Who is Terence McKenna?
Terence Kemp McKenna (November 16, 1946 – April 3, 2000) was a writer, philosopher, explorer and ethnobotanist. He is noted for his many speculations on the use of psychedelic, plant-based hallucinogens, and subjects ranging from shamanism, development of human consciousness and the novelty theory. He traveled widely in Asia, South America, and Europe during his college years.
The Works of Terence McKenna:
His first book, co-authored with his brother Dennis McKenna, was based on their 1971 investigations of Amazonian hallucinogens. In 1975, Terence graduated from Berkeley with a degree in ecology, resource conservation, and shamanism. He and Dennis then pseudonymously published one of the earliest psilocybin mushroom growing guides under the names Oss and Oeric.
In 1985, Terence co-founded the non-profit Botanical Dimensions, with Kathleen Harrison-McKenna, to collect and propagate medicinal and shamanic plants from the tropics around the world.
From Terence McKenna’s Food of The Gods, “Why, as a species, are humans so fascinated by altered states of consciousness? Can altered states reveal something to us about our origins and our place in nature? In Food of the Gods, ethnobotanist Terence McKenna’s research on man’s ancient relationship with chemicals opens a doorway to the divine, and perhaps a solution for saving our troubled world. McKenna provides a revisionist look at the historical role of drugs in the East and the West, from the ancient spice, sugar, and rum trades to marijuana, cocaine, synthetics, and even television — illustrating the human desire for the “food of the gods” and the powerful potential to replace abuse of illegal drugs with a shamanic understanding, insistence on community, reverence for nature, and increased self-awareness.”
Terence McKenna’s Reclaim Your Mind!
Terence McKenna’s Psychedelic Society
Terence McKenna speaks of a new model for society, its a 47-minute video, extremely interesting for free thinkers. It also dissects societies current model and speaks of its flaws.
“Attention to attention, or paying attention to the nuances of cognition, is a psychedelic way of being, a refined art of awareness of the tensions and nuances in the moment. The psychedelic experience is simply a compressed instance of what we call understanding, so that living psychedelically is trying to live in an atmosphere of continuous unfolding of understanding, so that every day you know more and see into things with greater depth than you did before. This is a process of education,” ~ Terence McKenna.
McKenna’s Novelty theory and “Time Wave: Zero Point”
One of his most widely promulgated ideas is known as Novelty theory. It predicts the ebb and flow of novelty in the universe as an inherent quality of time. The theory proposes that the universe is an engine designed for the production and conservation of novelty. Novelty, in this context, can be thought of as newness.
Resources:
The Life and Works of Terence McKenna
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