A Beautiful Engagement
Here’s what transpired in the public eye after an article I wrote for Rolling Stone published about the importance of decolonizing the mind for leaders in the cannabis and psychedelic industry.
As a white man, I questioned my role in writing an article on decolonizing the mind for Rolling Stone. Feedback from an Indigenous woman, whom I will call G, sparked a powerful conversation in front of our community.
We did not see eye to eye but met each other with grace and compassion.
from my perspective.
Now, with G’s permission, I am publishing the dialog that took place in a community chat that consists of protectors of sacred plant medicines and leaders in the psychedelic industry. What I’m publishing is word for word.
This was vulnerable for us both, no doubt -
For her, she felt like she would be met with defensiveness, denial and gaslighting. Her ancestors and native communities continue to face erasure, persecution and other harmful tactics to refute and distort their past and present experiences.
For me and in my experiences, given what I had to say, I felt like I was walking along the edge of being canceled. Not say that G would push for that but witnesses to the unfolding of our conversation.
For both of us, I believe we felt the importance of this conversation, and we showed up not knowing how it would end. This is why I’m posting this dialog as for me, it feels critical for the growth of the plant medicine space and psychedelic industry among other aspects of life.
It was illuminating for me because G’s perspective is so important. I learned a lot through this. I also believe in my perspectives but at the same time am not rooted in them as I stay curious.
What is the truth and how do we go about finding it?
First, if you can watch this intro video
Please read the article and entire dialog before rooting an opinion. Things shift throughout the conversation while G and I both show up with soft hearts and strong spines. I know this was very difficult for me, and I imagine it was for her, too.
I don’t want to give context throughout our dialog and let the original messages hold the space.
We start off in the chat around the RS article. The conversation then broadens to the Natural Medicine Health Act (referred to as Prop 122 or SB 290) which decriminalized all naturally occurring medicines (Master Plants - “Psychedelics”) outside of Peyote (the Native American Church has jurisdiction over this) in Colorado. Then we broaden out even more to national movements and historical traumas.
Just so you know, G and I didn’t know each other as we engaged, but we found out a few days ago that we met briefly at an event she spoke at and I helped produce during the Psychedelic Science Conference at Lounge CashoM.
How the dialog is organized
I time stamped the posts and marked who wrote what so it’s easy to follow. Please note that there are some instances where G or I have multiple posts back to back before the other responds. This took course over eight days.
Please excuse misspellings and grammar errors, as this was written in the chat through our phones on the platform of Signal (similar to WhatsApp).
There were some small messages and emojis acknowledgment from other people but we are just going to have the conversation between G and I, outside of one message from Andrea Valeskas that’s very relevant in which I have one response to her.
Andrea and I know each other as we sat next to each other when we testified in front of the Colorado House around the Natural Medicine Health Act and have weaved through some events and ceremonies, I consider her a friend.
Supporting Material
Below is the article I wrote for Rolling Stone that sparked the conversation as well as an article on Prop 122 which is also referred to as SB 290. There is also a link to a good Indigenous organization you can donate to.
Please check what’s happening right now with the NAC and give them a follow.
The conversation
Feb 2nd, 9:22 AM: Philip Wrote -
Blessings Everyone! I just wrote this article for Rolling Stone. As a white man I wonder my place on speaking about these topics as I still have much work to do. But I thought it was important to write this to hopefully inspire people to think about a colonial mindset.
It's not perfect. RS took a lot out of the article. If you feel called, I invite feedback. Critical feedback makes me a better man so anything you feel called to share
Feb 3rd, 11:06 PM: G wrote -
Phillip, I hope you and other folx receive this in a good way. I’m writing as a result of seeing similar articles over the years in mainstream and non-Native publications. I'm writing all folx in this movement, actually. Just as we'd support when people speak up to a person, group, institution, or a movement is perpetuating harm, I hope that the voices of others who continue to speak to harms are elevated and uplifted. When you innerstand that the liberation of people you oppress is inherently tied to your personal and our collective healing and liberation, you'd devote all you can to make it so.🙏🏽 That's the sacred work medicines ask of us.
