buddha say? What would Jesus say? We already know what they said. Feed the hungry. Shelter the ill. support the poor. All those teachings are already there for us. But in today's age, how do we do that in a way that's effective?
Starting point is 00:37:27 And that's, I'm going to use a funny word, but I hope you understand it, clean. Just clean. How do we do that? How do we support people in situations who genuinely want to experience the same kinds of rights and freedoms that we have in certain countries around the world, not all of them. How do we support fairness and equal opportunity? Without interfering in other countries, without obligating people in our country to do things that they may not want to do, have got any answers on that one?
Starting point is 00:38:11 This is a hard, complex situation. It's hard. It is. that that's why you see so much I don't think anybody has a real answer to that I mean you could say to try to become the best version of yourself so that you can have a better community so that you can have a better city and you could start at the
Starting point is 00:38:31 individual level that doesn't do anybody who's who's if someone's a million miles away in another country like that doesn't really help them immediately or even in the near or even long term not for a while and yet just karma Are we forward? Are we paying back?
Starting point is 00:38:54 You know, it's so easy to, how do we find balance between me? I need to live my life, have gratitude. You know, I teach people who've gone through difficult things and they've lost all sense of that there's still goodness in their life. Yeah. You know, it's easy to do.
Starting point is 00:39:12 Some huge challenge comes along, and it's so difficult, whether it's a health challenge or a relationship, the loss of a loved one, whatever, okay? Loss of a job, you know, a career blows up in your face. For a while, you're going to just be out at sea with that, right now.
Starting point is 00:39:32 But then how do you bring it back to focusing on getting yourself for a and having gratitude for the good things that you've got? And then where does that take you to? Because we can't just be in our little bubble like all as well in my world. very much what and we each have different callings on this me I served I me I talk about consciousness that's that's my calling you know but how about what if in this lifetime helping somebody that I don't know in a country that I don't know is actually paying back something that they did for me in many other lifetimes see this what people don't even think about
Starting point is 00:40:14 karma is how do I know I'm not paying forward so in three lifetimes from now The people I've helped are going to help me. Is there a way of, you know, there's this wonderful story. I cannot attribute it to any particular tribe because it's a long kind of goal that I read or heard this story. So I apologize if I'm not attributing correctly. But it's an indigenous story about when you die, you have to cross. In your dying process, you're crossing across a log bridge. And as you go across, all the creatures, how much?
Starting point is 00:40:50 people, all the creatures that you've been kind to, that you've been respectful to, are going to help you go across the bridge. And all the creatures that you disrespect it are going to be trying to push you all. So it's a good attitude. That's a great story. And so where's the karma in this? You know, I'm back to Buddha and Jesus and everything. You know, where's the karma in this? Yes, 100% agree with you.
Starting point is 00:41:20 Focus on your life, on being well, on being the light that shines in your corner of the world, bloom where you're planted, all that good stuff. Yes, yes, and yes. Okay. And at the same time, be open to if Spirit shows you something, some need. If Spirit shows you some need, you feel you can contribute to. if spirit shows you. So it doesn't matter if it's, again, the local community garden or the cat shelter.
Starting point is 00:41:56 It could be something very local where you give your time and energy. Equally, you could find yourself signing up to help doctors without borders and you land somewhere in the Sudan or the Gaza Strip. And even if you're not a doctor or a nurse, you're helping hand out food and keeping the stock supplied
Starting point is 00:42:16 and the administrative aspect. of it, you know. And so it's, we stay open to what our higher self and what spirit is helping us to see. And that's where we can trust that again, now we're talking about a karmic equality somehow, a karmic fairness that is not interfering in other people's lives, that is not telling other countries what they have to do or should be doing or putting some puppet figurehead. in a government that's going to do what we want them to do, that's really interfering. But if the people ask, please help.
Starting point is 00:42:59 If the non-profits, if the churches, if the temples, if they're saying, could you please help? Then what do we find in our hearts to do? And how are we supporting equality? Does this make sense? Yeah, I think it's brilliant. A good question I like to ask, and that has been helpful for me and maybe it'll be helpful for others is, what are you willing to do for someone that can never pay you back?
