Anyone else? Are these things actually effective? Do people believe them and think they portray any kind of reality? Or are they brilliantly auto-ironic, intended instead to skewer those who believe the world really is so simple? Ah, nevermind.

Somehow I missed Rolling Stone‘s profile of him over a year ago. It’s a really interesting story – his influences and where they took him. I saw Pinchbeck on the Colbert Report a few months ago talking about his new book, 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl and I was quite confused.

I counted myself as a fan until his second book, 2012 – which cooled me to Pinchbeck considerably.

When it comes to the potential of psychedelics – responsibly used – to change people and society for the better, I am a true believer. But the social space that surrounds this “contemporary shamanism” can be troublesome, and the beliefs that arise to “fill in” the space of a newly-expanded mind can be troublesome as well.

The best result of the psychedelic experience is the acute dissolution of the Ego, or at least its temporary death and the palpable eminence of its illusory nature. In the subsequent integration of such a profound realization, a good human learns love, humility and a more honest, interdependent harmony with the world.

Sometimes, though, the Ego seems to over-correct.

I’m not saying Pinchbeck is a nut. In fairness, he’s probably saner than most ordinary Americans. But he seems to have developed a rather troubling Messianic complex, and this is sadly not uncommon in these circles. I agree with him that humanity is poised for – or currently undergoing – an unprecedented, accelerating transformation of consciousness. If the lights don’t go out, we may very well be in the first inning of a New Renaissance.

But where Pinchbeck and I part ways is his literal belief that something cataclysmic is going to happen in 2012 – with Pinchbeck as a central figure. He doesn’t get very specific. It seems to involve the fact that God told him – via Quetzalcoatl, the Mayan bird-serpent – that he is some kind of Chosen Vessel who will transmit ancient interdimensional intelligence that year, which will also mark some kind of end of time, or end of society as we know it. Bit parts are also played by the Devil (who has a white mohawk,) quantum physics, crop circles, peak oil, the derivatives crisis, and so on.

So, while professing to be tolerant, and asking others to do the same, Romney said that “freedom requires religion.” It does? Since when? I think religion seems to fuck freedom up pretty badly. What flavor of “tolerance” states that freedom requires religion? How fundamentalist. So, it’s cool to believe whatever you want, so long as you’re a delusional religious nutcase?

Congratulations, sir, on passing the “space daddy” test of American presidential politics. I offer two quotes:

“Here is [a rational] religious test for office: if you believe you’re in a long term relationship with an all-powerful Space Daddy – who will, when you die, party with your ghost forever – you can’t have my vote, even for Miss Hawaiian Tropic. Maybe a President who didn’t believe our soldiers were going to Heaven might be a little less willing to get them killed.” ~~Bill Maher

and

“…no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.” ~~ United States Constitution, Article VI

I know it’s quaint and naïve to quote the Constitution these days, but I couldn’t resist.

A sincere tip of the hat to the speechwriters – as this was easily the best-written and strongest speech I’ve ever seen Romney give.

I’m also excited to meet and learn from Steven Pinker, who I’ve been grooving to recently via his new book, The Stuff Of Thought.  He and his partner Rebecca Goldstein are profiled in this cool piece at Salon: Proud Atheists.