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Dr. Martin Ball - Entheogenicist

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Mitakuye Oyasin

Mitakuye Oyasin

Established member
For those of you not aware of Dr. Martin Ball and his podcasts and books, I feel he has some very interesting and important info to share. He ran podcast called the Entheogenic Evolution that had lots of cool info on various substances and experiences. I think you can find the archived podcasts on Itunes - search for Entheogenic Evolution, or use the podomatic link below. He has also written several books including BEING HUMAN about integrating entheogens into your life.

www.entheological-paradigm.net
entheogenic.podomatic.com

The Entheogenic Evolution

Welcome to the Entheogenic Evolution Podcast, hosted by author Martin W. Ball, Ph.D. This podcast is dedicated to the discussion of the nondual and unitary nature of being as revealed by conscious entheogenic energetic awakening as well as broad topics in psychedelics, therapy, philosophy...
entheogenic.podomatic.com entheogenic.podomatic.com

Not trying to push this guy on anyone and I have no financial stake in him or his work, but I have personally learned some good info from him and his podcasts and writings, so I'm passing them along in hopes others might benefit from the info as well.
 
Firstly:
www.realitysandwich.com

Terence on DMT: An Entheological Analysis of McKennas Experiences in the Tryptamine Mirror of the Self | Reality Sandwich

Terence McKenna's musings on DMT, with its machine elves and aliens, continue to influence explorers of altered states of consciousness. Yet, are his wild accounts ground-breaking, reality-shattering explorations? Or are they fantasy projections of his own ego, quite literally gambling with his...
www.realitysandwich.com www.realitysandwich.com
and in response to this:
www.realitysandwich.com

A Reply to Martin Ball's "Terence on DMT" | Reality Sandwich

In June, Dr. Martin W. Ball published an article on Reality Sandwich entitled "Terence on DMT: An Entheological Analysis of McKenna’s Experiences in the Tryptamine Mirror of the Self." The present article is a reply to it.
www.realitysandwich.com www.realitysandwich.com

He also wrote a book, tho i have read it and found it interesting i related to Peter Meyer's criticisms.
Tho i am glad for another person being involved in the field and i believe the more the merrier.
 
This guy has some GREAT entheogenic ideas and sure knows the territory with 5-meo-DMT. He makes claims about N,N, but I'm not so sure.

I've met him and there is a creepy edge about him. I couldn't decide if he was just super honest or a real SOB for stating outright that one day he just (Frankly, it equates to this.) decided to start getting high a lot and ultimately decided to divorce his wife, leave his kids and pursue this new vision of his.

As I mentioned I have met him in person. He had a clever and polished veneer. But what I perceived underneath was an egotistical creep who was mainly interested in two things, . . . getting paid, . . . . and getting laid. It was a real turn off.

Just one woman's impression.
 
I found his stuff interesting at first, and can thank him for sparking more interest in 5meodmt.
Most of his stuff though really isn't anything new at all
Then i saw his articles he's posted on RS, which are quite ridiculous. He's basically claiming to have a monopoly on the absolute truth with his "entheological paradigm", which he holds up like a bible from god, and comes off like a dogmatic egomaniac to me. He also didn't reply to any of the 80+ comments on these RS articles, which says something in itself.. and then, in response to emails sent by members from the nexus about them, he basically said: "either people see the truth and agree with me, or their ego is misguiding them"

Also, what he's said about dmt makes me wonder if he ever even does enough to breakthrough :?
this comes to mind.."confused egos have visions"- martin ball

just my 2cents
 
Lol, just read that thread, so much arrogance from this guy its unbelieavable.

And how surprisingly creative, someone taking psychedelics and claiming to have found The Truth :D

(and yes I tried 5-meo-dmt and dont agree with what he said, and no im not at all a mckenna fanboy :p )
 
Yeah. I'd have to agree that this guy is a crock. Sure, maybe he's done some experimentation, but every one of knows that you don't "dance" around the house while on a breakthrough of DMT or Salvia. On Salvia you might roll and stumble at best. DMT you're planted.