Starting point is 00:43:26 How much time is you going on? And then you're stuck in this lifetime. How do you know you're not? You see, that's my question. Okay, okay. I got asked very recently in the last six months by a number of people, why are you doing this? and it was something that I was putting some time and energy towards that I truly believed was the right thing to do. It was so clear.
Starting point is 00:43:52 It was so clear. When I focused on doing this thing, everything on my channel was open and sparkling and happy. And it's like the beings and the astral were going, yes, yes. You know what I'm talking about? Yeah, I do. I thought about, why should I put my time and energy to that? It was like, I'm paying attention. Okay.
Starting point is 00:44:15 I don't know how many people know what I'm talking about with that open channel. Okay. And it was so clear. And to this day, I cannot tell you if I'm paying forward or paying back. I have absolutely no idea. All I know is that was the right thing to do. I did it. I did it with as much clarity, simplicity, humility as I possible good, respect.
Starting point is 00:44:38 And then it's done. Now, paying for them, paying back, not even in this lifetime, it's okay with me. It's okay with me. It's really okay with me. Where did you go? You got a little question mark over your forehead. I was just contemplating the same thing in my life. And how do you get, for me, it's difficult to walk that bridge of, of, of,
Starting point is 00:45:12 never in this lifetime. Like, I see it. And I can, I tell myself that, you know, this is, this is temporary. And then I'll be back here. And that maybe I signed up for all of this. And these are all brilliant frames for me to help walk my path. But I lose it sometimes. Like, you know, looking for the external validation sometimes or the things to show up or, you know, it's, it's difficult to keep the frame of never in this lifetime.
Starting point is 00:45:41 Where's my reward? Yeah, where's my reward at? Come on. I know hard I've been working. Where is it? I deserve this. Come on. I've been hoping.
Starting point is 00:45:53 Yeah, we're so attached to that. I know. We're so attached to that. And maybe it won't be now and maybe it won't be, you know, I think we have to learn from farmers. Okay. I think that the people who live close to the land, or the fishermen, they take their boats, they know the currents and the tides and the winds
Starting point is 00:46:16 and they know how to, you know where the fish are. You know what, you put me in a boat, I would have no idea where the fish are. Zero, okay? Lose me in the woods, don't count on me to get you out, okay? I love nature and I love the ocean and the trees and everything, but I don't have those natural instincts, okay, and that some people do.
Starting point is 00:46:39 and that calling to be so close in nature, right? And yet, if we have that wonderful ability to learn from those people who are close to land, a farmer plants, a farmer made, if they're planting new apple trees, for example, peach tree, beers, fruit for 25 years, an apple tree, there's fruit for 100, approximately, okay, depending on climate and everything else, right? So they're planting a tree, guess what? Oh, a one-year-a tree doesn't give you
Starting point is 00:47:23 many fruit. You've got to wait until those trees grow, and you've got to prune them and care for them, and some of the things that you plant, you may not even see in your lifetime the result of it. And yet, I mean, you know, father planting because you don't get the immediate reward. You know, whether that story of Johnny apple seed is true or not, it's a great story, right? Was there really a person who went around with all kinds of different apple seeds and passed them out and shared them, gave them farmers, and spread them in the ground and everything? I hope it's true because it's a fabulous story and I'd like to think
Starting point is 00:48:13 the more people do things like that. But you know what? That man did not live to see all those trees. He had no idea if the seats he gave away ever got planted. It did not stop him from doing it. There is a, is it in Brazil? I believe it's somewhere in South America. Because there's been so much deforestation,
Starting point is 00:48:39 there's a group, there actually, it's a group of women. It's a co-op. And what they do is they go through the forests when the trees are putting all their seeds out. And they collect all the seeds, all the different seeds from the trees. And then they mix them all up together. I saw this in a beautiful documentary with David Attenborough. And then they go where it's been deforested and they spread all the seeds from all these different trees. the hopes that some of them are going to take root and some of them are going to
Starting point is 00:49:13 draw. And I think if we have that philosophy in life, you know, I mean, again, it's a great teacher, Jesus, he said, cast your seeds. Some are going to go on stony ground. They're not going to take root. Some will go on fertile ground. They will grow. And so what is he trying to teach us? Is you do that. You put your seeds. So, and you don't know where they're going to land, and you don't know if they will grow. But you've done your part by putting the seeds out there. Now, isn't that a great philosophy to have when it comes to things like equality and fairness, an equal opportunity? And not only thinking, what's in it for me, it's so easy to go there.
