TrueLife - Vladislav Andreev - Entheogenic Renaissance From Russia With Love

Episode Date: April 5, 2024

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 psychedelics? 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/Vladislav AndreevWelcome, fellow voyagers of the mind and spirit, to our sanctuary of exploration and enlightenment. Today, we have the distinct honor of welcoming Vladislav Andreev, a visionary partner at FANATIC, whose journey through the realms of business strategy and sustainability has been nothing short of awe-inspiring.With over two decades of wisdom gleaned from the intricate dance of marketing, sales, and negotiation, Vladislav has been a guiding light for companies seeking not only profit but also purpose. Through his mastery in developing and implementing brand strategies, he has woven a tapestry of success for diverse clients, from industry giants like P&G and ABInbev to innovative disruptors like Yandex and Buyln.Yet, Vladislav's brilliance extends far beyond the boardroom. As the founder of One Species, he champions sustainability and excellence, reminding us of our sacred duty to nurture and preserve our planet. And in the realm of consciousness exploration, he leads the charge with An Entheogenic Renaissance, a bilingual platform dedicated to unraveling the mysteries of entheogens and their profound healing potential.In this space of profound inquiry and discovery, where the veil between science and spirituality is lifted, we welcome Vladislav with open hearts and minds. His passion for remote work, purpose-driven endeavors, and the transformative power of psychedelics align seamlessly with our mission to explore the frontiers of mental health and well-being.So let us embark on this journey together, as we dive into the depths of psychedelic therapy, unraveling its mysteries, embracing its wonders, and envisioning a future where healing knows no bounds. Welcome, Vladislav Andreev, to our circle of seekers and dreamers. Your presence enriches us, your wisdom inspires us, and together, we shall illuminate the path to healing and transformation.http://onespecies.earth/http://linkedin.com/in/andreevvv 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

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. Fear is through ruins maze, lights my war cry, born from the blaze.

The poem is Angels with Rifles. The track, I Am Sorrow, I Am Lust by Codex Seraphini. Check out the entire song at the end of the cast. And then we'll go. Okay. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the True Life podcast. I hope everybody is having a beautiful day. I hope that the world is treating you like you want to be.

treated and if it's not, well, I hope you understand that there's a test involved and that's just the way it is. You'll find a way to make the best of it. And last night I was talking to a gentleman in Egypt. Today I'm talking to a gentleman over here in Lithuania. We're talking about psychedelics. We're talking about the way in which the world is changing. We're talking about journeys and we're going to cover a lot of ground. But let me just go ahead and introduce the incredible Ladislav Andrieve, fellow voyager of mind and spirit to our sanctuary of exploration. and enlightenment. And it's a great honor and a distinct honor to be welcoming Vladislav, a visionary partner at Fanatic, whose journey through the realms of business strategy and sustainability has been

nothing short of awe-inspiring. With over two decades of wisdom gleaned from the intricate dance of marketing sales and negotiation, Vladislav has been a guiding light for company seeking not only profit, but also purpose. Through his mastery in developing and implementing brand strategies, he has woven a tapestry of success for diverse clients from industry giants like P&G and Abinbeb to innovative disruptors like Yandex and Bluin. Yet Vladislav's brilliance extends far beyond the boardroom. As the founder of one species, he championed sustainability and excellence, reminding us of our sacred duty to nurture and preserve our planet.

In the realm of consciousness exploration, he leads the charge with an entheogenic renaissance, It's a bilingual platform dedicated to unraveling the mysteries of entheogens and their profound healing potential. Vladislav, thank you so much for being here today. How are you? I'm good, man. I'm so excited. And after you saying all those nice words about me, I don't know how to behave. I mean, I melted pretty much.

I've never heard anything like that somebody talk about. So, yeah, I'm extremely excited to have this conversation. Thank you for bringing me here. Yeah, the pleasure's all mine. You know, maybe give people a little bit of a background. You and I are complete opposite sides of the world over here. Maybe you could speak to a little bit about where you're at, how you got there, and any kind of background you want to fill in.

Sure, happy to. So I'm Russian-born, and as I say, I was born in the crossroad pretty much between Europe and Asia in a city that is known for literally ending Russian monarchy. It's called Yakaternburg. And next to it, there is a border that literally separates Europe and Asia. So I know both of the worlds and I've been living there at the outskirts of this industrial city for the majority of my life and then I moved to Moscow. I worked in the corporate sector throughout my entire life and my first foreign trip was at 19 years old when I went to US for work and travel. It was in Maine.

And I was amazed. I was blown away for months of summertime that literally changed my life. ever since I've never been the same again. And after that, yeah, I mean, in 2021, I went to, like, entrepreneurial direction. Let's put it this way. And, you know, the war started in 2022 and actually changed again, everything that I knew. But, yeah, there was an interesting moment, I guess. Can I, like, share for, like, another couple of minutes?

Yeah, as long as you want, man. This is fascinating, please. Yeah, just, you know, tell me to. shut up from time to time. Not at all. My thoughts, they jump for here and there. I want to hear it. I think it's like what they call nowadays like neurodivergent,

but whenever you feel that I'm losing track, let's just, you know, steer back. But anyway, so it was January 22 and me and my wife, we bought tickets for Istanbul. So we've been living in Moscow and we're together since six years ago. So we wanted to, you know, spend some time in Istanbul in a nice hotel, in a mountain, So we found it. It was supposed to have a jacuzzi in a fireplace. And we bought tickets for February 22nd, 2022. And on February 26th, if I remember correctly, we were supposed to come back. So on the 24th of February is the day when the war started, basically.

We were supposed to enjoy ourselves at the jacuzzi and the fireplace. And we go from the old part of Istanbul to the new part to pick a car and we go for a breakfast. And a friend of mine recommended a really nice place with a fantastic, cross sons. So we're ordering breakfast and the friend of mine writes me message like, are you okay? I'm like, yeah, what happened? She's like, Ukraine is no-fly zone. I was like, what the fuck? And then immediately, you know, our life just changes entire direction because, I mean, we still take the car. We take the three-hour drive of doom-scrolling and then it's just doom-scrolling in jacuzzi, doom-scrolling at the fireplace and trying to understand

like what to do with our life and then accidentally a friend of mine an ex-colleague reached out and with the help and then basically on 6th of march so the war started on february 24th and 6th of march i have like six days left in my visa in shengen and the friend of mine in lithuania says you know there's a program that could try and help you relocate business from russia i was like okay i'm buying the tickets and you know well i'm russian citizen i don't have any other passport or whatnot so i I arrive on 6th March to Poland. It's a connection flight to further go to Lithuania. And then, you know, Poland has its, you know, beef with Russia.

Let's put it this way. So I'm there. And, you know, the customs officer is looking at me at my passport and like asking me, like, where are you heading to? Like, Russia. He's like, do you have tickets? I'm like, no, but I'm going to buy them. You know, it took him like 10 minutes.

He called somebody, you know, browse through my passport. It was intense, but luckily I had the background in negotiations. So, you know, that helped me kind of stay cool. But eventually, let me and ever since like Mars, 2022, we're here. We got our dog here relocated from Moscow. We took her from shelter during COVID. And we joke that she's the only family member that has European passport unlike us. So, yeah, we're thinking about, you know, marrying her and reconcile with the family.

But yeah, during the dead, yeah, so the topics of psychedelic, yeah, just a quick one here. So I've been familiar with psychedelics since like 21 year ago or so. And they've been, they can take a part of my life every now and then. They help me a lot and they help me heal my own traumas, several of them by myself. And it was like self-learning experience of therapeutic approach, let's put it this way. But then when the war started, I've been drinking a lot, like a lot because, you know, it's just hard to process, like move all the stuff, like change everything in our life and, you know, took a while to recover. But then last year, a friend of mine told me that, you know, there's a TV show you should watch for Netflix, how to change your mind. I was like, okay, let's check it out.

It was in May last year. And I watched it like, fuck, finally you can talk about it out loud. I was like, really? Like, seriously? Is it legal? And then, you know, I started to get into the warm hole, I guess, the rabbit's hole and eventually quickly realized that there's a psychedelic or innocence happening. I was like, oh, my God, I need to catch up.

So ever since, pretty much, I started to dig into the topic, started to read medical publications, medical research, articles, listen to webinars, podcasts, and read books and gather as much data. is possible. In September, there was this program by University of California, Berkeley, which is called Psychedelics in the Mind. So it went through it in like three days and like, I need more, I need more. And then you know, it just went on and on. But then at some point, they realized that, you know, the amount of information about psychedelics in Russian, in particularly is extremely limited. And you know, surprisingly enough, there are people

from Russian background like Alexander Sasha Shulgin, for instance, child, of Russian immigrants. There's another persona who is not widely recognized. Unfortunately, her name was Valentina Gerkin Wasson, spouse of Gordon Wasson. And actually, if it wasn't for her, Gordon wouldn't have went to Mexico in the first place. And the reason being is that, well, she was born in Moscow, by the way, her parents relocated her after the Russian Revolution.

