I enjoyed this interview. I’m awestruck by the work of Hamilton Morris, the places he’s gone, the way he respects, explores and integrates with the people and traditions of widely diverse cultures. That he’s a scientist and chemist who views the world in a discrete cause/effect paradigm makes me admire his qualities of non-judgment, respect and receptivity even more. I can’t say the same for the comments of Dani Katz who wants to drive, push, manipulate and judge the conversation to his version of goal orientation rather than allow the being and connection of the conversation between two experienced people. His criticism of “not making it about you” is exactly what he’s doing, making it about him.

I want to start off by saying that I am a fan of Marcus’ work, and generally enjoy his conversations. This one fell way short. Morris, a strongly identified left-brained rationalist, presented a very narrow perspective on entheogens – one that actually could have made for some really meaty conversation, were Marcus tracking the conversation with an interviewer’s curious ear, instead of looking for openings in which to circle the conversation back to his own entheogenic experiences. Morris went out of his way to deride astrology, which wasn’t even on the table, which indicated a dodgy belief system begging to be delved into. Marcus totally skated over it. Same when Morris said he didn’t think psilocybin made for good microdosing. Why? What experience or knowledge is informing that opinion – which happens to fly in the face of a lot of recent documentation noting the positive effects of macrodosing psilocybin, especially when paired with things like Lion’s Mane for neurological regeneration, or with other partner herbs, mushrooms and medicines for targeted regeneration. In the time that Marcus spent telling us how many times he’s sat with Aya, and San Pedro and Iboga, he could have delved into Harrison’s bizarro perspective on his post-5MeO belief in the existence of God. Where was the conversation about the emotional, psychological and energetic work one MUST do to properly integrate medicine work, and to walk the entheogenic path? So many opportunities for a rich conversation, that – unfortunately – amounted to to dudes bragging about how much medicine they’ve taken. Aubrey: You’ve clearly done a lot of work, and are rocking your dharma, and putting great content out into the world. That being said, it’s time to step up your podcast game. These conversations aren’t about you – I mean, sure, they can be; but you’re missing a tremendous opportunity to open up deeper and more expansive rabbit holes of discovery in angling them as such. I encourage you to up-level your interviews, and to listen closer and smarter than you currently are. Just my two cents. Hope it lands. It takes a village ’n all. xodk