Please separate the Psychedelic Renaissance from the traditions of Indigenous medicine traditions and allow Indigenous folx and leaders from these traditions to represent, lead, speak on and make decisions for themselves. You made no distinction between “synthesized psychedelic substances” and the sacred medicines of Indigenous traditions. They are not the same and any and all movements around sacred medicines need to be left in the hands of their respective Indigenous stewards.
Phillip, you encourage your audience of Western European lineage “psychedelic” business owners and “leaders” and as a cultural advisor, that it’s okay to build businesses on the sacred medicines of Native communities, so long as you recognize you have a colonial mind, hold multiple truths, acknowledge your pain and work on healing it (most of these points are not examined critically) by “using more of the psychedelics you want to provide the world.” Eating more sacred medicine isn’t the solution Indigenous and Communities of Color urgently need and will endanger our medicines, communities and ecosystems further. Is it your place to make these recommendations to a mainstream and national/ global readership?
Could you have invited critical thought and calls to action for these leaders and your communities to learn about, acknowledge and dismantle the systems of harm and oppression that continue upon Native and People of Color in your backyard, the homelands of Apache, Ute, Cheyenne, Arapaho people? Upon Turtle Island and beyond? In Congo, in Sudan?
Your framing of the colonial mind and colonization are severely inadequate.
Settler colonialism more accurately describes the colonization process that continues today. It’s not an event, it’s a system of oppression based on genocide and colonialism that aims to displace a population of a nation (oftentimes indigenous people) and replace it with a new settler population. Settler colonialism is firmly rooted in racism and European/ white supremacy, severely repressing Indigenous people’s freedoms, rights, self-governance and self-determination, stealing their lands and erasing their cultures and traditions. Note: Israel officials and Israel Defence Force study and learn directly from U.S. military and police in how to commit these atrocities on Palestinian people.
“Under the guise of modernizing these lands?”
No acknowledgement of the guises of religious freedom, Manifest Destiny, the Doctrine of Discovery, “civilizing”, dominating and exploiting Native and African people and their homelands, water, soil and animals to establish an empire and a Trans-Atlantic slave trade, indentured servitude and chattel slavery. No acknowledgement that it continues today.
You do acknowledge the harm, pain and shame that people with Western European colonial mind may feel. You do not acknowledge the harm inflicted upon Indigenous and People of Color and the pain we feel. Though it may seem subtle, this actually perfectly highlights a key driving force of the psychedelic movement. Our pain and ongoing struggles as Native people aren't valid, they are too uncomfortable to think about, are in the “past,” couldn't actually be happening and certainly not perpetuated by the U.S. goverment, private companies, oil and gas, military, and more. Similar to what my sis Liz said, why ruin the good vibes? Why question your privilege and why you have it? This is overwhelmingly prevalent in New Age/ Spiritual communities. It's not spiritual enough to talk about. Actually, this is the most critical and most spiritual work you can do. Please do awaken.
How else can this movement have grown so massive, even as Native people continue to be criminalized and persecuted for our existence, beliefs, protecting Mother Earth and healing with our own medicines? Is it really that in order for European and non-native folx to heal your separation from your roots, nature and the pain, harm and oppression your lineages directly and indirectly inflict on us and Mother Earth and therefore upon yourselves, Native people and ecosystems have to be further exploited? Your pain, needs and your voices are always centered while our elders and communities are cast aside in our own traditions, even as they still offer their medicines and warn you that this is not the way. Sound and feel familiar? This pattern is enforced everywhere; it’s settler colonialism in action.
Colonialism + white body supremacy don't live in the mind, they are embodied. (Read "My Grandmother's Hands") European folx have been passing down these deep generational wounds globally for millenia. I acknowledge your pain and want so much for you to awaken and be allies and accomplices to Native and communities of color. Will it be until much later that you engage in the deeper work called upon here, genuinely stepping aside and letting medicine elders and traditions lead or can that be now?