So she came to West, they got married, and then they went to Catskills in U.S. for their honeymoon and she noticed that there were peculiar mushrooms there that looked really familiar as there were the ones that you know were growing in moscow but gordon wasn't you know that fascinated about mushrooms he actually kind of either night disgusted by them or like didn't like basically but valentina in some point came out with a theory that you know slavic people are mycophilic and like western or anglo-saxon as she called them and i was russian propaganda calls it as well are mycophobic. So Gordon was mycophobic whereas she was mycophilic and you know there is a lot about mushrooms in the Slavic cultures

in the water of time especially but anyway she was the one convincing him you know that we should look into mushrooms and things like that so she was the first woman to have a silent-sabin mushroom trip and she published an article in Life magazine if I remember correctly or maybe wrong here or newsweek but anyway the magic mushrooms I had so anyway the vine thing here or actually tragic is that when you go to Wikipedia and you open Valentino Vaston's page and you can find that page is in English, which makes sense. It's Wikipedia after all. It is a Spanish. Yeah, again, makes sense because Mexico, Maria Sabina and the magic mushrooms. It is

in Arabic. I don't know why. I mean, seriously, I have no clue. But the worst thing is that it does not exist in Russian language. I was like, what the fuck? I should say, fix that. So I just started to blog about it and there's this social network called Telegram. It's kind of similar to WhatsApp, but very different. It's from the Russian interpreter who

at some point in time he just copy-pasteed Facebook and then, you know, sold it and then created this masterpiece of a messenger. But anyways, like a social network, so to speak. So I started there, but then a friend of mine in India convinced me to start a video blog as well and I was like, ah, hell, why not?

So here I am. It's amazing. I'm glad. I'm glad that you are doing it. Well, maybe we could speak to this idea of, you know, shamanic culture, mycopheelic. Is there like a shamanic culture in Russia? Like I know that there's a lot of history in Europe about mushrooms and, you know,

ceremonies and altered states of consciousness. But is there something unique to Russia that maybe people should know? about? Yeah, there are some things, of course. And first and foremost, the word shaman, if you go to the origins, it is Russian root. And there are many words in English language that have Russian roots. So, like, what was it, Sputnik at some point in time, got replaced by satellite, Padrom, and there was another one that I missed. But anyway, shaman is Russian, well, I don't know, like some of variations of Russian languages because there are many of them. It's not like only Russian and Russia. There are other like ethnicities who indigenous cultures basically and there are languages that are being

pretty much destroyed nowadays. But anyway, so if you go further to the east, of course there is a shamanic culture and, you know, there are shamans that live in Al-Tai region which is pretty much close to Everest and, you know, all the heights and all the mountains there. But generally speaking, on the country's level, they say that, you know, even the president has a own shaman and some other, like, you know, healers or whatnot, some mystics here and there, even in the Russian CIA and something like that. But of course, it's like unofficial. You know, I mean, the culture is there. The legacy is there. But it's not, like, present and visible. But it is quite common to, you know, no way kind of shaman or like a healer or something like that. And they are in the culture. But

in the majority of cases, the shamanic, like, people in rituals are conducted with the help of Amanita Muscaria, to the best of my knowledge, which is not prohibited in Russia, unlike all the other psychedelics and drugs, pretty much. So Russia is like totally on the war on drugs path. Still, I mean, they don't give a shit about the progress. But I don't know if I've answered your questions. I guess you can find shamans nowadays. But yeah, not that common. Although, very popular Russian singer that's being used by the propaganda machine is a kind of nickname is shaman. So I guess they're playing this aspect. Oh yeah, the funny thing, I remember there was this anti-narcotics policy in Russia. I think they've accepted like four or five years ago. So they're

trying to bring people to traditional values, so called, okay? So I tried to understand like what are those traditional values? So shamanism is a traditional value. of Russian society because, you know, Shaman has said, it comes from Russia and it's part of the culture. But then again, if you go on the Wikipedia page and look at closely at the description of what Shaman does, is that typically that person is using infusions. Yeah. So, I mean, this is value the culture. Why you're not using it.

You should be. But yeah, they're totally prohibited. it's fascinating to me i go when i when i read a little bit about some of the russian culture or the eastern cultures the eastern orthodox it has like this really rich history with mysticism and like through miss when i think of mysticism i think of a religious experience and when i think of that like that's what happens to me like on a really deep psychedelic trip is like there's this connection to something greater than me which is mystic in a way i whatever word you want to use to describe it,

there is this connection to something bigger than we understand. It's this ineffable. And I think that there's, I'm hopeful that not only will our relationship continue to blossom, but so too will the investigation into Eastern mysticism, particularly Russian in that area. I think it's a really rich area that has a lot of knowledge that in the world of psychedelics, we should become more familiar with, man. What do you think?

Yeah. Yeah. That's totally true. There's only one problem is with the religion aspect, is that in the majority of places in Russia, the kind of dominant religion is Russian Orthodox. And in my view, it is probably one of the worst religions thus far because it tells people to suffer and to accept it and do nothing about it. So it has nothing to do with the mystical experience of psychedelics at all. People just go there to, you know, pray for something that, you know, I don't even. understand what but if we go towards a more ancient direction so-called because prior to orthodox there were other religions like you know the Greeks had their own religion figures and

Russian of course had own like gods of thunder for instance like son you know and their animism and one of the oldest idols found on the planet was like 11,000 years It was actually next to the city that I was born at. It was found in some swamps. And it's like a, it's called Shiger Idol. So if you Google it, you can find it, if you can see 11,000 years old. So I mean, what I'm trying to say here is that the religious aspect is there, the mystical aspect is there, but currently it has no place in the society at all because of many, many reasons.

And of course, Soviet Union. kind of played it, it's part naturally. But yeah, nowadays it's just too far from reality. Which is a shame. Yeah. It's sometimes I wonder, you know, and I, I wonder if these wave of psychedelic renaissance that seem to make their way into society, they seem to usher in a transitional phase. Like there's so much change that comes with these times.

And just like the last wave of psychedelics, what we saw an explosion of creativity. We saw this outbreak of violence and just times are changing. And it seems that we are in an echo of that again today. And isn't it interesting that we're getting to see this new emergence or this reemergence of the psychedelic experience? I wonder, are those things connected? Do you think it's somehow like in the eugenes are the planet talking to us and creating change agents? Man, I do hope so because otherwise I just, I don't get it like seriously. It's about time because humanity is just killing itself, like literally,

shooting itself in the leg than in the hand at some point eventually in either heart or head. But, you know, like consuming all the fossil fuels and overconsuming of everything, basically. So invulgions are there to help us realize that. And I have this, there was this study done by two Swedish researchers and I made a post about it on LinkedIn. It's somewhere there under endiogenic Renaissance. So they created a, they did a meta study of the kind of connected of correlation between the mystical experience that, you know, is people are having when they're consuming high doses of psychedelics and the connectedness with nature and oneness. And as a result, more like conscious decisions, environmentally friendly and more sustainable in the long run. And I mean, long story short, for pretty much all people who consume psychedelics and think it is obvious, right?

But then again, when you read it in a nice research publication, you can find it very promising because ideally if, you know, all the people who run big corporations have this therapeutic, like proper therapeutic. approach with psychedelics, they could change a lot in terms of how they do, like, make decisions within their business, like what their business does, whether or not, you know, they pollute mother nature or create a new product that's going to be destroying it for just profit and things like this. And I have a strong belief that, you know, once those people are introduced with the therapeutic potential of psychedelics, they're not going to be making stupid decisions that would be in, you know, their own favor or the shareholders favor or the short-term gain and just kill the entire ecosystem pretty much.

What was this name? El Hubbard, if I remember correctly. There was this guy at the second wave of psychedelic emergence. He was a Canadian, I don't know, mobster or something like that. So he was involved with the Humphrey Osmond as well at some point in time. So he had these strange ideas that, you know, once you get all the CEOs on LSD, they will change the world. So I think I kind of share that thinking in a sense, but of course, not in that manic way. But then again, you know, with the emergence of psychedelics from a different perspective, like not only healing but also coaching, you know,

it gives you a different perspective because people who are high in the organizations, they're either burnt out, they lost their purpose. they lost the meaning of life and things like this. And once they get introduced to psychedelics, things could change for better. Yeah, that's really well said. And I agree. I think if Leary was around today, it would be a different conversation, you know? Like, there would be a lot more people that were receptive, you know. And I recently went back and I watched the Buckley, the William F. Buckley versus Leary debate.

