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The Archaic Revival
Cited by the L.A. Weekly as "the culture's foremost spokesman for the psychedelic experience," Terrence McKenna is an underground legend as a brilliant raconteur, adventurer & expert on the experiential use of mind-altering plants. In these essays, interviews & narrative adventures, McKenna takes us on a mesmerizing journey deep into the Amazon as well as into the hidden recesses of the human psyche & the outer limits of our culture, giving us startling visions of the past & future.
288 pages, Paperback
First published May 8, 1992
About the author
Terence McKenna
68 books2,147 followersTerence Kemp McKenna was a writer, philosopher, psychonaut and ethnobotanist. He was noted for his knowledge of the use of psychedelic, plant-based entheogens, and subjects ranging from shamanism, the theoretical origins of human consciousness, and his concept of novelty theory.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 113 reviews
August 9, 2007
You're probably not ready for this.
January 4, 2011
Zero stars for rationality + 4 for audacity = 4 stars
March 18, 2015
Terence McKenna is one of the most interesting and entertaining speakers one can listen to. I strongly recommend listening to some of his public lectures and interviews about topics as diverse as James Joyce, psychedelics, Mayan calendrics, modern cosmology, ethnobotany, cybertechnology, the mass media et cetera. He is witty, charming and sometimes acutely creative. He is probably very, very stoned.
As a writer, McKenna does not shine as brightly. His best book may be Food of the Gods, but this collection gives the reader an idea of the range of his interests and speculations.
As a writer, McKenna does not shine as brightly. His best book may be Food of the Gods, but this collection gives the reader an idea of the range of his interests and speculations.
March 20, 2010
I had to keep my eyes from rolling into the back of my head with this one. It's an interesting read, enjoyable, and also ridiculous. McKenna poses ways of looking at natural psychedelic experiences (psilocybin mushrooms and DMT, not LSD) as gateways into other realities and parallel universes. Oh, and he believes the psychedelics were put on planet earth by aliens so we could ingest them and listen to the aliens' instructions to guide our culture as a whole.
McKenna wants society to get to the point where small portions of the population are taking psychedelics and communicating with each other and aliens in this alternate/parallel universe to make decisions for the entire population. While reading this I kept picturing the dorm room poster of the alien with the joint in his hand saying, TAKE ME TO YOUR DEALER, but like IN REVERSE, MANNNN. Terence McKenna is incredibly intelligent and he's serious about all this stuff and to me that's pretty admirable. Reading McKenna makes me want to get into a sensory deprivation tank.
McKenna wants society to get to the point where small portions of the population are taking psychedelics and communicating with each other and aliens in this alternate/parallel universe to make decisions for the entire population. While reading this I kept picturing the dorm room poster of the alien with the joint in his hand saying, TAKE ME TO YOUR DEALER, but like IN REVERSE, MANNNN. Terence McKenna is incredibly intelligent and he's serious about all this stuff and to me that's pretty admirable. Reading McKenna makes me want to get into a sensory deprivation tank.
May 7, 2015
This book was important in my personal development. It lifted me out of my 'intellectual Kansas' so to speak, haha!
Here we have a collection of essays dealing with a wide range of topics all connected by the unifying theme; psychedelia.
Reading McKenna's prose is a psychedelic experience in itself! The guy expresses himself in a rich and beautiful way. His ideas are dense and rich, weaving Jungian archetypes, eschatology, process philosophy and Platonic forms together in a dizzying, but at the same time excillerating manner.
It seems to me, that many people miss the point about McKenna, believing he literally speaks of alien communication and the apocalypse. It is a result of his usage of language, which is filled with symbols and metaphors. I read the book a number of times in a row, taking my time with every other sentence trying to grasp its meaning. That is how McKenna should be read.
This book opened up my mind and made me consider everything in new ways. I do not necessarily agree with all of McKenna's views, but his work is deeply inspiring and remain an influence on me.
Here we have a collection of essays dealing with a wide range of topics all connected by the unifying theme; psychedelia.
Reading McKenna's prose is a psychedelic experience in itself! The guy expresses himself in a rich and beautiful way. His ideas are dense and rich, weaving Jungian archetypes, eschatology, process philosophy and Platonic forms together in a dizzying, but at the same time excillerating manner.
It seems to me, that many people miss the point about McKenna, believing he literally speaks of alien communication and the apocalypse. It is a result of his usage of language, which is filled with symbols and metaphors. I read the book a number of times in a row, taking my time with every other sentence trying to grasp its meaning. That is how McKenna should be read.
This book opened up my mind and made me consider everything in new ways. I do not necessarily agree with all of McKenna's views, but his work is deeply inspiring and remain an influence on me.
May 26, 2014
Having read "food of the gods" and unfortunately found it fairly boring and dull i wasn't sure that this book would offer anything of interest to me. Thankfully my expectations were surpassed, this is truly a fascinating read.