P.S. This is not about race, on my end anyways. European nations have indoctrinated a large majority of the world to believe that Indigenous and People of Color are less human. It’s crucial to name that settler colonialism and white supremacy are the foundations and the continued functionality of U.S, Canada and most European nations governments, private contractors, systems, legal, political, academic and other institutions, including many aspects of the Psychedelic Renaissance.
Feb 4th, 9:41 AM: Philip Wrote -
Thank you for this insight @G . I do receive it in a good way. Thank you 💖 Grateful to receive feedback as I navigate how to be in a space where these medicines in our culture are only speeding up and don't seem to have a pause in sight.
I will need to read what you wrote a few times and sit with it, to gain clarity and perspective, which I will do.
If I have questions, may I reach out? No worries if you don't have the space to connect.
With love, Philip
Feb 5th, 9:09 AM: Philip Wrote -
Good morning ~ Thank you again @G for taking the time to provide the feedback 💖
To the group ~ Im here for uncomfortable conversations but I hope by me being available for them that I don't expect other people to be or cause harm.
With that said, I have many thoughts coming up. I'm also not sure the appetite in the group to hear them. I'm sensing a preference that I just yield.
There is one section that RS took out that I will post here. And if anyone is interested I can send the original version (Forwarded from my conversations with RS) noting that I have 1000 word max.
I post this as I should have been steadfast on including this. My apologies for not holding my backbone here and harm it may cause. When I put this out, I will speak to this. There are lessons here.
I also understand other areas I fell short.
Part of original article - "People of Western European descent need to accept that the societies of our ancestors were colonizers and extracted richness from those lands benefitted their way of life in a material sense directly or indirectly. Europeans traveled to Africa and the Americas in the name of progression to “modernize” the local cultures -dominating, controlling, and scouring land and culture for valuables leaving waste. Taking treasures, burning villages - mining gold leaving barren land, “modernizing” cultures for taxes, and taking kids from families to re-educate them. RE-EDUCATE THEM!”
Feb 5th, 10:26 AM: G Wrote -
Good morning, Phillip, all. Thank you for your reply and for receiving it. I will respond more extensively but for the time being, I appreciate your humbleness and openness. I've been having lots of reflections myself. Listening and humility are so vital in this space and around these deep conversations. I didn't know whether to say anything because this movement has largely excluded and disregarded Native voices, especially those of us who speak out against the harms of folx and as a collective movement. I actually didn't know how hurt I'd end up in this process of replying and after because of how this space can be so polarized and full of tension towards Native people. And still, I only voiced what many of my Native relatives feel, extending a call for help, a call for action, a call for sitting and repairing the harms of this movement, representing only a small fraction of the persistent harms thousands of years in the making prior to inflicting them upon African diaspora and all Native people's from Alaska to Chile. A urgent call for help that erasing, displacing and invalidating Native people's was and is never the way. We are in large part, in a global climate crisis because of our active genocide, displacement and erasure. If that is not a wake up call to reverting to the leadership of Native people and Earth based traditions, what will be?
I hope that this plants seeds and models for folx in this movement to genuinely listen, receive, and respect the people and communities who this bill and movement is built on, actively impacting and oppressing: the communities who stewards these worldviews, traditions and medicines. My biggest hesitation to replying was that no one would LISTEN and I hope this models the importance and value of it. Thank you 🙂
Feb 7th, 9:04 AM: Philip Wrote -
Good morning @G, feeling you this morning ✨ I hope any pain or grief you felt in regards to my request for feedback has resided. And in the larger scope of what you mentioned in your last comment is pain I sit with as well, while acknowledging I'm not nearly as close to this pain as you are.
I wanted to check in to see if you were doing okay?
