Daniel Pinchbeck

Pinchbeck's father, Peter Pinchbeck, was an abstract painter, and his mother, writer and editor Joyce Johnson, was a member of the Beat Generation who dated Jack Kerouac as On the Road at the time was published in 1957 (chronicled in Johnson's book, Minor Characters).{{cite news|title=My mother and Jack Kerouac|first=Daniel|last=Pinchbeck|url=http://www.salon.com/2000/06/08/kerouac_2/|work=Salon|publisher=Salon Media Group|date=June 8, 2000|access-date=August 23, 2011}}

Pinchbeck calls himself an "utterly nonreligious Jew."https://danielpinchbeck.substack.com/p/israel-the-war-and-jewish-identity

Pinchbeck was a founder of the 1990s literary magazine Open City with fellow writers Thomas Beller and Robert Bingham. He has written for many publications, including Esquire, The New York Times Magazine,{{cite news|last=Pinchbeck|first=Daniel|title=Breaking Open the Head|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/10/books/chapters/1110-1st-pinch.html|access-date=23 August 2011|newspaper=The New York Times|date=10 November 2002}} The Village Voice,{{cite news|last=Pinchbeck|first=Daniel|title=Breath Trip|url=http://www.villagevoice.com/1999-01-05/news/breath-trip/|access-date=23 August 2011|newspaper=The Village Voice|date=5 January 1999|archive-date=22 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022235938/http://www.villagevoice.com/1999-01-05/news/breath-trip/|url-status=dead}} and Rolling Stone. In 1994 he was chosen by The New York Times Magazine as one of "Thirty Under Thirty" destined to change our culture through his work with Open City.{{cite news|last=Pinchbeck|first=Daniel|title=Cast Your Magazine Upon the Waters|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/02/22/books/bookend-cast-your-magazine-upon-the-waters.html|access-date=23 August 2011|newspaper=The New York Times|date=22 February 1998}} He has been a regular columnist for a number of magazines, including Dazed & Confused.

In Breaking Open the Head, Pinchbeck explored shamanism via ceremonies with tribal groups such as the Bwiti of Gabon, who eat iboga, and the Secoya people in the Ecuadorean Amazon, who take the psychedelic tryptamine brew ayahuasca in their ceremonies.{{cite news|last=Kamiya|first=Gary|title=Far Out|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/10/books/far-out.html?scp=3&sq=|access-date=23 August 2011|newspaper=The New York Times|date=10 November 2002}} He also attended the Burning Man festival in Nevada,{{cite web|title=2009 Theme Camps & Villages|url=http://www.burningman.com/themecamps/09_camp_vill_s.html#top|work=burningman.com|access-date=23 August 2011}} and looked at use of psychedelic substances in a de-sacralized modern context. Philosophically influenced by the work of anthroposophist Rudolf Steiner,{{cite web |url=http://www.mightycompanions.org/cropcircles/wired/wheatgraffiti.html |title=Conversation With Wheat Graffiti Writer, Daniel Pinchbeck |author=Taylor, Suzanne |publisher=Mighty Companions |location=Los Angeles |access-date=23 August 2011}}{{cite magazine |url=https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.08/crop.html |title=Wheat Graffiti: A roundup of the top of the crops |author=Pinchbeck, Daniel |magazine=Wired |publisher=Condé Nast Publications |date=August 2002 |access-date=22 October 2012}} through his direct experience and research Pinchbeck developed the hypothesis that shamanic and mystical views of reality have validity, and that the modern world had forfeited an understanding of intuitive aspects of being in its pursuit of rational materialism.