The majority of the book derives from interviews which for me was fantastic (i feel he is at his best when talking). Despite the fact in the past i haven't enjoyed his writing, the essays allowed him to further expand on many topics introduced in the interviews and i am now contemplating going back and reading "food of the gods" as wells as his other 2 books. "The archaic revival" flows incredibly fluently and repeats some ideas just enough that you obtain a transparent picture of what he is getting at.
Wether scouring the amazon for potent Ayahuasca, analysing unreadable manuscripts, connecting himself to virtual realities or just compacting Tryptamine space into a "linguistic vessel" Mckenna's eccentric perspective will have you enthralled. I cannot recommend this enough for anybody attempting to make sense of the absurdity we inherit as humans. Really any person who wishes to examine ideas outside of the status quo.
I have absolutely no clue if he is right or wrong, but he demonstrates that there certainly are other options then the culturally accepted theories, That you CAN develop thoughts which are unthinkable by many.
"i think theres a shamanic temperament that is characterised by a craving for knowledge-knowledge in the greek sense of gnosis. In other words, knowledge not of the sort where one subscribes to scientific american and it validates what you believe, but cosmologies constructed out of immediate experience that are always applicable. You see, I don't believe the world is made up of quarks or electromagnetic waves or stars of planets, or any of these things. I believe the world is made up of language and that this primary fact has been overlooked" Pg 161
"our destiny is to become what we think, to have our thoughts become our bodies and our bodies become our thoughts. This is the essence of a more perfect logos, a logos not heard but beheld" Pg 232
{{ i would like to add if you disregard the possibility of psychedelics offering entrance into other realities and view this idea as far to ridiculous to be true (i.e. somebody who has likely not had a convincing psychedelic voyage). Unless you can put your preconceptions behind you, i would urge you to stay away or at least start with some different psychedelic literature (breaking open the head by Daniel Pinchbeck would be my suggestion as a introduction).}}
The majority of the book derives from interviews which for me was fantastic (i feel he is at his best when talking). Despite the fact in the past i haven't enjoyed his writing, the essays allowed him to further expand on many topics introduced in the interviews and i am now contemplating going back and reading "food of the gods" as wells as his other 2 books. "The archaic revival" flows incredibly fluently and repeats some ideas just enough that you obtain a transparent picture of what he is getting at.
Wether scouring the amazon for potent Ayahuasca, analysing unreadable manuscripts, connecting himself to virtual realities or just compacting Tryptamine space into a "linguistic vessel" Mckenna's eccentric perspective will have you enthralled. I cannot recommend this enough for anybody attempting to make sense of the absurdity we inherit as humans. Really any person who wishes to examine ideas outside of the status quo.
I have absolutely no clue if he is right or wrong, but he demonstrates that there certainly are other options then the culturally accepted theories, That you CAN develop thoughts which are unthinkable by many.
"i think theres a shamanic temperament that is characterised by a craving for knowledge-knowledge in the greek sense of gnosis. In other words, knowledge not of the sort where one subscribes to scientific american and it validates what you believe, but cosmologies constructed out of immediate experience that are always applicable. You see, I don't believe the world is made up of quarks or electromagnetic waves or stars of planets, or any of these things. I believe the world is made up of language and that this primary fact has been overlooked" Pg 161
"our destiny is to become what we think, to have our thoughts become our bodies and our bodies become our thoughts. This is the essence of a more perfect logos, a logos not heard but beheld" Pg 232
{{ i would like to add if you disregard the possibility of psychedelics offering entrance into other realities and view this idea as far to ridiculous to be true (i.e. somebody who has likely not had a convincing psychedelic voyage). Unless you can put your preconceptions behind you, i would urge you to stay away or at least start with some different psychedelic literature (breaking open the head by Daniel Pinchbeck would be my suggestion as a introduction).}}
June 10, 2013
As far as Terrence McKenna books go, this one is actually the easiest to read. His writing can be dense, but also filled with beautiful metaphors. I find it fascinating that someone who talked so much about "destroying the ego" through hallucinogens, also believed that all the "messages" he received while taking "heroic trips" were true for every single person on the planet. Instead of paying attention to what he was bringing personally to his trips, he chose to remain OUTSIDE of himself to interpret them. Ironically, he believed that if you closed your eyes while tripping, the message would be "pure" and "devoid of outside distractions" but he completely ignores his own inner psyche - including his own psychological baggage and YES, HIS EGO. So in the end, it was difficult to wade through all his theories to get to the beauty. It's there - he has some real gems of thought and vision, but they are completely mired in fundamentalist demands that all people need to take hallucinations on a regular basis. I do wish that he had lived to see 2012, since he was so obsessed with what the world would be like on that "fateful Mayan deadline." I have tried many times to connect with Terence McKenna, but it looks like I'll be sticking to my favorite authors Tom Robbins and Rob Brezsny for the metaphoric gems and chaotic beauty I crave.
