OCCULTURE 134: Erik Davis // High Weirdness, Psychedelic Spirituality, Counterculture & The Paranoid Magic of Verisimilitude

Erik Davis is back in the house for a second time to rap a bit about his latest book High Weirdness: Drugs, Esoterica and Visionary Experience in the Seventies.  Most of you know Erik from his podcast, Expanding Mind, or from the tome known as TechGnosis, or perhaps from his work on The Exegesis of Philip K Dick. No matter how you know Erik, you know he is the sultan of high strangeness, and High Weirdness may just be his magnum opus, which is saying quite a bit if you’ve read his previous work. High Weirdness charts the emergence of a new psychedelic spirituality that arose from American countercultural voices of the 1970s, including Philip K Dick, Terence McKenna and Robert Anton Wilson. These three authors changed the way millions of readers thought, dreamed, and experienced reality―but how did their writings reflect, as well as shape, the seismic cultural shifts taking place in America?   PATREON EXTENSION Listen at patreon.com/occulture Erik’s idea of weird naturalism Terence & Dennis McKenna’s experiment at La Chorrera Robert Anton Wilson’s idea of Chapel Perilous Verisimilitude and the idea of a hoax The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick as a piece of weird fiction Erik’s thoughts on The Owl in Daylight, Dick’s unrealized novel   RESOURCES High Weirdness on IndieBound High Weirdness on Amazon Erik’s website Erik’s podcast Erik on Twitter   DONATE If recurring monthly support via Patreon isn’t your thing, we do accept one time-donations via PayPal, Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple. Every little bit helps.   MERCH Tees, tanks, hoodies, hats. Check ‘em out on our website or at our Etsy shop.   SOCIAL Twitter Instagram Facebook Tumblr   MUSIC Vestron Vulture - “I Want to Be a Robot (Tribute to Giorgio Moroder)”   PRODUCTION & LICENSING This podcast is produced in the Kingdom of Ohio and is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International. Executive Producers: Carter Y., Mauricio G., Daniel R., Kelly C., Bruce H., Marcelo T., Christopher B., Timothy W., Nick F., Michael Q., Jamaica J., Mute Ryan, John W., Andy E., Colleen F., Saliyah S., Michael S., Kevin C., Kyle A., Megan B., Kaleb H.   REMINDER Love yourself. Think for yourself. Question authority.