View source for Biography:Terence McKenna

{{Short description|American writer}}
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{{Infobox writer <!-- For more information see :Template:Infobox Writer/doc. -->
| name          = Terence McKenna
| image         = Mckenna1.jpg
| imagesize     = 200 px
| alt           =
| caption       =
| pseudonym     =
| birth_name    =
| birth_place = Paonia, Colorado, U.S.
| death_date  = {{Death date and age|2000|4|3|1946|11|16|mf=yes}}
| death_place = San Rafael, California, U.S.
| resting_place =
| occupation    = Author, lecturer
| language      = [[Social:English language|English]]
| nationality   = American
| ethnicity     =
| citizenship   =
| education     = BSc in ecology, resource conservation, and shamanism
| alma_mater    = [[Organization:University of California, Berkeley|University of California, Berkeley]]
| period        = [[Philosophy:20th-century philosophy|20th]]
| genre         =
| subject       = [[Unsolved:Shamanism|Shamanism]], [[Biology:Ethnobotany|ethnobotany]], [[Biology:Ethnomycology|ethnomycology]], [[Philosophy:Metaphysics|metaphysics]], [[Chemistry:Psychedelic drug|psychedelic drug]]s, [[Philosophy:Alchemy|alchemy]]
| movement      =
| notableworks  = ''The Archaic Revival'', ''Food of the Gods'', ''The Invisible Landscape'', ''Psilocybin Magic Mushroom Grower's Guide'', ''True Hallucinations''.
| spouse        = Kathleen Harrison (1975–1992; divorced)
| partner       =
| children      = Finn McKenna & Klea McKenna
| relatives     = Dennis McKenna (brother)
<!-- | influences    = [[Biography:William Blake|William Blake]], Teilhard de Chardin, Riane Eisler, [[Biography:Heraclitus|Heraclitus]], [[Biography:Aldous Huxley|Aldous Huxley]], [[Biography:Marshall McLuhan|Marshall McLuhan]], Hermes Trismegistus, [[Biography:Alfred North Whitehead|Alfred North Whitehead]], ''[[Philosophy:I Ching|I Ching]]''
| influenced    = [[Biography:Ralph Abraham (mathematician)|Ralph Abraham]], [[Biography:Bill Hicks|Bill Hicks]], [[Biography:Daniel Pinchbeck|Daniel Pinchbeck]], Cliff Pickover, Tom Robbins, [[Biography:Rupert Sheldrake|Rupert Sheldrake]], RU Sirius, [[Biography:Robert Anton Wilson|Robert Anton Wilson]] -->
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'''Terence Kemp McKenna''' (November 16, 1946&nbsp;– April 3, 2000) was an American [[Biology:Ethnobotany|ethnobotanist]] and [[Philosophy:Mysticism|mystic]] who advocated the responsible use of naturally occurring psychedelic plants. He spoke and wrote about a variety of subjects, including [[Chemistry:Psychedelic drug|psychedelic drug]]s, plant-based [[Chemistry:Entheogen|entheogen]]s, [[Unsolved:Shamanism|shamanism]], [[Philosophy:Metaphysics|metaphysics]], [[Philosophy:Alchemy|alchemy]], [[Social:Language|language]], [[Philosophy:Philosophy|philosophy]], [[Social:Culture|culture]], [[Engineering:Technology|technology]], [[Biology:Environmentalism|environmentalism]], and the theoretical origins of human [[Philosophy:Consciousness|consciousness]]. He was called the "[[Biography:Timothy Leary|Timothy Leary]] of the '90s",<ref>{{cite book |last= Znamenski |first= Andrei A. |title= The Beauty of the Primitive: Shamanism and Western Imagination |year= 2007 |publisher= [[Organization:Oxford University Press|Oxford University Press]] |isbn= 978-0-19-803849-8 |page= [https://books.google.com/books?id=JFgelrgGSIMC&pg=PA138 138]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last= Horgan |first= John |title= Rational Mysticism: Spirituality Meets Science in the Search for Enlightenment |year= 2004 |publisher= Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |isbn= 978-0-547-34780-6 |page= [https://books.google.com/books?id=7dYV9UJszlUC&pg=PT188 177]}}</ref> "one of the leading authorities on the ontological foundations of shamanism",<ref name=Mavericks>{{cite book |title= Mavericks of the Mind: Conversations for the New Millennium |year= 1993 |publisher= Crossing Press |location= Freedom, CA |isbn= 978-0-89594-601-0 |pages= [https://archive.org/details/mavericksofmindc00brow/page/9 9–24] |editor1-first= David Jay |editor1-last= Brown |editor1-link= David Jay Brown |editor2-first= Rebecca McClen |editor2-last= Novick |chapter= Mushrooms, Elves And Magic |chapter-url= https://archive.org/details/mavericksofmindc00brow/page/9}}</ref> and the "intellectual voice of rave culture".<ref name="Partridge2006">{{cite book |last=Partridge |first= Christopher |author-link= Christopher Partridge |title= Reenchantment of West |chapter= Ch. 3: Cleansing the Doors of Perception: The Contemporary Sacralization of Psychedelics |series= Alternative Spiritualities, Sacralization, Popular Culture, and Occulture |volume= 2 |year= 2006 |publisher= Continuum |isbn= 978-0-567-55271-6 |page= [https://books.google.com/books?id=iIfdkgicKhIC&pg=PA113 113]}}</ref>

McKenna formulated a concept about the nature of time based on [[Fractal|fractal]] patterns he claimed to have discovered in the ''[[Philosophy:I Ching|I Ching]]'', which he called novelty theory,<ref name=Mavericks /><ref name=Jenkins /> proposing that this predicted the end of time, and a transition of consciousness in the year 2012.<ref name=Jenkins /><ref name=EsquireJacobson /><ref name=Dery21C /><ref name=ScientificAHorgan /> His promotion of novelty theory and its connection to the [[Astronomy:Maya calendar|Maya calendar]] is credited as one of the factors leading to the widespread beliefs about the [[Social:2012 phenomenon|2012 phenomenon]].<ref name= "Krupp2009"/> Novelty theory is considered [[Unsolved:Pseudoscience|pseudoscience]].<ref name=bruce/><ref name=normark/>

==Biography==

===Early life===
[[File:Paonia.JPG|thumb|left|A 2006 photograph of Paonia, Colorado, where McKenna was born]]
Terence McKenna was born and raised in Paonia, Colorado,<ref name=Jenkins /><ref name="Pinchbeck2003pp232-5">
{{cite book |last= Pinchbeck |first= Daniel |title= Breaking Open the Head: A Psychedelic Journey into the Heart of Contemporary Shamanism |year= 2003 |publisher= Broadway Books |isbn= 978-0-7679-0743-9 |pages= 231–38 |title-link= Breaking Open the Head}}
</ref><ref name="tripzine">
with Irish ancestry on his father's side of the family.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Dennis McKenna|title=The Brotherhood of the Screaming Abyss: My Life with Terence McKenna|date=2012|publisher=Polaris Publications |isbn=978-0-87839-637-5|edition=1st |type=ebook|page=71|ref= {{SfnRef|McKenna, Dennis|2012}}|}}</ref>

McKenna developed a hobby of fossil-hunting in his youth and from this he acquired a deep scientific appreciation of nature.{{Sfn|McKenna, Dennis|2012|p=115}} He also became interested in psychology at a young age, reading [[Biography:Carl Jung|Carl Jung]]'s book ''Psychology and Alchemy'' at the age of 14.<ref name=EsquireJacobson /> This was the same age McKenna first became aware of magic mushrooms, when reading an essay titled "Seeking the Magic Mushroom" which appeared in the May 13, 1957 edition of LIFE magazine.<ref name="Vice Mushroom">{{cite web |last1=Lin |first1=Tao |title=Psilocybin, the Mushroom, and Terence McKenna |url=https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/yvqqpj/psilocybin-the-mushroom-and-terence-mckenna-439 |website=Vice |access-date=12 July 2018 |date=13 August 2014}}</ref>

At age 16 McKenna moved to Los Altos, California to live with family friends for a year. He finished high school in Lancaster, California.<ref name="tripzine"/> In 1963, he was introduced to the literary world of psychedelics through ''The Doors of Perception'' and ''[[Philosophy:Heaven and Hell (essay)|Heaven and Hell]]'' by [[Biography:Aldous Huxley|Aldous Huxley]] and certain issues of ''The Village Voice'' which published articles on psychedelics.<ref name=Mavericks /><ref name="tripzine"/>

McKenna said that one of his early psychedelic experiences with morning glory seeds showed him "that there was something there worth pursuing",<ref name="tripzine"/> and in interviews he claimed to have smoked [[Biology:Cannabis (drug)|cannabis]] daily since his teens.<ref name="NYT Obit" />

===Studying and traveling===
In 1965, McKenna enrolled in the [[Organization:University of California, Berkeley|University of California, Berkeley]] and was accepted into the Tussman Experimental College.<ref name="NYT Obit"/> While in college in 1967 he began studying shamanism through the study of Tibetan folk religion.<ref name=Mavericks/>{{sfn|McKenna|1992a|pp=204–17}} That same year, which he called his "opium and [[Unsolved:Kabbalah|kabbala]] phase",<ref name=EsquireJacobson />{{sfn|McKenna|1993|p=215}} he traveled to [[Place:Jerusalem|Jerusalem]] where he met Kathleen Harrison, an ethnobotanist who later became his wife.<ref name=EsquireJacobson /><ref name="NYT Obit"/>{{sfn|McKenna|1993|p=215}}

In 1969, McKenna traveled to Nepal led by his interest in Tibetan painting and hallucinogenic [[Unsolved:Shamanism|shamanism]].{{sfn|McKenna|1993|pp=55–58}} He sought out shamans of the Tibetan Bon tradition, trying to learn more about the shamanic use of visionary plants.<ref name="Pinchbeck2003pp232-5" /> During his time there, he also studied the Tibetan language{{sfn|McKenna|1993|pp=55–58}} and worked as a [[Chemistry:Hashish|hashish]] smuggler,<ref name=EsquireJacobson /> until "one of his Bombay-to-Aspen shipments fell into the hands of U.&nbsp;S. Customs."{{sfn|McKenna|1993|pp=22–23}} He then wandered through southeast Asia viewing ruins,{{sfn|McKenna|1993|pp=22–23}} and spent time as a professional [[Biology:Butterfly|butterfly]] collector in Indonesia.<ref name=EsquireJacobson /><ref name="LA Times Obit" /><ref name=Omni1993 />