December 3, 2021
I find a lot of his ideas interesting, but I thought that some of his predictions on technology advancements were a little dated and/or too optimistic. Fun read.
September 23, 2020
Terence McKenna is one of my alltime favourite people. I hold him in very high esteem. An unbelievably intelligent, deep, complex, unique, insightful, sagacious individual. He was talking about stuff back in the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s that we’re only just starting to get-to-grips-with today: A.I, The Singularity, DMT, ayahuasca, quantum physics and so on and so forth. He is a luminary, a genius who was many lightyears ahead of his time.
A true polymath, he was a jack-of-many-trades and a disciple of manifold studies: Lepidopterist/urban shaman/psychonaut/botanist/entheogenist/mycologist/technoenthusiast/psychologist/writer/poet/artist/teacher/orator/traveller/anthropologist/environmentalist/chemist/hippy/raver/sesquipedalian/linguist/soothsayer/pioneer/truthseeker/humanist/raconteur/biologist....
Terence approached the psychedelic experience with an open, astute, logical, observant mind. He explored the realms of DMT and psilocybin etc. in a lab coat with a clipboard like a true scientist, and he extrapolated data. He has tripped on the local hallucinogen of just about every tribe left in the world, encompassing many thousands of miles around the globe on his mission and many lightyears through innerspace and transcendental space. Never was there a more courageous and fearless psychonaut as T. McKenna.
The Archaic Revival is nothing short of a manifesto for the 21st Century and beyond. In it, Terence shines his illuminating mind on a whole cross-section of subjects: artificial intelligence, virtual reality, evolution, environmental issues, shamanism, the “new age”, spirituality, modern science, The Voynich Manuscript, plant intelligence, and a very interesting take on the U.F.O phenomena. This is probably one of the most important books released last century and I believe it will only become more apparent over the coming decades. McKenna is the Tesla of psychedelics. Reading this book is almost as mind-altering an experience as the chemicals espoused within it! His most important work ‘Food of the Gods’ is also essential reading. And Terence has many talks and lectures on YouTube and a very, very mellifluous voice!
A true polymath, he was a jack-of-many-trades and a disciple of manifold studies: Lepidopterist/urban shaman/psychonaut/botanist/entheogenist/mycologist/technoenthusiast/psychologist/writer/poet/artist/teacher/orator/traveller/anthropologist/environmentalist/chemist/hippy/raver/sesquipedalian/linguist/soothsayer/pioneer/truthseeker/humanist/raconteur/biologist....
Terence approached the psychedelic experience with an open, astute, logical, observant mind. He explored the realms of DMT and psilocybin etc. in a lab coat with a clipboard like a true scientist, and he extrapolated data. He has tripped on the local hallucinogen of just about every tribe left in the world, encompassing many thousands of miles around the globe on his mission and many lightyears through innerspace and transcendental space. Never was there a more courageous and fearless psychonaut as T. McKenna.
The Archaic Revival is nothing short of a manifesto for the 21st Century and beyond. In it, Terence shines his illuminating mind on a whole cross-section of subjects: artificial intelligence, virtual reality, evolution, environmental issues, shamanism, the “new age”, spirituality, modern science, The Voynich Manuscript, plant intelligence, and a very interesting take on the U.F.O phenomena. This is probably one of the most important books released last century and I believe it will only become more apparent over the coming decades. McKenna is the Tesla of psychedelics. Reading this book is almost as mind-altering an experience as the chemicals espoused within it! His most important work ‘Food of the Gods’ is also essential reading. And Terence has many talks and lectures on YouTube and a very, very mellifluous voice!
November 18, 2014
Shed the monkey!
Zauberpilze sind außerirdische Lebensformen, die per Panspermie auf die Erde kamen und für die Entwicklung von Affen zum Menschen mitverantwortlich sind, sich uns in der Form des UFO metaphorisieren und uns den Weg weisen, wie wir am Ende der Geschichte (nicht der Welt), 2012, den nächsten Schritt zum Überbewusstsein erreichen, mit dem wir uns dann schnell auf den Weg zu den Sternen machen. So, das als Vorabwarnung; wer jetzt noch weiterliest, hat das Recht verwirkt, nachher süffisant zu grinsen.
McKenna greift unglaublich viele Themen auf und setzt sie (zugegebenermaßen hin und wieder etwas gezwungen, manchmal aber auch in unerwarteter, durchaus kluger Weise) in Zusammenhang mit psychedelischen Erfahrungen. Aus aktuellem Anlass finde ich dabei seine Meinung zur Arecibo-Botschaft spannend, nach der eine entsprechend hochstehende Kultur nicht mittels Radiowellen, sondern mittels direkter Telepathie mit uns Kontakt aufnehmen würde, wenn wir bereit dafür sind. Alles andere ist eigentlich eh, schon allein aufgrund der Wartezeiten, zum Scheitern verurteilt. Sind DMT-Visionen solche Versuche der Kontaktaufnahme?
