Terence McKenna

Terence McKenna & psychedelic drug culture

Image: http://www.mycuriousbrain.com/

In the annals of psychedelic research and culture, a few figures reign supreme: Aldous Huxley, Albert Hoffman, Ram Dass, Timothy Leary and Terence McKenna. Of those five, Huxley and McKenna are the most critical to the understanding of hallucinogens. Leary was very often irresponsible and megalomaniacal in his hallucinogenic proselytizing, whereas Ram Dass, who was no less controversial, decamped to create a synthesis of Eastern and Western religious beatitude. This left Huxley’s early experiments with and writings on hallucinogenic drugs, as well as McKenna’s wide-ranging studies in ethnobotany and shamanism, to form the intellectual foundations of psychedelic drug culture.

Indeed, McKenna was introduced to his lifelong intellectual pursuit by way of Huxley’s books “The Doors of Perception” and “Heaven & Hell,” which were vital texts for the ’60s counter-culture and beyond. However, it wasn’t hallucinogenic drugs that initially attracted McKenna, but the study of shamanism and folk religions while at the University of California-Berkeley.

As detailed in the book “True Hallucinations: Being an Account of the Author’s Extraordinary Adventures in the Devil’s Paradise,” co-written with his brother Dennis, McKenna traveled to Nepal spurred by his interest in “Tibetan art and hallucinogenic shamanism.” After some time in Tokyo and a return to Berkeley, McKenna, along with his brother (who was pursuing a PhD in plant biochemistry at the time) and three friends, soon found themselves in the Amazon basin of Colombia in search of oo-koo-hé, a plant preparation of Dimethyltryptamine (DMT), which has more recently been the subject of the curiosity of Daniel Pinchbeck, as well as Gaspar Noe in the film “Enter the Void.” It was on this trip that McKenna’s preoccupation with hallucinogens, especially  the psychedelic mushroom Psilocybe cubensis, begins.

McKenna’s early experiments with DMT, psilocybin, LSD and other hallucinogens, led to the creation of his Novelty Theory and the book “The Invisible Landscape: Mind, Hallucinogens, and the I Ching,” co-written with brother Dennis. McKenna’s Novelty Theory states that nature preserves novelty, or complexity, as witnessed by a universal timeline that begins with relatively simpler atomic and sub-atomic arrangements hurdling through time and space into more and more complex forms (elements, micro-organisms, plants, human beings, etc.).

It really wasn’t until the early ’90s, however, when McKenna published two books, “Food of the Gods” and “The Archaic Revival,” that he reached his full potential with respect to psychedelic cultural, ethnobotany and the evolution of the human mind. “The Archaic Revival” is more a collage of ideas triggered by McKenna’s hallucinogenic experiences, with digressions into subjects such as virtual reality, UFOs and mysticism. Interesting and thought-provoking, it is not as focused as “Food of the Gods,” which shapes McKenna’s accumulated knowledge and experience, as the subtitle states, into “a radical history of plants, drugs, and human evolution.”

In “Food of the Gods: The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge,” McKenna writes, “[M]ost of us are unaware of the effects of plants on ourselves and our reality, partly because we have forgotten that plants have always mediated the human cultural relationship to the world at large.” In other words, plants, whether it be for food or a hallucino-shamanic experience, have filtered our reality in much the same way as language.

It is in this book that McKenna proposes what has become known as the “Stoned Ape Theory”; that is, the idea that our primate ancestors munched on magic mushrooms, which in turn triggered our ability to process information, think creatively, and construct languages and other forms of communication.

McKenna suggests that “the real missing link” is psilocybin:

My contention is that the mutation-causing, psychoactive chemical compounds in the early human diet directly influenced the rapid reorganization of the brain’s information-processing capacities. Alkaloids in plants, specifically the hallucinogenic compounds such as psilocybin, dimethyltryptamine (DMT), and harmaline, could be the chemical factors in the protohuman diet that catalyzed the emergence of human self-reflection. The action of hallucinogens present in many common plants enhanced our information-processing activity, or environmental sensitivity, and thus contributed to the sudden expansion of the human brain size. At a later stage in this same process, hallucinogens acted as catalysts in the development of imagination, fueling the creation of internal stratagems and hopes that may well have synergized the emergence of language and religion.

