The Cosmic Serpent by Jeremy Narby (PDF)

Description

This adventure in science and imagination, which the Medical Tribune said might herald “a Copernican revolution for the life sciences,” leads the reader through unexplored jungles and uncharted aspects of mind to the heart of knowledge.In a first-person narrative of scientific discovery that opens new perspectives on biology, anthropology, and the limits of rationalism, The Cosmic Serpent reveals how startlingly different the world around us appears when we open our minds to it.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐I throughly enjoyed this book. I learned a lot about the ancient Mesoamerican culture and their stories of the Serpent. I was able to see a connection with that of other cultures around the world with the belief in possible Serpent Gods.

⭐This book really shifted my mind, I recommend it to anyone

⭐Jeremy Narby’s study of shamanic knowledge and DNA is a fascinating and easy to follow discussion of his experience as a Western trained anthropologist gradually learning to see outside the narrow tunnel of his conditioning. He does this by attempting to see with a parallel vision (one eye shamanic, one scientific), and he tells his story in a conversational style that lets the reader share in the sense of discovery. It’s also a quick read (the last 100 pages of this 257 page book are made up of extensive notes and bibliography), but sure to encourage further study (at least on the personal level if not within the hallowed halls of science).As he says; “My approach in this book starts from the idea that it is of utmost importance to respect the faith of others, no matter how strange, whether it is shamans who believe plants communicate or biologists who believe nature is inanimate.” (p.145)The hypothesis he comes up with, simultaneously far out and down to earth, is that the knowledge of shamanic experience is coming directly from DNA – that mysterious intersection of psyche and substance (spirit and sense) at the root of all Life. The implications of this intuitive and logical perspective are expansive, and ultimately are based in a vision of Life being a consciously driven (i.e. intentional) phenomena.Much of what he says is a direct critique of science (and the blinders inherent to its Western form), and he obviously gives more respect and credence to the methodologies and conclusions of the Amazonian shamans than science is willing and able to. But he also is no naive new-age enthusiast. Again, Narby perceptively comments, “To my mind, a truly hallucinatory session is more like a controlled nightmare than a form of recreation and demands know-how, discipline, and courage.” (p.148)Here’s to the hope that this know-how, discipline and courage stays vibrant and alive amongst the Amazonian shamans.The only improvement I can imagine is to see him do an updated edition to incorporate what has been learned both in biology and anthropology, as well as what Mr. Narby has continued to learn in the last 15+ years.

⭐I had been looking for a book like this for some time, when I stumbled upon it, needing to find evidence of the serpent in the story of Adam and Eve as having been misidentified for 2,000 years. I don’t have my arguments well-formulated, yet, but the multi-cultural presence of the serpent in religious iconography, as depicted in this book brings me closer than ever before.The Cosmic Serpent brings together some of the most compelling archeological evidence for the making of humankind in the story of the serpent and its nature. While that is not what the book attempts to do exactly, for me it is what I surmise from its substance. Maybe it takes a leap of faith to see serpent iconography as an attempt to ape out DNA structure, it takes a hell of a lot of courage, I suspect, for Narby to even attempt such an argument.I am deeply impressed with the author’s experience in writing the book, the content, and his credentials.I am a Godscribe, so my narrative Relief to See Her Arrive, the Lost Symbol of the Adam and the Eve is a story that “arrived” over an hour of inner dictation. The creator of the universe gave this story to me while in my year of solitude in 2004. In this story God says that the serpent was a messenger of God’s and one of the animals used to create Eve’s serpentine ways. The serpent represents singularity, singular thought and that which will rid the mind of pestilent thoughts just as the snake rids a garden of pests that will eat the food meant for the humans.