Die Suche nach dem Spirituellen, ein weiteres der wichtigsten Themen McKennas, ist heute für viele aktueller denn je, und in uns irgendwie veranlagt. McKenna, bekennend inspiriert vom buddhistischen Monismus, beklagt den empfundenen Dualismus einerseits, der unsere Seele scheinbar vom Körper trennt, und glaubt, dass wir durch psychoaktive Stoffe diesen Dualismus irgendwann auflösen können und den haarigen Affen in uns ablegen werden.
Halluzinogene Stoffe sind laut McKenna das Mittel der Wahl, wenn es um spirituelle Einsichten geht. Ich bin mir sicher, dass der eine oder andere Prophet sicherlich stoned war, als er seine Visionen hatte - doch das anzuerkennen oder sogar nur in Betracht zu ziehen, fällt vielen schwer.
McKenna ist dabei allerdings nicht wahllos. Für ihn sind Pilztrips kein Freizeitvergnügen, sondern echte Suche nach der Wahrheit, nach neuen Einsichten, nach einer neuen Stufe des Bewusstseins. Wer nur Spaß haben will, für den ist das "Fleisch der Götter" nichts.
5 Gramm getrocknete psilocybe cubensis sind wirklich eine deftige Menge, und, obwohl es praktisch unmöglich ist, sich an Psilocybin in Pflanzenmasse überzudosieren, haut das wohl jeden völlig aus den Stiefeln, der nicht, wie McKenna, jahrzehntelang experimentiert hat. Nichts für Spieler also, denn die Erfahrung kann den Erfahrenden verändern:
Zum Thema insgesamt findet er auch klare Worte, mit denen ich die Rezension schließe.
Zauberpilze sind außerirdische Lebensformen, die per Panspermie auf die Erde kamen und für die Entwicklung von Affen zum Menschen mitverantwortlich sind, sich uns in der Form des UFO metaphorisieren und uns den Weg weisen, wie wir am Ende der Geschichte (nicht der Welt), 2012, den nächsten Schritt zum Überbewusstsein erreichen, mit dem wir uns dann schnell auf den Weg zu den Sternen machen. So, das als Vorabwarnung; wer jetzt noch weiterliest, hat das Recht verwirkt, nachher süffisant zu grinsen.
McKenna greift unglaublich viele Themen auf und setzt sie (zugegebenermaßen hin und wieder etwas gezwungen, manchmal aber auch in unerwarteter, durchaus kluger Weise) in Zusammenhang mit psychedelischen Erfahrungen. Aus aktuellem Anlass finde ich dabei seine Meinung zur Arecibo-Botschaft spannend, nach der eine entsprechend hochstehende Kultur nicht mittels Radiowellen, sondern mittels direkter Telepathie mit uns Kontakt aufnehmen würde, wenn wir bereit dafür sind. Alles andere ist eigentlich eh, schon allein aufgrund der Wartezeiten, zum Scheitern verurteilt. Sind DMT-Visionen solche Versuche der Kontaktaufnahme?
Die Suche nach dem Spirituellen, ein weiteres der wichtigsten Themen McKennas, ist heute für viele aktueller denn je, und in uns irgendwie veranlagt. McKenna, bekennend inspiriert vom buddhistischen Monismus, beklagt den empfundenen Dualismus einerseits, der unsere Seele scheinbar vom Körper trennt, und glaubt, dass wir durch psychoaktive Stoffe diesen Dualismus irgendwann auflösen können und den haarigen Affen in uns ablegen werden.
We are not primarily biological, with mind emerging as a kind of iridescence, a kind of epiphenomenon at the higher levels of organization of biology. We are hyperspatial objects of some sort that cast a shadow into matter. The shadow in matter is our physical organism. (p91)
Halluzinogene Stoffe sind laut McKenna das Mittel der Wahl, wenn es um spirituelle Einsichten geht. Ich bin mir sicher, dass der eine oder andere Prophet sicherlich stoned war, als er seine Visionen hatte - doch das anzuerkennen oder sogar nur in Betracht zu ziehen, fällt vielen schwer.
I think there's a very strong Calvinistic bias against a free lunch. The idea that you could achieve a spiritual insight without suffering, soul-searching, flagellation, and that sort of thing, is abhorrent to people because they believe that the vision of these higher dimensions should be vouchsafed to the good, and probably to them only after death. It is alarming to people to think that they could take a substance like psilocybin or DMT and have these kinds of experiences. (p30)
McKenna ist dabei allerdings nicht wahllos. Für ihn sind Pilztrips kein Freizeitvergnügen, sondern echte Suche nach der Wahrheit, nach neuen Einsichten, nach einer neuen Stufe des Bewusstseins. Wer nur Spaß haben will, für den ist das "Fleisch der Götter" nichts.
