Stephen, thanks for your post. I found it poignant and relevant to my own life experiences, which ran roughly analogously to your own, as well as to what seems to have been your personal sense of discovering "Terry." One particular exception that I took with your perspective on the man and his legacy regards the following quote:
"Terence, as his closest friends and family say, was quite the psychedelic bard. But there are good reasons why they don't call him an ethnobotanist or a scholar."
I would like you to expand on what you meant in this final sentence, regarding why you feel there should be "good reasons" not to consider McKenna "a scholar." I have always thought of him, along with Huxley and McLuhan, as modern scholar par excellence.
Pretty simply, he does really sloppy scholarship. His citations are pretty haphazard and they often don't say what he says they do.
It's a clear sign he wrote what he wanted and cited after the fact. A trick I recognize because I, too, am a sloppy scholar. Trying to get better, tho.
Both Terence and Huxley were well read as FUCK, but they doesn't always translate to coherent arguments. McLuhan was a damn beast though.
AnonymousJul 5, 2020Liked by Stephen from Trenchant Edges
I'm really curious to see what you think about ram dass's book the miracle of love if you have ever read it. I'm also wondering if you have thought about connections in Kundalini yoga to the timewave theory? I know astrology can be a bit much but yogi bahajan talked about the age of Aquarius starting in 2012, he wouldn't pin it down for the longest time only in the early 2000's setting that at it's transitional point (they are periods of 2000 years).
I get that, it's fairly religious in a way, I always liked his quote about psychedelics only being able to open a door, that you have to walk through it and do the greater more complicated work. I'd read it if you get a chance, it goes over his journey to India and meeting his guru, maharajji. It goes over a bunch of different stories from both the local Indians and the westerners who would seek him out. It's probably one of the most books I've read oddly enough. It's worth glancing at if only to decide you don't like it, it's very personal. What is it about ram dass's work you don't like? I loved the prison asharam program he ran. I always just thought it was strange the conincidince of the Aztec predictions, the timewave and the idea of this age of Aquarius all happening in 2012 or in that range. There's a lot of crazy ass shit in Kundalini yoga but there's some good stuff in there too. I'm sure as hell not waking up at 4 in the morning everyday for a cold shower, I just ain't there yet.
Stephen, thanks for your post. I found it poignant and relevant to my own life experiences, which ran roughly analogously to your own, as well as to what seems to have been your personal sense of discovering "Terry." One particular exception that I took with your perspective on the man and his legacy regards the following quote:
"Terence, as his closest friends and family say, was quite the psychedelic bard. But there are good reasons why they don't call him an ethnobotanist or a scholar."
I would like you to expand on what you meant in this final sentence, regarding why you feel there should be "good reasons" not to consider McKenna "a scholar." I have always thought of him, along with Huxley and McLuhan, as modern scholar par excellence.
Pretty simply, he does really sloppy scholarship. His citations are pretty haphazard and they often don't say what he says they do.
It's a clear sign he wrote what he wanted and cited after the fact. A trick I recognize because I, too, am a sloppy scholar. Trying to get better, tho.
Both Terence and Huxley were well read as FUCK, but they doesn't always translate to coherent arguments. McLuhan was a damn beast though.
I'm really curious to see what you think about ram dass's book the miracle of love if you have ever read it. I'm also wondering if you have thought about connections in Kundalini yoga to the timewave theory? I know astrology can be a bit much but yogi bahajan talked about the age of Aquarius starting in 2012, he wouldn't pin it down for the longest time only in the early 2000's setting that at it's transitional point (they are periods of 2000 years).
I've not read The Miracle of Love. I'm not a huge Ram Dass fan.
As for Kundalini Yoga, I've never related it to the timewave. Nor am I super familiar with yogi bahajan.
I usually ignore mentions of the age of aquarius so that's not really my wheelhouse.
I get that, it's fairly religious in a way, I always liked his quote about psychedelics only being able to open a door, that you have to walk through it and do the greater more complicated work. I'd read it if you get a chance, it goes over his journey to India and meeting his guru, maharajji. It goes over a bunch of different stories from both the local Indians and the westerners who would seek him out. It's probably one of the most books I've read oddly enough. It's worth glancing at if only to decide you don't like it, it's very personal. What is it about ram dass's work you don't like? I loved the prison asharam program he ran. I always just thought it was strange the conincidince of the Aztec predictions, the timewave and the idea of this age of Aquarius all happening in 2012 or in that range. There's a lot of crazy ass shit in Kundalini yoga but there's some good stuff in there too. I'm sure as hell not waking up at 4 in the morning everyday for a cold shower, I just ain't there yet.