Terence Mckenna is your friend. You won't find anyone who is right about everything, but he was a great spokesperson for the movement of which he was a part of, and reason why many people today are still fascinated by it. He inspired people and made them think out of the box. He had his views, but told you to 'create your own culture'

..In light of this, how could he 'not be your friend'?

I agree; A person's virtue and status as a friend should be determined by their intentions rather than the actual results or philosophical implications of their actions.

The issue that the OP finds with TM is the same legitimate issue that should be brought up about all "enlightened" saviors, that issue being that the only person who can truly lead one to enlightenment is oneself.

It seems to me that what polytrip is essentially saying is that we should not follow TM as a shaman or guide to "enlightenment", which I think is a view that most of us already agree with.

Yes, i think that's beyond basic stuff to be honest. Terence was just someone who followed his path, and who reminded others that they have permission to do the same. After all, we've all gotta find a happy way of living this life we have to pass through. I think Terence was just waking us up, and reminding us of just how much we've been sleeping, and forgotton about our true freedoms; As the societal model restricts us, and dictates the life we are 'allowed' to live within it's tight knit 'matrix'.

Terence, like all great psych 'gurus', was all about reclaiming your divine rights and freedoms. He did that in his writings and speeches explaining where things have gone haywire in so called developed society.

i dont think you understand what he said

That's what all the greatest, wisest human beings do, in my opinion. The greatest gift a human being can give to another is to point them back to themselves. It's a tricky thing though, to encourage self-discovery without falling short and creating a new religion.

I think Terence McKenna was pretty successful overall, he was all about the questions, not so much about the answers.

Almost everything I wanted to say has already been said... Guess I need to learn to not read threads fully before commenting!

I did want to expand on something, though. To me, TMK's way of thinking was very productive, and yet unproductively entertaining. He made it a point to cook up the bizarre, far-fetched, and outlandish, while also trying to look differently at the things we all accept blindly. As Nen said earlier, he was simply asking everyone. I gathered that myself, though I never had the pleasure to meet him. I have very much adopted this way of thinking.

I'll give you an example,
Are there plant spirits? Maybe. Are these psychedelics just chemicals? Maybe. Do I lean more towards one or the other? Well, it really depends on the context of the conversation, but I can't really say one is more plausible than the other.

He did this with many other concepts, and he strained his brain to come up with as many possibilities as he could, rather than concrete.

He's one of my favorite people because, while he was simply a man, he made it his duty to get people to think. He did this so well. "Culture is not your friend" is five simple words that accomplishes this great task, and the proof is in threads like this.

Polytrip, you have fallen prey to his intent and didn't even know it. He'd be thrilled at your disagreeing with him, I'm sure.

All he ever wanted was for people to think.

On the Disillusioning Revelations about Terence Mckenna

After a dark mushroom trip in the 80s Terence never took mushrooms again, and only rarely and reluctantly did any psychedelic stronger than weed. Meanwhile, in public he was encouraging others to take “the heroic dose” etc.

Written by Jonathon Zap

I’m still processing the revelations about Terence which so far have increased my sense of the complexity of the man and increased my fascination with his enigmatic character. Jung once said, “The larger the man, the larger the shadow.” and no doubt 6’6″ Jung, who had an often brutal personality, hoped the aphoristic principle would be applied to him. I can imagine Terence, who always revered Marshall McLuhan, rationalizing that the “messenger was the message” and therefore that he was justified in making his public persona an edited performance art that combined authentic and inauthentic elements. Although my love and fascination with Terence is increased by the revelation, I don’t feel a need to gloss over it in a hagiographical blur of idealization either.

Shadow material, in my experience, is often the most revelatory. To mine the depth of meaning offered by this revelation, however, we need to step through the thousand petaled chrysanthemum, brush aside the self-transforming machine elves and their Faberge egg like creations for a moment and take an unflinching look at the shadow side.

First, it seems so appropriate that 2012, which so far has not been apocalyptic in either the conventional sense or in revelatory sense that the etymology of the word implies, would at least give us a somewhat dark revelation about the “man of 2012.” The timing is perfect and works with the sense of Terence’s life as performance art with a new act being revealed twelve years after he leaves the stage. When your life is performance art, and you really are inspired as Terence certainly was, you should expect that the performance will be beyond your control. Since Terence was such a great bard whose eloquence and story telling ability shimmered with alchemical brilliance, it is warranted to view the arc of his public life as a story structure with a key denouement delayed till 2012.

