Home | Community | Message Board


This site includes paid links. Please support our sponsors.


Welcome to the Shroomery Message Board! You are experiencing a small sample of what the site has to offer. Please login or register to post messages and view our exclusive members-only content. You'll gain access to additional forums, file attachments, board customizations, encrypted private messages, and much more!

Shop: Kraken Kratom Red Vein Kratom   Unfolding Nature Unfolding Nature: Being in the Implicate Order

Jump to first unread post Pages: 1
InvisibleThe Whale

Registered: 11/01/10
Posts: 2,384
Loc: Flag
Terence McKenna's voice before he died
    #14451308 - 05/14/11 01:13 PM (12 years, 8 months ago)

This is from (one of) McKenna's last interviews. At this point he had already been diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor. In the actual video of this exchange, you can see he had shaved his head in parts.

Anyhow, I wanted to post this because this is the most unfamiliar recording of him. I've listened to, literally, dozens of lecture hours, so it's interesting to hear all of the changes. Judging from his interviews and writings, it seems one thing that sticks out is his surprise. Death is inevitable, but the circumstances and age at which is came to him was unexpected. What I have noted personally is that he seemed to have processed his final experiences from the heart rather than from the brain. He quit rationalizing and philosophizing about nature, and instead surrounded it more with mystery, humility, and a gentle recognition that "something else" is in control of his intricate story. As if intense psychedelic journeys weren't enough to process, now his sober reality informed him it was time to die for real.



I had a rather morbid and sobering morning. I woke up for some odd reason with a death fascination, so I began watching embalming procedures, autopsy reports, medical examiners, etc. I didn't view my actions in a voyeurism fashion, but rather as if some other part of me wants to peel away some of the candy-coated notions we have about our impermanence. I feel that we can take things much less seriously if we reflect on the grim realities and limited clockwork of the mammalian machines we inhabit.


--------------------


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
InvisibleMicawber
...............................
Male User Gallery


Registered: 12/29/10
Posts: 2,644
Loc: southeast
Re: Terence McKenna's voice before he died [Re: The Whale]
    #14451325 - 05/14/11 01:16 PM (12 years, 8 months ago)

Quote:

now his sober reality informed him it was time to die for real


:sad:


--------------------
(mik-kaw'-bur) n. one who is poor but lives in optimistic expectation of better fortune:nyan:


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
InvisibleThe Whale

Registered: 11/01/10
Posts: 2,384
Loc: Flag
Re: Terence McKenna's voice before he died [Re: Micawber]
    #14451347 - 05/14/11 01:20 PM (12 years, 8 months ago)

Quote:

Micawber said:
Quote:

now his sober reality informed him it was time to die for real


:sad:




It's one thing to encounter spiritual lessons on death, or believing you are dying during a peak experience, but to actually have several doctors calmly tell you that you are not going to live beyond a few months -- imagine how surreal that must feel. Terence had a very dreamy and Joycean view on life anyway, so I can only imagine how bizarre it felt to learn that the very beauty and awe-some qualities of life that he spent so much time explaining were now taking away his light. To my mind, such an experience would lead me to backtrack slightly, and ask myself, "did I ever fully understand?" I believe he hinted at this by suggesting that life is stranger than we can ever suppose.


--------------------


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
OfflineEnvix
Avoidant Disorder
 User Gallery


Registered: 11/04/08
Posts: 18,206
Last seen: 9 months, 25 days
Re: Terence McKenna's voice before he died [Re: Micawber] * 1
    #14451365 - 05/14/11 01:24 PM (12 years, 8 months ago)

mind is not contained within body

body is contained within mind


--------------------
smack a hoe out this dimension
continue my ascension
-bhad bhabie

rip. todcasil, acid sloth, st1llnox, zappaisgod, big worm (sketch), tim b


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
OfflineThe Inner Eye
Male User Gallery


Registered: 06/20/10
Posts: 1,151
Last seen: 8 years, 9 months
Re: Terence McKenna's voice before he died [Re: The Whale]
    #14451381 - 05/14/11 01:28 PM (12 years, 8 months ago)

Quote:

The Whale said:
I feel that we can take things much less seriously if we reflect on the grim realities and limited clockwork of the mammalian machines we inhabit.





