2012: The Return Of Quetzacoatl

Daniel Pinchbeck

Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin, 2006, 408 pp., - ISBN 1585424838

Reviewed by Martin Lockley

Psychedelic Rider of the Apocalypse

012 is an unusual book – an ‘extravagant thought experiment’ both bold and reckless: an interesting personal and candid confession by an unlikely protagonist ‘a clearly deficient, half desolate figure, a freelance journalist of dubious repute.’ Pinchbeck, who admits his strange Dickensian name means ‘imitation or spurious’ stalks the New York world of avant-garde art, psychedelics and neo-shamanic adventurism in search of clues to the prophesied shift in consciousness predicted by the Maya for the winter solstice of 2012. In this quest he follows in the erratic footsteps of the late Terence McKenna who first stumbled on this prophesied date for world transformation in 1971 and concluded that somehow a 20^th century individual and a Mayan prophet had made “the unexpected discovery that the deep structure of our consciousness” is “ordered on the same principle as the larger universe in which we arose.” [I infer this notion to be consistent with Harry Hunt’s recent Journal Consciousness Studies observation that mystics can intuit the same organising principles as quantum physicists extract from their equations. Indeed the principle is evidently no different from Spinoza’s proposition 7 (Ethics Part II) that “ the order and connection of ideas is the same as the order and connection of things”].

Like McKenna, Pinchbeck is a bold, sometimes-inspired wordsmith who has about as much respect for conventional thinking as his psychotropic aids have for cognitive equilibrium. Also, like McKenna, Pinchbeck ranges widely into the serious mainstream and fringe literature on consciousness and philosophy (Nietzsche, Jung, Steiner, Gebser and others) and cannot easily be dismissed as a ‘hippy dippy hedonist’ merely gargling at the fountain of knowledge. I liked Pinchbeck’s brief discussion of Jungian archetypes as evidence for the reality of the psyche and his observation that the apocalyptic ‘book of revelation and the Christian tradition that produced it’ are huge stumbling blocks if not understood in the psychological context of the times. So ‘the western God image underwent a steady transformation and humanisation in the course of biblical narrative’ as the ‘dialectical process’ between Jews and their often wrathful, jealous God image incites conflict that forces the development of consciousness. Pinchbeck quotes Jung: saying when man (Job) recognises ‘God’s inner antinomy, and in the light of this realisation his knowledge attains a divine numinosity’ the God image descends into humanity, incarnating as a ‘good god’ (Christ) ‘a hero and half God in the classical sense.’ So again, quoting Jung, ‘God wants to become man, but not quite.’ [This trend towards humanisation of God is certainly a significant aspect of human psychological evolution which has been analysed from many angles. Taken another step, to the mystical realisation that ‘God and I are one,’ the descent of God, so to speak, becomes complete. Historically, however, such self realisation has often been misinterpreted, with lethal consequences for the likes of Meister Eckhart and other mystics of similar persuasion].

In reference to Christ, Pinchbeck observes that ‘world avatars are frequency transducers who step up the voltage of mind.’ The shock waves evidently penetrated Pinchbeck’s psyche allowing him to appreciate the work of Ken Wilber and particularly Rudolf Steiner. In candidly-naïve, autobiographical style he reports on the great insights imparted to him through reading Steiner’s exalted thinking. This, clearly, is part of the scholarly phase of his quest. Perhaps because of the parallels with the psychedelic experience, Pinchbeck latches on to Steiner’s promise of ‘acquiring visionary modes of perception’ but recognises that it ‘requires a development of the whole person inseparable from moral progress.’

While interesting, lively and even well informed, I found much of the second half of the book, devoted to inconclusive ruminations about extraterrestrials, crop circles and Pinchbeck’s strung out psychedelic and shamanistic adventures, less insightful than the more sober first half. It was not the ambiguous inconclusiveness I found as unsettling as the fact that Pinchbeck admits that ‘psychedelics seemed a faster but less conscientious means of obtaining supersensible insights.’ [Now there’s a thought: ‘less conscientious consciousness’ – but at least he’s honest about his short cuts]. The Pinchbeck odyssey lacks the coherence of conscientiousness, and tends to smack of a few semesters in the library before dropping out.

Towards the conclusion Pinchbeck walks a fine line between personal confession and maintenance of his themes pertaining to the impending 2012 shift in consciousness- apocalyptic or otherwise. In my opinion the mix does not work too well. Even though we may well be in be in for bumpy rides, collectively, personally and psychically as the planet’s cumulative karma come back to haunt us, the experience of a few lone riders of the psychedelic apocalypse will likely give us limited insight into the quickening of the global brain. Pinchbeck becomes too indulgent in confessing his tribulations, misgivings and weaknesses (some clearly drug induced) which he tries to link to a rather sad history of personal illness, family neglect and broken relationships. He seems less of a wounded healer (shaman) than a wounded soul.

Nevertheless I give him credit for his courage in bearing his soul, even though I suspect some readers will condemn is personal decisions and find them distasteful. In the context of a 2012 exposition, the darker personal undercurrents too often detract from a balanced treatment of an already complex and challenging topic. Having said this, it is fair to ask, what a New York journalist of ‘dubious repute’ might have to say after being forced to flee the city to protect his infant daughters tiny lungs from the poisonous fog of 9-11 fall out after the incineration of the twin towers.* Perhaps then, to give Pinchbeck his due, 2012 is a representative chronicle of a troubled and discombobulated seeker in turbulent times.