From Terence McKenna’s lecture, “Into the Valley of Novelty”
“What civilization is is six billion people trying to make themselves happy by standing on each others’ shoulders and kicking each others’ teeth in…We’re led by the least among us…and we don’t fight back against the dehumanizing control icons…culture is a perversion. It fetishizes objects, creates consumer-mania, it preaches endless forms of false happiness…it invites people to diminish themselves and dehumanize themselves by behaving like machines: meme-processors of memes passed down from Madison Avenue and Hollywood and what-have-you.
“I mean, the American family is what keeps American psychotherapy alive and well…
“Part of what psychedelics do, is they de-condition you from cultural values. This is what makes it such a political hot potato. Since all culture is a kind of con game, the most dangerous candy you can hand out is candy that makes people start questioning the rules of the game.”
