Podcast 254 – “Psilocybin and the Sands of Time”

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Guest speaker: Terence McKenna

PROGRAM NOTES:

[NOTE: All quotations are by Terence McKenna.]

“I still don’t believe that people who deal with consciousness realize how mutable consciousness really is.”

“The evolution of the human species is the evolution of the human mind. These consciousness-expanding agents actually anticipate an end state in the evolution of the human mind. And so they cast enormous reflections back over the historical landscape. It is they which generate religions, and physics, and messianic careers, and outbreaks of great psychic accomplishment and disgrace.”

“The immediate future of man lies in the imagination and in seeking the dimension where the imagination can be expressed.”

“It is slowly becoming understood that the modality of being is the modality of mind.”

“It is not easy to make a career out of taking a psychedelic drug. It is not a thing which mixes well with the politics of any institution.”

“I think [taking psychedelic drugs] is very dangerous. I do not tell people that it’s safe because I don’t have the faith that it’s safe. I know what the pharmacological literature says, and it says that it’s safe. That at the doses where these effects occur there can’t possibly be a problem, but this seems to me to be the naivete of materialists, and we shouldn’t be in a hurry to believe them even though it might make us more comfortable to do so. In other words, it’s saying the drug may not be toxic, but you may be self-toxic, and you may discover this in the drug experience.”

“I think it’s fine to take drugs for pleasure, but it should be labeled as taking drugs for pleasure. And the high doses of psilocybin that are necessary to elicit entry into these places it requires, as it says in Hamlet, ‘You must screw your courage to the sticking place.'”

“I think that the work we do with these drugs we are the earliest pioneers in what over the next hundred years will lead to an understanding of consciousness almost as a thing apart from the monkey body and brain. We are consciousness. We may not always be monkeys.”

“There can be no turning back. We are either going to change in to this cybernetic, hyper dimensional, hallucinogenic angel, or we are going to destroy ourselves. The opportunities for us to be happy hunters and gathers integrated into the balance of nature, that fell away 15,000 years ago and cannot be recaptured.”

“The entirety of human history has been the story of the monkey becoming the flying saucer. . . . And we, for some strange reason, happen to be living through the final moments of that process right now, and it is a turbulent, chaotic, multidimensional metamorphosis.”

“Evil is anything which trivializes a mystery.”

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Posted in Consciousness, Culture, Eschaton, Evolution, Future, Psilocybin, Psychedelics, Terence McKenna (mp3).

17 Comments

  1. “the only sensible thing for us to do is dance”

    Truer words I have never heard spoken. Thanks Lorenzo!

    -Namaste

  2. http://theairtightgarage.tumblr.com/
    excellent blog of works by Jean Giraud, the french aka Moebius.
    the blog is called ‘Quenched Consciousness’, Moebius preferred term for altered states. didn’t know that til he posted this youtube of Moebius speaking of his psilocybin experience.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=501zclIUQBQ&feature=player_embedded
    http://theairtightgarage.tumblr.com/post/3586230480/this-interview-is-where-the-term-quenched

    for those unfamiliar with his art, check out this QC post on Moebius’s french exhibit, Trans-Forme:
    http://theairtightgarage.tumblr.com/post/3165259580/if-you-are-in-paris-give-yourself-the-tremendous

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  4. Wow that was definitely one of McKennas best talks. And the fact that he was talking about all this stuff 28 years ago before I was born boggles my mind. Keep up the great work Lorenzo!

    [WORDPRESS HASHCASH] The poster sent us ‘0 which is not a hashcash value.

  5. Lorenzo,
    I have been listening to the salon for about a year now and really appreciate all your hard work. There have been plenty of times that your commentaries have meant more to me than the podcast itself, thank you. And you’re right that with all the far out stuff that we hear and think about, what I call mind-candy and McKenna being a favorite flavor, NEVER forget the things right in front of you. Your children, family, community, water/pillow-fights, refrigerator full of crude drawings, nature etc…

    Keep on laughing my friend and feel free to take as many breaks as you or your loved ones need, WE got your back and support you!

  6. Hey all, I got the book Psilocybin Magic Mushroom Grower’s Guide and I was able to accuately grow my very own magic mushrooms with some spores that I acquired from a friend, thank you nexus112. great book by the way

  7. Lorenzo, I just want to say thanks so much for the Psychedelic Salon (and Mr Damer too 😉 ) It has quite literally blown my mind over the past year and a bit that I’ve had the pleasure of listening to it, and as Max Freakout used to be so fond of saying “There’s no turning back now!”.

    I sincerely hope that there are more Salon’s in store (whatever form they may take and whenever they emerge) and that your move goes as smoothly as possible.

    Best wishes for the new calendrical cycle,
    Byron T.

  8. bummer you have to move and all that hassle,and bummer for us that we have a major wait until the next podcast!! oh well, hope it goes well for you and looking forward to more great podcasts in the future!

  9. Hey Lorenzo, thanks so much for mentioning me in the intro, you have no idea how much it blew my mind to hear that.

    I wish everyone a beautiful, novelty filled 2011.

    Peace.

  10. You can find those links in the column to the right under the heading BLOGROLL. The first one is to the Cannabis Podcast Network, which hosts the Dopefiend, BB’s Bungalow, Lefty’s Lounge and several others. Also listed there is KMO’s C-Realm Podcast. I’ll try to remember to add some others next year.

  11. Lorenzo,
    hiatus or not, glad to see yet another edition…

    in this podcast you mentioned a few other psychedelic bloggers. their names are unfamiliar to me. might you drop their urls for us here please?

    thank you…

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