The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge by Jeremy Narby
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Book Reviews of The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge
Book Review: Interesting speculation
Summary: 3 Stars
I found this book very interesting, but quite bizarre. The author states that South American shamans taking an orally active dimethyltrptamine preparation and then seeing various visions or hallucinations, are actually seeing the structure of DNA (which to them appears as snakes). The author further reviews world myth, where snakes often appear, and then states that DNA has communcated with various shamans throughout the world. There is some attempt to show that the molecular biology of DNA somehow supports this idea, but most of the author's sources are conversations with aquaintances who have some knowledge of molecular biology. The recent observations that DNA very weakly emitts photons under some conditions is taken as a molecular mechanism by wich shamans under the infulence of dimethyltryptamine see snakes - or "see" DNA and the "knowledge" that it's out to impart. Without knowing it, the author is part of a long line of scientists and laymen who have tried to find unusual and mystical aspects of the DNA molecule, almost, but not always, without sucess. The author lacks the trainig in molecular biology to understand that these photons may represent oxidation reactions and nothing more. Similarly his ideas about the function of repeditive DNA sequences in the mammalian genome are speculative and nonsensical. I found this book fun to read, but speculative in the extreme. How photons emitted from DNA can be seen by humans under the influence of a hallucinogen is not mentioned. Or how the photons manage to move through solid matter and be "seen" through any mechanism. In fact, very few of the ideas set forth in this book are supported, particularly those that relate to science.
I still rate the book highly as the author is willing to put together two very different areas and he does have some interesting ideas. However, he is absolutely out of his depth when he tries to relate the structure of DNA to dimethyltryptamine visions. Snakes and DNA are both relatively linear, but that's as far as the comparison can really go. If shamans saw molecular biology, why don't they see DNA polymerase? Any vision could be called molecular biology. One could for example, say that shamans also saw "round things". Round things things could be ribosomes. Ribosomes are both nucleic acids and proteins....I think I have a book here. For what it's worth my science background includes a Ph.D. in molecular biology and medical school. The author is making comparisons that are very hard to take seriously. Still, the book is fun to read and may make one think.
Book Review: Visionary Shamanic Trance
Summary: 3 Stars
I have not read this book yet, but I intend to do so immediately, as the information herein pertains greatly to the visions I see when I am in a multidimensional trance state. I see a lot of ignorance here from a lot of people claiming to be rational and intelligent people. What they do not realize is that they are completely unaware of universal truths, that they have not penetrated deeply into the nature of reality, existence, themselves, their spirit, and their connection to all that is. To you people I say that you are missing out on life, in a profound way, you could have ecstatic love, tantric sex, magical experiences, learn the nature of truth & buddahessence. I invite you to open yourselves and your minds, and to not be so judgmental of beings who have actually explored more of life.
I am not a shaman, in this life - as I have had no initiations by a shaman, but I can say that I have had all the same serpentine visions these ayahuasqueros from South America describe, and honestly, the serpent energy connects to the rising of the Kundalini (connection to Tantrism) connects to the activation of all chakras, connects to DNA, connects to Merkabic fields, multidimensional orgasm, electricity/connection... The visions I've had of serpents have looked something like the numbers you see in the Matrix, as they move across the field of vision, where everything you see becomes numbers, except instead of moving from top to bottom, they horizontally, from left to right, and from right to left, back and forth, interweaving green serpentine intertwining row after row, with little red dots undulating.. That is literally what i see every time now. It is the vision I see when I am connected/aligned in pure multidimensional awareness. I have also been met by two rattlesnakes when I was on ayahuasca, in the flesh (they weren't just visions) and let me tell you, I was SCARED.
All I can say is that there is a lot of truth & credibility to the experience of serpents in visionary states - and whether that relates to DNA chains intertwining is anyone's interpretation. I can say that I've read the stories of some indigenous shamans and they say that while in a visionary state you can communicate with plant spirits (which is true) because when you are in an interconnected state, you have access to all the information of the forest - it's just there, immediately, at your fingertips, you just have to become one with the intelligence of the plant spirits.... (which is what ayahuasca does for an ayahuasquero)
Book Review: A neat mythology
Summary: 3 Stars
"Chariots of the Gods" meets "What the Bleep?" with a dash of Creationism. Know that that's what coming, and it makes a good read.