Drawing heavily, and somewhat controversially, from material shared on the Breaking Open the Head forums, Pinchbeck's second volume, 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl, chronicles Mayan and Hopi prophecies,{{cite news|last=Mathis-Lilley|first=Ben|title=Lit Scenester Predicts Apocalypse|url=http://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/16869/|access-date=23 August 2011|work=New York|publisher=New York Media, LLC|date=1 May 2006}} and follows Pinchbeck's travels and travails as he responds to leads, both physical and intellectual, he receives via this forum. Examining the nature of prophecy during this period, Pinchbeck investigates the New Age hypothesis of Terence McKenna that humanity is experiencing an accelerated process of global consciousness transformation, leading to a new understanding of time and space. The book details the psi or extra-sensory perception research of Dean Radin, the theories of Terence McKenna, the phenomena of crop circles, and a visit to calendar reform advocate José Argüelles. Pinchbeck concludes with an account of receiving a transmission of prophetic material from the Mesoamerican deity Quetzalcoatl,. This claim was enough to get the book dropped by its planned publisher, delaying its release for the greater part of a year. While acknowledging that the validity of such an experience is unknown, Pinchbeck describes how a voice identifying itself as Quetzalcoatl began speaking to him during a 2004 trip to the Amazon. At the time, he was participating in the ceremonies of Santo Daime, a Brazilian religion that includes sacramental use of ayahuasca. Through its references to 2012 and the Maya calendar in the context of New Age beliefs, Pinchbeck's book has contributed to Mayanism.

In May 2007, Pinchbeck launched Reality Sandwich. He is the executive producer of Postmodern Times, a series of web videos presented on the {{proper name|iClips}} Network, and co-founder of Evolver.net, an online social network.{{cite magazine|last=Sterling |first=Bruce |title=It's been a good day for weird, unsolicited email: part one |url=https://www.wired.com/beyond_the_beyond/2009/06/its-been-a-good-day-for-weird-unsolicited-email-part-one/ |magazine=Wired |publisher=Condé Nast Publications |access-date=23 August 2011 |date=4 June 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121108003615/http://www.wired.com/beyond_the_beyond/2009/06/its-been-a-good-day-for-weird-unsolicited-email-part-one/ |archive-date=8 November 2012 }}{{cite web |url=http://www.realitysandwich.com/launching_esm |title=Launching The Evolver Social Movement |last=Pinchbeck |first=Daniel |date=19 March 2010 |publisher=Reality Sandwich |access-date=24 October 2012}} His life and work are featured in the documentary 2012: Time for Change, featuring interviews with Sting, David Lynch, Barbara Marx Hubbard, and others.

In August 2013, Pinchbeck became the host of Mind Shift, a new talk show, filmed in New York City, produced by Gaiam TV.

Pinchbeck's How Soon Is Now? (2017) explores the idea that the ecological crisis is a rite of passage or initiation for humanity collectively, forcing us to reach the next level of our consciousness as a species. The book outlines the changes to our technical infrastructure - agriculture, energy, industry - and our social, political, and economic system that Pinchbeck believes necessary to avoid the worst consequences of global warming and species extinction.{{cite web|title=How Soon is Now? by Daniel Pinchbeck|url=https://watkinspublishing.com/watkinsusa/how-soon-is-now-by-daniel-pinchbeck/|website=Watkins Publishing|access-date=6 March 2018|archive-date=19 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160819125029/http://watkinspublishing.com/watkinsusa/how-soon-is-now-by-daniel-pinchbeck/|url-status=dead}}

In a 1973 article about the Wacky Packs parodies of consumer packaging, seven-year-old Pinchbeck told a reporter for New York Magazine, "I think they're bringing out the truth about foods."{{cite magazine|last1=Edwards|first1=Owen|title=Wacky Packs: New Fad for the Children of the Skeptical Seventies |url=http://www.wackypackages.org/press/NYMag_scans.html |access-date=26 October 2017 |magazine=New York Magazine|date=October 1, 1973|page=37}}

On 14 December 2006, Pinchbeck appeared on the television program The Colbert Report to discuss his book, 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl.{{Cite episode|title=Daniel Pinchbeck - The Colbert Report|url=http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/79555/december-14-2006/daniel-pinchbeck|access-date=23 August 2011|series=The Colbert Report|network=Comedy Central|location=New York|airdate=14 December 2006|language=en}}

