Life of Wry

Finally got ourselves over to the Varsity to see Fantastic Fungi, with one night to spare. Not the usual way we spend our Wednesday nights, but so glad we fit it in.

Says Rotten Tomatoes:

Fantastic Fungi, directed by Louie Schwartzberg, is a consciousness-shifting film that takes us on an immersive journey through time and scale into the magical earth beneath our feet, an underground network that can heal and save our planet. Through the eyes of renowned scientists and mycologists like Paul Stamets, best-selling authors Michael Pollan, Eugenia Bone, Andrew Weil and others, we become aware of the beauty, intelligence and solutions the fungi kingdom offer us in response to some of our most pressing medical, therapeutic, and environmental challenges.

I even took a couple of screen shots. This one was a bit blurry, so I tricked it out a bit to hide the defects.

I have to say, many parts of the documentary were fascinating, but especially the idea that carefully guided consumption of psilocybin mushrooms (aka magic mushrooms) with their hallucinogenic or psychedelic properties, can have profoundly emotionally healing effects.

“A study at Johns Hopkins University found that a dose of 20 to 30 mg psilocybin per 70 kg occasioning mystical-type experiences brought lasting positive changes to traits including altruism, gratitude, forgiveness and feeling close to others when it was combined with meditation and an extensive spiritual practice support programme. There is scientific evidence for a context- and state-dependent causal effect of psychedelic use on connection with nature.”

And this was the filmmaker’s interpretation of the experience of consuming psilocybin mushrooms.

This is a magic mushroom in real life:

Topics went well beyond psychedelics. And it’s worth seeing just for the visually eye-popping photography, specially the time lapse stuff.

Anyway, recommend it.