Shamanism is McKenna’s evidence for hallucinogens’ role in religion, while its influence on the development of the mind is conjecture,; though he does invoke scientific studies as evidence, such as Roland Fischer’s experiment in which psilocybin was administered to graduate students, and their ability to “detect the moment when previously parallel lines became skewed” measured. Fischer found that after small dose of psilocybin subjects were better able to detect that moment.

What’s really interesting about McKenna’s thoughts on mushrooms and humanity, as detailed in “Food of the Gods,” is that the ingestion of psilocybin is probably as old as pastoralism (the raising of livestock) and perhaps older. McKenna seemed to relish the fact that psilocybin grows readily in fields fertilized with cow poop, especially the varieties Psilocybe semilanceata (the most common and potent mushroom) and Psilocybe fimetaria. McKenna postulates that humans tending cattle, for instance, would have noticed the mushrooms growing in livestock fields and experimented with it first as a food source, then as a means of triggering an altered state.

One point to consider is that if pastoralism—which is the product of human evolution and can be dated to 10200 BCE by scientists—is the point at which ingestion of mushroom use became a human trait, it would seem to contradict McKenna’s theory that psilocybin helped trigger human information processing, creativity, etc., in the first place. McKenna, however, doesn’t believe that humans started tripping simultaneous to pastoralism (which he believes began around 100,000 years ago), but have instead been doing so for a least a million years.

In this brief Terence McKenna primer, one can see that he wasn’t particularly interested in the popular effects of hallucinogens as typified by the 1960s counterculture (psychedelic art, funny dances, glossolalia, etc.), but in their scientific implications, vis-à-vis the evolution of human brain mass, consciousness, creativity, etc.

As Duncan Trussell’s Comedy Central Pilot “Thunderbrain” so hilariously and brilliantly demonstrates, however, if we accept McKenna’s theory that mushrooms and other hallucinogens ultimately gave rise to the greatest achievements of human intelligence, we also have to reckon with the reality that they also helped give us government, reality TV, the free market and capitalist delusions, skanks, dicks, greed, self-destruction, bad novels, hack filmmakers, Ayn Rand, Brett Ratner, the Abrahamic religions (Christianity, Judaism and Islam), conquest, environmental destruction, the Catholic Church, the “be fruitful and multiply” insanity, torture, depression, simulated reality, advertising, agribusiness (Monsanto), ADD, and the fact that any idiot with a computer can become an instant internet celebrity without adding any value at all to humanity and the ecosystem in which we are embedded.

McKenna, naturally, argues that the foregoing is largely the byproduct of humanity forgetting the knowledge and the beauty of psilocybin—a point-of-view that I share. Indeed, McKenna said it best:

[W]hen, after long centuries of slow forgetting, migration, and climatic change, the knowledge of the mystery was finally lost, we in our anguish traded partnership for dominance, traded harmony with nature for rape of nature, traded poetry for the sophistry of science. In short, we traded our birthright as partners in the drama of the living mind of the planet for the broken shards of history, warfare, neurosis, and—if we do not quickly awaken to our predicament—planetary catastrophe.

Source: http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/

The Indigo Child

The indigo child is here to bring us closer to our true essence. We think our minds are separate because of our bodies. These children know differently. A true indigo travels comfortably between worlds usually at night when we think they're asleep.
Our thoughts and feelings are not our own. The truth is, we have forgotten who we are and how our minds are connected to each other. indigo children remember and have an inner knowing that far exceeds our psychic abilities.
Having said this. Not all children born since about 1980 are indigos. Many brought major challenges from previous lifetimes they're still working through. But, once the lessons are learned and the patterns forgiven, they will join the ranks of the cosmic caring indigo.
"The intricate inner workings of our DNA are changing...Brain-wave relationships are spontaneously moving into higher vibrational patterning as the electromagnetic fields within our DNA. Because of this, our brains are working together as cohesive units of consciousness. That means humanity is becoming more aware and moving toward becoming sentient beings – aware of everything all at once all of the time.” Conversations with the Children of Now, Meg Blackburn Losey

So what happened to cause us to lose touch with our inner knowing?