Starting point is 00:50:13 We're so species-centric. What's in it for me? What's in it for my species? What's in it for my family? What's in it for me? Why should I do this? Why should I volunteer at the cat shelter? I don't know.
Starting point is 00:50:29 Why should you? Right. You're going to have a whole bunch of cats helping me when you cross that long bridge. That's what's going to happen. So, well, you can just do it for the joy of giving your time and energy to something that you hope will create a good and good,
Starting point is 00:50:48 and or better world. Yeah. I think all of these acts on some level, at least for me, when I'm doing something like that, it helps me be aware that I'm part of something bigger than I can imagine. And that feeling alone is enough to carry me through some dark times just to know when you go out and you do these things because it's the right thing to do or you're doing something, whether it's volunteering, maybe the Boys and Girls Club or you do a beach cleanup or something like that.
Starting point is 00:51:22 Like in those times, remembering those times, you know, they often help carry you through some of the darker times. It's actually one of the best things to do when you're in the dark time. It really is. It is to try and give joy or give comfort. You know, this is why on some level grief support groups work so well. It's because they're helping each other go through the grief. go through the loss, go through the fear.
Starting point is 00:51:58 And so when we see, oh, okay, we can help each other. And then we broaden that. Okay, it's not just me and my family, my culture, my society, and my nation. I can lend a hand here. I can offer this there. I can donate that here. I can vote for that.
Starting point is 00:52:18 I can march for this. I can speak to my member of parliament about that. I can sign a petition. I can share the petition to be signed. To save the beautiful waterfront of Nance Island, that is the resting and nesting place for thousands of water birds, okay, instead of it being turned into complete condo land. And so we can do little local things
Starting point is 00:52:51 that can improve the life of the creatures around of nature, not just other people, we're so focused on ourselves. It's true. Bringing equality into, not just us, the species, human, but equality into, does the wildlife have equality? I say, nope, nope, no.
Starting point is 00:53:21 You had some questions. I did. I did. I have some questions. I do. Let's do bend this one. Okay, here we go. The first question comes to us from Desiree, and she says,
Starting point is 00:53:35 is equality something we fight for or remember? Oh, what a wonderful question. Thank you. I would say it is both. If we have to fight for it is because other people forgot. Okay? And unfortunately, sadly, even in our advanced first world countries, there still is not equality in equal access to you or equal opportunity to or equal pay for or there's still not full equality. And so we need to focus it.
Starting point is 00:54:25 So yes, it's something you ask for. It's something that sometimes we have to fight for. I mean, Quebec was the last province in Canada to grant women the right to vote. That was only in like, 1943. People don't believe it when it's like, what? Yeah, something like that, and I mean, 40, I'm like, you know,
Starting point is 00:54:49 the last province in Canada, women couldn't vote. I mean, we look back now and say, what, women couldn't vote? women couldn't vote. I tell my granddaughter that's these things. They're horrified. What do you mean women couldn't drive a car and women couldn't vote? You know, women couldn't publish their own. Women couldn't go to university. Women couldn't be doctors or lawyers. Look how hard so many women fought and how many people have fought. You know, we can look cross-culturally. The fight, the battle is still on. And so it's a question. of yes, thank you for asking that. The question is, yes, people have forgotten that we are one. People who are dogmas
Starting point is 00:55:38 and religions and cultures and society structures to get in the way of we are one. Hopefully answer your question. Yeah. Thank you, Desiree, for bringing here with us today. This one comes to us from Betsy. She says, who protects the sacred from becoming elite?