While I agree with many things in your feedback, I don't agree with all of it. This could be due to my imprints or something else. We could obviously get deep into discussion about each point. Maybe we will one day or maybe we won't.
But my purpose of this message beyond checking in on you is to speak to a common ground. We both deeply feel for Mother Earth and all life on it. It appears we have both dedicated our life to service. And for that, I love you! I don't even know if we have met but I feel your heart so deeply threaded in me through spirit and I love you. I thank you for using your voice and showing up when so many don't. I support you even if we don't see eye to eye.
For me, this is what it takes along with a willingness to be humble and listen. The world is confusing. I want everyone to feel safe to show up. And by that, difficult conversations can happen but hopefully there can be a trust that on the other side we are supported.
Sending you deep love ❤️ And thank you again
Feb 8th, 7:26 AM: G Wrote -
Hello again @Philip Wolf thank you for reaching out and asking how I am! Once again, I’m really grateful you asked for feedback and something deep within me knew you were the right “vessel." I’m sharing words with you and through you to others here. Many of us were involved in Prop 122 since it’s beginnings and into now. Many were not. But we’re here now and what does remain consistent is that this movement is one in which many of my Native siblings don’t feel supported, heard or emotionally safe in. I’ll uplift some of our shared experiences rather than just mine. I'm doing great BTW, hope you are too :-)
Like in many arenas such as education, workplaces and gov’t institutions, I acknowledge Prop 122 organizers made efforts for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and community engagement. Let’s backtrack a lil’ tho:
What really propelled the demand for this necessary systemic shift? In large part, Black communities in the Black Lives Matters movement. And then came COVID, which has affected us all, yeah? But for Indigenous communities, especially on reservations and rural areas, it’s been devastating and continues to disproportionately impact Communities of Color. With global attention and awareness on these two issues, U.S. and media tried but couldn’t gaslight their way out of it with us.
So, back to DEI in this movement and Prop 122. What ideally happens in intentional and legitimate community-led and equity work is that the community most impacted and with the most proximity to an issue leads and is centered in the whole process, especially decision-making. Why? Because they are the most directly impacted and are the experts of their own communities' needs! Yet for centuries upon centuries, the government has been making the decisions for Indigenous and Communities of Color as if they know what’s best for us, severely preventing our own representation, AKA systemic oppression and racism.
In SB 23-290, not only are Indigenous, African and Black communities whose medicines are represented in the bill/ movement most impacted but it’s also exclusively built on our respective traditions. Where are elders and communities who can adequately represent Iboga? Was Prop 122 initiated, led by, carried by or centered on Indigenous, Black and African people with legitimate authority to speak for their medicine communities? Without a question, NO. Are decisions made on our behalf and for our communities without us? YES. And are we silenced, excluded and reprimanded for speaking out and advocating for how this movement needed/ needs to slow down specifically to give us time to consult and let Native communities lead and make decisions for ouselves? YES. Does the DORA Board represent our communities? NO. Unfortunately, CO has been proud of the way they're doing things and how great it would be for other states to follow it's path.
National organizations like MAPS and Chacruna support and mirror exactly what folx in CO do, lumping lab created physchedelics and Indigenous medicines and silencing Native folx who speak out against their narratives and abuses of power. Everyone can speak for and is an expert on Indigenous medicines and lab psychedelics. Patterns within patterns of systemic racism and oppression. Racism isn’t only a person outright waving a Confederate flag, it’s a system of oppression, fundamental to settler colonialism.
I had a beautiful vision Sunday morning that in honor of what medicines teach us, that groups would gather to talk about all the projects they were working on locally and globally to help Indigenous and Communities of Color, rolling up sleeves and uplifting our needs, being allies and accomplices in dismantling settler colonialism. Together and in our unique roles, helping heal our collective pain so deeply rooted in the intergenerational violence on land and people from settler colonialism and racism. Isn't that what at the core, most of us need healing from?