After his mother's death{{sfn|McKenna|1993|pp=1–13}} from cancer in 1970,{{sfn|McKenna|1993|p=23}} McKenna, his brother Dennis, and three friends traveled to the Colombian Amazon in search of ''oo-koo-hé'', a plant preparation containing dimethyltryptamine (DMT).<ref name=Jenkins />{{sfn|McKenna|1993|pp=1–13}}<ref name=shroom /> Instead of oo-koo-hé they found fields full of gigantic ''[[Biology:Psilocybe cubensis|Psilocybe cubensis]]'' mushrooms, which became the new focus of the expedition.<ref name=Jenkins /><ref name=EsquireJacobson /><ref name="Pinchbeck2003pp232-5" />{{sfn|McKenna|1993|pp=1–13}}<ref name=Wired /> In La Chorrera, at the urging of his brother, McKenna was the subject of a psychedelic experiment<ref name=Jenkins /> in which the brothers attempted to bond [[Chemistry:Harmine|harmine]] (harmine is another psychedelic compound they used synergistically with the mushrooms) with their own neural DNA, through the use of a set specific vocal techniques. They hypothesised this would give them access to the collective memory of the [[Biology:Human|human]] [[Biology:Species|species]], and would manifest the alchemists' Philosopher's Stone which they viewed as a "hyperdimensional union of spirit and matter".<ref name=GyusEOTR/> McKenna claimed the experiment put him in contact with "[[Philosophy:Logos|Logos]]": an informative, [[Philosophy:Divinity|divine]] voice he believed was universal to visionary religious experience.{{sfn|McKenna|1993|p=194}} McKenna also often referred to the voice as "the mushroom", and "the teaching voice" amongst other names.<ref name="Vice Mushroom" /> The voice's reputed revelations and his brother's simultaneous peculiar psychedelic experience prompted him to explore the structure of an early form of the ''I Ching'', which led to his "Novelty Theory".<ref name=Jenkins /><ref name=ScientificAHorgan />
During their stay in the Amazon, McKenna also became romantically involved with his interpreter, Ev.{{sfn|McKenna|1993|p=3}}

In 1972, McKenna returned to U.C. Berkeley to finish his studies<ref name="NYT Obit"/> and in 1975, he graduated with a degree in ecology, [[Unsolved:Shamanism|shamanism]], and conservation of natural resources.<ref name=Mavericks /><ref name= "LA Times Obit"/><ref name= "Omni1993">{{cite news |title= Terence McKenna |magazine= Omni |year= 1993 |volume= 15 |issue= 7 |pages= 69–70}}</ref> In the autumn of 1975, after parting with his girlfriend Ev earlier in the year,{{sfn|McKenna|1993|pp=205–07}} McKenna began a relationship with his future wife and the mother of his two children, Kathleen Harrison.<ref name=ScientificAHorgan>{{cite web |last= Horgan |first= John |title= Was psychedelic guru Terence McKenna goofing about 2012 prophecy? |url= http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-check/2012/06/06/was-psychedelic-guru-terence-mckenna-goofing-about-2012-prophecy/ |publisher= Scientific American |type= blog |access-date= 2014-02-05}}</ref><ref name="NYT Obit" />{{sfn|McKenna|1993|p=215}}<ref name=shroom />

Soon after graduating, McKenna and Dennis published a book inspired by their Amazon experiences, ''The Invisible Landscape: Mind, Hallucinogens and the I Ching''.<ref name=Jenkins /><ref name="NYT Obit"/><ref name=Supernatural /> The brothers' experiences in the Amazon were the main focus of McKenna's book ''True Hallucinations'', published in 1993.<ref name=Pinchbeck2003pp232-5 /> McKenna also began lecturing<ref name="NYT Obit" /> locally around Berkeley and started appearing on some underground radio stations.<ref name=EsquireJacobson />

===Psilocybin mushroom cultivation===
[[File:Psilocybin Magic Mushroom Growers Guide book cover.jpg|thumb|upright|''Psilocybin: Magic Mushroom Grower's Guide'' (1986 revised edition)]]
McKenna, along with his brother Dennis, developed a technique for cultivating psilocybin mushrooms using spores they brought to America from the [[Place:Amazon rainforest|Amazon]].<ref name="Vice Mushroom" /><ref name=shroom /><ref name=Wired />{{sfn|McKenna|1993|pp=205–07}} In 1976, the brothers published what they had learned in the book ''Psilocybin: Magic Mushroom Grower's Guide'', under the pseudonyms "O.T. Oss" and "O.N. Oeric".<ref name="Pinchbeck2003pp232-5" />{{sfn|Letcher|2007|p=278}} McKenna and his brother were the first to come up with a reliable method for cultivating [[Chemistry:Psilocybin|psilocybin]] mushrooms at home.<ref name="Pinchbeck2003pp232-5" /><ref name="NYT Obit" /><ref name=shroom /><ref name=Wired /> As ethnobiologist Jonathan Ott explains, "[the] authors adapted San Antonio's technique (for producing edible mushrooms by casing [[Biology:Mycelium|mycelial]] cultures on a rye grain [[Biology:Substrate|substrate]]; San Antonio 1971) to the production of ''Psilocybe [Stropharia] cubensis''. The new technique involved the use of ordinary kitchen implements, and for the first time the layperson was able to produce a potent entheogen in his [or her] own home, without access to sophisticated technology, equipment, or chemical supplies."<ref>{{cite book |author=Ott J. |title=Pharmacotheon: Entheogenic Drugs, their Plant Sources and History |year=1993 |page=290| publisher=Natural Products Company |location=Kennewick, Washington |isbn=978-0-9614234-3-8}}; see {{cite journal |author=San Antonio JP. |title=A laboratory method to obtain fruit from cased grain spawn of the cultivated mushroom, ''Agaricus bisporus'' |journal=Mycologia |year=1971 |volume=63 |issue=1 |pages=16–21 |jstor=3757680 |url=http://www.cybertruffle.org.uk/cyberliber/59350/0063/001/0016.htm |doi=10.2307/3757680 |pmid=5102274}}</ref> When the 1986 revised edition was published, the ''Magic Mushroom Grower's Guide'' had sold over 100,000 copies.<ref name="Pinchbeck2003pp232-5" />{{sfn|Letcher|2007|p=278}}{{sfn|McKenna|McKenna|1976|loc= Preface (revised ed.)}}

===Mid- to later life===

====Public speaking====
In the early 1980s, McKenna began to speak publicly on the topic of psychedelic drugs, becoming one of the pioneers of the psychedelic movement.<ref>{{cite book |title= Inner Paths To Outer Space: Journeys to Alien Worlds Through Psychedelics and Other Spiritual Technologies |year= 2008 |location= Rochester, VT |publisher= Inner Traditions |isbn= 978-1-59477-224-5 |page= 149 |editor1-first= Rick |editor1-last= Strassman |editor1-link= Rick Strassman |editor2-first= Slawek |editor2-last= Wojtowicz |editor3-first= Luis Eduardo |editor3-last= Luna |editor4-first= Ede |display-editors = 3 |editor4-last= Frecska |chapter= Ch. 6: Magic Mushrooms |first= Slawek |last= Wojtowicz}}</ref> His main focus was on the plant-based psychedelics such as [[Biology:Psilocybin mushroom|psilocybin mushroom]]s (which were the catalyst for his career),<ref name=Pinchbeck2003pp232-5 /> [[Chemistry:Ayahuasca|ayahuasca]], [[Biology:Cannabis (drug)|cannabis]], and the plant derivative DMT.<ref name=EsquireJacobson /> He conducted lecture tours and workshops<ref name=EsquireJacobson /> promoting natural psychedelics as a way to explore universal mysteries, stimulate the imagination, and re-establish a harmonious relationship with nature.<ref name= "Toop1993">{{cite news |last= Toop |first= David |date= February 18, 1993 |newspaper= The Times |title= Sounds like a radical vision; The Shamen and Terence McKenna |department= Rock Music}}</ref> Though associated with the [[Philosophy:New Age|New Age]] and [[Philosophy:Human Potential Movement|Human Potential Movement]]s, McKenna himself had little patience for New Age sensibilities.<ref name=Mavericks /><ref name=Dery21C /><ref name=ScientificAHorgan /><ref name= "Sharkey2000">{{cite news |last= Sharkey |first= Alix |date= April 15, 2000 |title= Terence McKenna |type= Obituary |newspaper= The Independent |page= 7}}</ref> He repeatedly stressed the importance and primacy of the "felt presence of direct experience", as opposed to [[Philosophy:Dogma|dogma]].<ref>{{cite AV media |last= McKenna |first= Terence |type= lecture |chapter= 181-McKennaErosEschatonQA |title= Psychedelia: Psychedelic Salon ALL Episodes |date= 1994 |access-date= 2014-04-11|format= MP3 |time= 32:00 |editor-last= Hagerty |editor-first= Lorenzo |url= https://archive.org/details/PsychedelicSalon-all-}}</ref>

In addition to psychedelic drugs, McKenna spoke on a wide array of subjects,<ref name=shroom /> including [[Unsolved:Shamanism|shamanism]]; [[Philosophy:Metaphysics|metaphysics]]; [[Philosophy:Alchemy|alchemy]]; [[Social:Language|language]]; culture; [[Social:Empowerment|self-empowerment]]; [[Biology:Environmentalism|environmentalism]], techno-paganism; [[Artificial intelligence|artificial intelligence]]; [[Biology:Evolution|evolution]]; extraterrestrials; science and [[Scientism|scientism]]; the Web; [[Virtual reality|virtual reality]] (which he saw as a way to artistically communicate the experience of psychedelics); and aesthetic theory, specifically about art/visual experience as ''information'' representing the significance of hallucinatory visions experienced under the influence of psychedelics.{{fact|date=July 2022}}

{{Rquote|right|It's clearly a crisis of two things: of consciousness and conditioning. These are the two things that the psychedelics attack. We have the technological power, the engineering skills to save our planet, to cure disease, to feed the hungry, to end war; But we lack the intellectual vision, the ability to change our minds. We must decondition ourselves from 10,000 years of bad behavior. And, it's not easy. |Terence McKenna, "This World...and Its Double"|<ref>{{cite video |first=Terence |last=McKenna |title=This World...and Its Double |medium=DVD |time=1:30:45 |publisher=Sound Photosynthesis |location=Mill Valley, California |date=September 11, 1993a}}</ref>}}

