Food of the Gods-Terrence Mckenna

I read it awhile ago but I enjoyed it thoroughly. I enjoy Mckenna's writing style, especially when talking about psychedelics. He definitely expresses his opinion and theories, not all I agree with but i'm glad he is assertive in his theories.

This book starts off kind of slow but about 1/4 the way through really starts to pick up and becomes VERY interesting. Throughout the book he touches on topics like the holy soma in ancient vedic culture being mushrooms, mushrooms and entheogens being responsible for help shaping our current human consciousness, a feminine dominated psychedelic society of early human cultures and other topics on ancient history. When he gets in to more recent times he discusses various drugs such as LSD, mushrooms, marijuana and DMT. He paints a very interesting picture of the effects of DMT. He also gives his view on cocaine, heroin, tobacco, alcohol and television. He speculates the role of widespread psychedelic use leading to an 'archaic revival' and what that may look like.

Like I said I don't agree with everything he has to say but sometimes his speculations are the most interesting aspects of the book. They get me to think about the topics addressed, eventhough I may not agree with him. Anyone else read this book? If so what did you think of it ?

 

Like any of those thinkers,
To be taking with a grain (or a pound in leary's case) of salt

I really enjoy the stoned ape theory, Man's historical tie with cattle was a strong point that simply makes sense

Considering the other theories out there like the aquatic ape theory (which holds its own end as well), I hope this one will gain more scientific popularity in time

A good read indeed

 

Try the "Archaic Revival" by McKenna. Well worth it. And so is Daniel Pinchbeck's "Breaking Open The Head." Also, Paul Krassner's "Psychedelic Trips" is worth it.

 

Im not a big fan of tm.. .. but one the only few downloaded books I have..

 

Thank you!! Someone was putting me up on some of his work last week and I totally forgot his name until it manifested on hipforums!!

 

Great book and entertaining read, though taken with a grain of salt... Like most of what comes out of TM.

Not that he is wrong or that I know better, but I believe truth is relative to the individual and that psychedelics are merely a tool.... no, more like a catalyst for spiritual development and is not the sole means to establishing a spiritual being.

It isn't needed, but can be very beneficial.

 

I have that book and frankly am waiting to sell it or donate it.
If anyone wants it I'll send it to ya.

Maybe something my uncritical 17 year old self might have gotten into, but alas, I am old and jaded now...and he seems to be tooting his own proverbial horn a little too much. Does a decent history of drugs in the book, but all the theories lack any sort of humility or reasonable objectivity, seems to mehhh

 

I'm enjoying the trialogues between McKenna, Sheldrake and Abraham. Perspectives revolving around the same common theme but from very different backgrounds.. Abraham being a mathematician and Sheldrake a biologist.

I'm nearly done with the first, Chaos, Creativity and Cosmic Consciousness.. I have the other which is The Evolutionary Mind. I hold the opinion that these guys are/were pioneers. I find the ideas are so vast I need to sit down and have a glass of water. Whether the theories they propose are accurate or not, the mindspace the ideas are arising from is something unique. I feel modern science has grown too conservative in efforts of exploration, however, I'm far outside the field so I wouldn't know anyway.

Anyway, I recommend those mentioned above

 

I read it some years ago. I'm an admirer of Terrence, although I have reservations about some of his ideas. At least he had some ideas - and some very interesting ones. I recall that I lent my copy to a friend whose dog chewed it up.

There could be something in the basic scenario of the book - the idea that contact with psychedelics gave a boost to the nascent human consciousness, led to some of the roots of culture and the rest.

I tend to agree that Amanita Muscaria isn't a likely candidate for Soma. Maybe it was a psilocybin mushroom as TM suggests, or maybe it was cannabis.
.
Can't recall much else in detail that's in that book. I've listened to so many of TM's talks now, that it gets a bit blurry where he said one thing or another.

I recently read and very much enjoyed Dennis Mckenna's account of his life with Terrence 'The Brotherhood of the Screaming Abyss' and I'd highly recommend it.

 

It feels like some recent science potentially supports the theory, which is fascinating because when I found out about the the theory a decade ago, it seemed like one of his more outlandish theories to me.

This is an exercpt from a relatively recent article regarding brain changes from Psilocybin.

http://www.businessinsider.com/magic-mushrooms-change-brain-connections-2014-10

 

Interesting. There's also work in other areas which might support the stoned ape theory. I read a few months back a book entitled 'Supernatural' by Graham Hancock, where there is much discussion about he origins of rock art, in both Africa and Europe. Hancock is influenced by South African scholar David Lewis-Williams, who has a theory known as the neuropsychological model which seeks to interpret cave paintings. It seems quite successful, and all the previous theories based on structuralism have now been fully discredited.

Research among San Bushmen has revealed that they fully understand the rock art in their region that was produced thousands of years ago, and they say it is all about altered states of consciousness attained by shamans. In their case, the shamanism is not based on substance use.
However, there are similarities between San rock art and European cave paintings. Both display entopic phenomena or phosphenes, images that are hard wired into the human brain and which occur across all cultural divides. They are a common feature during the early stages of the effects of many psychoactive substances, but can also be experienced through other means.

It's clear enough that in some way or another our remote ancestors were altering their consciousness. The only question is whether they were using psychedelics to achieve this. It's a tantalizing question I think.