For 25 years, Rick Doblin has been battling the system in order to make MDMA (a.k.a. Ecstasy) an approved medicine. He is the president and founder of MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies), and he has a degree in psychology, as well as a doctorate in public policy from Harvard. In this video, he indirectly raises an interesting point – that the use of psychedelic drugs played a big role in the widespread objectivity and freedom that actually made the 60’s into a cultural tipping point, since when things that were considered weird (e.g. doing yoga) became quite normal in western society.
As a highly controversial figure, Rick Doblin seems like a very kind, loving, and conscious (albeit somewhat of a spaced out) guy; and yet his conclusions are very – down to earth. When asked about his view on 2012, he says:
‘”When you look around, we are living in crucial times. I think one thing that concerns me is making something too concrete… that there’s going to be this transformation of consciousness, this fundamental split between where we’ve been before and this new consciousness – and 2012 marking this division line. I used to joke with Terrance McKenna that if he really believed that 2012 was going to be the end of things, that he should take out all these long term balloon mortgages that he has to pay in 2013. At the end of the day it’s like, what are we doing today and is there going to be a change if it ends in 2012 or not; would I do anything different now?”
