How to Become the Architect of Your Life, Optimism as the Purpose of Life, Psychedelics, and More

An anthropologist who first reported on the extraordinary training of the Kogi priesthood in the 1940s.

A physician and author who participated in the nutritional study of coca with Tim Plowman and Jim Duke.

An American novelist whose 'Yage Letters' with Allen Ginsberg popularized Ayahuasca in the West.

An anthropologist and mentor of Wade Davis, author of a significant book on tobacco, who recently passed away.

An ethnographer who studied the Yurupari cult and Ayahuasca among the Barasana people, and wrote 'The Palm and the Pleiades'.

A member of The Beatles, mentioned as someone who 'took way too much LSD' similar to Timothy Leary.

An oceanographer famous for finding the Titanic, recruited as one of National Geographic's first explorers-in-residence.

A primatologist and anthropologist recruited as one of National Geographic's first explorers-in-residence.

An American civil rights leader mentioned as a past CBC Massey lecturer.

A mythologist known for his concept of the 'hero's journey,' referenced in the context of rites of passage and personal transformation.

A French anthropologist, noted as the only other anthropologist besides Wade Davis to give the CBC Massey Lectures.

A high-altitude archaeologist who found the Ice Maiden, recruited by National Geographic as an explorer-in-residence.

A botanist at the USDA who participated in the nutritional study of coca with Andrew Weil and Tim Plowman.

The first American to summit Mount Everest, a good friend of Wade Davis, also featured in alumni stories on brentwood.ca.

A renowned oceanographer and explorer-in-residence for National Geographic.

A protégé of Richard Evans Schultes and colleague of Wade Davis who worked on the botany, ethnobotany, and ethnography of coca.

Director of a psychiatric institute in Haiti, colleague of Nathan Kline, who investigated the Haitian zombie phenomena and discovered the case of Clairvius Narcisse.

A close friend of Wade Davis, heralded as 'the pope of Voodoo,' who acted as a conduit for understanding the religion to the outside world.

Former US President whom Wade Davis vowed not to return to the United States until he was out of office.

An American spiritual teacher and advocate for psychedelics, mentioned as someone who 'got the message and hung up' in their psychedelic use.

A historian whose book on the Pacific War included a 'wow point' statistic about American industrial power during WWII.

One of four indigenous groups in Northern Colombia, descendants of the Tairona civilization, who live inspired by a ritual priesthood (mamos) and are dedicated to maintaining ecological balance.

An American poet and civil rights activist, referenced for her idea that courage is the 'mother' virtue that unlocks all others.

Nobel Laureate and former President of Colombia, who incorporated Mam Camilo's message of making peace with nature into his speech.

An ethnobotanist and philosopher, quoted for his belief that life's lesson is that 'when you jump off cliffs... you land on a featherbed.'

An American novelist, cited by Wade Davis as a master of dialogue whose work he studied to improve his own writing.

A British novelist, whose 'Alexandria Quartet' Wade Davis studied to evoke the exoticism of a place like Haiti.

A renowned biologist, whose secretary transcribed Wade Davis's dictated zombie story for his book proposal.

Wade Davis's professor at Harvard, a botanist and plant explorer known for his work on medicinal plants and hallucinogens.

A well-known psychopharmacologist who had been studying in Haiti and initiated the zombie phenomenon investigation that hired Wade Davis.

A man misdiagnosed dead in the 1960s who later reappeared, providing a key documented case for the investigation into the Haitian zombie phenomenon.

Wade Davis's undergraduate tutor at Harvard, a great Americanist and humanist who founded Cultural Survival and believed activism was integral to anthropology.

A 'crazy Englishman' who walked from the tip of South America to Alaska and hired Wade Davis to guide him through the Darién Gap, later writing a book about his journey.

An American poet whose 'Yage Letters' with William S. Burroughs popularized Ayahuasca in the West.

An ethnographer and wife of Stephen Hugh-Jones, who studied women's roles and the preparation of bitter manioc among the Barasana, and wrote 'From the Milk River'.

A psychologist and psychedelic advocate, mentioned as someone who 'took way too much LSD' compared to others who 'got the message and hung up.'

A member of The Beatles, mentioned as someone who 'got the message and hung up' regarding psychedelics, unlike Leary or Lennon.

