I'm currently sharing my thoughts on some of my favorite philosophers and lectures. I've already discussed Alan Watts and Ram Dass and today I want to talk about Terence McKenna. If you are unfamiliar with McKenna, I can best sum him up as a philosophers that heavily experimented and discussed using altered states of consciousness to explore and get to know one's self.
That being said, Terence McKenna was obviously much more than that and his ideas and lectures that he shared are some of the deepest dives that I've ever experienced. Philosophically he promoted looking within for answers instead of searching externally and has many lectures discussing breaking down our own beliefs and expectations to discover our truth. Let's jump into the first lecture I want to share:
The title of this lecture seems pretty straightforward. One thing that I like about McKenna lectures is they don't really seem to go on all that long, which isn't really a good or bad thing per say, but it's just something I notice different as opposed to many other philosophers. If you listen to this lecture he will discuss his perspective on how we breakdown all of the separating and limiting beliefs we have to discover our own truth and remove the need for anything external. It's rather fascinating to hear how he gets there, but it's probably going to sound pretty far out to anyone that hasn't tripped before.
I absolutely love this short fifteen minute discussion about avoiding the traps of consumerism and materialism. It's something that absolutely resonates with me and letting go of trivial things that never really give us anything in return is something that I believe is necessary. The only thing we truly have is the experience in the end. McKenna discusses how letting go of these scarcity based mental hangups can lead us to be more kind and compassionate beings.
In conclusion I guess I would say that's my favorite thing that McKenna was all about. Sure he talks a lot about DMT and other hallucinogens and altered states of consciousness, but what he wanted to share in his message was the love. Kindness and compassion are fundamental parts of the human experience that seem to be lacking in many ways from modern society and it takes people sharing another way to change that. For the bonus materials I'm going to link a wiki with a collection of known McKenna lectures and discussions, but be warned that it's apparently closing soon. I think the site is having funding issues. I'll also throw in some McKenna chillstep for good measure.
https://terencemckenna.wikispaces.com/
Please note I do not own any of these YouTube videos and I'm sharing the links and my thoughts about the source speaker that they are all sharing. The first and last images are dream art images of Terence McKenna that I made.
