Terry MC

[juniorcat]

Terence Mckenna -

Now there's a guy that really liked his psychedelics

Could weave a tale of nine whilst spinning the yarn of poetry allst on only what is Easternly known as the dark night of the soul. Enough cryptic, this guy's hit the nail on the head. I can't decide if I'm with him or those lacking in thought as he puts 'light nihilists'. He claims we should not be molds in the creation, but rather brothers and sisters of that.

Thoughts?

 

[MyExcuse]

Crackpot visionary like Timothy Leary.

Personally, I subscribe to the practice of discarding the ramblings of men who take serious the revelations provided by meditation and/or psychedelics. Call me a materialist if you like, but there are no spirit elves or hyperspace gnomes.

 

[webbykevin]

I don't recall him ever mentioning gnomes.

He did use a lot of big words, maybe that's why you find him so inaccessible.

 

[twelvesevndi]

mckenna's work serves perfectly to illustrate the most common negative consequences arising from regular psychedelic use.

 

[drdoctor]

At least Terrence had a good sense of humor and great delivery. Despite some of the more "out there" ideas, he could be a lot of fun as a speaker. Leary, OTOH, don't get me started. All the trouble he caused...

 

[SONN]

'crackpot visionary'??

obviously they spread some pretty insane ideas and philosophies, often not necessarily based on scientific fact, but that doesn't mean they both aren't great authors and pretty fucking outstanding people.

surely a lot of people when they read up on them start reading their most extreme pseudo science and they think they are entirely irrational and possibly even schizo-affective or something like that. However, they are both pretty genius in their own right.

both of them have material that suggests they might be going off the deep end but both of them also have helped spread some great ideas.

 

[Jesusgreen]

Am I the only one who thought Terence McKenna was one of the wiser of the bunch? Now I'm not really a fan of Timewave Zero or his novelty theories, but if I instantly discounted all of someone's ideas based on a couple of ideas that I thought were flawed and inaccurate - I don't think I'd believe a single person in the world today.

Food of the Gods is a great book and one of my favourites. I agree with many or most of the theories presented in that book.

I'm also a proponent of his "heroic dose" idea, finding that with tryptamines a high dose alone in bed takes one a lot deeper and provides a whole new level of his experience. (Provided you know you're safe, and have plenty of prior experience)

I don't think one can compare McKenna to Leary.. Leary had some good ideas to begin with but then his whole life began to revolve around the idea that LSD was the holy sacrament and the one and only truth. McKenna does treat mushrooms rather religiously but he didn't have the same level of tunnel vision that Leary did, and they were more just his preferred vehicle of choice - alongside DMT, for psychedelic experiments.

I don't think he's any particularly visionary but I think he's a smart guy and one of the people I respect most in the field of the psychedelic experience.