From Chimpanzee to Bonobo: the Healing Power of Sacred Plants
Although we humans are close cousins to chimpanzees, we are also nearby cousins to bonobos, another similar species to chimps, both sharing 98.7% of our human DNA. My belief is that sacred plants and other natural psychedelic substances can help us make the leap from acting like chimpanzees to becoming more bonobo-like in our bodies, minds, and spirits.
Having recently watched the documentary called Jane (2017), I am fascinated by how Jane Goodall became such a valuable researcher, living among chimpanzees, and studying their social behavior for so many years. However, the closer the chimps got to her lodging and to her food, which she shared with them, the more aggressive some of them became, fighting and torturing each other over food and/or partners, much like we humans manifest at times and throughout time.
Are we fated to continue to experience and act out aggressive parts of ourselves? Perhaps not, if we explore the teachings of sacred plants and other natural psychedelic substances that we enjoy. Can we use these sacred plants as mentors, guides and teachers, and not exploit them or each other so that we decrease any chance of extinguishing what helps us heal ourselves and the world?
What kind of community do we want?
Maybe we can learn to be more like the endangered bonobos. A 2014 book by Dr. Susan Block, The Bonobo Way: the Evolution of Peace through Pleasure, explains how bonobos have created much more peaceful and cooperative communities than even the chimps. Although both species work well with their communities much of the time, bonobos sometimes use sexual pleasure and other nonviolent action to deal with conflicts instead of fighting like the more aggressive and bullying chimps (and humans). Think about all of the traumatic images and policies of our corrupt, greedy and powerful U.S. president throughout the past few years. The bonobo system of community may be much more harmonious than even human communities.
My hope is that we can move from a more competitive, chimpanzee type society to a more loving, collaborative bonobo type of society. How do we do that?
First, by choosing excellent sets and settings, and choosing healthy intentions as we travel on our journeys through darkness, chaos, hope and light, transforming ourselves into more compassionate beings than we have experienced prior to our psychedelic journeys. Sacred plants can assist us with this evolutionary change, decreasing our more contentious and destructive tendencies, and highlighting or increasing our more interdependent, peace-keeping characteristics.
I participate in a local community that believes that the Divine Feminine is awakening inside all of us right now, and we can assist this energy in dismantling the combative and perverse parts of the patriarchy, moving toward a more pleasurable, compassionate community full of love.
I like to think that we can change our DNA so that our barbaric, disruptive and often unconsciously driven actions will dissipate instead of continue to harm the world and all of its beings. Rather than being money-grubbing, power hungry apes, maybe we can become more like the calmer, empathic communities of bonobos where we share what we have with others, not focusing on the individual but on the wider community. Instead of just protecting what is ours, we freely give to those in need, to those in distress, and to those who have not. I also hope that we can renew, sustain and maintain our planet’s health since we have inflicted so much damage by our greedy and corrupt desires for power over instead of power shared.
The use of sacred plants
Sacred plants and other natural psychedelic teachers can help us make these changes, thereby helping all of us heal. I believe that change starts with each person and then moves out toward each family, each tribe, each community, each nation, and all over the world. The good news is that change starts with us and we can do something about that.
We can educate ourselves by gathering knowledge and then by experiencing the sacramental nature of psychedelics which can prompt each of us to transform from feeling or acting out our more aggressive, harsh and critical parts of ourselves toward joining with the fluids of the universe and flowing more gently with all beings everywhere, softening our competitive natures and cultures.
As many have said, we finally realize at a gut and/or cellular level that we are all one, and all interconnected. Then, we can join together in ceremony and common harmony to share love with each other instead of embarking on wars, corruption, and perversion of power.
Some say we cannot change the world with psychedelics and I can understand part of that view. But, I do believe we can change ourselves with proper assistance, respecting sacred plants and listening to the guidance that we receive when we taste what is holy.
Sacred plants are one valuable ingredient in a subtle soup of nurturance, and when we mix them with our own intentions to evolve in healthy ways, we enjoy a delightful recipe for growth and healing.
“Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”
~ The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Bibliography
- Jane (2017). A documentary directed by Brett Morgan. Written by Brett Morgan and Jane Goodall. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7207238/
- Block, Susan (2014). The Bonobo Way: the Evolution of Peace through Pleasure. Gardner and Daughters, publishers. https://drsusanblockinstitute.com/product/the-bonobo-way-by-dr-susan-block/
- I have a Dream (1963). A speech by The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC. https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm
