I knew Terence since 1983. We first met at a small conference on psychedelics at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His talk, as always, was dazzling, a word that especially fits, because when one is dazzled they are typically not engaged altogether rationally. Our friendship began that day as he seemed pleased I corrected him about Mircea Eliade's position on psychedelics, which I knew quite well, as Eliade was my mentor at the time I was a student at the University of Chicago. In that talk Terence criticized Eliade for statements he made decades before, apparently unaware that he had corrected himself in later works. So much about Terence was fascinating but here I just want to say the most fascinating thing is how he is being mythologized and turned into an icon. I enjoyed him immensely, helped him financially, and published his words in two of my three edited anthologies. Would have been all of them but another mentor, the philosopher of religion Huston Smith declined to be in the same book as him, though, like me, he enjoyed Terence and respected his unusual gift of language, even if he spoke off the cuff and was not a scholar really, but a poetic pied piper... To be honest, lovable as he was, I find myself disappointed with the trajectory, the arc of his life. I met him at a time when dozens of us were gathering in private conferences in the early mid 80s to discuss how we might resuscitate the field of psychedelics after it been trampled by excesses and misunderstandings of the 60s. In all of these meetings, at Esalen and elsewhere, Leary's uncontrollable exuberance was blamed for the problem. At that time Terence, extraordinary in many ways, but what impressed me the most was how grounded he appeared in this ordinary reality while he waxed so wildly and clear about esoteric realms he had travelled. He was not only a mad poet but a husband to earth goddess and father to two sparklingly wonderful young children. Sadly and quickly that (to me) idyllic life gave way. As his loquacity brought him fame and he thought (the mushrooms told him) a promise of wealth, his marriage ended in a ugly public divorce, and the children suffered as he became, seemed to me, a fame seeking pop star. His encouraged his fans to take "heroic" doses of drugs he himself feared, as if momentarily glimpsing machine elves was somehow better than being in the world. So now we have a curious situation where he is being glamorized for being a psychedelic drug advocate though it seems that career did not fare him all that well. By MIT press no less, the bastion of the military industrial complex. Inquisitive minds want to know why.
In one word: weed. The brain requires about 15-30 days of no THC for psilocybin to also resolve trauma loops, if that is indeed the intent of the user. I do not claim to know Terrance, you, or the technology they had in the 60's-80's, but we now know THC blocks the reconsolidation of trauma memories and muffles nearly ALL the conditions required for the mind to be fully "present." Psilocybin will reveal deep, fascinating secrets to the intelligence of the universe, but will not address agendas of the ego under the blanket of heavy THC usage; it shuts down the relationship between the prefrontal cortex, the hippocampus, and thalamus...the conditions needed to bring trauma and ego wounds to consciousness for integration. Psilocybin will open any door in the house needed to illuminate truth; does no freaking good if THC has ego and cognition locked up in the basement numbed out watching the whole damn thing from below the floorboards.
Terence smoked more cannabis than anyone I have ever known. From the moment he woke up, throughout every day and evening, joint after joint of the highest potency California or Hawaiian sinsemilla. This amount would incapacitate a normal person but Kat told me it was necessary to calm down his over active mind. I once asked him what the key to his unusual intellect. He said for the last twenty five years he was stoned all the time. I asked Mircea Eliade the same question. Eliade replied, "Read everything you can. Remember everything you read, and be very very smart." I told that to Terence when we sitting in his library, and he said, "Nah, I just smoke pot near my books."
I wish Terrance had the technology and insight to explain the intelligence of "novelty" and how intelligence itself continuously seeks it. Unknowingly. It's not a conscious thing; it's an oscillation of frequencies forever trying to resolve dissonance. Great read!
I knew Terence since 1983. We first met at a small conference on psychedelics at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His talk, as always, was dazzling, a word that especially fits, because when one is dazzled they are typically not engaged altogether rationally. Our friendship began that day as he seemed pleased I corrected him about Mircea Eliade's position on psychedelics, which I knew quite well, as Eliade was my mentor at the time I was a student at the University of Chicago. In that talk Terence criticized Eliade for statements he made decades before, apparently unaware that he had corrected himself in later works. So much about Terence was fascinating but here I just want to say the most fascinating thing is how he is being mythologized and turned into an icon. I enjoyed him immensely, helped him financially, and published his words in two of my three edited anthologies. Would have been all of them but another mentor, the philosopher of religion Huston Smith declined to be in the same book as him, though, like me, he enjoyed Terence and respected his unusual gift of language, even if he spoke off the cuff and was not a scholar really, but a poetic pied piper... To be honest, lovable as he was, I find myself disappointed with the trajectory, the arc of his life. I met him at a time when dozens of us were gathering in private conferences in the early mid 80s to discuss how we might resuscitate the field of psychedelics after it been trampled by excesses and misunderstandings of the 60s. In all of these meetings, at Esalen and elsewhere, Leary's uncontrollable exuberance was blamed for the problem. At that time Terence, extraordinary in many ways, but what impressed me the most was how grounded he appeared in this ordinary reality while he waxed so wildly and clear about esoteric realms he had travelled. He was not only a mad poet but a husband to earth goddess and father to two sparklingly wonderful young children. Sadly and quickly that (to me) idyllic life gave way. As his loquacity brought him fame and he thought (the mushrooms told him) a promise of wealth, his marriage ended in a ugly public divorce, and the children suffered as he became, seemed to me, a fame seeking pop star. His encouraged his fans to take "heroic" doses of drugs he himself feared, as if momentarily glimpsing machine elves was somehow better than being in the world. So now we have a curious situation where he is being glamorized for being a psychedelic drug advocate though it seems that career did not fare him all that well. By MIT press no less, the bastion of the military industrial complex. Inquisitive minds want to know why.
In one word: weed. The brain requires about 15-30 days of no THC for psilocybin to also resolve trauma loops, if that is indeed the intent of the user. I do not claim to know Terrance, you, or the technology they had in the 60's-80's, but we now know THC blocks the reconsolidation of trauma memories and muffles nearly ALL the conditions required for the mind to be fully "present." Psilocybin will reveal deep, fascinating secrets to the intelligence of the universe, but will not address agendas of the ego under the blanket of heavy THC usage; it shuts down the relationship between the prefrontal cortex, the hippocampus, and thalamus...the conditions needed to bring trauma and ego wounds to consciousness for integration. Psilocybin will open any door in the house needed to illuminate truth; does no freaking good if THC has ego and cognition locked up in the basement numbed out watching the whole damn thing from below the floorboards.
Terence smoked more cannabis than anyone I have ever known. From the moment he woke up, throughout every day and evening, joint after joint of the highest potency California or Hawaiian sinsemilla. This amount would incapacitate a normal person but Kat told me it was necessary to calm down his over active mind. I once asked him what the key to his unusual intellect. He said for the last twenty five years he was stoned all the time. I asked Mircea Eliade the same question. Eliade replied, "Read everything you can. Remember everything you read, and be very very smart." I told that to Terence when we sitting in his library, and he said, "Nah, I just smoke pot near my books."
Where can I buy this book? And his other books, such as Strange Attractor. Thank you!
Should be available from Amazon, or ordered through your local bookstore - I believe it's now available worldwide...
Thanks. I ordered it from my local bookstore. I look forward to reading the book.
I picked up a new book! Thank You!
I wish Terrance had the technology and insight to explain the intelligence of "novelty" and how intelligence itself continuously seeks it. Unknowingly. It's not a conscious thing; it's an oscillation of frequencies forever trying to resolve dissonance. Great read!