“The message of psychedelics is that culture can be re-engineered as a set of emotional and spiritual values rather than products. This is terrifying news.”

Psychedelic Legacy

Yes, the anti-establishment voice who remained loud in his support of psychedelics throughout their wilderness years, even after the criminalisation of psychotropic drugs in 1978. Yes, the Berkeley graduate who travelled to the Amazon and thoroughly explored the Psilocybe cubensis, bringing the spores back to the US. And, indeed yes, the publisher, along with his brother Dennis, of the first comprehensive magic mushroom grower’s guide, ‘Psilocybin, Magic Mushroom Grower’s Guide: A Handbook for Psilocybin Enthusiasts’.  I mean we could go on… 

For a deep-dive into the fascinating life of McKenna, check out our Psychedelic Icons blog about the great man. But, today, it being Father’s Day or thereabouts, we have decided to pull up a proverbial chair to revisit some of McKenna’s theories and ideas. And he had a lot. 

Sadly, he passed away in 2000, but maybe today we can evoke his spirit by revisiting some of his groundbreaking, though sometimes pretty wacky, philosophies. From scientific theories, to spiritual philosophy, to mind opening quotes, there’s something for everyone. So get comfy! It’s time for some of Terence McKenna’s wisdoms as we explore his psychedelic legacy…

Stoned Ape Theory 

McKenna’s Stoned Ape Theory is one that comes up time and time again. It is disproved, reconsidered again, disproved, reconsidered, on and on ad nauseam. To summarise the theory itself; McKenna speculates that human evolution was vastly advanced by early humans ingesting magic mushrooms. In the same way as we experience them today, the shrooms opened the minds of the monkey-people, bringing with it new insights and the ability to think abstractly. McKenna even goes as far as to speculate that the beginning of language could have been caused by some kind of shroom induced synesthesia. He stated;  ‘Homo sapiens ate our way to a higher consciousness’. Though sometimes derided, it was recently brought back into public consideration by esteemed mycologist Paul Stamets. For the record, he digs it. For a full Stoned Ape rundown check out our blog ‘Everything You Need To Know About Stoned Ape Theory.’

Timewave Zero, Novelty Theory and 2012

McKenna formulated this pseudoscientific theory based on his exploration into the I Ching after his magic mushroom experiences in the 70s.  Novelty theory postulates that time is made up of an endless swing between ‘novelty’ and ‘habit’. ‘Novelty’ being significant changes, events, innovations and developments, and ‘habit’ being repetition and stagnation. When studying the King Wen sequence of hexagrams from the I Ching, McKenna noticed a pattern which he believed to be a code explaining the nature of time. From this he created a mathematical wave form. In 1987 in collaboration with P.J. Meyer created the Timewave Zero software aiming to track this theory and thus in some ways, predict the future. Using this software, and the calculation that ‘novelty’ (a world changing event) occurs every 67.29 years, McKenna calculated the ‘end of time’.

Choosing the dropping of the atom bomb on Hiroshima as the last world changing event, McKenna calculated the ‘end’ to be November 2012. On learning of the ancient Mayan prediction of the end of the world being in December 2012, McKenna adjusted his conclusion. As we know, this didn’t come to pass. And, many think McKenna wasn’t actually serious about his predicted apocalypse. There is however, a lot of interesting ideas to take from Novelty Theory as a whole. 

Machine Elves

McKenna was a fan of all psychedelics, and as well as magic mushrooms, had a special love for DMT (Dimethyltryptamine). A powerful hallucinogenic that occurs naturally. When tripping on DMT it is not unusual to feel a presence, or see entities or ‘beings’ (it is called the spirit molecule after all!) but McKenna was one of the first to publicly put words to the experience. In a recorded interview he elaborated; 

“I encounter self-transforming elf machines, which are creatures, entities perhaps, although they’re not made out of matter, they’re made out of, as nearly as I can figure it out, syntax-driving light.”

By ‘syntax’ McKenna meant language. He continued;

“They use a language which you see, It is made out of sound, it is sound, but you see it. And the entire point of the encounter, from their perspective, is to teach you to do this.”

Wow, so while we learn from McKenna, he learns from…. elves?

Archaic Revival

Archaic Revival postulates that humanity is trying to heal itself from ‘sickness’. Parallels can be drawn with a body producing antibodies to cure disease, McKenna suggests that society is beginning to return to archaic values and habits. According to McKenna, these include; drug use, sexual liberation, experimental dance/music (including rock’n’ roll and jazz), tattoos and piercings and surrealism, among others.

Psilocybin Panspermia Speculation

McKenna speculated that psilocybin shroomss are a highly intelligent alien life form. Having travelled through space as spores, they found themselves on Earth, and are now trying to live alongside humanity. He stated:

 “ I think in a hundred years if people do biology they will think it quite silly that people once thought that spores could not be blown from one star system to another”

The Quote King

While we would never reduce someone just to soundbites, my goodness does McKenna have some awesome ones. Here’s a tiny selection of his pearls of wisdom:

“You are a divine being. You matter, you count. You come from realms of unimaginable power and light, and you will return to those realms.”

“Nature loves courage. You make the commitment and nature will respond to that commitment by removing impossible obstacles. Dream the impossible dream and the world will not grind you under, it will lift you up. This is the trick. This is what all these teachers and philosophers who really counted, who really touched the alchemical gold, this is what they understood. This is the shamanic dance in the waterfall. This is how magic is done.“

 “Psychedelics are illegal not because a loving government is concerned that you may jump out of a third story window. Psychedelics are illegal because they dissolve opinion structures and culturally laid down models of behaviour and information processing. They open you up to the possibility that everything you know is wrong.”By hurling yourself into the abyss and discovering its a feather bed.”

“The imagination is the goal of history. I see culture as an effort to literally realize our collective dreams.”

“Nature is not our enemy, to be raped and conquered. Nature is ourselves, to be cherished and explored.”

“The problem is not to find the answer, it’s to face the answer.”

Mind….blown….

Last But Not Least

Maybe McKenna’s most namechecked contribution to the psychedelic cannon, apart from the cultivation of shrooms themselves, is the concept of the ‘Heroic Dose’. Though existing in different forms for cultures with a history of psychedelic ritual, McKenna brought the idea of taking a ‘heroic’ (i.e BIG) dose of shrooms, and settling down for a 6-8 hour trip in total silence and darkness, to a modern audience. The aim is for total spiritual space travel, ego death, and something rather resembling enlightenment. 

Although we do not advise this unless you’re a real experienced psychonaut, those who have experienced this positively would surely give thanks to McKenna. 

And thanks to you for joining us for this exploration into the legacy of Terence McKenna and all his (sometimes wacky) wisdom. Why not mull over some of his theories with a dose of fresh magic truffles?

Happy Father’s Day!