As metaphor and myth, the DNA-serpent connection is intriguing and powerful, much like the entirely philosophical ruminations of the ancient Greeks that have informed modern physical science via concepts like the "atom." And it's always interesting to poke around the dark areas that science hasn't fully charted - the mysteries of hallucinogens and the sources of indigenous knowledge being ripe territory.
But when he ventures out of his self-described area of expertise, anthropology, his ideas become as shaky as they are engaging. His experience of hallucinating two giant, "fluorescent" snakes that communicated how to relieve the physical side-effects of the drugs is an interesting story in and of itself; saying that this was literally a perception of photon-emitting DNA crystals is an unsteady plunge into pseudo-science. It would make a fun basis for sci-fi storytelling - in fact, Alan Moore used ideas from this book (among many, many others) in his "Promethea" comic - and I recommend readers view it entirely as such.
To be fair, Narby does seem to admit the flaws of his presentation and gaps of knowledge. To me, by the end it reads more like a call to action than a treatise, a plea to other scientists to put his ideas and their implications to real tests rather than dismissing them out of hand. He especially wants to see epistemological barriers fall so that things like the physics of hallucination and the process of apparently-non-scientific knowledge-acquisition can be investigated with all the rigor and depth of any other field of inquiry.
I would be intrigued to see if any researchers have taken up his challenge in the 10+ years since the book was published, but until hard science has said anything about it, this remains simply an engaging myth for modern imaginations.
Book Review: Profound possibilities, sophomoric "science"
Summary: 3 Stars
Let me begin by saying that I enjoyed this book. Since having finished it a number of weeks ago, it has definitely remained in my awareness, reminding me of the staggering abundance of aqueous, self-transforming serpentine matter thriving within and moving all of the "living" world... a line of thinking that inevitably leads to a boggled mind and a deep feeling of awe at the wonder of it all!
However, while Narby presents some novel connections pregnant with possibility, when all is said and done, this book reads more like a blog than an (even soft-science) scientific exposition. In Narby's defense, he states outright why he chose to write the book in the manner that he did, however the narrative structure did not provide ample space in which to delve into any of these ideas in more depth, which made it difficult to take the thesis seriously as a whole.
Narby's "one-eye-on-science, one-eye-on-mysticism" methodology seemed to impoverish each in turn, for although an interesting image did arise through such "Magic Eye" conceptual-gymnastics, by never bringing either side into sharp focus the book's thesis invokes little more than the vacant stare typical of one who regards such 3D dot-patterns images.
I hope that the author continues on his journey and is able to flesh-out his concepts, bolstering them with physical, psychological or even philosophical/theological evidence... eventually arriving at a theory which can be clearly stated, and ultimately: tested.
Book Review: An interesting story, but not a compelling argument
Summary: 3 Stars
This is a very interesting story by an author with great credentials who seems very sincere. However, his argument that indigenous people truly understood the structure of DNA and gained this knowledge from what the plants told them was not convincing. There were some interesting connections, but I found that Mr. Narby tended to read a lot into his findings. At certain points, I was even annoyed by the leaps in logic and hasty conclusions.
On a more positive note, the story itself is interesting and underlying concept for the book intriguing and thought provoking. When I shifted gears to thinking of this as very speculative and following it like ficition I found it more interesting. While I believe the author was sincere in his attempt to rely the facts, I think he got very caught up in his theory and tended to see proof for it where in fact the evidence was less than certain.
This book is certainly not a scientific treatise. It is a good story that raises some interesting issues about shamanism and the validity of information gained from altered states of consciousness. It raises interesting epistemological questions and certainly entertains, but I found it to be light in terms of making a good arguments for the central premise of the book.