Kishkumen's Sunstone [Presentation]

[Kishkumen]

Fantastic. Wish I could have been there. Next year then.

You should have been there! But I know it is tough to travel to conferences. Thanks to you, I threw in a little bit on the Mithras Liturgy!

[Kishkumen]

Congratulations, Kishkumen!

What basically were your findings? Will a video or audio be available?

Any reports on Consiglieri's presentation?

I had no idea consiglieri was there or on the program.

[consiglieri]

And I had no idea you were there either, Mon ami!

I saw Don Bradley though!

[Kishkumen]

And I had no idea you were there either, Mon ami!

I saw Don Bradley though!

I am really sorry I missed you. I only spent one afternoon at the conference, however. By 6 pm Friday I was gone. I need to coordinate with you better!

[dastardly stem]

I briefly went to Sunstone and presented a short paper with a really awesome panel on Mormonism and Psychedelics. Don Bradley presented with me for the first time in our long friendship. Rob Beckstead, who has been a key figure in this area of research, was in attendance. It all went over really well. When it comes out in audio you all should check it out. My fellow panelists were really impressive in every way, and I learned a whole lot from them.

I also attended a very touching panel memorializing Eugene England, which featured his wife, one of his grown sons, and Maxine Hanks. I got to shake hands with Taylor Petrey and Benjamin Park. I had a friendly chuckle with the latter over his Interpreter reviews. He took his treatment over there in stride. I mentioned to Taylor Lou Midgley's review of John Gee's book. Taylor said, "I'll have to read that." I said, "No, you really don't." We laughed. On this latter point, let me just say that the Black and Midgley reviews are, unfortunately, not among the worthwhile pieces at Interpreter, but I do enjoy reading a lot of other things published over there, just as I have enjoyed reading other things Black and Midgley have written. Too bad about these reviews.

In any case, man, what a lot of fun! I recommend Sunstone heartily. It is not a perfect conference, but you get to meet and talk with so many of the cool people that we see come up in our discussions here. I saw John Hamer around quite a bit, but I never got a chance to introduce myself and shake his hand. H. Michael Marquardt was walking around selling a nice printout of his book Inventing Mormonism with footnotes instead of endnotes. I bought a copy and chatted him up for a minute.

Sounds great, Kish. I'm sad I missed it. Funny, my wife asked me if I wanted to attend this year, thinking, since I"m in to that stuff, I'd be on board. We had tons going on, so I declined, even though she encouraged. But would have loved to have attended and listened to your presentation. It would have made the event for me, I'm sure.

[Kishkumen]

Sounds great, Kish. I'm sad I missed it. Funny, my wife asked me if I wanted to attend this year, thinking, since I"m in to that stuff, I'd be on board. We had tons going on, so I declined, even though she encouraged. But would have loved to have attended and listened to your presentation. It would have made the event for me, I'm sure.

Dang! That would have been really cool. I should have organized a new Kishapalooza and piggybacked it on Sunstone. When I met T. Petrey he raised the topic of my activities online. I could tell he was referring to my posting here, and he wanted to be sure that I am, in fact, Kishkumen. I told him about it, and he confirmed that he lurks enough at boards to be aware of our goings on here. That was pretty fun. I am sure people get a chuckle watching our shenanigans now and then. What is more fun, however, is meeting each other in person.

[Doctor Steuss]

Is there any planned upcoming publication/book on the existing potential evidence of psychedelics within early Mormonism and its members?

[Everybody Wang Chung]

When I met T. Petrey he raised the topic of my activities online. I could tell he was referring to my posting here, and he wanted to be sure that I am, in fact, Kishkumen. I told him about it, and he confirmed that he lurks enough at boards to be aware of our goings on here. That was pretty fun. I am sure people get a chuckle watching our shenanigans now and then. What is more fun, however, is meeting each other in person.

Wasn't T. Petry a professor at Harvard Divinity School? That's great that he visits this board.

It reminds me of when Dr. Scratch's postings appeared in a University of Penn dissertation. https://repository.upenn.edu/entities/p ... 48ecc763bf

This board is small, but influential.

[Kishkumen]

Is there any planned upcoming publication/book on the existing potential evidence of psychedelics within early Mormonism and its members?

Doubtless there will be such a book in the future, but I am not sure when or what form it will take. The panel members have not discussed plans for such a volume yet. We have only had a little contact after the conference. Doubtless we want to decompress and mull things over before we continue our work.

[Rivendale]

Congratulations, Kishkumen!

What basically were your findings? Will a video or audio be available?

Any reports on Consiglieri's presentation?

Audio will be available. The panel introduced people to our project. Pretty good evidence was laid out for the use of psychedelics by Solomon Mack, Joseph Smith, Sr., and Lucy Mack Smith. Good evidence for it in Εarly Mormonism, too. I think the evidence is pretty persuasive, but there is a lot more work to be done. My piece was more of a historical big picture thing about how psychedelics have been used in religion for centuries. In particular, I looked at the Mithras Liturgy a bit, and this is something I owe to our friend Philo Sophie!

Do you find Bryce Blackenagle's thesis persuasive?