Guest speaker: Terence McKenna
PROGRAM NOTES:
[NOTE: All quotations below are by Terence McKenna.]
“I think reason can take us only a certain distance, and then we have to go with the divine imagination.”
“There have been many episodes in the history of science where great hope gave way to paranoia.”
“The [UFO] hysteria has become more explicit and has wandered in first one direction and then another, but if this is a contact it’s the most peculiarly un-contact-like contact it’s possible to imagine.”
“And this is something I’m going to try and convince the UFO community of, what we drug people have that you don’t is repeatability.”
“The Stropharia cubensis mushroom is a memory bank of galactic history. Alien, but full of promise, it throws open a potential for understanding that will sweep away the petty concerns of earth and history-bound humanity.”
“Reason, but a willingness to explore the edges has been [my] method. … I have never seen a violation of physics that was not connected somehow with a psychedelic experience.”
“Not all psychedelics are alike. And this very small family of compounds, called the tryptomine hallucinogens, bear careful examination if we’re seriously interested in this question of exterrestial penetration of the human world.”
“Everybody knows this who has to do with this stuff [psilocybin], Gordon Wasson, Richard Shulties, Albert Hofmann, the giants know that this stuff is animate. This is not a drug. It’s something that’s disguising itself as a drug in order not to spread alarm.”
“I think that the alien will be so alien that your jaw will hang in the air. And expecting to meet an anthropoid-like alien with an interest in your reproductive machinery and gross industrial capacity is as culture-bound a concept as searching NGC-321 for a good Italian restaurant. It’s absurd on the face of it.”
“All of human history is the signifier of the presence of the alien. Human history is what happens to an advance animal species when it is inner-penetrated on a scale of a million years by a mind in another dimension.”
“The flying saucer, the alien, the other is what is sculpting us out of animal organization as we move toward it in time. This is what shamanism is all about. This is what the psychedelic people are discovering as they descend into these trances.”
“A shaman, and a psychedelic person, and a UFO contactee, is someone who has seen the end. They simply didn’t know what they were looking at, because who knows what the end looks like.”
“The world is not what it appears to be.”
“Psychedelic drugs are as important to the study of UFOs as the telescope was to the re-defining of astronomy.”
“I think that the ‘real other’ need not be guarded by the frail efforts of a cults apologists.”
“Now you may have thought telepathy was you hearing somebody else think. Apparently, that’s not what telepathy is. Telepathy is you seeing what somebody else means. It’s the visual acquisition of meaning rather than the audio acquisition of meaning.”
“I think that we are on a collision course with a planet-transforming event, and that we have been for a very, very long time. I also believe that it lies below the horizon of rational apprehension at this point in time.”
“That’s where the frontier of this hyper-technical fantasy is headed, toward a revivification of knowledge systems that were ancient when the pyramids were not yet even a gleam in the eye.”
“I think we’re on the brink of a tremendous evolutionary adventure, and that it will involve physically re-designing ourselves.”
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Conference on Precession & Ancient Knowledge
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Comments from original blog page: http://www.matrixmasters.net/blogs/?p=302
sancho23
Holy shit, I can’t even comment on this one really. Sure I’ve heard a lot of McKennaTalk before, but he was on fire this time!
Just as a good talk from ol’ Bard TK does, it’s catalyzed an just-below-the-surface amount of material that I’ve had brewing for a bit. . .really, too much to comment on, and I probably won’t speak a word of it for a long time.
I haven’t done a serious psychedelic for a long time (5+ years) and it’s like I don’t need them so long as I get a good dose of this shit every once in a while!
Although, as Lorenzo will note from listening to Episode #2 of the Black Light in the Attic podcast(thanks for the plug Lorenzo!), I’ve had a synchronous experience regarding Lady Aya, and I do certainly feel that she is not far away. . .
Babaonebarryb
What a brilliant talk by the great Bard!
He really put those UFO people back on track! I hope they listened – He makes so much sense, and just doesn’t get old. A true timeless dude who will live forever.
One of the biggest dissapointments of my life is never getting to meet him to say thanks.
Thanks Lorenzo – Keep em coming
BabaOne UK
Birdwing
Thanks for another great episode Lorenzo!
I do love all this Synchronicity….Having just finished reading ‘True Hallucinations’ on the weekend it was good to here Terence talk about some of those ideas that I was still thinking about before listening in today…it is as though you have delivered the Bard from Hyperspace to expand on some of these thoughts for me…
Keep up the excellent work!!