And like, it's just so interesting to see both sides of the. really conservative view and then this other view and to see where we're at today. And I echo your sentiments about the world of business. And, you know, I do think that if we can begin, and maybe it's an age thing. You know, maybe it is, you know, maybe these things are connected. If you look at the drugs on which the boomer generation ran, it's primarily alcohol, which is a horrible drug. It's a horrible drug.

It just kills your spirit. It kills everything about you. It deadens you to the reality of that you are a part of nature. It's so separating and isolating. And then all of a sudden you have this new wave of infidians or psychedelics that are like, you have this new perspective. You're like, wait a minute, I'm going to destroy nature. I am nature.

That's like punching myself in the face. Like it's so dumb. Why don't I treat the people that work underneath me as part of me? Like, why don't we work together? Like, and so maybe this next wave, much like a psychedelic trip, each wave gets stronger until you hit the peak. Maybe this wave of psychedelics is this one where we're beginning to be like, oh shit, here it comes. You know what I mean? Like it started to come on pretty strong right now.

Yeah, man, I hear you that resonates strongly. And I do hope that happens. The only thing that puzzles me is that if you look at the current psychedelic renissants and everything that is happening, actually it is, pretty much ex-British colonies, right? I mean, I don't know, at some point in time, I had this epiphany. Well, US, right, Canada, Australia, first country in the world to, you know, start psychedelic assistance therapy in the first place. South Africa, not so much, but they're producing, you know, I mean, not India, definitely.

They're not that strong. But, you know, it's just what I'm saying here is that out of, let's say, other part of the world, like Eastern Hemisphere or, you know, Southeast Asia, for instance, there is like totally different sentiment there. Like, you know, Federico Duterte from Philippines, like Sri Lanka's struggle and their continuous war on drugs and, you know, all the limitations in India, it's just nothing's happening there. And, you know, it looks thus far that it's just only like one big superpower of US and, you know, the acolytes of United Kingdom, so to speak.

And that's it. And the rest of the world is like, what? What a psychedelics? Never heard of it. Like, let's pray to them. But of course, there are the countries that are like forward thinking, like Portugal, who legalized all drugs. Like, you can consume no problem at all. And they have a decrease in numbers for heroin users like four times. That's insane. Yeah. Yeah. My hope is that it's a Trojan horse. You know, I think a lot of people in positions of authority have taken the Huxley view of psychedelics as a disassociative. And they can be.

Like they could be the soma in Brave New World where people take it and they feel happy about their imprisonment. But I think that's the Trojan horse. I think what's going to happen. And I see it happen in the U.S. is like you see these, you know, pharmaceutical companies like, listen, let's just give these people their damn soma and let them be happy about this. But all of a sudden, you're seeing this rattling the cage. of the medical environment like let me out of here you know and it's escaping out of that medical container and they can't control it and i i think it's to a point will it will it will get to a

point where it escapes the medical container not only through the cage but through the people facilitating the medical exploration of it like you're seeing at least in the u.s i'm seeing you know doctors being questioned like oh so you're going to provide psychedelic therapy have you ever done psychedelics and the doctor's like nope oh It's like, well, why should, why should I listen to you then? You know, and you're seeing maybe someone who's been on the underground without a medical degree who may have been a veteran that's worked through their own PTSD or work through the death of their child or work through their alcoholism. Now, this person on some level is being treated as the expert that the doctor thinks that they should be. You know, maybe we need both.

I get both, but like I'm seeing that sort of escaping the medical container. Like, hey, maybe we don't. Maybe these people that we're calling experts of professionals, while they are on some level, maybe this other person who's been a 25-year person who's worked at the bottom of an Amazon company, maybe that's the expert. Maybe that person has some ideas about how to really get through tragedy, you know. But that's what I see. I see it as a Trojan horse on some level.

Is that too far out there? Listen, I think you're onto something here because I can tell from my own experience. So you've touched several topics that resonated strongly. So first of all, is alcohol. And as alcohol, is the worst drug in the world and even worse than heroin. And my father was an alcoholic. My grandfather was an alcoholic. And I seen them drinking themselves to death.

So at 12, when I was 12, a country went kaput in terms of their economy, 1998, the economy meltdown. So my father lost job. And for the next five years, he's been just drinking, basically. And I'd seen it's awful. And, you know, he died eventually out of a heart attack. I remember correctly six months after his father died because as well, he just followed him to the grave. So when I got into the topic of the psychedelics and I started to understand, like, maybe I can get, like, proper education. So I found, like, a couple of institutions, so to speak, where they have, like, either a master's degree or something around the psychedelics or psychedelic or psychedelic or psychedelic or psychedelic or psychedelic or psychedelic or psychedelic.

And then I applied there. Of course, they didn't accept me because I don't have any medical background because I'm not a clinician because I'm not a psychiatrist. So, yeah, they did let me, which, you know, kind of makes sense. But I would argue because, you know, they had this point which says like interventions and behavior. And I am thinking to myself, so for the duration of three years, I've been working for British negotiation consultancy and conducting behavioral change workshops. So, of course, you can say it's totally different because I've been telling people how to change their behavior in specific context of negotiation. but I've been doing that for like thousands of hours. So technically I'm fit, but, you know, the funny thing is that the rules and the constructs are there that, you know, the limit from entering.

And then one moment I have this epiphany is that pretty much, you know, you remember the stone ape theory, right? So, I mean, everything is a social construct pretty much. And then you look at those rules and you think like, so just. explain it to me. If there's a person who got a diploma, is that person is like totally qualified or not? And I remember seeing a person in LinkedIn who was like psychiatrist, like clinician and something like that, diploma here, diploma there. And then she says that vaccines are killing people. I'm like, who the fuck gave you diploma? Seriously.

So what I'm saying here is that I guess the GED is out of the bottle. That's what I said before. We started recording, but you're on to something here because, you know, all the clinicians, they may have the knowledge of the therapy and the approach, but if they don't know how psychedelics work, it's just not going to fly. But there are a lot of shamans and underground, like, gurus and facilitators. The problem is they're, of course, not either licensed, but license means shit. Literally nothing.

It always depends on the personality. And there have been cases with maps, with their scandals here. the scandals there. It doesn't mean that the person who has a diploma is the proper person to conduct either therapy or be ethically, like, I don't know, strong in their commitment to heal other human beings. So what I'm saying here is that, I guess, is just very important to understand, like, who is this person to whom you are entrusting your psyche whenever you are using psychedelics pretty much. Yeah. It's such the great area. And that's one of the big issues that I see in places like Denver or Oregon or Kentucky that's working with Iboga now.

It's these places are trying to figure it out. And in doing so, and in trying to figure this out, it shines a giant light on this concept of when the instrument becomes the institutionalized, it begins to lose its edge. You know what I mean by that? like psychedelics work. We know they do. But when you begin to institutionalize them and build a diploma around them and build all these people around them, like it starts to lose its effectiveness, you know?

And that's, I understand the need for safety. I get it. I understand the need to make sure that the people that are applying the therapy have your best interest in mind. And they want to be trusted. Like you don't need, you don't want to have another, you know, Jim Jones or Charles Manson or something like that. But at the same time, at what point in time does the inflow of money become more about creating profit and the institution than it does about the health?

And that's not just psychedelics. That's everything. I love psychedelics because it shows you that. It's like, hey, look at this whole thing. It's all like that. It's all a construct. It's new knowledge on the same information. Yeah.

It's interesting. I think that that's on some level, when you look back at the 60s, That's why they were banned. Like on some level, psychedelics opens your eyes to the idea of this is all bullshit. Yeah. All of it. You know. Yeah, I know.

I think this is one of the reasons that are prohibited in Russia because people would recognize quite soon enough that the king is naked. But yeah, I think the problem is that, you know, the capitalist society, you know, however you call it. But it has its like ups and downs or advantages. disadvantages, I guess, one of the advantages that increases the level of, like, quality of life and everything. But the disadvantage is that the pursuit for profit actually it harms in the long run. And if you, I don't know if you had stumbled upon a book called the Emperor Wares No Close. I don't remember the author. So the guy, it was like some US guy in the 80s, he created a book that was basically a compilation of all the historical data about weed.

in the cannabis in the human history from like Encyclopedia Britannica and other factual sources. He puts it all together and basically says that you know the ham got prohibited because DuPont invented nylon from you know dinosaurs and million old trees and then they wanted to make profit and how do you make profit if everything's made out of hemp prohibit ham make profit so what are you saying is that of course it's losing its age and whenever you know we're talking about therapy I really find it hard to imagine to have like, you know, an appropriate like LSD or psilocybin experience within like white walls and, you know, the hospital facility.

I was like, I think it can like lead to a very tough trip. But of course, it's not like this everywhere, but because it is somewhat unregulated. And, you know, the genie is out of the bottle. There are cases where I've read an article about like some catamine clinic in the US in the mall where you just get in. They give you ketamine and there's nobody in the room and you were just lying there. with the catamine ingested in your veins and tripp. They're like, what the fuck is this?