To appreciate the depth of the denouement, however, we first need to look at it in an unflattering light. Imagine this analogy—a celebrity is the official spokesperson for a neuropharmaceutical, say an antidepressant, and for years he extols its virtues and talks every chance he gets about how it changed his life. Prospective customers are urged to take it in heroic doses. Human evolution may depend on it. The endorser, however, fails to mention that a dozen years ago, the last time he took it, it sent him into a bout of suicidal despair. Since most of us don’t like big pharma and its celebrity spokespersons we wouldn’t hesitate to call such a person a liar and a hypocrite. If the spokesperson then died of a prozac-shaped brain tumor we might even call it poetic justice. (according the article, Terence’s fatal brain tumor was mushroom-shaped).

Although I’ve praised Terence, and continue to, as a visionary genius in a number of writings, I’ve also pointed out a flaw in his approach to esoteric research in those same writings. I pointed out some of the flaws in his reality testing to Terence’s face on a few occasions and he responded to my challenges graciously and in a way that showed his large character and capacity for self-criticism. Terence, like so many, underestimated the trickster side of the unconscious. Even though he described the trickster nature of the self-transforming machine elves, he didn’t quite realize that the voice of a mushroom goddess speaking in his head should be taken with as many grains of salt as the voice of God the Father speaking in the head of George W. Bush. This is why Timewave 2000 became his obsessive Bête noire. In the last public talk I ever saw him give, in Denver, about a year before he passed, Terrence said that if Timewave turned out to be wrong he would spend the next twenty years of his life trying to figure out why. As it turned out, he didn’t have those twenty years, but we do, and we need to integrate this other side of his character into everything he represents.

If you underestimate the trickster side of the unconscious you get tricked and especially you fall into the principle I coined years ago: “Wherever you cast your obsessive attention, there shall you find weird patterning.” Conspiracy types are especially prone to falling prey to this effect, which is rife in every area of esoteric research. Also, if you gain access to the energetic contents of the collective unconscious you are likely to have ego inflation, and will feel filled with a sense of special destiny, a sense of messianic purpose and a feverish desire to proselytize. Typically you will find that the gods and mystical forces seem to endorse your sexual agenda. Terence’s final mushroom experience, however, was humbling and disenchanting and perhaps that helped him to avoid some of those excesses.

If you underestimate the trickster side of the unconscious, if you think every synchronicity is a divine revelation, than you become tricked and ultimately you become a trickster. The archetype you didn’t understand and integrate functions in you as an autonomous complex and you trick yourself and others.

But if you underestimate the divinity, the ultimate trick might be on you!

Very inspiring DoctorMantus. Clever guy, this Jonathan Zap.
I really see what he means. I have this struggle inside too.

Is it wrong though to feel that mankind & life as a whole are to flourish....and so
have a sepcial destiny? I can see how it's an Ego mania to think that only YOU have
a special destiny as opposed to others who have an insignificant destiny.

But is it delusional to think that life, and in particulair human life & it's many
injustices & suffering, may have a special destiny? To evolve beyond this state of
perpetual self inflicted misery? Into a more ballanced, just & peacefull way of life?

If we could as a species achieve that, that would certainly be a special destiny.
Is it per say delusional to think such a destiny may be real, if we write that destiny
ourselves? As well as the shadows that hold us back, in that same unconscious are entirely
different forces too, that could help us reach that more ballanced way of life.

That is the message I got from my numerous psychedelic experiences: Diving deep into
your Psyche you are bound to run into your own Shadow sooner or later. But in that same
realm your Higher Self/Wisdom is also present. The Shadow is the trickster that Jonathan Zap
also mentioned. And the best weapons against trickery is Wisdom. If you connect to you Wiser
half you will be observant and wise enough to see through the trickery & know it is not real.
Knowing the Shadow has no real substance or power, your fear will gradualy fade away.

With this lack of fear & detatchment of any egoic/emotional involvement, it is easy to
observe your Shadow for what it really is. It will launch a final attack of horror images &
sensations to you, but if you are fearless and persist with observing it it will dissolve &
transform into something healthy again. Very much Jungian Psychology.

This is what every DMT trip has showed me again and again.
And I guess it's true that Terrence & people with his particulair mentality were a bit
naive and too phobic of their watchfull, confrontation-ready, warrior-side.
They kind of underdevelopped this side as they maybe felt it didn't fit into the peacefull
image they like to have of themselves. But it is exactly this inner warrior that connects
with your wiser half to confront the ego & dissolve it's psychological & emotional barriers.