Pinchbeck was featured in the 2006 video Entheogen: Awakening the Divine Within, a documentary about rediscovering an enchanted cosmos in the modern world.{{cite video |people=Mann, Rod (Director) |title=Entheogen: Awakening the Divine Within |url=http://www.entheogen.tv/ |year=2006 |format=DVD video |publisher=Critical Mass Productions |access-date=19 November 2012 |oclc=181630835 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121111070217/http://www.entheogen.tv/ |archive-date=11 November 2012 }}

Pinchbeck was also featured in the 2008 video 2012: Science or Superstition, a documentary describing how much of what we are hearing is science and how much is superstition.{{cite video |people=Erez, Nimrod (Director) |title=2012: Science or Superstition |url=http://www.theconnextion.com/disinformation/disinfo_product.cfm?ProdAutoID=5703&CatID=94 |year=2008 |format=DVD video |publisher=Disinformation Company |location=New York |access-date=19 November 2012 |isbn=978-1-934-70817-0}}

He interviewed Alejandro Jodorowsky for the German/French art television network Arte (Durch die Nacht mit ...) in a very personal discussion, spending a night together in France, continuing the interview in different locations like in a park and in a hotel.{{cite interview |last=Jodorowsky |first=Alejandro |interviewer=Daniel Pinchbeck |url=http://www.dasmanifest.com/04/ddnjodorowskypinchbeck/portraetpinchbeck.php |title=Durch die Nacht mit... Alejandro Jodorowsky & Daniel Pinchbeck |work=Arte |date=25 November 2009 |access-date=23 August 2011}}

Pinchbeck appears in the documentary film 2012: Time for Change, directed by João G. Amorim, which was released in October 2010.{{cite web|title=2012: Time for Change|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1506940/|work=imdb.com|access-date=23 August 2011}}

He also appeared in the documentary film Electronic Awakening, directed by AC Johner, released in 2011.{{cite web|title=Electronic Awakening|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2038260/|work=imdb.com|access-date=2 October 2011}}

Pinchbeck appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, recorded on 8 September 2011.{{Cite podcast|url=http://blog.joerogan.net/archives/3519 |title=Podcast #136 |website=The Joe Rogan Experience |host=Rogan, Joe |date=8 September 2011 |access-date=23 October 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120920030301/http://blog.joerogan.net/archives/3519 |archive-date=20 September 2012 }}

• {{cite book |last=Pinchbeck |first=Daniel |title=Breaking Open the Head: A Psychedelic Journey into the Heart of Contemporary Shamanism |edition=1st |publisher=Broadway Books |location=New York |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-767-90742-2}}
• {{cite book |last=Pinchbeck |first=Daniel |title=Jeff Koons Andy Warhol: Flowers |others=Essay by Daniel Pinchbeck |publisher=Gagosian Gallery |location=New York |year=2002 |isbn=978-1-880-15485-4 |author-mask=2}}
• {{cite book |last=Pinchbeck |first=Daniel |title=2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl |url=https://archive.org/details/2012returnofquet00pinc |url-access=registration |publisher=Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin |location=New York |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-585-42592-1 |author-mask=2}}
• {{cite book |editor1-last=Pinchbeck |editor1-first=Daniel |editor2-last=Jordan |editor2-first=Ken |title=Toward 2012: Perspectives on the Next Age |url=https://archive.org/details/toward2012perspe00pinc |url-access=registration |publisher=Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin |location=New York |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-585-42700-0}}
• {{cite book |last=Pinchbeck |first=Daniel |title=Notes from the Edge Times |publisher=Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin |location=New York |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-585-42837-3 |author-mask=2}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{Official website|http://www.pinchbeck.io/}}
• {{IMDb name|0683865}}

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Category:1966 births

Category:Living people

Category:Wesleyan University alumni

Category:American male journalists

Category:New Age writers

Category:American spiritual writers

Category:American psychedelic drug advocates

Category:Psychedelic drug researchers

Category:2012 phenomenon believers

Category:Nautilus Book Award winners

Category:Jewish American non-fiction writers

Category:Jewish American journalists