TM: I think that if you do these things right, they give you plenty to think about. One thing that people do that I'm definitely opposed to is to diddle with it. If you're not taking so much that going into it you're afraid you did too much, then you didn't do enough. Not the way people will take it to go to the movies, go to the beach, this and that. No, I talk about what I call "heroic" doses and "committed" doses. And if you only do heroic doses, then every trip will count. (...)
JL: What is a "heroic" dose of psilocybin?
TM: Five dried grams. Five dried grams will flatten the most resistant ego. (p15)
5 Gramm getrocknete psilocybe cubensis sind wirklich eine deftige Menge, und, obwohl es praktisch unmöglich ist, sich an Psilocybin in Pflanzenmasse überzudosieren, haut das wohl jeden völlig aus den Stiefeln, der nicht, wie McKenna, jahrzehntelang experimentiert hat. Nichts für Spieler also, denn die Erfahrung kann den Erfahrenden verändern:
It [Psilocybin] holds the possibility of transforming the entire species [humans] simply by virtue of the information that comes through it. Psilocybin is a source of gnosis, and the voice of gnosis has been silenced in the Western mind for at least a thousand years. (p97)Diese Kommunikation gibt es laut McKenna nur bei Tryptaminen, nicht bei anderen psychotropen Substanzen wie LSD, das McKenna immer als Abklatsch und wenig spirituell im Vergleich sieht. Tatsächlich ist das Konzept des "Anderen" bei Einnahme von Psilocybin deutlich spürbar, und im Gegensatz zu LSD, das die visuellen Eindrücke hauptsächlich geometrisch darstellt und aus dem eigenen Ich bezieht, fühlt sich ein Pilztrip organischer, fremdartiger an. Ist der Pilz also ein Orakel, das einem Fragen beantworten kann?
I don't necessarily believe what the mushroom tells me; rather we have a dialogue. It is a very strange person and has many bizarre opinions. (p47)Nun gilt das aber auch für McKenna selbst. Ohne Zweifel ist er ein überzeugter Psychonaut, der in einer unglaublich mitreißenden Weise über sein Thema spricht. Das Problem mit dieser Art der Literatur ist aber, dass man nur, wenn man selbst zumindest ansatzweise diese Erfahrungen teilt, nachvollziehen kann, worüber er redet - und vor allem, wie er darüber redet. Viele der Ideen McKennas würde man einfach als spinnertes Gelaber eines durchgeknallten Drogensüchtigen abtun, wenn man selbst nicht schon die Dimensionen gesehen hätte, von denen McKenna redet. Sicherlich ist seine Interpretation sehr spekulativ und extrem in jeder Form, doch gleichzeitig betont er immer wieder, dass es das persönliche Erleben ist, das zählt, die direkte Erfahrung. McKenna will eben keine Religion gründen, die auf Weitergabe aus zweiter oder dritter Hand beruht und nur von Priestern geleitet wird.
Zum Thema insgesamt findet er auch klare Worte, mit denen ich die Rezension schließe.
You either love them [hallucinogens] or you hate them, and that's because they dissolve worldviews. If you like the experience of having your entire ontological structure disappear out from under you - if you think that's a thrill - you'll probably love psychedelics. On the other hand, for some people that's the most horrible thing they can imagine. (p160)Ein unglaublich spannendes Buch voller verrückter Fragestellungen und Ideen, das gegen Ende leider ein bisschen repetitiv wird.
November 13, 2013
Today we're privileged to see hours of Terence McKenna lectures online with a single mouse click. So most of the ideas covered in this book, which is an anthology of articles, essays, travelogues and interviews, won't be unfamiliar to the regular McKenna fan.
But this book is still worth having on the shelf because next to being the greatest bards of the 20th century, McKenna is also a fantastic writer. As one of the few who dared to converse with the mushroom Logos, knowing how to handle the linguistic is McKenna's expertise, next to botany. The latter is what made McKenna famous as well as notorious. Being the most vocal psychonaut and on the forefront of the psychedelic movement, he perhaps involuntarily insulated himself to a confined circle of acolytes, maybe having preached to the choir as psychedelics still meet deaf ears outside of a group of daredevils who take their minds to the furthest reaches.
This is why I consider McKenna to be one of the most underestimated philosophers of the 20th century. He has much more to offer than mere psychedelic movement activism. Being one of the few intellectuals out there who thoroughly experimented with altered states of consciousness, he gained access to the regions of mind ( and reality ) the rationalists of modern academia have completely missed. McKenna didn't merely extend and improve upon a certain intellectual tradition like f.e. Marxists do ( and still do ), but radically overturned all of that by listening to another agency. And even when he takes some points from McLuhan or Whitehead, what precedes all of McKenna's musings is the psychdelic experience. This makes him one of the most original philosophers and metaphysicians of the 20th and even preceding centuries.
That gives this book, and others, a quality of being really intellectually novel in all its aspects (which the author perceived as the archè of reality).