Starting point is 00:55:59 Oh, too late. Sorry. Who asked that question? Sorry, I'm going to totally disappoint you this afternoon. I think I've got a little bit of seasonal level. It's going on. Yeah. It's blooming.
Starting point is 00:56:18 I'm so sorry that's already happened. The sacred has become elite. But let's be honest, it always was. Yeah. You know, Jesus got angry. I don't know what Jesus lost day. Often it's usually Buddha or somebody else. But anyway, think of the story of him
Starting point is 00:56:34 going to the synagogue of the temple. They called it then. It wasn't called the synagogue. It was called the temple. And getting so angry at the money changers and getting angry and having really quite a tantrum. Okay. And actually today would have been
Starting point is 00:56:49 probably marched down to the local jail for public violence. Right? He was so angry he overturned their tables. I don't think he kid anybody. I wasn't there, so I don't know, but he overturned their tables and know all the money and accused them of what they were doing. And he tells the story of the rich man who comes into the temple and lays his gold coins down on the altar. And then a poor older woman, a widow coming in and she puts her three pennies. And Jesus says,
Starting point is 00:57:24 whose gift is greater. The greater gift is the woman because it cost her more to give those three pennies than it did the rich man the gold. So the sacred, so having said that, the sacred is everywhere. It's right here, it's right now.
Starting point is 00:57:46 It's inside of you, the lady who asked the questions. Was it Betty? Betsy. Eddie. It's inside you. The sacred is the side of you. It's around you.
Starting point is 00:57:58 everywhere honor it open to it love it find a way that you can celebrate it in your life that feels right for you that's a great answer anybody take it away from you the problem is humans go oh this is sacred and if you want access to it you have to believe this and pray that or sing that or donate yeah okay because this is a sacred And what happens is the sacred takes one look at it and goes, eh, wrong, and tiptoes out the back door. And all the sacredness is gone. And what's left is the formula, the shell,
Starting point is 00:58:43 the structure that's been created, the belief system, if you wish. But spirit has quietly gone out the back door. And so we refined it inside of ourselves. All the great teachers teach us this. The secret is within. The kingdom of heaven is within. It's right here. It's right now.
Starting point is 00:59:04 Everything is one. We are all one. And then you find a group of like-minded people. With philosophies, principles, or beliefs that you feel inside of you, you're comfortable with them. They're right for you. Don't listen to somebody who wants to impose things on you. And be very careful of those structures that tell you, well, you know, for another thousand dollars you get a secret man to have so many of those things are
Starting point is 00:59:36 now another ten thousand dollars in the next level of enlightenment I'm sorry I'm not being very nice about these things but there are pyramid schemes yeah they're pyramid schemes for the sacred for enlightenment and yet all they are is traps for the naive the uninitiated, the hopeful. Yeah. It's interesting that we bring that up now. I'm being too strong today.
Starting point is 01:00:15 No, I don't think you're, I think you're right on point. I love it. I think we need more of it, to be honest with you, when I start seeing what's happening around in the world of psychedelics, especially today,
Starting point is 01:00:27 like there seems to be no shortage of new schools popping up or certification programs popping up. I recently spoke to one of my listeners reached out and said that they were thinking about becoming a guide. And when they answered the call to this guide, sort of a new school that was coming up, she spoke with the gentleman and turned out the guy was a, he had just, he was a used car salesman. And he now has this new job as an onboarding guide for these schools.
Starting point is 01:00:57 And she said she was really like, wait a minute, what? You're doing what? And he goes, oh, it's great. I'm making tons of money now. And I can get you in a great program. And she said the whole pitch felt exactly like buying a car, like a hard sell. And she's like, wait a minute. This is not what I want to be part of.
Starting point is 01:01:13 But I think that there's a lot of that going around right now. So I think you're right on point with it. Well, so yes. So selling the sacred, selling access to the sacred, making the sacred elite so that only certain people can have it. You know, the way only certain people can have this car or that meal or this jewelry or that passionate outlook or go on that yard or fly on that plane or, hey, how much did it cost them to go up in? Was it SpaceX? A bunch of rock stars. Whatever. Went up to out in space for 18 minutes. What did it cost? A couple million each or something. Okay. Okay, where do you go with that? There's nowhere to go. There will always be that there.