McKenna soon became a fixture of popular counterculture<ref name=Jenkins /><ref name=EsquireJacobson /><ref name= "Toop1993"/> with [[Biography:Timothy Leary|Timothy Leary]] once introducing him as "one of the five or six most important people on the planet"<ref>{{cite AV media |last=Leary |first=Timothy |type=Introduction to lecture by Terence McKenna |title=Psychedelia: Raw Archives of Terence McKenna Talks |chapter=Unfolding the Stone 1 |date=1992 |format=MP3 |time=2:08 |editor-last=Damer |editor-first=Bruce |url=https://archive.org/download/PsychedeliaRawArchivesOfTerenceMckennaTalks/UnfoldingTheStone1.mp3}}</ref> and with comedian [[Biography:Bill Hicks|Bill Hicks]]' referencing him in his stand-up act<ref>{{cite AV media |first=Bill |last=Hicks |author-link=Bill Hicks |year=1997 |orig-year=November 1992 – December 1993 |title=Rant in E-Minor |medium=CD and MP3 |time=0:58 |chapter=Pt. 1: Ch. 2: Gifts of Forgiveness |at=Track 8 |publisher=Rykodisc |oclc=38306915}}</ref> and building an entire routine around his ideas.<ref name=shroom /> McKenna also became a popular personality in the psychedelic rave/dance scene of the early 1990s,<ref name= "LA Times Obit"/><ref name=NobleSavage /> with frequent spoken word performances at raves and contributions to psychedelic and goa trance albums by The Shamen,<ref name=Dery21C /><ref name=shroom /><ref name= "Toop1993"/> Spacetime Continuum, Alien Project, Capsula, Entheogenic, Zuvuya, Shpongle, and Shakti Twins. In 1994 he appeared as a speaker at the Starwood Festival, documented in the book ''Tripping'' by Charles Hayes.<ref>{{cite book |title= Tripping: An Anthology of True-Life Psychedelic Adventures |last= Hayes |first= Charles |year= 2000 |publisher= Penguin |isbn= 978-1-101-15719-0 |page=1201}}</ref>

McKenna published several books in the early-to-mid-1990s including: ''The Archaic Revival''; ''Food of the Gods''; and ''True Hallucinations''.<ref name=EsquireJacobson /><ref name=Pinchbeck2003pp232-5 /><ref name= "LA Times Obit"/> Hundreds of hours of McKenna's public lectures were recorded either professionally or bootlegged and have been produced on [[Engineering:Cassette tape|cassette tape]], CD and MP3.<ref name=shroom /> Segments of his talks have gone on to be sampled by many musicians and DJ's.<ref name= "Partridge2006"/><ref name=shroom />

McKenna was a colleague and close friend of [[Chaos theory|chaos mathematician]] [[Biography:Ralph Abraham (mathematician)|Ralph Abraham]], and author and [[Biologist|biologist]] [[Biography:Rupert Sheldrake|Rupert Sheldrake]]. He conducted several public and many private debates with them from 1982 until his death.{{Sfn|Sheldrake|McKenna|Abraham|1998|loc=Preface}}{{Sfn|Sheldrake|McKenna|Abraham|1992|p=11}}<ref>{{cite web |title= The Sheldrake – McKenna – Abraham Trialogues |work= sheldrake.org |url= http://www.sheldrake.org/Trialogues/ |editor-last= Rice |editor-first= Paddy Rose |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131128060018/http://www.sheldrake.org/Trialogues/ |archive-date= November 28, 2013 |df= mdy-all}}</ref> These debates were known as ''trialogues'' and some of the discussions were later published in the books: ''Trialogues at the Edge of the West'' and ''The Evolutionary Mind''.<ref name=Mavericks />{{Sfn|Sheldrake|McKenna|Abraham|1998|loc=Preface}}

====Botanical Dimensions====
[[File:Botanical Dimensions ethnobotanical preserve in Hawaii.jpg|thumb|Botanical Dimensions ethnobotanical preserve in Hawaii.]]
In 1985, McKenna founded Botanical Dimensions with his then-wife, Kathleen Harrison.<ref name= "LA Times Obit"/><ref name= "BDP"/> Botanical Dimensions is a nonprofit ethnobotanical preserve on the Big Island of Hawaii,<ref name=Mavericks /> established to collect, protect, [[Earth:Plant propagation|propagate]], and understand plants of ethno-medical significance and their [[Social:Folklore|lore]], and appreciate, study, and educate others about plants and mushrooms felt to be significant to cultural integrity and [[Philosophy:Spirituality|spiritual]] well-being.<ref name=BDPandP>{{cite web |title=Plants and People: Our Ethnobotany Offerings |website=Botanical Dimensions |url=http://botanicaldimensions.org/#/0/14}}</ref> The {{convert|19|acre|adj=on}} botanical garden<ref name=Mavericks/> is a repository containing thousands of plants that have been used by indigenous people of the tropical regions, and includes a [[Database|database]] of information related to their purported healing properties.<ref>{{cite book |last=Nollman |first=Jim |title=Why We Garden: Cultivating a sense of place |year=1994 |publisher=[[Company:Henry Holt and Company|Henry Holt and Company]] |isbn=978-0-8050-2719-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/whywegardenculti00noll/page/181 181] |url=https://archive.org/details/whywegardenculti00noll/page/181}}</ref> McKenna was involved until 1992, when he retired from the project,<ref name=BDP>{{cite web |title=Who We Are & Library Hours/Contact Info |website=Botanical Dimensions |url=http://botanicaldimensions.org/contact-botanical-dimensions/#/0/20}}</ref> following his and Kathleen's divorce earlier in the year.<ref name="NYT Obit">{{cite news |last=Martin |first=Douglas |date=September 10, 2013 |title=Terence McKenna, 53, dies; Patron of psychedelic drugs |newspaper={{wipe|The New York Times}} |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/09/us/terence-mckenna-53-dies-patron-of-psychedelic-drugs.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm |access-date=2012-09-12}}</ref> Kathleen still manages Botanical Dimensions as its president and projects director.<ref name="BDPandP"/>

After their divorce, McKenna moved to Hawaii permanently, where he built a modernist house<ref name="NYT Obit"/> and created a [[Biology:Gene bank|gene bank]] of rare plants near his home.<ref name="LA Times Obit"/> Previously, he had split his time between Hawaii and Occidental, CA.[[File:Hanna jon 1999 mckenna terence.jpg|thumb|Terence McKenna during a panel discussion at the 1999 AllChemical Arts Conference, held at Kona, Hawaii.]]

===Death===
McKenna was a longtime sufferer of migraines, but on 22 May 1999 he began to have unusually extreme and painful headaches. He then collapsed due to a brain seizure.<ref name=Wired /> McKenna was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme, a highly aggressive form of [[Medicine:Brain tumor|brain cancer]].<ref name=Dery21C>{{cite web |first= Mark |last= Dery |title= Terence McKenna: The inner elf |url= http://www.21cmagazine.com/Terence-McKenna-The-Inner-Elf |magazine= 21•C Magazine |access-date= 2014-02-07 |year= 2001 |orig-year= 1996 |archive-url= https://archive.today/2013.11.14-214304/http://www.21cmagazine.com/Terence-McKenna-The-Inner-Elf |archive-date= November 14, 2013 |url-status= dead }}</ref><ref name="Pinchbeck2003pp232-5" /><ref name=Wired /> For the next several months he underwent various treatments, including experimental gamma knife radiation treatment. According to ''Wired'' magazine, McKenna was worried that his tumor may have been caused by his psychedelic drug use, or his 35 years of daily cannabis smoking; however, his doctors assured him there was no causal relation.<ref name=Wired>{{cite news |last= Davis |first= Erik |author-link= Erik Davis |date= May 2000 |title= Terence McKenna's last trip |volume= 8 |magazine= Wired |issue= 5 |access-date= 2013-09-10 |url= https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/8.05/mckenna.html}}</ref>

In late 1999, McKenna described his thoughts concerning his impending death to interviewer [[Biography:Erik Davis|Erik Davis]]:

{{blockquote|I always thought death would come on the freeway in a few horrifying moments, so you'd have no time to sort it out. Having months and months to look at it and think about it and talk to people and hear what they have to say, it's a kind of blessing. It's certainly an opportunity to grow up and get a grip and sort it all out. Just being told by an unsmiling guy in a white coat that you're going to be dead in four months definitely turns on the lights. ... It makes life rich and poignant. When it first happened, and I got these diagnoses, I could see the light of eternity, à la [[Biography:William Blake|William Blake]], shining through every leaf. I mean, a bug walking across the ground moved me to tears.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://techgnosis.com/terence-mckenna-vs-the-black-hole/ |title= Terence McKenna Vs. the Black Hole |first= Erik |last= Davis |website= techgnosis.com |date=January 13, 2005 |access-date=2012-09-12 |type= Excerpts from the CD, ''Terence McKenna: The Last Interview''}}</ref>}}

McKenna died on April 3, 2000, at the age of 53.<ref name=Dery21C /><ref name=ScientificAHorgan /><ref name= "NYT Obit"/>

===Library fire and insect collection===
On February 7, 2007, McKenna's library of over 3000 rare books and personal notes was destroyed in a fire at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, {{wipe|California}}. An [[Social:Collection catalog|index]] of McKenna's library was made by his brother Dennis.<ref>{{cite web |last= Frauenfelder |first= Mark |url=http://www.boingboing.net/2007/02/22/terence-mckennas-lib.html |title= Terence McKenna's library destroyed in fire |work= Boing Boing |date= February 22, 2007 |access-date= 2012-09-12 |type= group blog}}</ref><ref name="IA-techgno">{{cite web|last1=Davis|first1=Erik|title=Terence McKenna's Ex-Library|url=http://www.techgnosis.com/chunks.php?sec=journal&cat=&file=chunkfrom-2007-02-13-2307-0.txt|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121004131122/http://www.techgnosis.com/chunks.php?sec=journal&cat=&file=chunkfrom-2007-02-13-2307-0.txt|url-status=dead|archive-date=4 October 2012|publisher=Internet Archive|access-date=19 February 2018}}</ref> His daughter, the artist and photographer Klea McKenna, subsequently preserved his insect collection, turning it into a gallery installation, and then publishing it in book form as ''The Butterfly Hunter'', featuring her selected photos of 122 insects{{snd}}119 butterflies/moths and three beetles or beetle-like insects{{snd}}from a set of over 2000 he collected between 1969 and 1972, as well as maps showing his collecting routes through the rainforests of Southeast Asia and South America.<ref name="vice.com">[https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/7b7dbe/the-butterfly-hunter-by-klea-mckenna-874 'The Butterfly Hunter' by Klea McKenna] By Tao Lin, Sep 9 2014, 7:36pm, Vice</ref> McKenna had intensively studied [[Biology:Lepidoptera|Lepidoptera]] and [[Biology:Entomology|entomology]] in the 1960s, and as part of his studies hunted for butterflies primarily in Colombia and Indonesia. McKenna's insect collection was consistent with his interest in Victorian-era explorers and naturalists, and his worldview based on close observation of nature. In the 1970s, when he was still collecting, he became quite squeamish and guilt-ridden about the necessity of killing butterflies in order to collect and classify them, and that's what led him to stop his entomological studies, according to his daughter.<ref name="vice.com"/>