So true man... thanks for sharing this video..  Makes me a little sad, but McKenna was getting a good point across. He sounded very humbled by his situation. :sad:


Edited by The Inner Eye (05/14/11 01:29 PM)


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
InvisibleSalomon
ಠ︵ಠ balance ಠ_ಠ weaver ಠ‿ಠ
Male
Registered: 01/17/09
Posts: 25,128
Loc: America, FUCK YEAH Flag
Re: Terence McKenna's voice before he died [Re: Envix]
    #14451390 - 05/14/11 01:28 PM (12 years, 8 months ago)

the mind is contained with in the mind, one can only ever keep rambling on


--------------------
EVERYTHING EVENTUALLY BECOMES A DESERT



Extras: Filter Print Post Top
OfflineAnthony917
why dont we do it in the road
 User Gallery


Registered: 05/14/09
Posts: 3,243
Loc: Earth
Last seen: 12 years, 2 months
Re: Terence McKenna's voice before he died [Re: The Whale]
    #14451392 - 05/14/11 01:29 PM (12 years, 8 months ago)

Of course he never fully understood, and no one really understands death. he said it himself, that he's curious of what lies ahead. Life was strange, death must be more strange than anyone can imagine.
IMO death is just another part of life. Perhaps it's the end, maybe it's just the beginning, but no one will ever know until they die.
It's fascinating to think about....


--------------------
Prisoner#1 said: I got my ass kicked by a 9yo when I was 17
Trippin? Click Me




What is life? I'm tired of life...


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
InvisibleThe Whale

Registered: 11/01/10
Posts: 2,384
Loc: Flag
Re: Terence McKenna's voice before he died [Re: Salomon]
    #14451403 - 05/14/11 01:30 PM (12 years, 8 months ago)

As if the mind/body thing couldn't get even more complicated...


How Many Heads Do Humans Have?
(From Robert Anton Wilson's Quantum Psychology)


Borrowing a joke (or a profundity?) from Bertrand Russell's Our Knowledge of the External World, I will now demonstrate that the reader has two heads.

According to common sense, and the consensus of most (Occidental) philosophers, we exist "inside" an "objective universe," or – to say otherwise – the "objective universe" exists "outside" us. Very few people have ever doubted this. Those who have doubted it have arrived, inevitably, at highly eccentric conclusions.

Well, then, avoiding eccentricity and accepting the conventional view, how do we know anything about that "external universe?" How do we perceive it?

(For convenience, I will consider only the sense of sight in what follows. The reader can check for himself, or herself, that the same logic applies if one changes the terms and substitutes hearing or any of our other senses.)

We see objects in the "external universe" through our eyes and then make pictures -- models -- of them in our brains. The brain "interprets" what the eye transmits as energy signals. (For now, we will ignore the data that shows that the brain makes a gamble that it can interpret these signals.)

Again, very few Occidentals have doubted this, and those who have doubted it arrived at strange and incredible alternatives.

So, then, we live "inside" an "external universe" and make a picture or model of it "inside" our brains, by adding together, or synthesizing, and interpreting, our pictures or models of parts of the universe called "objects". Then, it follows that we never know the "external universe" and its "objects" at all. We know the model of the "external universe" inside our brains, which exist inside our heads. In that case, everything we see, which we think of as existing externally, actually exists internally, inside our heads.

But we have not arrived at solipsism, remember. We still assume the "external universe" from which we started. We have merely discovered that we cannot see it or know it. We see a model of it inside our heads, and in daily life forget this and act as if the model exists outside our heads -- i.e., as if (1) the model and the universe occupy the same area of space (as our map that tries to show "all" about Dublin would occupy the same space as Dublin) and (2) this space exists "outside."

But the model and the universe do not occupy the same space and the space where the model exists can only be located "inside" our brains, which exists inside our heads.

We now realize that, while the universe exists outside, the model exists inside, and therefore occupies much, much less space than the universe. The "real universe" then exists "outside" but remains inexperienced, perhaps unknown. That which we do experience and know (or think we know) exists in local networks of electro-chemical bonds in our brains.

Again, if the reader cares to challenge any part of this, he or she should try to imagine an alternative explanation of perception. It will appear, or has always appeared to date, that any and all such alternatives sound not only queerer than this but totally unbelievable to "people of common sense."

Well to proceed, we have now an "external universe," very large (comparatively speaking) and a model of same, much smaller (comparatively speaking), the former "outside" us and the latter "inside" us. Otherwise, I could not get up from my chair, walk to the door, go down the hall, accurately locate the kitchen and get another cup of coffee from something I identify as a Coffee Maker.

But where does our head exist?

Well, our head obviously exists "inside" the "external universe" and "outside" our brain, which contains the model of the "external universe."