Starting point is 01:02:07 There will always be the rich. There will always be the super rich. There will always be the poor. There will always be the very poor. And we just have to navigate that and see what feels right in our heart. Bringing it back to psychedelics and excuse me, entheogenes, still recovering from laryngitis. Aowascot tourism or secadalic tourism is just a reality.
Starting point is 01:02:37 It was Marlina Dobkin De Rees, I think who named it Awazka Tourism, what, 15, 20 years ago? Horrified, the anthropologist, horrified at how many people were jumping on the band went in either side of the equation. those who want to be a shaman and sell it or serve it, and those who were eager to experience. It's how to navigate through this landscape of what's arising and what's appearing. I happen to be advisor to universities and guest lecturer to their programs on psychedelic studies. There's a graduate program now at University of Ottawa and I group around in university.
Starting point is 01:03:26 if people are interested, for the field work, because these working in non-artagnarist consciousness, you do need field work. The same way if you're going to be a dentist or if you're going to be anything, you actually have to do the work. You know, it's just to read the book and write papers. You actually have to have some experiences in these. And so our center, in the last few years, we've worked with all the various people that needed to be worked with in academia and otherwise and connected to develop a retreat
Starting point is 01:04:03 for professionals, for graduate and doctoral level students in these studies and allied studies or professionals working in the field. We have here in Canada, palliative care. Okay, there's certain exemptions and permits and licenses that exist for certain substances to be used in clinical and or in research. And then there's the religious rights, such as we have. And so if you want to compare how many digits difference there is between what we ask for the retreat that we do
Starting point is 01:04:41 and what somewhere in, I won't name the country, okay, was asking how many digits are? They're asking 8,000. We ask just over 800. All we're doing is covering, absolute basic costs okay because we're a nonprofit organization we're a church and we're committed to education and supporting research and education and people
Starting point is 01:05:10 working in the field in ways that are helpful you know to awaken consciousness and bring things forward so when we're talking about equality okay what are really talking about what are talking about is there equality in the psychedelic field i don't think so well what would equality look like what would you look like i think equality would look like would look like this might be paradoxical but like a better selection process if the only filter is money then that is not equality by any means. And if you have weak filters, I think you get weak leaders. Weak leaders lead people off a cliffs. So I think equality is having a better filtering process
Starting point is 01:06:09 where you're looking for people that may have the right qualities to move forward in a certain arena. Is that too paradoxical? Equality and then putting up parameters? No, I think we have to go further back than that. Okay, okay. Go further back to the academic and governmental situation. Okay. Which is what I've been working on for nearly educating my government first, okay? And then working with various educational and academic institutions who are open to and interested in non-arinary states of consciousness and how to prepare people to work better in those fields. Okay.
Starting point is 01:06:44 And so for me, that's where it starts. It starts before you get your license. It's not just after your license, how you filter the people who come to you. It's like, what's your credential in? In Canada, if you're, it's, you know, in Canada, if you get your license. you want to, if you want to immigrate to Canada and you're a medical doctor, you just have to provide your medical qualifications. If you're coming to Quebec, you probably have to pass some language tests. There may be some exceptions for in now in medicine because we were short doctors,
Starting point is 01:07:15 because people, what, what after right makes sense again in French? Forget it. I'm going to Ontario or Saskatchewan, right? And so Quebec quickly realized, oh, we're going to have no doctors and nurses. We better broaden that a little bit, you know. But you can't just arrive in Canada and hang out a shingle saying that you're a dentist or a doctor or an accountant or a lawyer. You actually have to be credentials. You have to have your degree. You have to have your certifications. You have to have your proof that you have been trained in, that you belong to the organization, the professional organization that you're covered by a code of ethics. You have to prove all of that before you can just hang your shingle out.
