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Gnosis Potency: DMT Breakthroughs and Paragnosis

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Plant Medicines, Healing and Psychedelic Science

Abstract

DMT (N,N-dimethyltryptamine) is a powerful tryptamine that has experienced growing appeal in the last decade, independent from ayahuasca, the Amazonian visionary brew in which it is an integral ingredient. Investigating user reports available from literary and online sources, this chapter focuses on the gnosis potency associated with the DMT “breakthrough” experience. I explore the parameters of the tryptaminal state and, in particular, the extraordinary paragnosis associated with the DMT event, perceived contact with “entities,” and the transmission of visual language. As the reports discussed illustrate, for milieus of the disenchanted, among other entheogens, DMT is venerated as a gift that enables connection to a reality (nature, the universe, divinity) from which modern humanity is imagined to have grown alienated. Through an exploration of the legacy of principal actors, including Terence McKenna, Jonathan Ott, Jim DeKorne, and Nick Sand, the chapter navigates the significance of DMT in modern Western esotericism.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    5-MeO-DMT (5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine) is included in this discussion, given reports of its gnostic potency paralleling that of N,N,DMT, both short-acting hallucinogens of the tryptamine family. That is, they are simple indole alkaloids derived biosynthetically from tryptophan, an essential amino acid present in all plants and animals (D. McKenna & Riba, 2015). Despite this similarity, they are different chemicals with distinct strengths and profiles (see Erowid Crew, 2009).

  2. 2.

    With its possession and distribution subject to prohibitions across the United States, beginning in California in 1966, by 1970, DMT and analogues DET (N,N-diethyltryptamine) and bufotenin were included in the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, which was followed closely by the UN Convention on Psychotropic Substances of 1971, putting pressure on foreign governments to follow suit. As a “Schedule I substance” in the United States, DMT has not only been classified together with LSD, mescaline, psilocybin, and other nonaddictive psychedelic compounds; it is typically classed alongside heroin and cocaine as a “dangerous drug” with “no recognized medicinal value.” While 5-MeO-DMT and other short-acting entheogenic tryptamines remained legal in the United States, they became subject to classification as illegal DMT analogues under the Controlled Substances Analogue Enforcement Act of 1986. In 2011, 5-MeO-DMT was added to Schedule I.

  3. 3.

    As an apparent testament to this proposition in current psychological research, see Forstmann and Sagioglou (2017).

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  1. Social Sciences, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland

    Graham St John

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  1. Graham St John
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Correspondence to Graham St John .

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  1. East-West Psychology Program, California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS), San Francisco, California, USA

    Beatriz Caiuby Labate

  2. Psychiatric Alternatives, San Francisco, California, USA

    Clancy Cavnar

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St John, G. (2018). Gnosis Potency: DMT Breakthroughs and Paragnosis. In: Labate, B., Cavnar, C. (eds) Plant Medicines, Healing and Psychedelic Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76720-8_12

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