⭐After more than 50 year of relentless reading, there are just a handful of books that have helped me to look at the world in a different way. “The cosmic serpent” has just been added to the list. Bumped on it by chance and decided, although very dubiously, to give it a go. I found refreshing that a scientist with a traditional western education and a down-to-earth research approach is prepared to take savages’ words and experiences seriously. I personally do not know anything about anthropology but I have always found our – i.e. the western – way to treat them very arrogant and embarrassing. Looking at them like wild beasts just because they behave differently and they do not master a computer is – if nothing else – very narrow sighted. Here you have an author that is prepared to expose his doubts, to question his own believes and give credit to the literal word of the “savage”. This book will make you think and, possibly, shake some of your beliefs. After reading this one, I am keen on reading more on the subject. This read has everything that I ever expect from a book: thank you Jeremy Narby.

⭐The strength and paradoxically the weakness of this book, is the author’s honesty. Compared to Michael Hayes book, The Hermetic Code in DNA, the author is humble, even self deprecating, carefully drawing the reader to the conclusion that somehow DNA can communicate medical knowledge directly to a drugs expanded, human mind.Something like this must be true, in as much as (many) animals seem to instinctively know poisons (shame this mechanism does not save us from sugar!) and our ancestors did appear to have strange knowledge without our modern scientific method.Having partaken in similar mind altering experiments myself, a lot of this strongly resonated. However I am also aware that drug induced visions also can lead to delusions of epic scale.The biggest problem in this book is that science is no where near proving the photons properties in consciousness. So while Jeremy Narby’s observations seem spot on, his explanation of how this might be possible seem slightly implausible. Especially if such arguments are used to counter Darwinism.To my mind there is little doubt that consciousness is the fundamental element of physical reality. But all my proofs are subjective – like others I see Quantum physics and new scientific perspectives as allowing for such a view. But the mechanism remains allusive.I recommend this book to open minded readers. If you dont like Rupert Sheldrake, or get cognitive dissonance when reading anything blending science and the mystical, this book is not for you. Or rather, if you want to laugh at how silly mystic perspectives can be, read Michael Hayes book instead.

⭐Very enjoyable. Well written and well thought out. Coming from someone with a biological background I really found this book fascinating. Many comparisons with Bill Bryson’s ‘A Short History of Nearly Everything’ with regards to DNA explanations and also very well tied together with common philosophical questions of universality.Bryson quotes Matt Ridley in his book “All life is one,’. We are all the result of a single genetic trick handed down from generation to generation over nearly four billion years, to such an extent that you can take a fragment of human genetic instruction and patch it into a faulty yeast cell and the yeast cell will put it to work as if it were its own.In a very real sense, it is its own.” This echoed time and again in Narbys interpretation of events. While Narby may or may not be correct in his hypothesis, his thoughtful approach, analysis, and linking of events must be commended. It is one of the most interesting perspectives I have read in a long time and one of the first combining science and philosophy. Truly refreshing.

⭐Not what I expected, I’m halfway through and am taking a break because the author is driving me nuts. This is a book about him writing the book. ?!?The first chapter was great and I expected more of the same but now we are being taken on a journey of him and his ego writing this book. The point I had to stop was when he had a sudden epiphany which didn’t seem like an epiphany and then randomly mentioned a stream of water on his walk to seem profound to end that section – I could see what he was trying to do but it fell flat. There are some nuggets of genuinely interesting bits in it which is why I’ll go back to it but I need a break from this authors ego for a bit first, he’s driving me nuts

⭐I came across mentions of this book in other material I’d read on psychedelics and shamanism, and decided to check it out. It’s a short read, coming in at just over 160 pages (there are copious pages of notes filling it out). As expected it’s an entertaining book, and contains some thought-provoking ideas. The trouble is that, for this reader at least, the key idea running through the book is never adequately developed or explained, and the case is just not strongly made. Given the astonishing claims the author is making, more is needed than the undeniable fact that strands of DNA look a bit like snakes, ladders, lianas etc. I was reminded somewhat uncomfortably of the kind of claims made by the “ancient astronauts” brigade, whose books are full of photographs from early civilisations that look a bit like spaceships, spacemen etc. Maybe there are interesting visual correspondences, but that in itself proves nothing. Given that it’s a short read, it’s worth the effort for anyone interested in the field; but I’m not at all convinced by the author’s main thesis.

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