And even if we haven't seen the unfolding of a techno-gnostic eschaton or an armada of time travellers from the future appear on that ominous date of december 21st 2012, McKenna's other ideas are still relevant to this day.
But this book is still worth having on the shelf because next to being the greatest bards of the 20th century, McKenna is also a fantastic writer. As one of the few who dared to converse with the mushroom Logos, knowing how to handle the linguistic is McKenna's expertise, next to botany. The latter is what made McKenna famous as well as notorious. Being the most vocal psychonaut and on the forefront of the psychedelic movement, he perhaps involuntarily insulated himself to a confined circle of acolytes, maybe having preached to the choir as psychedelics still meet deaf ears outside of a group of daredevils who take their minds to the furthest reaches.
This is why I consider McKenna to be one of the most underestimated philosophers of the 20th century. He has much more to offer than mere psychedelic movement activism. Being one of the few intellectuals out there who thoroughly experimented with altered states of consciousness, he gained access to the regions of mind ( and reality ) the rationalists of modern academia have completely missed. McKenna didn't merely extend and improve upon a certain intellectual tradition like f.e. Marxists do ( and still do ), but radically overturned all of that by listening to another agency. And even when he takes some points from McLuhan or Whitehead, what precedes all of McKenna's musings is the psychdelic experience. This makes him one of the most original philosophers and metaphysicians of the 20th and even preceding centuries.
That gives this book, and others, a quality of being really intellectually novel in all its aspects (which the author perceived as the archè of reality).
And even if we haven't seen the unfolding of a techno-gnostic eschaton or an armada of time travellers from the future appear on that ominous date of december 21st 2012, McKenna's other ideas are still relevant to this day.
December 6, 2009
God, i love Terence. This book catalogs alot of his mind-bending ideas. I remember a quote from terence that will stick with me forever "The deconstruction of reality has no bottom.".....as kurtz said ...that quote was like "being shot in the head with a diamond."
March 30, 2021
Terence is extremly intelligent, knowledgeable and eloquent. Reading about his ideas is downright delightful, however heretical they might be
October 29, 2022
Eloquent madness.
February 18, 2021
Pretty wild stuff. Some thought provoking things and some total bullshit. The world didn’t end in 2012 but at least McKenna could admit that he really didn’t know.
March 5, 2017
A compilation of essays and interviews spanning 1983-1990, The Archaic Revival is a thoroughly satisfying overview of McKenna's signature ideas, ranging from the evolutionary importance of shamanism, time wave theory, "novelty," linguistics, deep ecology, the end of history, ufos as holographic projections from the future, and the symbiotic relationship between hallucinogenic plants and man.
Archaic Revival is a phrase coined by McKenna to define what he saw as a 20th century movement and return to the spiritual and ecological sensibilities of Paleolithic and Neolithic plant-based shamanism.
Heady stuff!
Archaic Revival is a phrase coined by McKenna to define what he saw as a 20th century movement and return to the spiritual and ecological sensibilities of Paleolithic and Neolithic plant-based shamanism.
Heady stuff!
July 13, 2016
Im tempted to give this book 5 stars because it was just so entertaining. McKenna goes off the deep end in numerous parts, but he is also surprisingly lucid and rational when discussing seemingly bizarre subjects such as the "stoned ape" theory of evolution. The number of topics in this book is astounding, so anyone interested in scifi, fantasy, ethnobotany, travels in south america, aliens, Lovecraft, pantheism, 2012, and a lot of others.
Even though McKenna was dead wrong about numerous things, the way he writes is very precise and easy to understand. Unlike many "mystics" it is easy to see where he is wrong because he states his viewpoint clearly without a fog of mystical sounding "eastern" language. This makes sense, as he is more of a Huxely psychonaut than a Tim Leary type. He claims to have come to his conclusions from a materialist, physicalist and even *gasp* reductionist premises.
Anyway, hes right more often than he is wrong, and his approach is totally solid. After reading this book I actually have a decent amount of respect for the guy whereas before I kind of giggled at him.
Even though McKenna was dead wrong about numerous things, the way he writes is very precise and easy to understand. Unlike many "mystics" it is easy to see where he is wrong because he states his viewpoint clearly without a fog of mystical sounding "eastern" language. This makes sense, as he is more of a Huxely psychonaut than a Tim Leary type. He claims to have come to his conclusions from a materialist, physicalist and even *gasp* reductionist premises.
Anyway, hes right more often than he is wrong, and his approach is totally solid. After reading this book I actually have a decent amount of respect for the guy whereas before I kind of giggled at him.
June 30, 2021
I adored every page, and never wanted it to end. Provocative pleasures, and so gloriously written:
"Cities pass like billboards in the night of the mind, one night Lima, the next night home...