Starting point is 01:08:00 And yet because non-ordinary states of consciousness, the psychedelic movement, the use of anthogens just went boom. And because there was nothing in place, you know, one of the comparisons I used with our government in a meeting a few years ago, which we were all laughing at, as I said, you know, remember when everything was horses and carriages? And then cars got developed. And at first, everybody thought it's a fide.
Starting point is 01:08:30 It won't last. Okay, well, huh? I said, but people quickly realized, all of a sudden, there's lots of cars on the road. You had to have traffic rules. Traffic rules had to be developed, to be put into place to prevent accidents and to ensure safety.
Starting point is 01:08:50 So the safety of the car itself. And look how that's come along with seat belts and airbags. and everything else. Stop signs and red lights and yield signs and everything, all the whole structure around people driving cars had to be developed because it didn't exist. So that's what's been happening.
Starting point is 01:09:10 Governments and organizations have been playing catch-up. And because they're governments and academic organizations and professional organizations, it has to work its way through department after department to make sure that everything is screened correctly. And so this is why I understand it takes a little time with government. That's why I was willing to be patient all of those years. Better to have an educated government give you a good sign-off saying,
Starting point is 01:09:42 yes, we fully support you, and fight a little battle in a court somewhere, and then the government's still playing a catch-up with how to understand what's going on. So that's where it starts. starts with governments being educated. Academic institutions that are training people have to be credentialed institutes. They have to understand, you know, a lot of these places that are popping up and training people. What actually are they teaching people?
Starting point is 01:10:17 What belief systems are they using? What maps or cartography of the non-United States are they using? what code of ethics for me is so important? What code of ethics are they teaching people about how to work with people in non-ordinary states of consciousness? So for those of you listening, who might be interested, if you go to my website, you will find an anthages and psychedelics in Canada
Starting point is 01:10:44 proposal for a new paradigm in which we cover all of these things. We offer a code of ethics for non-ordinary states of consciousness. And we were delighted at the reception that received, by the way. Groups in Australia asked if they could adopt it, please, take it, take it, use it, you know. So it's trying to educate so that people have the most training and the most appropriate cartography to be able to work with people. And of course, into that comes that whole area of difficult people. passages and difficult experiences and encounters in the non-artinary state that are troubling or scary
Starting point is 01:11:34 or people don't have the framework for. And if you haven't trained on an understanding of how to hold that and how to support that, how do you help people? It's like if you only learn to swim in the shallow end of the pool, how are you going to help somebody in a riptide for that matter. In a riptide. Okay, you don't want to be in a riptide. I've been in one once.
Starting point is 01:12:06 Thank you. Thank you, no thank you. Great teaching, by the way. The humility of nature. My intention which flag is flying before you go jump into the ocean. I walked right after. It's like, I can't believe what is that. It's easy to do, though.
Starting point is 01:12:28 Especially in life. Like, there's red flags all the time, and we just walk right past them. I'm like, ah. Right past that. There's red lights blinking at us and yellow lights and be careful and be careful. And we're going whistling along our way, right? Dr. Jessica, do you think what on the, so you trained under some legendary people and you saw what happen through like the last wave of psychedelics and in theogens and plant teachers.
Starting point is 01:12:56 Do you see do you see the same things that are happening now? Like some of them. Okay. Can you talk about that? Well, sure. Okay. So what happened in the 60s is you had brilliant people like Dr. Stan Groff working at Stanford University and in the hospital situation in palliative care, giving training his staff to work
Starting point is 01:13:21 and not in the United States with excellent cartography, okay, and doing three what they called LSD psychotherapy sessions. And then because people were taking not just LSD but combinations of things, and goodness only knows what some people were taking because it was just, you know, being made up wherever and what have you. And then thinking they could fly and walking out of what story windows or something. And so everything got shut down.
Starting point is 01:13:52 Everything just got shut down. That was a huge mistake. What should have been left open was good research, accountable research, with good institutes and educational institutes and academic institutes. So research should have been left open, open, and accountable clinical practices should have been left open. But they didn't. The government just shut everything down.
