I was watching Digging for History last Saturday. The host, a guy named Bernstein who affects an Indiana Jones fedora, likes to take a hands-on approach to his science. Bernstein likes to rappel down a sheer cliff face in Libya to study ancient cave-dwelling Christians. Bernstein hang-glides over Stonehenge to...well, get a better view of Stonehenge.
Anyhow, B. was studying a Peruvian mountain culture dominated by priests who gave initiates blasts of psychedelic powder up their nostrils through hollow tubes. The initiates were then led down a staircase beneath which roaring water had been diverted, into a large amphitheater echoing these waters. They were then led into an underground tunnel, where Bernstein was told that they carried no candles or torches, which amazed both B. and me. They were then led to a tall totemistic stone carved and painted in day-glow colors illuminated by a shaft of light from above.
Bernstein was fascinated by this, and in an attempt to get to the bottom of it, he took the mental equivalent of hang-gliding for a better view, by attending a service conducted by an Indian shaman. "First Maria drinks the juice, then her assistant Sancho, then the man who has been demon-possessed, then my host from UC Berkeley (what a shock) Bob Haney, then, at last, me." This really got my attention. While Maria is shaking pollen over the possessee and channeling the spirit world, Bernstein and Bob are commenting in these hushed tones...
Bob : Spitting a spray of lime juice cleanses him. Then tobacco juice is emptied up the nostrils...
Bernstein : AH..stimulating the mucous lining of the nose..
Bob : Exactly. And causing the acute discharge seen in the carved heads at Dzibil-shaltun.
Meanwhile, the possessee is wobbling and glassy eyed, Maria is jibbering like a banshee, and Sancho has apparently wandered off in a stupor. Bernstein and Haney's eyes are full-pupiled and strange, but they keep making observations on what the others are doing. I'm thinking "my God, what firm grasp does cultural anthropology hold on these freaks to keep them endlessly inserting their inane footnotes? Someone make them stop!" They were exactly like the two guys sitting on the couch at the Acid Party making bets on who would knock over the incense burner first.
Later, Bernstein has a heart-to-heart while gazing into the camera lens...
"About four hours later, after returning to my room, I experienced the peak effect of the drug. I was..acutely sensitive. Lights seem to be surrounded by haloes." I'm thinking, that's it!? He continues "I had a thought, and, this seems silly, but I went into the bathroom, and in an attempt to simulate the underground tunnel, I turned off the lights, even stuffing a towel under the door to eliminate all available light. I then turned the shower on full blast, simulating the water rushing through the sacred temple. And then I understood : Despite the total darkness, I could see everything perfectly. The power of the drug enabled the initiates to navigate the total darkness of the temple tunnels."
And so, inadvertantly, and for all the world to see on the History Channel, Bernstein made a ringing endorsement of the positive benefits of psychedelic drugs. I never experienced this super-power gift during any of my psychonaut voyages, but my guess is that Bernstein is out there somewhere tonight, flawlessly negotiating the cracked and broken pavements of some remote ruin, startling bats and other night creatures with his sudden stealthy appearance.