LucidNovelty
Amazing talk and looking forward to that ‘to be salvaged’ tape that is mentioned at the start of this one.
waterlily
it’s good to hear you’re noticing synchronicities, Lorenzo. (one of the benefits of psychedelics?) the subject of UFOs is synchronous for me, too, as a crop circle appeared in a hay field near my home last month and that mysterious phenomenon has been occupying my thoughts. TM may have said it was very uncontact-like contact, and i know in the early 90’s he thought crop circles were a hoax. they’ve become a lot more intricate and complex since then, though. clearly a communication of some sort. don’t worry about getting out the podcasts “late”, Lorenzo, we won’t hold you to the calendar and the clock.
gemstar
This was an interesting podcast. There is a prelude (or postlude depending on your perspective) to this talk during the “In the Valley of Novelty” podcast series which ironically I just finished listening to this week.
I wanted to comment on Lorenzo mentioning Bit Torrent. There are a world of movies, mp3s, and e-books available in the Bit Torrent world. I will estimate over 30GBs worth of quality psychedelic material. I’ve learned just about as much through that resource as here in the Psychedelic Salon.
Thanks to Lorenzo and everyone else for contributing to our online community!
feedbackart
This talk is one of Terence’s finest, in my opinion. He mentions many of these points on many other occasions, however the audience really gives him some form of amplification. He addresses so quickly, a number of details like the density of a spore being roughly equivalent to a heavy metal, as to conduct some for of neurotransmission, as well as the 4 phosphorilated molecule of psilocybe being of extraterrestrial origin, his case gets made even before he starts taking about empirical evidence and personal experience. He makes many convincing arguments that what we have been experiencing is a form of CYMATIC communication: a geometric representation of organized thought which supercedes any form of words to commiserate one exzperience to another. Terence talks about how personal interraction with this “voice” (we are in a UniVERSE which is still being uttered) is the tool of psychotherapy, healing, understanding, divination, finding lost things/people and understanding the nature of reality one subject at a time. He states that a dialogue can be established as a tool for these previously stated purposes to foster a direction for the growth of our species that serves us as well as our planet rather than just us at the expense of our home. Bravo Terence, Great timing Lorenzo. Cheers!
h3r3n0w
Speaking of synchronicity, this talk was posted the week after what I think one of the most interesting developments on the UFO front that I can remember happened. While I try to refrain from drawing any definitive conclusions in this area, I was intrigued to hear an interview by astronaut Edgar Mitchell, who holds the current record for the longest ‘moon walk’ (insert MJ joke here), disclosing that due to his position within NASA he was briefed on the existence of extraterrestials and their ongoing contact with the governments of Earth! I’m posting the Youtube link here- take a listen and see what you think: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhNdxdveK7c
Mitchell suggests in the interview that the world governments are moving towards full disclosure of the interplanetary relationship (w/ France in the lead)- supposedly they’ve already de-classified several documents relating to UFOs this year. I haven’t looked into that yet.
Fun as it is to speculate about these possible theories in the external world (and if anyone has more info on the above I’d love to see it go up), McKenna’s talk drives home that the search for higher intelligence is an inner journey– the connection to something greater is immediate and always at hand.
I though McKenna’s suggestion that psylocybin may have extraterrestrial origins took the ‘stoned ape’ model to new levels for me- really brought in an interesting dimension.
Many thanks to Lorenzo.
Rupert Wunderlino
I wanted to write to Babaonebarryb and what he wrote as “One of his biggest dissapointments…” that of not having
met Terrence and saying thanks. As I sit here tonight and listen to this lecture, a real sorrow hits me, a real missing I haven’t felt in a while. Terrence was very close to my family and I had the privilege to spend much time with him and call him friend. Luckily, I made the trip up to the bay area during his last weeks and was able to spend my last afternoon with him. And though frail, exhausted and in a wheelchair (as I am), he continued to maintain a clarity and presence of mind and heart. A full awareness. He was with his closest friends at the end, and held in an atmosphere of such love, I hope when I make that great crossing I am as lucky.