Put simply, we began to "think" instead of "feel," thousands of years ago. Our ability to tap into the collective consciousness is still within us. We’ve just forgotten how to use it. The ego became our ruler holding us back by relying on memories to make our decisions. With past as our guide, we gave our power to the ego, which made us fearful. The intellect caused us to lose our connection to the collective consciousness, making us feel alone.
Some adults have been able to gain at least a part of this former knowing. They in turn are giving birth to children who remember how the collective consciousness works and they are using it. The indigo offspring is there descendant.
"The conclusion of our book was that today’s children are different – more challenging, more intelligent, more confrontational, more intuitive, more spiritual, and in some cases even more violent – from any generation we have yet seen. This calls for a new and different way of parenting and schooling – outside of the old ways." The Care and Feeding of Your Indigo Children, Doreen Virtue

Where did the term “Indigo Child” come from?

Nancy Ann Tappe, a teacher and counselor, studied the human auric field, otherwise known as their electromagnetic field. The field surrounds every living thing. She even wrote a book about it called "Understanding Your Life Through Color."
Through colors in the aura, she instituted a shockingly accurate and revealing way to psychologically profile a person using her new auric color method. The signs of an indigo child actually began even as early as in the 1950s with a few people. What she noticed was that 80 percent of the children born after 1980 had a new deep blue colored auric field. She called this new color "indigo".

What are the behavioral patterns of Indigos?

1. They are born feeling and knowing they are special and should be revered.
2. An indigo knows they belong here as they are and expect you to realize it as well.
3. These children are more confident and have a higher sense of self-worth.
4. Absolute authority, the kind with no choices, negotiation, or input from them does not sit well. The educational system is a good example.
5. Some of the rules we so carefully followed as children seem silly to them and they fight them.
6. Rigid ritualistic systems are considered archaic to an indigo child. They feel everything should be given creative thought.
7. They are insightful and often have a better idea of method then what has been in place for years. This makes them seem like "system busters."
8. Adults often view an indigo as anti-social unless they are with other indigos. Often they feel lost and misunderstood, which causes them to go within.
9. The old control methods like, "Wait till your father gets home," have no affect on these children.
10. The fulfillment of their personal needs is important to them, and they will let you know.

Are you or your children an indigo?

These are the characteristics of an indigo as stated in The Care and Feeding of Your Indigo Child:

• Strong willed
• Born in 1978 or later
• Headstrong
• Creative, with an artistic flair for music, jewelry making, poetry, etc.
• Prone to addictions
• An "old soul" as if they’re 13 going on 43
• Intuitive or psychic, possibly with a history of seeing angels or deceased people
• An isolationist, either through aggressive acting-out, or through fragile introversion
• Independent and proud, even if they’re constantly asking you for money
• Possess a deep desire to help the world in a big way
• Wavers between low self-esteem and grandiosity
• Bores easily
• Has probably been diagnosed as having ADD or ADHD
• Prone to insomnia, restless sleep, nightmares, or difficulty/fear of falling asleep
• Has a history of depression, or even suicidal thoughts or attempts
• Looks for real, deep, and lasting friendships
• Easily bonds with plants or animals.

If you possess 14 or more of these traits you are an indigo. If 11 to 13, you’re probably an indigo in training. If you’re an adult with these traits you could be a "light-worker".

So what would an ideal Indigo's world look like?