Starting point is 01:14:21 and threw everything into one package. Now, Canada had given in the 50s, Deepenbaker, a conservative prime minister, gave the Native American peyote church with their sacrament peyote, a regulatory amendment. So if you look at the Drug Act, okay, the Control Substances Act in Canada, you can go to the Odie and the salts of it,
Starting point is 01:14:50 And you're going to see it's, you know, prohibited, except for, and there's your regulatory one, except for payyote in the use of the Native and the architecture. Now, I'm hoping that over time at some point that the Sant'Odani, and that would include, I guess, you know what a fish tell, could have the same thing, a regulatory amendment instead of every four years renewing our exemption. But I understand that's what the government needs to do to keep things safe. So they've proceeded cautiously. We were very happy.
Starting point is 01:15:26 We were granted our Section 56 exemption. And through all the negotiating process that took years, we negotiated that it would be church by church. So that there was a problem in one church that it didn't mean that everybody else lost their exemption. Yeah. Right? And so I believe that the Canadian government has gone about this in the most responsible. respectful and considered way.
Starting point is 01:15:53 And that's because, again, we were willing to be patient. And just keep giving the science and being in meetings and giving more science and giving more evidence and assuring of our principles, assuring of our practices and our emergency measures and our follow-up and our visitor screening. And so then slowly the government from that was opening to research and then was a opening to clinical use. So when they saw, okay, we can put our foot firmly down here.
Starting point is 01:16:25 These things are working. We can now open it a little bit broader to that. Will, I can only speak for the Canadian government. Will the Canadian government just fling the door open for anybody can do whatever they want? I don't think so.
Starting point is 01:16:42 Would they certainly decriminalize? They did more than decriminalized cannabis because they realized that was the best way to go was just to legalize it the same with alcohol and tobacco, give people warnings, and can't drive under the influence. Sorry, we've got a little tap tap going on so many renovations. And so I believe that's the way the Canadian government will continue to go, which is cautiously and carefully, and making sure before they open a door and permit something, that they've really done due diligence. And you know what? I'm really okay with that.
Starting point is 01:17:19 I'm really okay with that. I would rather they take their time and investigate any organization or clinic carefully before granting the use. And at least then the safety and the well-being of the people attending is going to be in a much better position than the other choice. So equal access. At this moment, I would say here in Canada, people have pretty equal access. If you're in palliative care and you want to ask for psilocybin, three psilocybin therapy experiences, then you can just simply ask your doctor and put it in.
Starting point is 01:17:58 You don't have to pay tons of money for it or go a special route. And so, you know, the research this being done, the access to certain things, you know, it opens slowly. And hopefully it will become, a better situation for those who so request. Is that a fair? For me, that's fairness. It may be slow, but it is fair
Starting point is 01:18:30 because they're looking at the risks as much. They need to be risk-aversive. They need to be, because they're accountable to the entire population of Canada. People forget this, that when you have a government, the government is supposed to be accountable to everyone, not just the people who vote at the man, right, favorite people or something, but accountable to everyone, to everybody's well-being, to everybody's rights and freedoms.
Starting point is 01:19:01 And governments need to be held accountable to that, otherwise you're in a dictatorship. Yeah, it's a great point. We have Jesse, she says, the flag isn't red, it's magenta, me before, doing some dumb shit. Jesse's so awesome. Thank you, Jesse, to be in here. Yes, okay, that's great.
Starting point is 01:19:22 And we all get it, and we all get it, you know? And it's all about learning to pay attention. You know, that's in my work. It's the four principles of self-care. The first one is self-awareness.
Starting point is 01:19:38 And this definitely comes under self-awareness. Oh, there's that little flashing red one. Yeah. You know, I need to pay attention here and how easy it is to zoom right past it. It's so true. It's so true. Did you have more questions?
Starting point is 01:19:56 Otherwise, we're going to have to. Yeah. I got more questions, but I have another one coming in. And then I got some, we'll talk more about some stuff later. The last question we got coming in is this one comes to us from Ranga. And he says, can you be equal and still be wild. different. Oh, yes. They're apples and oranges. They are they are not. They are equality and differences. Equality means you can be different and have the same rights. That's what it means. That's what it should mean.