But since we never see or experience the "external universe" directly, and only see our model of it, we only perceive our heads as part of the model, which exists inside us. Certainly, our perceived head cannot exist apart from our perceived body as long as we remain alive, and our perceived body (including head) exists inside our perceived universe. Right?

Thus, the head we perceive exists inside some other head we do not, and cannot, perceive. The second head contains our model of the universe, our model of this galaxy, our model of this solar system, our model of Earth, our model of this continent, our model of this city, our model of our home, our model of ourselves and atop our model of ourselves a model of our head. The model of our head thus occupies much less space than our "real" head.

Think about it. Retire to your study, unplug the phone, lock the door and carefully examine each step of this argument in succession, noting what absurdities appear if you question any individual step and try an alternative.

Let us, for Jesus sake and for all our sakes, at least attempt to clarify how we can have two heads. Our perceived head exists as part (a very small part) of our model of the universe, which exists inside our brain. We have proven that, have we not? Our brain, however, exists inside our second head -- our "real" head, which contains our whole model of the universe, including our perceived head. In short, our perceived head exists inside our real head, which exists inside the real universe.

Thus, we can name our two heads -- we have a "real" head outside the perceived universe and a "perceived head" inside the perceived universe, and our "real" head now appears, not only much bigger than our perceived head, but bigger than our perceived universe.

And, since we cannot know or perceive the "real" universe directly, our "real" head appears bigger than the only universe we do know and perceive -- our perceived universe, inside our perceived head.

The reader might find some comfort in the thought that Bertrand Russell, who devised this argument, also invented the mathematical class of all classes that “do not contain themselves.” That class, you will note, does not contain itself unless it does contain itself. Also, it does contain itself if and only if it does not contain itself. Got it?

When not busy crusading for rationalism, world peace, common decency, and other subversive ideas, Russell spent a lot of time in the even more subversive practice of inventing such logical “monsters” to bedevil logicians and mathematicians.

Returning to our two heads: Lord Russell never carried this joke, or profound insight, beyond that point. With a little thought, however, the reader will easily see that, having analyzed the matter this far, we now have three heads – the third containing the model that contains the “real” universe and the “real” head and the perceived universe and the perceived head. And now that we have thought of that, we have a fourth head.

And so on, ad infinitum. To account for our perception of our perception – our ability to perceive that we perceive – we have three heads, and to account for that, four heads, and to account for our ability to carry this analysis on forever, we have infinite heads…

A model of conciousness which does arrive, very rigorously and with almost mathematical precision of logic, at precisely this infinite regress appears in The Serial Universe by J.W. Dunne, who uses time instead of perception as his first term but still arrives at the conclusion that we have, if not an infinite series of heads, and infinite series of “minds.”


--------------------


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Jump to top Pages: 1

Shop: Kraken Kratom Red Vein Kratom   Unfolding Nature Unfolding Nature: Being in the Implicate Order


Similar ThreadsPosterViewsRepliesLast post
* Terence McKenna must have infinite patience... Animals 2,603 15 10/18/06 05:23 PM
by Icelander
* Terence McKenna and "The Civilisation Prejudice " (1946-2000 R.I.P)
( 1 2 all )
Silverwolf 3,827 33 09/06/06 02:03 PM
by Silverwolf
* Terence McKenna talks about Panspermia? MXNR 941 0 07/29/05 09:25 AM
by MXNR
* Terence McKenna Plok 933 4 07/11/05 02:05 PM
by KingOftheThing
* Terence McKenna on ketamine and ecstasy (mp3's)
( 1 2 all )
LearyfanS 6,060 21 06/07/04 05:16 AM
by filthysock
* Terence McKenna "The Last Word" [.mpg movie] - supposed last video interview Vvellum 1,750 16 05/01/05 02:17 PM
by Adom
* Terence McKenna's Ex-Library Up In Smoke MadSeason 1,676 8 02/16/07 04:57 AM
by Liz
* Terence Mckenna's stance on LSD?
( 1 2 3 all )
Spooge 10,440 52 10/09/12 09:53 PM
by Help on the Way

Extra information
You cannot start new topics / You cannot reply to topics
HTML is disabled / BBCode is enabled
Moderator: Entire Staff
1,307 topic views. 2 members, 54 guests and 76 web crawlers are browsing this forum.
[ Show Images Only | Sort by Score | Print Topic ]
Search this thread:

Copyright 1997-2024 Mind Media. Some rights reserved.

Generated in 0.029 seconds spending 0.008 seconds on 14 queries.