Indigos have a job to do on this planet, and they WILL do it. It’s their job to help eliminate the values of the world age that just passed in 2012, and replace them with the values of the new world age. They take their job very seriously, even if they are not aware of it. They are preparing the world for the new values of "love, brotherhood, unity and integrity." Indigo prophecies talk about how these special children are the forerunners to dramatically changing the word for the next Great Cycle change in the area of 2012. Forgiveness towards others is a key element to help heal the earth. An indigo’s world would be:

1. Free from all harsh chemicals.
2. Food would be organically grown, locally grown, fresh with minimal processing and refining.
3. Education would be for all and children would have a much greater say in their educational future and curriculum.
4. Family would mean whom you are with at that time, and be inclusive to a greater circle of people.
5. Our political system would be truly for the greater good of all, much more democratic, even socialist.
6. All countries and all people would work together to better the lives on the entire planet.
7. Nature and her needs would come first including clean air and soil.
8. Children would be treated with respect and consulted on any decisions that would affect them.
9. All people would be equal no matter what their race, color, sex, or creed.

Source: http://www.2012-spiritual-growth-prophecies.com/

Hallucinogenic Shamanism.

Hallucinogenic drugs and plants in psychotherapy and shamanism.

Western psychotherapy and indigenous shamanic healing systems have both used psychoactive drugs or plants for healing and obtaining knowledge (called "diagnosis" or "divination" respectively). While there are superficial similarities between psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy and shamanic healing with hallucinogenic plants, there are profound differences in the underlying worldview and conceptions of reality. Four paradigms are reviewed:
(1) psychedelic psychotherapy within the standard Western paradigm--here the drug is used to amplify and intensify the processes of internal self-analysis and self-understanding;
(2) shamanic rituals of healing and divination, which involve primarily the shaman or healer taking the medicine in order to be able to "see" the causes of illness and know what kind of remedy to apply;
(3) syncretic folk religious ceremonies, in which the focus seems to be a kind of community bonding and celebratory worship; and
(4) the "hybrid shamanic therapeutic rituals," which incorporate some features of the first two traditions. There are two points in which the worldview of the shamanic and hybrid shamanic ceremonies differs radically from the accepted Western worldview:
(1) the belief and assumption (really, perception) that there are multiple realities ("worlds") that can be explored in expanded states of consciousness; and
(2) the belief that "spirits," the beings one encounters in dreams and visions, are just as real as the physical organism.

Source: California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco, USA. rmetzner@svn.net
Image: http://fractalenlightenment.com

Trancing in Religion

Trancing is activity that results in an altered state of consciousness in which an individual is in a hypnotic-like mental state or at least profoundly absorbed.  This is a common technique used by shamans all over the world to enter the spirit world.  When they go into a trance, they commonly report that they are taking a journey in which they must pass through difficult situations in order to reach their own spirit helpers.  Those friendly spirits then aid the shaman in curing an illness, bewitching someone, or in some other supernatural way.
Around the world, shamans and mystics use a variety of methods to achieve a trance state.  These include:

1.	fasting
2.	self-torture (flagellation)
3.	sensory deprivation (prolonged isolation from normal human contact)
4.	breathing exercises and meditation
5.	prolonged, repetitive, ritual dancing and/or drumming (this can alter brain wave patterns)
6.	hallucinogenic drugs

Early 20th century Crow Indian on the Great Plains of North America using self-torture in order to receive a vision from the supernatural world.  Skewers of bone are inserted through the chest skin and tied with leather thongs to a "sun pole."   He will dance around it until the skewers tear free.

Turkish Dervishes using prolonged, repetitive, ritual dancing to enter an altered state of awareness. Accompanied by music, they slowly dance around in a large circle while constantly spinning.  The Dervishes are a mystic Sufi sect of Islam.

The shamanistic use of hallucinogenic drugs has been widespread, especially in the Americas.  Their use has been particularly common in small-scale, egalitarian societies.  When such drugs are available, they are usually considered to be the easiest and the fastest method of contacting the supernatural.  Hallucinogenic drugs derived from plants are the most common sources.  Some of these drugs can quickly bring on visions of an overwhelming nature in addition to causing strong physical reactions.  The use of hallucinogens traditionally was not limited to shamans in Siberia, the Amazon Basin of South America, and Europe until the late Middle Ages.  In these regions, an experienced shaman usually functioned as a facilitator and guide for a group of people taking these drugs in an attempt to contact or enter the supernatural world.

Source : http://anthro.palomar.edu