Starting point is 01:20:37 Okay, because when I spoke about the challenges inequality is what we have to face is differences. Okay, so differences in social status, differences in cultural existence, differences in religious beliefs, differences in, you know, name it. We should all have equality. Okay. If you have, we can look at, you know, one of the most troubling things for me, when I first read about it was that in, you know, never mind women, you know, here's the perfect example. I'm saying 1943, you know, women get the road, right. Women are different from men, but men were more equal than women at different rights. You know, I'm not going on your finger at you, George, don't get old, you know, uncomfortable.
Starting point is 01:21:33 Don't apologize for being a man, okay? Just be a good man. Men shouldn't be apologizing for being male, by the way. That's a trend I really don't like. Just be a good man. Don't go apologizing. What other men have done or are doing? That's not you.
Starting point is 01:21:49 I don't just apologize for your old gender identity group. Just be good person. Yeah. All as well. All as well. So yes, individual differences. We are also unique. Everyone is different than identical twins are different.
Starting point is 01:22:06 And so we are different, but we should have equal opportunities. There should be fairness. And there should be that opportunity to live under equal rights. Okay, so it's equal rights. It's not equality. Remember, equality doesn't exist. So there will always be differences with people, but we should all have, we should all have the same rights. freedom of speech, freedom to have our belief systems, as long as they don't infringe on other people.
Starting point is 01:22:46 Look in the Old Testament. God said, go and do this. Okay, no, that's not working anymore. It does not work. Anyone who tries to drag that into today, that's not God talking. Did you have more questions? I couldn't, I had to start laughing because I like, the part that came up for me was that of the great George Orwell novel, 1984. We're all equal, but some were more equal than others.
Starting point is 01:23:14 Like when the picture rolled up the size. Well, you know, but see, that's the problem is we, we're, there's a vast difference between the true spiritual and actual, you know, a heart on particle physics because it's a fast. What fascinates me what they teach and learn in particle physics, physics and, you know, it is identical to what the spiritual teaches. We're all one, we're all interconnected, the wave in the particle, okay? And it's just fascinating. And so people confuse oneness with equality. Is the tree equal to the rhinoceros?
Starting point is 01:24:01 Well, no, they're just hugely different. have the same right to exist, yes. Yeah. To throw an altruists and the falcon, but they're so different. Do they have the freedom to exist and the right to a certain level of safety and well-being a right to have their habitat and race their young? And yes, yes and yes, that's where we should be looking at rights. we burn down and mow down all the rainforests, okay?
Starting point is 01:24:40 Put more cattle to make more McDonald's hamburgers. Don't get me started. It's so much. Dr. Jessica, I love our conversation, and that's why they go so long, and it's so much fun. I've got to say goodbye for today. I know, I know. You cover all the questions. Otherwise, you have to make a note for next month.
Starting point is 01:25:01 Next month. We'll make some, we'll get in more next month for sure. So everybody in the chat for hanging out. out with us. Thank you so much for being here. I really appreciate it to Jesse and Ranga and Betsy and Desiree and Julie and Jill Robin. Thank you so much for being here. We really appreciate it. And that's all we got for today, ladies and gentlemen. Please go down to the show notes. Check out out Rev. Dr. Jessica Rochester.com. Check out our new books, the Ayahuasca Awakening Guidebooks and her new site. And she's got a lot of stuff come. Do you have anything coming up, Jessica, before we, before we leave?
Starting point is 01:25:33 Do you want to talk about? Other than my hip replacement. Oh, that's right. Our next retreat for professionals, you know, graduate and upward students in the field and professionals in the field is in October. If there's any professionals listening or graduate and doctorate level students listening and want more information by all means contact me. And other than that, life is full, life is rich.
Starting point is 01:26:00 Life is busy. Sending all good vibes to you, sending all good vibrations to everyone listening, now and in the future. Ladies and gentlemen, have a beautiful day. We'll talk to you soon. Bye-bye.

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