I recognize that I cannot speak for Black relatives and African traditions of Iboga or their needs. I do feel it’s important to advocate for their right to self-representation and want to make sure I’m not excluding them, while simultaneously being cautious to not overstep.
Feb 8th, 10:36 AM: Philip Wrote -
Thank you for the messages and these important thoughts 🙏 I just wanted to acknowledge your message and that I have read it. It may take me a few days to respond as I want to give myself the proper space for a response.
Feb 10th, 7:06 PM: G Wrote -
Good Afternoon @Phillip, All.
I’m appreciative of you, your video, your being mindful and thoughtful of how our words encourages our genuineness and humility to come through.
I felt and thought of you and this group and the many circles I share during a Rising Appalachia concert with some friends last night. We received beautiful healing from the gift of their storytelling and music. I loved hearing the history of their instruments, their investment into rooting into their Irish and Jewish lineages, learning and reviving their languages and nourishing their love for the Earth, all so eloquently expressed through their music. It’s powerful when folx invest in the sacred work to respect and honor their own traditions while deeply respecting and honoring the traditions of others.
My friends and I share similar sentiments: We root for folx to embrace and revive their ancient Earth centered traditions. We love seeing folx actively work on their personal, community and collective work of decolonization. It was healing to be in a space where we didn’t see our cultures appropriated or commodified. I pray for more of this and that our well ancestors continue guiding and informing us on how to walk on our paths of re-rooting in healthy and respectful ways of each other. Rejoicing in the beauty and joy of last night and wanting more of this for our collective wellbeing! 🙏🏽🙌🏽
Feb 11th, 9:23 AM: Philip Wrote -
Hi @G
Thank you for this message and your patience as I respond. Big love to you 💖
Everything you say is correct and I have thoughts that me be unpopular and I apologize in advance. Please know everything I say is coming from a place of how we can move forward while acknowledging the harm and pain. I try my best to purely come from the heart.
I want to acknowledge the sadness of people not feeling safe and silencing that has happened in the process. That’s terrible and no one should have this feeling or experience. I am so sorry to all the people who have had this to them. Especially the disproportionate affect on the BIPOC community. As Im sitting with these thoughts, if we remove who are the oppressors or oppressed it distills down into people feeling threatened and reacting. This has to change for progress in my opinion. How can we make all people not feel threatened? To not react but be excited to engage for truth with trust. Is this possible with the poison of greed in power in the world...
This isn’t fair to people who are oppressed and what is the give and take in the scenario, I do not know. I’m sorry if it hurts anyone that I say this but I’m trying to look at this in a detached place while it pains me heart.
How can all sides feel safe? It’s messed up that I have to say this about people in power but it’s human nature.
Our government, what I look to see as a corporation, no doubt has systematic mechanisms in place to hold the bottom line for money and power. Since the US said no to the Nagoya protocol, they blatantly don’t respect the knowledge of the wisdom keepers of the medicines. DORA doesn’t represent the BIPOC communities at all, but I would also say DORA doesn’t represent white communities either although there is major disparity. They represent the Governments Corporation.
I hear the need to slow the medicine movement down and I agree, but I’m also real that it’s not happening and is above any of our ability to do so. Even if the JOHN DOE 1 and JOHN DOE 2 (I will acknowledge so everyone knows that I do consider these two friends, I also will say that I challenge them as well as listen to their perspectives) of the world got on this train they wouldn’t even be able to impact it. It’s in full go and I have to be real about that.
So what do we do? I understand the importance of self-work but should people like me not stand up to the injustices I see and just be silent and focus on self-awakening? What is the balance? Who determines once someone had done enough work to speak? Will time determine this, I’ve seen many people speak and then have self reflections of I messed up and recluses into reflection - self regulating - is that a natural tool and barometer of spirit? People have also been belligerent and kept going drunk on their own medicine. Maybe this is me right in this very moment.