How strange a creature is man; with religion, intoxication, dream, and poetry we try to take the measure of the shifting levels of self and world. It is a grand enterprise, hedged about with tautology but no less grand for that... Worlds seemed to have come and gone, yet friends who stayed behind in the United States hardly realized any time at all had passed, emphasizing the bewildering sense of a density of experience that the traveler is always able to make his own. We were not unlike the psychedelic voyager who may be absent from company only a single evening and yet may fill that evening with years-long odysseys in strange and enchanted worlds, may in fact explore strange times and worlds of alternate possibilities in a single long silence..." p 138, 1st ed.
A grand enterprise, indeed.
"Cities pass like billboards in the night of the mind, one night Lima, the next night home...
How strange a creature is man; with religion, intoxication, dream, and poetry we try to take the measure of the shifting levels of self and world. It is a grand enterprise, hedged about with tautology but no less grand for that... Worlds seemed to have come and gone, yet friends who stayed behind in the United States hardly realized any time at all had passed, emphasizing the bewildering sense of a density of experience that the traveler is always able to make his own. We were not unlike the psychedelic voyager who may be absent from company only a single evening and yet may fill that evening with years-long odysseys in strange and enchanted worlds, may in fact explore strange times and worlds of alternate possibilities in a single long silence..." p 138, 1st ed.
A grand enterprise, indeed.
December 25, 2017
Some rather weird but at least very interesting ideas presented by McKenna in The Archaic Revival. It's a book to read with a healthy amount of skepticism, as I'm sure Terence would agree, and even he himself seems to go back on forth of what he believes and feels, but I highly recommend this book nonetheless if you're interested in the historical religious background of ethnobotanicals and well as modern applications and a look to future applications of vegetable intelligence.
In a society struggling to understand its highest aspirations and its place in the world and the universe, McKenna's remarks left me feeling hopeful for the future.
In a society struggling to understand its highest aspirations and its place in the world and the universe, McKenna's remarks left me feeling hopeful for the future.
August 13, 2015
"What good is a theory of how the universe works if it's a series of tensor equations that, even when understood, come nowhere tangential to experience? The only intellectual or noetic or spiritual path worth following is one that builds on personal experience."
After reading Terrence Mckenna, everyone becomes a philosopher. This man, in my view, is still the most important philosopher to have ever lived; he certainly changed my life. I hope his motives for a new generation of seekers is met with an abundance of bravery. We need bravery and we need it now.
One of my other true mentors.
After reading Terrence Mckenna, everyone becomes a philosopher. This man, in my view, is still the most important philosopher to have ever lived; he certainly changed my life. I hope his motives for a new generation of seekers is met with an abundance of bravery. We need bravery and we need it now.
One of my other true mentors.
September 10, 2014
I thought this would be more like his other books; a developed argument on the subject, but in fact it is a compilation of essays and interviews. Not just that, it is also a collection of his wildest ideas. Although these things will not come as a surprise to anyone who is familiar with McKenna's work, it is good to have it on the shelf, since youtube videos don't fit there yet. ;)
March 5, 2016
This collection of interviews, essays and articles contain the most entertaining expressions of the psychedelic audacity that originally inspired me to track down McKenna's writings. Whether or not his conjectures are meant to be taken literally misses the point of living inside his brain for a short time, which is a pleasure.
November 1, 2007
A great summary of McKenna's ideas, i think. (Was it?) My favorite bit coming at the end, to use the octopus as a model for a new form of consciousness and communication. Good stuff, and highly recommended.
August 1, 2009
Another one from the crackpot shelf.
May 11, 2022
Perfectly captures McKenna's main ideas and it serves as a perfect introduction to his core philosophy. I got into the book after becoming a frequent listener of his lectures however, and i feel that the lectures on the internet already capture his core philosophy perfectly, which kind of changes the need for this book in the internet age. Its a nice addition upon the material available online but doesnt offer too much new material outside of that, especially seeing that 90% of the book is transcribed lectures in the first place, a fact that greatly dissapointed me upon reading the first couple of chapters. I could see however how this book served its purpose when it came out, however i feel the purpose of this book has shifted somewhat with the coming of the information age.
McKenna always mentioned how much he loved writing and i kind of expected this book to be his personal opus, captivating both the core spirit of his ideas and his literary genius at the same time. Sadly this was not the case. However this fact does not degrade the content of the book.
In conclusion, i think that overall the book is core material for understanding McKenna but it does not offer much outside of what is already widely available online. So if one wants to familiarise themselves with the work of McKenna, it really comes down to wether they prefer to listen or to read, the contents of the different formats wont make too much difference in regards to the specific topics in this book.
I kind of expected this book to elaborate much more beyond what was already talked about in the lectures, but sadly they were just other lectures.
I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to get a solid grasp of McKenna's core philosophy. For those already familiar with the basics of his work, dont expect too much outside of what he already frequently states in his lectures/public appearances etc. Good book overall and one of the finest editing,formatting and stylization of a non fiction book i've seen.