==Thought==

===Psychedelics===
Terence McKenna advocated the exploration of altered states of mind via the ingestion of naturally occurring psychedelic substances;<ref name=Jenkins /><ref name=Supernatural>{{cite book |first=Graham |last=Hancock |year=2006 |orig-year=2005 Hancock |title=Supernatural: Meetings with the Ancient Teachers of Mankind |location=London |publisher={{wipe|Random House}} |isbn=978-0-09-947415-9 |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=FpMhxNgf97YC&lpg=PA1&pg=PT217#v=onepage&q&f=false 556–57]}}</ref><ref name=NobleSavage/> for example, and in particular, as facilitated by the ingestion of high doses of psychedelic mushrooms,<ref name=shroom/><ref name=StametsPMOTW/> [[Chemistry:Ayahuasca|ayahuasca]], and DMT,<ref name=EsquireJacobson/> which he believed was the [[Religion:Apotheosis|apotheosis]] of the psychedelic experience.
He was less enthralled with synthetic drugs,<ref name=EsquireJacobson/> stating, "I think drugs should come from the natural world and be use-tested by shamanically orientated cultures ... one cannot predict the long-term effects of a drug produced in a laboratory."<ref name=Mavericks/>

McKenna always stressed the responsible use of psychedelic plants, saying: <blockquote>"Experimenters should be very careful. One must build up to the experience. These are bizarre dimensions of extraordinary power and beauty. There is no set rule to avoid being overwhelmed, but move carefully, reflect a great deal, and always try to map experiences back onto the history of the race and the philosophical and religious accomplishments of the species. All the compounds are potentially dangerous, and all compounds, at sufficient doses or repeated over time, involve risks. The library is the first place to go when looking into taking a new compound."{{sfn|McKenna|1992a|p=43}}</blockquote>

He also recommended, and often spoke of taking, what he called "heroic doses",<ref name=Supernatural/> which he defined as five grams of dried psilocybin mushrooms,<ref name=EsquireJacobson>{{cite magazine |first=Mark |last=Jacobson |date=June 1992 |title=Terence McKenna the brave prophet of The next psychedelic revolution, or is his cosmic egg just a little bit cracked? |magazine=Esquire |pages=107–138 |id=ESQ 1992 06 |url=https://archive.org/details/1992TerenceMcKennaEaquire}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Wadsworth |first=Jennifer |title=Federal approval brings MDMA from club to clinic |website=Metro Active |date=May 11, 2016 |publisher=Metro Silicon Valley |url=http://www.metroactive.com/features/MDMA-Molly-Drugs-Psychedelic.html |access-date=17 May 2016}}</ref> taken alone, on an empty stomach, in silent darkness, and with eyes closed.<ref name=shroom/><ref name=Wired/> He believed that when taken this way one could expect a profound visionary experience,<ref name=shroom/> believing it is only when "slain" by the power of the mushroom that the message becomes clear.<ref name=StametsPMOTW>{{cite book |first=Paul |last=Stamets |year=1996 |chapter=5. Good tips for great trips |title=Psilocybin Mushrooms of the World: An identification guide |page=[https://archive.org/details/psilocybinmushro00stam/page/n23 36] |location=Berkeley, CA |publisher=Ten Speed Press |isbn=978-0-89815-839-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/psilocybinmushro00stam |url-access=limited}}</ref>

Although McKenna avoided giving his allegiance to any one interpretation (part of his rejection of [[Philosophy:Monotheism|monotheism]]), he was open to the idea of psychedelics as being "trans-dimensional travel". He proposed that DMT sent one to a "parallel dimension"<ref name=ScientificAHorgan /> and that psychedelics literally enabled an individual to encounter "higher dimensional [[Philosophy:Non-physical entity|entities]]",{{sfn|Pinchbeck|2003|p=193}} or what could be ancestors, or spirits of the Earth,<ref name=invisible /> saying that if you can trust your own perceptions it appears that you are entering an "ecology of souls".{{sfn|Pinchbeck|2003|p=247}} McKenna also put forward the idea that psychedelics were "doorways into the Gaian mind",<ref name=NobleSavage /><ref name="Trip1993">{{cite news |last=Trip |first=Gabriel |date=May 2, 1993 |title=Tripping, but not falling |newspaper={{wipe|The New York Times}} |page=A6}}</ref> suggesting that "the planet has a kind of intelligence, it can actually open a channel of communication with an individual human being" and that the psychedelic plants were the facilitators of this communication.<ref>{{cite AV media |people=Shamen |year=1992 |title=Boss Drum |medium=CD, MP3 |time=4:50 |id=Track&nbsp;10 |chapter=Re: Evolution |publisher=Epic |oclc=27056837}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |first=Terence |last=McKenna |title=The Gaian mind |website=deoxy.org |url=http://deoxy.org/gaia/g_mind.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19990203035348/http://deoxy.org/gaia/g_mind.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=1999-02-03}} – Cut-up from the works of Terence McKenna.</ref>

====Machine elves====
McKenna spoke of hallucinations while on DMT in which he claims to have met intelligent [[Philosophy:Non-physical entity|entities]] he described as "self-transforming machine elves".<ref name=Mavericks /><ref name=ScientificAHorgan /><ref name=DMTspirit>{{cite book |author=Rick Strassman, M.D. |year=2001 |title=DMT: The Spirit Molecule: A doctor's revolutionary research into the biology of near-death and mystical experiences |publisher=Inner Traditions Bear and Company |edition=Later printing |isbn=978-0-89281-927-0 |page=[https://archive.org/details/dmtspiritmolecul00rick/page/187 187] |url=https://archive.org/details/dmtspiritmolecul00rick/page/187}}</ref>{{sfn|Pinchbeck|2003|p=213}}

====Psilocybin panspermia speculation====
In a more radical version of biophysicist [[Biography:Francis Crick|Francis Crick]]'s [[Hypothesis|hypothesis]] of directed [[Biology:Panspermia|panspermia]], McKenna speculated on the idea that psilocybin mushrooms may be a species of high intelligence,<ref name=Mavericks /> which may have arrived on this planet as spores migrating through space<ref name=ScientificAHorgan/>{{sfn|Pinchbeck|2003|p=234}} and which are attempting to establish a symbiotic relationship with human beings. He postulated that "intelligence, not life, but intelligence may have come here [to [[Astronomy:Earth|Earth]]] in this spore-bearing life form". He said, "I think that theory will probably be vindicated. I think in a hundred years if people do biology they will think it quite silly that people once thought that spores could not be blown from one star system to another by cosmic [[Astronomy:Radiation pressure|radiation pressure]]," and also believed that "few people are in a position to judge its extraterrestrial potential, because few people in the orthodox sciences have ever experienced the full spectrum of psychedelic effects that are unleashed."<ref name=Mavericks /><ref name=Dery21C />{{sfn|McKenna|1992a|pp=204–17}}

====Opposition to organized religion====
McKenna was opposed to Christianity<ref name= "Rabey1994">{{cite news |last=Rabey |first= Steve |date=August 13, 1994 |title=Instant karma: Psychedelic drug use on the rise as a quick route to spirituality |newspaper=Colorado Springs Gazette – Telegraph |page=E1}}</ref> and most forms of organized religion or [[Biography:Guru|guru]]-based forms of spiritual awakening, favouring [[Unsolved:Shamanism|shamanism]], which he believed was the broadest spiritual paradigm available, stating that:
<blockquote>What I think happened is that in the world of prehistory all religion was experiential, and it was based on the pursuit of ecstasy through plants. And at some time, very early, a group interposed itself between people and direct experience of the 'Other.' This created hierarchies, priesthoods, theological systems, castes, ritual, taboos. Shamanism, on the other hand, is an experiential science that deals with an area where we know nothing. It is important to remember that our epistemological tools have developed very unevenly in the West. We know a tremendous amount about what is going on in the heart of the atom, but we know absolutely nothing about the nature of the mind.{{sfn|McKenna|1992a|p=242}}</blockquote>

====Technological singularity====
During the final years of his life and career, McKenna became very engaged in the theoretical realm of technology. He was an early proponent of the [[Philosophy:Technological singularity|technological singularity]]<ref name=ScientificAHorgan/> and in his last recorded public talk, ''Psychedelics in the age of intelligent machines'', he outlined ties between psychedelics, computation technology, and humans.<ref name="Machines">{{cite AV media |last=McKenna |first=Terence |year=1999 |format=lecture |title=Psychedelics in the age of intelligent machines |medium=video |url=https://archive.org/details/TerenceMckenna_Seattle199Lecture}}</ref> He also became enamored with the Internet, calling it "the birth of [the] global mind",<ref name="NYT Obit"/> believing it to be a place where psychedelic culture could flourish.<ref name=Wired/>

====Admired writers====
Either philosophically or religiously, he expressed admiration for [[Biography:Marshall McLuhan|Marshall McLuhan]], [[Biography:Alfred North Whitehead|Alfred North Whitehead]], [[Biography:Pierre Teilhard de Chardin|Pierre Teilhard de Chardin]], [[Biography:Carl Jung|Carl Jung]], [[Biography:Plato|Plato]], Gnostic Christianity, and [[Philosophy:Alchemy|Alchemy]], while regarding the Greek philosopher [[Biography:Heraclitus|Heraclitus]] as his favorite philosopher.<ref name="Stone2">{{cite AV media |last=McKenna |first=Terence |format=lecture |chapter=Unfolding the Stone&nbsp;1 |title=Psychedelia: Raw Archives of Terence McKenna Talks |date=1992 |medium=MP3 |time=17:30 |editor-last=Damer |editor-first=Bruce |url=https://archive.org/download/PsychedeliaRawArchivesOfTerenceMckennaTalks/UnfoldingTheStone1.mp3}}</ref>

McKenna also expressed admiration for the works of writers including [[Biography:Aldous Huxley|Aldous Huxley]],<ref name=Mavericks /> [[Biography:James Joyce|James Joyce]], whose book ''Finnegans Wake'' he called "the quintessential work of art, or at least work of literature of the 20th century,"<ref name="SurfingFW">{{cite AV media |last=McKenna |first=Terence |format=lecture |chapter=Surfing ''Finnegans Wake'' |title=Psychedelia: Raw archives of Terence McKenna talks |date=1990–1999 |medium=MP3 |time=0:45 |editor-last=Damer |editor-first=Bruce |url=https://archive.org/download/PsychedeliaRawArchivesOfTerenceMckennaTalks/SurfingFinnegansWake.mp3}}</ref> science fiction writer [[Biography:Philip K. Dick|Philip K. Dick]], who he described as an "incredible genius,"<ref>{{cite book |last=McKenna |first=Terence |year=1991 |chapter=Afterword: I understand Philip K. Dick |title=In Pursuit of Valis: Selections from the exegesis |editor-first=Lawrence |editor-last=Sutin |publisher=Underwood-Miller |isbn=978-0-88733-091-9}} {{cite web |title=Convenience copy |website=sirbacon.org |url=http://www.sirbacon.org/dick.htm}}{{Verify source|date=January 2014}}{{copyvio link}}</ref> fabulist [[Biography:Jorge Luis Borges|Jorge Luis Borges]], with whom McKenna shared the belief that "scattered through the ordinary world there are books and artifacts and perhaps people who are like doorways into impossible realms, of impossible and contradictory truth"<ref name=ScientificAHorgan/> and Vladimir Nabokov; McKenna once said that he would have become a Nabokov lecturer if he had never encountered psychedelics.

