I didn’t know he said that! What meaning do you make of that? And how do you see it in relation to the way I’ve used ‘culture is the operating system’?
It definitely relates directly to McKenna's statement that "culture is the operating system." I think "culture is not your friend" contextualizes and puts a bit of a judgement spin on what he thinks of that operating system.
Personally, i think this is New Age thinking at its worst: the kind of hippy libertarianism that resulted in places like Fairfax, California, filling up with people who traded following the Grateful Dead around with managing hedge funds.
You can't separate a human individual from society. You can, however, come to a better perspective on culture as being something you don't have to take for granted. That's the best takeaway one can get from McKenna, i think.
Ahhhh ya that makes sense! I will have to check out the talk. I can’t always follow but listening to him is like taking a sober trip. Very mind bendy. I do quite appreciate his perspectives. I hadn’t considered the angles you present, I’ll have to give it some thought.
Thanks so much for sharing:)
Are there any contemporary thinkers or podcasts you really like on this subject? We seem to be interested in similar things from what I can tell :)
Of course, Terence McKenna also said, "Culture is not your friend."
I didn’t know he said that! What meaning do you make of that? And how do you see it in relation to the way I’ve used ‘culture is the operating system’?
Yep -- this is part of a much longer talk, one I remember hearing about 20 years ago in a Psychedelic Salon podcast. But here's a clip.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-tY6hmKcms&ab_channel=OmegaPoint
It definitely relates directly to McKenna's statement that "culture is the operating system." I think "culture is not your friend" contextualizes and puts a bit of a judgement spin on what he thinks of that operating system.
Personally, i think this is New Age thinking at its worst: the kind of hippy libertarianism that resulted in places like Fairfax, California, filling up with people who traded following the Grateful Dead around with managing hedge funds.
You can't separate a human individual from society. You can, however, come to a better perspective on culture as being something you don't have to take for granted. That's the best takeaway one can get from McKenna, i think.
Ahhhh ya that makes sense! I will have to check out the talk. I can’t always follow but listening to him is like taking a sober trip. Very mind bendy. I do quite appreciate his perspectives. I hadn’t considered the angles you present, I’ll have to give it some thought.
Thanks so much for sharing:)
Are there any contemporary thinkers or podcasts you really like on this subject? We seem to be interested in similar things from what I can tell :)
Oh gosh -- Alan Watts would be my favorite all-time philosopher on how to be in society without losing yourself.
You could check out Humans on the Loop by my friend Michael Garfield, he's here on Substack making a podcast.
Psychedelic Salon has a lot of great recordings saved up from the golden age of psychedelic weirdos talking for hours.
And yeah, we have some things in common. Some vibes. Some neurodivergence i think. ;)
Hahaha wellllllll it is said we unconsciously flock together sooooooo. Ya 😂
Thanks for the recos!
Any recommendations in return?