It's just too much, you know. The McDonald's of transformation. That's awful. That's awful. That caused harm. And actually, you know, that can backfire. Because, you know, people go there. They experience hard emotions.

They cannot deal with them. They reopen their trauma. And then they, I don't know, either just commit suicide or do some stupid shit. And then they start to question, like, why did they do this? Oh, they went to a catamine clinic. Like Matthew Perry last year, they went to Switzerland, $150,000 for academy treatment, like seriously. And then he decides to have a catamine on a mom in a pool, at a pool, and just drowns. Like, that's what happens when you don't teach people safety.

Yeah. Yeah. Ironically enough, that guy was an alcoholic for a long time. You know what I mean? Like, I think that we're so cool. quick to and probably out of love probably out of kindness we're so quick to blame a substance for someone's departure rather than we are the the problems that underlie that symptom right like that's totally true man absolutely i cannot agree more it's like you know blaming the guns

yeah yeah it's an evil gun it's an evil one yeah it kills but that nobody nobody even tries to address the reality in which people leave, the reality, the stigma, the taboo that surrounds them. And whenever you cannot consume, it creates additional problems. It creates additional issues. I mean, if you get hospitalized, you cannot even talk about out loud because it's prohibited, because, I mean, they're going to arrest you for consuming. And this is ridiculous. So that stigma definitely needs to go for the harm reduction to happen.

I guess that's what I'm doing in my podcast. You are, definitely. Trying to, you know, give the knowledge to people because even though psychedelics are safe, like extremely safe, people can do stupid shit. And, you know, that French student that died in Amsterdam and the reason they prohibited psilocybin mushrooms, not like truffles, is just, you know, no precaution measures that you didn't have a trip sitter, no set in setting, just went on walking around the sea and decided to test the gravity, I guess.

but still, you know, people do stupid shit. Yeah. Yeah, I go back and forth, like on some level, you know, especially after like some deep trips, man, where I just, you know, leave this planet on some level, you know. I'm calling my mom and my sister like 3.30 in the morning. Like, I'm pretty sure I'm an alien, you know? They're like, shut the fuck up, dude. Go to bed. You know, and I'm like, no, you guys don't get it.

like I'm talking to the aliens right now. You're an alien, too. You don't get it. You know, it's like, so on some level, I'm like, okay, this can be something that makes people, maybe, obviously it's not for everybody. Maybe it should be restricted to some people. But, you know, who am I to say someone else can't do it? Like when I start going down that road, it does get kind of slippery on some level.

Well, there are some things that we should definitely remember, like, you know, if a person or their first bloodline relative have schizophrenia or bipolar disease or predisposition, I would definitely advise them to avoid psychedelics. Why, though? Like, is there, because of the literature that says that that? Or like, what is the real evidence behind that? So technically, there is evidence. I mean, if you can, if you look at the data.

So the idea there is not that they create schizophrenia or bipolar disease, but it's that they kind of fast speed up the processes, basically. So if a person have a predisposition, it may or may not, let's say, convert into full-blown schizophrenia and bipolar disease in the, I don't know, next few years or 10 years or decades. But psychedelics can speed things up if, you know, there's no preparation, no set-and-setting. And, you know, it can open a deep trauma, for instance, and people won't be able to deal with it by themselves. So those things are still, like, cautionary measures. and ideally I wouldn't advise to you know people with like I don't want to call it like weak

psyche but like the problems that are not addressed through therapy like I don't know traumas especially to consume psychedelics by themselves because they may end up creating problems for themselves I mean they can theoretically heal themselves but without the proper trip sitter or you know like a shaman a guru or therapist or coach or whomever nearby who can really help and create the container and, you know, facilitate the healing process, it may really create additional harm for human psyche. So what I'm saying here, and I've looked at the data, I tried to, like, address properly, like all those claims that, you know, psychedelic cause schizophrenia.

They don't. They speed up the processes. That's it. They're, like, you know, there's this phrase. They're meaning enhancers, but they're enhancing. So the enhancing quality is there. And because it is psyche, because it's. deep-rooted in like subconscious in the genes, it just, you know, sparks up a disease pretty much.

So that's the thing. So for that reason, I wouldn't advise people with, yeah, schizophrenia, bipolar disease, or, you know, if they have first bloodline relatives to consume psychedelics. And probably not if they're unnecessary, and Mao, yeah, endipressants as well, because some substances can lead to even, like, fatal combinations. So better to avoid. Yeah, those are great points. I'm hopeful in the future.

Like, I was talking to Alexander Ledbedev, who's out of Norway, amazing individual. Russian guy. Oh, he's epic. I'll introduce you guys. Like, you guys would get along great. He's a super smart guy. He's a lot of us. He's one of us.

And, you know, we were talking about what's happening inside the brain during a really high-dose trip. And there's a lot of imagery. there's a lot of feedback and there's a lot of speculation. I spoke with Brian Roth who spoke about all this money that they've done for funding looking at the 5H2A receptor. But when you really start, when you really pull the curtain back, we don't know that much, man. That's true.

Maybe billions of dollars. It's still with all this much. They're like, it's kind of bullshit, man. It kind of makes me laughing somewhere like, Jesus, we spend how much money? You guys don't know shit. You don't know shit about it, man. You know, and so that's where, like, I come from a family that my dad is bipolar. And I kind of think on some level, there has to be boundaries, and I understand a clinical setting for someone who may have some sort of cognitive impairment.

But possibly psychedelics could be the answer for that. You know, if you look back to the way psychedelics were used back in the day, it used to be that a professional would take them so they could thoroughly understand what it's like to be. in a psychotic state. I think if there's real, I think that there's real juju there, man. I think there's real juju there that, like, makes you feel like, oh, my God, this is what it's like to be in a state in another reality. And then once you begin to understand that, maybe you could have some empathy for someone who's going through these episodes on some level, right?

Absolutely. And I remember correctly prior to all those Huxley and Ambri Osmer nailing the psychedelic in the first place, he was called. substances were called psychotomatic mimicking psychosis so of course there you go but understanding what it's like to have a full-blown psychosis and i know i remember like i've had those trips where i felt like i'm losing it i'm just i'm gonna be like a mental institution like member for the rest of my life that's it bye bye i'm not gonna come back and i had those moments they were fucking scary yeah can you share one of those moments with us oh man it was so yeah we went to a festival i think it was

Spongel. Yeah, yeah, it was Spongle in Moscow. We went the three of us from a different city. Unfortunately, we weren't prepared for the weather. So we went there. And, you know, we, so one of, I think it was like either to see B or something like that. So it was not like LSD or something. Weren't sure. I mean, you kind of test it. You just, you know, trust whatever. Somebody supplies you. And then we went there and the one of the guys, or three of us, Well, he had, like, kind of seizure pretty much in some point in time. So I had to run for an ambulance and, you know, bring the ambulance brigade to him. And then eventually it was all good. But then we had to go to, like, a hospital or something.

And then, you know, it started to kick in. And then I lost it. I thought that that's it. They're taking me here to just put me in the mental hospital. I'm going to stay there for the rest of my life. But, of course, as with all the trips with psychedelics, it all passes away. after some time and you become normal

or never become normal pretty much but still you know kind of that's awesome man thank you for sharing that I think that's important I think that I know one time for me

I had taken like 18 grams of mushrooms I'm like I'm going to go deep I took this 18 gram dose and what I've learned on that dose Adam Tapp and I were talking about this it seems to me at least on psilocybin on these really higher dosages that there's like a double

peak. On some level, there's like a breakthrough and then things get foggy. I can't remember. But then there's another peak of clarity. And I remember on the second peak, like, I just got like so biblical and started thinking like, oh, yeah, I get it. You know, and it just made sense to me. Like, now I get it. And when I look back on it, like there's this clarity like Jesus is an A, like all this stuff that was probably in my mind already. But I was. in a different world and I can remember it like, oh my God, it's so clear.

This is the truth. Without a doubt, this is the truth. And it was so clear and so Christine. But then when I came back down, I'm like, I was fucking crazy. That's not true, you know, but to see it with so much clarity. Yeah, I know.

It's really something you can look back on and be like, oh my God, how it's, it gives you a different perspective of different mental states and what is possible and empathy with people. people and like it's it's so helpful if you can get through it on some level. Yeah, man. I totally resonates.

I remember having those moments in the deepening is exactly as you described them. And this is one of very fascinating qualities of psychedelics is that, you know, I mean, you are on the other part of the world. We've never seen each other before in our entire life. And yet we have this same profound experience. And this is like insane. And we're all like part of this bigger noosphere, I guess. the global subconscious or however you call it.