{{anchor|Stoned ape}}
==="Stoned ape" theory of human evolution=== <!-- "Stoned Ape" "Stoned ape" "Stoned ape theory" "Stoned ape hypothesis" and "Psychedelic ape" redirect to this section -->
McKenna's hypothesis concerning the influence of psilocybin mushrooms on human evolution is known as "the 'stoned ape' theory."<ref name="Vice Mushroom" /><ref name="NobleSavage">{{cite book |title= War and the Noble Savage: A Critical Inquiry Into Recent Accounts of Violence Amongst Uncivilized Peoples |year= 2009 |location= London |publisher= Dreamflesh |isbn= 978-0-9554196-1-4 |pages= [https://books.google.com/books?id=a9uCXbV90vMC&pg=PA63 63–66] |author= Gyrus|chapter= Appendix II: The Stoned Ape Hypothesis}}</ref><ref name=Telegraph8thingsMush />

In his 1992 book ''Food of the Gods'', McKenna proposed that the transformation from humans' early ancestors ''[[Biology:Homo erectus|Homo erectus]]'' to the species ''Homo sapiens'' mainly had to do with the addition of the mushroom ''[[Biology:Psilocybe cubensis|Psilocybe cubensis]]'' in the diet,<ref name=shroom /><ref name=Telegraph8thingsMush />{{sfn|McKenna|1992b|pp=56–60}} an event that according to his theory took place in about 100,000 BCE (which is when he believed that the species diverged from the genus ''[[Biology:Homo|Homo]]'').<ref name= "LA Times Obit">{{cite news |title= Terence McKenna; Promoter of psychedelic drug use |date= April 7, 2000 |newspaper= {{wipe|Los Angeles Times}} |page= B6}}</ref>{{sfn|McKenna|1992b|p=54}} McKenna based his theory on the main effects, or alleged effects, produced by the mushroom<ref name=Mavericks /> while citing studies by [[Biography:Roland L. Fischer|Roland Fischer]] et al. from the late 1960s to early 1970s.<ref>{{cite journal |last1= Fischer |first1= Roland |last2= Hill |first2= Richard |first3= Karen |last3= Thatcher |first4= James |last4= Scheib |year= 1970 |title= Psilocybin-Induced contraction of nearby visual space |journal= Agents and Actions |volume= 1 |issue= 4 |pages= 190–97 |pmid= 5520365 |doi= 10.1007/BF01965761|s2cid= 8321037 }}</ref>{{sfn|McKenna|1992b|p=57}}

McKenna stated that, due to the [[Earth:Desertification|desertification]] of the African continent at that time, human forerunners were forced from the increasingly shrinking tropical [[Biology:Canopy|canopy]] into search of new food sources.<ref name=EsquireJacobson /> He believed they would have been following large herds of wild cattle whose dung harbored the insects that, he proposed, were undoubtedly part of their new diet, and would have spotted and started eating ''[[Biology:Psilocybe cubensis|Psilocybe cubensis]]'', a dung-loving mushroom often found growing out of cowpats.<ref name=EsquireJacobson /><ref name=Dery21C /><ref name=NobleSavage />{{sfn|Znamenski|2007|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=JFgelrgGSIMC&pg=PA138 138–39]}}

[[File:Psilocybe Cubensis.JPG|thumb|left|Psilocybe cubensis: the psilocybin-containing mushroom central to McKenna's "stoned ape" theory of human evolution.]]

McKenna's hypothesis was that low doses of psilocybin improve [[Biology:Visual acuity|visual acuity]], particularly edge detection, meaning that the presence of psilocybin in the diet of early pack hunting [[Biology:Primates|primates]] caused the individuals who were consuming psilocybin mushrooms to be better hunters than those who were not, resulting in an increased food supply and in turn a higher rate of reproductive success.<ref name=Mavericks /><ref name=Dery21C /><ref name="Vice Mushroom" /><ref name=shroom /><ref name=NobleSavage /> Then at slightly higher doses, he contended, the mushroom acts to sexually arouse, leading to a higher level of attention, more energy in the organism, and potential [[Medicine:Erection|erection]] in the males,<ref name=Mavericks /><ref name=Dery21C /> rendering it even more evolutionarily beneficial, as it would result in more [[Biology:Offspring|offspring]].<ref name=shroom /><ref name=NobleSavage />{{sfn|McKenna|1992b|pp=56–60}} At even higher doses, McKenna proposed that the mushroom would have acted to "dissolve boundaries," promoting community bonding and group sexual activities.<ref name=Pinchbeck2003pp232-5 /><ref name=NobleSavage /> Consequently, there would be a mixing of genes, greater [[Biology:Genetic diversity|genetic diversity]], and a communal sense of responsibility for the group offspring.{{sfn|McKenna|1992b|p=59}} At these higher doses, McKenna also argued that psilocybin would be triggering activity in the "language-forming region of the brain", manifesting as music and [[Unsolved:Vision (spirituality)|visions]],<ref name=Mavericks /> thus catalyzing the emergence of language in early hominids by expanding "their arboreally evolved repertoire of troop signals."<ref name=Dery21C /><ref name=shroom /> He also pointed out that psilocybin would dissolve the [[Philosophy:Id, ego and super-ego|ego]] and "religious concerns would be at the forefront of the [[Social:Tribe|tribe]]'s [[Philosophy:Consciousness|consciousness]], simply because of the power and strangeness of the experience itself."<ref name=NobleSavage />{{sfn|McKenna|1992b|p=59}}

According to McKenna, access to and [[Biology:Ingestion|ingestion]] of mushrooms was an evolutionary advantage to humans' omnivorous [[Biology:Hunter-gatherer|hunter-gatherer]] ancestors,<ref name=shroom />{{sfn|Znamenski|2007|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=JFgelrgGSIMC&pg=PA138 138–39]}} also providing humanity's first religious impulse.{{sfn|Znamenski|2007|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=JFgelrgGSIMC&pg=PA138 138–39]}}{{sfn|Pinchbeck|2003|p=194}} He believed that psilocybin mushrooms were the "evolutionary catalyst"<ref name=Mavericks /> from which language, projective imagination, the arts, religion, philosophy, science, and all of human culture sprang.<ref name=Dery21C /><ref name=ScientificAHorgan /><ref name=Wired />{{sfn|Znamenski|2007|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=JFgelrgGSIMC&pg=PA138 138–39]}}

====Criticism====
McKenna's "stoned ape" theory has not received attention from the scientific community and has been criticized for a relative lack of citation to any of the [[Biology:Paleoanthropology|paleoanthropological]] evidence informing our understanding of human origins. His ideas regarding psilocybin and visual acuity have been criticized as misrepresentations of Fischer et al.'s findings, who published studies about [[Philosophy:Visual perception|visual perception]] in terms of various specific parameters, not acuity. Criticism has also been expressed because, in a separate study on psilocybin-induced transformation of [[Physics:Visual space|visual space]], Fischer et al. stated that psilocybin "may not be conducive to the survival of the organism". There is also a lack of scientific evidence that psilocybin increases sexual arousal, and even if it does, it does not necessarily entail an evolutionary advantage.<ref name=AkersApes /> Others have pointed to civilisations such as the Aztecs, who used psychedelic mushrooms (at least among the Priestly class), that didn't reflect McKenna's model of how psychedelic-using cultures would behave, for example, by carrying out human sacrifice.<ref name=Pinchbeck2003pp232-5 /> There are also examples of Amazonian tribes such as the Jivaro and the Yanomami who use [[Chemistry:Ayahuasca|ayahuasca]] [[Social:Ceremony|ceremoniously]] and who are known to engage in violent behaviour. This, it has been argued, indicates the use of psychedelic plants does not necessarily suppress the ego and create harmonious societies.<ref name=NobleSavage />

===Archaic revival===
One of the main themes running through McKenna's work, and the title of his second book, was the idea that Western civilization was undergoing what he called an "archaic revival".<ref name=Mavericks /><ref name=shroom /><ref>{{cite book |title= Tripping: An Anthology of True-Life Psychedelic Adventures |last= Hayes |first= Charles |chapter=Introduction: The Psychedelic [in] Society: A Brief Cultural History of Tripping |page=14 |year= 2000 |publisher= Penguin |isbn= 978-1-101-15719-0}}</ref>

His notion was that Western society has become "sick" and is undergoing a "healing process": In the same way that the human body begins to produce [[Biology:Antibodies|antibodies]] when it feels itself to be sick, humanity as a collective whole (in the Jungian sense) was creating "strategies for overcoming the condition of disease" and trying to cure itself, by what he termed as "a reversion to archaic values." McKenna pointed to phenomena including surrealism, abstract expressionism, body piercing and tattooing, [[Chemistry:Psychedelic drug|psychedelic drug]] use, sexual permissiveness, jazz, experimental dance, rave culture, rock and roll and [[Catastrophe theory|catastrophe theory]], amongst others, as his evidence that this process was underway.<ref>{{cite AV media |last= McKenna |first= Terence |type= lecture |chapter= 181-McKennaErosEschatonQA |title= Psychedelia: Psychedelic Salon ALL Episodes |date= 1994 |access-date= 2014-04-11| format= MP3 |time= 49:10 |editor-last= Hagerty |editor-first= Lorenzo |url= https://archive.org/details/PsychedelicSalon-all-}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title= The Importance of Human Beings (a.k.a Eros and the Eschaton) |first= Terence |last= McKenna |url= http://www.matrixmasters.net/podcasts/TRANSCRIPTS/TMcK-ImportanceHumanBeings.html |website= matrixmasters.net}}</ref><ref>{{cite AV media |author1= Spacetime Continuum |last2= McKenna |first2= Terence |last3= Kent |first3= Stephen |author-link3= Stephen Kent (musician) |others= Visuals by Rose-X Media House |year= 2003 |orig-year= 1993 |title= Alien Dreamtime |url= http://deoxy.org/t_adt.htm#arc |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/19970706120819/http://www.deoxy.org/t_adt.htm#arc |url-status= dead |archive-date= 1997-07-06 |access-date= 2014-02-01 |format= DVD, CD and MP3 |time= 3:08 |chapter= Archaic Revival |at= Track 1 |publisher= Magic Carpet Media: Astralwerks |oclc= 80061092}}</ref> This idea is linked to McKenna's "stoned ape" theory of human evolution, with him viewing the "archaic revival" as an impulse to return to the symbiotic and blissful relationship he believed humanity once had with the psilocybin mushroom.<ref name=shroom />

