Terence McKenna shares his deep insight and intelligence on the topic of Shamanism, it’s history, and importance.
“Well in 15mins to try to says something about hallucinogens, and shamanism is only going to touch the surface, and I figure the easiest way to do this is to just unload on you how I see these things…
If you analyze all these shamanic experiences, they all have one underlying thread, and that is ‘boundary dissolution.’ This is what the experience is that we are all seeking… wonderful, terrifying… it’s the experience of having the roof fall in and the floor fall out, all at once. Boundary dissolution, why should that be so important, so wonderful? Because it acts psychologically in the human being, like a birth experience. The world is made new. Everything is seen through newly opened eyes…
Shamanism is how religion was practiced for it’s first million years. Up until about 12 thousand years there was no other form of religion on this planet. That was how people attained some kind of access to the sacred… Shamanism is a call to authenticity…
THIS IS REAL! This is so real that you can take the most hardened rationale reductionist asshole, and drop them into that environment and he will meet his maker. It dissolve you into a confrontation with authentic being, and this is what we are starving for. This is how we gotten into the messes and mess we’re in. Take seriously the techniques of shamanism. Study the plants…”
– Terence McKenna
Wrong. Most cultures have used sonic driving instead of drugs- drum, Tibetan bowls, didgeridoo etc. to quiet the mind to allow entry to the shamanic state of consciousness.
Maybe, but let’s not get hung up on the word “drug.” These are natural plants, healing plants, and sacred medicines directly from mother earth; and someone has decided to label them as “drugs”, and people buy into it. I could just as easily call sugar a drug. Sugar is a mind altering substance. Heck, sugar is actually physically addictive. Psychedelics are not addictive at all. Only consciousness expanding.
Though I will agree that drum, Tibetan bowls, didgeridoo, etc… are great tools for getting into Shamanic states.