Rick’s Blog

Welcome to my blog! Here I will be sharing findings, opinions, and questions ranging over a wide gamut of topics. Science, religion, politics, among others. I invite your comments, criticisms, and questions. Onward and upward!

Abrahamitic religions and psychedelics

The other day, Tuesday, May 19, I was on a panel at the Santa Fe bookstore, Collected Works, for the launch of a new edition of the book Zig Zag Zen. This is a multi-contributor book on Buddhism and psychedelics co-edited by Allan Badiner and Alex Grey. I contributed a piece to the first edition of the book in 2002 and it reappears in this edition. The panel was great fun as it featured Allan, Alex, Allyson Grey–three long-standing and dear friends. At the same time, I would have liked to have seen the discussion and subsequent interactions with the Read More …

DMT and the Soul of Prophecy arrives this month

DMT and the Soul of Prophecy arrives at online and brick-and-mortar bookstores this month. People are buying copies from online stores as well as my own site and a recent Publishers Weekly review of the manuscript is quite positive. Pre-publication blurbs have also been quite positive, but their being from friends and colleagues didn’t help assuage my anxiety about “real world” reviews. I’m starting to schedule interviews by Skype and telephone and will speak at two events next Spring—one academic and one more popular. For an up-to-date schedule, please keep an eye on the “Public Appearances” page of this site. Read More …