And what's this feather thing / communicating with God that he's pushing. Seriously? He's throwing out a self proclaimed, unverifiable ouija board like experience between him and some god, or energy. I'm not against the belief that psychedelics can help us understand, and potentially communicate with new aspects of the physical, psychological, and potentially metaphysical world, but this guy's claims are just over simplified, generic, and flat out corny in my opinion.

On a positive note... I did not know there was a Santo Daime church in Ashland however. Hmmm... I might have to start planning a road trip just for fun. Not that I can't do the whole thing at home, but it's intriguing to conceptualize what it must be like in a group / "church" setting. Hopefully it's better than that gibber-jabber yapping in the video! :lol: Oh, shit... Maybe he's the minister or something!!?? I hope not!

Ramble, ramble, ramble............... :d

Peace,
-idt
 
"I never met Terence. I have no idea what his level of personal use was of DMT."... but bear with me as I hold forth in arrogant condemnation of the man's work whilst hard-selling my own narrow view of what psychedelics are really all about.

Christ, what an asshole.
 
I know a lot of members here have something against Martin Ball, but I personally have a lot of respect for him. The theories that he puts out in his book "Being Human" about the fractal nature of reality seem very plausible to me... and he has a lot of experience with guided 5-meo dmt sessions as well.. I'm assuming he has vaped/smoked a lot of it.

..Also... It takes guts to put out an article against a psychedelic icon like Terence. Whether or not Martin is right.. He believes that what he is saying is authentically true.. and he does put out some good arguments.. but I won't get into that right now, for it will undoubtedly derail this thread. Terence lives in the hearts of the psychonauts.. It is a very touchy issue for some people out there.. Terence is like Jesus to some.

I personally wouldn't cast aside Dr. Ball.. A lot of what he says DOES make sense.
 
When I met him in person, the initial exposure was at an entheogenic forum. He was with Hal Lucius Nation. In discussing Terence, they got downright ugly. I was really surprised at the time and my husband (not as much a fan of McKenna as I) was absolutely shocked at the poor taste.

It sums up to: Ball indicated he thought McKenna didn't understand much of what was really going on, had only scratched the surface with N,N and that if he had only explored 5-meo more he might have been able to get past the "It's a feeling . . . " phase. As he was doing this he began to do a cruel and ugly immitation of one of Terence's famous talks on what DMT is like - the one about the jewel encrusted self-dribbling basketballs. The voice was mocking, the body movements were caricatured and the attitude was beyond egotistically disrespectful.

McKenna is not God, nor was he the know-it-all on anything entheogenic. He has been referred to as "The Bard," and I think that's it - he was well educated in the liberal arts, had a wide knowledge & experience base, had a phenomenal memory, a personable, mesmerizing style and could put it into words, could bring it back. Something we all know is difficult to do. Thus McKenna has earned and deserves our respect, even those of us (such as Ball) who hope to have as much public following . . . .

I think Ball is jealous and egotistical. A man 10 years dead (McKenna) is still making his (Ball's) life work look like a shadow rather than the main object. . . . Also, I wasn't being facetious nor exaggerating when I said as far as I could tell his main focus was on getting paid, and getting laid by young, ethereal, beautiful women.

Creepy edge. Proceed with caution. Watch your wallet and yourself and watch out for your girlfriend/wife in this guy's presence.
 
As a general rule, whenever you come across somebody who bandies about Vague Capitalised Terms derived from their own personal Ultimate Unified Theory which you can understand by making the One Simple Payment, you've encountered what's called a bullshit artist. If your credulity remains unstrained by said encounter, your intellectual immune system is messed up, and you've got a problem (so PM me now and I can help you fix this problem for one small easy paypal transfer!)
 
thanks for posting that pandora, that pretty much says it all right there..

Cloud said:
I know a lot of members here have something against Martin Ball, but I personally have a lot of respect for him. The theories that he puts out in his book "Being Human" about the fractal nature of reality seem very plausible to me... and he has a lot of experience with guided 5-meo dmt sessions as well.. I'm assuming he has vaped/smoked a lot of it.

