The “Narcotizing” Vision of Globalization
The article presents an opinion that globalization is a long historical process whose genesis should not be limited to Europe’s experience exclusively. The thesis is supported with information and hypotheses concerning cultural contents which have appeared in various cultures in the context of the human use of psycho-active substances with hallucinogenic effect. The main focus is on the question connected with the consequences of using the red toadstool (Amanita muscaria) particularly in the regions of Eastern Syberia. The reminiscences of this practice have a lineage of thousands of years and well exceed the area of Syberia: similar cultural phenomena have been observed, beside the North-Eastern Asia, in both Americas and in Europe. The author does not jump into immediate conclusions. He looks with a distance at the hypotheses presented by the scholars cited. He also refers with skepticism to the idea that certain cultural contents connected with the figure of Saint Nicolas may have an indirect connection with archaic practices and beliefs of the Syberian people and that they emerged as a result of the use of the red toadstool.
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