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Terence McKenna: Communication via Fungi?
Posted by Mac Tonnies, Tuesday, April 29, 2008 at 09:00 AM by Mac Tonnies
The late psychedelic philosopher Terence McKenna isn't typically associated with the search for extraterrestrial intelligence; he mostly concerned himself with the actualization of intelligence here on Earth, taking a welcome cosmic perspective that revealed our species' failings and latent potential. But he introduced at least one new idea to the SETI controversy that deserves consideration, especially in light of recent discoveries.
McKenna suggested that the surreal hallucinatory states experienced by "trippers" might constitute a form of extraterrestrial contact, vastly more intimate than the radio signals anticipated by his mainstream counterparts.
Ludicrous? Perhaps not. Hallucinogenic mushrooms are dispersed as hardy spores capable of traveling incredible distances. McKenna wondered if such spores could have been deliberately wafted to Earth in the remote past, inviting the proposition that many planets conducive to life might have been likewise seeded.
Boldly venturing away from conventional evolutionary narratives, McKenna speculated that homo sapiens might owe its unique cognitive abilities to exposure to psilocybin, a mushroom-derived substance with pronounced neurochemical effects. In McKenna's scenario, the medium is the message: the bizarre worlds encountered by people under the influence of psilocybin are components of an "invisible landscape" with which we share a profound and unacknowledged symbiosis. (McKenna credited the advent of language, among other phenomena, to chemically altered states.)
That our brains harbor receptor sites to specific botanical chemicals indicates a relationship of some complexity, regardless whether the originating organisms are indigenous to Earth or hail from space. If our planet was indeed seeded with fungi, psychedelic experiences might comprise an authentic message, albeit one we have yet to decipher. (Alternatively, McKenna offered the fascinating possibility that hallucinogenic mushrooms themselves could be intelligent in an unrecognized sense, challenging our very definition of the word.)
Recent experiments demonstrate that spores are surprisingly well-suited to the rigors of the interstellar vacuum, vindicating at least a portion of McKenna's proposition. If he was right, then the "aliens" could have already arrived -- a revolutionary notion that pales only when one considers the role they may have played in the development of human consciousness.
Mac Tonnies
8 Comments:
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Posted by Billy Borthelert
May 05, 2008 at 12:59 AM
Yes...this is something I've felt.
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Posted by Lisa Falour
May 04, 2008 at 03:51 PM
Sounds plausible to me. I've often "felt" or intuited that this was the case.
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Posted by mandrake
May 01, 2008 at 01:27 PM
I'm a great fan of Terence McKenna and I think it should not be to difficult to prove weather his theory about mushroom spores is plausible. I took a course on astrobiology at university a few years back and I remember we were told bacterial spores can survive for over 8 million years beneath the surface of asteroids travelling through the universe. I recommend to everyone the following book 'Life in the Solar System and Beyond' by B.W. Jones which touches on this topic.
Now, clearly mushroom spores are different to bacterial spores and the same experiments that demonstrated that bacterial spores can survive space travel should be applied to mushroom spores.
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Posted by Nick
April 30, 2008 at 11:15 PM
Mushrooms have remarkable medical effects. They are now being researched as an anti depressant.
McKenna also mentioned their effect on sharpening of vision. His idea that they facilitated the 'hunting eye' of early man certainly sounds plausible.
The way McKenna tells his tale one is inclined to believe the mushroom as to its alien roots. Whether it is an alien voice or 'from the inside' is the same old tough question one bumps into when researching any paranormal circumstances.
Albert Hoffman was a personal hero of mine. His 'problem child' played a major part in the raising of my own consciousness and effectively changed my life by setting it on a mystical path. I can well understand his sorrow concerning some of the wilder lsd publicists causing the drug to be outlawed. However i also realise i would have missed out on it if it hadn't been made so popular. I shudder to think that i might have missed those earth shattering experiences.(lsd and mushrooms etc) My life would have been so much greyer and one dimensional as a result.
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Posted by Oris Bracken
April 30, 2008 at 07:18 PM
Also interesting is that Albert Hoffman first synthesized psilocybin. He took the pills to Maria Sabina, the famous Curandera, for verification. She indicated the pill produced the same effect as the Sacred Mushrooms.
People often forget Leary was first turned on by the shrooms, later LSD.
--OB
room322.com
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Posted by Robert
April 30, 2008 at 02:23 PM
I am dubious about the plausibility of Mr. McKenna's theory, but I can personally attest to the wonders of mushrooms, not as recreation, but as medicine. I have been "dosing" twice a year for several years to stave off recurrent bouts of cluster headaches and I am happy (not trippy) to report that they are for me - and many others - a wonder drug (medicine). It saddens me deeply that the powers that be have made it almost impossible for researchers in America to study the medicinal effects of mushrooms.
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Posted by Michael Garrett
April 30, 2008 at 03:39 AM
Interesting that your latest post arrives as Albert Hofmann, father of the mind-altering drug LSD, dies at 102.
There is, at least in my mind, no doubt that mind altering substances play and have played a role in our developing consciousness. One need only have grown up during the 1960's as I did in order to recognize that fact. The LSD effect, along with the magic mushroom and other substances influenced our art, music, writing, fashion, movies, etc. I believe they continue to do so even though in a much quieter manner than they did in the 60's and 70's.
Mckenna was an astronaut who set out to explore our inner spaces. What he found he attempted to communicate in order to educate. He is worthy of mention as a man deserving respect and for a serious examination of his contributions to the world of thought.
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Posted by 0uterj0in
April 29, 2008 at 06:23 PM
Upgrade patches.
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