These are loaded questions with much nuance. My bigger question is how can we put in structures for people to grow from that reflect our current times? Life is so different than it was 5 years ago and will be different in 5 years from now with AI etc… The world is moving fast, and it’s scary AF.
Can we create a 'declaration of right relation to medicine movement protocols' and present them to the MAPS of the world so they can atleast be seen and judged in the public eye if and when they go against these measurements? It’s more black and white for people to see with measurements.
1. Start with acknowledgement
2. Have etiquette to address local tribes and not tribes of other lands for permissions
3. Agree to listening with compassion
4. Have the people with more privilege give more in the “negotiations”
5. Etc…. Please note I’m not saying these are the order of the steps but serve as an example.
Maybe this is too altruistic. I’m trying. There is something here I do believe.
I also have faith in the plant spirits understanding what’s happening and operating. I’ve been carrying cannabis medicine for 15 years within the regulatory system and the companies are getting crushed financially as I smile. Does this foreshadow? Literally the cannabis industry is in the brink but the plant is more widespread than ever and our relationship to the plant is changing to honoring sun grown and using it to go beyond the principle of pleasure.
My heart hurts because of the pain, how disconnected our society is, the harm done. Do I sit in this, yes, and I try to hold the capacity to be in the pain, forgive and look to solutions while continuing to acknowledge. Can I hold multiple truths... Do I need justice? Can full justice ever realistically happen? Can I even pose the questions since I have had privilege more than many others. I have not been persecuted in my life to much degree, but I have had the system put me in places that I just can’t conform to. I could of easily been jailed as I was younger and been in the system. Thank God. And I maybe escaped because I was white. I understand this.
I love this earth so much! I am sorry if this is painful for anyone to read. I’m trying my best here. I have more learning to do but I have shown up for years doing the work to awaken my soul more and more. I have been gifted through my work to be respected in these “industries” and have platforms to share my voice - I try my best to do this to ferret into the truth and open minds.
And yes to Rising Appilachia being an example of tracing back to our original ways. I’m happy you got to experience this G.
God bless -
With love ❤️
**This is the only message from someone else we are showing
Feb 11th - 11:11 AM: Andrea Valeska
Good day! I wanted to offer a thought as I was reading your message @Philip Wolf and as your question of … how can we make all people not feel threatened?
We can’t
Because each person carries their own trauma (with little t or big T) and the threatening comes from a normal reaction of the body when Trauma hasn’t heal nor release out of the body yet.
What we can do, is to learn about the history of BIPOC communities and have compassion and understanding of the Trauma and the history involved. .. that we can’t compare to another, because each individual processes emotions , experiences and trauma how they best can with the best capacity they have and with the tools and practices they have available and accesible for them.
I feel that is a matter of those communities who aren’t BIPOC to do the research and learn the history, specially of these lands , stolen lands.
… And then to best capacity of each understand the suffering, and injustice caused to Indigenous Peoples throughout América and Africa (which is where these master medicines have been steward for millennia)
We can’t compare the history of England to the history of the Americas , however we can use it as a reference to better understand and offer compassion.
To be conscious and do the best to be aware and avoid the white savior tendencies.
It is also a matter of providing access to modalities of healing to BIPOC communities than otherwise are a privilege and only those who can have access to it are benefiting from .
It is about being aware that we can’t heal anyone!
People heal themselves.
We can provide safe spaces and environment for that healing to happen however and most Importantly we must respect the stewards of the Master plant medicines, because they know how to work on the spiritual realm. … which can’t be taught on license program. That is naive to even think of
And Phillip I am ware you know that , because I heard you speaking at the Capitol in support of Indigenous medicine people.
I feel I had to say this because we must respect free will and the path of everyone and meet them where they are, instead of trying to fix them.
Much love you and to you too 
Feb 11th - 11:04 PM: G Wrote:
@Philip Wolf really great questions and reflections. Def will have me thinking for a bit. @A
great reflections and wisdom.
