Letters of Note. Ayahuasca. Ayahuasca (UK: /ˌaɪ(j)əˈwæskə/, US: /-ˈwɑːskə/) or ayaguasca[1] (in Hispanicized spellings) from Quechua Ayawaska[2] (aya: soul, waska: vine), or yagé (/jɑːˈheɪ, jæ-/), is an entheogenic brew made out of Banisteriopsis caapi vine and other ingredients.[3] The brew is used as a traditional spiritual medicine in ceremonies among the indigenous peoples of the Amazon basin and is known by a number of different names (see below).[4] B. caapi contains several alkaloids that act as monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs).
Another common ingredient in ayahuasca is the shrub Psychotria viridis which contains the primary psychoactive, dimethyltryptamine (DMT). MAOIs are required for DMT to be orally active.[5] Open Letters to People or Entities Who Are Unlikely to Respond. McSweeney’s: Lucky Peach. Einstein on Kindness, Our Shared Existence, and Life's Highest Ideals. By Maria Popova “Without the sense of fellowship with men of like mind… life would have seemed to me empty.”
In times of turmoil, I often turn to one of my existential pillars of comfort: Albert Einstein’s Ideas and Opinions — the definitive collection of the great thinker’s essays on everything from science and religion to government to human nature, gathered under the supervision of Einstein himself. It’s been a challenging week, one that’s reminded me with merciless acuity the value of kindness and compassion, so I’ve once again turned to Einstein’s timeless “ideas and opinions” on this spectrum of subjects.