..Also... It takes guts to put out an article against a psychedelic icon like Terence. Whether or not Martin is right.. He believes that what he is saying is authentically true.. and he does put out some good arguments.. but I won't get into that right now, for it will undoubtedly derail this thread. Terence lives in the hearts of the psychonauts.. It is a very touchy issue for some people out there.. Terence is like Jesus to some.

I personally wouldn't cast aside Dr. Ball.. A lot of what he says DOES make sense.
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Yeah, some of his theories seem plausible to me as well. But the thing is, i've heard almost nothing come out of his mouth that isn't just rehashed common psychedelic intuitions or knowledge. He acts like he's the first person to think 'all is one and nature is fractal'

when people claim to be enlightening all of us 'deluded psychedelic egotists' with their own absolute sure-as-shit unquestionable truth is when i walk away. Ball comes off like he has a bad case of the psychedelic-jesus-syndrome. But it seems more likely that his motives are not as they seem.

So i disagree.. i don't think it takes any balls to put out a piece of misleading garbage in hopes of advancing your own self-centered agenda. Slandering everything about a person (with flatout CRAP arguments) whose done so much for the psychedelic movement, who you've never even met, and then placing your doctrine as the truth of the matter, doesn't seem to 'come from the heart' to me. (i found it amusing, but not suprising, that ball deepened his voice on his podcasts after the article).
and I don't hold up mckenna like a god; i just see him as another interesting psychedelic person trying to grapple back more ideas from that infinite ocean of mind and share them with others
 
Actually, Cloud...

You are really primarily responsible for most of the perceptions that people here have formed of the venerable "Dr.". If not for your sycophantic one-man campaign to recruit for the Martin Ball fan club, he would continue to be a non-entity here, instead of having ascended to the status of petty douchebag pariah.

Personally, I appreciate and thank you for the heads up. You revealed much about the man's character.
 
Thanks everyone for the very interesting feedback and info. VERY eye opening. I had never seen his McKenna article before and as someone who spent a good deal of time with Terrence, I find his conclusions very off and very incorrect. Terrence would often say, "listen, don't take my experiences at face value for any of these substances that I talk about. Dive deeply into them for yourself if you really want to understand them and what they can offer you." Even the best poet's writings about their experiences of sex and orgasm are no substitute for actually experiencing them yourself.

PEACE!
 
Uncle Knucles said:
Actually, Cloud...

You are really primarily responsible for most of the perceptions that people here have formed of the venerable "Dr.". If not for your sycophantic one-man campaign to recruit for the Martin Ball fan club, he would continue to be a non-entity here, instead of having ascended to the status of petty douchebag pariah.

Personally, I appreciate and thank you for the heads up. You revealed much about the man's character.
Click to expand...

I'm not trying to get anyone to join "the Martin Ball fan club" here.. All I am saying is that some of his concepts are worth looking into (his book in particular).. It seems to me that most of the hate directed towards Martin stems from his take on Terrance.. After he put out his opinion on Terrance, there was a huge backlash against him. I think this made him appear worse to the psychedelic community, and it was risky on his part (especially if he did it for fame/money like some of you are implying).I do agree that he does seem to come off a little harsh on Terrance, but I do understand what he is trying to say..

Martins argument is that there are no "entities" and that any entity encounter that is experienced on DMT is merely you seeing yourself in a funhouse mirror within your own mind(This is a topic that is discussed quite regularly here on this forum, and could be eternally debated). I have experienced "entities" before.. I question if this was because of my preconcieved notion that DMT = machine elf/alien encounters. I now (personally) realize that it was only a projection of my ego. The concept of aliens and machine elves is appealing to the ego.. It is an attractive fantasy.... but like I said, this could be debated forever, as we all have our own personal beliefs... Try to tell a Christian that there is no heaven.
 