I'll add another layer to safety and folx feeling unthreatened.. at the present moment it's not realistic because it's not been so in the world. What is safety for some can be the complete opposite for others. Ex. In order to return from visiting my ancestral homelands in what is now known as Mexico, I am subjected to the dehumanizing, militarized and aggressive process of "proving" I'm a "legal" person on unceded, stolen lands and the migration route of Indigenous peoples and my ancestors who traveled freely for millenia upon millenia. I feel upset and hurt on many levels for days. Other folx may feel safe, protected and thankful for these very measures.
Consider how often the premise of safety is manipulated to suit the needs of settler colonialism and oppression. It's exploited to mass incarcerate Black and Brown people. It's exploited to shut down movements and label leaders the T word such as the founders of the Black Lives Matter movement. More than 27,000 Palestinian people have been murdered since Oct 7. Leonard Peltier has been politically imprisoned for 47 years, water and land protectors are attacked by private militia and face "criminal" charges. Our spirituality, ceremonies, dances, traditional healing practices and midwifery -the most sacred and natural act of bringing a child earthside, as we've been doing since time immemorial- are criminalized and heavily regulated for the "safety" of Indigenous people, read for the "safety" of Eurodescendants.
Journalists who speak the truth are often censored, cast aside or murdered. This movement is deeply influenced and connected to all of the above. Just some thoughts of many around safety. It's too much to ask of this movement and space to be safe for Indigenous people because our worldviews and the ways we live our life are a "threat" to the pillars and very existence of settler colonialism and capitalism- despite holding many of the solutions for the global climate crisis and the many problems we are now forced to confront because of them. I for one, am not going to protect these shitty ass systems or those who uphold them.
Feb 12th, 9:45 AM: Philip Worte -
Thank you @Andrea Valeska 💜 I completely agree with you learning more of the history of oppression of BIPOC people. Finding more compassion through understanding.
I posed the question of how to not make people feel threatened in the lens of prop 122 and other legalization and decrim movements.
I pose this question because I hear a lot form the "other side" and it's not everyone from the "other side" but often these people feel like they are doing "the work" understanding the atrocities. But then they are told they are not. And they're not doing enough to understand or just listen. Through their imprints in life this may make them feel disconnected and threatened. Through the principle of "feeling threatened" - they ignore or silence and keep moving in what they feel is right. What many of these people are doing is what they feel will better serve society. Albeit mostly filtered through ego and saviorism. Also people blindly driving the capitalism spirit due to the last sentence. All of this is filled with much nuance.
If we can make people feel less threatened, then these statements, common ground, important dialog etc.. will land much better. More constructive.
I don't want us to bypass but be in brilliance on how we can deliver these messages to retain impact.
Also, please note that I have these type of conversations with the "other side" to encourage being more open to listening.
You heard my testimony @Andrea Valeska in front of the House and some of you infront of the Senate. I do know this. I'm also trying to be real where people are coming from.
Feb 12th, 9:48 AM: Philip Wrote -
Thank you for sharing this story @Gabriela and I'm so sorry this is your experience on your home lands. It's very sad that people have to experience this.
Feb 13th, 12:32 AM: G Wrote -
I feel that it's a healthy time to reflect and take a pause. Much has been shared here and it’s also important to acknowledge the pain you feel Phillip, and the pain folx may be feeling.
Although we are from vastly different paths and experiences, we came here because medicines and/or psychedelics have offered us opportunities for profound healing. We have much to heal from the impacts of systems so contradictory and out of sync with the cycles, values and teachings of Mother Nature.
These conversations and calls to action may be uncomfortable from our unique perspectives, experiences and priveleges, yet having them is fundamental to the movements of collective intergenerational healing and wellbeing of all life. May we have the courage and vulnerability to continue doing so.
Thank you Phillip, thank you for those who are having them and thank you for those who feel called to begin 🦋 it sure is a weight off when allies and accomplices are in genuine support of Mother Earth and the people who steward her 🙏🏽