But I remember those moments. And I remember, I think it was like maybe 18 years ago or so when I had one of those moments, you know, the breakthrough moment that you just described. Yeah. And then I realized that, oh, I understand. Now I get it. And then I had this thought right there, right at that particular moment, is that, okay, it is important that I understand right now, but will I remember it tomorrow?

Yes. Yeah. And of course, you know, typically the event. evaporates, but integration as far I've learned, it's, of course, critical and important. Yeah. Regardless if you, this is just a theory, and this could all be bullshit, but this just what I think about sometimes. I think that those breakthrough moments and the very difficult part of our trips are the manifestation of neuroplasticity in real time.

Like that's your brain rewiring itself in real time. That's what you're freaking out. It's like, boom, your brain is. is creating new neural pathways. Like, and like, even if you don't remember exactly what happened when you were freaking out or when you had that breakthrough clarity, I think that after that event, you've created new pathways that allow creativity or thoughts to flow in a way that they haven't flown before. And that's where the real teaching can begin to come in.

Like, hey, you know what? How come, you know, people should be better at math. Not everybody learns the same way. Can we find a way to teach music through math? And that's kind of what was happening in the 60s was these new ways of learning. These people were taken, you know, why not? Like, why does it have to be this standardized bubble? Like, what about this other stuff?

And, like, I think that that's what psychedelics on some level are doing is they're providing new pathways the same way new neural pathways are being connected. Like, what about this way to learn? What about that way to learn? Is that too crazy? What do you think? I think you're into something here as well, man. Yes.

That makes sense. I mean, I haven't thought about it. to me it sounds like new ADA totally but then you know I'm trying to recollect from the knowledge that have gathered so far and it does make sense because when you're in psychedelics the kind of the patterns of like regular connectivity within the brain and the neural networks that are disrupted and all the new patterns are being created so hence neuroplasticity so when all parts of the brains are activated at some point at the same moment it creates I think pretty much like the beginning of a new neural circuit in a sense.

And if you are like concentrating properly enough on like trying to memorize it and kind of calcify it, I guess you can then take it to your regular life with you. Yeah, at least the residuals of it. You know what I mean? It's like putting these on like a new set of lenses. Oh, that's a new color. And I never noticed that. Maybe it's not, but you've never noticed it before.

And then you notice that color everywhere. It's that gives me hope. Like that gives me hope that this first phase of this cycle or this this I think there's layers to the psychedelic renaissance. And I think that the first layer is getting through our trauma. It's moving through the PTSD. It's moving through these new things. But, you know, if you look close to the edges, you can see this creative cycle or this new movement happening, man. And I'm so excited for it.

Just me and you never know each other and talking to people on the opposite side. Like you said, talking opposite sides of the world, having these experiences, people, from everywhere could be listening. We could be influencing people right now that we don't even know of, man. It's mind-blowing. It is mind-blowing. The only thing about the psychedelics is that, you know, whenever we're talking about when we're talking about

higher levels of the, like, Mosul's Pyramid, hierarchy of needs, right? Yeah, yeah. But, I mean, the entire, like, world is totally different, and it recently came from Sri Lanka and India. And, you know, it's totally different lifestyle there, of course. And, you know,

India is, like, number one in terms of population and have a lot of issues there, and of course, other countries as well. So psychedelics can help with solving a lot of them, as well as, you know, helping treat like multi-generational wounds between cultures. And if I remember correctly prior to the escalation of the conflict between Israel and Palestine, there was a study for like use of ayahuasca for both like groups from Palestine and Israel. And it showed promise because people were willing to let go, you know, all the grudges, all the, like, trauma from all the generations that were happening there, sitting there and basically driving their behavior and they're willing to let it go.

So in my view, you know, creativity is all the nice for US for sure, but the rest of the world is not there. I mean, there are so many problems out there. I mean, all the wars and people make stupid decisions to kill people. I mean, I just don't get it. Like, seriously. This is, like, the most valuable, I don't know, aspect or how you call it, like, life. It is the most valuable thing that can ever be. And then people decide to kill each other.

And it's like, are you fucking stupid, like this stupid? Like, what's wrong with you? Yeah. I don't get it. I don't either. I, it breaks my heart on some level. And it breaks my heart to think that I'm funding it on some level. Like my money, my taxpay money is going right now for murdering children and women.

Like me, I'm responsible for that on some level. And I'm like, dude, it makes me want to cry. I'm like, geez, how do I, what do I do? How do I stop that, you know? And I. Go live in the jungle, I guess, the only answer. Self-sufficiency, you know, solar batteries like your own garden. Even then, though, like you're just a cop out.

Like maybe this, maybe having conversations with people, as insignificant as it may be, like maybe, you know, maybe it's the conversation of inspiring someone to go within and figure out why they hate something. Maybe that's how this works. It's like you figure out how you become the best version of yourself and that's how the world changes, you know? I hope. I don't know, but we are. We are at, I think we're at a turning point where we've got to decide. and everybody has to decide for themselves. Which side do you want to be on?

You want to be on the side of life? You want to be on the side of death? Which side are you going to be on? And what are you going to do about it? It could be something as simple as like, you know what? I'm going to tell everybody in my life, I love them. That could be the thing you do to make the world better, right? Maybe.

Why not, man? True. I fully agree with you because, you know, it's time to change something. Yeah. We should be the ones driving this change. Nobody's going to do it for us. So unless we take the first step, there's not going to be a second step even. Yeah.

Yeah. Totally people are messed up. Yeah, it's crazy. I see it changing. You know, there's a great book called The Fourth Turning. And in that book, they talk about the way in which the generations, have you heard about that book? No.

Oh, it's great. I might have a copy I can send you. But it speaks to the idea of generational cycles. And if you look at like every hundred years, There seems to be this thing we bump up against, you know, the world wars and just the disintegration of the idea of money or international finance versus national finance. These things just come to a loggerheads at some point in time. And so, yeah, I think on some level that we need more people to not only experiment with psychedelics, but experiment with what is possible in their lives. I don't know.

You know, I think that there's a move towards sort of therapy as a biocyco-social spiritual model. I know it's a mouthful of words. What do you think about that? Is that too crazy? No, you know, there is something to it for sure. And, you know, I think the biggest problem with psychedelics is that happened like previously in like mid of 20th century and it's still happening here and there is that there are

pretty much like two protocols of consumption. So the Fributic protocol and the recreational protocol, they're all totally different. So whenever we're talking about psychedelics, of course, a lot of people are consuming them without the intent to heal their own trauma, right, with an intention to have a good time to party to, I don't know, enjoy something, experiment, I guess, and try something new or maybe they're cornered or peer pressure is there. And they're like, oh, okay, you're trying it. Why not? I'll do it as well. So other reasons, of course, are there. And the thing about them is that, you know, not all people experience them in like proper way, I'd say. Because if you look at like the history of relationships between humans and psychedelics, it was always the ritual consumption. It was not like, there you go, mushrooms for all, you know.

It's not like this. Like they kick you on in Greece like every like, what was it like three or four years. They've been conducting those ceremonies. And, you know, in Latin America in Southern America as well, it was ritual. and there were shamans and over here and there. So whenever we were talking about democratizing access and providing it to all, we definitely need to make sure that people treat them accordingly.

Because, I mean, you still can get like a worst night of your life and then, you know, never touch psychedelics ever and think that it's the devil's doing pretty much and then tell everybody that they make people crazy and you should prohibit them. but if they do it like in a stupid way. So I guess what you're saying here to me resonates in the fact that we definitely need to teach people about like how to properly use them because it's not it's not a kind of coke. You know, I mean, you cannot just occasionally take like 250 micrograms of LSD and, you know, hope that it's just going to pass.

I mean, seriously, it's not going to work that way, right? But yeah, teaching people is important in why are you? You have a unique background in negotiations and language. Obviously, you speak multiple languages. No, I'm just too. I'll just try to learn Spanish. It didn't work, unfortunately. But still, though, you have two lenses through which to see the world.

If you can, if you speak both English and Russian, it's like you have two different perspectives to conjugate the actions of the world on some level. And I'm curious, like what? Do you think that psychedelics have helped your relationship with language? Oh, that's an interesting question. I've already thought about it. I think it could be. I mean, hard to say.

I never really put my thinking into it. But in some cases, I guess it made me kind of realize that, you know, I understand things without, like, translating them properly. Because there are both words and phrases in each of the language. languages they cannot be translated properly. And then you just understand them. You understand the meaning. But if you stick to old thinking of I need to translate this and then kind of put it in my

structure of the language that I possess, you're then trying to, you know, implement some rules that just don't fit. Whereas psychedelics, I think they create this general acceptance of something new and give the ability for brain to, you know, not try and fit everything within a certain box, so to speak. Yeah. I don't know if that makes sense. Yeah, it does.