In differentiating his idea from the "[[Philosophy:New Age|New Age]]", a term that he felt trivialized the significance of the next phase in human evolution, McKenna stated that: "The New Age is essentially [[Medicine:Humanistic psychology|humanistic psychology]] '80s-style, with the addition of neo-shamanism, channeling, crystal and herbal healing. The archaic revival is a much larger, more global phenomenon that assumes that we are recovering the social forms of the late [[History:Neolithic|neolithic]], and reaches far back in the 20th century to Freud, to surrealism, to abstract expressionism, even to a phenomenon like National Socialism which is a negative force. But the stress on ritual, on organized activity, on race/ancestor-consciousness – these are themes that have been worked out throughout the entire 20th century, and the archaic revival is an expression of that."<ref name=Mavericks />{{sfn|McKenna|1992a|pp=204–17}}

===Novelty theory and Timewave Zero===
Novelty theory is a pseudoscientific idea{{r|bruce}}{{r|normark}} that purports to predict the ebb and flow of novelty in the universe as an inherent quality of time, proposing that time is not a constant but has various qualities tending toward either "habit" or "novelty".<ref name=Jenkins /> Habit, in this context, can be thought of as entropic, repetitious, or conservative; and novelty as [[Philosophy:Creativity|creative]], disjunctive, or progressive phenomena.<ref name=ScientificAHorgan /> McKenna's idea was that the [[Astronomy:Universe|universe]] is an engine designed for the production and conservation of novelty and that as novelty increases, so does [[Complexity|complexity]]. With each level of complexity achieved becoming the platform for a further ascent into complexity.<ref name=ScientificAHorgan />

[[File:King Wen (I Ching).png|thumb| The 64 hexagrams from the King Wen sequence of the ''I Ching''.]]

The basis of the theory was originally conceived in the mid-1970s after McKenna's experiences with psilocybin mushrooms at La Chorrera in the Amazon led him to closely study the King Wen sequence of the ''[[Philosophy:I Ching|I Ching]]''.<ref name=Jenkins /><ref name=EsquireJacobson /><ref name=Wired />

In Asian Taoist philosophy the concept of opposing phenomena is represented by the [[Yin and yang|yin and yang]]. Both are always present in everything, yet the amount of influence of each varies over time. The individual lines of the ''I Ching'' are made up of both Yin (broken lines) and Yang (solid lines).

When examining the King Wen sequence of the 64 hexagrams, McKenna noticed a pattern. He analysed the "degree of difference" between the hexagrams in each successive pair and claimed he found a statistical anomaly, which he believed suggested that the King Wen sequence was intentionally constructed,<ref name=Jenkins /> with the sequence of hexagrams ordered in a highly structured and artificial way, and that this pattern codified the nature of time's flow in the world.<ref name=GyusEOTR/> With the degrees of difference as numerical values, McKenna worked out a mathematical wave form based on the 384 lines of change that make up the 64 hexagrams. He was able to [[Graph of a function|graph]] the data and this became the ''Novelty Time Wave''.<ref name=Jenkins />

[[File:Screenshot of Timewave Zero software.png|thumb|A screenshot of the ''Timewave Zero'' software (written by Peter J. Meyer) showing the timewave for the 25 years preceding a zero date of December 21, 2012.]]

Peter J. Meyer (Peter Johann Gustav Meyer) (born 1946), in collaboration with McKenna, studied and improved the foundations of novelty theory, working out a mathematical [[Formula|formula]] and developing the ''Timewave Zero'' software (the original version of which was completed by July 1987),<ref>United States Copyright Office [http://cocatalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?Search_Arg=TXu000288739&Search_Code=REGS&PID=On67hJJKiUHbTI8fcg4Vui7_w&SEQ=20160922183840&CNT=25&HIST=1 Title=Timewave zero. Copyright Number: TXu000288739  Date: 1987]</ref> enabling them to graph and explore its dynamics on a computer.<ref name="Jenkins">{{cite book |last= Jenkins |first= John Major |title= The 2012 Story: The Myths, Fallacies, and Truth Behind the Most Intriguing Date in History |chapter= Early 2012 Books McKenna and Waters |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=M4Z5xOx1INcC&pg=PT76 |publisher= [[Company:Penguin Group|Penguin]] |year= 2009 |isbn= 978-1-101-14882-2}}</ref><ref name=Dery21C /> The graph was [[Fractal|fractal]]: It exhibited a pattern in which a given small section of the wave was found to be identical in form to a larger section of the wave.<ref name=Mavericks /><ref name=Jenkins /> McKenna called this fractal modeling of time "temporal resonance", proposing it implied that larger intervals, occurring long ago, contained the same amount of information as shorter, more recent, intervals.<ref name=Jenkins />{{sfn|McKenna|1992a|pp=104–13}} He suggested the up-and-down pattern of the wave shows an ongoing wavering between habit and novelty respectively. With each successive [[Iteration|iteration]] trending, at an increasing level, towards infinite novelty. So according to novelty theory, the pattern of time itself is speeding up, with a requirement of the theory being that infinite novelty will be reached on a specific date.<ref name=Mavericks /><ref name=Jenkins />

McKenna believed that notable events in history could be identified that would help him locate the time wave's end date<ref name=Jenkins /> and attempted to find the best-fit placement when matching the graph to the data field of human history.<ref name=Dery21C /> The last [[Physics:Harmonic|harmonic]] of the wave has a duration of 67.29 years.<ref name="Dynamics of Hyperspace" /> Population growth, peak oil, and pollution statistics were some of the factors that pointed him to an early twenty-first century end date and when looking for an extremely novel event in human history as a signal that the final phase had begun McKenna picked the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.<ref name=Jenkins /><ref name="Dynamics of Hyperspace">{{cite web |first1= Ralph |last1= Abraham |first2= Terence |last2= McKenna |url= http://www.ralph-abraham.org/talks/transcripts/hyperspace.html |title= Dynamics of Hyperspace |location=Santa Cruz, CA |date= June 1983 |website= ralph-abraham.org |access-date= 2009-10-14}}</ref> This worked out to the graph reaching zero in mid-November 2012. When he later discovered that the end of the 13th baktun in the [[Astronomy:Maya calendar|Maya calendar]] had been correlated by Western Maya scholars as December 21, 2012,{{efn|Most Mayanist scholars, such as Mark Van Stone and Anthony Aveni, adhere to the "GMT (Goodman-Martinez-Thompson) correlation" with the Long Count, which places the start date at 11 August 3114&nbsp;BC and the end date of b'ak'tun 13 at December 21, 2012.<ref>{{cite web |title= Who's Who in the Classic Maya World |publisher= Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies |url= http://research.famsi.org/whos_who/christian_dates.htm |first= Peter |last= Matthews |year= 2005 |access-date= 2011-04-13}}</ref> This date was also the overwhelming preference of those who believed in 2012 eschatology, arguably, Van Stone suggests, because it was a solstice, and was thus astrologically significant. Some Mayanist scholars, such as Michael D. Coe, Linda Schele and Marc Zender, adhere to the "Lounsbury/GMT+2" correlation, which sets the start date at August 13 and the end date at December 23. Which of these is the precise correlation has yet to be conclusively settled.<ref>{{Cite web |title= Questions and comments |first= Mark |last= Van Stone |publisher= Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies |website= famsi.org |url= http://www.famsi.org/research/vanstone/2012/comments.html |access-date= 2010-09-06}}</ref> Coe's initial date was "24 December 2011." He revised it to "11 January AD 2013" in the 1980 2nd edition of his book,<ref>{{cite book |last= Coe |first= Michael D. |year= 1980 |title= The Maya |series= Ancient Peoples and Places |volume= 10 |edition= 2nd |location= London |publisher= Thames and Hudson |page= 151 }}</ref> not settling on December 23, 2012 until the 1984 3rd edition.<ref>{{cite book |last= Coe |first= Michael D. |year= 1984 |title= The Maya |series= Ancient Peoples and Places |edition= 3rd |location= London |publisher= Thames and Hudson }}</ref> The correlation of b'ak'tun 13 as December 21, 2012 first appeared in Table B.2 of Robert J. Sharer's 1983 revision of the 4th edition of Sylvanus Morley's book ''The Ancient Maya''.<ref>{{cite book |last= Morley |first= Sylvanus |year= 1983 |title= The Ancient Maya |url= https://archive.org/details/ancientmaya00morl_0 |url-access= registration |edition= 4th |location= Palo Alto, CA |publisher= Stanford University Press |page= [https://archive.org/details/ancientmaya00morl_0/page/603 603], Table B2|isbn= 9780804711371 }}</ref>}} he adopted their end date instead.<ref name=Jenkins /><ref name="skepsis"/>{{efn|The 1975 first edition of McKenna's ''The Invisible Landscape'' refers to 2012 (but no specific day during the year) only twice. In the 1993 second edition, McKenna employed December 21, 2012 throughout, the date arrived at by the Mayanist researcher Robert J. Sharer.<ref name="skepsis"/>}}

McKenna saw the [[Astronomy:Universe|universe]], in relation to novelty theory, as having a teleological [[Attractor|attractor]] at the [[Unsolved:Eschatology|end of time]],<ref name=Jenkins /> which increases interconnectedness and would eventually reach a singularity of infinite complexity. He also frequently referred to this as "the [[Religion:Transcendence|transcendental]] object at the end of time."<ref name=Jenkins /><ref name=Dery21C /> When describing this model of the universe he stated that: "The universe is not being pushed from behind. The universe is being pulled from the future toward a goal that is as inevitable as a [[Chemistry:Marble|marble]] reaching the bottom of a bowl when you release it up near the rim. If you do that, you know the marble will roll down the side of the bowl, down, down, down – until eventually it comes to rest at the lowest energy state, which is the bottom of the bowl. That's precisely my model of human history. I'm suggesting that the universe is pulled toward a complex attractor that exists ahead of us in time, and that our ever-accelerating speed through the phenomenal world of connectivity and novelty is based on the fact that we are now very, very close to the attractor."<ref>{{cite news |last= McKenna |first= Terence |title= Approaching Timewave Zero |url= http://www.fractal-timewave.com/articles/approaching_twz.htm |magazine= Magical Blend |issue= 44 |date= 1994|access-date= 15 June 2015}}{{verify source|type=reprint|date=February 2014}}{{copyvio link}}</ref> Therefore, according to McKenna's final interpretation of the data and positioning of the graph, on December 21, 2012, we would have been in the unique position in time where maximum novelty would be experienced.<ref name=Mavericks /><ref name=Jenkins /><ref name=Wired /> An event he described as a "concrescence",<ref name=Pinchbeck2003pp232-5 /> a "tightening 'gyre'" with everything flowing together. Speculating that "when the laws of physics are obviated, the universe disappears, and what is left is the tightly bound plenum, the [[Philosophy:Monad|monad]], able to express itself for itself, rather than only able to cast a shadow into physis as its reflection...It will be the entry of our species into 'hyperspace', but it will appear to be the end of physical laws, accompanied by the release of the mind into the imagination."{{sfn|McKenna|1992a|p=101}}