But I started out to say some different things. I wanted to tell you that when you met him, you would be hanging out with a affable, easy-going fellow with all the best qualities of his Irish DNA. The depth of his vast, multi-operative intelligence was staggering, but he had a natural humility, a wild, mischievous sense of humor, you always felt comfortable around him, and he always was genuinely interested in what was going on with you and sharing his views on those interests. One of the many things that always blew my mind about Terrence was, that if he were talking about a certain subject, from ethnobotany to the Rennaissance, and he needed a word to explain something, he would always conjure the PERFECT word; in meaning, context, subject relevance. His mind was like a vast storehouse of astounding, multifarious information, all remembered and available upon instant recall. And that would be impressive enough, but for me, one of the really remarkable things about him was that after smoking a joint or two of super powerful “Terrence’s grass” (and close friends knew the dangers of more that a couple of small hits from one) he would explore conversations, delving into intricate and fascinating aspects and subjects, yet never lose the thread, never space out. He was a truly courageous psychonaut, and his legacy to all are the remarkably clear and concise reports he’s brought back from his explorations within the grand, interior landscape. He was gentle and kind. Giving and helpful. And he wanted to free the Mind of humankind and show us its potential and its mystery and its glory.
I hope by writing out just a few of my own feelings and recollections you might feel a little closer to him. With this writing comes the regret all too common with death. Had I known he wouldn’t be with us in body these last years, I would have spent more time with him.
Warm Regards,
LJCII
Lorenzo
Rupert … thank you so very much for that picture of Terence. You have helped to make us all feel a little bit closer to his spirit.
dervishmadwhirler
I wish to report a Ufo-experience of mine here, which occured about three to four weeks ago…
I was at home at night, (in amsterdam, where I live) at night, one night, sticking my head out of my window to smoke me a joint before sleep. Headphone on my head with psychedelic salon; Terence McKenna, I dont remember which talk. I used to still smoke marihuana every night before sleep. I wanted to lite the joint, when I suddenly got zapped ot whatever by an energy, that coursed from my head to my toes electrically, quite intense and unpleasant I must say. I was stunned and quite scared and the blood rushed thru my head like an idiot. I lit the joint, while the energy still coarsed thru me, giving me an erection harder than I ever have had and possibly WILL have, very unpleasantly, I must say. The feeling was one of extreme violent psychedelic effect and I felt as if I were going totally crazy and I remember thinking “oh my god if this will go on for any longer, I will lose my head, what should I do; who to call to help me, the people who would understand this are nowhere near and if I call my mum in the middle of the night she will have an heartattack. I was quite panicky in my mind, tho my outward appearance would have been one of total self-control and calmness. Me smoking a joint like normal; my sleep-well joint. Or my good-night joint, as I didnt smoke during the day anymore at that point.
Anyway, I was sitting there kinda resisting the feeling; you know it felt like having a cokehead near or at least it felt a bit like that but a thousand times stronger -I have to point out here that I am a shamanic healer or whatever you wih to call it; I am more-then-normally-empathic and have trans personal experiences on a moment to moment basis. That is why the people I massage and heal have such high esteem of me, not wishing to brag as it is quite unpleasant sometimes. But makes me a quite magical deejay of psytrance.-
As I sat there smoking the first few puffs and kinda very slowly at that, I somehow got the idea to look up and even THAT felt as if it was somehow suggested to me, tho also a part of my own will, I saw a light in the sky, against the lightening sky of pre-dawn, as if a powerful spotlight was directed at me, I also saw the outlines, a clear dark shape moving thru the air…the ‘spotlight’ was turning away from me or that was what it looked like, but the darndest thing was, as it was turned away from me fully, IT WAS GONE! I felt the feeling in me ebb away at the moment that the light was no longer pointed towards me. It had been three or four minutes at the most. I was shaken to the core and was shivering at the window, unable to move while violent shaking rattled my body against the floor and windowsill shaking the whole room and things in it. That lasted about an hour and was quite tiring.
I must admit, but maybe superfluously, that that aftternoon I had taken a minute amount of DMT, like ten little grains nasally. Just to try the new batch of perfectly shaped little crystals of very good quality.
But hey, I am used to lots of tripping and smoking DMT, but my impression was that I had never, even on quite high doses of LSD, never ever have had an experience that intense in my life, I have as yet not taken ayahuasca as I am very very sensitive and living in a part of amsterdam that has a very high concentration of cocaine- and alcohol-using students and such. You can imagine the vibe of that neigborhood. Most of the real friends I have are highly sensitive person and healers, and I related my experience to them and found that two of my friends have had a similar experience so I KNOW I did not imagine anything. I am forty and have the most balanced mind/life I have had people see having, I must say, people take comfort in me and my epiphanies, my level headedness.
Shortly after this experience, which I now realize, must have been more than a month ago, rather than three weeks, as I have been to Ibiza for ten days, in the meantime, and am back a week now. Shortly after this experience I was sitting in my room at night and got the same feeling again, only slightly weaker now. Raced to the window, but of course, nothing, as the sky was covered with clouds.