You know, the reason I ask is that sometimes in a psychedelic journey, you know, it's difficult to bring things back. There's no linguistic pathway to do it. So you bump up against something meaningful that you can't describe. And that sounds a lot like what you're talking about, like, you know, in German they have schadenfreude. Like you feel happy when something bad happens. We don't have that particular term in English, but now that you know about it, you can comprehend it.

It's sort of, it's, you know, it's not exactly there, but it's similar. It's the ineffable is something meaningful you can't explain, but learning other languages allows you to see the world in different ways. Absolutely. It's fascinating to think about, right? That's true. And you know the fact that there are so many languages out there. This is like insane, and it's just not possible to learn them all.

So in a sense, I mean, you're lucky. You don't need to learn out the languages because the entire world speaks English free. Well, I mean, not all of it, of course, but, you know, in the majority of cases. But nowadays, with all the technologies, it's just not a problem. You know, whenever I see people, like my countrymates traveling over the world, not speaking a single word in English and trying to shout in Russian to a foreigner and trying to understand, like, why are they not understanding them? And they're shouting, like, loudly.

But, you know, still they somehow survive and they use the translation tools and everything. But, of course, it might be the best to learn the language if possible. Unfortunately, I'm not that capable. Yeah, it's fascinating to think about all the different languages and how we can see the world through those different ways. You're doing some stuff in India, too. Maybe you could speak about some of the projects you have going on down there. It sounds like a pretty awesome one. Yeah, sure.

I'm happy to. So there are like many reasons why you're related and connected with India. So first and foremost, 12 years ago was the first time I went to India and I went to the Pasina meditation, which is a 10-day meditation. Well, theory decides that it was created by Guataamada Buddha and it was like given in exact instructions from one person to another for the duration of past 2,500 years. So I went there. It was a cultural shock by default but then surprisingly enough on my way back i um i stopped at uh at some guys place through couch surfing at that person became my best friend for life like seriously i literally recently he saw him like a week ago he's got a child a newborn and you know i mean i'm part of his business

pretty much but because of the war and all the sanctions and everything that happened you know the western world let's say canceled russian russians and and being a Russian passport holder nowadays is like a burden pretty much. But India has a different kind of relationship with Russia. And, you know, they remember the help that the country provided them in the second part of the 20th century when they've been experiencing it really tough time with food and everything. So, you know, when I come to India and they ask where I'm from, you say Russia, they like smile widely and say a couple of words in Russia

because they kind of have this warm, nice feeling towards. So we were thinking with my business, apparently nobody was interested to work with us in the Western world because of the sanctions and my business is strategic marketing consultancy in Russia. And we work with private sector. We don't yet work with government, even though 90% of the economy is government-related. But anyway, so Western world was closed for us, and we thought, why not India? And then I came to India again at some point in time, I think it was my seventh visit there. And I think I was like either high or something, probably just weed or hash that we spoke with friends.

And then I had this epiphany that, you know, there is this awful thing that was like came to like my knowledge is that it's called a feminacy, if I remember correctly. So basically whenever a couple has a child and whenever. they know that the child sex is female, they make an abortion. Or if a child is born and she's a girl, they kill her. So to me, it was awful, and I wanted to do something about it, like literally do something about it. So I thought that, you know, we could try and use our knowledge and our collective experience to come up with a project that would, you know, change lives of women in India for better.

So we started to dig further and we quickly soon. realized that in India they've outlawed ultrasound for pregnant women because of like this particular reason actually but we quickly realized that there is another big problem and it's called menstrual hygiene and the topic of menstruation in the first place which is a taboo in the majority of societies all over the world now only India so women in India suffer a lot so first of all the penetration of pads is like 14% on the total market level but the stigma around the topic is so big that you know whenever a woman is menstruating a father of the household would refuse to use the toilet and then they have the menstrual huts in some regions where they send women to

menstruate there and then they're being raped and you know get impregnated and all all the awful consequences. So, you know, I started to think, like, what can I do, you know, about it? I mean, I don't have money. I don't have anything that I can change the world. But I had this thought, unfortunately, he didn't realize, but I still working on it. So I came up with a project that would help through education, alleviate the stigma. And with my team, with the researchers and the sociologists and my team, we dug deeper and we realized that what we could do is offer, like an approach to do an educational intervention about like basic physiology or you know health for adolescents of age of seven to nine and the reason being is that the first of all there's no period yet

there is no stigma yet there is no taboo yet but it also is important to address men in the room because men are the problem and it's a patriarchal society as many others so we thought that we need to teach both women and men, but how to when their children, they're more susceptible to new knowledge, basically. So we got the project. We, I think we need maybe like $15,000 to just start in several schools in India. We count it all. We just don't have money. So we called it, three shakshakshakshakshakshak, I called, actually my wife called it. And then spoke to many people and a lot of people are willing to help and it's just not moving. But I had this epiphany that, you know if I make it happen within the previous year and the previous year I was India's like

chairing G20 and I thought that you know if I somehow get to narendra Modi and narendra Maudi is a prime minister of India he's like very widely like supported person in India and you know just a lot of Indians are proud although not all but still so anyway if I get to him and tell him that look man I mean it's G20 this is the moment when you can really launch this project and show to the entire world that you are leading the change as Gandhi, you know, promised at some point in time. And indeed, empower women. Because if you understand the deeper roots of problems, is that, you know, if women were to have an equal participation in the economy, for India, for instance, they would have like quadrupled their GDP pretty much in three years. And this is insane.

And, you know, people and women use like dirty cloths to cover the blood. lot from the menstruation. This is ridiculous. So here as well, psychedics could help. Like weed, for instance, it has antiseptic qualities and it alleviates pain, menstrual cramps as well. So for me, it was just, you know, it resonated strongly. I wanted to do something. And I think one of the reasons I wanted to do this is that, well, I told you about my father. He left family quite young when I was like 12. And my mother, she had like three jobs to, you know, put me on my knees, my feet. And then at some point, I was like maybe four or five

with like extra job here and there. And I owe it all to her. And if it wasn't for women, we wouldn't have all been here in the first place. And I understand the LGBT community and such, but you know, like still. So I thought that I could try and change something, haven't succeeded yet.

I don't know, man. I think just having that epiphany and having the passion to do something maybe maybe it hasn't succeeded at the level you want it to but to say it hasn't succeeded i don't think it's a fair statement man the fact that you're here telling me about it man you hear about it i think it's success in itself and i'm thankful that you're doing it man thank you for that it's awesome thanks thanks for listening yeah well hopefully people to maybe check out this podcast can reach out to you and yeah that'd be nice oh yeah oh the fine sorry yeah

just there's one bit to that story so first of all uh Everything's on LinkedIn and my profile and you can find it in my post is there. And I think you can find a post from May. But this is like mind-blowing thing, man. I think it's like an exclusive year. So if you find a particular post on my LinkedIn feed from May last year, where I announced this particular project and it's called like Fanatics Project dedicated to women's health. So when you copy the link to this particular post,

instead of women, it says fanatics project dedicated to activity. Yeah, let me just wrap that up a bit. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So the presentation that is attached to that post is called fanatics project dedicated to women's health. Okay. So the word women in the link, when you copy the link to that particular post, is being changed because it has word activity instead of women,

but the funny thing is that it makes no sense. Word activity has more letters in it than women. What? So, I mean, you can literally do it right now. I mean, I can send you the link. Just give me a second. And the thing is that it amazes me the most. And I think one of the reasons is that, you know,

all the algorithms and the AI in general was written by like white men pretty much. And I think they just, you know, thought, I know, why not? Let's just change something here and there. Nobody would notice. Then it happened. And I think it led to, oh, yeah, it was 10 months ago. So can I send it here to the chat? Yeah, if you go, if you go under present on the bottom, you should be able to share your screen and we could do it live.

Oh, yeah. Sure. Yeah, let's do it life. I mean, because this is, this is like ridiculous. I mean, I just don't believe it. Let me try and present. It sounds like. Maybe it's being filtered through the lens of that country sensors or something like that.

Like, why would the algorithm do it unless it was something that was... Am I sharing my screen right now? Yeah. Yeah, we can see it. Okay, cool. So if I click here, so this is the post, right? And it says overview of Xprojudicated women, right? Okay, I can see it right there.

Okay, so what am I doing here? I'm going here and copy a link to post. Okay. And then I input it here. Fanax persecuted to activity. Like, what the fuck? Like, seriously. I mean, like literally, women has five letters.

Activity has like, what was it, eight? Like, how come? If there was a similar post, is it possible that maybe... It's not possible. I mean, this is the name. name of the company like seriously okay I don't know LinkedIn we're doing this live on LinkedIn maybe you guys can help us out man what's going on there I don't get it yeah yeah that that the person reads I think is here right so Reid Hoffman this

red is investor he was like the owner or like founder of LinkedIn who was he like I tagged him board member he didn't react maybe now is the time that he could only 3,300 impressions. But you've seen it. Yeah. Interesting. It's definitely algorithmic. Someone is changing that.