Novelty theory is considered to be pseudoscience.{{r|bruce}}{{r|normark}} Among the criticisms are the use of [[Unsolved:Numerology|numerology]] to derive dates of important events in world history,{{r|normark}} the arbitrary rather than calculated end date of the time wave<ref name=shroom /> and the apparent adjustment of the eschaton from November 2012 to December 2012 in order to coincide with the Maya calendar. Other purported dates do not fit the actual time frames: the date claimed for the emergence of ''Homo sapiens'' is inaccurate by 70,000 years, and the existence of the ancient Sumer and Egyptian civilisations contradict the date he gave for the beginning of "historical time". Some projected dates have been criticised for having seemingly arbitrary labels, such as the "height of the age of mammals"{{r|normark}} and McKenna's analysis of historical events has been criticised for having a eurocentric and [[Philosophy:Cultural bias|cultural bias]].<ref name=EsquireJacobson /><ref name=shroom />

====The Watkins Objection====
The British mathematician Matthew Watkins of Exeter University conducted a mathematical analysis of the ''Time Wave'', and claimed there were various mathematical flaws in its construction.<ref name=shroom />

==Critical reception==
One expert on drug treatment attacked McKenna for popularizing "dangerous substances." Judy Corman, vice president of Phoenix House of New York, a drug treatment center, said in a letter to ''{{wipe|The New York Times}}'' in 1993: "Surely the fact that Terence McKenna says that the psilocybin mushroom 'is the megaphone used by an alien, intergalactic Other to communicate with mankind' is enough for us to wonder if taking LSD has done something to his mental faculties."<ref name="NYT Obit"/>

"I suffered hallucinatory agonies of my own while reading his shrilly ecstatic prose," Peter Conrad wrote in ''The New York Times'' in a 1993 review of McKenna's book ''True Hallucinations''.<ref name="NYT Obit"/>

[[Organization:Harvard University|Harvard University]] biologist Richard Evans Schultes wrote in ''American Scientist,'' in a 1993 review of McKenna's ''Food of the Gods'', that the book was "a masterpiece of research and writing" and that it "should be read by every specialist working in the multifarious fields involved with the use of psychoactive drugs." Concluding that, "[i]t is, without question, destined to play a major role in our future considerations of the role of the ancient use of psychoactive drugs, the historical shaping of our modern concerns about drugs and perhaps about man's desire for escape from reality with drugs."<ref name="American scientist food of the gods review">{{cite news |last= Schultes |first= Richard Evans |title= Food of the Gods: The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge by Terence McKenna |department= Life Sciences |type= Book review |magazine= American Scientist |year= 1993 |volume= 81 |issue= 5 |pages= 489–90 |jstor= 29775027}}</ref>

John Horgan, in a 2012 blog post for ''Scientific American,'' also commented that ''Food of the Gods'' was "a rigorous argument...that mind-expanding plants and fungi catalyzed the transformation of our brutish ancestors into cultured modern humans."<ref name=ScientificAHorgan />

"To write him off as a crazy hippie is a rather lazy approach to a man not only full of fascinating ideas but also blessed with a sense of humor and self-parody," Tom Hodgkinson wrote in ''The New Statesman and Society'' in 1994.<ref name="NYT Obit"/>

Mark Jacobson said of ''True Hallucinations'', in a 1992 issue of ''Esquire Magazine'' that, "it would be hard to find a drug narrative more compellingly perched on a baroquely romantic limb than this passionate Tom-and-Huck-ride-great-mother-river-saga of brotherly bonding," adding "put simply, Terence is a hoot!"<ref name=EsquireJacobson />

''Wired'' called him a "charismatic talking head" who was "brainy, eloquent, and hilarious"<ref name=Wired/> and Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead also said that he was "the only person who has made a serious effort to objectify the psychedelic experience."<ref name= "NYT Obit"/>

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book |year= 1975 |title= The Invisible Landscape: Mind, Hallucinogens, and the I Ching |last1= McKenna |first1= Terence |last2= McKenna |first2= Dennis |location= New York |publisher= Seabury |isbn= 978-0-8164-9249-7}}
* {{cite book |year= 1976 |title= Psilocybin: Magic Mushroom Grower's Guide |last1= McKenna |first1= Terence |last2= McKenna |first2= Dennis |others= Under the pseudonyms OT Oss and ON Oeric |publisher= And/Or Press |isbn= 978-0-915904-13-6 |location= Berkeley, CA}}
* {{cite book |year= 1991 |last= McKenna |first= Terence |title= The Archaic Revival: Speculations on Psychedelic Mushrooms, the Amazon, Virtual Reality, UFOs, Evolution, Shamanism, the Rebirth of the Goddess, and the End of History |publisher= Harper San Francisco |location= San Francisco |isbn= 978-0-06-250613-9 |url= https://archive.org/details/archaicrevivalsp00mcke}}
* {{cite book |year= 1992a |title= Food of the Gods: The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge – A Radical History of Plants, Drugs, and Human Evolution |last= McKenna |first= Terence |location= New York |publisher= Bantam |isbn= 978-0-553-07868-8}}
* {{cite book |year= 1992b |title= Synesthesia |others= Illustrated by Ely, Timothy C. |last= McKenna |first= Terence |publisher= Granary Books |location= New York |oclc= 30473682}}
* {{cite book |year= 1992 |title= Trialogues at the Edge of the West: Chaos, Creativity, and the Resacralization of the World |first1= Rupert  |last1= Sheldrake |last2= McKenna |first2= Terence |first3= Ralph H. |last3= Abraham  |others= Forward by Houston, Jean |publisher= Bear & Company |isbn= 978-0-939680-97-9}}
* {{cite book |year= 1993 |title= True Hallucinations: Being an Account of the Author's Extraordinary Adventures in the Devil's Paradise |publisher= Harper San Francisco |location= San Francisco |last= McKenna |first= Terence |isbn= 978-0-06-250545-3 |url= https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780062505453}}
* {{cite book |year= 1998 |title= The Evolutionary Mind: Conversations on Science, Imagination & Spirit |first1= Rupert  |last1= Sheldrake |last2= McKenna |first2= Terence |first3= Ralph H. |last3= Abraham  |publisher= Monkfish Book Publishing |isbn= 978-0-9749359-7-3}}

