 I'm going to read, okay what I'm going to read is I'm going to read from page 41 it's the last little subsection of that chapter that way hopefully it'll make sense the transcendent other quote if hallucinogens function as interspecies chemical messengers then the dynamic of the close relationship between primate and hallucinogenic plant is one of information transfer from one species to another where plant hallucinogens do not occur such transfers of information takes take place with great slowness but in the presence of hallucinogens a culture is quickly introduced to ever more novel information sensory input and behavior and thus is bootstrapped to a higher and higher state of self reflection I call this the encounter with the transcendent other but this is only a label not an explanation from one point of view the transcendent other is nature correctly perceived to be alive and intelligent from another it is the awesomely unfamiliar union of the senses and memory of the past and anticipation of the future the transcendent other is what one encounters on powerful hallucinogens it is the crucible of mystery of our being both as a species and as an individual and as individuals the transcendent other is nature without her cheerfully reassuring mask of ordinary space-time causality of course imagining these higher states of self-reflection is not easy for when we seek to do this we are acting as if we expect language to somehow encompass that which is at present beyond language or trans linguistic psilocybin the hallucinogen unique to mushrooms is an effective tool in this situation psilocybin's main synergic effects effect seems ultimately to being the domain of language it excites vote vocalization it empowers articulation it transmutes language into something that is visibly hell it could have had an impact on the sudden emergence of consciousness and language use in early humans we literally may have eaten our way to higher consciousness in this context it is important to note that the most powerful mutant mutagens in the natural environment occur in molds and fungi mushrooms and cereal grains infected by molds may have had a major influence on animal species including primates evolving into in evolving into the grasslands end quote