I am an anthropologist, author and activist. From 1972-2014, I served as founding professor of anthropology at Florida International University in Miami, where I designed and taught a course on “Hallucinogens and Culture.” This course examines the use of entheogenic (God-generated-within) plants by tribal and classical cultures, including Ancient India and Greece, and by the modern mind-explorers, the psychonauts of the twentieth century.

My current book, The Psychedelic Gospels, grew out of a discovery I made at Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland, while doing research for this course.

In addition to coauthoring The Psychedelic Gospels, I am also co-author of “Sacred Plants and the Gnostic Church: Speculations on Entheogen-Use in Early Christian Ritual,” Journal of Ancient History," May 2014.

As an activist and educator I have worked to promote positive social change. In the 1960s, I coordinated Cesar Chavez’s grape boycott on behalf of farm workers. In the 1980s, I worked with Business Executives for National Security to prevent nuclear war. Currently, I direct the World Business Academy’s Safe Energy Project, calling for the rapid transition to 100% renewable energy in ten years.

I am co-author of Profiles in Power: The Antinuclear Movement and the Dawn of the Solar Age (1997) and Freedom from Mid-East Oil (2007). I received a B.A. degree in Philosophy and Religion from Antioch College and a doctorate degree in Anthropology from Cornell University.