==Spoken word==
* ''History Ends in Green: Gaia, Psychedelics and the Archaic Revival'', 6 audiocassette set, Mystic Fire audio, 1993, {{ISBN|978-1-56176-907-0}} (recorded at the Esalen Institute, 1989)
* ''TechnoPagans at the End of History'' (transcription of rap with [[Biography:Mark Pesce|Mark Pesce]] from 1998)
* ''Psychedelics in the Age of Intelligent Machines'' (1999) (DVD) HPX/SurrealStudio
* ''Conversations on the Edge of Magic'' (1994) (CD & Cassette) ACE
* ''Rap-Dancing into the Third Millennium'' (1994) (Cassette) (Re-issued on CD as ''The Quintessential Hallucinogen'') ACE
* ''Packing For the Long Strange Trip'' (1994) (Audio Cassette) ACE
* ''Global Perspectives and Psychedelic Poetics'' (1994) (Cassette) Sound Horizons Audio-Video, Inc.
* ''The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge'' (1992) (Cassette) Sounds True
* ''The Psychedelic Society'' (DVD & Video Cassette) Sound Photosynthesis
* ''True Hallucinations Workshop'' (Audio/Video Cassette) Sound Photosynthesis
* ''The Vertigo at History's Edge: Who Are We? Where Have We Come From? Where Are We Going?'' (DVD & Video/Audio Cassette) Sound Photosynthesis
* ''Ethnobotany and Shamanism'' (DVD & Video/Audio Cassette) Sound Photosynthesis
* ''Shamanism, Symbiosis and Psychedelics Workshop'' (Audio/Video Cassette) Sound Photosynthesis
* ''Shamanology'' (Audio Cassette) Sound Photosynthesis
* ''Shamanology of the Amazon (w/ Nicole Maxwell)'' (Audio/Video Cassette) Sound Photosynthesis
* ''Beyond Psychology'' (1983) (Audio Cassette) Sound Photosynthesis
* ''Understanding & the Imagination in the Light of Nature Parts 1 & 2'' (DVD & Video/Audio Cassette) Sound Photosynthesis
* ''Ethnobotany (a complete course given at The [[Organization:California Institute of Integral Studies|California Institute of Integral Studies]])'' (Audio Cassette) Sound Photosynthesis
* ''Non-ordinary States of Reality Through Vision Plants'' (Audio Cassette) Sound Photosynthesis
* ''Mind & Time, Spirit & Matter: The Complete Weekend in Santa Fe'' (Audio/Video Cassette) Sound Photosynthesis
* ''Forms and Mysteries: Morphogenetic Fields and Psychedelic Experiences (w/ [[Biography:Rupert Sheldrake|Rupert Sheldrake]])'' (DVD & Video/Audio Cassette) Sound Photosynthesis
* ''UFO: The Inside Outsider'' (DVD & Video/Audio Cassette) Sound Photosynthesis
* ''A Calendar for The Goddess'' (DVD & Video/Audio Cassette) Sound Photosynthesis
* ''A Magical Journey: Including Hallucinogens and Culture, Time and The I Ching, and The Human Future'' (Video Cassette) TAP/Sound Photosynthesis
* ''Aliens and Archetypes'' (Video Cassette) TAP/Sound Photosynthesis
* ''Angels, Aliens and Archetypes 1987 Symposium: Shamanic Approaches to the UFO, and Fairmont Banquet Talk'' (DVD & Video/Audio Cassette) Sound Photosynthesis
* ''Botanical Dimensions'' (Audio Cassette) Sound Photosynthesis
* ''Conference on Botanical Intelligence (w/ Joan Halifax, Andy Weil, & Dennis McKenna)'' (Audio Cassette) Sound Photosynthesis
* ''Coping With Gaia's Midwife Crisis'' (Audio Cassette) Sound Photosynthesis
* ''Dreaming Awake at the End of Time'' (DVD & Video/Audio Cassette) Sound Photosynthesis
* ''Evolving Times'' (DVD, CD & Video/Audio Cassette) Sound Photosynthesis
* ''Food of the Gods'' (Audio/Video Cassette) Sound Photosynthesis
* ''Food of the Gods 2: Drugs, Plants and Destiny'' (Video Cassette) Sound Photosynthesis
* ''Hallucinogens in Shamanism & Anthropology at Bridge Psychedelic Conf.1991 (w/ Ralph Metzner, Marlene Dobkin De Rios, Allison Kennedy & Thomas Pinkson)'' (Audio Cassette) Sound Photosynthesis
* ''Finale – Bridge Psychedelic Conf.1991'' (Audio/Video Cassette) Sound Photosynthesis
* ''Man and Woman at the End of History (w/ Riane Eisler)'' (Audio Cassette) Sound Photosynthesis
* ''Plants, Consciousness, and Transformation'' (1995) (Audio Cassette) Sound Photosynthesis
* ''Metamorphosis (w/ [[Biography:Rupert Sheldrake|Rupert Sheldrake]] & [[Biography:Ralph Abraham (mathematician)|Ralph Abraham]])'' (1995) (Video Cassette) Mystic Fire/Sound Photosynthesis
* ''Nature is the Center of the Mandala'' (Audio Cassette) Sound Photosynthesis
* ''Opening the Doors of Creativity'' (1990) (DVD & Video/Audio Cassette) Sound Photosynthesis
* ''Places I Have Been'' (CD & Audio Cassette) Sound Photosynthesis
* ''Plants, Visions and History Lecture'' (Audio/Video Cassette) Sound Photosynthesis
* ''Psychedelics Before and After History'' (DVD & Video/Audio Cassette) Sound Photosynthesis
* ''Sacred Plants As Guides: New Dimensions of the Soul (at the Jung Society Clairemont, California)'' (DVD & Video/Audio Cassette) Sound Photosynthesis
* ''Seeking the Stone'' (Video Cassette) Sound Photosynthesis
* ''Shamanism: Before and Beyond History – A Weekend at Ojai (w/ Ralph Metzner)'' (Audio/Video Cassette) Sound Photosynthesis
* ''Shedding the Monkey'' (Audio Cassette) Sound Photosynthesis
* ''State of the Stone '95'' (Audio Cassette) Sound Photosynthesis
* ''The Ethnobotany of Shamanism Introductory Lecture: The Philosophical Implications of Psychobotony: Past, Present and Future (at [[Organization:California Institute of Integral Studies|CIIS]])'' (Audio/Video Cassette) Sound Photosynthesis
* ''The Ethnobotany of Shamanism Workshop: Psychedelics Before and After History (at [[Organization:California Institute of Integral Studies|CIIS]])'' (Audio Cassette) Sound Photosynthesis
* ''The Grammar of Ecstasy – the World Within the Word'' (Audio Cassette) Sound Photosynthesis
* ''The Light at the End of History'' (Audio/Video Cassette) Sound Photosynthesis
* ''The State of the Stone Address: Having Archaic and Eating it Too'' (Audio Cassette) Sound Photosynthesis
* ''The Taxonomy of Illusion (at UC Santa Cruz)'' (DVD & Video/Audio Cassette) Sound Photosynthesis
* ''This World ...and Its Double'' (DVD & Video/Audio Cassette) Sound Photosynthesis
* ''Trialogues at the Edge of the Millennium (w/ [[Biography:Rupert Sheldrake|Rupert Sheldrake]] & [[Biography:Ralph Abraham (mathematician)|Ralph Abraham]]) (at UC Santa Cruz)'' (1998) (Video Cassette) Trialogue Press

==Discography==
* ''Re : Evolution'' with The Shamen (1992)
* ''Dream Matrix Telemetry'' with Zuvuya (1993)
* ''Alien Dreamtime'' with Spacetime Continuum & Stephen Kent (2003)
* "Reclaim Your Mind" with Mark Pontius (2020)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://awakeningod.fireside.fm/3|title=Literally What do You Want?}}</ref>

==Filmography==
{{Div col|colwidth=20em}}
* ''Experiment at Petaluma'' (1990)
* ''Prague Gnosis: Terence McKenna Dialogues'' (1992)
* ''The Hemp Revolution'' (1995)
* ''Terence McKenna: The Last Word'' (1999)
* ''Shamans of the Amazon'' (2001)
* ''Alien Dreamtime'' (2003)
* ''2012: The Odyssey'' (2007)
* ''The Alchemical Dream: Rebirth of the Great Work'' (2008)
* ''Manifesting the Mind'' (2009)
* ''Cognition Factor'' (2009)
* ''DMT: The Spirit Molecule'' (2010)
* ''2012: Time for Change'' (2010)
* ''The Terence McKenna OmniBus'' (2012)
* ''The Transcendental Object at the End of Time'' (2014)
* ''Terence McKenna's True Hallucinations'' (2016)
{{Div col end}}

==See also==
{{Div col|colwidth=20em}}
* [[Biography:Benny Shanon|Benny Shanon]]
* David E. Nichols
* [[Biology:Exopheromone|Exopheromone]]
* Jeremy Narby
* Jonathan Ott
* Luis Eduardo Luna
* [[Philosophy:Omega Point|Omega Point]]
* Rick Strassman
{{Div col end}}

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==

{{Reflist|colwidth=30em|refs=

<ref name="skepsis">{{cite web|first= Sacha |last= Defesche |title= 'The 2012 Phenomenon': A historical and typological approach to a modern apocalyptic mythology |orig-year= January–August 2007 |date= June 17, 2008 |publisher= Skepsis |url= http://skepsis.no/index.php?page=vis_nyhet&NyhetID=131&sok=1 |access-date= 2011-04-29 |type= MA Thesis, Mysticism and Western Esotericism, [[Organization:University of Amsterdam|University of Amsterdam]]}}</ref>

<ref name=Telegraph8thingsMush>{{cite web|last1=Mulvihill|first1=Tom|title=Eight things you didn't know about magic mushrooms|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/11289904/Eight-things-you-didnt-know-about-magic-mushrooms.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/11289904/Eight-things-you-didnt-know-about-magic-mushrooms.html |archive-date=January 12, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|website= The Telegraph|publisher=Telegraph Media Group Limited|access-date=14 June 2015}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

<ref name="Krupp2009">{{cite news |last= Krupp |first= E.C. |date= November 2009 |title= The great 2012 scare |magazine= Sky & Telescope |pages= 22–26 [25] |url= http://media.skyandtelescope.com/documents/Doomsday2012.pdf |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160418162238/http://media.skyandtelescope.com/documents/Doomsday2012.pdf |archive-date= April 18, 2016 |df= mdy-all}}</ref>

<ref name=bruce>{{cite book |last= Bruce |first= Alexandra |year= 2009 |title= 2012: Science Or Superstition (The Definitive Guide to the Doomsday Phenomenon) |publisher= Red Wheel Weiser |series= Disinformation Movie & Book Guides |page= [https://books.google.com/books?id=N-rVUCO4YyYC&pg=PA261 261] |isbn= 978-1-934708-51-4}}</ref>

<ref name=normark>{{cite web |title= 2012: Prophet of nonsense #8: Terence McKenna – Novelty theory and timewave zero |last= Normark |first= Johan |url= http://haecceities.wordpress.com/2009/06/16/2012-prophet-of-nonsense-8-terence-mckenna%E2%80%93-novelty-theory-and-timewave-zero/ |work= Archaeological Haecceities |date= June 16, 2009 |type= blog}}</ref>

<ref name=invisible>{{cite web |title= The Invisible Landscape |type= lecture |first= Terence |last= McKenna |url= http://www.futurehi.net/media/McKenna_The_Invisible_Landscape_1-A.mp3 |website= futurehi.net |publisher= Future Hi |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20051016224845/http://www.futurehi.net/media/McKenna_The_Invisible_Landscape_1-A.mp3 |archive-date= October 16, 2005}}{{Verify source|date=January 2014}}{{Copyvio link}}</ref>

<ref name=shroom>{{cite book|last=Letcher|first=Andy|title=Shroom: A Cultural History of the Magic Mushroom|date=2007|publisher=Harper Perennial|isbn=978-0-06-082829-5|pages=253–74|chapter=14.The Elf-Clowns of Hyperspace}}</ref>

<ref name=GyusEOTR>{{cite web|author1=Gyus|title=The End of the River: A critical view of Linear Apocalyptic Thought, and how Linearity makes a sneak appearance in Timewave Theory's fractal view of Time…|url=http://dreamflesh.com/essays/endofriver/|website= dreamflesh|publisher=The Unlimited Dream Company|access-date=19 July 2015}}</ref>

<ref name=AkersApes>{{cite web|last1=Akers|first1=Brian P.|title=Concerning Terence McKenna's 'Stoned Apes'|url=http://realitysandwich.com/89329/terence_mckennas_stoned_apes/|website=Reality Sandwich|access-date=12 August 2015|date=March 28, 2011}}</ref>

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==External links==
* {{IMDb name|1631555}}
* [http://www.botanicaldimensions.org/ Botanical Dimensions]
* {{Skeptoid | id= has 4734| number= 734| title= The Stoned Ape Theory| date= June 30, 2020| access-date=}}
* [[Organization:Erowid|Erowid]]'s [https://www.erowid.org/culture/characters/mckenna_terence/mckenna_terence.shtml Terence McKenna Vault]
* [https://psychedelicsalon.com/category/people/terence-mckenna/ Psychedelic Salon], Over 100 podcasts of Terence McKenna lectures
* [https://www.vice.com/series/tao-of-terence Tao of Terence], a 12-part series of essays on McKenna by Tao Lin at ''Vice''
* [http://www.terencemckenna.com/tmbib/index.php Terence McKenna Bibliography], list of references to books, articles, audio, video, interviews and translations by and about Terence McKenna
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MG5gFtZ3U8&t=3293s&ab_channel=WePlantsAreHappyPlants/ ''Terrence McKenna's True Hallucinations''] Documentary by Peter Bergmann
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAlaRdrcQcY ''The Transcendental Object At The End Of Time''] Documentary by Peter Bergmann


{{DEFAULTSORT:McKenna, Terence}}
[[Category:Mystics]]

{{Sourceattribution|Terence McKenna|1}}