In this first of a multi-part series, Terence McKenna begins by telling of his first hunting experience, which taught him how uncomfortable a culture can become. This workshop was held in early August 1997 with a group of about 25 people. In this introductory session he also spoke about Marshall McLuhan's idea that nation states and democracies could only exist within a print culture. In speaking about psychedelic medicines he said, “What psychedelics are about is deconditioning all of these culturally induced, sensory biases and idealogical biases, basically it reshuffles the intellectual and sensory deck. And it's a wonderful, salutary thing to come along for Western culture at this moment because we're basically running out of intellectual steam. Technology is moving ahead lickety split without looking over its shoulder, but our social systems, our religious ontologies, our theories of polity, city planning, community, resource sharing, all of this is 19th Century at best. And so, really whether we live or perish as a species probably has to do with how much consciousness we can raise from any source available.”
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