A Danish author (Karen Blixen), whose writing on 'landscape' Wade Davis studied for his own prose.

A Cuban novelist, whose works Davis studied for inspiration on 'mystical' writing.

A Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, mentioned for her self-reminder 'will they turn the page?' highlighting the importance of engaging readers.

A muscle relaxant needing to enter the bloodstream to be effective, used by indigenous groups, exemplifying complex plant knowledge.

A potent neurotoxin found in fugu fish, which selectively blocks sodium channels, causing peripheral paralysis and dramatically low metabolic rates, central to the Haitian zombie phenomenon.

A psychoactive brew whose traditional use in the Northwest Amazon is collective, focused on maintaining harmonic balance and mediating with the Divine, rather than individual well-being.

A psychoactive cactus used in traditional syncretic cults and for profound, visceral connections to the natural world. Wade Davis discovered a new species in Bolivia.

A book resulting from the CBC Massey Lectures, which explores diverse cultures and their unique answers to what it means to be human. It particularly highlights Polynesian navigation.

A book by Wade Davis about the Great River of Colombia, which includes a story about someone experiencing a datura-induced amnesia.

A book by Wade Davis that won the Samuel Johnson Prize, detailing the first expeditions to Everest and the lives of the climbers, requiring extensive research.

Wade Davis's book based on his zombie research in Haiti, which became a Hollywood movie and cemented his career as a writer.

An organization where Wade Davis served as an explorer-in-residence with a mission to change how the world viewed and valued culture, and later made films.

A society whose members can name 250 stars and navigate by sensing wave reverberations, demonstrating extraordinary traditional navigation skills.

An organization founded by David Maybury-Lewis and his wife Pia, dedicated to advocating for indigenous peoples and their rights.

A US Navy elite force, mentioned as an example of individuals who, through undergoing challenging experiences, develop calm confidence and a 'hero's journey.'

A US government agency whose backers were 'horrified' by the nutritional findings on coca.

A notorious militia established by François Duvalier in Haiti, formed from secret societies, whose name means 'Uncle Shoulder Bag' implying they would take away misbehaving individuals.

Secret societies in Haiti that produce the Tonton Macoute and are involved in the process of zombification as a social sanction.

A sacred canoe that is a symbol of the Polynesian Renaissance, used for traditional voyaging and navigation.

A culinary delicacy in Japan containing tetrodotoxin, which can cause poisoning and apparent death if not prepared correctly, drawing a parallel to the zombie phenomenon.

The main food in the Northwest Amazon, made from poisonous bitter manioc through an elaborate daily process, celebrating women's cosmological role.

A plant with two main cultivated species and four varieties, used for 5,000 to 8,000 years in South America. It has significant nutritional value and is misunderstood as solely the source of cocaine.

A preparation of coca leaves, roasted, combined with ash from yarumo leaves, and pounded into a fine powder, then taken orally as a quid, absorbing the entire plant's nutrients.

Individuals believed to be dead and brought back to a state of perpetual purgatory or enslavement through sorcery and folk poisons, with TTX being a key chemical component.

An ancient civilization whose survivors fled into the Santa Marta mountain massif after immense suffering during the Spanish conquest, becoming the ancestors of the Kogi, Wiwa, and Arhuacos.

A profound religious system originating from West Africa, transformed in the New World, particularly strong in Haiti, and often misrepresented as black magic.

Indigenous people with whom Wade Davis and Sebastian Snow were lost in the jungle, for 12 days, without food.

An indigenous group who, according to Davis, used Datura in their initiation rites for young men, making them forget their boyhood.

A company that imports tons of a specific variety of coca (Erythroxylum novogranatense var. truxillense) each year to flavor its beverage.

Ancient geoglyphs in Peru, which Wade Davis became convinced were conceived by people experiencing psychedelic visions from San Pedro cactus.

A dangerous stretch of roadless jungle between Panama and Colombia that Wade Davis guided Sebastian Snow through, leading to a profound personal experience.

The world's highest peak, the subject of Davis's book 'Into the Silence,' detailing early expeditions.

A mythological figure in the main origin myth of the Northwest Amazon, dragging sacred canoes up the Milk River, carrying vital plants and culture heroes.