I don't know. Is it the algorithm or is it because it's offensive to some men in India? I don't know, man. But I did it, but I didn't make this, I think I was making this postage while I was in Lithuania. So it has nothing to do with India. quite a full.

You know, it wouldn't surprise me. I think it's universal. You think it's universal? I hope. I mean, it's not high. I hope so. I think I'm positive because I mean, there's no like other explanation

to it. It's just probably somewhere, somebody at some point in time, you know, had a bias. Yeah, there's, I think it's Hamlin's razor that says, don't attribute to malice what could be attributed to incompetence.

Yeah, could be as well. I just don't understand the logic behind it because there is some, right? It's an algorithm after all. I mean, there is certainly either or like, yes, no. And, you know, what is the criteria there? Yeah, yeah. So ever since I noticed that, I'm trying to even further highlight the role of women and especially in psychedelics area in field as well.

Because, well, I told about Valentina Gerkin, for instance. But there was another lady, and she's not widely known. And actually, there's a nice suggestion that we could do is to celebrate a day of a trip sitter. So everybody knows Albert Hoffman, right? I mean, the father of LSD created it and blah, blah, blah. But when did it trip? Like the first conscious trip, it was April 19th at 420, right? Like exactly 420 because it was logged in his journal.

So it's not like a widely known fact, but actually. if you dig deeper and you read the book and you find the evidence, you would see that he wasn't tripping by himself. He had a trip sitter. And that tripseater's name was Susie Ramstein. Okay. So she was a lab assistant and she was with him on that day, on riding along on another bicycle to his house, taking care after his, you know, high as fuck ass while he was on first the ridden acid trip and taking care of his needs and calling him. the doctor and calling other people and making sure that he was fine. So she was the first trip sitter on record in the Western world.

Moreover, she had her own moment in June. Damn, I forgot. It's also posted on my LinkedIn and theogenic Renaissance about it. Yeah, I found it. So yeah, 12th of June 1943, she was the first woman who had acid trip because, again, she logged it and she had a nice tram ride. So I actually suggest that, you know, if there is a day that is celebrating a trip sitter, it should be June 12th. I love it, man.

The June 12th trip sitter day should definitely be that. People should adopt that, especially here in Denver or in Oregon or in all these places, man. And honor women. Yeah, without a doubt, man. Without a doubt. There's a group women in psychedelics that would, I'll put you in touch with them. They're super awesome, and their lawyers, attorneys,

like, that should definitely be a holiday. Just send them my post on the endogenous connoisseursons is there, because I think you should do it. I mean, like, seriously, with all the legacy, with all the discrimination, with all the, like, inequality, I mean, still the world is wrong by white men in the majority of cases, right?

So we need to do something about it. Because I think I have this. theory and yeah oh I remember one of the reasons I wanted to do the project in India to you know change the like opportunities or enable women to you know empower them and change their life in the first place and is that I had this feeling is that when you know a woman in power like say a president or a premier minister or something like she wouldn't have started a war I I would disagree I think that people at the height of power are pretty much psychopaths. Do you know any women who study wars?

I don't think it's fair to say that one in the case. There weren't many women in the first place. True, true. But I think, like, I'll use our president, for example. Like, I don't think it's Joe Biden pulling the strings. I think that there's a group of people that facilitate the decision to go to war. I think putting it on one person is too. simple. I don't think that one person decides that. Could be, could be. But, you know, when we're

talking about authoritarian regimes, would you consider companies authoritarian regimes? Depends. Because there's women CEOs that are complete psychopath. There's a girl that runs UPS. She's a psychopath. And it's self-selected. I think power self-selects psychopaths. And it corrupts absolutely. I would love to believe that women would be better leaders. But I think that the leadership position is on some level, like self-select psychopaths. And regardless of what type of general as you have, you're a psychopath if you want to be in that position. Like people who want to be in power should never be in power, man.

Ideally. Yeah, that's true. No, that I agree fully. And, you know, of course it's a theory. It's like my thinking. There's a lot of truth behind it, but it's complex, man. It's not like I don't know. I get it.

I get it. It's just, you know, generally speaking, women are. more like empathetic in the first place than man and you got to give it to them it's like i don't know whether it's nature whether it's society whether it's culture whether it's evolution but still but anyway um still the something that we should tackle you know at least on 12th of june yes i agree 100% with that i i think that more women should definitely be celebrated and that we should be definitely deserves it yeah absolutely man we need all the heroes we can find right now we need inspire all of the people. We need to inspire relationships and come together to like,

I think that's what the secular like experience is, is that like, we're all part of this thing, man. And I'm so tired of all the division. Like I, it bothers me, man. It bothers me. You're all one species. Yeah, yeah, man. This is the reason that I created that company registered one species because I mean, we're all one human beings. Like, what the fuck are you doing? like what color of skin we all came from fucking africa are you idiots seriously yeah and i think that's what the second like the second like trip shows us man like you're part of maybe you didn't come into this world maybe you came out of it and i think if people could begin to see that on some level like

you you are nature yeah you know part of it you're the cosmos particles nothing just a speck of dust pretty much just you know compiled in the shape of a persona that we perceive through our eyes and what we perceive is not what reality is because it's just a construct within our brain yeah yeah it's so true man it's so true i think it speaks all this conflict speaks to the idea of pain and suffering and degenerational trauma and maybe maybe that's you know i i i don't have a real great answer for that i know that i when i if i'm honest with myself i think that i carry a a lot of the pain that my parents had and the fear, more than more importantly, the fears my parents had.

And that manifests itself in ways that are destructive to my relationships. But being aware of that is the first step in fixing it. You know what I mean? It's tricky. Yeah, but there is evidence from your science, which basically says that this phrase totally makes sense. So once you realize that there are certain neural circuits that drive your behavior and they start to dissolve. So that's what psychedelics do. They allow you to observe them. And the

multi-generational trauma that you mentioned for me is extremely relatable because they went through that kind of herapeutic model that was created by cybin. And I guess, you know, Saigon, they're like producing like alterations of cylozybin molecules or like kind of new AG pharmaceutical company. Let's put it this way. So they got some therapists who are doing the clinical trials and stuff, and they created their own model. They called it Embark. I don't remember what it stands for, like specifically, but I went through it. It's like open source online education for therapists.

I'm like, oh, okay, that's interesting. And I remember there was this woman, she was a black woman talking about, you know, multi-generational trauma about the PTSD, what she called it, like, oh, damn, I don't remember. It was like really nice, not like traumatic, but like slay. disorder or traumatic slave disorder or something like that so she gave an example of you know like two women talking to their children in the same space and you know a white woman you know praising her child saying that he's like her that wonderful kid and whatnot whereas the black woman would say to her child that

you know that awful motherfucker is useless completely and she was saying it's not because she didn't love him she does but she says that so because you know if she was asked like 200 years ago by the white master about her child. And if she were to say that he is, you know, this brave and strong, he would have been taken from her soul to somebody. So, you know, it's just being given from generation to generation to generation.

And children are being and sitting there and basically getting this new trauma. So I thought that, you know, in my background, actually, like Russian background and the communist regime and all the wars and all the bankruptcies and everything that happened. I mean, there are so

many layers of trauma. I don't even like, I mean, when I realize the depth of like the multi-layeredness of that trauma cake, I quickly like realized that it's just not going to be resolved for like another 100 years because people don't believe in therapy in the majority of cases there. And they don't address those issues. And unless, you know, they use psychedelics, it's not going to happen because how do you get to multigenerational trauma with just talk therapy? I find it hard to believe, but with psychedelics you can because you have this contact with, I don't know, either previous lives or the global subconscious or the understanding of all those traumas deep-rooted in your like genes or somewhere deep in your psyche you've got from

your mother's milk or something like that. And you know, the depth of that trauma is enormous. And I don't see that anybody's addressing it anytime soon, unfortunately. So, you know, Yeah, man, that's helpful. There's promise. That's brilliant, man. Thank you for sharing that. I couldn't agree anymore. And maybe this is why people have bad trips.

Imagine just compressing everything that your parents told you for the last five generations about how horrible you are, or carrying that trauma of abandonment for four generations. And then all of a sudden, in the depth of a psychedelic trip, you realize, Oh shit. It hits you, man. You freak out a little bit, you know, and you should. That is the emotional release of a generation of trauma manifesting itself through you in an hour. Dude, of course you're going to do something like you're going to lose it a little bit.

You're going to cry. Start punching stuff maybe. Like, I get it. But that's the release that people need to free them from the chains of the generations that have told them all these lies. man. And that's called breaking the cycle. You know, people that have been in abusive relationships. I've seen men in my life treat the women in my life horrible. And when I had a realization, I went and confronted some people on family.