I stopped smoking cannabis, as I found in Ibiza that I rather enjoyed the feeling of strength and mental clarity that followed on these experiences; I am now weed-free for two weeks and a bit and havent had a craving anymore at all. I now see that the stuff, when taken on a daily basis seriously dampens consciousness and incites fear and docility. The coke heads around me, when I look them in the eyes, look down and that was also my experience in Eivissa town, a beautiful, but coke-ridden chaotic city on the Island Ibiza. Ibiza was an experience of grounding that I have never had in my life, it also was my first experience with travel by plane which I felt was terrible and, tho necessary, nauseating. If it is up to me I would move to a country like Ibiza, where the contact with Mother Earth is total and ecstaticcally strong.
Chemtrail-polluted Amsterdam is a part of what I would call Hell, and the ‘liberal drug laws’ are, one by one eroded and taken away. I am convinced now that city life as such is totally wrong and destroys any contact with Mother Earth, destroying our delicate and necessary connection with HER.
There, I finally had the wit to post this. I wanted to post this as a Topic in itself, but either I forgot how to do this, or the site has no longer the possibility to do this. I would appreciate it if you, Lorenzo, my friend, would either post this for me as a topic if you feel it is important, which, you can imagine, I feel it quite is.
UFO or outerdimensional contact? I cant say and not important in my opinion. Energyweapon directed at me by the suppressing government? Dont make me laugh!
Important to me is the epiphany that I am my own universe, and believing in the construct of MY self as being outside of myself and falling for the fear of my own projection, is a totally stupoid thing, If I am the all-pervading consciousness of this universe, as Psychedelics teach me, as experience teaches me, I can be totally fear free and accept the reality of my alonenness and eternal consciousness in everything and I can set myself free by allowing LOVE for everything in my projection and not to allow outside phenomena to have more importance than my own awareness in ME as being whole, eternal and in everything.
Not to have fear for any person outside me, not to have to place ANY person outside the ME I perceive above me, not to let ANY projection of me as outside of myself lose my Love for everything.
I am my universe and nothing in it is real except for me. Except as a reminder of the self I am and the self I can and will be. I can project a universe of Love and awareness, and if the coming change in 2012 is ANYTHING it is the full-blown awareness of the omnipotency of the Self I am and the self that manifests itself as the people and the world outside me and that I can, at any moment, project the universe as being perfect and full of Love. No more fears, no more silly wars, and no more insecurity. That is 2012 for me.
I love all of you as myself, and thanks for joining me in the experiment of conscious physical life.
Thanks to Lorenzo for allowing me to experience the teachings of the beautiful teachers on this site.
Although I have to comment negatively on the tendency lately of teachers to scientificallize (word dont exist but heck, who cares, y’know what I mean, you are me and I am you.)To scientificalize a truly spiritual realm of psychedelia. Stop trying to get governemnt approval for sacraments as medicine and stop beklieveing that mental illness exists. Shamans KNOW the truth. The spirits KNOW the truth. Governments, ANY form of governemnt that is not shamanic society, is a trick to entice people into giving away the power over their minds and souls to people quite unqualified to rule. Listen to the teachers in the spiritrealm and dont give me your science mumbo-jumbo. Are we a random phenomena that evolved thru convulsion and chaos? No forking way, José. We are the accumulation of interconnectedness thruout the universe, we are the symbol of the eternal LOVE of the Self. We are the manifestation of ourselves as the creator of this world of phenomena. Stop trying to be accepted and slavishly adapting to the self-created insecurity. You are the universe. Free, All-one, alone and unbroken. Pure consciousness in harmony. Seeing disharmony is creating it.
I am beginning to see the effect of my change and am having people reflect to me that they are astounded by the insights I have. Freaks them out sometimes.
Some people call me crazy, some people want to kill me for disproving their narrow view of themselves.
I dont mind, as it is just a reflection of my own insecurity which I am dropping.
Love you all and would like to personally meet all of you..however, I am a very poor man and know this is an idle hope; in the meantime I know we are connected thru everything and shall meet as one in the next try at making a new universe within consciousness and LOVE!
Peace.
Dervish, the Mad Whirler.
Mad prophet of the coming singularity.
(in memory of Terence Mc Kenna, forever my teacher and friend in madness)
Tofupekoni
Really good stuff on this talk abaut explaining the psychedelic experience to naive people. Allso it’s nice to hear Mr. McKenna so enthutiasticly speak about his mushroom/dmt trips.
Thanks McKenna and thanks Lorenzo!