Oh, come now, homey. Have the sack to stand tall 'neath the weight of your idolatrous convictions - no matter how against the grain and embarrassing they be. No man lets rip with so shameless an attack of completely unfettered asspuckery as you did throughout the previous conversation - unless they've got a poster of their hero taped up somewhere in their bedroom. I mean, honestly, dude - I don't think this place has been witness to such an explosive display of obsequiousness since the masses rose up to plead for clemency on behalf of 69Ron. So, don't sell yourself short. That was major league stuff. By all rights, Dr. Ball(sack) ought to send you a free CD.

I'm not actually that big a fan of Terence McKenna, in point of fact. But kicking a dead guy for the transparent purpose of elevating one's cred in the community is a tad lowdown in my estimation and generally character illuminating. I think more than anything that's what most of the people here were reacting to - that and Dr. Ball(gag)'s gutless funnelling of responses through you.

The man sets off my fraud-o-meter. No amount of naive but well intentioned jock sniffing is likely to change that so much. But by all means, donate liberally to The Entheogenic Evolution. Your contributions will help defer his having to look for a job.
 
I can see your lower self coming out in that post. Calling Ball a sack or a gag is an example.. Do you really know his work well enough to make such judgements? I'm starting to understand why negative egos feel so threatened by him.. and there are a lot of them.

To each their own.. all I ask for is respect of my personal opinion. I respect that the majority of people here have something against Ball.. Which makes ME look worse, but I am standing up for what I believe, and not just going with what everyone else is saying. I respect the opinions of everyone here without harsh criticizm.. all I ask for is the same.

I have pulled some valuable information from his book, and for that I am thankful.. I could care less about his stance on McKenna. Everyone has their own personal opinions. I have pulled valuable ideas from McKenna's work as well.. but you have to take ALL of it with a grain of salt.

This discussion could go on indefinitely, and I would personally like to move on.

-Peace, Love, Respect, and Authenticity-
 
You know, I do find you to be authentic, and that is always to be respected. This guy you continue to advocate for, however... not so much.

The constant self-promotion and solicitation of funds, the jockeying for position in some psychedelic heirarchy (for which who could really give a shit I can't possibly imagine), the claims that he has some kind of exclusive understanding of "the truth"... all of these things when added up paint a portrait of a charlatan. Think how you'd react if somebody here were "counseling" for donations. Now, how is it any different just because this ass has a podcast? He's selling a service, creating a brand. He might as well be McDonald's. He's co-opting the experience to advance his own agenda - for financial gain and to satisfy his need to bloviate unto the masses.

As for me, I make no claims as to any kind of enlightenment. I can always express "my lower self" without fear of contradiction. It's very liberating, actually. I can only imagine what a burden it is to walk around as highly evolved as Dr. Ball(s deep in the gullible). Of course, I have to work for a living, but such is my cross to bear.
 
Uncle Knucles said:
You know, I do find you to be authentic, and that is always to be respected. This guy you continue to advocate for, however... not so much.

The constant self-promotion and solicitation of funds, the jockeying for position in some psychedelic heirarchy (for which who could really give a shit I can't possibly imagine), the claims that he has some kind of exclusive understanding of "the truth"... all of these things when added up paint a portrait of a charlatan. Think how you'd react if somebody here were "counseling" for donations. Now, how is it any different just because this ass has a podcast? He's selling a service, creating a brand. He might as well be McDonald's. He's co-opting the experience to advance his own agenda - for financial gain and to satisfy his need to bloviate unto the masses.

As for me, I make no claims as to any kind of enlightenment. I can always express "my lower self" without fear of contradiction. It's very liberating, actually. I can only imagine what a burden it is to walk around as highly enlightened as Dr. Ball(s deep in the gullible). Of course I have to work for a living, but such is my cross to bear.
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You definitely have some good points..

..But couldn't it be possible that he MIGHT be right?.. His theories on evolution/God/reality sound very plausible to me. Very simple concepts that tie everything together. There is no fantasy or mythology. There is no belief structure.. maybe the answer is easier than we think.

Even if he is trying to make financial gain out of this, we all have to make money somehow.. he isn't THAT famous.. in fact, his theories make a lot of people back off.. including people within the psychedelic community. This doesn't sound like a good marketing strategy to me.
 
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