Like, do you guys see what's happening here? This is unacceptable. Everyone has treated you like shit. Every one of them. And you've enabled it. And they look at me and go, you're the problem, George. Me? You know, I am.

I'm telling you what the problem is. They're like, I didn't want to talk to you right now. You're out of your mind, George. I'm like, here's the pattern. Look at it. Tell me why I'm wrong. And they're like, you're wrong because you're wrong because I said so. And it's like, then the next level is, well, how do you integrate that?

Like, you go tell the people you love about this pattern that you have seen disrupt their life and ruin their life and it's still doing it. And you bring it to them with all the courage. Like, fuck, I hate to tell you guys this, but this is what I see. And they're like, no, no, no, you are the problem, George. Hold me. You know, it's, it's, then what do you do with it? How do you integrate that? Like, oh, my God, people don't even want to be around me now because I pointed something out to them that killed me forever.

You know, it's a trip. But here's what I know. One person doing that can be enough to inspire someone else to do it. And that's a new chain of reaction. Breaking, interrupting that pattern in your life can make sure that it doesn't happen for the next generation. And that is like exponential growth. growth right there. One person can create exponential growth for humanity by interrupting that one pattern in their life, man. I couldn't agree more, man. I think there's like just to build on top of what you've said. There is this thing, you know, I always

kind of annoy my wife. Don't drink. I mean, it's this good, bad for you. I don't smoke and that stuff. But anyway, what I like realized at one point in my life is that unless a person, desires to change something about their life, it is simply pointless to try and convince them to change something because as you said, they will tell you that you're the problem. They don't have any problem. They're doing totally fine. So I think what you're saying, it totally makes sense because instead of like telling people what to do, you're showing them and leading by example pretty much. And they get inspired. They see, oh, it's possible. So you can quit alcohol, like using psychedelics? Or you can get, I don't know, weed of addiction or PTSD or trauma

and you can live a better life? Seriously, huh? But if you tell them, go try psychedelics or go for you, like, why, you're drug addict junkie? Like, what's wrong with you? You know? Because this is like very intricate part and like I think it's very nuanced, but I really love that you say it because it resonates strongly. Alcohol is an interesting one because if you look at like AA, I think it was Bill Wilson who actually incorporated LSD into the 12-step program. He tried to. They didn't let him because it was the substance and they were against it.

They said it compromises the politics of like the charter or whatnot. But he had the Bilodona experience that helped him quit alcohol in the first place. It was in 1934. So you went to the clinics in New York to get treated. from alcohol use disorder and they gave him Belladonna and he had this room in the white light and ever since he never touched alcohol

but it was psychedelic pretty much yeah but sorry you have been talking about the alcohol and the dangers of it and the AA so it's even to this day

like sometimes when I'll talk to people who have battled addiction there seems to be two camps one camp is like yeah I'm addicted I was addicted to alcohol, but now I've taken these psychedelics and I'm no longer addicted to it. But then there's another camp that's like you can never ever touch another substance again. But you can still have coffee or smoke cigarettes. Yeah, right.

Psychoactive substances pretty much. But yeah, I think, well, to me, probably the first camp because I haven't had an alcohol since November last year. Yeah. Yeah, thanks. It's not that they went through AA or anything. I just basically did what I'm supposed to be doing with the eugences that I updated my software. So to speak and told myself that, you know, I don't need it any longer pretty much.

So I don't really feel they need to go for drink in the moment. Yeah. Like when I see people drinking, I have no craving, which is really nice. But just what I wanted to say here is that it requires like self-work, of course, concentration and, you know, the effort. to put into it because I remember having thoughts that probably should drink I should quit drinking

probably should do it sometime and then you know just delaying it delaying it but then once it's done it's definitely better but I don't really understand all those people from the second camp though about the other substances that it does make sense

as you said I mean tobacco sugar I mean yeah you know for instance in Arabic countries alcohol is prohibited, it's haram, and you cannot really buy it or consume it, but they consume like tons of sugar, like tons. And I

would argue, maybe it's even worse. I don't know. Yeah. It's interesting. The relationships we have with things. I know when I was younger, I used to smoke or whatever, like, tobacco or nicotine is a tough one to kick. Oh, that's a tough one, that's for sure.

It's tough, man. I struggle with it from time to time. I mean, either quit and start, like, oh, man, I'm not going to do that. But I'm struggling with it still. You know what helps is like I grow or I grow like a tobacco plant. And like it's called Hopi tobacco. But sometimes I'll just chew those leaves. Like I don't smoke anymore and I don't dip anymore.

But I, you know, sometimes I've changed my relationship with with tobacco on some of it. By growing that plant and then just chewing the leaves, like I think it changes your relationship to that substance. And in doing so, you know, it changes your relationship with it. Like it's just, it's occasional like, oh, I'd chew some of that. It feels pretty good every now and then. Yeah, just earlier today, my wife, she asked me to roll her cigarette. And I ran out of, because in Sri Lanka, I bought it back. And then I came back.

It's like, I'm not smoking. So we went to the store and I rolled her, but I didn't. And I was like, whew, that's an achievement. Yeah. Of course it requires more work. Yeah, it does. It does. It's interesting.

I don't know. We as human beings, we addict. That's what we do on some level. That's what we do. We find something we like and want to do it all the time and do it more. This system is faulty, that's for sure. Yeah. It's interesting.

I love this conversation. That's so much fun. I appreciate it. Yeah. Likewise, man. Thank you. for, you know, offering this opportunity. It's real pleasure, and I definitely learn from you.

And I think I'll ask, like, how do you do it in the background so that I could do it as well because I want to bring people to, like, this type of conversations more and more to have, you know, the opportunity to speak with fellow psychonauts from all over the world. Yeah. Well, you, for everybody watching, Vlad's got his own YouTube channel in Theogenic Renaissance. And he does a lot of really cool work on this. where he's discussing a lot of cool topics.

And if you're listening to this right now, you should definitely, I'll put all his links will be in the show notes. But yeah, I think that the world would benefit from you doing some more interviews with people. Like, I love your take on stuff.

And I think you're doing a cool job there. But if you can mix in a few people that would, you know, bring more people into the tent, man. I think that you'd be doing the world of favor, man. You know what? Appreciate it. We'll talk more after this.

But yeah, I'm thankful to get to talk to you. And I'm stoked for your time, man. Thank you. Likewise. Thank you, my friend. It's a real pleasure. So before I let you go, where can people find you?

What do you have coming up and what are you excited about? Oh, where people can find me. So I think you can find me on Instagram. It's the other Russian. So it's the underscore other underscore Russian, which is easier. Unfortunately, on Twitter it didn't work this way. They have a limitation. That's why on Twitter I'm the other Russ.

People may be think that I'm a Russian spy and, you know, conceal it. What else about telegrams and Russian? So yeah, I think like either Instagram or Twitter, but LinkedIn is the most used social networks by me. And then only recently when I became a blogger, I started to use other social networks before. It was just LinkedIn. It's more professional.

But what were other questions? Sorry, I'm just sleeping here. That's all right. It's late over there, man. Yeah, it's 11 p.m. So the first one was, where can people find you? The second one is, what do you have coming up? And the third one is, what are you excited about?

Coming up? Who? Like, what, like ideas or? Yeah, well, I mean, obviously you got the YouTube channel coming up. Yeah. Is there any events that you're working on for the India project that you have coming up where people can reach you for that particular area? Yeah, so for India is definitely better to get in touch with you in LinkedIn

because there is a lot of information about the project. I'm currently working on building brand strategy for, open foundation. It is a non-profit from Netherlands, who is organizing the biggest conference on psychedelics in Europe and probably in the world. It's called ICPR. So you can find me there. It's happening between June 5th and 8th in Harlem, Netherlands. Other than that, man, I'm just trying to make my blog work and, you know, get rid of my other work duties. I want to talk about psychedelics and preach about the therapeutic potential. the third one, excited or what was it different?

Yeah, what are you excited about? Dude, I'm extremely excited by the therapeutic potential psychedelics. I just, I cannot. I mean, whenever I meet a person, I think like literally first or second phrase is just, have you heard that LSD can treat PTSD and depression? You know, my wife is pissed because I mean, she asks me not to talk about it because I talk so much about it at home. But yeah, that's the topic that fascinates me still like every day for the

of I don't know how many years. That's insane. I strongly believe that they have insane therapeutic potential, but of course, safety measures are required as always. Fascinating. All right. Well, hang on briefly afterwards. I'll talk to you just briefly afterwards. But ladies and gentlemen, I hope you enjoyed the conversation as much as we did. Go down to the show notes. Check out, Vlad. He's got a lot of projects going on. He's really fun to talk to. Reach out to him if you're interested in anything he's doing. I'm sure he'd love to talk to you. And that's all we got for today. Thank you, brother.