McKenna always mentioned how much he loved writing and i kind of expected this book to be his personal opus, captivating both the core spirit of his ideas and his literary genius at the same time. Sadly this was not the case. However this fact does not degrade the content of the book.
In conclusion, i think that overall the book is core material for understanding McKenna but it does not offer much outside of what is already widely available online. So if one wants to familiarise themselves with the work of McKenna, it really comes down to wether they prefer to listen or to read, the contents of the different formats wont make too much difference in regards to the specific topics in this book.
I kind of expected this book to elaborate much more beyond what was already talked about in the lectures, but sadly they were just other lectures.
I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to get a solid grasp of McKenna's core philosophy. For those already familiar with the basics of his work, dont expect too much outside of what he already frequently states in his lectures/public appearances etc. Good book overall and one of the finest editing,formatting and stylization of a non fiction book i've seen.
November 18, 2017
This book is a compilation of interviews of Terence McKenna as he is being asked by different people about the plethora of ideas McKenna was known to joust for. As a transcription of said interviews, these lose quite bit by being rendered in text, since Mckenna was mostly a very good conversationalist — the spoken word was his most unique quality; the text presented here becomes much drier than any recording on the same topic.
In any case, this is a good showcase of McKenna’s inventiveness and ease with making new and surprising connections. Since this book is organized by interviews standing for chapters, even if the book lacks some overall coherence making it a bit harder to take it as a whole work, this also allows you to read it as what it is, a compilation, something to be read in many sits, not necessarily tying the whole reading together.
If you are deeply interested in McKenna’s ideas and you’re looking to dig deeper to their origins and developments, inevitably you have to go through this book. However, if you’re just curious and not very prone to waste your time away reading, you’ll be much more satisfied by listening/watching to the many McKenna’s lectures available online, where you’ll not only learn about his ideas, but you’ll the get the full package of having the bard himself saying them, where he’ll delight you with his unmatchable skill in guiding your imagination through the power of his mastery of words.
March 10, 2021
Ate this book up like a second breakfast and then washed it down with hallucinogenic dosed coffee. What a read! Terence McKenna is a wellspring of truly original thought that pushes the delimited boundaries of what we know to be “real” to their outer limits. Mental masturbation, yes. But of the absolute best and most beneficial kind. His ideas concerning futurism, technological predominance of virtual reality, the “alien” or “other” personality within the tryptamine plants, are enough cognitive data to stew over for centuries. Throughout it all is a refreshing willingness to confront the unknown with undaunted courage, receptivity, and a love of learning/adventure. If you are at all interested in shamanic work or Amazonian approaches to plant medicines then The Archaic Revival is more or less essential reading. That being said: the book is not a one size fits all spiritual panacea. Skeptics will be skeptics and take the blue pill back to their comfortable materialist existence of no questions asked, no feathers ruffled. If, however, your doors of perception have already been squeegee’d by one of McKenna’s “heroic doses” then I highly suggest you read this for some reintegration help. Be prepared to surf the strange multidimensional waves of the morphogenetic field my friends!
January 9, 2018
The book was compulsively readable and activated my imagination with all kinds of theories about the nature of consciousness and psychedelics. Of course a lot of his own theories are probably way off, but his point which I agree with is that psilocybin mushrooms, DMT, etc have very interesting effects on the mind, many of which seem fantastical but all of which need additionally study. He thinks anything natural, plant or animal based, should not be illegal and that additional research could illuminate so much that we currently don’t know about both the substances themselves and the mind. He acknowledges that all the fantastical “what ifs” he presents are nothing more than brainstorming until we can freely study psychedelics.
April 7, 2023
None of his predictions ever came true but people still look up to Terence McKenna as some kind of a prophet. He fancies himself as an explorer of consciousness, but he's really just another white man going uninvited to tribal areas in search of natural resources. Instead of rubber, it's hallucinogens. He's not actually trying to understand them at all, as much as he is trying to advertise them to the general public. For someone who claims to be an explorer of consciousness he doesn't utter a single factual word about it. Instead he just repeats the same dumb pop culture "theories" that your average stoner talks about. Actual explorers of consciousness are phenomenologists, metaphysicians, and psychologists, not arrogant stoners with annoying voices and no analytical skills.
July 17, 2023
This book is a collection of interviews, talks and commentary -- speculations -- on a variety of topics relating to Psychedelics from one of its leading thinkers, Terence McKenna. The subtitle does a good job of cataloging exactly what TM will be "rapping" about in each chapter. The Tom Robbins intro sets you up for what's to come. Overall, it's a great introduction to TM's broad sweep of interesting thoughts on a variety of tangents tied to psychedelics. TM is an original, make no mistake. Not always presenting fully baked theories and ideas, nonetheless, TM will surely expose you to some new ideas you've never considered before and perhaps change your thinking a little bit on what you think you know about Reality.
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