It takes courage to take a massive hit of DMT, or gorge down a cup of mighty strong mushroom
tea, because you know you may run into your Shadow. It is this Warrior-archetype that has exactly
the courage to step into yourself & observe your Shadow fully, fearlessly.
It is true that T.McKenna seemed to rather lack in this Warrior-aspect of the Psyche.

I've never been a "follower" of Terrence McKenna's ideas, but I don't really think he wanted to inspire followers. I think he wanted to inspire people to think outside the box.

I've always felt that many in the psychedelic community kinda put him on this almost messianic high horse that is kinda silly and unrealistic.

He was a genius. He was crazy. Like many philosophers who hope to open peoples' minds, he was looking for a way to get people to think for themselves, not to blindly follow his ways of thinking.

I will say his 5 grams of cubensis along with large amounts of cannabis in the dark "prescription" has definitely inspired myself and many other psychonauts to go to some places we may not have been otherwise. I will always be thankful for this.

Dennis McKenna is gonna be on Coast to Coast Am a few nights hence.

Why don't I know more about Dennis Mckenna?

Anyways, I'm not trying to divert the thread. I just want to save anyone time who is interested in the show.

AM station list

There are links to a really fascinating Dennis Mckenna interview here:

https://www.dmt-nexus.me...m=407358&#post407358

..as he's no longer in the flesh, Terence is whatever We or One makes him to be..

his words are not him, nor his gifts or faults as a human (= human)

if you hate Terence polytrip, i say it's actually the Culture that Mythologies and eventually crucifies or manipulates it's chosen objects of idolisation..

the modern industrial-milliatary-economic Culture is not your friend! my friend..

I've only very recently gotten into Terence McKenna, but I notice that he had quite a deep level of non-dual insight, although he didn't seem to understand sunyata[1], and suspect that this may be what contributes to him appearing to hold contradictory beliefs. As far as I can see, there is no dissonance between his suggestions that "culture is not your friend" and the adaptation of culture to suit certain ends. He seemed like a pragmatic guy and an all-round good person, I'd love to have met him for a smoke and a chat.

[1] Sunyata is the Buddhist concept of emptiness, which, in my opinion, if Terence had realized he'd have found even more value in studying DMT...

like so many, underestimated the trickster side of the unconscious. Even though he described the trickster nature of the self-transforming machine elves, he didn’t quite realize that the voice of a mushroom goddess speaking in his head should be taken with as many grains of salt as the voice of God the Father speaking in the head of George W. Bush. This is why Time wave 2000 became his obsessive Bête noire.

Terence Was definitely a great man and he had a lot knowledge to share, all in all most of his stuff was very interesting and got you on a different plain of thinking.

But something with his Time-wave theory, you know the trickster, An example i have is, Many many times i have seen or read of people that have claimed they seen something that no one else has, and maybe they have.

But b/c you have seen this, it is very easy for your ego to get ahead of you. Do we not know if this is what happened to TM. Based upon Tm's birthday and Chinese animal signs, he was a Libra which was his birthday (November 16, ) and a Dog that being from his Birth-year. (1946)

Now if we looked at this traits regarding personality and behavior. A Libra i Don't know much about this sign but that they like to tip the scale to their side. And a Dog they like to run in packs. These two fit TM well i think.

I mean don't take anything the wrong way i still love Terence and am not discrediting everything he has said. i know he had made a prediction i think in 96 that novelty would descend, and had failed that first prediction. And Went on saying that if his prediction was wrong in 2012 he would spend the next 20 years trying to figure out why.

Who knows maybe Novelty has already been descending and we can't physically notice it.

This is a good observation, it seems that some are inclined to take 'communications' received while working with plants at face-value and not acknowledging the role their own psychological structures and belief systems play in the process of interpreting those experiences. The same is true of those in spiritual circles who make use of things like invocation and evocation, as well as channeling or other techniques involving making contact with discarnate entities, plant-based or otherwise; the content of such experiences, like those of dreams, are always highly personalized and their emotional weight can lead one to interpret them in less-than-objective ways.

Well here you go everybody, here's a TM archive to share; and first 2 links: youtube: "Culture is not your Friend"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAGxjOr3vYA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYB0VW5x8fI

http://deoxy.org/media/McKenna